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My doctor told me to avoid stress....
February 26, 2003
... but she forgot to tell me to avoid the letters section of the local paper. What follows is a response to the first letter you'll find at this link:
Protesters are the Real Patriots
-------------------
The angry letter from Ferd Roth contained too much hate and ignorance to go unchallenged.
Such pro-war parrots always raise the specter of Sept. 11, even though there is NO connection between the Iraqi regime and those terrible events. According to highly publicized CIA reports, an attack on Iraq will make another Sept. 11 MORE likely, not less. Should we allow the sacrifice of more men and women of our armed forces, police and fire departments just to satiate the imperial ambitions of our unelected and illegitimate "leaders"?
Under the current inspection regime, Saddam Hussein is contained. He knows that any use of any weapons will bring down the wrath of the world. But an attack on Iraq now, especially one that is not sanctioned by the UN, will not only break the containment of Iraq, but it will give cause to anti-American terrorists around the world to unleash their most evil attacks.
Mr. Roth makes one true statement: "Real Americans are not afraid to stand up for our ideals." That is exactly what millions of people did by protesting on Feb. 15. We love our country, and it is our patriotic duty to express our disapproval at the insane actions of our government. We "support our troops" by trying to avert this conflagration, not by plunging them into it.
Mr. Roth's vision of America is one where dissenters simply go away, and everyone else follows their "president" right or wrong, like lemmings into the abyss. That's not Democracy, it's fascism, and anyone who believes in that should move to Iraq, where I'm sure you'll be welcomed with open arms.
------------------
Obbie
And another thing...
Ferd Roth is a sergeant with the La Crosse Police Department, and is widely regarded as the biggest hot-head on the force. Most local activists will recall an incident a few years back when Sgt. Roth disrupted a legal and peaceful bicyclist's demonstration by cutting into the line of cyclists and then angrily writing citations to those he cut off.
A point that begged to be raised (but one that would have muddied the issue addressed in this letter) is that La Crosse Police serve under a city residency requirement. So if he is legally obligated to live in La Crosse, why was his letter addressed from Onalaska??
This is What Democracy Looks Like
February 25, 2003
Tom Tomorrow guided us to this link, which goes to a page containing photographs of anti-war rallies around the world on February 15. The person who assembled this page did a great job of rounding up photos of what seems like every local rally from London and New York to Davenport and Antarctica. Even Houston and Tel Aviv had masses of people. If anyone says there are only a "handful" of protesters, have them look at these photos.
What're They Up To Now?
February 24, 2003
The headline says "Bush Eyes Public Land for Renewable Energy", (Environment News Service via Yahoo) so our Bullshit Detectors perked up. After all, this administration has been so anti renewable energy, there must be some alterior motive, right?
What true environmentalists are looking for are incentives for small-scale privately-owned renewable generation, and requirements for utilities to buy power from these renewable generators. But the Bush regime...
... has opposed forcing utilities to buy energy from renewable sources. The latest budget plan from the White House cuts funding for most renewable energy programs and virtually eliminates $23 million in grants and loans to farmers, ranchers and small businesses for the development of renewable energy projects and energy efficiency programs.
By the way, $23 million is chump change in the federal budget, which'll barely buy one military helicopter.
So what's up with the fanfare about using public lands for renewable energy? The Truth can be derived from the following passage near the bottom of the story:
[The Interior Department spokesperson] said that public land managers would be looking to identify areas where there is high potential for both renewable and nonrenewable energy...
(emphasis added)
In other words, as they sniff around "looking for renewable energy," they can go, "Oh, look! We found some oil!" (or coal, uranium, etc.) So all of this is a rationalization to rape the land while pretending to look for locations for renewable energy projects. "Renewable energy" may be a stated goal in this proposal, but at best it's an afterthought.
The Bush Regime and Human Rights
February 21, 2003
This story (from OneWorld-US via Yahoo) talks about a new report from Amnesty International titled "Environmentalists Under Fire." This report outlines several cases of US-based corporations abusing the human rights of their opponents and/or local citizens in other parts of the world. In each case, the "champion of human rights" either ignored the accusations or supported the corporations outright.
