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Commentary
Commentary, opinions, rants, debates, satire, creative expression (art, poetry...)
From the open publishing newswire:
I attended the march in Olympia on May Day. As I was involved in absolutely no illegal activity on that day, I feel no fear in speaking my mind. I saw everything that happened and was present from the beginning to the end of that day's activities. What I saw inspired, sickened and encouraged me. There were many good things that happened, just as there were many bad things. But most of those bad things were initiated and enacted by the police. I do not wish to give a blow-by-blow recounting of the actions of those involved, given that others have done this already. I wish to ask some questions.
From the open publishing newswire:
Marie Mason was arrested and charged with ELF activities in Michigan dating back almost a decade. As many of you already know Marie has since been released on an unsecured bond and has been under house arrest for over a month now awaiting trial. While house arrest is no where near as bad as incarceration it still has its own bag of stresses and hardships. We are encouraging folks to continue to send Marie letters of support. House arrest does not have any silly jail rules like what type of ink or paper you use so get creative. Letters, Photos, Art, videos, collages, vegan baked goods and vegan recipes are all welcome. Email letters of support are also welcome and can be sent to
 freemarie@riseup.net and will be forwarded to Marie.
We want to be clear though Marie's needs and isolation in this respect are not as pressing as some of the other Green Scare prisoners who are currently incarcerated. If you are only able to write just one letter, we at Got Your back encourage you to send it to one of the following people below. Briana Waters - www.supportbriana.org Eric McDavid - www.supporteric.org Sadie and Exile - solidaritywithsadieandexile@gmail.com
Tre Arrow - www.trearrow.org Tre has been locked up almost four years awaiting trial, Both Briana and Eric are locked down awaiting sentencing and Sadie and Exile are serving 7+ years for Green Scare related actions. updates are being posted at www.midwestgreenscare.org
From the open publishing newswire:
In the past several years there have been studies showing plants flowering as much as a month early, butterflies migrating weeks later than usual, changes in the timing and location of bird migrations, tropical frog extinctions, bears in Spain no longer hibernating because there is enough food to eat all winter, tree lines moving up mountainsides and up in latitude, the line of permafrost moving north, and others. But none of these are close enough or important enough to us, personally, to make us (Americans) concerned. These are all out on the fringe of our world and simply do not affect us.
But here is an example of how we actually are being affected and will continue to be affected by the changing climate. In 1949 the southeast had a rare weather event. An out-of-season tornado developed in early February, much earlier than normal. Well, this year southern Wisconsin had a rare weather event. An F-3 tornado developed January 7th for the first time - that early in the year - in the record books that go back over 120 years.
From the open publishing newswire:
A friend recently was complaining about how everyone is talking about buying gold to protect themselves from economic collapse. He told me a story about his elderly aunt who had lived through several holocausts. She was Jewish and one of only a few who survived in her family. As a child she and her mother first fled the Nazi's and ran into Russia, then fled the Russian's and fled into France and finally they came to the U.S. They had few things with them. The woman told my friend that she and her mother survived starvation, which killed many refugees, not by hoarding gold, but by secretly carrying seeds in the fold of their clothes. People around them, even the enemy let them live because they had a skill that was much needed... the knowledge of how to raise their own food. [ Radical Botany ]
From the open publishing newswire:
What a long and strange journey this past year has been. I have been riding highs and lows as I have been struggling to regain my freedom and find a balance between my desires for this movement and my own personal happiness. I've made no secret of my often conflicting emotions or my disappointment in radical struggles here in the United States. I have strived to remain true to the ideals in which I believe.
