Archive for the 'Mortification of a Nation' Category
(Chronologically Listed)
frontline rocks
I had a plan to share some sweet music to start the week with today. That was until I spent the better part of this spring Sunday afternoon in front of the television. Out of character for me on any given Sunday, I’d heard about and then sat compelled by the latest segment of “Frontline” on PBS. Timed to coincide with the previously observed 5th anniversary of the US occupation in Iraq, there aren’t many surprises in Bush’s War, but many illuminations; interviews with key players, from intelligence agents to State Department staff to five-star generals; and insights to what was really playing out behind the scenes as the news was relayed to us through filtered lenses. In typical Frontline fashion, the segments (it’s a two-parter) are concise, compelling and in the case of this war entirely exasperating. Not exactly a carefree way to pass the time on a Sunday, but just because we don’t live in a war zone doesn’t make the atrocity of it go away, or make it any easier for those with loved ones far away fighting Bush’s War.
On March 24, BBC News posted an article entitled “American Interest in Iraq Slumps“. It’s neither easy nor desirable to consider the horrors of war in which our troops and the people of Iraq have been subjected to daily. I get to walk a spectacular stretch of coastline daily, and cannot help but be thankful for the freedom to do so and for the blessings to have been born here and not in an oppressive or impoverished state. I force myself to remember the violence and loss. It’s up to us to never forget that this administration has been the cause of more deaths than 9/11. It’s like salt in the wound that our nation has been so often deceived by the very leaders we’re meant to rely upon; the self-serving political agendas, the cover-ups, the pardons… The change cannot come too soon, and no, we will never forget.
Explore FRONTLINE’s full collection of reports from 9/11 to the present: Iraq and the War on Terror
Tune in tomorrow for some sweet stuff… and have a peaceful, blessed week.
keep your eyes ahead
Hello everyone… it’s been awhile since I last wrote but there’s been so much going on that I knew I couldn’t stay caught up in writing, so I decided I’d not even stray towards the keyboard for having to edit myself too much. So, despite the dizzying array of political topics to tackle (tacky campaign tactics, Gubernatorial disgraces (back-to-back!), perilous pastors, etc.), in addition to the standard Bush Administration Mortification of a Nation posts, and with all the great music and films turning up out there, I thought I’d adopt the philosophy of ‘less is more’, and take a little break. Aren’t we all getting a little too much information anyway? Today, however, is a day that shouldn’t go by without observance. So I guess I’m back, and happy for it.
I thought I’d start by sharing some… for lack of a better word, humor (I just can’t help it):
During a videoconference with U.S. military and civilian personnel yesterday, President Bush praised the troops fighting in Afghanistan, claiming he was “a little envious” of their “romantic” fight:
“I must say, I’m a little envious,” Bush said. “If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed… It must be exciting for you … in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You’re really making history, and thanks,” Bush said. (more on ThinkProgress.org)
And with that I propose that we all take a moment to observe, as difficult as that may be, that five years ago today the US invaded Iraq and since that date 3992 American lives have been lost. On May 1, 2003 “mission accomplished” was declared and since that date 1785 days have passed… and bin Laden is still at large. The Bush War has been a political and financial debacle that has to date served to kill 1019 more Americans than 9/11 did, and served to threaten our well being well more than ensuring our safety. And Dick sez “So what”about what Americans think. Sigh.
Thoughts and prayers to our soldiers near and far and their families, to the people of Iraq, and to all of us who dream of peace. Let us keep our eyes ahead, and envision a positive change.
Keep Your Eyes Ahead (and don’t go back to there again) by Helio Sequence
truth & consequences
Okay, I admit I’m not the avid reader I aspire to be and no, I haven’t read this book in its entirety - but I have heard most of it in the form of Keith Olbermann’s Special Comments as delivered on his show, ‘Countdown‘. They aren’t all about the Bush administration but many of them are and I’ve said it before (right here on this blog) and I’ll say it again; K.O. packs a much-deserved punch and does so in such a manner that Bush himself may not even fully comprehend (i.e. (Keith’s) intellectual, informed and astute). So although there’s more music than books in my 2007 recommendations, this one captures an uncomfortable yet historical snapshot of our politically problematic year(s). It’s one for the archives.
click to buy
pacific garbage patch
Let’s start with some music… wish I didn’t have to post a video for every song but until I can figure something else out it’s all I can do. Today I make a request: buy something! No, that’s not really my request (although please don’t let me stop you), my request is that you start the song and scroll south and read this post and heed it well, and try to buy less plastic, recycle more, and do what you can. I’ll be the first to admit that I find it quite challenging, bottled water is an ingrained habit, but I’m gonna try to break it.
