In Memorium

TATIANA
2003 - 2007

****

Seasonal Musical Interlude

One of my faves, from South Park's own Eric Cartman.

50 Years in 3.5 Minutes

Well worth a click.

Holiday Decorations

Harumph!

Missing John

The Movie Bill O'Reilly Doesn't Want You To See

Democrats Show True Colors (again) by Supporting Cheney

This week Dennis Kucinich led an heroic effort to put the impeachment of Dick Cheney ON the table by requesting a floor vote on H.Res. 333. As expected, BushDemocrat Steny Hoyer moved to table the bill. And then all hell broke loose as 165 Republicans voted with Kucinich and 85 brave Democrats to force a debate on impeachment over the objections of Nancy Pelosi. To block that debate, Hoyer moved to send H.Res. 333 back to the Judiciary Committee, and this motion passed. Watch David Swanson explain the events to Paul Jay of The Real News.

Global Weirding

Here are a few pics I shot this afternoon.









Mendocino in November when the poppies are in bloom.
Huh???

Stop global warming!


Oops, too late.

Ladies and Gentlemen ... Wyde Clyde

When Did Refusing to Sell Out Become Passé?

AS I witness the music of my generation being used to sell everything from Buicks to boner pills, I cannot help but wonder, "Is Neil Young the only musician of the 60s with any integrity left at all?"











Musicians! When approached by a corporate suit bearing money you don't really need, ask yourself:

(poster by Jeremy Deller)

U.S. OUT OF IRAN NOW!

It's been over two years since Scott Ritter's report on the covert offensive then underway against Iran.

I am quite certain the voters who handed control of Congress back to the Democrats do not want shit like that going on. The party which rode to power on a wave of anti-war sentiment is not only letting the occupation of Iraq continue, they're ignoring the start of war against Iran - further evidence the U.S. political system proves only an illusion of choice.

Hearst Lies, Amerika Listens

Our "Leaders" Are Liars!

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Firefighter John Schroeder, assigned to Engine Company 10 directly across the street from the World Trade Center complex, holds back tears and describes his first-hand experience on Sept. 11th. His story directly contradicts many aspects of the National Commission on Terrorist attacks and corroborates many other eyewitnesses testimony.

In this exclusive interview, Firefighter Schroeder recollects in great detail how he was one of the first firefighters to rush to the complex. “We first assembled on West Street, where we saw someone burnt beyond recognition. We were like ‘What is going on here?’ and then went straight into the Marriot building” From there, Firefighter Schroeder made his way to the lobby of the North Tower. “It looked like a bomb went off, and we started making our way up the stairs to rescue as many people as we could.”

As they were making there way up the floors, Firefighter Schroeder heard a huge explosion. “The elevators just blew right out. We couldn’t believe it. The plane hits 80 floors up but the elevators explode at least five minutes later? It was unreal.”

Firefighter Schroeder made it all the way up to the 23rd floor before barely hearing on the failing radios that another plane was coming in. That plane would hit the South Tower though for some reason “We were tossed like a rag doll by another explosion in our building. People were making there way down the stairwells burnt like you couldn’t believe. We were all shocked because it seemed as if there was fire everywhere, on so many floors. It just didn’t make sense”.

Full 45 minute interview -
Highlights

Good Fucking Riddance!!!

Hanging is too good for him. May he end up in prison being regularly gang raped by syphilitic weight lifters!

IMPEACH! IMPEACH!! IMPEACH!!!

Conyers Wimps Out

On Monday, Rep. John Conyers brushed off the heroic impeachment efforts of Cindy Sheehan, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Ray McGovern, Medea Benjamin, David Swanson, 300 dedicated impeachment marchers, 1 million petition signers, resolutions from dozens of cities and towns, and activists who called his office every 30 seconds.

His reasons? First, he doesn't have the support of a majority of the House (218 votes) to impeach Bush or Cheney. Second, FOX News would attack him.

