Word of the Day

Bush:
"It seemed like to me they based some of their decisions on the word of -- and the allegations -- by people who were held in detention, people who hate America, people that had been trained in some instances to disassemble -- that means not tell the truth".

Umm...ok. I really hope my kids are learning this new language. May as well throw the dictionary away because he defines them for us too. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Of the People?

If Congress can investigate a lie about a sex act, Clinton's blow job, then surely it can take an issue such as war, the reasons for going, whether we were deceived into it, and how the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy, into it's hands for an investigation.

It's really an issue now of credibility in our entire system. If an investigation does not happen, it will be clear that this is no longer a government of the people, by the people and for the people. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Campaign Launched to Demand Resolution of Inquiry

The recent release of the Downing Street Memo (pdf file) provides new and compelling evidence that the President of the United States has been actively engaged in a conspiracy to deceive and mislead the United States Congress and the American people about the basis for going to war against Iraq. If true, such conduct constitutes a High Crime under Article II, Section 4 of the United States Constitution.

In response to the release of the memo, John Bonifaz, a Boston attorney specializing in constitutional litigation, sent a memo to Congressman John Conyers of Michigan, the Ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, urging him to introduce a Resolution of Inquiry directing the House Judiciary Committee to launch a formal investigation into whether sufficient grounds exist for the House to impeach President Bush.

Progressive Democrats of America has joined with AfterDowningStreet.org, a coalition of veterans' groups, peace groups, and political activist groups to launch a campaign urging the U.S. Congress to begin a formal investigation into whether President Bush has committed impeachable offenses in connection with the Iraq war and they need everyone's help! Here are some simple tools to alert your local media outlet about this new coalition. Demand a Resolution of Inquiry!

It will take everything we've got to generate the volume of emails and phone calls into Congress that we need. I was reading someone's comment about signing the letter John Conyers seeking signatures for, and the girl who wrote the comment, a 22 year old, was afraid to put her name on it. That's what we have become. I find that terribly sad. No one should be afraid to demand credibility from an elected official!

The Corpus Callosum reminds us of the Paul O'Neill memo, the agenda for President Bush's first National Security Council meeting, stamped January 31, 2001, indicating that the Bush administration thought planning for Post-Saddam Iraq was the most important security issue they faced. What is This and Why is it Important?

I think you'll agree an inquiry is in order.
Ask for one!

Do two things today.
• Contact the media.
• Sign John Conyers letter.

BBA posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.
* Kurt Vonnegut posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Handful of Headlines

Just about as overwhelming as I feel overwhelmed.

Give Rumsfeld the Pinochet Treatment, Says US Amnesty Chief

Domestic Urban War Games in Maryland

Iran, Cuba Seek Closer Ties with Russia

Fidel Castro Goads Washington to Come Clean on Posada Carriles Case

Holocaust Survivor Says He's Leaving The US

Are We Inching Toward Germany, Circa 1933?

The 'Ism' at the Gate

Stripping Rumsfeld and Bush of Impunity

Koran Desecration: Worse than Abu Ghraib

From Cakewalk to Bloodbath: Bush Opts for Civil War in Iraq

The Coming Shi'ite Showdown

Navy Judge Finds War Protest Reasonable

Amway: 'Masters of deception'

The Ministry of Propaganda The Media as an Instrument of War

"See in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." mp3 file posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Gimme Some Truth (link to mp3 by Craig)

A lie told often enough becomes truth
No doubt because "Imagine" is John Lennon's masterpiece, these days we seldom hear another of his classics,

I'm sick and tired of hearing things
From uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocritics
All I want is the truth
Just Gimme Some Truth (mp3 by Craig)

...) Clearly the Administration's moral stance is that the ends justify the means; they have followed the advice of Niccolo Machiavelli, "politics have no relations to morals," This immorality stains their entire agenda; for example, it explains why the Bushies continue to insist that tax cuts for the wealthy benefit the economy. No one who cares about truth, or democracy, should believe anything that the Administration says.

The fascinating question is why haven't the Democrats made more of the Bush duplicity and venality? [more] posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

H.E.R.B.

Had Enough Religious Bullshit.
Links to articles, cartoons, and scary quotations.
Two great European narcotics, alcohol and Christianity.
-- Friedrich Nietzsche
(Gee, and to think, Dubya has abused both.) posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

The Voice of the People (yours and mine)

Hold the Bush Administration accountable!
Sign the letter written by Rep John Conyers (D-Mich) requesting answers posed to Bush by 89 members of Congress regarding the content of The Downing Street Memo.
Do it now and pass it along to others!
Here is the permalink to his weblog entry regarding the letter. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

The bird man of the Manzanitas

Not far from Alford's house is a ponderosa pine that has a dead spot in it about 15 feet off the ground.

