Where's W?
See if you can find the president here. Found via After Downing Street.
Bring Them Home Now Bus Tour
The bus tour from Camp Casey of Gold Star families is going to be here in Minneapolis on Saturday. The local community is scrambling to organize a large public event and to provide homes for the travelers. More info can be found at Bring Them Home Now Tour. There will probably be a public event a the Capitol Building in St. Paul on Saturday. Call Women Against Military Madness for details and to volunteer: 612-827-5364.
Hurricane Katrina
The devastation in New Orleans and the rest of the southern U.S. is astonishing. Last night, one of the networks showed ten straight minutes of video shot from a helicopter which gave me a small idea of how extensive the damage is. For the first time, I am hearing reporters in the U.S. talk about a huge refugee crisis within our own borders. There are 20,000 people trapped in the Superdome in New Orleans. The plan is to bus them all the way up to Dallas where they will be allowed to stay in the Astrodome. How they can get the people from the Superdome, which is completely surrounded by water, to buses, when all roads from the city are out, is still to be determined.
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Monday, August 29, 2005
Cats in Sinks
Cats in Sinks.
Because.
Sunday, August 28, 2005
That was fun!
We all got older and fatter and lost our hair and our eyesight. It was just so much fun to see how many people are alive and doing well. They have children and grandchildren and jobs and lives all over the country.
It is so funny how our perceptions of school are so different. One woman came up to me and told me she had been the young girl who had "the great honor" of turning the pages on the music book that I used to play the piano accompaniment to our school's production of "Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat!". To think that anyone would consider sitting next to me to be some kind of honor is unbelievable. But there you go.
Honestly, I believe the most amazing thing about the night was the great delight in knowing that all of these different people have survived all these years. The event was held in the same hall that was used to hold my class's graduation, all 37 of us. It kind of renewed my faith in life itself.
Friday, August 26, 2005
High School Reunion
I went to a relatively tiny high school. There were 37 people in my class.
Tomorrow night I will attend the 30th anniversary of the closing of my high school. Because the school was so small, we celebrate all-school reunions rather than individual class reunions. I haven't attended any reunions since the 5th reunion.
Funny thing. After 30 plus years, the reunion has almost nothing to do with "me" and has everything to do with curiousity about everyone else. I've heard stories about people going on diets and engaging in major makeovers before attending high school reunions, if only to prove something long after the pain of high school shunning is over.
At some point, though, it all falls by the wayside. At least I think it does. I'll check back in after tomorrow night to see whether the ghosts of high school past infected my enjoyment of events!
The good thing about being a small school is that these all-school reunions invite students, teachers and parents. So my date tomorrow night will be my Mom. She spent many hours at sporting events, parent events and school activities. In most situations, none of that gets acknowledged all these years later. But my school invites the parents and my attendance is something I do for my Mom as much as I do for myself.
But before I do the whole nostalgia thing, I'm going to stop at the Solidarity Committee meeting for the workers on strike against Northwest Airlines. The strike has lasted a week and the bullshit is flowing freely on the local media. In spite of all the crap about "business as usual", there is a growing movement supporting the machinists who have a great big target sign on their backs by the capitalist system. Sure, they may be screwed and they may know it, but nobody is going to go down quietly in this rush towards bancruptcy and default on the part of a huge corporation that has been the beneficiary of huge tax incentives from the people of Minnesota.
The corporate executives of Northwest Airline are publicly dumping their stocks like lemmings. Something they can no longer do in secrecy. Well, you know, fuck them!
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Really long art galleries
Subways need not be boring or dreary! Many operators of metros, subways or underground railways want to attract more passengers with good station design. This often means extra effort and higher costs for the metro operators but it seems to pay when a metro is more than only a means of traffic but something the population can be proud of.
Check out the Metro Bits website!
Here's a spectacular night shop from a website that focusses on the subways of North Korea:
I found this via Presurfer.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Just admit it!
The debate about Cindy Sheehan and her grief over the death of her son, Casey, in the war against Iraq has brought about a a new level of political discussion in our country. Even so, one core element of her protest is being ignored. One simple fact has not been addressed:
Bush believes that Cindy Sheehan's grief is acceptable.
Bush's belief in the war in Iraq is strong enough to allow him to accept the grief of Cindy Sheehan and every other family member who has lost a loved one in the war against Iraq. What is surprising in all of this discussion, is that Bush and his PR machine seem incapable of saying out loud what the rest of us recognize every day.
Bush has decided that the 10 or 20 Americans who will die today and tomorrow and the 50 or 100 Iraqis who will die today and tomorrow are acceptable losses in order to achieve his particular political goals.
In a way, this debate reminds me of the debate we have been having in this country about abortion. Personally, I am willing to accept that a woman's right to choose an abortion has, as a direct consequence, the grief that some people will experience over the death of a fetus. A certain percentage of my fellow citizens believe that a fetus has been murdered when a woman chooses to have an abortion. I am willing to accept their grief. My belief in a woman's right to control her own body is more important to me than the grief that a substantial number of anti-choice citizens might experience at the death of her fetus.
If the death of a fetus can become a topic of public discussion, how can we avoid talking about all the lives that have been snuffed out in the war against Iraq? How in the world can seeing the crosses lining a ditch in Crawford, Texas, and listening to the pain of family members be seen as inappropriate for a man who has deliberately chosen to risk the lives of so many people?
What Sheehan is doing, to the dismay of many, is showing that there are consequences to war.
The war in Iraq may not inconvenience the majority of American citizens. We are not living under rationing. We are not facing blackouts and air raids. We are not buying gas on alternate days based on a sticker attached to our personal vehicles.
But we are, every single day, spending the lives of our fellow citizens and the citizens of Iraq.
Cindy Sheehan's great sin is in making visible what has been hidden all these months and years. The deaths of over 1,800 U.S. soldiers has been invisible. The deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been invisible. The responsiblity for those deaths, which lays squarely in the hands of Bush and his administration, have been invisible.
Not any more. Cindy Sheehan and the other families of those who have died or been permanently disabled in the war against Iraq, are refusing to let us hide from the consequences of our decisions. We cannot cover up their pain with cinematic fictions about the glory of war. We cannot pretend that war is a struggle of the brave and pure against the evil and small-minded. We must accept that the reality of war is pain for so many people and so many families on all sides of the conflict.
For that honesty, Cindy Sheehan and the families who have come together in Texas deserve our support and respect.
Monday, August 22, 2005
Tonight I attended an event celebrating the 20th anniversary of the UFCW P9 strike against Hormel at the speakers club of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. Over 100 people turned out. We welcomed representatives of the AMFA strike against Northwest Airlines.
All of which confirms that notion that the more things change, the more things are the same.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
05 09-24-05 latest
That about rounds up my Sunday flyer making for now!
Another weekend, another poster
Friday, August 19, 2005
New Photos of Bridge Protest
CircleVision has posted some wonderful photos of the Bridge vigil for Cindy Sheehan here. He also got a great picture of my "We Support Cindy sign here:
Unity Achieved!
Statement about a joint rally and joint march for September 24.
The two major antiwar coalitions that have initiated and organized for a massive anti-war March on Washington for September 24 have agreed to organize a joint rally followed by a joint march. Both coalitions will organize under their own banners, slogans and with their own literature for the September 24 demonstration. The joint rally will begin at 11:30 am at the Ellipse in the front of the White House. We urge everyone around the country to unite and come out for the largest possible anti-war demonstration on September 24.
Signed by:
United for Peace and Justice
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
(on behalf of the September 24 National Coalition)
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Graphics in action!
There were 1200 people at the Lake Street/Marshall Avenue bridge over the Missisippi River last night. I posted over at After Downing Street on a thread that has reports from vigils around the country. Two other people posted saying there were 300 people in Edina (Republican stronghold!) and 100 people in St. Paul. I saw coverage on the news last night that showed a hundred or more in Loring Park.