These are simply not acceptable reasons to allow George Bush and Dick Cheney to commit war crimes and shred the Constitution - and we're not going to accept them. Instead, we're going to fight harder than ever for impeachment.

Conyers doesn't have 218 votes today, but we can change that. Tell your Representatives to join the 14 sponsors of H.Res. 333, Articles of Impeachment for Vice President Cheney:
http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/88
Also call them at 202-224-3121 and demand co-sponsorship of H.Res. 333 now.

Conyers would be attacked by FOX News, but we can change that too. Let's boycott FOX News advertisers:
http://www.democrats.com/boycott-fox-news-advertisers

We must also give Conyers a backbone transplant. Let's flood Conyers and other House Judiciary Democrats with more emails than ever:
http://www.democrats.com/topelosiandjudiciary

_____________________

Gonzo Flames Out

Even as Conyers wimped out, fate smiled upon us in the smirking face of of Alberto Gonzales, who is just so bad that even Republican Senators can barely stop themselves from screaming at him.

Gonzales testified again today before the Senate Judiciary Committee to explain why he lied to them in his previous appearances. So what did Gonzales do? He lied and lied some more.

Everyone who cares about Justice is outraged. The Senate is finally considering perjury charges. But if the Senate filed charges, guess who'd have to prosecute? Alberto Gonzales' own utterly corrupt Justice Department!

Impeachment is the only cure and it's time for Congress to exercise it. Once they do, they will discover the American people support their efforts to hold Bush & Co. accountable. And an impeachment investigation into Abu Gonzo will lead directly to Cheney and Bush. He must know about some nasty skeletons - why else are they protecting him in the face of Republican outrage?

Tell your Representatives to Impeach Alberto Gonzales Now:
http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/94

#####

Forward this message to everyone you know!

RFK's Speech at Live Earth

Impeach the Evil Dick!

Personally, I think impeachment is too good for him. Skip directly to the criminal indictments.

Celebrate July 4th - Dump Another George

Crime Lord Springs Underling

Bush let Scooter walk today, further cementing his place in history as the nominal head of the most corrupt administration ever.

I have no doubt a full pardon will be granted after the "elections" of 2008.

Impeach Cheney Now!

WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT A LAW DEFYING, POWER GRABBING
VICE PRESIDENT OUT OF CONTROL?

   The descriptions are not ours. In the face of new revelations of the
wholesale dismissal of the Constitution by Vice President Cheney,
"Power Grab" was the headline on the ABC News site. "Defiant" was the
headline of the Washington Post. By now you could not have escaped
hearing all the stories of the assertion by the vice president's
office that he is a branch of government unto himself, and not
beholden to any other. And if you have not read the stories, they are
all linked in the "Arguments" section of this action page, where you
can also cast your vote on whether Cheney should be impeached
immediately.

   And if the situation were not extreme enough, it was also reported
this week that Cheney is aggressively campaigning for Bush to pardon
Scooter Libby, which is an act of obstruction of justice on its face,
according to John Dean, who should know a little something about
impeachment. Whether or not Bush has the Constitutional power to
grant pardons without cause, it is still an abuse power for him to do
so, and a Constitutional high CRIME for Cheney to campaign for him to
do so.

   So now . . . NOW will you vote in the National Cheney Impeachment
Poll,  just as more than 72,000 of your fellow democracy-loving
citizens already have? Would you be surprised to learn that 99.22
percent of those votes were Yes to impeach? Speaking on the Keith
Olberman show tonight, Dana Milbank described the Vice President as a
man "showing no restraint", and still . . . STILL Milbank could not
bring himself to say the word "impeachment". Does he have a speech
impediment? Do WE the people have a speech impediment?

DO YOU THINK CHENEY SHOULD BE IMPEACHED OR NOT?
Cast your vote today, and pass this message on to others.

Putting Lipstick on a Pig

I see NYC's Billionaire Mayor Bloomberg, who switched parties from Democratic to Republican just six years ago, has bolted from the Republicans and re-registered as "unaffiliated," which is apparently somewhere between the two parties - as if it mattered.

