Occupy the Planet

Occupy Wall Street is now on day 15 as today begins Occupy Asheville. It is an amazing time in history that we find ourselves. We watch on TV as, night after night, the cable news shows show Egyptians rising against their oppressive regime, the "rebels" in Libya fighting Ghaddafi. Now after 2 weeks of Occupy Wall Street, MSNBC is finally showing coverage of Occupy Wall Street. I do not use the word "report" as even Chris Hayes' "live" report from New York last night, he said something along the lines of 'you see the typical drum circle, free hugs, etc'. After his coverage, @LastWord Tweeted 'this was recorded earlier'.
NO ONE is reporting on the actual number of cities participating in this movement. OccupyTogether.org currently lists 101 cities participating in the US and 20 International cities. On Twitter there are many feeling that this is the start of a #GlobalRevolution, an American Autumn to respond to the Arab Spring. Is this what the Mayans were predicting in 2012? A global rising in conscience? Where the world citizens are rising up against their global masters and saying ENOUGH! I do not want to buy the bullshit you are peddling! I will not longer be a consumer. I am a citizen of the world and I am responsible for the atrocities committed in the name of global financial domination and I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!

Crumbling Towers

As I dive back into the blogging pool, across the globe the young are rising up against the powers that be. It has been well over a year since my last post. Since then, the tea party Right have become so loud in the US their voices sound like gunshots, while Progressive voices have become silent and they were driven out of the House. Few in Washington speak for Mother Earth, but many claim to speak for Jesus. The State of the Union is comfortably numb. The youth of America are amused into a stupor with either technological gadgets or pharmaceutical drugs and want nothing to do with politics.
But it now seems that the heavy handed Republicans have awakened a sleeping giant, the middle class. For weeks people of Wisconsin have kept a vigil of sorts. A peaceful demanding to maintain our only safeguard against the Right's privatization of the US. There is a person I follow on Twitter, @WomensWorkUSA that has tweeted this recently,

As long as there are CEOs who will send people out to clean up an oil spill w/out clean up gear to prevent asphyxiation, we need unions.

As long as there are CEOs who live in gated communities so they do not have to mix w/any but the affluent, we need unions to ensure equity.

As long as there are CEOs who cut jobs right before Thanksgiving or Christmas to make final quarter look good...we need family values unions

As long as there are CEOs who speculate on Wall Street with your hard earned cash like it is fake monopoly money, we need unions.

As long as there are CEOs who do far better moving their corporation overseas where ppl will work gladly for $1/day, we need unions in USA.

As long as there are CEOs who will send truck drivers or pilots off to work...still sleeping/sleepless...we need unions.

As long as there are CEOs who hold paychecks beyond bank closing time to get another day's interest in THEIR account, we need unions.

As long as there are CEOs who think dropping a stack of work on your desk at 5 pm on Friday is amusing, we need unions to determine OT.

As long as there are CEOs who are in charge of your 401K (life savings), we need unions to protect it from being cannibalized.

As long as there are CEOs who might use their power to intimidate for sexual favors, we need unions to protect from abuse.

As long as there are CEOs who penalize workers for needing to go to a child's doctor apptmt, school meeting, or to vote...we need unions.

As long as there are CEOs who pay men 1/3rd more than they do a woman because she might get pregnant, we need to have unions.

As long as there are CEOs who can take out an insurance policy on you in case you die in which they profit, we need unions 2 keep you alive.

As long as there are CEOs who are not women and do not realize women care for family and elderly too and need flexible hours, we need unions

As long as there are CEOs who do not themselves spend time w/their families and do not understand why you should either... we need unions.

As long as there are CEOs who think in terms of "management"/us and "labor" /them we will need unions, to bridge the gulf.

As long as there are CEOs who can afford a Cadillac healthcare plan and want you to have only emergency care not prevention, we need unions.

As long as there are CEOs who think "breaks" are for the weak and would gladly have you work without any...we need unions.

As long as there are CEOs who buy equipment from the "lowest bidder" instead of what is most safe, we will need unions to ensure safety.

As long as there are CEOs who will purposefully understaff and force people to work double and triple shifts, we will need unions.

