I believe the war is the principal  issue this year, particularly as it is linked to the sinking economy.  Since Obama is more outspoken on withdrawing from Iraq than Hillary, I decided last night I would dramatize the issue in a way fellow voters would find it hard to ignore.

I got up early today and dug out my headdress with the toy soldiers bleeding and dying all around my head, a melting skull face on the front, and little paper American flags waving from every corner. I brightened up the 'blood' with some shiny red 1-Shot enamel paint, had a banana and a cup of coffee while the paint dried, then clapped the headdress on my head and nosed out to my Democratic caucus to vote for Obama.

When I got to the Orca Elementary School, our caucusing location, I saw a long line wrapped around the block. My hoodies were delighted, laughing and excited as they rapidly were sucked into the building, like a long strand of multicoloed spaghetti. Excitement over the prospect of a president of color was rife in our multi-ethnic community.  After 7 long years of crooked, corrupt and unresponsive government under the Bushies, we were all feeling jazzed at the opportunity to make a difference in our country's politics for a change.  As in other locations in the state, the precinct workers were overwhelmed and ran out of forms; in the crowded cafeteria, one delay followed another.  We finally got down to brass tacks at 2:00, more than an hour late.

You've seen the news reports -- Obama swept, taking about 67% of the vote.  Our precinct was 4:1 for Obama (Hillary got the 1 remaining delegate).  I yakked up Obama's charisma and ability to mobilize new voters, and to steal votes from the middle and defeat McCain.  I also noted the Illinois Senator's more outspoken stance on getting out of Iraq and leaving that country to be governed by its own citizens (thanks to Tom Hayden's timely handout sent by WORLD CAN'T WAIT, itemizing the differences between Obama and Hillary).

I got to be an Obama delegate for the next phase, the County Convention.

What a delight it was to see my fellow Americans passionate and more than ready to make the change!   You couldn't help feeling optimistic.  That our nation does have the talent, the know-how, the perseverence to roll back the tide of reaction and make a new beginning.

If the Washington wave is anything to go by, Hillary will have a hard time clutching the nomination this year.  I'm sure she'll be a valued and powerful member of the Senate in the challenging years to come.  But I'm pretty sure that starting in 2008, America will wear a black face. About time!  A female president may not be far in the future, but I don't think she'll be named Clinton.

You can see pictures of the 37th LD Caucus at www.ColumbiaCitizens.net :  go to the flickr gallery and they are the first 15 shots.  One of the photos shows the precinct worker triumphantly holding up the tote sheet showing her 67 voters unanimous for Obama.

Now, the economy will be a critical issue too; and the economy is not going to be a winning issue for the Republicans (despite the $600 bribes just issued).  I have a particularly bone to pick with the Bush Administration over that:  Bush pocket-vetoed the appropriations bill over the holidays, riding roughshod over the hard work of  Sen. Patty Murray and others to help our wounded veterans and our overworked VA staffers. For what?  So that CIA interrogators will not have to undergo Congressional oversight -- so they can continue to torture their suspects with impunity.  And for that, I lost my job at the VA Medical Center!

What does that mean to me?  I have to make do on about 30% of my normal income until I find another job -- not so easy in a time of recession. What does that mean to my workgroup?  They will have to work 10-14 hour days until the budget can get sorted out, suffering overwork and burnout and costing the taxpayer ridiculous amounts of overtime.  Last, what does it mean to the patients -- the poor veterans who are victims of Bush's botched foreign policy? Will they have to cope with the overcrowding and filthy conditions observed at Walter Reed  Army Hospital recently? Is this how America says "Thank you" for the sacrifices endured by our servicemembers?

No matter how horrible the policies they are defending, this country owes its soldiers a debt of honor: to care for their wounds as far as medically possible; to alleviate their suffering.  It is the utmost hypocrisy for the Bushies to hold up the soldiers in the field on the one hand, as a reason to blindly support their failed policies, and then to cynically disown these same soldiers when they return from multiple tours of duty with PTSD and brain injury, solely to avoid paying for their treatment.  Locally there are a number of cases where these disabled soldiers are being court-martialed and thrown out of the Service so the government can duck its responsibility to care for them. Sorry Charlie! It doesn't work like that.

Another disturbing aspect of this dodge is the attempt to subvert physicians and professional organizations to support the government's corrupt position.  There have been a number of cases of  Army and VA psychiatrists being pressured to misdiagnose servicemen so the government can run them out of the service and avoid responsibility for treating them. We are already seeing an epidemic of sick and homeless servicemen begging for food at every off-ramp on the freeway.  Is this what America stands for?

I would like to think that in an Obama-headed government, a more compassionate approach would be adopted.  And that psychologists and anthropologists (among others) would not be co-opted to justify government policies of torture, population removal, and manslaughter as they are under Bush.

I fear that Bush's breezy and arrogant playing with the budget will impact our troops' health, and ultimately will have a deleterious effect on military recruiting.  Of course, I'm not thrilled about our government's continuing to embrace torture either!

But in the meantime, it's time to file my unemployment claim and get on with my life.  I'll write again as the political process moves forward.  Whatever the outcome (and if the Bushies find an excuse to declare martial law, we can kiss our hopes for renewed democracy goodbye), today will remain etched in my memory as a hopeful new beginning.

At the beginning of this month, the FCC began a cursory round of public meetings seeking comment on Chairman Kevin Martin's proposed loosening of the media ownership rules administered by the Commission. In most cases these hearings were conducted with little or no notice to the public (you wonder what they were afraid of). That was true of the last hearing, held in Seattle Nov. 7, 2007 at Town Hall: the venue was not announced until Sunday when the show came to town on Wednesday.

Rallied by our local group Reclaim the Media and by blog and independent media alerts, more than 1,000 media activists showed up to testify at the marathon 9-hour event. This must have been what Kevin Martin was afraid of, speaker after speaker railing against the rules reform. I was not the only one who said if they wanted to reform the guidelines, they ought to revert to the pre-1996 standards (1996 is when they greatly loosened the concentration rules, leading to the hideous growth of Murdoch, AOLTime-Warner, and Clear Channel).

