poetry corner Some work produced for the MindFreedom Creative Revolution Retreat held July 2007. This in recognition of mental health awareness month.

WHAT IS HIS AXIS ONE?

WHAT IS HIS AXIS ONE?
The smartly dressed psychiatrist
Practically yelled across the room.

WHAT IS HIS AXIS ONE?
She cried out, the sharp glint in her eyes
           almost bouncing light off her
           Severe
           designer earrings.

WITHOUT KNOWING HIS AXIS ONE
I’m not certain we can treat him

There are, after all, standards for admission
They have to be met!
           And if we cannot determine his Axis One
           He doesn’t meet the standard.

But we’ll never determine his Axis One
If all he does today during this meeting
is just sit there –
Crying.

EASTERN

When I was a kid
the place where I lived
was a squat cinder block building
           they called “the Cottage”.

Inside there was a rubber room
           with thickly lined walls
           one could slam ones’ self into
           without really doing much harm.
I got to spend a bit of time there
           when I was bad.

This was nothing like the room they used
the next door over
for the really bad kids.

When a really bad kid went into that room
the Counselors would call the rest of us together
in the hallway, outside the room
where we could look through the window in the door.

Through that window
we could see, four feet above the floor
the brown tinged blocks
as we would watch
a fresh application get added
to the otherwise white walls.

“If you are really bad
You’ll get to go in there too!”

lesson learned.
If you were only partly bad
You get the rubber room.
At least, there, you get to be left alone.

IN THE ACUPUNCTURE WORKSHOP

In the acupuncture workshop

the breeze closes one door
then opens another - literally

Each of us comes seeking healing
for maladies never discussed.

Then we wait.
and participate in the group
wherein we do not speak
yet get connected.

I have no idea if this treatment will work.

If this seems disconcerting I wonder -
How much different is this
from a blind-faith trust in medication
and otherwise invasive procedures
Such as they are.

So many have faith without even knowing
If those procedures work at all

Give me then, instead
The cool breeze that opened the door.

Labels: mental health, poetry, psychiatric survivors

  ¶ 21:16 0 comments

  web surfing for the apocalypse
   I don't want to sound like a Jeremiah ["the broken-hearted prophet" whose heart-rending life, and true prophecies of dire warning went largely unheeded] but humans are on a psychic roller coaster ride right now that lends itself to think this way.
     Nevertheless, there are those who believe that we can do something to stem the drive to self-destruction if we but pay heed to the warming warnings and actually make changes in how we conduct ourselves.
     The changes we need to make include addressing global climate change, pulling ourselves [and our kids] away from the destructive re-patterning of our brain waves [be it tossing out the violent video games or weaning off of harmful neuroleptic drugs], even altering the ways we engage in the collective decision-making process.
     That said, here's some links to go to, ponder what they present, then get off the Barcalounger and get to work!

   350.org. Bill McKibben's site warning of the impact of CO2 gases on Mother Earth. "350 is the red line for human beings, the most important number on the planet. The most recent science tells us that unless we can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million, we will cause huge and irreversible damage to the earth." The current level of CO2 emission is a 385 parts per million and rising.
What is needed most right now are your actions that take the number 350 and drive it home: in art, in music, in political demonstrations [remember folks, voting is only one small part of participatory government], in any other way you can imagine.

   American Hydrogen Association. If for no other reason, this site is worth the visit to check out the growing collection of motorized vehicles [such as the one on the left of this entry] that don't run on gasoline. True, they are not for the technologically challenged, but they offer a start.
     "The mission of AHA is to facilitate achievements of prosperity without pollution and to close the information gap between researchers, industry and the public, drawing on world-wide developments concerning hydrogen, solar, wind, hydro, ocean and biomass resource materials, energy conversion, wealth-addition economics, and the environment.
     "The goal of AHA is to stimulate interest and help establish the renewable hydrogen energy economy by the year 2010 by... working in cooperation with organizations, environmental groups and industry, community, and schools to promote understanding of hydrogen technology, and help create a marketplace for pollution-free hydrogen energy."