Read the Amnesty press release, and their web report.
Ten Reasons to Appreciate the French
February 20, 2003
10) The language, which has given OUR language such important words as "diplomacy." Also, women love to be spoken to in French. Guys, you could whisper the French equivalent of "you have the butt of a pig" into the ear of you wife or girlfriend, and she will swoon.... as long as she doesn't understand French.
9) Wine. Need I say more?
8) Cheese. Forget about the French cheese that gets to America... that's just what they're willing to part with. One must visit the little cheese shops in the little French towns to truly appreciate their cheese. (And this is coming from a Wisconsin native... their cheese truly puts us to shame.)
7) Eiffel Tower. A fine example of art meeting architecture. Eiffel made such efficient use of materials that if you scaled the tower down to six feet high, it would weigh just a few pounds.
6) Art and Quality of Life... The Paris Metro is filled with live music, there are public sculptures everywhere they can fit, and there's not enough fabric in the world for John Ashcroft to cover the exposed bosoms of the female sculptures. And let's not forget who gave us the Statue of Liberty. No one appreciates beauty like the French.
5) Support of "Mom & Pop" businesses. You have to hand it to a country where Disney and McDonald's are struggling.
4) Eurostar... Paris to London in three hours without leaving the ground. Not to mention other trains running all over the place.
3) Their biggest annual sporting event is a BICYCLE RACE.
2) Opposition to Genetic Engineering, the strength of organic farming, and the wisdom to stick with food production methods that have worked for thousands of years.
1) Opposition to the Iraq War. If this war is somehow averted, we owe a great debt to our friends in France.
Vive la France!
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go to the co-op for a bottle of wine, and it WON'T be from California.
A Transatlantic Dialogue
February 19, 2003
It started with this bit of an email from a fellow activist:
From a colleague:
I just spoke with France's UN office. They are BEGGING us to flood their
offices and the other UN offices with emails to STOP the WAR. France
needs to know that Americans are with them on this.
By the way, the email address for the French mission at the Security
Council is france-presse@un.int.
We sent the following message to the French
Dear Friends--
Please know that the position of our government does not represent the
position of its people in regard to the pending attack on Iraq. We honor
and applaud your stand for containment and multilateralism. We apologize
for the vicious and venomous words being directed toward you by those
among us who have been duped by the propaganda of the illegitimate regime
in Washington.
We have been to your country and found it inhabited by friendly, kind-hearted
people who do not deserve the kinds of rhetorical attacks we have witnessed
in recent weeks. Many of us in this country are struggling to contain
the madness of our government, and we deeply appreciate your government's
moves to contain this insanity in the international arena.
Once again, thank you. You have many friends in America.
We Bcc'd the message to a good friend we made in France during our travels
in 2001. Here is some of his response (his English may not be perfect, but it's better than that of many people who speak it natively):
Be sure the French people (80 % have strongly expressed this opinion
in a recent poll) share your opinions against the war in Iraq.
And they are very happy to live in such an "old country" !!!
...All significant political parties (whatever the side -right as well
left- they are) support our President's diplomacy. And hope he is strongly
willing to "VETO" the us/gb Government's proposal at the UNO Council.
Even if it is not enough to stop the troops, at least it doesn't give
a legal argument to the attack.
-snip-
Be sure we will never forget the help of America in the past (as well
as France helped America ...), but as our General de Gaulle used to
say: "l'amitiŽ n'implique pas la soumission sans condition" (friendship
is not based on an unconditionalÊsubmission)
He also passed along this cartoon from the French magazine Marianne:
Part of our response:
We recall an observation made by an English friend during our travels in 2001: those that are hostile and intolerant toward other nations are usually those who have not travelled. We are embarrassed by the hostility and intolerance directed toward your country by those who have not had the chance to travel to France and make friends with French people as we have. When we were in France, even those who could speak little or no English were kind and patient with us, in spite of our ten-word French vocabulary.