For some time now, we have lived under one party rule here in the US. The Democratic and Republican Parties are merely the left and right wings of the same party, the one ruling party, the Fascist Corporate Plutocratic Party.

You can bet Bloomberg is still a member in good standing of that one.

Harumph!

Revising Emma Lazarus

Who's the Boss?

The Good Old Days?

(click image for full size)

Hands Off Venezuela

Join us in standing with the people of Venezuela and their democratically elected President Hugo Chavez, and condemning Washington's propaganda campaign against the Venezuelan government, carried out with the complicity of the U.S. corporate media. Sign the petition online at: http://iacenter.org/handsoffvenezuela.shtml

To:
President George W. Bush and his administration
HR Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Members of U.S. Congress
Print and Electronic U.S. Media


We the undersigned repudiate the role, overt or covert, of the United States government and media in the campaign of destabilization of the legitimate government of Venezuela and would like to confirm our support for democratically elected President of Venezuela, Honorable Hugo Chávez Frías and the Bolivarian Revolution.

A hostile campaign against the Venezuelan government under the name of "Free Expression" has been opened up by the opposition forces in Venezuela and its allies abroad, particularly in the United States after the announcement that the broadcasting license of Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) would not be renewed once it expired on May 27, 2007.

The Venezuelan government's decision is a legal and legitimate one based on their constitution which guarantees and regulates the access and use of airwaves for the benefit of the general public. RCTV broke these laws and consequently lost its license. It has not been silenced, for it can continue broadcasting by cable, satellite and Internet!

RCTV has consistently worked against the interests of the majority of Venezuelan people. Its programming has been sexist, racist and pejorative. Most importantly, it actively participated in the 2002 coup against President Chavez. After he was reinstated to office by millions of Venezuelans, RCTV prohibited its reporters to broadcast ANY of this information, therefore denying its audience vital information about their democratically elected government. According to an article in the Houston Chronicle, that action in the USA "would not have lasted more than a few minutes with the FCC". RCTV was not closed then and had been broadcasting until this past May 27!

Although the opposition and their allies claim that the action against RCTV reflect a lack of freedom of expression (meaning criticism of the president) by private media, it is important to note that 80% of TV and Radio in that country is in private hands and have not been "silenced".

The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution last week stating "profound concern" for the Venezuelan government's action and requesting measures from the OAS, which is currently meeting in Panama. This was followed by a statement from U.S. House of Representatives Speaker, Nancy Pelosi stating her "concern about his (Chavez) leadership".

The USA Congress, which became predominantly Democrat due to anti-war voters in the Nov. 7 elections, and which has recently voted to fund a criminal war that has caused thousands of Iraqi and U.S. lives ignoring the voices of their constituents, has no moral or legal right to interfere in Venezuelan politics, let alone accuse President Chavez for suspending RCTV’s license. U.S.A. Congress people should instead learn from President Chavez on how to listen to the people.

In February 1997 Temple University administrators stopped the Pacifica Station from broadcasting through TU radio station WRTI in the city of the U.S. Constitution, Philadelphia. They shut it for the sole reason that it was the only station broadcasting the political commentaries of award-winning journalist and former Black Panther, Mumia Abu-Jamal--who remains today on death row in Pennsylvania, a victim of a frame up. Where was the media and Congress outrage? In fact in the United States, the voices of the opposition to the war or to U.S. foreign and domestic policy are very rarely heard in the main broadcasting stations or papers. Their coverage of the situation in Venezuela has mostly been one-sided, on the side of the opposition!

Many countries have supported Venezuela's government action. Among them, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, several countries in Asia, Alpha Konaré, ex-president of the African Union, the European Union, and China.

We urge President Bush administration, the U.S. Congress and the U.S. media to cease and desist your campaign of destabilization against Bolivarian Venezuela, its leader President Hugo Chávez, its people and to respect their right to sovereignty.