Through it all Martin sat there looking like he had a large and very stiff icicle up his ass (I had plenty of time to study his bored countenance on the big-screen projection of live SCAN video. Perhaps I was a little bored myself toward the end.) At one point a witness asked him to smile for her; he responded with a short-lived and insincere, shit-eating grin, then relapsed into his masklike expression.

As usual, Commissioners Adelstein and Copps (the 2 progressive Democrat commissioners) spoke thoughtfully but passionately about the issues at stake, leading the way into the 2-min. statements of the general public. Some highlights: Rob Zverina, new media artist, spoke with feeling about his parents who came to the U.S. from Czechoslovakia after the crushing of the 1968 Prague Spring,; how they came to America looking for freedoms -- the freedom just to do your thing as you please and mind your business without Big Brother poking in all the time; how they came from a terrible failed state with intrusive police powers, a military out of control, and a media that marched in lockstep with the government. How pained, and how furious they would be to see their beloved America lurching into that same rut.

Then there were those Anderson girls. Steve Anderson's 12-year-old twin sisters, Amanda and Earena, both gave testimony: "This is going to affect us all of our lives -- no on media consolidation!" More passionate than poised, they were both strong and articulate and brought the house down. Then dad Steve Anderson (volunteer media activist with PepperSpray Productions) stepped to the mic and delivered some choice opinions in his straightforward, layman's way.

Those were only a few of the highlights of a marathon event. Much of what was said was repeated over and over, or better said, presented many different ways; there were only 2 opinions favoring looser media monopoly rules (technically we were commenting on OKing "duopoly" ownership within one market, among other things). One of these was tentative, the other probably not from the sort of speaker most of us would take very seriously. The unanimity in favor of rejecting the new rules was deafening. We certainly have a very large and active indymedia community here, and I understand the rushed hearings drew like-minded nuclei of media activists who said much the same thing all over the country.

Now, are they listening? No, Kevin Martin is playing deaf. The hearings were just for show (and to comply with their legal requirements); he has already made up his mind and has even proposed further revisions to ownership statues. With a Republican majority on the FCC, passage is a slam dunk, just like that yellocake intel was. So then what?

We have to be really active and deluge our Senators with email and phone calls when it goes down. Let them hear a little of the sound and the fury that have resonated around the country this month of November, this brief window granted before the Dec. 18 timing of the decision. Just like last time, in 2003, get Congress to overturn this corrupt giveaway to the biggest bribe givers, and the public be damned.

I signed up to testify as soon as I got in, around 5:30, and drew 214. I sat through a LOT of testimony and eventually got to speak my piece shortly after midnight. My remarks are appended below. As you can see I shamelessly used my new position at the V-A to attack the rules change (and by implication the whole conflict-of-interest Bush regime and their signature policy, the war). I managed to thrust the dagger and twist it deftly a few times before withdrawing the blade. And retire from the field to a well-earned shower and bed around 1.

You can listen to excerpts of the testimony on our local community radio station's streaming at www.kbcs.fm.  I don't believe they used any of the highlights I described above.

See my other post for developments in my personal life -- some good things --, and info on the pending Home Grown Terrorism Prevention act, a truly chilling piece of legislation that ought to frost any manly activist's balls and give the goose bumps and so on to any of our sister activistas. This is one we have to turn back before it does US in -- potentially a very serious civil liberties limitation enabling a further rightward migration of the state!

Testimony to the FCC on Media Ownership Rules Reform, Nov. 7, 2007

Mr. Chairman, Commissioners, fellow citizens:

Thank you for hearing my testimony this evening.

My name is Larry Neilson and I work at the V-A Medical Center here in Seattle, helping those who wear the uniform and who have done so, with their healthcare needs.

Now, I have been around more than 50 years – long enough to remember the Fairness Doctrine and the vigorous enforcement of civil rights and antitrust matters by the U.S. government.  Long enough to observe the slide away from broadcast diversity – to where we have 500 channels spewing identical dreck: Paris Hilton, Britney Spears; Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly.  Long enough to witness the parallel decline in our nation's standing and credibility.  Dare I suggest that there's a connection?

With increased consolidation, our national debate has been dumbed down and diverse voices have been eliminated from the mainstream airwaves:  Phil Donohue, even Dan Rather.  Here in Seattle, there was Aaron Dixon, the Green Party senatorial candidate, who was banned from the televised candidates' debate on the grounds that he hadn't raised a million dollars.  (The Libertarian candidate was allowed on because he could afford the ante to play the game.)

But it's on our patients' welfare I want to dwell for my remaining time.

Day in, day out at the V-A, we hear how American servicemembers – our countrymen, our patients – are coming back from multiple tours in our ill-conceived and apparently endless war in Iraq.  The often arrive minus an arm, a leg, or an eye.  The shrinks tell us of widespread and intractable symptoms of PTSD, depression, and uranium poisoning.  No matter how intense the care, these veterans and their families have had their lives ruined.

Now, our soldiers knew they might be stationed in harm's way when they signed up.  But they have a right to expect that their lives and well-being would not be forfeited lightly, for dubious causes, but only as a last resort.

Members of the Commission, these patriotic Americans have been betrayed by their own government, which went to war on false pretenses.  You know the Administration could not have succeeded in ramming the war through without the uncritical support of the news media.  Our monopolistic news media hardly paused to consider the down-side as they joined the Bushies' stampede to war.

If cooler heads had prevailed – if our allies and friends had been heeded – if the media had not denied the microphone to dissenting voices until after we were well and truly mired in the Mideast mud, it could have been a less tragic story.  In large part, we are in this $1.6 trillion mess because of unfettered media consolidation.