We did good! I'm hoping Cindy can feel our strength!
From the AP here is more info:
Last update: August 18, 2005 at 2:52 AM
Minnesotans join candlelight vigils to protest Iraq war
State Wire
BURNSVILLE, Minn. (AP) - Hundreds of Minnesotans rallied on Wednesday behind one mother's anti-war demonstration near President Bush's Texas ranch.
Candlelight vigils were held in several Minnesota communities and nationwide at the urging of Cindy Sheehan, who started a protest Aug. 6 in memory of her son Casey, who died in Iraq last year.
More than 1,000 protesters stood on the Marshall Avenue-Lake Street Bridge, which links Minneapolis and St. Paul.
"This war has been disgraceful, with trumped-up reasons,'' said Sue Ann Martinson, of Minneapolis. "There were no weapons of mass destruction and the Iraqis didn't have anything to do with 9-11.''
About 175 people gathered at Nicollet Commons Park in Burnsville for a peaceful protest. They remained silent for several minutes while remembering those who have died in the Iraq war.
About 200 people attended another vigil near Loring Park in Minneapolis.
In the northeastern Minnesota town of Chisholm, more than 100 people gathered near the Iron Man statue, cupping their candles against the wind and a cool summer's night.
The event was put on by Iron Range United for Peace & Awareness and MoveOn.org.
"We want to support and honor all military families,'' organizer Loren Olsen said. "We feel the best way to do that is to support Cindy Sheehan.''
Twenty-five crosses were set up near the statue, each bearing the name of a Minnesota soldier who died in connection with the war.
"Why are we in this war? When are the troops going to be coming home? What is the exit strategy?'' said Alissa Miller, who organized the Burnsville event.
Miller has a 20-year-old brother in Iraq and says she fears the worst every day.
"There is definitely the very grave concern that my brother could be coming home in a body bag,'' Miller said. "I think it is the start of a movement and I think eventually the questions will be answered.''
Sheehan says she will camp outside Bush's ranch until his monthlong vacation ends or he meets with her and other grieving families.
"I think he ought to at least have the courage to look in her eye and tell her why her son died,'' said Doug Claycomb, who attended the Burnsville event with his family. "I hope it finally gets George Bush's attention, gets him to meet with Cindy and gets him to reconsider whether this war was a good idea or not.''
Bush has said he sympathizes with Sheehan but has made no indication he will meet with her. Two top Bush administration officials talked to Sheehan the day she started her camp, and she and other families met with Bush shortly after her son's death.
Not everyone is on Sheehan's side.
Sharon Dorff, whose son Patrick died in Iraq on Jan. 25, 2004, said she paid no attention to the demonstrations.
"I kind of ignored it because I thought it was kind of ridiculous,'' Dorff said. "I think it's kind of a waste of time because it's not going to bring our sons back.''
------
The StarTribune article:
Last update: August 18, 2005 at 8:14 AM
Anti-war protest draws more than 1,000
Joy Powell, Star Tribune
August 18, 2005 VIGILS0818
Tears streaming, Catherine Statz, a nurse from St. Paul, stood on the Lake Street-Marshall Avenue Bridge on Wednesday evening with more than 1,000 other war protesters.
Her sister, Patricia Statz, 41, was killed Sept. 11, 2001, while working at the Pentagon as a civilian employee with the U.S. Army.
Since then, her family has come to believe that her death and the deaths of thousands of others have been exploited.
"It's horrible that President Bush uses Sept. 11 as his reason to be in the war," Catherine Statz said as passing cars tooted support for the protesters.
Organizers said there were nearly 1,200 of them. They held candles and placards on the bridge to show their support for the mother of a slain soldier who is holding a vigil near President Bush's ranch in Texas.
Local peace vigil
The vigil was one of dozens in the metro area arranged by MoveOn.org, a website that organized similar protests across the nation.
From Stillwater to Eden Prairie to Minneapolis, thousands of people turned out to show they stand behind the cause of Cindy Sheehan, whose controversial stakeout at "Camp Casey" is drawing national attention.
For Statz, it's a personal cause as well.
"I think we're there because they've used Sept. 11 to move into Afghanistan and Iraq," she said. "It's not about the price of oil, it's about the control. It's about getting a foothold in the Mideast."
Unable to stop crying, Statz, 50, hid her face behind her sign, which said, "U.S. Troops Out Now."
"It's so sad," she said, "for our family to know that so many other families are going to be going through what we did -- losing a loved one."
At the bridge, a couple of war supporters showed up briefly, toting a sign that said, "Kill Iraq." Many of the protesters said that they support U.S. troops in Iraq but that they want to bring them home.
John and Char Sokatch of St. Paul, who were at the bridge vigil with their 9-year-old daughter Zya and two neighbor children, said they came because they couldn't afford to travel to Crawford, Texas, to rally with Sheehan.
Sydney Rose, 14, proudly toted a placard that read,"No more grieving mothers."
The St. Paul girl had come with her father, brother and a friend. While they were there, Sydney's uncle, Darrel Pinkston of Savage, called her father, Dana Rose. The men have opposite stances on the war, yet are best of friends.
"I support freeing the Iraqi people from the tyrant Saddam," Pinkston said after Dana Rose handed his cell phone to a reporter. "I think it was a good and moral thing to do."
Retired Minneapolis pediatrician Dr. Sigrid Bachmann and her daughter, nurse Tanya Bachmann, were at the bridge vigil as well. They and others called Sheehan courageous. It's a new anti-war movement fanned by the Internet, and one organized far more quickly than decades ago, when Bachmann first began protesting wars.
As a girl who lived in Berlin during World War II, she saw the hatred and prejudice foisted on the Jewish people, and then saw the smashed stores, the burned buildings and other horrors of war.
"War is extremely destructive of the souls of the people, or the buildings, or the land, of the Earth," she said. "One of the saddest things is the fate of the children in this time we're living."
Vietnam veteran Steve Weeks of Minneapolis rode his bike to the vigil.
"This isn't a war, this is a police action," said Weeks, who said he served in the Navy from 1964-67. "There's no country we're at war with. We don't even know who we're fighting."
Sue Ann Martinson of Minneapolis, shared that view. "There were no weapons of mass destruction, and the Iraqis didn't have anything to do with 9-11," she said.
"This war has been disgraceful, with trumped up reasons."
Joy Powell is at jpowell@startribune.com.
-------
This article is from KARE 11, the local NBC affiliate:
Peace vigils held in support of Cindy Sheehan
At the Lake Street/Marshall Avenue bridge, cars honked continuously Wednesday night, as they drove past hundreds of people who came to stand symbolically by Cindy Sheehan.
“You look around, and there’s probably 500 or 700 people,” said Kathy Stone, the vigil organizer.
Online, more than 730 people signed up for the bridge vigil, which was one of more than 20 vigils held around the Twin Cities area to show support for the woman whose son was killed in Iraq.
Sheehan has been camping outside President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, for 11 days, saying she wants to ask the President: Why did my son die in Iraq?
"Cindy Sheehan, who gave the ultimate sacrifice, has the moral authority to question our government," Stone said.
President Bush met with Sheehan in June 2004, but Sheehan has since said Bush was disrespectful during the meeting. This year, Bush has refused to meet with her, saying he sympathizes with her but doesn’t agree with her views on the war.
Earlier this week, Sheehan’s group, called "Gold Star Families for Peace," purchased an ad on Texas cable TV, in an effort to reach the President.
Sheehan says Bush was, "wrong about weapons of mass destruction," and "You were wrong about the link between Iraq and Al Qaeda. You lied to us. And because of your lies, my son is dead."
Her son, Casey, was an Army specialist and was 24 years old when he died.
Sheehan’s story has made war opponents more vocal, including Minnesota State Senator Becky Lourey (DFL-Kerrick), who is traveling to Texas this week.
“I am going to support another mother who lost her son in Iraq,” Lourey said.