   Violent video games and unchecked use of neuroleptic drugs are major contributors to decreasing out ability to think clearly. You won't find out about this in the mainstream media, but it is true.
     I hope society doesn't wait until all those who self identify as "crazy" come out, [since prejudice against people labeled with mental illnesses is more extreme than homophobia] but It is, indeed, crazy people who know full well the deleterious effects of both these market-promoted phenomena.
     You might think otherwise. After all, it seems obvious that glorification of violence through the use of a synapse-stimulating electrical device [video games] would result in altering the brain. Likewise, when introducing massive doses of chemicals into one's body that are intended to alter the chemistry and operation of the brain, would cause some problems. Even as far back as the 1970s it was recognized that forced drugging in the Soviet Union was employed as torture to political dissidents. How is forced drugging of ordinary citizens suspected of being disruptive any different? [rhetorical question here. I don't expect a response unless you want to]


   One the other hand, one thing we have to consider altering is how we look at participation in government. It really isn't enought to say you are too busy after work, or that you need to bond with the children when you get home. People in elected leadership positions need to know that those who elect have interests in decision making outcomes that goes beyond the ballot box.
     For that matter, the decision makers running the global fiefdoms that we call corporations need to hear your perspectives as well. This may be a little more difficult. After all, Boycotts are notoriously difficult to engineer,much less get started. And you have to buy your way into the boardroom by purchasing shares of stock. But all of us must, [as I said above] get out of the lounger and get our point of view heard!

Off the soapbox for the moment. Stay tuned.

Labels: alternative fuels, civil discourse, CO2 emissions, neuroleptics, social control, video games, violence, voting

  ¶ 08:36 0 comments

  pet tricks getting an anteater to paint. It's good to know that some people have lots of free time on their hands.
  ¶ 09:19 0 comments

  nature

Labels: contrails, moon, sunset

  ¶ 08:51 2 comments

  performing arts I was really wowed by this brief dance in Swan Lake as performed by members of the Great Chinese State Circus

Labels: athletes, ballet, dance, performing arts, swan lake

  ¶ 08:55 0 comments

  art + artists      Artists provide us a window into the soul. Sometimes that vista peeks into the personal; at other times, it reflects back at the viewer insights into the world as it really is, not as it appears to be. What we see then is the soul of our collective being. This means that there are times when the imagery isn't comforting to look at. In some circumstance, the images rendered for can be vivid, awesome, inspiring or troubling. The intent is to make you think. Here, then, are some artists who have produced or are producing works that fit with this objective. The works are beautiful to look at as well.

  To commemorate the 100th birthday of Frida Kahlo the Philadelphia Museum of Art is housing an exhibition of over 40 of her eccentric self-portraits as well as other works from the beginning of her career in 1926 until her death in 1954. Rendered in vivid colors and realistic detail, Kahlo's jewel-like paintings are filled with complex symbolism, often relating to specific incidents in her life. Known by many as the flamboyant wife of celebrated muralist Diego Rivera. Theirs' was a tumultuous relationship: Rivera declared himself to be "unfit for fidelity." As if to assuage her pain, Kahlo recorded the vicissitudes of her marriage in paint.
     If you aren't able to see the exhibit, you can always buy the catalog.

  Chris Jordan's Running the Numbers makes use of everyday objects in gigantic assemblages. Reduced down to coffee-table book size, they appear as curious abstracts, but they are not. The materials used to produce his images are also inextricably connected to the final image. Shown to the left Skull with cigarette, is composed not of daubs of paint, but the tops of cigarette packages, chosen for the colors needed for those "daubs". A close-up of the work reveals this technique. Other entries into the collection of current works employ Barbie dolls, cell phones, Dixie cups and prison issue orange jumpsuits as the "mediums" of use for the final image. I remain particularly impressed with his rendering of Georges Seurat's Afternoon on the island of La Grande Jatte, which is 60" x 92" [1.5m x 2.4m] in size and composed of 106,000 beverage cans, the number typically discarded in the United States in a typical afternoon. Chris Jordan is based in Seattle, WA, has a current exhibition at the Allen Memorial Art Museum in Oberlin, Ohio, and at the Festival Internazionale di Roma, Rome, Italy, April 4 -25.

  Thomas Hawk's Flickr collection of Graffiti, Stencils and Public Murals. Public art isn't always properly appreciated. Murals get short shrift in the United States, which is too bad since they are revered elsewhere. Graffiti and Stencils, often - but not always - done without consent from the "owners" of the backdrop, tend to get painted over and/or the artists who create them risk fines, arrest and imprisonment for "defacing public property". Frankly, since some of what gets created as graffiti is often poorly crafted tags or just artless obscenities, it's not surprising that arrests and fines are a typical outcome. Many stencil and graffiti works are, however, more than just thoughtless acts of teenage vandalism.
     There is, in fact, an oddly compelling appeal to street art, if you take the time to study it, to reflect upon it, to watch the interplay of color and shape. Hawk's second site The Best Art is Public, highlights both intentionally designed graffiti tags and drawings, as well as locations that take on a surreal beauty [see, for example, his photo Find Me shown below.      You can see more examples of graffiti art and learn more about Hawk's photographic efforts at Thomas Hawk's Digital Connection.