As long as there are CEOs who hire illegals so they can underpay, abuse and threaten them... we will need unions to protect US workers.

As long as there are CEOs who want to cut public service jobs to engage in nepotism w/private companies, we will need unions.

As long as there are CEOs who think it's "socialist" to care for the elderly and disabled, we will need unions to protect pensions.

As long as there are CEOs circumventing the will of the many to benefit a few wealthy donors, we will need unions to protect the middle class.

As long as there are CEOs who do not profit share with their workers and pull 350X their salaries, we will need unions to ensure equity.

As long as there are CEOs who want products delivered into wee hours of night, faster than competition, we need unions to protect drivers.

As long as there are CEOs who think of children as commodity instead of as individuals who learn at own pace, we will need teachers unions.

As long as there are CEOs who engage frackting and risk causing spontaneous fires at job site and in homes, we will need unions 4 safety.

As long as there are CEOs who will build an oil rig w/o a single working blowout preventor, we will need unions to protect worker safety

As long as there are CEOs that will send men down into a mine 2640 feet below the earth's surface w/o an escape route, we will need unions.

Dennis Kucinich addressed a crowd in Wisconsin, try not to me moved:



While the US continues to be divided...on second thought, are we divided or are the powers that be, including the Corporate State Media, manipulating us into factions? Surely we all want to be able to see a doctor when we are sick, want our children to have a good education, want clean air and fresh water. We all want food that tastes good and doesn't harm our health. We ALL want these things and we want these things for future generations.
This brings me to nuclear power. In the shadow of the ongoing nuclear emergency in Japan after the 9.0 earthquake and 30ft tsunami, the US takes a look at it's nuclear power. On February 16th,

Promising "this is only the beginning," President Barack Obama announced more than $8 billion in federal loan guarantees Tuesday for the construction of the first nuclear power plant in the United States in nearly three decades.
MSNBC

The videos and pictures out of Japan are truly surreal.

NY Times Satellite Photos



The nuclear reactors withstood the earthquake, but the tsunami is another story. The current situation is terrifying. It is hard to find an article that is not downplaying the crisis. Last I read, there were over 180,000 people evacuated in a 10 km perimeter around the facilities.
This is the latest out of the UK:

Japan nuclear plant: meltdown fears after explosion

Now we see the US conversation is turning to the overall safety record of nuclear. On C-Span's Washington Journal this morning they were talking as if the Japan nuclear crisis were over and they had averted a nuclear catastrophe. Again downplaying the reality of the current dangerous situation. When asked about the problem with storage of the nuclear waste, the Republican Representative did not have an answer. This is a wake up call that we need to pursue energy policies that will leave a healthy planet 100...200...500 years down the road. Renewables, solar, wind, hydroelectric, are the only way. I want a healthy planet for my great, great, great, great....grandchildren.

I have a friend that has a blog called the Village Witch. She talks quite a bit about it being "Tower Time."



The basic story of the Tower card in the tarot deck is this:

Basic Tarot Story

As the Fool leaves the throne of the Goat God, he comes upon a Tower, fantastic, magnificent, and familiar. In fact, The Fool, himself, helped build this Tower back when the most important thing to him was making his mark on the world and proving himself better than other men. Inside the Tower, at the top, arrogant men still live, convinced of their rightness.

Seeing the Tower again, the Fool feels as if lightning has just flashed across his mind; he thought he'd left that old self behind when he started on this spiritual journey. But he realizes now that he hasn't. He's been seeing himself, like the Tower, like the men inside, as alone and singular and superior, when in fact, he is no such thing.

So captured is he by the shock of this insight, that he opens his mouth and releases a SHOUT! And to his astonishment and terror, a bolt of actual lightning slashes down from the heavens striking the Tower and sending its residents leaping out into the waters below.

In a moment, it is over. The Tower is rubble, only rocks remaining. Stunned and shaken to the core, the Fool experiences profound fear and disbelief. But also, a strange clarity of vision, as if his inner eye has finally opened. He tore down his resistance to change and sacrifice (Hanged man), then came to terms with Death (Death); he learned about moderation and synthesis (Temperance) and about power (The Devil). But here and now, he has done what was hardest: he destroyed the lies of his life. What's left are the foundations of truth. On this he can rebuild himself.