Signed,

(add your name at http://iacenter.org/handsoffvenezuela.shtml )

Ramsey Clark

Vinie Burrows, actress, Women's International Democratic Federation

Peter Coyote, actor

George McCollough, Director Princeton Community TV

Cynthia McKinney, Former U.S. Congresswoman

Pastor Carla Harris, WURD 900AM Radio Host

Jon Jonik, Cartoonist

Teresa Gutiérrez, May 1st Coalition

Larry Holmes, Troops Out Now Coalition

Sara Flounders, IAC co-Director

David Sole, President UAW Local 2334, Detroit, Michigan

Larry Hales, FIST-(Fight Imperialism, Stand Together)

John Catalinotto, managing editor, Workers World Newspaper

Berta Joubert-Ceci, National Women's Fightback Network

- add your name here

It Was Forty Years Ago Today

It's Time for MoveOn to Start Talking about Impeachment

Photo: San Francisco Beach Impeach, April 28, 2007, by David B Page

SIGN PETITION

It's Enough To Make You Sick

Trailer for Sicko, Michael Moore's new film.

Keith Olbermann Tells It Like It Is

Once again, in his Special Comment of May 23, Citizen Olbermann speaks Truth to Power.

To Those Who Thought The New Majority in Congress Would Change Things...

Grab your ankles.

The bastards announced their intent to cave in and let Bush have the Iraq occupation funding bill he wants, no strings attached.

I said it after the election and I'll say it again now. The troops won't be brought home until Fall of 2008, and even then, they *all* won't be coming home.

Senate Dems Prove Me Right

Recently I posted a letter of May 15 which the chairs of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent to AG Gonzales, asking him to please comply with their subpoena of May 8. It closed thusly:

"You ignored the subpoena, did not come forward today, did not produce the documents and did not even offer an explanation for your noncompliance. Your action today is in defiance of the Committee's subpoena without explanation of any legal basis for doing so.

Please provide the information requested by May 18 at 10 a.m., so that the Chairman and the Committee can assess any objections to the subpoena or privileges claimed by the Department. The Committee intends to get to the truth."

At that time I said I expected the Dems to wimp out again. Today, they lived up to my expectations by sending *another* letter asking him to please comply. This one says:

"... we reiterate our requests for the following documents and ask that you provide them to this Committee no later than June 5, 2007:"

They say "please" no less than four times. What will they do when he ignores this one, threaten him with a "time out?"

Contact Leahy, Spector, and your Senators to demand they file Contempt of Congress charges and initiate Impeachment proceedings.

General Strike Planned in Portugal

To protest cuts in social services, wages and job security, Portuguese unions have called for a General Strike on May 30.

Click on pic for story.

He Won't Resign, Bush Won't Fire Him, So IMPEACH the Lying Bastard

Sign petition here.

Miracle Woman Casts Doubt on 9/11 Cover Story

Yet another fact one has to ignore in order to accept the rulers' theory.

Gonzales Ignores Subpoena - Committee Says "Please?"

Below is the text of the letter sent by the Senate Judiciary Committee to Abu Gonzales. Seems to me they should be filing Contempt of Congress charges, but I expect to Dems to wimp out again.


May 15,2007

The Honorable Alberto Gonzales
Attorney General
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20530

Dear Attorney General Gonzales:

You did not appear before the Committee or produce any documents and you have
provided no explanation for your failure to do so. Today at 2 p.m. was the return date
and time for you to appear before the Committee and bring with you the documents
compelled by the Judiciary Committee's May 2 subpoena.

Please provide the documents compelled by the subpoena to the Committee immediately
and without further delay. You should at least have provided in writing the specific
reasons for not producing any responsive documents, including any objections to the
subpoena or privileges claimed by the Department. You failed in that obligation, as well.
If you have anything to offer in these regards please do so by May 18 at 10 a.m.

You have twice before been asked to provide these documents without being compelled
by a congressional subpoena. First when you appeared before the Committee last month
and then by letter dated April 25.