  Stencil art from Roadsworth. I first saw Roadsworth's handiwork in Montreal. A series of chess boards was being painted on the concrete surface of La Place Emilie Gamelin, at the intersection of Rue St Denis and Rue Ste Cathrine, perhaps better known these days as "Berri-UQAM" a major Metro station hub, the center for University of Quebec at Montreal [UQAM] and the stop off point for the newly opened Grande Bibliothèque, Quebec's National Library collection.
     Although he goes by "Roadsworth", the artist behind the work is Peter Gibson, who once did his street stenciling efforts anonymously. That is, until he got arrested and placed on trial. The trial was instructive in many ways including providing a gauge of public acceptance of the presence of street art [in Montreal, at least, it seems to be okay, within certain areas]. And even though he was facing a lengthy sentence [due to the number of "defacings" he had made, though not so in Orange County California] ultimately, he was free to go, albeit paying community service and other such requirements of the courts.
     Since that time [2005], Peter has come aboveground and takes commissions, like the one at La Place Emilie Gamelin, to sprucing up the parking lot of Cirque du Soliel's corporate offices. He has also turned out a website, Roadsworth, where you can see the work he has produced, read about the difficulties he faced after getting arrested and see picture of the chess boards [a number of which I was able to provide him, since he had no photos from above of that effort].
     Incidentally, I wrote and posted some pictures, of both Peter Gibson's chessboards and of other graffiti art in Montreal which you can view.

Labels: art, artists, exhibitions, frida kahlo, graffiti, murals, peter gibson, photography, Roadsworth, street art

  ¶ 02:06 1 comments

  fiscal irresponsibility Fiscal disconnects or economic treason? It never ceases to amaze me that people in power [note I make a distinction between "leaders" and the powerful] don't seem to understand the cause and effect relationships between the following:

     1- Corporate executive pay. You know what this is. It's when the corporate warlords skim the coffers and enrich themselves more per hour [after taxes] than most people make in an entire year [before taxes]. Yet there seems no rational tie-in between good performance and percentage of take for the execs or - in some cases - former execs [e.g Merrill Lynch's Stanley O'Neal, Countrywide Financial's Angelo Mozilo, Citigroup's CEO Charles Prince, Exxon-Mobil's Lee Raymond or GE Corporation's Jack Welch] - to name but a few.
     2- The financial travails caused by irresponsible lending practices of corporate entities - from the panic at Bear Stearns, to downturns at Merrill Lynch, to moves at Swiss bank giant UBS [where the CEO Marcel Ospel was forced to resign];
     3- Massive mortgage foreclosures by millions of ordinary borrowers with incomes of $75,000 [usd] or less that are tied to usurious interest payment hikes

     A curious artifact of jurisprudential history is that, during the last Robber Baron era [the late 1800s early 20th century] the US Supreme Court allowed for corporations to be treated as if corporations were individuals. That act of class-conscious hubris still allows for financial gang bosses [read: investment bankers, hedge-fund managers, insurance execs and stock brokerage poobahs] to run roughshod over the rest of the world's citizenry, walk away from irresponsible and sometimes irreparably damaging effects on individuals around the planet.
     In effect, these 21st century brigands, while entrusted with managing the wealth of the world's citizenry, acted as if it was their own, stolen the bulk of it to hide away in pirate banks in places like the Cayman Islands.
     If we truly had a global democratic society, we could maybe successfully try them for committing the crime of economic treason, together with the titled "leadership" of the nations around the world.
     As it is, we instead will likely have to sacrifice so these thieves can continue to live comfortably off the booty they have amassed, while we - in countries around the globe - repay the debts they have piled up in our names through onerous taxations, fees, tariffs and simply doing without.

One final comment: Lest you lull yourself into a rabid anti-Republican complacency about who caused all this mess, [at least the sub-prime mortgage scandal] keep topmost in your mind that it was none other than former president Bill Clinton, that repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, officially known as the Banking Act of 1933. After the catastrophic crash of 1929,

"... Congress was concerned that commercial banks in general and member banks of the Federal Reserve System in particular had both aggravated and been damaged by stock market decline partly because of their direct and indirect involvement in the trading and ownership of speculative securities.
     The legislative history of the Glass-Steagall Act shows that Congress also had in mind and repeatedly focused on the more subtle hazards that arise when a commercial bank goes beyond the business of acting as fiduciary or managing agent and enters the investment banking business either directly or by establishing an affiliate to hold and sell particular investments."

