When I began this blog in 2001, I was appalled by President Bush's headlong rush to an illegal war (we were not in fact under attack). As time wore on and Bush began his assault on the Constitution and any people bold enough to criticize, I believed that "the republic is endangered more by actions of our own government than by those of any terrorist." With the election of a high-minded, compassionate, intelligent man like Barack Obama, my fears have ceased.
"Honor them with peace, not war"
United for Peace
Wednesday, October 30, 2002
Rally in Washington
Said to Invigorate the Antiwar Movement
Under-reported rally. Times turns around new story
Rally in Washington
Said to Invigorate the Antiwar Movement
The demonstration on Saturday in Washington drew 100,000 by police estimates and 200,000 by organizers', forming a two-mile wall of marchers around the White House. The turnout startled even organizers, who had taken out permits for 20,000 marchers.
Palema
7:49 PM
Monday, October 28, 2002
Sen. Wellstone's death
Across the country, people were shocked and upset at his death. My heart goes out to Sen. Wellstone's family and the people of Minnesota -- not to mention all of the U.S., which needed his voice badly.
For an unusually large number of people, an initial thought was "Was the Administration responsible for this?" That so many think the unthinkable is not to say it's true, but that many feel the Bush team is willing to go to any lengths to get what they want. The president should be worried about the course his administrationis following.
Looking for Answers, Workers Reconstruct Flight of Plane
Sen. Wellstone's death
About 11:30 a.m. today, a chartered bus carrying more than a dozen relatives to the crash site was allowed through a police roadblock on Bodas Road. There, before a makeshift memorial of bales of hay, baby's breath and pine boughs, relatives laid flowers and prayed.
Across the country, people were shocked and upset at his death. My heart goes out to Sen. Wellstone's family and the people of Minnesota -- not to mention all of the U.S., which needed his voice badly.
For an unusually large number of people, an initial thought was "Was the Administration responsible for this?" That so many think the unthinkable is not to say it's true, but that many feel the Bush team is willing to go to any lengths to get what they want. The president should be worried about the course his administrationis following.
Palema
5:16 AM
Friday, October 25, 2002
Here's cartoonist Tom Meyer's take on the reasons: http://sfgate.com/
Why war...?
Here's cartoonist Tom Meyer's take on the reasons: http://sfgate.com/
Palema
10:48 AM
Thursday, October 17, 2002
OK, people! Get ready to dump every Republican office holder you can lay your hands on this November, good or bad. Take away their majority or we will be in deep trouble!
Election fright
OK, people! Get ready to dump every Republican office holder you can lay your hands on this November, good or bad. Take away their majority or we will be in deep trouble!
If the GOP is able to regain control of the Senate, and holds on to the House, there will be nothing to stop Bush&Co. from taking control of all levers of power in this country. The House, the Senate, the White House, the Supreme Court, and most of the conglomerate-owned media will be in the hands of those whose policies would spell disaster for our land. [ As one Senate Republican leadership aide put it, "When we take over the majority, we intend to move so fast to pass bills and confirm judges that have been held up by the Senate Democratic leadership that it will make their heads spin&quoqt;(Roll Call, 10/7). ]
-- Bernard Weiner, Bush Watch
Palema
4:04 PM
Saturday, October 12, 2002
At last someone who speaks for the people instead of for big business, the military and Republican Fat Cats.
Rep. Pete Stark Salon.com Politics |
speaks for the people
At last someone who speaks for the people instead of for big business, the military and Republican Fat Cats.
Rep. Pete Stark Salon.com Politics |
The bottom line is I don't trust this president and his advisors. This would authorize the United States to act as the aggressor for the first time in our history. It sets a precedent for our nation -- or any nation -- to exercise brute force anywhere in the world without regard to international law or international consensus
Palema
12:25 PM
Tuesday, October 08, 2002
The NY Times had this in my daily email:
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"I am not willing to stake one American life on trusting Saddam Hussein."
PRESIDENT BUSH
But he is willing to stake thousands of American lives on getting his oil pipeline and controlling the middle east. When he talks about trusting Hussein, I guess he means he can't trust him to do what he's told (by the US).
In Bush we trust? dont think so!
The NY Times had this in my daily email:
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"I am not willing to stake one American life on trusting Saddam Hussein."