On May 2, acting under the Committee's April 12 authorization and after consultation,
the Chairman issued a subpoena compelling you by today at 2 p.m. to produce all of Mr.
Rove's e-mails in the Department's possession related to the Committee's investigation,
including those obtained by Mr. Fitzgerald. The subpoena requires you to produce any
White House account, Republican National Committee account, or other account, in the
possession, custody or control of the Department of Justice. It also calls for you to
appear before us unless you produced the required documents to the Committee prior to
the return date and time.

You ignored the subpoena, did not come forward today, did not produce the ,documents
and did not even offer an explanation for your noncompliance. Your action today is in
defiance of the Committee's subpoena without explanation of any legal basis for doing
so.

Please provide the information requested by May 18 at 10 a.m., so that the Chairman and
the Committee can assess any objections to the subpoena or privileges claimed by the
Department. The Committee intends to get to the truth.

PATRICK LEAHY
Chairman

ARLEN SPECTER
Ranking Member

Finally, Some Good News

Jerry Falwell, founder of the so-called "Moral Majority" died today.

According to unconfirmed reports, he was met at the Gates of Hell by Satan himself, who said, "Heckuva job, Jer!"

The Real Reason for the Purge of US Attorneys

Impeach this President, or Remove the Impeachment Clause

From Dave Lindorff

What is it about impeachment that has the Democratic Party leadership so
frightened?

Talking with members of Congress, one hears the same refrain: “I know Bush
and Cheney have committed impeachable crimes, but impeachment is a bad
idea.”

The rationales offered are many, but all are either specious or based upon
flawed reasoning. Let’s consider them separately:

Excuse one, offered by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is that impeachment would be a
diversion from Democrats’ main goals of ending the Iraq War, and passing
important legislation. The reality, of course, is that many of the
administration’s impeachable acts relate directly to the war, so hearings
would only build support for ending it. Meanwhile, with the slim majorities
in both houses, Democrats cannot pass any significant progressive
legislation that could survive a veto (or a presidential signing statement)
and the record shows it.

Excuse two is that impeachment is divisive. This seems the height of
absurdity. When voters handed Congress to the Democrats, they knew they were
setting the stage for divided government. That was the whole point.
Moreover, divisiveness in Washington has largely emanated from the White
House, not from Congress. Anyhow, given administration intransigence on all
the issues that matter to Democrats, they have no alternative but to take a
stand.

Excuse three is a claim that the public opposes impeachment. This is simply
wrong. The few straightforward scientific polls done on impeachment, such as
one published by Newsweek last October, show a majority of Americans to want
it. Furthermore, if Bush has committed impeachable acts, it is inappropriate
for House members, all of whom swore to uphold and defend the Constitution,
not to act.

Excuse four is that old canard that impeaching Bush would mean making Cheney
president—a deliberately scary prospect but one which any politician in
Washington knows is garbage. Firstly, if Cheney were to become president
because of a Bush impeachment or resignation, it would only be for a few
months, and given his stunning lack of support among the public—currently
about 9 percent and falling—he would be the lamest of lame ducks, unable to
do anything. But more importantly, his own party would be certain to remove
him before any removal of Bush, and for exactly that reason—they would not
want to be going into the 2008 election with Cheney as party leader. This is
exactly what happened to Spiro Agnew, whom a Republican attorney general
managed to indict and remove before the collapse of Nixon’s presidency. The
same thing can be expected to happen to Cheney, who would surely face either
a sudden health crisis, or an indictment for corruption.

Finally, excuse five is that the president’s crimes and abuses of power need
to be proven before any impeachment bill. This is completely backwards. An
impeachment bill can be filed by any member of Congress who believes the
president has violated the Constitution. At that point, it is up to the
House Judiciary Committee to consider the bill’s merits and decide whether
to ask the full House to authorize impeachment hearings. It is at an
impeachment hearing where investigations should proceed. After all, only
after the Judiciary Committee votes out an impeachment article can the full
House consider whether to actually impeach. Calling for investigations
before an impeachment hearing is like asking for an investigation before a
grand jury investigation. It’s redundant, simply a dodge.