Lourey’s son, Matt, died in Iraq this May.
Lourey said, in Crawford, she plans to, "put my arms around her and offer the sympathy that she understands, because we share the same grief."
As Sheehan’s sympathizers, like Lourey, speak up at vigils across the country, the President’s supporters are getting louder, too. Some, like author Ann Coulter, accuses Sheehan of being a puppet for anti-war politicians.
"She is not grieving anymore," Coulter said. "She now wants to determine America’s foreign policy."
But Coleen Rowley, the FBI whistleblower and Democratic candidate for Congress – who is traveling to Texas with Lourey – says Sheehan has the right to ask questions about the war a number of Americans now question themselves.
"I think everyone does deserve an explanation at this point," Rowley said.
KARE-11 is traveling with Lourey and Rowley on their trip to Crawford on Thursday. Look for reports on KARE-11 News at 6 and 10.
By, Scott Goldberg , KARE 11 News
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Another sign for tonight
Again, please feel free to "steal" these images and use them however you choose!
08-21-05 Meal & Movie
Cindy? Yes! War? No!
Why are you reading this? You should be going to your local vigil!
Vigil tonight
On the Meet with Cindy website, there is a sign you can download that says "American Stands With Cindy." I altered that sign somewhat here. I took out the small flag so all the anarchists won't compromise their principles by supporting a state apparatus. I took out "America", since we don't claim to speak for everyone -- that's what "the Bushies" are always claiming to do.
So if this particular sign fits your way of looking at the world, help yourself and pass it on.
Tonight's vigil information copied from the WAMM (Women Against Military Madness) website:
Candlelight Vigil
7:30 pm
Lake Street/Marshall Avenue bridge over the Mississippi River
Please bring a candle or lantern. Keep in mind that it may be windy.
Cindy Sheehan, mother of Army Specialist Casey Sheehan who was killed in Iraq, continues her vigil outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. She was recently joined by more moms who lost a child in Iraq and other military families. Meanwhile President Bush continues his five-week vacation and pledged Thursday to keep U.S. troops in Iraq meaning more moms will lose a child.
Cindy has asked supporters to start candlelight vigils in their communities to support her and call for an end to the war. So, MoveOn and True Majority, together with WAMM and Veterans for Peace in the Twin Cities, are teaming up to host Vigils for Cindy Sheehan on Wednesday, August 17th, to show our solidarity with Cindy.
Our vigils will be simple and dignified. Together, we'll acknowledge the sacrifices made by Cindy Sheehan, her son, Casey and the more than 1,800 brave American men and women who have given their lives in Iraq and their moms and families.
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Busy weekend
This weekend I attended a workshop to learn how to make artists's books. We made three books and started on a fourth. Two of the books are "tunnel" books that are sort of like shadow boxes with imagery appearing through cutouts. One book was made from combining "paste paper" and layering. Another book was an "accordian" style book made out of fancy papers. I learned quite a lot and my mind is filled with ideas for future activities. Just exactly what I needed from the experience!
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Pretty kitty
A slide show of photos on flicker tagged with cat.
Awwwwwww!
And then there's airborne cats!
Smart Bear
Found here:
Door knocking bear
Animal experts in Croatia say a bear has learned how to trick people to let him in by knocking at the door.
They believe the 35-stone brown bear probably learned the trick while nudging a door to get it to open.
Experts speculate the nudging was mistaken by the owners for knocking and that the bear, pleased by the outcome, repeated the tactic.
The Loknar family from Gerovo in western Croatia said the bear had knocked at their door three times and they were now refusing to answer the door.
Mum Nevenka Loknar said: "We jumped out the window as he came in through the door and raided the kitchen the first time.
"I opened the door and saw him standing there and I didn't believe my eyes at first, then I ran for it as he walked in as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
"Bears are a common thing in the woods around here, but no one has ever heard of a bear that knocks at the door.
"The bear is so intelligent it's incredible. We've tried to put up lots of obstacles to stop him coming in, like a wire fence but he still gets through. I wouldn't be surprised if he knew how to use wire cutters."
Saturday, August 06, 2005
The Dove ad discussion
Dove has sparked some controversy by running an ad campaign with larger women in underwear and calling them "real women" of something like that. Amanda has a post up about how media standards of beauty are harmful to men as well as women.
Luckily, my own standards for beauty were challenged several times early in life and basically ruined the painted-on heroin-addict look for me. I can think of three experiences that made the break:
First, working in a corn-canning factory 12 hours a day for four weeks straight. Back in the 70s, you could make enough money with the overtime to pay for a year of college. In that world, strength and stamina equalled desirability. We worked on quotas and good working partners could help each other increase our own quotas. The best partners to have: large, sturdy farm women in their 50s or young, plump women like myself.
Second, living and working in rural Mexico in 1974. Again, strength was valued, but also cleanliness and hair everywhere. I haven't touched a razor since. I learned to appreciate sturdy hand-made clothes and beautiful embroidery. No skinny white chicks there.
Third, attending a women-only music festival in the summer. Clothes were optional. The huge variety of women's bodies, once the clothes are off, is such an amazing thing to see and completely destroys the cookie-cutter images we are served up all the time.
Today, I work at the headquarters of a major corporation. I see hundreds of women a day. Yet, on any given day I can count on one hand the number of women my age who, like myself, are not wearing makeup. I think of us as a small secret society who know there is a much bigger world out there.
I think the commenters over at Amanda's don't understand how easy it is to break away from the images. Or maybe I was lucky that it happened to me when I was young.
Friday, August 05, 2005
Do I have a dry wit, or am I just a smartass?
Years ago, Ravenhub came up with that line to cover those times when the mind works fast, the mouth responds even quicker, and one of us voices a smart-ass comment that is hilarious but wildly inappropriate. Fortunately for both of us, respect for a well-turned and humorous phrase invariably trumps any anger or insult that might normally be caused by such remarks. If the comment involves a pun, so much the better.
Puns are wonderful because they require thought on the part of the listener and the pun-purveyor can almost see the wheels turning as the pun-receiver realizes that dual message of said pun. It is that joy of shared thought processes that touches something special for me. I was reminded of this while watching a recent tribute to Bob Newhart. One of his standard bits is the telephone conversation. He stands with a phone to his ear and we hear only one side of the conversation. Newhart's writing and timing were such that we, the audience, could fill in the other side of the conversation and we not only found it hilirious, we also enjoyed being a small part of the routine.
Lately I've had the great pleasure of entering into e-mail exchanges that involve the same sort of "filling in" with two other graphic artists. Imagine three women working away in separate cubes, firing these e-mails out every couple of minutes while deadlines loom and the weekend beckons:
_________________
To: K and Raven
From: J
Subject: Dukes of Hazard is roadkill
Review: 'Dukes of Hazzard' is roadkill
Cheesecake, car chases and idiocy
Friday, August 5, 2005; Posted: 10:31 a.m. EDT (14:31 GMT)
(CNN) -- "The Dukes of Hazzard" is a prime example of a sad Hollywood habit: taking a popular -- but rather dumb -- TV show and turning it into a totally stupid and meaningless film.
This flick is a car wreck with boobs.
Now, let me just say, if your idea of a good film is a nearly naked Jessica Simpson and completely over-the-top chase scenes, then this movie is for you.
What a waste of Jessica Simpson's talent...
Bah-hahaha!
---------
To: K and J
From: Raven
My idea of a good film is nearly naked roadkill.....
---------
To: Raven and J
From: K
I loved "Nearly Naked Roadkill 2," but I thought "Nearly Naked Roadkill 3" lacked strong performance and direction.
---------
To: Raven and K
From: J
I heard the mis en sen was completely wrong in NNR3.
---------
To: Raven and J
From: K
With the cast they had - Jeremy Irons, Vanessa Redgrave, Dame Judi Dench, Jim Broadbent - I guess I expected more!