And now the FCC wants to relax ownership rules to allow even MORE concentration of ownership?  No, no, a thousand times no!  In your deliberations, please keep in mind the scarred and wounded veterans whose blood is on your hands, and vote NO on rules change.  In fact, if you have to make a change in these restrictions, you would better serve the national interest by reverting to the pre-1996 standards.

Thank you.

Marking my return to the blog after too long of an absence, here's the latest hot news from Goose City:

New online: We have now posted the MP3s of our show tunes from our anti-war, Bush-bashing musical play Fear Channel Late News online: www.cityofart.net/fear_ch_menu.html This play was performed before an audience of 500 at the 4-star Olympic Hotel in Seattle June 14. There are also a couple of videos of previous FCN skits online at Google Video: access video.google.com. Also freshly launched online is www.bigbadbattleships.com: a history site featuring photos of old pre-Dreadnought warships from the 1890s and early 1900s. Latest content  includes a history of the French Navy 1850-1916, of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 and the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95. Also a detailed history of the Japanese battleship fleet from 1897-1912 (with sketchy history of its further history thru 1941.) And for those more artistically inclined, the site for www.newvisionfinearts.com is also one I designed & produced – about Steve Anderson's co-op bronze foundry here in Seattle.

We haven't had much of a summer here in Seattle – or at least, not a very summery August. My garden is full of very slowly growing plants and unripe tomatoes, beans and squashes. Look on the bright side: the cool-weather veg has been doing great; broccoli, salad herbs, and Swiss chard are abundant, and lettuce hasn't bolted though what's left of it has grown tall and leggy (still tastes great though). For photos of my weed patch, go to my garden photos page.

I have joined Operation Democracy, an arm of MoveOn.org aimed at putting "boots on the ground" to stop the unwinnable and paralyzingly expensive war on the Iraqi people. How expensive, you ask? Try $1.14B for Seattle taxpayers alone, over the 4+ years of war so far (to say nothing of the 3,650 American war dead – or the 70,000+ Iraqi dead, or the estimated 4 million Iraqi refugees now destabilizing Iraq internally, and the entire region as well.  That's $4,000 spent on killing and destruction for every man, woman, and child in the U.S.

Considering that a substantial majority of Americans want "out" of this war, it is infuriating to see how the Bush Administration has manipulated Congress and public opinion in order to stay involved. What could lead such powerful men to be so intransigent? I would posit two things, equally compelling: 1. The obvious thing, oil. The real reason they are expressing irritation at the current Iraqi government (and apparently making moves to replace it with ex-Pres. Allawi), is that the proposed Oil Law has not been enacted yet. And once it is, there will be no chance of a withdrawal: troops will be required to protect the U.S. oil companies' multibillion-$$ "vital interests" in the region. 2. The obdurate refusal of the Bushies to admit any mistakes on their part. This is arguably the most consistent element in the Bush style, called "stubbornness" by Kerry; but stubbornnessonly scratches the surface of this deep-seated, habitual behavior. To this day, Bush seeks to shift blame for major policy failures (Iraq, Katrina, immigration) onto others and deflect criticism for his own hamfisted handling of delicate issues.

A.G. "Berto" Gonzalez' disingenuous performances before the Senate are perhaps the best examples of this trait. But, as the new film "No End In Sight" demonstrates, the policy failures were failures at the top: "magical thinking" by Bush himself and collusion by his close cronies, particularly Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Rice (and secondarily Wolfowitz, Feith et al.). "Magical thinking," also known as "wishful thinking," includes the deliberate denial of any reality which challenges one's preconceived notions of how things SHOULD be. Thus one can assert the primacy of one's deeply desired internal map over inconvenient facts that contradict it: those elusive WMDs, for instance, or the trickle-down theory that underlies rapacious "pro-business" trade deals. In each case, the illusory justification acts as a smokescreen for blatant acts of oppression. In each case, though, Bush appears to be a true believer – apparently, he is too simple to grasp the mechanisms of deceit – and self-deception – involved. Or so hypocritical he knows, but just doesn't care.

So, after releasing our findings on war spending and its crippling effects on education, transportation, and social services in our region (see below) with great fanfare, Op Democracy is staging a big protest against the war next Tuesday. It will be at Westlake Center from 6-7 Tuesday night, Aug. 28. If you're in the Seattle area, consider coming down. Dress in black and bring pots and pans to bang for impeachment; bring your sign for stopping the war or, if you don't have one, we'll supply one for you.

There will be another vigil later that night at Greenlake from 8-9, and a vigil is scheduled in Bellevue on Monday night, when Bush will be visiting for a fund-raising event with his filthy-rich Republican friends. Although he must be reckoned an embarrassment to the Republican Party as things now stand: his numbers are down the toilet and, of the dozen Republican presidential candidates at a recent debate I watched, only Ron Paul had the balls to mention Bush – and not in a complimentary way, either.

That's enough for one session of blogging. Hope to see some of you down at Westlake or Greenlake (or what the heck, why not both?) and I promise I'll be back at a shorter interval than last time.

Viva la liberación de la gente norteamericano!

STATISTICS: What $1.14 billion will buy.

> One war in Iraq (Seattle allotment over 4 years), or:

> Healthcare coverage for 171,244 people – or 435,372 kids; or
> Head Start for an additional 126,241 kids; or
> 19,713 additional elementary school teachers; or
> 202,883 scholarships to college or university; or
> Renewable electric power to over 1 million home; or
> 6,288 affordable housing units; or
> 15,449 port container inspectors for Washington State ports.

Which would you choose? If you're George W., you'd go for the war (amazingly, Bush has fought tooth and nail against improving port security – but he was outvoted over Sen. Patty Murray's [D-WA] bill to beef up container inspection just this year). If you're Vietnam vet former Sen. Max Cleland, you can say, with conviction: " I've seen this movie before."

*NOTE: Cleland was defeated in his re-election bid by Karl Rove's dirty tricks. Cleland's opponent charged him with not being patriotic enough – Max only gave up 2 limbs for the U.S. in the Vietnam fiasco – why not all 4? But it's easy to see why the Bushies never learned the lessons of Vietnam – they were all so busy dodging the draft and exploring ways to enrich and empower themselves, none of them ever served in Vietnam!