Thank you again for your correspondence and your kind words. It hurts us to hear the hostility toward the French, because we always think of you and the other wonderful people in your community and in your country who have treated us so well. Please pass on all of our encouragement to stand up to the bullies who have hijacked our government and now threaten to destroy global law and order.
Earlier in the week, we heard that the French mission at the UN had received over 12.000 emails over the weekend. Along with that news was another message from our friend in France:
...we have our opinions and keep them firmly ... even if we don't follow the herd (or the US Covernment). And we don't care about the hostility expressed by the leaders of the herd. The point we regret the most is the intolerance of the American Press. We had an upper opinion of it. I am not talking of "FOX" or "CNN" of course, but "The Washington Post" for instance ... it is a pity to see what was a Press landmark crawling in the gutter ...
To be realistic, we are couscious that our opinion doesn't matter for the US leaders... our weapon is just a pin (or as I saw on a picture: an old lady who is putting her umbrella in the caterpillars of an american tank ... ) but we are backing our President (even if we don't agree with him on the other points of his politics) and let him know we want him to veto the us plans at the UNO Council. The latest barrier is to deny to Bush any legal reason to start his war.
You must know that only 3% of the French are for the war, 80% against, and the rest is sitting on the fence ... and youÊcan't guessÊhow stubborn the French !!!!!
On a final note: I totally agree with you when you say that travelling broadens the mind.
This is a good time to sample French products... wine and cheese for starters.
More to come.
Post Rally-day Thoughts
February 16, 2003
First, let's do the numbers (and the links - local IndyMedia sites unless otherwise noted):
At least TEN MILLION on the streets world-wide.
New York City: 500,000
London: 1.5 million. Guardian/Observer story here
Rome: 2.5 million
Minneapolis: 10,000
Madison, WI: 2,000
Wausau, WI: 2,000
Milwaukee: 4-5,000
La Crosse, WI: 80 (see story below)
Go to IndyMedia (scroll down a little bit) for a complete list.
Some statistics that can be gleaned from this list:
At least 4 cities world-wide each had over A MILLION people.
At least 18 cities world-wide (2 in USA) had at least 100,000 people.
At least 26 cities world-wide (3 in USA) had at least 50,000 people.
At least 56 cities world-wide (6 in USA) had at least 10,000 people.
New York is
likely to have had 1-2 million people if everyone who tried to get to
the rally had actually arrived. It sounds like the local authorities
performed a series of political and logistical blunders by denying a
permit to march. As people arrived and the crowd grew, blockades were
erected on local feeder streets, forcing attendees to walk miles to
the north to find a way to move one or two blocks to the east. As crowds
grew outside the fences, they were penned in by police pressing at them
from opposite directions with horses and riot gear.
Read the reports linked to above before passing judgement on the protesters.
This was NOT your crowd of anarchists, radicals and troublemakers that
they want us to think. The blatant and illegal power grab that the Bush
regime is engaging in has been met with widespread mainstream disapproval.
But the mainstream press is doing everything it can to disparage this
popular uprising.
Take their numbers with a grain of salt, for they will almost always be vastly deflated. If they say "thousands," think "tens of thousands." If they give you a number, know that the right number is somewhere between "double it," and "add a zero."
Watch out for press reports that open with "300 arrested at New York protests". From everything we've heard so far, these people were arrested in a police riot. Anyone who's ever spent time in New York knows how crowded things can be, and the police did nothing but make it worse. They apparently arrested a lot of poeple for not moving even though they had nowhere to go.
Most disturbingly, the latest headlines from AP and CNN trumpet the
fact that Iraq is "delighted" that these protests have taken place.
Never mind that none of this was "pro-Saddam" in any way, but in an
underhanded way, these propoganda agencies are trying to suggest that
connection. Never has it been more obvious that the major American "news"
agencies are now little more than the propoganda arm of the illegal
American government.
It's time to turn up our bullshit detectors all the way, and follow overseas and alternative news sources more religiously.
Bridges for Peace in La Crosse
February 15, 2003
While most local activists were gone to bigger rallies in Wausau and Madison, 80 of those who stayed behind staged a raucous rally of their own. Activists had until Tuesday to commit themselves to riding the buses to Wausau. Most of the "regulars" that usually participate in local protests were gone on that bus.
