Anatomy Lesson

All over the world, people are fed up.
They've had enough of neo-feudalism and police-state gestapo tactics.

In Iceland and Ireland.
In Greece and in Spain.
Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Syria, Yemen, and Bahrain.
In Pakistan and Iraq.
In post-Fukushima Japan.
In Mexico.
And, if we're lucky, here in the United States.

You can see it in Wisconsin.
In Texas.
In some other places.

You can see it in the eyes of your next-door neighbor, arrested for photographing the actions of the police, public servants, in a public place
You can see it in the eyes of a terrified six-year-old forcibly subjected to an illegal and invasive search -- and in the eyes of parents standing impotently by.

Eyes filled with fear, with despair, with shock, with disbelief, with outrage.
And anger.

Watch out for that anger part.
Something's going to blow.

Tyrants all over need to learn an important lesson:
it's anatomically impossible to save your face and your ass at the same time.


sj

Horse Dancin'

To know the company of horses

Is to know that magic is alive in the world.



sj

Hard to Disagree With THAT

I may not see eye-to-eye with Ron Paul on every issue.
But I think right now, I'd vote for the Devil, himself, if it would guarantee the end to the needless horror of an ever-expanding, perpetual war.

If BUSHOBAMA was as careful about getting IN to a war as about getting OUT of it, we wouldn't be there in the first place.

sj

History vs Mythology

I remember "learning" about the mysterious "lost colony" when I was in school.
It's one of those things that should make you wonder, what else have I been taught that isn't true?
You don't have to look very far for the answer.

sj

Wrong is Wrong, No Matter Who Does it

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 22, 2011 9:42 AM

CONTACT: Witness Against Torture Matt Daloisio – 201-264-4424, daloisio@earthlink.net Frida Berrigan - 347-683-4928 frida.berrigan@gmail.com

Activists Respond to Congress and the White House Failng to Close Guantanamo

Congress takes the Obama Administration's lack of leadership on Closing Guantanamo as an opportunity to keep it open. American Citizens march and vigil, still believing that Torture, Abuse and Indefinite Detention Are Wrong!

WASHINGTON - June 22 - On Thursday, June 23rd, members of Witness Against Torture, the Torture Abolition and Survivor Support Coalition (TASSC), Amnesty International and other groups will embark on a March of Shame, walking between the institutions in Washington DC that continue to be responsible for unjust, illegal, and immoral American policies and conduct.

Beginning at the White House at 11am, the anti-torture activists will dress in the orange jumpsuits and black hoods that are now emblematic of the policies of torture and abuse that the Obama administration inherited from President Bush and has further entrenched. The group will solemnly process to the Department of Justice, the Supreme Court, and the Capitol.

The demonstrators will call on all branches of government to close Guantanamo, end indefinite detention, repudiate the Military Commissions, and resist any effort to reauthorize torture in the form of “enhanced interrogations.” The procession takes will take place as the House of Representatives takes floor action on a version of the 2012 defense appropriations bill that keeps Guantanamo open, undermines US Federal Courts, and attempts to expand indefinite detention.

“I am marching because the United States continues to violate both the law and human rights,” says Beth Brockman from North Carolina. “President Obama’s promises on Guantanamo and the rule of law have proven meaningless, and now steps are being taken to keep Guantanamo open forever.”

“The whole system is broken,” says activist Jeremy Varon of Brooklyn, New York, who teaches history at the New School University. “Every political institution in this city is culpable, starting with the Executive. Now Congress has gotten into the act, working to make Guantanamo permanent and enshrining military detention and trials.”

Witness Against Torture is being joined in the March of Shame by Amnesty International, which hopes to draw attention to the case of torture survivor Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen rendered by the United States. Amnesty is calling on the White House and Congress to apologize to Arar and to ensure accountability for the US government's use of torture.

Witness Against Torture will vigil at the Department of Justice on Wednesday (6/22) and Friday (6/24) from noon to 2pm. These demonstrations are part of a week of activities organized by the Torture Abolition and Survivor Support Coalition International, culminating in a vigil in front of the White House on Saturday, June 25th from 7am to 7pm.

Witness Against Torture demands:
• Close the prison at Guantánamo Bay;
• Free all prisoners who have been cleared for release, ensuring their safe resettlement and providing asylum in the U.S. for those unable to go elsewhere;
• Produce charges against all other prisoners and prosecute them in U.S. courts;
• Open all detention centers to outside scrutiny. That includes accepting the oversight of the International Committee of the Red Cross of all facilities; and
• Conduct a comprehensive criminal inquiry against all those who designed and carried out torture policies under the Bush administration.

For more information, please visit:

Amnesty International
www.amnestyusa.org/apologize

Torture Abolition and Survivor Support Coalition International
http://tassc.org/blog/

Witness Against Torture
http://www.witnesstorture.org/

###

Witness Against Torture is a grassroots movement that came into being in December 2005 when 24 activists walked to Guantanamo to visit the prisoners and condemn torture policies. Since then, it has engaged in public education, community outreach, and non-violent direct action. For the first 100 days of the Obama administration, the group held a daily vigil at the White House, encouraging the new President to uphold his commitments to shut down Guantanamo.

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Follow the Money

When I was a kid, we were pretty poor.
Not Mississippi delta poor.
But pretty poor just the same.
"On relief" -- what they used to call welfare -- a lot of the time.
Even though my old man worked -- sometimes 2 jobs.
Mechanic. Pick-and-shovel man. Truck driver. Jack of all trades.
And my mother worked, too.
Waitress.

With all that working, how come there wasn't any money?
My old man was a big drinker.
Good-time Charlie buying rounds for the boys.
2-3 pack-a-day smoker, too.
Played some cards but wasn't any good at it.

There was never money for things like clothes, hot school lunches, music lessons, bikes, baseball gloves.
But there was always money for booze, smokes and poker.

These days, everybody who can find a job is working his ass off. Most families both parents work.
Paying more taxes than ever before.
So how come there isn't any money for things like health care, education, up-keep on roads and bridges?

Simple.

The "Great White Father in Washington" (who this time happens to be Black) is a no-good drunken SOB, just like my old man.

According to an article by Abby Zimet, (http://www.commondreams.org/further/2011/06/20) we're going to spend $122.0 billion on the war on Afghanistan in fiscal year 2011. For the same amount of money we COULD buy:

• 62.5 million Children Receiving Low-Income Healthcare for One Year OR
• 1.9 million Elementary School Teachers for One Year OR
• 2.1 million Firefighters for One Year OR
• 16.0 million Head Start Slots for Children for One Year OR
• 27.6 million Households with Renewable Electricity - Solar Photovoltaic for One Year OR
• 73.7 million Households with Renewable Electricity-Wind Power for One Year OR
• 15.6 million Military Veterans Receiving VA Medical Care for One Year OR
• 25.1 million People Receiving Low-Income Healthcare for One Year OR
• 1.8 million Police or Sheriff's Patrol Officers for One Year OR
• 15.5 million Scholarships for University Students for One Year OR
• 22.0 million Students receiving Pell Grants of $5550

The problem isn't that we're broke.
We're not.
There's always money to hurt people.
There's just not money to help people.

What are you going to do about it?


sj

Doo-wah