Besides, some of this president’s high crimes are self-evident. Take the
case of Bush’s ordering the National Security Agency to spy on Americans’
communications without a warrant. A federal judge has already labeled this
violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act a felony. There is no
denying this felony occurred, or that Bush is responsible. The only question
the House needs to vote on is whether the felony is a “high crime”
warranting impeachment.

The same applies Bush’s refusal to enact over 1200 laws or parts of laws
duly passed by Congress. Bush doesn’t deny that he has usurped the power of
the Congress, as laid down in Article I of the Constitution. Rather, he
asserts—with no basis in the wording of that document—that as commander in
chief in the war on terror, he has the “unitary executive” authority to
ignore acts of Congress. Again, there is no need for an “investigation” to
establish whether this happened. What Congress must do is decide whether
this usurpation of its Constitutional role is an impeachable abuse of power.

Likewise the president’s authorization of kidnap and torture. We know the
president okayed torture. We know too, that he used his “unitary executive”
claim to refuse to accept a law passed overwhelmingly by the last Congress
outlawing torture. Finally, we know the president did not, as required by US
and international law, act to halt torture and punish those up the chain of
command who oversaw systematic, widespread torture.

There are many impeachable crimes by this president (and vice president),
such as obstruction of justice in the Valeria Plame outing case, conspiracy
(or treason) in the Niger “yellowcake” document forgery scandal, conspiracy
to engage in election fraud, lying to Congress, criminal negligence in
responding to the Katrina disaster, bribery and war profiteering, etc.,
which would require Judiciary Committee investigations.

In the meantime, though, Democrats need to step up to their responsibility.

If this president is not to be impeached, Congress may as well amend the
Constitution to remove the impeachment clause. It will, in that case, have
become as much an anachronism as prohibition.
------------------------

About the author: Philadelphia journalist Dave Lindorff is co-author, with
Barbara Olshansky, of “The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument for
Removing President George W. Bush from Office” (St. Martin’s Press, 2006 and
due out in paperback later this month).
His work is available at This Can't Be Happening

Happy 420 Day

4/20/2007

Behold!
"I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food."
- God

Guest Editorial

A Statement from the International Action Center

Why Virginia Tech shootings happened


Yet another rampage has occurred at a school, this time leaving 33 people dead at Virginia Tech—the worst such incident ever at a U.S. college campus.

The news media seem stunned and surprised, yet their coverage sounds so similar to the stories about Columbine eight years ago. They dwell on the personality of the young man the police say did the shooting, before killing himself. They talk about him being a “loner,” depressed, perhaps angry at women.

But aren’t there lonely and depressed people all over the world? Many countries have high suicide rates. Why is it that here some become mass murderers?

The U.S. is the world leader in seemingly random acts of violence by individuals. Why?

President George W. Bush rushed to Virginia to speak at a large convocation the day after the killings and tried to set the tone for what could be said about them. “It’s impossible to make sense of such violence and suffering,” he said.

Don’t ask why, don’t try to understand. It makes no sense. “Have faith” instead, was Bush’s message.

But there ARE reasons these things happen here, and they are pretty clear to the rest of the world. It’s just in the United States that no one is supposed to talk about the reasons.

What distinguishes this country from the rest of the world? It is neither the most affluent nor the poorest. It is neither the most secular nor the most religious. It is not the most culturally homogeneous nor is it the most diverse.

But in one area, it stands virtually alone. It has the biggest arsenal of high-tech weaponry in the world, way surpassing every other country. It has military bases spread all over; most countries have no troops outside their borders.

It is conducting two hot wars at the moment, in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has sent hundreds of thousands of troops abroad over the last few years. Every day, the public here is supposed to identify with soldiers who burst into homes in Baghdad, round up the people and take them away for “interrogation”—which everyone knows now can mean torture and indefinite detainment.