On Wednesday, emails were circulated encouraging people to show up on Saturday with banners, placards, and percussion. Billing the event "Bridges for Peace", the plan was to make a round trip across the Mississippi River via the Cass Street Bridge.
Expecting at least 30 people, organizers felt 50 would make a successful event. Reliable headcounts at the peak of the event tallied 80 souls. And no one can claim that it was "the usual crowd." The usual crowd was in Wausau. With the exception of maybe 10 people, these were all new faces and three new dogs, and they were from every age group. There was an especially large contingent of families with kids of all ages, as well as students, blue-collar workers, teachers, doctors and professors.
At 1:20, the march left its starting point at Cameron Park and did a loop through downtown La Crosse on Jay and Pearl Streets. From the La Crosse Center, the march went to 3rd and Cass for the bridge crossing. Most of the march (50 people at least) endured the cold wind high above the main channel of the river, keeping a rhythm of drums and shakers to the sound of tires on the steel grid and the encouraging horns of passing traffic. Through the entire day, no one reacted negatively to our actions, and there was never a cop in sight (unbelievable in La Crosse).
After the rally, many of the participants gathered at a downtown bookstore to reflect on the political "coming out" that this day represents. In spite of having little promotion outside of last-minute emails, in spite of the abcense of the bulk of the local activist community, and in spite of a day that was not all that warm (20-25 degrees is hard to complain about at this time of year, though less hardy people would consider that "too damned cold."), this turned out to be a very large rally by local standards.
Our crowd is growing.
Stand up and Be Counted
February 14, 2003
At this writing, 100,000 are marching against the war in Melbourne, Australia. They anticipate between 500,000 and a million in London's Hyde Park tomorrow, and similar numbers in New York. It is important that on February 15, all citizens of the world go out and make a stand against the evil that our government looks to thrust upon the world. If you can't make it to the nearest Big Rally, find the nearest high-traffic place to go with a drum or a placard or a banner and make your presence known. Remember what Edmund Burke - 18th-century British political writer - had to say: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
Beware the Smirking Gun
February 14, 2003
A fun but poignant little piece in yesterday's Guardian by A. L. Kennedy. Who ever said the Brits don't have a sense of humor? Some samples:
"I've been wondering why the Leaders of the Free World have been annoying the tits off me lately. Never mind their dragging the world to the brink of Armageddon, destroying the principles of international justice and pulverising lots of people on the way - I'm pretty much used to that now. What's really making me force out my eye teeth through my ears is the presence of that particularly irritating smirk. They're not just making fools of us, they're enjoying it. Tony and Dubby ... keep a straight face on the podium while they tell us how necessary all this death is going to be, but as soon as they're walking away, there's the grin that tells you they couldn't care ..."
"Bush and Blair... are going to war with Iraq, playing Russian roulette with global stability, creating legions of new terror cells and destroying the fabric of international law. Not only that, they're comporting themselves like a pair of post-menopausal adulterers. At times like these I can only reassure myself by remembering that the last leader who thought himself this invulnerable was Nixon - and you all know what happened to him."
You really should go and read the whole thing.
BS Alert Part 2
Osama is No Friend of Saddam
February 12, 2003
After a long search, we found a transcript of the alleged "Osama tape" through IndyMedia San Francisco. Don't let anyone tell you there is any kind of link at all between Saddam and Osama. Osama cares only for the faithful, mosque-going Muslims... the Arab equivalent of our right-wing Christians. To him, Saddam is a secular leader ("Osama" uses the word "socialist") who could live or die as far as he's concerned. Any talking head who tries to refer to this tape as "proof" that the two are good buddies working in cahoots is bullshitting. Read the transcript yourself, or this well-reasoned analysis.