People are feeling the effects around the globe, uprisings of the working class. A longing to tear down the ivory towers that the ubber rich hoard their excess in.


The working class around the world is the Fool. We are releasing our shout....hold on as the towers around the globe crumble.

Taking Back the Flag

My husband, after recently "coming out" of the Facebook closet, recently left as his status "Guess what people... I'm an AMERICAN too... and I'm taking this flag BACK." This makes me ponder about what it means to be American, what are our civil rights? For that matter, what ARE civil rights? These are the just claims we should have as a society. Merriam Webster defines civil rights as "the nonpolitical rights of a citizen; especially : the rights of personal liberty guaranteed to United States citizens by the 13th and 14th amendments to the Constitution and by acts of Congress". But it is more than that. The world does not revolve around the US, as this definition would imply, civil rights are not something we only have in America. Wikipedia describes it more universally as 'Natural Justice'. When I think of natural justice I think that people living in a just society would have the right to basic necessities of living such as water, food, shelter from the elements, education, to be treated equally no matter the color of their skin, spiritual beliefs, sex, social status or their sexual preference. People in a just society should be treated when sick, without the greed of profit hindering the healing process. They should not be tortured nor should they be detained without a fair trial.

Now I am talking more about human rights, I guess, but what is the difference? Civil rights should include human rights. One thing I do notice different in the US. The right to make a profit seems to be way ahead of any other rights, as seen in the bill recently put out by Baucus. It is written to ensure the insurance and pharmaceutical companies make a healthy profit. But it is obvious what the majority of the public wants by hearing the crowds react to Obama's recent speech at the University of Maryland.


(It's within the first 5 minutes) Originally posted here at the DailyKos, by Jed Lewison. When he talked about Baucus' bill, the crowd was quiet and started booing him. Earlier in the speech, he mentions the public option and the crowd goes nuts cheering. Shouldn't every person in the US have access to equal health care, without regard to economic status? Should this not be a basic human right? Or does the US have it's head so far up it's ass that it cannot see it is part of a global community?

After World War II, the world came together with a global expression of rights to which all human beings are entitled. Similar to the way Americans came together after 9/11, but that became merely feigned patriotism and a distrust, bordering on hatred, of Muslims. But on December 10th, 1948, after WWII, the world came together and the UN adopted the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 4
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article 5
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 6
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Article 7
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 8
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article 9
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
Article 11

1. Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
2. No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 13

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
2. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including their own, and to return to their country.

Article 14

1. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
2. This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15

1. Everyone has the right to a nationality.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16

1. Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
2. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
3. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17

1. Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 20

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21

1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of their country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
2. Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in their country.
3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
Article 23

1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Article 25

1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26

1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
2. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
3. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27

1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.
Article 29

1. Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
2. In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
3. These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

We should make December 10, 2009 a day to take back our flag. Prove that being an American does not mean we only care for ourselves.


Take back our label of the melting pot. Embrace and live the words on the statue of liberty:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

Stand up and demand basic human rights, demand Universal Health Care!!

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised!!!

The Revolution will not be televised! It will be on your local low power FM station, your progressive voice of the mountains, WPVM LP, in Asheville , NC.

Listen Here!! http://www.rednailmusic.com/revolutionary_radio.mp3

Read more here!! WPVM blog

More later...

Hope and Peace

As we approach the Winter Solstice, the sun will begin it's return and the promise of change is but weeks away. Obama is not exactly showing enough signs of change, per his appointments, as any true progressive would seek, but he's better than the other choice. We hope.

May the quiet of the Solstice bring us peace.