---------
To: K and J
From: Raven
True, and Oliver Stone's ability to implicate the Vatican into the international roadkill conspiracy really got me thinking
---------
To: K and Raven
From: J
Despite ongoing controversy, the guy driving the Hummer WAS Michael Jackson.
---------
To: J and Raven
From: K
I don't care what anyone says, when he murmurs Rosebud at the end, it gave me the CHILLS!
---------
To: K and J
From: Raven
Yeah, but when those three graphic artists beat that dead horse I had to hide my eyes!
-------
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
highwaysign
My mother, a retired geographer and cartographer, would love this story. I heard about it on NPR's "Wait Wait -- Don't Tell Me!" show and then googled for more information. By the way, the radio show is almost always fun listening. I like to pull it onto my desktop at work and listen on my headphones. I usually wait until a particularly nasty day. Listening to the show tends to pick me up and put my lousy day in perspective. I highly recommend it.
Here's the story found via Google:
Alabama road signs in Massachusetts?
EASTHAMPTON, Mass.(AP)_ The highway signs at the intersection of Routes 10 and 141 might make you think you'd taken a wrong turn and wound up in the Deep South.
Amid the staid Yankee surroundings of this western Massachusetts town, the recently installed signs bear the outline of the state of Alabama, squashed to fit the square shape.
The incorrect signs had been up about a week when Joe Pipczynski, Easthampton's superintendent of public works, was alerted by a state Highway Department worker.
Pipczynski spoke to city officials and consulting engineers and came up with a theory. He believes the contractor opened the federal manual governing the appearance of highway signs.
The example there shows a sign for Route 21 in Alabama, including an outline of the state surrounding the numbers. In Massachusetts, the signs are supposed to be simple black numbers on a white background.
Pipczynski thinks the contractor's staffers sent the example to the sign maker and got exactly what they asked for. But the contractor, A. Pereira Construction Co. of Ludlow, doesn't know what happened.
"We didn't really question it, because the numbers were correct," company spokesman Roger Remy said. Mike Superson is co-owner of a Big E's Supermarket, which is right next to the signs.
"I looked at them 100 times since they put them up," he told The Boston Globe.
"This is the first I've heard of this." The signs will be replaced as soon as possible, Remy said.
Sunday, July 31, 2005
05 08-27-05 Picnic
WAMM's Fifties Birthday Bash
Here also is an example of the nametags I made. It reminds me of an event some of the Nuclear Freeze campaigners did sometime in the early 1980s. The evacuation plans for Minneapolis in case of a nuclear disaster included all Minneapolis residents moving into the small town of Northfield, Minnesota. So as part of the Freeze work, some activists went door-to-door in Northfield with suitcases and told people they had decided to move in with them early. It was an interesting method to kick-start a discussion about the Freeze movement and a humorous way to approach strangers. I don't know whose idea it was, but it was really good!
All out for September 24
If you haven't been to a national mobilization before, I encourage you to try it. It is amazing to see a sea of people who agree with you and disagree with what we see on the news most of the time. It is an awesome feeling and helps energize everyone for the continuing struggle against the ever-expanding American Empire.
Saturday, July 30, 2005
Rolverine
My webpal, Pinko Feminist Hellcat, has a post up calling for a new nickname for Karl Rove. She has been getting regular visits lately from a lefty-hater whose life is so boring he spends time reading a blog he claims to hate. Sad case, really. But he did bring up something that resonates with me:
When the hell did liberals start becoming concerned with the well-being of CIA agents?
Dimwitted poster is not familiar enough with the left to recognize that there are a wide range of viewpoints in the spectrum. And I am at the radical left edge that does object to the CIA, their plans, their tactics and their service to the greater glory of an Expanding American Empire (EAE). So I don't personally get all that upset when a CIA plot is uncovered and foiled.
Now liberals, on the other hand, have supported the EAE, albeit the wording is often cloaked in terms of "expanding democracy" or some such nonsense. So a liberal defending a CIA agent makes total sense.
But that's not why the issue has such resonance for so many people on the left, from liberal to radical. The popularity with Rove and his dirty tricks is that it directly contradicts the hype that George Bush was a man who would restore decency to the office of the President, which Bill Clinton so clearly sullied with his selfish actions. Rove outing a CIA agent to win a points against an op-ed page author is slimy in the exact same way that Clinton is slimy. Rove has gotten a pass for dirty tricks in political campaigning against Ann Richards and John McCain because what happens between two slimy politicians duking it out in the mud for their own self-aggrandizement is considered kinda ballsy and full of chutzpah. But outing an undercover CIA agent and picking on a man's WIFE to attack him is just plain tacky no matter how you slice it.
Unfortunately, I am again reminded, as I was in the Mark Felt/Deep Throat revelations, that the only time we huddled masses get an inside peek at the machinations of the asshole politicans who run our country is when they get pissed off at each other and start leaking each other's dirty laundry. The Rove case has "legs" now precisely because the people in power today are split on what to do about the Empire and they are duking it out in public for the sole purpose of embarrassing each other.
I do look at times like this when the political leadership of the U.S. is divided, as an opportunity to make a major impact on policy. That's why I'm making plans to attend the September 24 anti-war march half-way across the country in Washington, DC. I'll be marching with the U.S. Labor Against the War contingent. Please join us there, or if you can't help pay a scholarship for someone less fortunate than you to get there.
And to bring this post full circle, I'm gonna suggest Rove's new nickname be "Rolverine." I was born in Michigan, so I've heard the tales about why we Michiganders were called "Wolverines". Here's a couple of legends from the Michigan State FAQ:
Some people believe that Ohioans gave Michigan the nickname around 1835 during a dispute over the Toledo strip, a piece of land along the border between Ohio and Michigan. Rumors in Ohio at the time described Michiganians as being as vicious and bloodthirsty as wolverines. This dispute became known as the Toledo War.
Another reason given for the nickname is a story that has Native Americans, during the 1830s, comparing Michigan settlers to wolverines. Some native people, according to this story, disliked the way settlers were taking the land because it made them think of how the gluttonous wolverine went after its food.
Vicious, bloodthirsty, gluttonous? Yup. Rolverine seems appropriate.
Movies!
Tonight I went to see “Batman Begins.” Not a bad movie. I have a feeling it would have been a lot more enjoyable if I had a clue about the Batman from DC comics. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. The fight scenes were filmed in a way reminiscent of comic books. There were blurs, then a stop-action shot and a sound effect much like the "Zap!" "Boom!" "Zowie!" that we've come to expect in comic books. The sets were amazing, especially the "batcave" which was mysterious, undefined and magnificent all at the same time. Gotham was also a powerful image, both sinister and slightly familiar. A triple-decker monorail that formed the veins of Gotham, feeding people in and out of the caverns, was very effective.
The metaphor of false images was carried throughout and on multiple levels. This is the first movie I've seen with Katie Holmes and what a disappointment she proved to be. Yes, it was important that the heroine appear pure and young in a virginal way. But she was inappropriately young and foolish. I can think of a dozen actresses who would have been more suited. Natlie Portman would have kicked ass.
Friday, July 29, 2005
Bulwer-Lytton 2005 winner
As he stared at her ample bosom, he daydreamed of the dual Stromberg carburetors in his vintage Triumph Spitfire, highly functional yet pleasingly formed, perched prominently on top of the intake manifold, aching for experienced hands, the small knurled caps of the oil dampeners begging to be inspected and adjusted as described in chapter seven of the shop manual.
For the entire list, go to Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Another Meal & Movie
The movie, Every Mother's Son, looks interesting. The website has lots of additional information about the three women profiled, each of whom lost a son in police shootings that were unwarranted.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
After work today I hopped a bus and headed over to Macalester College in St. Paul for a talk by a founder of Military Families Speak Out. The group has a very limited and specific goal: to bring the troops home from Iraq and to take care of them once they return.