The tape has lots of religious preaching, and quite a bit of military advice. Most empire-watchers will want to focus on the part near the end. He says the upcoming war "concerns the Muslim nation mainly, regardless of whether the socialist party and Saddam remain or go." He goes on to assure that fighting against Americans on behalf of Iraq is not hypocritcal. "It is not harmful in such conditions for the Muslims' interests and socialists' interests to come along with each other during the war against the crusade, without changing our faith and our declaration that socialists are infidels." In other words, "we may fight our common enemy alongside each other, but Saddam is still an infidel."
BS Alert Part 1
How Did He Know???
February 12, 2003
It was yesterday afternoon that the newest "Osama Tape" was broadcast on Al Jazeera, the Arabic-language satellite station. But Colin Powell was talking about the tape in a Senate hearing before the tape was broadcast (story here). Since the Al Jazeera people are - and always have been - the first in the world to get the Osama tapes, hearing the Bush regime talk about the tape before its actual release leads one to question the, er, "authenticity" of the tape.
Sanity in Europe
February 10, 2003
The Bush regime is planning on launching its war on Iraq from Turkey, among other places. Since Turkey is now a member of NATO, our boy emperor proposed to NATO that Turkey should be entitled to NATO protection if it comes under attack in the upcoming war. Germany, France and Belgium wisely refused to let NATO be pulled into Bush's imperial war, and vetoed the proposal.
On behalf of hundreds of millions of peace-loving Americans, we express our gratitude to the French, Germans and Belgians. You might be hearing angry hateful words from our "leaders", but we are heartened by your efforts to control the madmen that have gone out of our control. In spite of what you hear from our media, your sanity and reason have earned you many friends in America.
Kingdom of Fear
February 9, 2003
Obbie just finished reading this new book by Hunter S. Thompson titled "Kingdom of Fear -- Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century".
It must be said that Hunter Thompson is not for everyone. He can be crude and profane. He's into guns and pornography. But he is also a champion of civil liberties and the freedoms that define this country, and he has no tolerance whatsoever for the corporate ruling class. He has a style of writing that can leave you laughing hysterically at times, and he makes liberal use of grotesque imagery to describe the sleazeballs who are at the helm of American government.
As the bookmark started making measurable progress away from the front cover, RoZ asked what the book is about. The best answer is "It's all over the map." It's a collection of essays old and new, articles of various length that have been previously published elsewhere, some seemingly incoherent rants and ramblings, and rememberances of significant events of his childhood in Louisville, Kentucky. He uncovers and examines the demons in the halls of power, in business, law enforcement and sports, and within himself.
The book's title defines the common thread, a theme that Thompson keeps coming back to in the midst of his otherwise random explorations. Much of the book mixes news reports with his own account of an incident in 1990 which landed him in court accused of various felonies. (All of the charges were dropped.) He uses the story to illustrate police power gone too far, and the way innocent citizens are coerced and intimidated into letting them get away with these abuses.
The high points: The childhood story that opened the book, where Thompson
first learned how the police get confessions by bluffing, and that he
could win by calling their bluffs. The story of "The Witness" mentioned
above. The tale of his run for Sheriff of Aspen, Colorado in 1970 (he
nearly won). And a comic episode of a prank played on Jack Nicholson
for his birthday that got rather out of hand.
The low points: A journalistic piece done on the invasion of Grenada during the Readan years... it just got kind of dull and messed up the pace of the rest of the book. A gonzo-journalism piece (fact mixed with crazed fantasy to the point that one can't tell where truth ends and fiction begins) involving a deranged "judge" found on a rain-soaked road near Elko, Nevada.... a 30-page rerun from a previous book.
If you like Hunter Thompson, there's enough in here to make this book worth reading. Whether it's worth the $25 list price is another question. The La Crosse library has three copies, and it'll probably come out in paperback within the next few months.
Keep your Eye on the Ball!
February 1, 2003
Sorry for the tired old sports cliche, but with the space shuttle tragedy dominating the airwaves all day today, we cannot let the warmongers in Washinton exploit this as a diversion. Because if we let them, they WILL try to sneak some evil under our radar screens while we are distracted. So we cannot let ourselves get distracted. Keep an eye on the minor headlines and the peripheral stories on the inside pages, don't turn off your bullshit detectors, and keep holding their feet to the fire.
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