Fillin', Killin', and Drillin'

As our country has quickly slipped into our second Great Depression, I have remained silent on my blog. So much is happening...so much to take in. The last hurricane to hit the Gulf (was it Ike?) caused a gas shortage in the Southeast, Asheville included. In fact, Western North Carolina may have been the hardest hit. Panic was the word of the week here, with gas rising as much as $5.50 per gallon. Although it was better that Katrina, price wise anyway. During Katrina, gas rose well over $6.00 per gallon. This time it was a bit different, an ugly species of human emerged...the hoarder. People lined up, sometimes taking over four hours to get their gas. Some pulled their boats and all the gas cans they could find. The smarter stations limited the amount of gas, $10-50 dollars worth. My husband and I avoided most of the mess. We put $20 in our car when the hurricane was hitting land. We remembered last time. We started conserving gas more, something we should have started a long time ago, and our daughter started riding the bus.
The mortgage crisis has not left us unharmed, although we are renters. Our landlord got one of those adjustable rate mortgages and has has to raise our rent or risk losing our house. I guess you could call this a trickle down crisis.
Do I have to mention the stock crash or the hate-filled presidential campaign? OK, I'll talk about Palin. I cannot fathom why any thinking person would support the McCain/Palin ticket. Especially women. I have to post this info about Palin:


As Governor, Palin offered a $150 bounty for every front left wolf paw. She thinks of them as vermin.



She doesn't want any pesky environmentalist messing with her killin' and drillin'.



How can you argue with a whale?

I am very scared for my daughter's future.

Sara Palin, Tina Fey Body Double Extraordinaire

John McCain Bio

The Daily Show with John Stewart

IVAW at DNC & RNC

IVAW with Operation First Casualty at DNC in Denver
As they say, the first casualty of war is always the truth.



IVAW marching at RNC protest in Minneapolis.

Wake Up America!!

Only Kucinich tells the truth.....if only he were our candidate.

Dead Man Walking

Amy Goodman always brings stories to light that the mainstream media ignores. Today she talked about the inmate on death row for a crime he did not commit. His cousin did it, he shot the man behind the counter at the convenience store. Woods, outside in the car, heard the gunfire and ran in. The cashier died instantly and was most likely already dead before Wood even entered the store. By a draconian law in Texas, the Law of Parties, Wood is guilty by association. He was driving the "get-away car". Here is the law's wording:

THE STATUATORY BASIS OF THE LAW OF PARTIES
Section 7.02 of the Texas Penal Code outlines the following:
A person is criminally responsible for an offense committed by the conduct of another if "acting with intent to promote or assist the commission of the offense he solicits, encourages, directs, aids or attempts to aid the other persons to commit the offense" or "If, in the attempt to carry out a conspiracy to commit one felony, another felony is committed by one of the conspirators, all conspirators are guilty of the felony actually committed, though having no intent to commit it, if the offense was committed in furtherance of the unlawful purpose and was one that should have been anticipated as a result of the carrying out of the conspiracy."
Article 37.071(b)(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedures permits the infliction of the death penalty only if the jury believes beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant "intended to kill the deceased or another or anticipated that a human life would be taken."

PARTIES AND THE US SUPREME COURT
The US Supreme Court held that imposition of the death penalty on a person who aids and abets a felony in the course of which a murder is committed by others but who does not himself kill, attempt to kill, or intend to kill violates the 8th and 14th Amendments of the US Constitution. (Edmund v. Florida 458 US 782, 1982)
Five years after the Edmund decision the Supreme Court created an exception to this general rule for those guilty of a murder that occurs in the commission of a felony who do not kill or intend to kill, but who have major personal involvement in the felony and display a reckless indifference to human life. (Tison v. Arizona, 481 US 137, 1987)

THE STANDARD NECESSARY TO DEMONSTRATE RECKLESS INDIFFERENCE TO HUMAN LIFE
The Delaware Superior Court observed:
"Major participation and reckless indifference to human life are more likely to be found where an accomplice defendant is present at and before a killing which involved considerable deliberation and the killing is preceded by physical or psychological abuse of the victim, including assault, torture or other acts of cruelty. Such a finding is less likely where the killing is sudden or impulsive and it is unclear that the defendant actually caused the victim’s death."
The application of Texas Penal Code 7.02, in combination with Texas Code of Criminal Procedures Article 37.071(b)(2), is unjust and unconstitutional because it permits the death penalty to be imposed for complicity in a capital crime without requiring a finding that the person intended to kill or that he was a major participant in a crime where he showed reckless disregard for human life. In other words, neglecting to anticipate another actor’s commission of murder in the course of a felony is all that is required to make a Texas defendant death-eligible, thus immensely lowering the standard the US Supreme Court has set. This is allowing the death penalty to be applied in a most immoral and liberal way.