The speaker read an e-mail that rang true for me. Here it is from their website:
The Costs of War
A Mother's View
By Teri Wills Allison
I am not a pacifist. I am a mother. By nature, the two are incompatible, for even a cottontail rabbit will fight to protect her young. Violent action may well be necessary in defense of one's family or home (and that definition of home can easily be extended to community and beyond); but violence, no matter how warranted, always takes a heavy toll. And violence taken to the extreme -- war -- exacts the most extreme costs. A just war there may be, but there is no such thing as a good war. And the burdens of an unjust war are insufferable.
I know something about the costs of an unjust war, for my son, Nick -- an infantryman in the U.S. Army -- is fighting one in Iraq. I don't speak for my son. I couldn't even if I wanted to, for all I hear through the Mom Filter is: "I'm fine, Mom, don't worry, I'm fine, everything is fine, fine, fine, we're fine, just fine". But I can tell you what some of the costs are as I live and breathe them.
First, the minor stuff: my constant feelings of dread and despair; the sweeping rage that alternates with petrifying fear; the torrents of tears that accompany a maddening sense of helplessness and vulnerability. My son is involved in a deadly situation that should never have been. I feel like a mother lion in a cage, my grown cub in danger, and all I can do is throw myself furiously against the bars…impotent to protect him. My tolerance for bullshit is zero, and I've snapped off more heads in the last several months than in all my 48 years combined.
For the first time in my life, and with great amazement and sorrow, I feel what can only be described as hatred. It took me a long time to admit it, but there it is. I loathe the hubris, the callousness, and the lies of those in the Bush administration who led us into this war. Truth be told, I even loathe the fallible and very human purveyors of those lies. I feel no satisfaction in this admission, only sadness and recognition. And hope that --given time -- I can do better. I never wanted to hate anyone. Xanax helps a bit. At least it holds the debilitating panic attacks somewhat at bay, so I can fake it through one more day. A friend in the same situation relies on a six pack of beer every night; another has drifted into a la-la land of denial. Nice.
Then there is the wedge that's been driven between part of my extended family and me. They don't see this war as one based on lies. They've become evangelical believers in a false faith, swallowing Bush's fear mongering, his chicken-hawk posturing and strutting, and cheering his "bring 'em on" attitude as a sign of strength and resoluteness. Perhaps life is just easier that way. These are the same people who have known my son since he was a baby, who have held him and loved him and played with him, who have bought him birthday presents and taken him fishing. I don't know them anymore.
But enough of my whining. My son is alive and in one piece, unlike the 1,102 dead and 7,782 severely wounded American soldiers; which equals 8,884 blood soaked uniforms, and doesn't even count the estimated 20,000 troops-- not publicly reported by the Department of Defense-- medivaced out of Iraq for "non-combat related injuries." Every death, every injury burns like a knife in my gut, for these are all America's sons and daughters. And I know I'm not immune to that knock on my door either.
And what of the Iraqi people? How many casualties have they suffered? How many tens of thousands dead and wounded? How many Iraqi mothers have wept, weep now, for their lost children? I fear we will never know, for though the Pentagon has begun --almost gleefully -- counting Iraqi insurgent deaths, there is little chance of getting an accurate verification of civilian casualties. You know, "collateral damage."
Yes, my son is alive and, as far as I know, well. I wish I could say the same for some of his friends.
One young man who was involved in heavy fighting during the invasion is now so debilitated by post-traumatic stress disorder that he routinely has flashbacks in which he smells burning flesh; he can't close his eyes without seeing people's heads squashed like frogs in the middle of the road, or dead and dying women and children, burned, bleeding and dismembered. Sometimes he hears the sounds of battle raging around him, and he has been hospitalized twice for suicidal tendencies. When he was home on leave, this 27 year old man would crawl into his mother's room at night and sob in her lap for hours. Instead of getting treatment for PTSD, he has just received a "less than honorable" discharge from the Army. The rest of his unit redeploys to Iraq in February.
Another friend of Nick's was horrifically wounded when his Humvee stopped on an IED. He didn't even have time to instinctively raise his arm and protect his face. Shrapnel ripped through his right eye, obliterating it to gooey shreds, and penetrated his brain. He has been in a coma since March. His mother spends every day with him in the hospital; his wife is devastated, and their 11⁄2 year old daughter doesn't know her daddy. But my son's friend is a fighter and so is making steady, incremental progress toward consciousness. He has a long hard struggle ahead of him, one that he need never have faced -- and his family has had to fight every step of the way to get him the treatment he needs. So much for supporting the troops. I go visit him every week and it breaks my heart to see the burned faces, the missing limbs, the limps, the vacant stares one encounters in an acute-care military hospital. In front of the hospital there is a cannon, and every afternoon they blast that sucker off. You should see all the poor guys hit the pavement. Though many requests have been made to discontinue the practice for the sake of the returning wounded, the general in charge refuses. Boom.
Then there is Nick's 24 year old Kurdish friend, the college-educated son of teachers, multilingual and highly intelligent. He works as a translator for the U.S. Army for $600 a month and lives on base, where he is relatively safe. (Translators for private contractors, also living on base, make $7200 a month). He wants to travel to the States to continue his education, but no visas are now being issued from Iraq. Once the army is through with him, will they just send him back into the streets, a virtual dead man for having worked with the Americans? My son places a high premium on loyalty to family and friends, and he has been raised to walk his talk. This must be a harsh and embittering lesson on just how unprincipled the rest of the world can be. My heart aches for his Iraqi friend as well as for him.
A year ago in January, when Nick left for Iraq, I granted myself permission to be stark raving mad for the length of his deployment. By god, I've done a good job of it, without apology or excuse. And I dare say there are at least 139,999 other moms who have done the same -- though taking troop rotations into consideration to maintain that magical number of 140,000 in the sand could put the number of crazed military moms as high as 300,000, maybe more. Right now, you might want to be careful about cutting in line in front of a middle-aged woman.
I know there are military moms who view the war in Iraq through different ideological lenses than mine. Sometimes I envy them. God, how much easier it must be to believe one's son or daughter is fighting for a just and noble cause! But no matter how hard I scrutinize the invasion and occupation of Iraq, all I see are lies, corruption, and greed fueled by a powerful addiction to oil. Real soldiers get blown to tatters in their "Hummers," so that well-heeled American suburbanites can play in theirs.
For my family and me, the costs of this war are real and not abstract. By day, I fight my demons of dreaded possibility, beat them back into the shadows, into the dark recesses of my mind. Every night, they hiss and whisper a vile prognosis of gloom and desolation. I order the voices into silence, but too often they laugh at and mock my commands.
I wonder if George Bush ever hears these voices.
And I wonder, too…just how much are we willing to pay for a gallon of gas?
Teri Wills Allison, a massage therapist and a member of Military Families Speak Out, lives near Austin, Texas with her husband. She is the mother of two grown children, the oldest of whom is a soldier deployed to Iraq.
Copyright C2004 Teri Wills Allison
Monday, July 25, 2005
Sucky Weekend!
It was hot, humid and icky. Ravenhub and I both had a touch of something intestinal that wasn't horrible but was irritating in the extreme. Ugh. Whine. Complain.
There. That's enough.
I've added Bitch PhD to my blogroll because I have thoroughly enjoyed my visits there lately. I posted there in a pique of anger that I thought might be on the TMI side, but the responses were wonderful and so my worries were pretty much unwarranted. Even if I had come under attack, I'm confident that the women who post there would have had my back. That's cool.
I am currently facing a health issue that is disturbing. I have a biopsy scheduled in a couple of weeks. Yikes! Just the word is frightening. I am determined to not be worried about it for now. What the hell can I do at this point? OTOH, I'd just as soon not have to spend all this time at various doctor's offices getting inconclusive tests over and over again. Yeah, I'm not a robot, and that's good for a whole lot of reasons, but if I was a robot the diagnostics would be so much easier!