Gentle Reader:

Happy Spring. I don't know if I invited you to visit my community already, but I did produce a webpage of pictures showing where Im living now, in the Dark Ghetto of Seattle. It's at www.CityofArt.net/ColCity.html  There is a link at the bottom of the page to a couple of pix of the back end of my apartment: cozy and homelike. The window sills are now covered with 2 shelves filled with plant starts tomatoes, habaniero peppers, snow peas, and a couple of butternut squash. I have the garden planted already with the cold-weather, early stuff: radishes, spinach, lettuce, herbs, and multiplier onion sets. Also have some broccoli starts, arugula, and radicchio in. The root vegetables and warm-weather plants can wait a bit til things warm up. It was cold and stormy all last week, but Sunday (Easter) was beautiful when the sun was out; I spent most of the afternoon working the soil in my patch, being serenaded by the birds, and with the periodic attention of the large, long-haired black Cat who owns the place: the lord of all he surveys.

Earlier in the afternoon I went to stand with the Greenlake Peace Vigil. Every Sunday from 2-3 p.m. we stand along the roadway on the lawn overlooking the Lake, a well-populated drive of a Sunday, and receive the honks and thumbs-up of sympathizers (and occasionally the thumbs-down or single-finger salutes from those who do not share our pro-peace views). I had a giant foam-rubber model of a gasoline can ("Mammoth Motor Oil--the Champagne of Petroleum Products") and mimed guzzling from the spout and belching with satisfaction for the passing cars. With gas rocketing to $3 a gallon again, the timing for this grim joke seems to be about right.

As we were folding up our flags and signs, a jogger stopped by to chat--an Army medic who was exercising in his red, white, and blue "Support the Troops" jersey. He tried to talk with us. It was clear he didn't know how to counter our arguments that the war was ill-conceived, based on lies, and bound to fail.  He did get across that he supported the Iraq mission, having seen mass graves of Saddam's victims; he's going back for a 3rd tour of duty. We could agree that we want the troops to come through their ordeal with the least amount of killing, and that war is hell. As for the necessity of this war--and the likelihood of its getting even further out of hand--we were at loggerheads. There was a lot of explicit courtesy and respect for the other's opinion on both sides (much better than some of the shouting matches I've been engaged in). I had considerable food for thought as I headed off to till my plot.

Tax Day: this year the IRS owes me. Goody, they don't get to use $200-250 of my money to spread war and fascism around the globe! My gross income in CY 2005 was up a bit from 2004 and dramatically from 2003. (Both terrible years for me financially). Who'd have thought I'd earn more than triple the income in my 30s that I get in my 50s? What a country. Worth fighting for. Worth dying for.

As elsewhere in the country, the House immigration bill has sparked B-I-G protest marches here. On April 10th it felt great to be in a demo with 25,000 people all chanting slogans in perfectly accented Spanish! The outrage in the Hispanic and immigrant community is acting as a goad to encourage others to vent their dissatisfaction. Hoping this will build to critical mass as the months go by. The government's bankrupt policies might as well be designed to stir up dissent here -- and abroad as well.

Peru, Venezuela, Argentina: In the home countries of Latin America, the policies of the U.S. have never been in lower repute. The BBC is running a series on "How Bush Lost Latin America." Though it is aimed at people with little background in these countries, there is much of value in this overview even for the hard-core, Spanish-speaking analyst (like yours truly):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4861320.stm

Iran:  Apparently U.S. troops and surrogates are already in there on the ground, and well along towards air strikes -- possibly nucular strikes. This reminds me of Samson pulling down the temple on himself and burying his tormentors at the same time. It would be a very, very bad idea to provoke war with Iran. Very bad for Israel. Very destabilizing for the whole region. It would engender a whole new escalation of the cycle of violence and terror. Unfortunately, Bush seems hell-bent on doing it regardless--and you know how he is when his heart is set on doing something. No amount of logic can dissuade a willfully deaf man.

Meantime we have undercut the EC's position on Iran's nucular program through our unilateral nucular deal with India. Way to make friends, George! Talk about having a double standard. Indian proliferation good; Iranian bad.  Posada Carriles freedom fighter; Hugo Chavez dirty terrorist.  And so on.

Rumsfeld: In an unprecedented breach of normal military decorum, now seven retired generals -- many of them key players in the Iraq campaign -- have called for Rummy's resignation in recent weeks. Since he still has Bush's full confidence, this will likely have no effect. The Bushie camp's wagons have been circled for so long at this point that no criticism has a chance of getting through. It's like trying to penetrate a wall of defensiveness and denial.  One thing that might bring Rummy down is an indictment, though. Human Rights Watch has tied Rummy with close oversight of the interrogation and torture of a Guantnamo detainee, a Saudi man named Mohammed al-Kahtani.  They claim to have strong documentary evidence of Rummy's interest and direction of the interrogation, and are trying to push an indictment in international court.  Details: 
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/17/143241

Observation: Bush's habits when under fire: George W. exhibits many of the traits of the East Texas Redneck, a species with which I became acquainted while living in Georgia during the late 70s. When facing criticism and rejection, the Redneck hunkers down and adopts a nasty defensive posture. Like a Likud politician faced with the "raghead threat," he becomes angrier and angrier, more and more shut down, less and less likely to listen to reason. We're not likely to see Bush accepting any suggestions about ditching Rummy as long as he can maintain this wall of adamant denial. They just announced that Presidential Press Secretary Scott McClellan is stepping down too -- perhaps the stress of lying for Bush and defending those lies as truth for 3 years was getting to him. At any rate, he was never part of the "Inner Circle" in the Bush White House; not invulnerable like Rummy, Cheney, or Condi.