     This observation, incidentally, was made by none other than the United States Supreme Court in 1971, as part of a decision rendered in Investment Co. Inst. v. Camp, 401 U.S. 617. Plenty of blame to go around during the future Economic Treason Trials.

Labels: 1933, bad investments, corporate excess, corporate malfesance, economic treason, executive pay, foreclosures, Glass-Steagall Act, hedge funds

  ¶ 13:23 0 comments

  transportation I think the most favorite of all the vehicles I have owned was the bull-nosed Saab Model 96. The interior was plush and roomy, and the frame - built in the same Saab plants that manufactured airplanes - was sturdy and all but crash proof. The front wheel drive and, probably, the fact that it rode relatively close to the ground, meant that I never had to keep two sets of tires for the year. That was important considering I lived in the St Lawrence River Valley at the time, east of Lake Ontario and just north of the Adirondack Mountains, where snowfall amounts were often heavy and winters could be quite severe. Only once when I had the Saab, during a severe ice storm, was I unable to make it home because of road conditions.
     It had in it a two-stroke engine. In order to overcome the problems of oil starvation on overrun (engine braking) for the two-stroke engine, a freewheel device was fitted. By popping into neutral while driving this allowed for really great fuel efficiency. This feature allowed me to coast for miles and I recall getting over 50 miles to the gallon at at time when most cars [even the well tuned ones] typically got 12 to 18 mpg. Once, I was getting what I thought was poor mileage, complained aloud in front of others. When I told them I was getting only 30 miles to the gallon I got no sympathy from anyone.
     The Saab 96 was a very popular vehicle in the area at the time. People got acquainted with one another just because they were Saab owners. It was like a cult; the fanatical owners only needed to spot one another getting out of their cars, or driving along the road, and things would soon lead to coffee and scones at one another's' houses. On such occasions, the conversation would eventually get around to the revered topic "So... who's your mechanic?" There were so many Saab 96 owners in the huge yet sparsely populated region, that two separate independent garages specializing in repair and maintenance of Saabs could be kept working full time. Mine was Willie Louie, who also repaired tractors and trucks.
     But having the mechanic/shaman wasn't always necessary. The model 96 was very easy to maintain, but you had to know the engine. More than once I would be doing routine work under the ample hood only to have some handsome grease monkey swagger up from behind, call out "you need any help fixing that thing?", only to peer inside, gawk in wonder while whisting out "Jeezum crow! What they hell you got in that thing?" and instead of getting any assistance, I'd end up showing the guy how a two-stroke engine operated and got maintained.
     The car's undercarriage eventually succumbed to rusting and developed a hole in the floor under the front seat. With close to 200,000 miles on the original transmission and engine I sold it to a college kid from Potsdam who had a new plate welded beneath it, which worked fine. That is, until he forgot to mix the oil in with the gas. You see, running a two-stroke car engine is much like running an old manual push power mower or a chain saw. When he forgot, the engine seized. His solution was to go back to Willie Louie, who fitted the baby with a new four cylinder fuel injected engine. For all I know the car still runs like a charm.

Labels: fuel efficiency, Saabs, transportation

  ¶ 23:15 1 comments

  whimsey

Labels: collections, globe, household, interiors, nick nacks

  ¶ 08:36 0 comments

  web surfing A polyglot of styles and subjects.

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 •  Documenta 12, an arts and communication held roughly twice each decade in Kassel, Germany, is an event we missed, but would like to attend when it comes around again in 2012.
   The documenta is regarded as one of the most important exhibition of contemporary art, drawing attention from all over the world. It was initiated in 1955 by the artist and art educator, Arnold Bode, in Kassel. After the period of Nazi dictatorship, it was intended to reconcile German public life with international modernity and also confront it with its own failed Enlightenment.

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 •  Zen Studies Society established in 1956 to assist the Buddhist scholar D.T. Suzuki in his efforts to introduce Zen to the West. In 1965, it came under the leadership of a Japanese Zen monk, Eido Tai Shimano, who shifted the emphasis towards zazen (Zen meditation) practice.

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 • Ron's Log takes a walk through Camp Iron Mountain and the remains of General George Patton's Desert Training Center.

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 • Forgotten National Heritage: An interview with Donald Grinde where he talks of The Iroquois Confederacy and how it shaped the US federal government.