Tonight I spent a couple of hours at the offices of Mizna at the California Building in Northeast ("Nordeest") Minneapolis helping them put out the mailing of their latest journal. This one focuses on humor and satire and is really worth reading. Only three of us showed up to do the work. OTOH, it was nice getting to know a little bit more about each other. Oddly enough, we talked about our pets a lot and a bit about our parents. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Friday, July 22, 2005
Friday Fun!
SatireWire interviews a Search Engine is cute. Found via Presurfer.
Double Super Secret Background a video cartoon by Mark Fiore. Found via Bitch PhD.
Nice Guy Syndrome
As for my internet travels, I've been following the "Nice Guys never get dates" discussons all over the feminist blogosphere. I'm not sure what to say since I married the nicest guy I've ever met. Does this make me deeply flawed, I wonder?
Recent Reading
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. This is a very sad tale told from the point of view of an adolescent boy who has autism. He is a fascinating character but the story is quite the downer. I'm glad I read it, though.
Origin in Death by J.D. Robb. Number billion in a series. This is just plain guilty pleasure reading. The plot for this book is better than most because the villains are less vulgar and disgusting than usually and they are also extremely intelligent. The book ended suddenly with all kinds of loose ends hanging. At the very least the reader deserved a peek at the Thanksgiving dinner that had been a subject throughout the book. No such luck. But then, with Robb, my expectations are so low that it really doesn't matter.
The King of the Confessors by Thomas Hoving is a book I'm slogging through slowly. My co-worker gave it to me after we discussed the art curators mentioned in the book, Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. Hoving is (was?) the curator for Metropolitan Museum in New York. The book is about his search for a purchase of an ivory cross from the Middle Ages. Lots of characters and insight into the world of art collectors. But slow reading. I'm stuck in his tour of Rome and I should just skip over it and finish up. Sigh.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
I am not a jerk because I beat up a sexist asshole!
I've been wandering around among some feminist blogs lately. And I've spotted a pattern among some men who tend to get uptight when women call men on their sexism. More often than not, these men will tell a story from their past in which they and their friends beat up a rapist, a sexist asshole, a domestic abuser or a pedophile. And the women who were victims were pretty damn pleased that they had such wonderful men to protect them.
Well that pretty much proves that they are the Goddess' gift to women, right?
I will give a $5 gift certificate to the independent bookstore of choice to anyone who can come up with a snappy comeback to these morons. I've had too much red wine and am far too mellow to take them on at the moment.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Because you just might need it one day!
Keep this web site handy:
Bovine Descenders found via Presurfer
Monday, July 18, 2005
Olen vs. Tessy
Helaine Olen writes an article under the headline The New Nanny Diaries are Online in The New York Times Style Section on Sunday, June 17. The article is about her decision to fire her nanny after reading entires in the nanny's blog. The article contains enough references to the blog to allow anyone with a beginner's knowledge of Google to be able to find the blog easily.
Tessy, the Nanny, writes a blog response entitled Sorry to Disappoint You which not only tells her side of the story, but also links directly to the posts Olen discusses in the NYT article.
It is clear to anyone who actually reads the nanny's blog posts, that Olen's interpretation the posts is not only wrong, but deliberately sensational. OIen labors under the convenient misconception that anything Tessy says on her blog MUST be about Olen. Tessy freely confesses that she made an unwise decision in giving her blog address to her employer. But Tessy also goes one stop further in a way that I admire. She says that even if she was the pill-popping whore that Olen portrays her to be (and she is not), the she would still have posted about it on her blog and she doesn't automatically condemn promiscuous women who take OTC sleep aids.
The blogosphere then erupts into wide-ranging discussions about the women in question with commenters taking sides, insults thrown at one or the other women, attacks on one or both women as being stupid, naive and/or self-center, and psychologically suspect motives being applied to one or the other women. This all gets followed by the requisite dozens of indignant posts by people who think this is just too stupid to comment about.
In fact, this odd little pairing of monologues by two relatively intelligent women who write openly about their lives, their doubts and their insecurities, manages to touch on a lot of hot-button issues that our society does not handle well.
First, there is the issue of motherhood and all the expectations our society heaps on mothers. Olen is, of course, suspect for hiring a nanny -- why isn't she staying at home and taking care of the children herself? Tessy is guilty as well: as a nanny her role is to be devoted to someone else's children and to sacrifice her personal life for the children and the family who employs her.
Second, there is the issue of employer to employee relations. Olen is suspect for expecting the woman she has hired to think of her employment as an opportunity to be part of a family and not, actually, "a job." Tessy is suspect because she is accused (falsely, I believe) of revealing private details about the life of her employers. Tessy has also broken the newly-minted rule that one must never reveal one's blog to one's employer. It is newly-minted only because Olen turns out to be such a lousy employer. Had Olen merely ignored the blog, Tessy's blog wouldnot have been a factor in the relationship.
Third, there is the class issue of power relations between two women who, while sharing some aspects of class (both well-educated, both career-minded), are involved in a relationship of uneven power. Olen admits to being uncomfortable with that power, although she proves herself a hypocrite by using that power to tell only her side of the story in a national publication. Tessy, while having a better understanding of that power relationship, makes the mistake of not understanding just how much Olen can use that power to her own advantage.
Fourth, there is the diary-reading impulse (for lack of a better term) that makes all of us complicit in this spectacle. Olen allows us a peak into the lifestyle of the upper middle class, two-career family that can afford a nanny. Tessy reveals intimate details of her life that most of us would not normally gain acess to. Because of that openness, we, the readers, feel as if we are qualified to pass judgments on both women -- as if we know them both and can reasonably advise them of what they did wrong and what they should do in the future.
Fifth, when has a major blog story existed in recent memory that had as its basis, the discussion of differing viewpoints of two women?
Given all these opportunities to make glib and cheap statements about the two women involved, I am heartened to see thoughtful posts by women who blog. I recommend reading the following posts and theadditions in the comments sections by the authors below:
The Politics of Nannies and Blogging by Amanda at Pandagon
The More Things Change by Bitch PhD.
I also feared she would judge me by Teresa Nielsen Hadyn.
Anyone else see a pattern here?" by Dorcasina.
If Karl Rove worked for Helaine Olen" by Lindsay at Majikthise.
Nanny Blog Kerfluffle!
Wonderful round up and comments at Bitch PhD about the latest blogosphere dust up. This one involves an upper-class twit bitch writing in The New York Times and her ex-nanny who writes a response in her blog.
I might have more to say, although thousands of words have already been spent on this issue.
To balance the serious with the silly, I bring you links to 30-Second Bunnie Movies:
Pulp Fiction re-enacted by bunnies
Alien re-enacted by bunnies
The Exorcist re-enacted by bunnies
Freddy vs. Jason re-enacted by bunnies
It's a Wonderful Life re-enacted by bunnies
Jaws re-enacted by bunnies
Scream re-enacted by bunnies
Titanic re-enacted by bunnies
Texas Chainsaw Massacre re-enacted by bunnies
Sunday, July 17, 2005
That's "Clam" for short!
Which VD are you?
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Amazing!
Go see these amazing images of Mammatus clouds over Hastings, Nebraksa photographed by Jorn Olsen. Link via Presurfer.
The All New Sesame Street is a round-up of the newest additions to the show now that Cookie Monster is part of an anti-obesity campaign. Also via Presurfer.
And from a commenter at Pandagon, links to comics about sensitive guys who can't get dates here and here.
These fun posts brought to you by me, trying to get out of my brain a huge discussion I read over at The News Blog about the bombings in London and absurd demands from some American twit about what Muslims in London should be doing in response. First, they had to condemn the attacks, then they had to issue fatwas, and finally the Muslims should have been out in the streets in the tens of thousands condemning the attacks. I had to wonder what else she wanted her little trained monkeys to do before she'd cut them some slack.