Nepal: The beautiful Himalayan kingdom remains convulsed with widespread protest against the autocratic King Gyanendra. All parties in the political spectrum except the King and Army are united in demanding a return to democratic process. The Army and police have been shooting down demonstrators in the streets; at least 9 have been killed so far and many more injured, thousands jailed. So why is the King so unbending in insisting on autocratic rights and extreme measures to suppress dissent? The U.S. ambassador has been backing the King to the hilt, that's why; most recently with a $20M emergency aid package largely consisting of rifles and ammo for the Army! Details at:  http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/14/147237

Comment: This is a measure of the neocons' double standards around democracy. No support for the massive, nationwide mass movement for democratic rights in Nepal: a strengthening of the iron hand of repression instead. Complete withdrawal of support from the democratically elected Hamas government in the Occupied Territories of Palestine. A CIA-managed coup to remove the democratically-elected President of Haiti. Similar shenanigans to topple the democratically-elected government in Venezuela (what next in Bolivia and Peru?) What is Bush going to do about his buddy Berlusconi being voted out in Italy? Re-run the election on rigged Diebold voting machines supplied by the USG? Provide technical assistance so Berlusconi can blow smoke and file a blizzard of litigation until his techies figure out how to jimmy the vote count and make it look like he won?

Here is one area where the Italians are a little bit ahead of us in electoral  honesty.  Info: 
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/17/143246

On a cheerier note, the University of Washington where I now work has announced major gains in green policies. 1800 of the campus toilets have been replaced with Ultra-Low-Flow units, saving 5 million gallons of potable water per year, while 40 percent of the campus piping has been calibrated and centrally controlled to maximize efficiency. Energy-conserving measures are now saving enough power to run 5,500 average homes per year. As with all operations in the Northwest, there is a massive recycling project which includes a comprehensive program of recycling old computers, monitors, printers, etc. Though campus population has grown by 22 percent since 1991 (when I arrived on the scene), the number of campus parking permits sold has decreased by 41 percent, thanks to subsidized bus passes and efforts to encourage bicycle commuting. And the U. has adopted U.S. Green Building Council codes for all new construction. Several of the new dorms, the new Genomic Sciences complex, and the Tacoma and Bothell campuses all have LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification. Incidentally, Seattle and King County have both recently passed measures to markedly decrease the emission of greenhouse gases, especially car exhaust  and diesel exhaust from freighters and passenger ships, including the Washington State Ferries operating around Puget Sound. The Governor and State legislature have been very proactive on this since the election of Gov. Gregoire in 2004.

The "other Washington" can play footsie with polluters and enable global warming; but we Washingtonians are doing our part to start fixing this serious problem before it's too late. We'll live in our little green bubble while the rest of the world blows itself to bits. Ah, bliss!

I've added several new pages of history to my Battleships website, pertaining to the Russo-Japanese War. http://www.cityofart.net/bship/finalproject.htm  The key to this is the Mikasa page, about Admiral Togo's flagship at the Battle of Tsushima. At top of Mikasa page there is a link to the Battle of Tsushima page, while at bottom, the Museum Ships link leads to a page about extant warships from that era (Spanish-Am. War, Russo-Jap. War, 1st Balkan War). On the top of the Tsushima page is a link to a page about the siege of Port Arthur (Lushunkou), one of the biggest battles of modern times and a precursor to the huge campaigns of WWI. I also added several fine photos to the U.S. battleship Oregon page, and to certain of the British vessels featured on my site: Majestic, Renown, Formidable, Devastation.

What solace it is to dig into the rich, black earth and break up the clods, to tickle the root balls on the broccoli plants and gently nudge them into their well-watered holes, in the quiet of the 3-acre garden, surrounded by beautiful flowering trees. They are just leafing out now and the slopes were misted with delicate shades of yellow-green: here the fluffy white boughs of a shapely apple tree, there the stars of a magnolia, over there a smear of crimson marking the crabapples just coming into bloom along the hillside. The yellow-green fan leaves and spiky, creamy blossoms of a young horse chestnut contrast with the cyan/aqua color of a gum spruce in new needles. The tulips blooming round the bronze fertility-goddess statue in the corner -- a splash of red, yellow, and purple dots. The shapely cone of Mt. Rainier, blanketed in white snow, looming on the horizon, seemingly close enough to touch. The birds twitter volubly in the warm, low rays of the sun; and the calming presence of the watchful Cat, swishing his plumelike tail gracefully about him, is appreciated. I may be under the poverty line, but I am rich in other ways, and grateful for what is still good in living here.

Greetings, Gentle Reader.  We are coming up on the third anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. In the Christian Science Monitor online today, there's an excellent interview piece showing what the members of a Baghdad family think and feel about the disaster that is enveloping their society.  You can read it at:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20060317/ts_csm/omethboubx 

Admittedly, the family does not have access to all the information we have; so some might argue that their resentments are unfounded.  The writer tries to use this to apologize for the U.S.'s shoddy performance in restoring power in Iraq (it's now at a 3-year low, less available than when Saddam was still in power under the sanctions).

 

The writer's attempt to excuse the U.S. performance is based on how many billions we have spent on restoring power.  Given the revelations on how much of this spending has been wasted by (a) lack of security (we build it/the insurgents blow it up; we repair it/the insurgents blow it up again, and so on); and (b) contractor fraud,* I don't find our performance defensible.

 

*Revealed just this week:  A KBR contractor overcharged the Pentagon $1.4M for "war premiums" on air deliveries; KBR internal report reveals the company failed to purify water used by U.S. troops based in Ramadi, which it has collected payment for since 2003.  KBR water purification units were delivered to site but never assembled, and makeshift Army purification units used instead; troops used contaminated water from the Euphrates, assuming it was safe.  The inside whistleblower who revealed the presence of viruses and bacteria in troops' water was repeatedly told to "shut up and go along" [or else] and eventually fired when he would not.  Meanwhile, our tax dollars have been paying for services not delivered, while our troops have been needlessly exposed to disease and infection.