"But for some reason or other, it has sprouted limbs on either side of the dead spot and has got to be a large, healthy tree," he says. "It got to a point in life where it had to make a change."

Alford, who admits he perceives lessons everywhere in nature, sees this tree as a metaphor for his own life and changes he has made.

He has been sober for 16 years.

His diet today is mostly vegetarian, he runs several miles three or four times a week and hikes up the mountain above his home on those days he doesn't run.

His weight, once close to 200 pounds, is down to a trim 152 stretched over his 5-foot-9-inch frame.

"There were times in my life when I treated my body like a toxic waste dump," he says. "Now, I consider the great gifts in my life to be my body and the planet it lives on.

"And the way I express my appreciation is by doing everything I can to sustain the health of both."

About eight years ago, Alford joined Forest Guardians, a Santa Fe environmental advocacy organization. Today he is vice president of the organization's board of directors and an active supporter of its programs - especially Forest Guardians' ongoing battle to save New Mexico's public lands from overgrazing by cattle.
[ more of his story ]

It sounds like the life for me, and no hate groups either! posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

The Huffington Post : John Conyers

John Conyers has an article about the state of our media and questions why we don't know about the Downing Street Memo.
Did you know Conyers has a blog?

Forum for Media Bias and the Freedom of the Press, hosted by John Conyers is taking place in Washington.
more at The Brad Blog.

Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) have introduced legislation into the House, HR676, to create a universal, single-payer health care system. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Lessons to Learn

Thom Hartmann interviews George Galloway
link goes directly to a Windows Media Audio File

Privatization of rail, air and schools, air brushing of Galloway's testimony, and democracy are among the subjects covered. Listen! posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

The Universal Door

from the Lotus Sutra

The universal door manifests itself
in the voice of the rolling tide.
Hearing and practicing it, we become a child,
born from the heart of a lotus,
fresh, pure, and happy,
capable of speaking and listening
in accord with the universal door.
With only one drop of the water
of compassion
from the branch of the willow,
spring returns to the great Earth. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Anatomy of a Revolution

from my inbox:
The National news program on CBC television had the first of a two-part
documentary on the wave of “revolutions” that have swept Europe, first in
Serbia, then in the Ukraine and elsewhere. Turns out that – surprise! – the
revolutionary effort has been organized and funded by the U.S. State
Department and an NGO called Freedom House:
http://www.freedomhouse.org/aboutfh/index.htm.

The membership of the Freedom House Board of Trustees reads like a Who’s Who
of the American political-intelligence establishment:
http://www.freedomhouse.org/aboutfh/bod.htm

The documentary is available online at http://www.cbc.ca/national/. Click on
WATCH THE NATIONAL ONLINE. The segment starts at 23:30.

The second part of the documentary is on The National tonight (Wednesday). posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

New to My Blogroll

A poet is a bird of unearthly excellence, who escapes from his celestial realm arrives in this world warbling. If we do not cherish him, he spreads his wings and flies back into his homeland.
Kahlil Gibran

Here is a poet new to me with a web presence. Welcome him, lest he fly back to his homeland.
Stream Walking
His most recent poem:

Meditate

Quiet and silent, rain fall, drops weighing heavy on
leave tips. Tumescent clouds of the spring awakening
kiss the green fringe of the forest. A bird call shatters
the tranquility and silence drifts slowly away, settling
in darker places where nothingness exists….

Slowly, meditative, the brook raises its song in
unison with southern winds, each weaving a blanket of
calm in the life of the day. The ferae naturae pierces
hearts with each inhalation, lungs fill with the silence
that we only know in our dreams of solitude ….

It is the peace that follows that confounds you,
giving the appearance of thought, the path of light
settles around, leading to the tranquil end of
consciousness where earthly reality ends and om
happens as we reach our nirvana, a sweet death.
~Charles posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

If We Say it Didn't Happen....

The website for the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs has removed testimony from UK MP George Galloway from its website.

From the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Webpage
Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
Title: Oil For Influence: How Saddam Used Oil to Reward Politicians Under the United Nations Oil-for-Food Program
Date: 5/17/05
Time (EST): 9:30 AM
Place: Dirksen Senate Office Building, Rm. 106

This hearing originally scheduled to be held in room SD-562 will now be held in room SD-106.