Texas loves the death penalty. Governor Dubya certainly proved that. This Law of Parties is a barbaric, shameful and horrific piece of legislation. Texas needs to rethink it's place in the 21st century. Will they continue on the path to totalitarianism? When a time for peace and harmony is so desperately needed, it is sad to see so many Orwellian laws go into effect.
Jeff wood, I will light a candle for you today and continue to call Texas Governor Rick Perry's office. If you wish to call, here is the info:

Please call the Governor of Texas at 512-463-2000

Office of the Governor Fax: (512) 463-1849

Tell the Governor to Issue a 30-day Stay of Execution to Jeff Wood

Jeff is Scheduled for Execution Thursday, Aug 21 at 6pm, THAT'S TODAY, so CALL NOW!

What Happen's When There Is No More?

I've taken a few weeks to reflect on all the things going on in the world and in our town. From the watch on the 100 year old magnolia sitting on death row in our own town square (see Asheville on the Ground blog for daily updates), to the election and the two front runners, each with their own major faults, if that were the only things happening, I would be more at peace. The drumbeat to war is getting louder, and they are playing the same tune as they did in 2002-2003. War with Iran seems imminent. The push to drill for more oil continues despite the catastrophic effect on our fragile earth. The thing that makes me cry is that they are all connected.
I recently heard about this disaster in the Amazon in Ecuador. Actually I had heard but had no idea of the scope;



What Exxon/Texaco says via Faux Fox News;



While trying to talk to my brother about it this morning, I had tears in my eyes. (Sometimes talking to him is like talking to a rock.) Tears as I thought about our Mother Earth and how She is raped on a daily basis and in Her most intimate and fragile spots. Think about Tropicana and their new juice which describes in a sensuous voice about a berry from the Amazon rain forest. Think about the medicine ingredients big pharmaceutical use which some are rare and endangered.
I subbed for Cecil Bothwell for Blows Against the Empire on WPVM a few weeks ago and played the song More by Madonna. She sings about wanting more, when you have a little you just want more and more. I have added bold to the phrases that catch me;

More

Once upon a time I had plenty of nothing,
Which was fine with me.
Because I had rhythm, music, love,
The sun, the stars and the moon above,
Had the clear blue sky and the deep blue sea.
That was when the best things in life were free.

Then time went by and now I got plenty of plenty,
Which is fine with me.
'Cause I still got love, I still got rhythm,
But look at what I got to go with 'em.
"Who could ask for anything more?", I hear you query.
Who would ask for anything more? Well, let me tell you, dearie.

Got my diamonds, got my yacht, got a guy I adore.
I'm so happy with what I got, I want more!

Count your blessings, one, two, three
I just hate keeping score.
Any number is fine with me
As long as it's more
As long as it's more!

I'm no mathematician, all I know is addition
I find counting a bore.
Keep the number mounting, your accountant does the counting.
(More! More!)

I got rhythm, music too, just as much as before
Got my guy and my sky of blue,
Now, however, I own the view.
More is better than nothing, true
But nothing's better than more, more, more
Nothing's better than more.

One is fun, why not two?
And if you like two, you might as well have four,
And if you like four, why not a few
Why not a slew
(More! More!)

If you've got a little, why not a lot?
Add and bit and it'll get to be an oodle.
Every jot and tittle adds to the pot
Soon you've got the kit as well as the caboodle.
(More! More!)

Never say when, never stop at plenty,
If it's gonna rain, let it pour.
Happy with ten, happier with twenty
If you like a penny, wouldn't you like many much more?

Or does that sound too greedy?
That's not greed, no, indeedy
That's just stocking the store
Gotta fill your cupboard, remember Mother Hubbard.
(More! More!)

Each possession you possess
Helps your spirits to soar.
That's what's soothing about excess
Never settle for something less.
Something's better than nothing, yes!
But nothing's better than more, more more
(Except all, all, all)
Except all, all, all
Except once you have it all (have it all)
You may find all else above (find all else above)
That though things are bliss,
There's one thing you miss, and that's
More! More!
More! More! More! More!
More! More! More!