As many of you are aware, I was resentenced on February 28th, after years of fighting for a reduced sentence. In the months preceding my resentencing I was faced with numerous obstacles and forced to make difficult decisions. I wrote a statement acknowledging I was wrong to believe that arson could achieve the change I desired, though I added I was not ashamed of nor did I regret my actions. Judge Billings told me that in his 35 years as an attorney and judge that my statement was the most sincere and passionate he'd ever heard. He told me he was impressed with me... He finished by wishing me the best of luck... I'm still here and I am not quitting. ~ Jeffrey "Free" Luers Jeff Luers # CCCI PO Box 9000 Wilsonville, OR 97070  http://freejeffluers.org
From the open publishing newswire:
5 years ago this morning, many people were mourning the loss of our dear friend Sparrow, aka Carson McCann. We have been mourning him ever since. But that does not mean we have not put our sorrow into action - and the action began just a few days after his death as you can see in this previous post. Sparrow is in our thoughts and in our hearts with every day that passes, every precious forest that we hike through, and every sparrow that flies across our path. We love you and miss you Sparrow. Forest defense community mourns the loss of our friend Sparrowbrfriends of Sparrow announce occupation of Straw Devil timber sale
From the open publishing newswire:
Just 93 miles off the coast of Florida lies perhaps the last remnant and stronghold of cold war opposition with the United States. For the last five decades it has boasted a leader that earned the title of dictator by successive U.S. regimes, while simultaneously maintaining widespread respect and admiration among his own people. Involved at one time in a potent trio, along with the U.S. and Soviet Union, that nearly brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, today the country stands as one of the sole examples of resistance to U.S. corporate and ideological imperialism. As the global community awoke on February 19 to the news of Fidel Castro's resignation, U.S. politicians, along with Florida's Little Havana, were in celebration of the impending change. But as Cuba officially hands over the reigns of power to Fidel's younger brother Raúl, the change the U.S. government has sought since 1959, appears truly to be an unlikely reality.
From the open publishing newswire:
At about 3:43 AM yesterday a bomb went off doing minor damage to the historic recruitment office on the Times Square island.
Trigger a mob response at Four AM? Incite violence, I am reminded very strongly of the pepper spraying of Anarchist by "peace keeping" reformist to prevent vandalism to a bank. Violence involves physical pain, injury or death to a living creature, not the destruction of a glass window even if it does have Uncle Sam's picture on it. A few year's back American's were pondering why American's were hated in the third world? Could it be because we value the property of American's before the life of third world citizens? That the façade of an orderly peace loving society govern by reason is more important to middle class self-esteem that any substantial effort to create such a society. These are the reasons why the American dream, a mere illusion of democracy, is the nightmare of the rest of the world. As the false hearted Liberal movement commit themselves to denoucning the braking of a pain of glass, the Bush Administration lays the ground work for a proxi war in Latin America. A war Obama and Hillary are as likely to initiate as Bush himself. American's need to go beyond their meaningless self-delusions of being a peace loving people and address the reality that the US is easily the most aggressive militaristic state of our century. To turn our nation away from this path we need to stop acting like children and look at violence as it really effects are world.
From the open publishing newswire:
Declaration of Latin American anti-militarists: We don't need another war:
We don't need another war. We, conscientious objectors and anti-militarists from Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela and the whole of Latin America and the Caribbean together, categorically refuse to participate in belligerent escalades that will lead to a war that, again, will attempt to divide us. We have enough with hunger, corruption, rampant militarism, the obscene military budget, insecurity, the continuous violations of human rights by our governments, for them to give us yet another armed conflict. The truth is that bellicose rhetoric favors both Uribe and Chavez, the latter perhaps more so. The truth is that the Comandante's revolutionary discourse has seen better days. After the December 2nd defeat, the first electoral thrashing he has got, the floodgates of discontent within chavismo have swung open. Not the discontent seen on TV with high sounding declarations, but that of the people who abstained and caused the constitutional reform defeat, the same people who are tired of empty supermarket shelves and abandoned Missions while the Boli-bourgeoisie drives expensive cars. The same people who denounce corruption and confront the Ministry of Labor bureaucracy and get shot by the National Guard in return. The very same people who those chavistas closest to the presidency accuse of being left deviationists, ultra-left or anarchists, of whom it is said it isn't ready for socialism after nine years waiting for some real moves, and who get desperate seeing Chavez flirting with the right in the past few months.