Member Statements
Senator Norm Coleman [View PDF] Senator Carl Levin [View PDF]

Witnesses Testimony

Panel 1
Mark L. Greenblatt [View PDF] , Counsel , U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
Steven A. Groves [View PDF] , Counsel , U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
Dan M. Berkovitz [View PDF] , Counsel to the Minority , U. S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations

Panel 2
George Galloway , Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow , Great Britain
Mr Galloway did not submit a statement

Panel 3
Thomas A. Schweich [View PDF] , Chief of Staff, U.S. Mission to the United Nations , U. S. Department of State
Robert W. Werner [View PDF] , Director, Office of Foreign Assets Control , U. S. Department of the Treasury
Peter Reddaway [View PDF] , Professor Emeritus of Political Science and International Affairs , George Washington University posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

The Downing Street Memo


Why Care? posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

NYTBR: 'The Friend Who Got Away': A Girl's Best Friend

It looks like an interesting read though not necessarily helpful to me. No I still haven't made any progress myself with my old and only female best friend. I'm still stuck and the mail remains unanswered. I think that may be all I can do. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

An Open Letter to Democrats

A MUST READ!
by Stan Goff

Listen to Galloway and Learn Something

Dear Democratic Elected Officials of the United States (with damn few exceptions),

I am writing this open letter to call your attention to the remarks made day before yesterday, May 17, 2005, to the United States Senate, by British MP George Galloway of the independent Respect Party. I do this because he serves as an example of why your party should be abandoned by the U.S. working class, by U.S. women, by oppressed nationalities in the United States, and by anyone who professes to be a progressive or a leftist.

George Galloway did that for which you have proven incapable; he spoke as an opposition. Since there seems to be a great dark space in the middle of your heads where the notion of opposition should be ­ a void filled by parliamentary molasses and the pusillanimous inabilty to tell simple truths ­ I suggest you all review the recordings of Galloway's confrontation with Republican Senator Norm "Twit" Coleman to see exactly how effortless it is to stand up to these cheap political bullies (watch the video). While you are at it, you can watch your colleague Carl Levin demonstrate exactly what I mean about most of you and your party, as he alternately hurls petulant cream-puff insults at Galloway and kisses Coleman's stunned, clueless ass to give that toothy dipshit some comfort in the wake of Galloway's verbal drubbing.
continue reading

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Debate intensifies over weapons in space

Rods from God
Doesn't the US already have enough phallic symbols?
Freaking big dick wanna bees are running this country and we sit by and watch.

In addition to the Rods from God, some of the other possible space weapons include systems of lasers and mirrors that permanently blind spy satellites or "dazzle'' them temporarily. There are also "passive defenses'' for satellites that would protect them from jamming attacks or physically harden them to protect against lasers or other destructive rays.

"If the United States chooses to go the route of space dominance, other countries will look at ways to make sure it doesn't happen, and we'll be back in another arms race,'' said Mike Moore, contributing editor of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, has introduced a bill that would bar the United States from placing weapons in space but allow it to keep spy satellites.

"If we worked together toward creating peace on earth, we would not have to bring war to the high heavens,'' Kucinich said Thursday in introducing his bill.

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

“This is the Way Democracy Ends”

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Meme of the Week

We're Screwed!
From Bob

I really didn't want to be reminded, but because my attention was grabbed with some very notable quotes, and because I feel it deeply, beyond the point of functioning, it's only responsible of me to point anyone who may be functioning well, albeit at assumed reduced capacity, to the consistent message we all would like to ignore, in hopes of spreading beyond those of us who are in danger of being crushed by the rock. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Quote of The Week

“I have met Saddam Hussein exactly the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld met him. The difference is that Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns and to give him maps the better to target those guns. I was an opponent of Saddam Hussein when British and American governments and businessmen were selling him guns and gas.” --George Galloway

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Failing the Sniff Test: The Nose, Ruined

People who know me, know I complain periodically about no having a sense of smell. I cannot smell a thing, even ammonia. I don't know exactly how it happened, but after reading this article I'm inclined to think it was from the time or two I was rear-ended. Those little connections were shaken up, stretched and never recovered.
I can relate to all the little incidents in the article and the lack of enthusiasm for cooking. Unlike the guy in the article, I still haven't given up trying to find that elusive mint chocolate chip ice cream. Bryers used to work but something has changed and I'm left wanting again. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Two, Hand in Hand


The abandoned cider mill
where the odd stranger
balances stones
and paints each new shadow
a hovering blue
with grace
woven into a blanket
of ancient footsteps
whispering
through the river
longing
for shivers of warmth

the very place where your name crept
into my bed of crumpled leaves
and caressed my inner thighs
with gentle waves of clarity
the very place our trust unfolded
beneath each stunted breath

shivers of cider poured
into
tears of possibility
washing us clean
free to touch and explore
as children
laughter echoing
through
the inner walls
of our deepest canyons
~cyndy
Categories: poetry posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

The Science of Gender and Science

A Debate with Steven Pinker & Elizabeth Spelke
Pinker and Spelke each made presentations of about 40 minutes, without interruption, from each other or from the audience. They then responded to each other's presentations. By mutual agreement, Pinker made the first presentation.