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 • New Yorker Magazine's Eustice Tilly gets a makeover.

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 • Die! Mythographer, Die! Political collages by J. Long!

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 • Philip Zimbardo talks about factors that can lead good people to engage in evil actions, and what he call's the Lucifer Effect. This is the latest research from the researcher who conducted the Stanford prison experiment, a two-week investigation into the psychology of prison life that had to be ended prematurely after only six days because the guards quickly became so brutal.

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 • Deep Black Magic, a site by Tom Porter with a series of essays on CIA research on ESP and the MK-Ultra mind control project. Chanced upon that when looking at the work of Martin Ebon, a researcher intrigued with Soviet ESP experiments and Kremlinology.

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 • Universe Today begins a series on building a base on the moon with inflatable buildings or living in lava tubes beneath the surface.

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 • The August Review reports on the Bush financial Bust of 2008. You thought the mortgage loan scandal was big? Hold on to your hats, boys and girls. [and I certainly hope this is wrong]

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 • New Sources of News. In the spirit of the old town crier are Sprword and The August Reviewreporting on, and warning about the global elite class and covering information the corporate media sources are reluctant to bring to light. Perhaps most intriguing, the two sources come from what has been considered the old "left" and the old "right", and they seem to coalesce and agree it what they deem important to report.

Labels: documenta 12, Eustace Tilley, globalization, Iroquois Nation, Martin Ebon, MK-Ultra, news sources, political collages

  ¶ 18:05 0 comments

  artists | danté revisited
Art Young was a firebrand illustrator during the first part of the 20th century. And early in his career he revisited Hell, that famous Inferno once visited by Dante Alighieri, and immortalized in images by Gustave Dore.

Young’s interest in the nether world started early. As an adolescent art prodigy in small-town Wisconsin, he got ahold of and devoured the edition of Dante’s Inferno illustrated by Dore. It was, he later recalled,“ the first book to give me a real thrill.” That initial impression was lasting: Young went on to study art in Chicago, New York, and Paris, and became something of an expert on the history of illustration, but his enthusiasm for Dore never wavered. “[I] counted him the greatest artist of his time,” he said. “I estimated the gift of imagination in all of the arts as supreme. And Dore had it.” [Art Young, Art Young: His Life and Times, John Nicholas Beffel, ed., New York: Sheridan House, 1939, pp. 52, 133.]

I really have to thank Noah Berlatsky for an excellent researched essay on Art Young, his art, his values, and the trials and travails he went through for maintaining them. Young was Socialist in political orientation, was amongst the people that hung about the Ash Can School of artists, a group known for painting and depicting gritty scenes of urban life, the poor and the working class. Considered Revolutionary more for their subject matter, than, their presentation styles, their work was influential in American Arts movements in the 1930s.
     Young was also a contributor to the radical publication The Masses. The magazine lasted about seven years, but was plagued with financial woes, thanks to Robber Baron Era Capitalists who bankrupted the publication with a long protracted harassment using the Courts to censor the publication's anti-big business point of view.
     I write all this thanks to having unearthed a partial edition [there are pages that were removed, probably cut apart by some entrepreneur who saw profit in framing individual works of art [like the ones above and below] and selling them piece by piece. I got the remains. A good bargain regardless.

Labels: arthur young, artists, Ash Can School of artists, medical illustrations, progressives

  ¶ 21:14 0 comments

  homeland security Don't worry too much about your phone being tapped since the smart guys in Washington didn't get around to pay the phone bill.
     This was discovered during a routine audit. Other quirky facts revealed included an FBI agent who was embezzling money used to pay for wiretaps to pay his [or her] personal bills.
     It was also learned that many bills in covert operations often get paid for with money orders, so no one can trace the comings and goings of money in a bank account. Auditors indicated they thought the FBI's payment methods were lacking. [Fanch that, would you}
     For security purposes the cities where the wiretaps were turned off due to unpaid bills - did not get reported.

Labels: fbi, phone bills, shut offs, telephones, wiretaps

  ¶ 22:03 0 comments

  still life Jim Riccio and I tackle the same subject matter
The above one is mine - the lower one is one of Jim's

Check out Jim Riccio's Watercolors. He tells me this boot pic is going to become a painting one of these days.