 

This parallels the performance of Bechtel (another neocon favorite) which has collected tens of millions for services not performed, restoring potable water to Iraqi civilians.

 

In other news: Yesterday was the anniversary of Rachel Corrie's killing in Rafah, Palestine.  I joined the demonstration at Westlake yesterday, commemorating that event.  It was attended by a dozen folks in Palestinian "mourner" masks and holding large blow-ups of Rachel facing off with the bulldozer in her last moments of life, and a small crowd holding "tombstone" shaped signs with the numbers of killed in the Palestinian conflict. I read words of Rachel Corrie and Daniel, an Israeli military intelligence officer who corresponded electronically with her, and spoke of desertions, suicides, and refusal to follow orders in the IDF because of concern over illegal orders to harass, kill, expropriate, & torture civilians.  Others read other excerpts from her writings.  Ch. 4 was there and some indymedia folks (see Links, below). It was at evening rush hour and a lot of passing cars honked their support. There was quite a strong pro-Rachel article in the P-I yesterday. Predictably, there was a firestorm of angry letters on the (I thought) balanced review of the play Daughter Courage in the same rag by Regina Hackett, P-I arts critic. According to the indignant letter-writers, she was "backing trailer trash defending raghead terrorists" and so forth. Obviously none of these JDL types had read any of Rachel's writings or they would have known how scrupulous she was not to demonize either "side" in the Palestinian-Israeli dispute -- though it was quite clear where she stood:  on the side of Justice.

 

I'm afraid many more of us who stand our ground will meet a similar fate, before all this is settled. At least we can take courage from knowing that our brave forebears stand with us (if only in spirit) when we take our stand. Remember Thomas Jefferson, who said "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, if necessary by drenching its roots in blood." While this writer cannot condone the unnecessary shedding of blood, it is unlikely that the neo-con vampires who are putting the bite on America will surrender power willingly.

 

Read Rachel's Powerful Words:

http://www.rachelswords.org/resources/rachels-emails/

View Pictures of the Demonstration:

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4564.shtml

Read the P-I story on the Rachel Corrie demonstration:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/263366_rachel17.html

 

Read the Robert Jamieson column on Rachel's story:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/jamieson/263218_robert16.html

 

Read Regina Hackett's review of Daughter Courage:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/theater/262475_puppet10.html

Read The Nation's commentary on the N.Y. theatre cancellation:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060403/weiss

...yet the story was completely buried in the U.S. media. Not mentioned at all on NPR. No matches in a search of the N.Y. TIMES website (did our "paper of record" cover this event at all? Mayor Daley and the IL governor both spoke at the rally, said to be the largest demo in Chicago's history.) The story as reported by DN!:

 

The political debate over immigration reform continues to heat up across the country following the recent passage of a bill by the U.S. House of Representatives. The Senate will debate the bill later this month. The mostly Latino marchers crammed the streets carrying signs saying, for example, "No human being is illegal" and "we are not criminals." Critics say the Sensenbrenner bill would turn millions of undocumented workers into felons for crossing the border without permission.

 

Police estimate 100,000 marchers participated, making it one of the biggest pro-immigrant rallies in U.S. history, according to national advocates. However, organizers estimate the numbers were as many as half a million and newspaper reports varied within that range.

 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

 

A new report by the Project for Excellence in Journalism is warning there has been a "seismic transformation" in the media landscape as media companies slash the amount of resources put into original reporting. The study said "The new paradox of journalism is more outlets covering fewer stories." The report notes that in Philadelphia the number of newspaper reporters has fallen from 500 to 220 in the last quarter-century. Five AM radio stations used to cover news in Philadelphia; now there are two. Nationwide it is estimated there are 3,500 fewer professional newsroom jobs since 2000, a drop of 7 percent. Just last week the Washington Post said it would cut 80 newsroom jobs.

 

Comment: So the news media is increasingly concentrating on Aruba-gate and Brad and Anjelina's latest row/make-up, failing to deliver the hard news citizens need to make informed choices; yet papers and networks are cutting back their reporting staffs even further. Now, from what I can see, the gumshoe reporters are doing their job; their stories just get deep-sixed and never appear in the actual newspaper. I assume that, after long stints of frustration, the reporters get the unwritten message and concentrate on "safe" story topics so they can see their bylines in print.

 

Sounds a lot like the Corporate State to me. Another word for the Corporate State is Fascism.* As indeed retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor warned in a strongly-worded speech last Thursday. She excoriated the arm-twisting tactics of the right-wingers, particularly as directed against the federal bench. I'm put in mind of Winston Smith fabricating politically palatable stories for the Party elite in his Ministry of Truth cubicle, while his secret lover, Julia, toils away repairing the novel-writing machines that churn out pulp fiction, porno, etc. to anesthetize the working class. We're not to that Orwellian level yet--not quite. It's clear the direction we're moving in, though. I do not like this at all. It's downright creepy.

 

I have to reject the kind of doublethink necessary to believe we are a democracy when the top end of the democracy has been so completely corrupted and so heavily manipulated. What we know is worrisome enough. But (as secretive as the neocons are) I get a sinking feeling when I wonder about all the stuff we don't know. Some of that is coming out now--e.g., the prison memoirs of Moazzam Begg, the British citizen captured in Pakistan early in 2002 and held for 3 years in the gulag.  In his forthcoming book (coauthored with the Guardian's Victoria Brittain) he details detention for years in solitary confinement, some 35 interrogations, torture, and witnessing the deaths of 2 fellow detainees after torture that went a bit too far. The recent report of Human Rights First exhaustively catalogues deaths and torture incidents throughout the U.S. gulag. It's an appalling catalog of sadism and dehumanization, documenting a machine running out of control--in the name of the American people, and paid for by U.S. taxpayers.