PRESIDENT BUSH
But he is willing to stake thousands of American lives on getting his oil pipeline and controlling the middle east. When he talks about trusting Hussein, I guess he means he can't trust him to do what he's told (by the US).
Palema
3:32 PM
Monday, October 07, 2002
Protesting the Big Brother Lens
The nonprofit advocacy group based in Washingtonobjects to the says the value of greatly increasing use of surveillance video cameras to improve safety and detect terrorists has been greatly overrated.
Responses from other groups include the Surveillance Camera Players, a guerrilla theatre troupe, which places hand-drawn maps of video camera locations on the Internet and stages brief politically inspired performances in front of the cameras in New York City and a guy who points a laser beam at the camera to blind it..
Protesting the Big Brother Lens, Little Brother Turns an Eye Blind
Protesting the Big Brother Lens
There has been a reduction in privacy and there has been an expansion in government secrecy," he said. "We give up our privacy, but we don't gain openness in exchange."--Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
The nonprofit advocacy group based in Washingtonobjects to the says the value of greatly increasing use of surveillance video cameras to improve safety and detect terrorists has been greatly overrated.
Responses from other groups include the Surveillance Camera Players, a guerrilla theatre troupe, which places hand-drawn maps of video camera locations on the Internet and stages brief politically inspired performances in front of the cameras in New York City and a guy who points a laser beam at the camera to blind it..
Palema
7:10 AM
Sunday, October 06, 2002
If the United States wishes to act like the world's policeman, it should take as its motto "Protect and Serve" like so many actual police forces around the country.
Actual police departments do not bomb the whole block or the whole city where a suspected (or known) criminal is hanging out!
Professional police departments treat the general public with consideration.
Just a few of the many with the motto Protect and Serve:
Grant (Sacramento CA) PD.
Community Policing on Indian Reservations (article)
Millington (TN) PD
Austin TX PD
St. Charles Parish LA
Greeley CO Police
The Not In Our Name website is a great resource for people all over who fear they are alone in objecting to Bush's plans for long-term war. We are not alone, and our numbers are growing. Those who speak up give hope and heart to those who fear to speak aloud the nagging doubts within. Once a person has stood with other objectors, he or she gains courage, and then may be ready for the pledge below:
On the Not In My Name website, there are letters from readers around the world. A German wrote: "... we, the Germans, know, what it means, if a leader talk about the necessary of unlimited war. We know, that the reason to make war are always based on lies. Now, after the horrible age of German National Socialism between 1933 and 1945, [Nazis] we are much more wiser. Never ever we have to accept that any country, no matter which one, want to be the ruler of the world."
The World's Policeman
If the United States wishes to act like the world's policeman, it should take as its motto "Protect and Serve" like so many actual police forces around the country.
Actual police departments do not bomb the whole block or the whole city where a suspected (or known) criminal is hanging out!
Professional police departments treat the general public with consideration.
Just a few of the many with the motto Protect and Serve:
Grant (Sacramento CA) PD.
Community Policing on Indian Reservations (article)
Millington (TN) PD
Austin TX PD
St. Charles Parish LA
Greeley CO Police
Palema
8:05 AM
Resist Bush
The Not In Our Name website is a great resource for people all over who fear they are alone in objecting to Bush's plans for long-term war. We are not alone, and our numbers are growing. Those who speak up give hope and heart to those who fear to speak aloud the nagging doubts within. Once a person has stood with other objectors, he or she gains courage, and then may be ready for the pledge below:
The Pledge of Resistance
We believe that as people living in the United States, it is our responsibility to resist the injustices done by our government, in our names:
Not in our name will you wage endless war; there can be no more deaths, no more transfusions of blood for oil.
Not in our name will you invade countries, bomb civilians, kill more children, letting history take its course over the graves of the nameless.
Not in our name will you erode the very freedoms you have claimed to fight for.
Not by our hands will we supply weapons and funding for the annihilation of families on foreign soil
Not by our mouths will we let fear silence us
Not by our hearts will we allow whole peoples or countries to be deemed evil
Not by our will and not in our name!
We pledge resistance.
We pledge alliance with those who have come under attack for voicing opposition to the war or for their religion or ethnicity
We pledge to make common cause with the people of the world to bring about justice,freedom and peace
Another world is possible and we pledge to make it real.