Labels: boots, jim riccio, kitchen, photography, still lifes

  ¶ 21:46 0 comments

  pets

Labels: cats, domestics, pets

  ¶ 13:39 0 comments

  andy olmsted - and estabilshing a memorial fund From Obsidian Wings: How to Help

by hilzoy

A member of Andy Olmsted's family has just written me to say that if people want to do something in honor of him, they can send donations to a fund that has been set up for the four children of CPT Thomas Casey, who served under Andy and was killed while trying to help him. The address is here:

Capt. Thomas Casey Children'€™s fund
P.O. Box 1306
Chester, CA 96020

Read hilzoy's full post about this effort. Other posts about Andy Olmsted are here and here.

Labels: andy olmsted, honor fund, solace, support

  ¶ 13:30 0 comments

  misfortune

Labels: bad behavior, connecticut, East Haddam, homelessness, suffering, tragedy moodus

  ¶ 04:32 0 comments

  iraq quagmire Some updates and observations



  250,000 Civilians Dead in Bush's War. Juan Cole at Informed Comment gives specifics when the corporate jingo media doesn't even reflect upon this dire fact.
  Pentagon rush to drug up returning soldiers? Now, there's a solution! Keep traumatized service persons doped up and numb after returning back from taking part in thankless battle. Keeps the mental illness industry in business, and the powers that be get to give a big kick back to the drug companies that help finance their road to power. Nice!
  The smart soldiers are leaving the ranks of the military. Washington Monthly reports that

"...the top uniformed and civilian leaders at the Pentagon who think hardest about the future of the military have a more fundamental fear: young officers are leaving the Army at nearly their highest rates in decades. This is not a short-term problem, nor is it one that can simply be fixed with money. A private-sector company or another government agency can address a shortage of middle managers by hiring more middle managers. In the Army's rigid hierarchy, all officers start out at the bottom, as second lieutenants. A decline in officer retention, in other words, threatens both the Army's current missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and its long-term institutional future."

  Andrew Olmsted's final post. Serviceman Olmsted wrote about his observations of the war in Iraq for almost 5 years. This final post was put up by a friend, written last July with the intent that he be shared after he died. He was killed by sniper fire on 3 January 2008. He often said he did not want his death to be used for political ends. He commented regularly on politics, the war in Iraq and about Military conflict. He discontinued blogging on his own site in February 2007 after it was pointed out to him that he had been "...blogging in violation of a Department of Defense directive that restricts how much political activity soldiers may be involved with..."
     He was a thoughtful writer. He is remembered in a post on Obsidian Wings, where he posted under the pseudonym G'Kar. Although I believe he would say he died without remorse, his loss, is in fact, one more tragedy in the littered battlefield. Godspeed Andrew.

Labels: andrew olmsted, death tolls, drugging soldiers, iraq quagmire

  ¶ 03:06 1 comments

  gitmo
JANUARY 11, 2008, is the six-year anniversary of the first arrival of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay. In symbolic support, today this site wears orange.
     After hundreds of detentions and two Supreme Court decisions rejecting the administration's detention policies at Gitmo, the legal status of the detainees there remains unresolved and the fight continues to end unlawful detention and the denial of due process.
     Learn more about Guantánamo
     Torture was never written into the Constitution of the United States. What the war criminals running the Executive Branch of this nation have done to a handful of individuals, they would be happy to expand to practice on the rest of the citizenry. It's time to send them a clear message - that torture and denial of basic due process protections must be discontinued. At the same time, in so doing, that same message shall ring loud and clear to any and all who pander to fear as they race to take the mantle of power from Bushco and their sycophants.
     Take action. Do your part. Help close Guantánamo.
     IN symbolic support, wear orange today.

Labels: due process violations, Guantanamo, habeas corpus, human rights

  ¶ 01:57 0 comments

  environment
Eco-criminals seize arctic refuge for polar bears with the stroke of a pen. Not that the Bushco corporate criminals give a fig but only days before the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is due to decide if the polar bear should be listed under the Endangered Species Act due to severe habitat loss from melting sea ice in Alaska's Arctic Ocean caused by global warming the Minerals Management Service (MMS), an agency within the Department of Interior (DOI), issued its Final Notice of Intent for the Chukchi Lease Sale 193 opening approximately 29.7 million acres of the pristine Chukchi Sea to oil and gas activities on January 2.
     Perhaps they figure it doesn't matter since many polar bears are already dying from heat exhaustion.
     Yet another reason why I believe that when the dust settles on this time in history, GWB's biggest legacy with not be his military adventure into Iraq but his scandalous refusal to do anything about the impact of global climate change.

Labels: arctic, Big Oil, Bushco, endangered species, environment, environmntal crimes, global warming, polar bears

  ¶ 07:38 0 comments