As a person who has actually done the work to get 10s of thousands out into the street several times in the past, I can promise one thing: the last thing the authorities in London want right now is thousands of Muslims (or anyone else for that matter), marching through the streets. Can you imagine the security nightmare it would be to protect such a crowd from racists who are using the bombings as an excuse to attack innocent Muslim people in London already?
I don't know how to link to the discussion directly, but it was pretty damn pathetic. I think there was a point in there somewhere about how a healthy community can create an environment in which the lunatic fringe finds it impossible to carry out their lunacies. I wish I could figure out a way to link to that post directly, because it will soon be off the scrowl. But I don't reommend it to anyone, anyway. Hmph!
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Military Families Speak Out
What's fascinating is that when I was searching the net to look for images to use, I tried "military families" and I got picture after picture of family members against the war in Iraq. I tried "military mother" and got pictures of funerals. I tried "U.S. soldier female" and got lots of returns for the infamous photos of Abu Graib. What a strange world we live in!
Friday, July 08, 2005
Ken Livingstone & the Working Class of London
Text of statement delivered by Ken Livingstone
Published: July 7 2005 18:04 | Last updated: July 7 2005 18:04
This was a cowardly attack, which has resulted in injury and loss of life. Our thoughts are with everyone who has been injured, or lost loved ones. I want to thank the emergency services for the way they have responded.
Following the al-Qaeda attacks on September 11 in America we conducted a series of exercises in London in order to be prepared for just such an attack. One of the exercises undertaken by the government, my office and the emergency and security services was based on the possibility of multiple explosions on the transport system during the Friday rush hour. The plan that came out of that exercise is being executed today, with remarkable efficiency and courage, and I praise those staff who are involved.
I’d like to thank Londoners for the calm way in which they have responded to this cowardly attack and echo the advice of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair - do everything possible to assist the police and take the advice of the police about getting home today.
I have no doubt whatsoever that this is a terrorist attack. We did hope in the first few minutes after hearing about the events on the Underground that it might simply be a maintenance tragedy. That was not the case. I have been able to stay in touch through the very excellent communications that were established for the eventuality that I might be out of the city at the time of a terrorist attack and they have worked with remarkable effectiveness. I will be in continual contact until I am back in London.
I want to say one thing specifically to the world today. This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful. It was not aimed at Presidents or Prime Ministers. It was aimed at ordinary, working-class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Jew, young and old. It was an indiscriminate attempt to slaughter, irrespective of any considerations for age, for class, for religion, or whatever.
That isn’t an ideology, it isn’t even a perverted faith - it is just an indiscriminate attempt at mass murder and we know what the objective is. They seek to divide Londoners. They seek to turn Londoners against each other. I said yesterday to the International Olympic Committee, that the city of London is the greatest in the world, because everybody lives side by side in harmony. Londoners will not be divided by this cowardly attack. They will stand together in solidarity alongside those who have been injured and those who have been bereaved and that is why I’m proud to be the mayor of that city.
Finally, I wish to speak directly to those who came to London today to take life.
I know that you personally do not fear giving up your own life in order to take others - that is why you are so dangerous. But I know you fear that you may fail in your long-term objective to destroy our free society and I can show you why you will fail.
In the days that follow look at our airports, look at our sea ports and look at our railway stations and, even after your cowardly attack, you will see that people from the rest of Britain, people from around the world will arrive in London to become Londoners and to fulfil their dreams and achieve their potential.
They choose to come to London, as so many have come before because they come to be free, they come to live the life they choose, they come to be able to be themselves. They flee you because you tell them how they should live. They don’t want that and nothing you do, however many of us you kill, will stop that flight to our city where freedom is strong and where people can live in harmony with one another. Whatever you do, however many you kill, you will fail.
--------
It was aimed at ordinary, working-class Londoners...
Damn, I wish one American politician would have to guts to say something like this. Not gonna happen!
Go-meme
===================================
Overview: This post is a community experiment with two broad purposes. The first is to create publicly accessible data about bloggers' personalities, which may have sociological value in addition to being just plain fun. The second is to track the propagation of this meme through blogspace. Full details and explanation can be found on the original posting: http://pixnaps.blogspot.com/2005/06/meme-worth-spreading.html
Instructions (to join in the experiment):
1) Take the IPIP-NEO personality test and the Political Compass quiz, if you have not done so already.
2) Copy to the clipboard that section of this post that is between the double lines, and paste it into your blog editor. (Blogger users may wish to use 'compose' mode to preserve formatting and hyperlinks. Otherwise, be sure to add hyperlinks as necessary.)
3) Replace the answers in the "survey" section below with your own.
4) Add your blog information to the "track list", in the form: "Linked title - URL - optional GUID".
5) Any additional comments should go outside of the double lines, including the (optional) nomination of bloggers you wish to pass this experimental meme on to.
6) Post it to your blog!
Survey:
Age: 49
Gender: Female
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Religion: None
Occupation: Graphic Artist
Began blogging (dd/mm/yy): 22/03/01
Political Compass results
Left/Right: -10
Libertarian/Authoritarian: -7.64
IPIP-NEO results
EXTRAVERSION: 95
Friendliness 98
Gregariousness 95
Assertiveness 87
Activity Level 61
Excitement-Seeking 47
Cheerfulness 96
AGREEABLENESS: 66
Trust 89
Morality 28
Altruism 85
Co-operation 27
Modesty 12
Sympathy 98
CONSCIENTIOUSNESS: 30
Self-Efficacy 56
Orderliness 15
Dutifulness 16
Achievement-Striving 47
Self-Discipline 43
Cautiousness 43
NEUROTICISM: 9
Anxiety 8
Anger 17
Depression 16
Self-Consciousness 6
Immoderation 63
Vulnerability 11
OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE: 94
Imagination 82
Artistic Interests 82
Emotionality 53
Adventurousness 88
Intellect 70
Liberalism 92
Track List:
1. Philosophy, et cetera - pixnaps.blogspot.com - pixnaps97a2
2. Fly by Night - www.ravenmn.blogspot.com - ravenmn
===================================
Thursday, July 07, 2005
London
This morning, London was hit with terrorist attacks. At the end of the day we've learned that there were four different bombs targeting the mass transit system including buses and the subway. Compared to September 11, the loss of life was small: less than 40 deaths and hundreds of wounded. And yet, world response is at the nearly the same level as that experienced during September 11 and the Madrid train bombings.
The war in Afghanistan and Iraq was supposed to protect the West from such attacks. Well, guess that didn't work, eh?
Pandagon has a wonderful round-up of the conservative blogosphere falling all over itself to turn this latest strategy into an excuse for their depraved agenda. Fucking ghouls!
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
School's Out
Lately I've been thinking about school. I've been browsing through blogs by academics, including Bitch PhD and Sappho's Breathing and I recently learned that Jill from Feministe will be going to Law School. If you haven't read these women, go there now and learn lots of good stuff!
I was amazingly inept at college. I set myself up with huge expectations. When I failed to meet those expectations, I decided that I didn't deserve to finish my classes and earned incompletes. I scared myself out of handing in any work because I hadn't done all the primary and secondary reading. I became terrified of being judged.
The only exception was in classes in which the teacher was obviously phoning it in. I had a 19th Century American Literature course in which I did almost nothing but read the Cliff Notes for Moby Dick and Huckleberry Finn and aced the course easily. This is because the teacher barely bothered to show up for class. There was a labor dispute of some sort and we all knew that class was a gimme.
Or the class I took on "Drifting Continents" -- a "Hail Mary!" course put up by the Geology Department to fill the science requirement for College of Liberal Arts students. The professor ran out of course material half way through the quarter. He started giving out bogus assignments. We spent one class period filling in the state names in an outline map of the U.S.
I wrote an essay about the fossil evidence for continental drift in the style of a Fairy Tale about a huge clam bake in Gonwanaland. I not only got an A on the paper, I got to sit through a class of the teacher reading my essay because there wasn't anything else to talk about and it was the one bright spot in his utter boredom.
