learning :: on the ceiling :: for everybody
Missing Molly Ivins - New York Times.
So Molly Ivins — who didn’t mingle with the great and famous, didn’t have sources high in the administration, and never claimed special expertise on national security or the Middle East — got almost everything right. Meanwhile, how did those who did have all those credentials do?
Ivins: Stand up against the surge - CNN.com.
We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we’re for them and trying to get them out of there.
we’re seeing this quoted all over the place … but i want to keep it in my face for a little while … looking around for a pot or a pan to bang
Molly Ivins, known for poking fun at politicians, dies at 62 - CNN.com … very sorry to see you go
Ten percent of a two-year-old’s nouns are brand names; by the time an American child heads to school, he or she can recognize hundreds of logos.
i just noticed that yesterday was a particularly bad day for u. s. troops in iraq … haven’t seen any tv news lately because our big screen’s color has gone all unconverged … looks like 3-D without the glasses … headache-inducing ..
well, as i was saying …
twenty u. s. troops died yesterday … the story was on page 12 in the Daily Herald, page 12 in the Tribune, page 22 in the Sun-Times … just business as usual, i guess …
these deaths … and the daily deaths of how many iraqis … yesterday and today and tomorrow …
no longer all that newsworthy
this much for war …
$354,293,271,198
National Priorities Project - Cost of War
so … how much for peace?
whatever … it must be too much …
“war is over … if you want it”
things will be (as they have been) kind of sparse here on the blog … as we head into the end of first semester … it’s a big pile of paper has descended …
“Democracy cannot exist when men prefer ideas and opinions that are fabricated for them. The actions and statements of the citizen must not be mere automatic “reactions”-mere mechanical salutes, gesticulations signifying passive conformity with the dictates of those in power.
“To be truthful, we will have to admit that one cannot expect this to be realized in all the citizens of a democracy. But if it is not realized in a significant proportion of them, democracy ceases to be an objective fact and becomes nothing but an emotionally loaded word.
“What is the situation in the United States today?”
from Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander by Thomas Merton
i’m thinking this guy - Rich Whitney - could get my vote … i’ve got some more thinking & checking to do, but he’s looking really good … somebody i might actually vote FOR … which means he’s, of course, doomed …
The funny thing is that i didn’t know he existed until a few days ago when a letter arrived … and i almost always just pitch them … but the return address was Whitney for Governor … so in itself that sparked my curiosity because it’s been The Rod & Judy Show exclusively around here … & i’m so weary of that …
RW seems to be offering some kind of actual difference on Illinois involvement in Iraq … on small farm policy … on prioritizing the folks at the bottom of the heap. Since he’s Green, his take on environmental issues seems a given.
areas to explore further: his views on reproductive rights and gun control …
Whitney? well … given that i’m regularly sickened by party politics as usual … i’m thinking we could do much much worse … http://www.whitneyforgov.org
Voters For Peace: The power to end the war and prevent future wars of aggression …
it’s a tiny thing … but … it’s past time for many grains of sand to begin … to clog the gears of war machinery