This Edge presentation includes: the transcribed text; streaming audio of the full debate; 6-minute video clips from Pinker and Spelke's opening statements; a 20-minute video clip of the their closing discussion; and online versions of the speakers' slide presentations.

I have yet to sit down and give this my attention. I expect it to be fascinating. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

AccuPoll installs paper trail and IRV features

This should be a no-brainer.

AccuPoll becomes the first vendor of an end-to-end voting system featuring a voter verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) to be certified under the more stringent 2002 standards.

The newly certified AccuPoll voting system, previously code-named Balboa, will now be known as Version 2.5. Version 2.5 includes new features such as Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), electronic VVPAT audio review, early voting support, encrypted election results as well as additional enhanced security features. AccuPoll thus becomes one of the most feature-rich and transparent election systems available to election officials across the country.

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Maths Online

Maybe one day I'll understand what I could possibly need these tools for, and maybe I'll even figure out how to use them too. The question is, 'Do I want to?'
What (Most) Women Want, a review of Taking Sex Differences Seriously , says: "there are actually two kinds of women, a majority who are traditionally feminine and others who are more like men than their sisters are."
That doesn't help me much. I suppose I lean more toward the 'more like men' characteristics in many things I do but I was born and raised with a female brain as the prevailing assumption, leaving me facing walls I'm not sure are worth climbing. I don't think home for me is over those walls. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

George W. Bush: An insult to our collective intelligence

President of the USA is provocative and aggressive instead of conciliatory and diplomatic

Let us compare for one instant the Presidents of the Russian Federation and the United States of America. On one side, we have a President whose policy is directed towards improving relations with the international community in a climate of friendship and peace (principles which guided the foreign policy of the USSR) and in tandem with the norms of international law as stipulated by the UNO. On the other, a roving cowboy, taming the wilderness with his gun and his Bible, with an absence of tact and diplomacy.

Diplomacy, debate, dialogue and discussion are the basic precepts of democracy, a word much referred to by the USA but unfortunately not practised in principle and diplomacy, debate, dialogue and discussion are for sure the four words which summarise Moscow's foreign policy, while Washington's continues to be dominated by bullying, blackmail, belligerence and bullishness. [ read more ]

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Support the GIs Who Refuse to Fight!

by Philip Watts

Revolution #002, May 15, 2005, posted at revcom.us

May 10 is a National Day of Action for GI Resisters. This is the day before sailor Pablo Paredes and soldier Kevin Benderman are scheduled to go before military court martial tribunals for their opposition to the Iraq war. Both men applied for conscientious objector status and both were denied. They are facing jail time as well as financial penalties. The May 10 actions in support of GI resisters are being called by Courage-To-Resist, which can be reached at CourageToResist.org.

Pablo Paredes, a Navy petty officer, refused to board his ship in December 2004 as it left the San Diego Naval Station. In a public act of conscious opposition to the war, he wore a T-shirt which said, "Like a cabinet member, I resign." At the time of his refusal, Pablo said he hoped his protest might inspire other GI's to refuse to take part in the war. [ more ]

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Values of the Heart

posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Mindful

Every day
I see or hear
something
that more or less

kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle

in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for -
to look, to listen,

to lose myself
inside this soft world -
to instruct myself
over and over

in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,

the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant -
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,

the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help

but grow wise
with such teachings
as these -
the untrimmable light

of the world,
the ocean's shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?

~ Mary Oliver ~ posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Enter into Transformation

Choose a door and begin your journey. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

The Dinosaurs in Our Backyard

Global warming trends appear to have changed the diet of the dinosaur species Falcarius utahensis from carnivore to herbivore to vegetarian. The change was gradual, possibly over millions of years, but the point that they evolved due to changes in availability of resources is one that our present day dinosaurs need to demonstrate that they are seriously considering. We don't have millions of years to watch them evolve.