On the Not In My Name website, there are letters from readers around the world. A German wrote: "... we, the Germans, know, what it means, if a leader talk about the necessary of unlimited war. We know, that the reason to make war are always based on lies. Now, after the horrible age of German National Socialism between 1933 and 1945, [Nazis] we are much more wiser. Never ever we have to accept that any country, no matter which one, want to be the ruler of the world."
Palema
7:47 AM
Friday, October 04, 2002
It's the plan for world domination, brought to you by Bush and company. As one commentator said:
Read more at the Black Commentator
I came across the Black Commentator in an email passed on by Marita McComiskey of UConn to her list of "Paceful Friends." Among her many valuable offerigns was a reprint of the current issue's letter to readers Black America and Bush's New World Order , quoted above. While black Americans may be more attuned to the dangers of colonialism than white Americans, this letter contains a warning white citizens should also heed.
The so-called American Century
It's the plan for world domination, brought to you by Bush and company. As one commentator said:
The Bush plan is elegant, simple, and absolutely brutal.
The United States, which for decades sought to break the power of OPEC, is now preparing to become OPEC, by military means. The threats against Europe and Russia are portents of the world envisioned by Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest of the piratical band that runs the Bush government. They are about to define what an unchallenged superpower is, and does. International law is no longer a consideration.
The sovereignty of every nation on the globe is in jeopardy. So are the lives of every person in the United States, as our society risks being transformed into the repository of all the world's resentments - many of which will be absolutely justified.
--Glen Ford
Read more at the Black Commentator
I came across the Black Commentator in an email passed on by Marita McComiskey of UConn to her list of "Paceful Friends." Among her many valuable offerigns was a reprint of the current issue's letter to readers Black America and Bush's New World Order , quoted above. While black Americans may be more attuned to the dangers of colonialism than white Americans, this letter contains a warning white citizens should also heed.
Palema
7:24 AM
Tuesday, October 01, 2002
An email I received from the Democratic Party complains that Bush is "politicizing" the war on terror. It claims that Democrats have been on the front lines of the war on terror.The email ends with this:
To me, the essence of politics is discussing our differences on policy matters. Bush, of course, has tried to silence discussion -- that's not politics, that oppression. The Democrats have replied weakly that they are just as patriotic as the next guy, maybe more so, since they have some war veterans among their numbers, while Bush never fought in a war and during his service stint went AWOL. The same Republicans who sniped incessantly at Clinton for having protested the Vietnam war don't mind that Bush ducked a service commitment.
To my mind, Pres. Bush is politically corrupt, bankrupt of the heart and spirit that ought to drive policy. But the Democrats have not challenged him meaningfully. They should question this Iraqi adventure. They should demand support of our allies and the UN before considering such an undertaking.
C'mon, you Congressional Dems! Fight back! Your country needs you, and you're letting us down.
Copyright © 2001-03 Pam Shorey
(except the specific sources credited in quotes)
Talk back to the President, boys!
An email I received from the Democratic Party complains that Bush is "politicizing" the war on terror. It claims that Democrats have been on the front lines of the war on terror.The email ends with this:
"The president ought to apologize to [WWII veteran] Senator Inouye and every veteran who fought in every war who is a Democrat in the United States Senate. He ought to apologize to the American people. That is wrong. We ought not politicize this war. We ought not to politicize the rhetoric about war in life and death."The Democrats and Republicans alike think of politics as winning and losing elections, scoring points with voting blocs.
--Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle
To me, the essence of politics is discussing our differences on policy matters. Bush, of course, has tried to silence discussion -- that's not politics, that oppression. The Democrats have replied weakly that they are just as patriotic as the next guy, maybe more so, since they have some war veterans among their numbers, while Bush never fought in a war and during his service stint went AWOL. The same Republicans who sniped incessantly at Clinton for having protested the Vietnam war don't mind that Bush ducked a service commitment.
To my mind, Pres. Bush is politically corrupt, bankrupt of the heart and spirit that ought to drive policy. But the Democrats have not challenged him meaningfully. They should question this Iraqi adventure. They should demand support of our allies and the UN before considering such an undertaking.
C'mon, you Congressional Dems! Fight back! Your country needs you, and you're letting us down.
Palema
7:07 AM
Copyright © 2001-03 Pam Shorey
(except the specific sources credited in quotes)
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