I have always heard this song with an environmental message rather that materialistic, but then again, they are all connected. Our "undying need to consume and create things we can consume". I believe we are at peek oil. Oil is destroying our earth, air and water. The demand for clean energy is now. I will end with the lyrics to another song. This one by Melissa Etheridge;

What Happens Tomorrow

I believe if I look hard enough
I will see
That there can be enough
I believe I can think clear enough
To conceive
A place where there's enough

If not now, when
If not today then
What about tomorrow
What happens tomorrow

I believe a woman can work hard and succeed
And we could be content
To believe that she could be in charge
Of the free
And be the president

If not now, when
If not today then
What happens tomorrow
What happens tomorrow
If you become the change
You want to see you change
What happens tomorrow
What happens tomorrow

I believe that we are waking up from the spell
That those that profit from the fear
Cast so well
And good people of the earth now can tell
There is no us and them

If not now, when
If not today then
What happens tomorrow
What happens tomorrow

All is love
All is choice
Everyone and every voice
All of life that you see
All are possibilities
As above so below
To wed the sense into the soul
This is truth I believe
I believe I believe

Truth is of the people
By the people
For the people

Peace on Earth

If you have never heard this song before, this is one of my favorite Willie Nelson songs.

Whatever Happened To Peace On Earth - Willie Nelson

There's so many things going on in the world
Babies dying
Mothers crying
How much oil is one human life worth
And what ever happened to peace on earth

We believe everything that they tell us
They're gonna' kill us
So we gotta' kill them first
But I remember a commandment
Thou shall not kill
How much is that soldier's life worth
And whatever happened to peace on earth

(Bridge)
And the bewildered herd is still believing
Everything we've been told from our birth
Hell they won't lie to me
Not on my own damn TV
But how much is a liar's word worth
And whatever happened to peace on earth

So I guess it's just
Do unto others before they do it to you
Let's just kill em' all and let God sort em' out
Is this what God wants us to do

(Repeat Bridge)
And the bewildered herd is still believing
Everything we've been told from our birth
Hell they won't lie to me
Not on my own damn TV
But how much is a liar's word worth
And whatever happened to peace on earth

Now you probably won't hear this on your radio
Probably not on your local TV
But if there's a time, and if you're ever so inclined
You can always hear it from me
How much is one picker's word worth
And whatever happened to peace on earth

But don't confuse caring for weakness
You can't put that label on me
The truth is my weapon of mass protection
And I believe truth sets you free

(Bridge)
And the bewildered herd is still believing
Everything we've been told from our birth
Hell they won't lie to me
Not on my own damn TV
But how much is a liar's word worth
And whatever happened to peace on earth

Our Mother is Hurting

I am a C-Span junkie...I admit it. But I believe it should be free, why should we have to pay to watch Congress bicker? Recently, I have been watching the Republicans push for drilling in our National Forests and on the continental shelf, as if our planet were as disposable as our culture. Even our celebrities are disposable, one day they have a hit TV show and the next they are an unknown.
The desire to drill for more oil seems futile. If we are at peek oil production, why drill for the remaining resources when we can use that money to place solar along our massive interstate highway system, invest in public mass transit making it cheaper to travel long distances. We need to move away from fossil fuels, we have seen what it does to our fragile planet. Nuclear power is not the answer either, as McInsane is touting. Nuclear waste is a major issue and should not just be swept under the rug or mountain as they want to do. Clean coal is a myth. What is clean about mountain top removal and poisoned streams? What happens once all our water sources are polluted?
Since I have been recycling for many years, the thought that others still do not recycle seemed foreign to me. I recently realized that most of my immediate family does NOT recycle. Even my sister who is Wiccan. How can she be a daughter of the earth and not even recycle! But that is the hypocrisy of organized religion. The "do as I say, not as I do" attitude.
This is all connected. This is the road to the destruction of our Mother Earth.

Kucinich the Just - A Tireless Warrior for Impeachment

We can dream, can't we? Or has that been outlawed?