Thanks for visiting…
Released in 1971, the quintessential melodious call to environmental awareness, Marvin Gaye’s Mercy, Mercy Me (the Ecology).
So a week or so ago, on a walk on Sunset Cliffs in San Diego, I came across some trash; the usual beer bottles, cigarette butts, food wrappers and whatnot… unfortunately not an uncommon occurence. On this day, right at the edge of the cliffs, there was a corrugated cardboard box. Typically I don’t pick up porous paper products (I try to limit myself to non-biodegradable trash collecting), but this time there was a plastic bait bag laying next to the box, a feather breeze would’ve blown it into the sea. I went to pick up the bag (and the box, since I was there), and lo and behold, the box, right there on the edge of the cliffs, was FILLED with plastic bait bags. Close by was a bag of hard plastic ties, opened and strewn about. I spewed some expletives about the @#$%* idiots who abuse the same ocean they rely on for sustenance, and continued on my way.
Interestingly, that very same morning after my walk I went for coffee at a little shop at the beach and noticed some kind of ruckus going on at the shoreline. Turns out an “extreme athlete” named Tom Jones (not the same Tom Jones women used to toss their panties to) was paddling through and making a landfall on his way to Imperial Beach on his California Paddle. His cause:
“Tom is drawing world-wide attention to the problem of plastic pollution in our oceans. A recent study has found that there is six times more plastic in the ocean than plankton off the coast of California. A United Nations Environmental Report estimated that there is more than 5.76 million tons of plastic in our oceans. To put that in perspective, that’s enough to put 2/3 of California in a plastic bag. At the current plastic usage acceleration rate of 5% per year, according to the Resin Review published by the American Plastic Council, we could cover the entire state of California in plastic by 2014 and every landmass on Earth by the year 2042.”
As obsessive as I am on the topic I had to start researching and then, only a few nights later, there was a segment on Countdown about the ‘Pacific Garbage Patch’, “an area twice the size of Texas that’s become a toilet bowl of plastics“… I’d never heard of it but turns out oceanographers have been researching and warning us about it for years. The Countdown segment isn’t available but here’s some mainstream (sorry) video, the most recent and concise information I could find to share:
To view the motion of the vortex in the ocean click here. Since they sell it, I’m not gonna post a 9 minute video entitled “Synthetic Sea”, by the Algalita Marine Research Foundation. You can find it online but I’m not going to post it. There is a dizzying amount of information out there, you’ll find more links below.
There is a new continent in the Pacific Ocean. Actually it has been forming for years. It was documented in the 1950’s. It is larger now, by some reports twice the size of Texas. And growing. The most amazing thing of all is the substance of the island.
Plastic. Trash. Junk. The North Pacific Gyre is an area of swirling currents moving in a clockwise pattern that the major ocean currents lead into. Think of it as an aquatic roundabout in heavy traffic- very difficult to get off of. Over time the plastics and trash that has been intentionally and accidentally dumped into our oceans has found its way to the North Pacific Gyre and remains there. Accumulating at an alarming rate it is literally forming a continent made of trash. click here to continue…
Here are a few things you can do:
1. Use canvas bags to shop.
2. Take your own mug to Starbucks.
3. Recycle plastic as much as you can.
4. Use glass and other recyclable materials when possible.
5. Limit the amout of things you buy that are encased in plastic.
6. Pick something up, else it will likely end up in the sea (that’s from me)
7. Boycott balloons. Balloons released even inland will also likely end up blowing into the sea (yep, that one too).
More information:
Plastic Ocean by Susan Casey from Best Life
Trash Vortex from Greenpeace International
Drowning in an Ocean of Plastic by Stephen Leahy in Wired Magazine
Trashed by Charles Moore
Navigating the Pacific’s ‘Garbage Patch’ from NPR
Surfrider tips for reducing plastic debris
Cryptic Moth: Two guys, two cameras, and a world full of plastic…
time to go home
A sad and ironic announcement was made yesterday, exactly one year from the election of a new administration. 52 Tuesdays away from election day, 2007 was pronounced the deadliest year for US troops in Iraq after six new deaths were reported by the military. What are we doing and how/when can/will we stop - and isn’t it time to go home yet?