 

What kind of world are we creating? What kind of environment for our children to live in? It's safe to say the Bushies will be well insulated from the effects of their meddlings, thanks to their ill-gotten gains. I'm sure George and Dick will be immune from any pangs of conscience. For them, their bull-in-the-china-shop approach, busting up the existing order, is an ideological crusade, and the profits pouring into their trust accounts prove their approach is correct. For the rest of us, stepping over the dysfunctional, PTSD-plus-multiply-addicted--and intermittently violent-- Iraq war vets on the sidewalks of our cities will become a daily routine--so common we practice "not seeing" the palpable misery spread before our eyes. But not to worry; our massive prison construction program will ensure we have a place to warehouse them if they step too far out of line; out of sight, out of mind. And thank God for that all-important American economy, pumping out a pampered life to all except the few lazy wretches who never seem to succeed (like our Latino brothers and sisters in Chi.)

 

I could go on, but what's the use. We now return ownership of your computer to you, until the next broadcast of . . . THE OUTER LIMITS: (Truth that's Stranger than Fiction SM)

 

PB

 

The stories quoted are from today's Democracy Now!:

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/14/1456223

 

*Fascism is defined as "an authoritarian system of government by the extreme Right, in which the State and corporate interests are closely intertwined--so much so that they become indistinguishable.  It is characterized by gross profiteering by government functionaries (political appointees), crude police-state repression, hamfisted control of information, and glorification of military power--often finding expression in military adventurism and wars of aggression."  Sound like any country you've visited lately?

One more day in the Empire . . . the headlines are a litany of corruption and disgusting incompetence. It pains me to admit that the government of my country, the U.S.A., lies at the root of all this grief.

It appears that the Feds' case against Zacarias Moussaoui, the only 9/11 conspirator captured, may collapse because of prosecutorial misconduct: FAA attorneys have been coaching prosecution witnesses, apparently, and the judge is not amused. Feel safer yet?

More fun from today's news:

Sen. DeWine To Propose Law Criminalizing Reporting on NSA
Meanwhile Ohio Republican Senator Mike DeWine has proposed legislation that could result in the arrest and jailing of journalists who disclose information about the government's surveillance program. The
Associated Press obtained a copy of the bill which could be introduced as soon as this week. Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, said "The bill would make it a crime to tell the American people that the president is breaking the law, and the bill could make it a crime for the newspapers to publish that fact."

Comment: Which country is this? Flagrantly unconstitutional or what? Yet things like this have been allowed before in "time of war." If they can get away with suppressing this, they can get away with suppressing anything. I would hope that you and your paper would be concerned.

Elite UK Soldier Refuses to Fight with U.S. in Iraq
In Britain, an elite SAS soldier is refusing to return to fight in Iraq in what he describes as a morally wrong war of aggression. The soldier, Ben Griffin, is believed to be the first SAS soldier to refuse to go into combat and to leave the [British] army on moral grounds.
Griffin said he refused to fight alongside U.S. troops because they viewed Iraqis as untermenschen - the Nazi term for races regarded as subhuman. He also accused U.S. troops of committing "dozens of  illegal acts" in Iraq.

Comment: That speaks for itself.  He should know!

State Department Expands Iranian Operations
In news on Iran, the Boston Globe is reporting the State Department has recently opened a special Office of Iranian Affairs in Washington and a miniature embassy-in-exile in Dubai to help "defeat" the Iranian regime. The new office in the United Arab Emirates was set up to reach out to Iranian exiles and to help funnel money and support to dissident and anti-government activists inside and outside of Iran.
The State Department is also opening Iran-specific posts in the Azerbaijan capital of Baku and in Istanbul, Frankfurt and London - all cities with sizable populations of Iranian exiles.

Comment: Part of the whole deal, ramping up operations to try and overthrow the Tehran regime without a full-scale invasion.  This sounds about like the way we've been treating Cuba  since 1960, and likely will
be every bit as effective. You notice who Perez, Lula, and all the new wave of Latin leaders have been lionizing lately.

Ex-Bush Adviser Arrested for Shoplifting
And a former top advisor to President Bush has been arraigned for shoplifting after stealing $5,000 from Target and other stores in a retail theft scheme.
Claude Allen had been working as Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy up until his unexpected resignation last month. At the time the White House said he was resigning in order to spend more time with his family. Allen, who was a former aide of Senator Jesse Helms, was seen as a rising star within the conservative movement. He now faces up to 15 years in jail for felony theft.

Comment:  Hmmm. They must have known the prosecution was coming down when they let him go. Is it just my imagination, or does a larcenous instinct lurk in all neocons? The implications of Allen's acts as they relate to the Administration's philosophy on domestic policy, are too delicious to contemplate.

Abu Ghraib Dog Handler Goes on Trial
Meanwhile an Army dog handler at Abu Ghraib is going to trial today on charges he abused detainees by using unmuzzled dogs to harass, threaten and assault prisoners. Human rights attorneys hope the trial of Michael Smith will shed light on the role the military leadership played in ordering abuse at the prison.

Comment:  No one above the rank of Sergeant has been prosecuted for all the torture and abuse in the U.S. gulag.  If he's a good soldier, Smith will clam up and take the rap for the superiors who ordered the prison atrocities. In fact, the operating principle is "fuck up and move up," just like in Vietnam.  Read on:

Senior GOP Staffer Implicated in Abu Ghraib Scandal
In news on the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib -- a senior staffer to a Republican congressman has revealed that he was formally reprimanded by the Army for his role in what happened at the Iraqi prison. According to Salon.com, Christopher Brinson was directly in charge of Charles Graner and others who were later prosecuted for abuse at Abu Ghraib. Brinson now serves as deputy chief of staff for Alabama Republican Congressman Mike Rogers.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch:
Donald Rumsfeld Makes $5M on Stock of Tamiflu Maker
The Independent of London is reporting Donald Rumsfeld has made over $5 million in capital gains from selling shares in the biotechnology firm that discovered and developed Tamiflu. Tamiflu is one of the few drugs believed effective in treating avian bird flu. A new financial disclosure report shows Rumsfeld holds up to $25 million worth of shares in the company Gilead Sciences. The Pentagon has defended Rumsfeld's holdings, stating that he has no relationship with the Gilead Sciences beyond his investments in the company.