Kucinich, Kucinich, Kucinich....I just love that man. Who else has the balls to take over four and a half hours to read 35 articles of impeachment on the floor of the House? Although I have yet to see the story on TV, including C-Span, where last night they aired Dennis reading all 35 articles of impeachment starting at 7:30pm yesterday ending around midnight. It is one of the most popular stories on Yahoo news today. Whoever wrote the article, called his efforts basically a waste of time:

Rep. Kucinich calls for Bush impeachment

By JoAnne AllenMon Jun 9, 10:13 PM ET

Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich defied his party leadership on Monday by calling for the impeachment of U.S. President George W. Bush for launching the Iraq war -- but his move was not expected to go anywhere.

The Ohio representative outlined his intention to propose more than two dozen charges against Bush on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Kucinich, a former presidential candidate, accused Bush executing a "calculated and wide-ranging strategy" to deceive citizens and Congress into believing that Iraq posed an imminent threat to the United States.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly said she opposes trying to remove the Republican president who leaves office next January because such an attempt would be divisive and most likely unsuccessful.

Kucinich, an outspoken Iraq war critic who has consistently voted against funding the war and led anti-war efforts in Congress, offered a resolution to impeach Vice president Dick Cheney in April 2007. That also failed to move forward.

Many Democrats and civil liberties groups have accused the Bush administration of providing misleading information before the 2003 Iraq invasion as well as violating the rights of U.S. citizens with its warrantless surveillance program. The White House denies the charges.

(Editing by Alan Elsner)

I'm not sure why such a short article would need editing including listing the name of the editor. This is not the norm. Additionally the article was written before he even finished reading the articles of impeachment.
As one person wrote on Op-Ed News, the story cannot be found on the mainstream media. They are more concerned with the election and whatever sensational murder has occurred. But there is an even more sensational murder taking place in Washington, the demise of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and Habeas Corpus. Why is this not news?
Next step, a trial for war crimes.
The 35 articles included masking global warming, lying about Iraq, 9/11 quasi-investigation, and 32 others. At least we have one Warrior for Justice in the house. I believe they ask every Representative to turn in their spine when they are elected.
Thanks Dennis, for keeping your spine.

Collateral Damage

Lisa Holland
Foreign affairs correspondent
Updated:07:32, Thursday May 29, 2008

Families in the Iraqi city of Fallujah are calling for an investigation into their claims of a rise in the number of birth defects.

Three-year-old Fatima Ahmed

They have raised concerns about the weapons used by American forces in 2004 - when Fallujah suffered one of the heaviest bombardments of the entire war in Iraq.

The evidence is anecdotal because there are no records from the era of Saddam Hussein to compare their stories against.

But Hikmat Tawfeeq, deputy chairman of the Fallujah-based human rights group Alakhiyar said: "We have around 200 cases of deformities recorded by our society. Most of these cases are birth deformities which have arisen after the bombing of Fallujah."

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1317448,00.html?f=rss

Campaigners say officials are reluctant to speak out publicly, but at Fallujah's children's hospital one doctor told Sky News in the past month she has seen one or two cases of birth deformities every day.

An opthalmologist said he deals with four or five cases of newborn babies every week suffering from some form of eye deformity - and that has risen in the last two years.

At one of the cemeteries in Fallujah, undertaker Mahmoud Hummadi said he usually buries four to five bodies of newborns every day and most of them are deformed.

Phosphorus over Fallujah in 2004

Fallujah today still bears the scars of a time when it represented the backbone of the Sunni insurgency - a power-base America decided it had to break.

April and November 2004 saw some of the heaviest bombardments of the war in Iraq, including the controversial use of white phosphorous.

It is a highly flammable material which ignites when it comes into contact with oxygen, causing severe burns.

In a statement to Sky News the US military said it had used white phosphorus in Fallujah but primarily as a smokescreen and not as an incendiary weapon.

US troops bombed the city

The families say doctors have raised concerns to them about what kinds of materials were used by the Americans in order to achieve their military goals.

Fatima Ahmed is three years old. Small and lifeless she barely moves, burdened by two heads on her tiny frame.

Her mother Shukriya says doctors have been unable to diagnose exactly what has caused Fatima's condition.

But her father Jassim, when asked who he held responsible for his daughter's condition, said: "It's because of the war - it's the flagrant aggression they launched against us. What they dropped in Fallujah God knows."