Thank you and God bless to Michael Franti & Spearhead, a man knows what he believes in and remains relentless in relaying his message. Thank you and God bless, save and speed to our troops. Support them by clicking here, and do speak your peace, celebrate your freedom, and dance.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hello Bonjour
52 tuesdays
Click the link for a brief artistic interpretation of the 22nd amendment of these here United States of America… 52 Tuesdays away, y’all!
The Twenty-second Amendment of the United States Constitution sets a term limit for the President of the United States, providing that “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.” Prior to the adoption of the amendment, the Constitution set no limit on the number of presidential terms. The United States Congress passed the amendment on March 21, 1947. It was ratified by the requisite number of states on February 27, 1951.
And for your reference and reverence, here’s the amendment in its entirety:
Section 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.
Section 2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states within seven years from the date of its submission to the states by the Congress.
Say Amen brothers and sisters!
national nightmare
I admit it, I pilfered this little link from the The The site. Have I mentioned that I’m a huge Matt Johnson fan? And would I not be doing my job as a blogger (okay, in training - wannabe, if you will) if I didn’t turn you all on to these little gems? I only wish I had more time to find them… enjoy, and have a great night - the end of this administration is in sight!
National Nightmare
The official home of the George Bush Countdown Clock Keychain.
Countdown the days, hours, minutes, and seconds until the National Nightmare of George W. Bush’s reign is over. As bad as it gets with war, deficits, injustice and just downright international embarrassment, at least the end is in sight!
http://www.nationalnightmare.com/
Thanks, Matt!
state of Iraq
As promised, some clips (can’t really call them highlights) of key moments of the United States Senate Armed Services Committee questioning General David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker as edited by Hardball. Note that the video is 95% hearing, which speaks volumes for itself, i.e. not much additional commentary required. It’s refreshing to hear our politicians asking the questions that I want to hear the answers to, and a central point is made about the timing of the update itself:
More resources, links and reading from CNN, and as listed in the “Support Our Troops” quarterly cause page, a link to the Human Toll.
Now more from the hearing:
thoughts on 9/11
I woke up this morning knowing that I wanted to express some thoughts on this day, but I had to muddle through them first. Then I wondered - could anything I end up posting at the end of the day have the same effect as it might at the start? I mean, the occasion is over and we can put this gloomy anniversary behind us for another year, right?
Not so much. The events of September 11, 2001 were just the beginning - our own administration picking up where Al Qaeda left off by perpetrating and perpetuating more fear, and by not prioritizing the apprehension of bin Laden, but of Hussein. It’s not over and it’s not resolved, and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. It’s become mired in self serving agendas, greed, and utter disregard for American lives and law. Another anniversary of 9/11 has passed, but never will it really be over. Sometimes I don’t know who has done more to devastate the United States – bin Laden continues to terrorize, Bush and his cronies continue to demoralize.
I’m a little surprised at the intensity of the emotion that lingers, and is so strongly stirred each year on this date. As I watch video of that ominous morning, it still brings me to tears. The shock and grief is still palpable.
It’s salt on the wound that we are still losing our service people to a war in Iraq and bin Laden is still out there threatening us. This administration has offered no apologies for using the vulnerability of this nation to further their own agenda, and they continue to monopolize our American forces; tour after tour our fellow citizens, our people, are asked to serve in this bogus war, in a land that never had weapons of mass destruction, and never attacked the United States, and never had any intention to do so. They serve bravely, and they are dying. It’s worthy of note that we’ve now lost more Americans in Iraq (3,774) than we did on 9/11/2001. I won’t get into the numbers of Iraqi civilians who’ve been terrorized by this war, but that too is noteworthy and criminal. The frustration is maddening. I don’t want to be angry. The fear is, well… it’s scary. I don’t want to be afraid. I want to understand how it is that our nation’s leaders continue to drive us down this road of humiliation and repression. How it is that they’ve implemented their own set of rules for themselves and those who do their dirty work for them. I don’t want them to walk away from this mess in a year to live out their days hunting and fishing and yucking it up, while we are left to clean up their mess. I don’t want to be angry anymore.
I will be posting some highlights of General David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, being questioned by the Senate Armed Services Committee this week, as they become available. Until then, click here for some good Time coverage.
Lastly but most importantly (especially after all that bitching) I must share what I believe in my heart to be true: that each day that we are here on this earth is a gift. Live with everything. Love with everything. Speak your love. Appreciate and honor the beauty of life and the planet. Be good to people. Everything can change in a nanosecond.
imagine
just imagine…
click here to browse while listening
performed on September 21, 2001
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Tee of the Month