From the open publishing newswire:
Extraordinary women's health advocate, activist, journalist, writer founder of NWHN died Febraury 28. Barbara Seaman, author of "The Doctor's Case Against the Pill" and "The Greatest Experiment Ever Performed on Women" has died. She was 72.
"The Case Against the Pill" resulted in hearings on the risks of birth control pills, and warnings placed on birth control pill packaging. She disclosed the risks of cancer and Hormone Replacement Therapy in "The Greatest Experiment Ever Performed on Women". She compares use of HRT in the US and Europe. In Europe, HRT is treated for a short period of time and women are told to taper off the medication once menopause is over. In the United States it has become a money making industry, with doctor's prescribing long-term, cancer inducing medication to women. Menopause in the US is treated like a disease. Seaman founded the National Women's Health Network in 1975. She was a journalist, activist, organizer, mother and grandmother. To read more about Barbara Seaman go to womensspace.wordpress.com
From the open publishing newswire:
Radical Botany: Arising from or going to a root or source; Arising from the root or its Crown: radical leaves. Favoring or effecting fundamental or revolutionary changes in the current practices.
GRASSES,REEDS, RUSHES and SEDGES- The plants of utility For Thousands of years First Nation people's created everything they needed in their lives from plants, rocks, earth, water and fire. They used fire and rock to forge the tools they needed for harvesting the raw materials. Plants gave them the bulk of the materials they needed to create clothes, shoes, blankets, hats, protection from the elements, home furnishings, storage containers and cookware. These people lived simple lives, uncluttered with "stuff" that would poisoned their world. Everything they created decomposed back to the earth, so there was no need for collecting and discarding garbage into unsafe environments. There was no collection of vast islands of plastic and metal collecting in landfills, oceans and streams. People kept these utilitarian objects for years, patching them and only creating new when absolutely necessary. Elders passed on favorite tools or baskets to youth. The young felt blessed by such a gift. Along with the gift of the tool or basket came wisdom and valued knowledge about the natural or spirit world. How were plants used?
From the open publishing newswire:
There is a grassy field on the edge of the Columbia where the geese gather at this time of the year, every morning. They stand in the frosty grass, with circlets of white mist rising all around them from the waking earth. The geese chatter with each other in morning communion, their little black heads poking up through the gentle fog, the sun rising just over the water right behind them, gilding all the edges with gold. It's a breathtakingly beautiful thing to witness. And each time I see it, I yearn to have a camera in my hands, to save a part of the moment on film. So this morning, I went out there, with a camera in my hands, just for that photograph.... I never did get the shot I went out to get, the one of the geese standing in the mist. But the hunters did not get the shots they went out to get this morning either, and that is enough for me.
From the open publishing newswire:
You don't know me and one of you will never have an opportunity to read this letter but you have each left your mark upon my soul.
If you don't already know it, the US military can train a man to kill but can not train that man how to handle it when he does. For this reason amongst many others my Marine son, John, who touched your lives in Iraq, (and through him, so did I), is in treatment along with other veterans of this and earlier wars. There was a firefight in Baghdad, a 360 degree battle with the Marines taking fire from all around and overhead. You were there, not as a participant just a civilian and you are my first connection though I learned of you last because my son couldn't tell me about you until recently. Training had the Marines firing back reflexively at anything that moved, vehicles, stray dogs a blur of a shirtsleeve. The Marine who fired upon your husband and two children was almost 100 yards away and he jerked his weapon up in horror at the end of the burst and watched your family fall. You didn't know it at the time but he watched you run out to your family. He saw you in your light blue wrap as you went from one body to the other. He tried to avert his eyes as you picked up your dead child and then the other and wailed in your grief. He tried to look away but that light blue color was always in his peripheral vision, pulling at him drawing him back. |
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