We showed our findings from Fallujah to Alastair Hay, a professor of environmental toxicology at Leeds University.

He is currently investigating injuries caused to children during the war in Iraq. He says without an independent medical study it is impossible to say for sure what has caused the deformities and how they may be linked.

But he says there has never been a study examining if there ARE links between white phosphorus and birth deformities.

Voices

Although I did not finish my term of duty in the Navy, I went through the training and by definition, I am a Veteran. I am thankful I did not see war first hand as many of my fellow Veterans who work to make Veterans' Voices possible. In the core group, we have a Korean War Vet, a Vietnam Vet and an Iraq Vet. Then there's me. But successful military men and women are rare in my family, although many of us tried. My father joined the national guard at the age of 16, lying to get in. I believe he was eventually found out. My uncle was in the Army and had a very successful career. My oldest brother, inspired by our uncle's service, enlisted before he was drafted in 1970. He broke his knee during boot camp and was discharged. My other brother joined or was drafted (I'll have to talk to him about it) and served for two years. The family story is that he got hooked on heroin and overdosed and had to have fluid drained off his brain. I'm not sure how much is true. He receives a disability check from Uncle Sam every month. I now have two nephews, one recently returned from Afghanistan and the other an officer in the Navy nuclear field.
I am thrilled to be a part of Veterans' Voices on WPVM. I am proud to be a part of the independent media movement. Recently, we have interviewed Ret. Col. Ann Wright and Howard Zinn. Mike Ferrell of M*A*S*H fame arrived too late into Asheville to make the interview. We will do a phone interview with him in the near future, although I am not as excited as I was before I heard him give a talk at Malaprops. Even though he has been involved with human rights issues for most of his life, he enjoys talking about M*A*S*H more. I didn't ask him a softball question. Check out what he wrote in his Huffington Post Blog:

One woman asked about my association with the Cult Awareness Network and what I thought about this terrible situation with the kids from the polygamous Mormon cult in Texas. A really tough one. I understand that there's been a ruling holding that the kids were not molested, something I personally find hard to believe. Another person mentions reading this blog, which knocks me out! The idea that someone actually reads it (besides Shelley and my daughter Erin--and now my sister Kathy--and the folks at Akashic Books) makes me laugh.

Both these women were me. I didn't like his answer to my question, but that is the mainstream view about non-mainstream religions. What if the state did not like my religion, would it be right for them to take my daughter, too?
I also got a chance to work the board for Wally Bowen's interview with Amy Goodman. Her speech was brilliant.







I am happy to be a part of independent media, to give a voice to the once voiceless. I hope I can make a difference.

Veterans' Voices ~ Noam Chomsky interview

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Pictures Say 1000 Words

Economic Stimulus Scam

Image stolen from cartoonstock.com

You might not want to count on your stimulus check. Not if you owe back taxes, student loans, child support or other money. This whole government stimulus issue is a scam, a scam for the government to get their money, owed by the poor working class people of this country. In this time when our country is in a recession leading towards a depression, why would they just give people money? Did they think that people who actually received a check would spend it on something other than bills? The whole thing is a SCAM! Just imagine how many people are counting on receiving a check, some will spend the money before they receive it. When it is time for their check to arrive, many will receive a note from the IRS stating why they did not receive anything because they owe the government money from their student loans, which they could not make the payments on because of their ballooning mortgage payments. With the money they thought they were receiving already spent, this brings them further into the hole. This will lead to further foreclosures, worsening the recession, leading us further down the road to a second depression. Don't you find this hypocritical of our government to tell us not to spend our money on bills yet they take it for bills you owe them? Just how much money does the government receive back?
Don't get depressed about this though, remember, the government has your best interest at heart. (Yeah right) They want to you continue spending, continue to accumulate debt. The whole credit score system is based on being in debt. If you do not have much debt, this counts against your credit score. But if you have too much debt, this also decreases your credit score. This whole credit score thing is a scam, too. Where do you rank on their score card?
The government takes up to a third of what people make. When you only make $20,000 a year, a third of that is too much. When it comes down to it, we are not citizens, we are slaves to the US economy. Slaves to our capitalistic, imperialist government. Slaves to the once almighty dollar.