It also sends heavily armed “special ops” on secret missions to countless other countries, like the ones who just facilitated the invasion and bombing of Somalia, or the ones who have been trying to stir up opposition in Iran. This is documented in the news media.

The immense brutality of these colonial wars, as well as earlier ones, is praised from the White House on down as the best, the ONLY way to achieve what the political leaders and their influential, rich backers decide is necessary to protect their world empire. Do lots of people get killed? “Stuff happens,” said former war secretary Donald Rumsfeld. “Collateral damage,” says the Pentagon.

At home, the U.S. has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. Over 2 million people are locked up in the prison system each year, most of them people of color. When commercial armed security guards are also taken into consideration, the U.S. has millions of employees who use guns and other coercive paraphernalia in their jobs.

In the final analysis, the military and the police exist to perpetuate and protect this present unjust system of capitalist inequality, where a few can claim personal ownership over a vast economy built by the sweat and blood of hundreds of millions of workers.

And the more divided, the more polarized the society becomes, the higher the level of coercion and violence. Assault weapons are now everywhere in this society, as are Tasers, handcuffs, clubs and tear gas. They most often start out in the hands of the police, the military and other agents of the state, and can then turn up anywhere.

Violence is a big money maker in the mass culture. Television, films, pulp novels, Internet sites, video games—all dwell on “sociopaths” while glorifying the state’s use of violence, often supplemented by a lone vigilante. By the time children reach their teens, they have already seen thousands of murders and killings on television. And these days even more suspense is added in countless programs that involve stalking and terror against women—and increasingly children.

As the Duke rape case and so many “escort service” ads show, women of color are particularly subject to exploitation and have little recourse to any justice. And as the murders along the border show, immigrants of color are fair game for racist killers.

The social soil of capitalism can alienate and enrage an unstable and miserable person who should be getting help but can’t find it. If, as reports are saying, the young man accused of these killings was on anti-depressant medication, it is all the more evidence that, at a time when hospitals are closing and health care is unavailable for tens of millions, treating mental health problems requires more from society than just prescribing dubious chemicals.

Many liberal commentators are taking this occasion to renew the demand for tougher gun laws. Yes, assault weapons are horrible, but so are bunker buster bombs, helicopters that fire thousands of rounds a minute, and the ultimate—nuclear weapons. Disarming the people is not the answer, especially when the government is armed to the teeth and uses brutality and coercion daily.

The best antidote to these tragedies is to build a movement for profound social change, a movement directed at solving the great problems depressing so much of humanity today, whether they be wars or global climate change or the loneliness of the dog-eat-dog society.

International Action Center- 55 West 17th St, 5C, New York, NY 10011
http://www.IACenter.org

Musical Interlude

South Africa's Hannes Coetzee on teaspoon slide guitar.

Kurt Vonnegut 1922-2007

So it goes.

Raul Malo

What a voice! I think he may be channeling Roy.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Opinion Pieces

Thanks and a hat tip to the Betsy Ross Homepage

Baby Seals are Drowning

The lack of ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence has led to a mortality rate for seal pups that could be close to 100%. And yet the cruel hunt to kill baby seals continues.

The Canadian government has announced that 270,000 seals can be taken in this year’s hunt. Yet according to the government’s own scientists, this number is well above the amount of seals needed to maintain a sustainable population.

Please donate what you can now to stop this irresponsible slaughter.

Surveillance flights are reporting that there are virtually no harp seal pups to be found in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. Without ice, mothers are forced to give birth to their pups in the water before they can swim.

In light of these tragic ice conditions, the responsible thing for Canada’s government to do would have been to call off this year’s seal hunt. Tragically, the Canadian government continues to put politics ahead of science.

The Canadian government is on record stating it will take ‘real action’ on global warming. And yet they ignore a real action they could take to combat the effects of global warming in their own backyard: ending the seal hunt.

Nominate Pete Seeger for the Nobel Peace Prize

Sign the petition here

If Only Dreaming Could Make it So...