Already their elevated status in our country has been reclassified as junk. Consider the automotive capital of the world. Detroit is now, as Jack Lessenberry observes, rapidly becoming a rusting machinery theme park. Can we move it along with skill or will it balloon into A Global Economy in Crisis?
I seriously wonder what the archeologists of the future, if there are any, will find. I wonder how they will describe our unconscionable squandering and sheer waste?
GM and Ford; extinction cause by greediness and lack of foresight & adaptability. posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

Talk is cheap and listening is rare

Listening to ourselves, presence, living in the moment, possessing each moment as it occurs, fully absorbing through sensory input, gathering as it flows but not completely stopping to process it, are all exercises in non-judgmental attentiveness. While my intentions in writing these listening posts lean more toward an inner meditative form of listening, an inner presence if you will, I understand that people are expecting to find skills related to better listening and understanding others. Dave Pollard recently wrote about Sympathy, Compassion, Humility, all elements of empathy which for assorted reasons we seem to be lacking in. I think we have lost the skills and incentives to be empathetic.

If we aren't listening to ourselves we cannot possibly be in tune with our feelings, and cannot be empathetic. In turn, sympathy, compassion and humility are lost. In fact, I tend to think that the focus on self-responsibility has become a twisted form of self-absorbtion which manifests selfishly and materially. Regard for others is one of those undesirable 'bleeding heart liberal' traits. A term that has been crafted to make us cringe.

To further this thought, University of Maine researcher, Dr. Marisue Pickering, identifies four characteristics of empathetic listeners:

l. Desire to be other-directed, rather than to project one's own
feelings and ideas onto the other.

2. Desire to be non-defensive, rather than to protect the self.
When the self is being protected, it is difficult to focus on
another person.

3. Desire to imagine the roles, perspectives, or experiences of the
other, rather than assuming they are the same as one's own.

4. Desire to listen as a receiver, not as a critic, and desire to
understand the other person rather than to achieve either agreement
from or change in that person.

Hmmm...if you'd like to know more, she identifies ten discrete skills for empathetic listening and delves further into exercises designed to help develop true active listening. I have to wonder what our relationships would be like if the emphasis were on 'listening to ourselves and others' opposed to self-responsibility.

Our society places much more attention on
the spoken side of the communication equation, but if you think
about who influences you, are they good talkers or good listeners?

As we come to understand ourselves and our relationships with
others better, we rediscover that "communication is not just saying
words; it is creating true understanding." Active listening is an
important skill in that process.

Categories: listening posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

San Diego Mayor Quits

Remember last November when environmental activist/wife-of-famous-surfer-dude Donna Frye's write-in candidacy nearly got the her the job, if not for 5,500 of her write-in voters neglecting to fill in an oval (darn stoners!)? Well, the guy who won got up to his ass in federal investigations into San Diego's pension fund system and split last week. So now there's going to be a new election and guess who's on the ballot proper this time? And already leading in the polls? (Though since the poll was taken, the former Chief of Police has entered the race.) Stay tuned and maybe give her campaign some support! posted by Andy | link |    | |

Symbolism in Hinduism

Ganesha was born on the fourth day of the month of Bhadrapad, the sixth month of the Hindu lunar calendar.
posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

35 Years Ago

Inquire, Learn, Reflect

May 4, 1970 Kent State
Engraved in the marble threshold of the May 4 Memorial are the words:
"Inquire, Learn, Reflect"
Kent State, May 4, 1970: America Kills Its Children

Chronology, May 1-4, 1970



At War with War

TIME, May 18, 1970 posted by Cyndy | link |    | |

May Day - the Real Labor Day

May 1st, International Workers' Day, commemorates the historic struggle of working people throughout the world, and is recognized in every country except the United States, Canada, and South Africa. This despite the fact that the holiday began in the 1880s in the United States, with the fight for an eight-hour work day.

In 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions passed a resolution stating that eight hours would constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886. The resolution called for a general strike to achieve the goal, since legislative methods had already failed. With workers being forced to work ten, twelve, and fourteen hours a day, rank-and-file support for the eight-hour movement grew rapidly, despite the indifference and hostility of many union leaders. By April 1886, 250,000 workers were involved in the May Day movement.

The heart of the movement was in Chicago, organized primarily by the anarchist International Working People's Association. Businesses and the state were terrified by the increasingly revolutionary character of the movement and prepared accordingly. The police and militia were increased in size and received new and powerful weapons financed by local business leaders. Chicago's Commercial Club purchased a $2000 machine gun for the Illinois National Guard to be used against strikers. Nevertheless, by May 1st, the movement had already won gains for many Chicago clothing cutters, shoemakers, and packing-house workers. But on May 3, 1886, police fired into a crowd of strikers at the McCormick Reaper Works Factory, killing four and wounding many. Anarchists called for a mass meeting the next day in Haymarket Square to protest the brutality. [ read more ] posted by Cyndy | link |    | |