But when I respected a professor, I became incredibly intimidated and incapable of handing in my work. I convinced myself that nothing I did or said would be good enough. Mostly, I would stop attending class. I would do all the reading and the secondary reading and any additional reading that sprang from that. Because the subjects I took really interested me and I sincerely wanted to learn more. But the more I learned, the more I realized I needed to know. I imagine I mystified my professors.
I don't know where this particular phobia came from. I was never in the best of situations when I was in college. I suffered from repeated, untreated clinical depressions. I worked full time. I was living on the edge financially and involved in abusive relationships. Things weren't rosy in general. Any of these factors may be to blame.
Yet, I still retain that fear of being graded. I took a class in mystery writing a couple of years ago from a writer I admire and it practically killed me to turn in my writing. I doubt my abilities and am always shocked when someone compliments my writing ability.
I've had tons of training. I was a successful journalist throughout the 1970s. I studied Latin and Spanish and understand the basics of grammar. I understand the nuts and bolts of writing. I studied Shakespeare and Milton and many more writers. I am well-read and have a phenomenal memory for literature. I'm not saying these things to brag -- I'm saying that I've put in the time and had the benefit of training from knowledgeable teachers.
Yet when I take a class, I live in desperate fear of being judged. My confidence level always hovers around zero.
So why is it that I retain little fear in regard to blogging?
Is it because I haven't "come out" as a blogger to my family or my friends?
Is it because blogging is a new concept and doesn't have the traditions and established culture of academia?
Damned if I know.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Feminist Men
Here's another interesting discussion over at Feministe. She was e-mailed questions from Jim of Feminist Men and asked for responses. Here's my take on the issue:
1. What can men do to end sexism?
Men need to acknowledge their own privileged status and make the decision to consciously avoid acting upon that privilege. For instance, if you are the only man in a group of women, spend most of your time listening and learning, not talking. In the reverse situation, nine times out of ten, the woman’s voice would neither be heard nor welcomed. Look at your own experiences and realize how they would be different if you were a woman. How many times is your word accepted without question? How many places do you inhabit comfortably that other people, without your privilege, would fear. Notice how often this occurs and discuss it with other men.
2. Do men have a place in the feminist movement? If so, how do they fit in? If not, why?
Of course. They fit in by supporting women’s efforts and by providing an example of a man who acts in non-sexist ways.
3. Should men be leaders in feminist organizations?
Of course not. One of the reasons we need feminist organizations is to support the rights of women to empowerment in a world where power is unevenly distributed. Our organizations may be one of the first places any women confronts power and learns how to handle it wisely. To turn that learning experience over to men would be to defeat one of the core purposes of our efforts.
4. Can a man be a “feminist”?
No. A man can support feminism, but only a woman can be a feminist.
5. Please add any other thoughts or comments you have about the the subject of men and feminism.
We are still a long way from equality on any level in this country, so I believe it is way too early to demand equal treatment for men in the feminist movement.
This is one of the hardest issues to explain to anyone living in a privileged position: that it is not a question of everyone attaining your privileged position. In fact, we need to live in a world where nobody exercises that privilege over others. That means that each of us will have to cede some of our power.
In fact, since inequality is so rampant on so many levels, each of us will have areas of our lives in which learning to cede privilege will be our greatest contributions to a more healthy society. So while some of us will have places where our privilege is favored (women in feminist movements), all of us will have to acknowledge our un-earned power in other environments (race, nationality, abilities, etc).
Sunday, July 03, 2005
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Just finished reading this book and my response is -- conflicted.
There is a tradition in the U.S. of reading one or two books from or about a foreign country and then believing we understand that culture. So I am always suspect when I read reviews that taut only one book as the gateway for western readers into a particular culture. This time the country is Afghanistan and the characters are deeply flawed and comfortably backward. Far enough removed from us that we can all look down upon them with pity.
Then I began reading the book and again I was reluctant all over again. Because the main character is really quite despicable in his callous use of his own class privilege. Again and again, he stoops to his baser instincts in ways that seemed entirely gratuitous to me. The writer seems to be telling us that the drive to power over another is so strong that it can overcome even the deepest friendships.
In the end, the moral of the book is that the sole way to create good acts among people is the motivation of guilt. Only by feeling dirty and useless can a man begin to act nobly.
Well, you know, fuck that shit anyway.
Just once I'd like to see a book about a foreign culture become a best seller by depicting a great and noble people. Well that certainly does not happen here.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Lost
This joke came via e-mail with no source mentioned. Enjoy
A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."
The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, "You're 30 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude."
She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be a Democrat."
"I am," replied the man. "How did you know?"
"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me."
The man smiled and responded, "You must be a Republican."
"I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you know?"
"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you're going. You've risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise that you have no idea how to keep, then you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met but, somehow, now it's my fault."
Friday, July 01, 2005
Wowza!
I just finished watching the movie "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" on HBO. It is truly awesome. I'd heard many good things about this movie from people whose opinion I respect. But I really did not expect the film would affect me so much.
Eighteen years ago I married my best friend. Nothing I have read or seen since then has ever approached the special joy and acceptance that comes from choosing to share a life with somebody who fascinates, inspires and influences me quite as much as this movie has shown.
I'll probably post more later.
The CWA (no, not the union)
Thanks to Feministe I've been engaged in a discussion about an article that concerns Gil and Janice and a couple of mops.
Mad at my Mop is an article written by Janice Shaw Crouse about her sudden realization that she had been following her husband's advice on how to mop a floor for 20 years and that she was pissed off about that. The article is posted on the site of a group called Concerned Women of America.
One of the wonderful comments posted at Feministe was written by Amanada from Pandagon. I visited her blog and she has yet another sweet little article by the very same mop-conflicted Janice Shaw Crouse. I couldn't help but comment in the dicussion and I'm reposting it here so all my readers (both of you) can catch up:
-----------
It's so funny that I'm reading this, because I happen to be the woman in the airport that Mop-Loving Janice was talking about!
Let me remind you of Janice's story:
I watched as he looked everywhere but at her; aloof and detached, he never even glanced in her direction. She, on the other hand, would glance at him and then look away. She would lean toward him and make a hesitant, brief comment with a slight, tentative smile. He would nod, but never did even turn in her direction or make eye contact....Equally apparent was the fact that the man held all the cards in their relationship.
Janice is right. I was restless. In fact I was searching the airport for my gal pals. We were on our way to our annual summer reunion at the castle we built in rural Michigan with male slave labor. We FemGang Warriors(tm), had recently taken over several Fortune 500 companies and were due for a vacation. I didn't want Veronica and Jennifer to miss the flight!
I'm so pleased that Janice liked the looks of George, my own personal boytoy. He is not allowed to speak or even make eye contact when we are out in public. The consequences are severe and he obeys me entirely. My brief comments were mere reminders of the rewards waiting the poor boy if he behaved appropriately. After all, I don't normally let him out of the home where he cleans and cooks for me every day. Good Georgey Boy!
My galpals and I are having a good laugh at Janice's misreading. If I had any time away from my slavish men, my obedient children and my enjoyment of corporate perks, I might fill Janice in on her errors.
I hope you all can join us at the castle next year. We really enjoyed our time there. The chef is a genius!
-------
For background on who the Concerned Women of America are, see Concerned Women for America: A Case Study. Here's a snippet:
Though CWA is a multi-issue organization, its "special role" in the Christian Right has been that of an exemplary foil to the women's movement: the good, pro-family, "spirit-controlled" women, who, in LaHaye's words, are "truly liberated" because they are "totally submissive" to their husbands (The Spirit Controlled Woman, [Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1976], p. 71). CWA activists, though they may appear to be showing dangerous signs of independence, are in fact doing the will of their husbands and their Christian duty to promote pro-family values.