Comment:  No wonder Bush was so hot to declare bird flu vaccine research a top government spending priority.

267,000 Gallons of Crude Oil Leaked in Northern Alaska
In environmental news, up to 267,000 gallons of crude oil has leaked from a pipeline in northern Alaska. Officials say it is the largest oil spill ever in Alaska's North Slope.

Comment: That's a drop in the bucket compared to the pollution that will come about if they drill in the fragile caribou-calving environment of ANWR. As the permafrost turns to mush as a result of global warming, more and more sections of the pipeline will sag and collapse, causing more and more spills.
OOOPS! Silly me.  I forgot: Global warming is just a myth, based on bad science. All hail the coming Apocalypse! (A predictable event, according to quality science.)

Pace University Students Face Expulsion Over Protest
The Campus Antiwar Network is calling on supporters to phone New York's Pace University today in order to request charges be dropped against two student activists. The students, Brian Kelly and Lauren
Giaccone, say the university is threatening to expel them for distributing flyers and for protesting without a permit. The charges were filed after the two students called Bill Clinton a "war criminal" during his speech at the school last week. After being removed from the speech, the students said they were detained, searched and questioned by law enforcement
and Secret Service agents.

Comment: Is this intimidation, or what?  The same crap they pulled on activists back in the 1960s. Although I voted for Clinton both times, I have to admit, reviewing his record in Bosnia and Kosovo, one can make a case for his involvement in war crimes. I suppose it's necessary to make sure there are no real threats to the lives of ex-presidents. But it seems to me that the police-state reaction here is unnecessarily heavy-handed, and even the threat to expel is uncalled-for. If they do get thrown out of school for this, it's a sad commentary on the state of higher education as an upholder of intellectual liberty. Though this incident is not quite so far-fetched as the Secret Service interrogation of a student at Washington State's Prosser High for drawing anti-Bush caricatures in art class last year . . .

Charges Dropped Against U.S. Troops in Jose Couso Killing
In Spain, charges have been dropped against three U.S. soldiers accused of shooting dead Spanish television cameraman Jose Couso in Baghdad nearly three years ago. In October, Spain's national court issued international arrest warrants for the three soldiers but on Friday the same court dropped the charges.

Comment:  This signals, it's open season on journalists, boys!  Let 'em have it. The free press is the Enemy. Only Pentagon-approved news can get out. Al-Jazeera take note! The number of journalists deliberately killed in the Iraq theater is cause for major concern. The near-assassination of the Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena last year is a case in point . . .

That's only about half the headlines--the rest is mostly more of same;* and of course the death of Tom Fox, the Christian Peace Team observer, at the hands of his captors in Iraq.  Some say with signs of torture on his body. So much tragedy I am numbed.

As the Wicked Witch of the West said while dissolving away, "What a world!  What a world!" I think I'll give up and start voting Republican (not).

*http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/13/1429225

And with those cheery words of good fellowship, Gentle Reader, I'll leave you to ponder. (Fortunately life is still very good for us; but how much longer will this be so?)

This weekend a conclave of Pentagon brass, military-industrial-Congressional complex officials, and State Department hawks swooped down on the Sheraton convention center in Tacoma, Washington to confer on the latest wrinkles on their strategy for global domination and the militarization of space.

 

Saturday, March 11: A band of 100-some protestors showed up that chilly but sunny day, to draw attention to the issues of human rights inherent in the illegal U.S.-run gulag and the oppression of Third World peoples inherent in the vampire-capitalist model of global business (backed by the armed might of the U.S. whenever deemed necessary).  Starting from the brand-new, privately-operated INS Northwest Detention Center on East J Street, the protestors marched on the Sheraton, accompanied by some 50 cops on bicycles, motorcycles, and cruisers.

 

At the vanguard, four giant puppets of the Bread & Puppet Theater (visiting town from Glover, Vermont) shuffled along -- 7-foot Arab women with white flesh and all-white robes, each carrying a dead child puppet, blackened, mutilated and limp, in her arms.  The bereaved women puppets were followed by a contingent of mourners in black, with expressive papier-mache masks, who kicked up a ruckus of wailing, weeping, and hysterical cries of grief at every main intersection, and indeed wherever we encountered a knot of spectators.

 

Following the mourners came the main block of people with protest signs. And behind them, the Raging Grannies (considered so subversive they are under investigation by the FBI) marched, singing witty ditties satirizing the Bush Administration's push for full spectrum dominance.  Then more banners and signs, and the motorcycle and police cruiser which followed the march.

 

Our route lay through a vaguely post-apocalyptic looking industrial section of Tacoma, the "City of Destiny," and across the high drawbridge on the site where the Wobblies held off police and Pinkerton cops for some 90 days in an early 20^th-century strike. Then into downtown Tacoma, down Pacific Ave and up the hill to a park directly across from the Sheraton, where a heavy police presence ringed the defensive perimeter about the conferees.  Had any of the delegates looked out the window or listened in to our rally from a balcony, they would have heard polite invitations to join us and dialogue with the protestors; but none did.  We had an excellent rally with inspiring and articulate speeches from (among others) a French professor at Pacific Lutheran University, a student organizer from the local community college, and a woman who had visited Iran repeatedly with the Fellowship for Reconciliation. Next Tacoma protest will be Sunday March 19 in the Hilltop.

 

Around 2, some of us scooped up our protest literature and headed back to Seattle, gradually defrosting in the cars as we spun up the Interstate for 45 minutes.  Our destination:  Consolidated Works, the cutting-edge contemporary art center which is hosting a week's stand by Bread & Puppet, performing a puppet play based on the experience of Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old activist from Olympia, Washington, who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer while trying to protect her host family's house from demolition in 2003.  At 3 p.m., Rachel's parents, Craig and Cindy Corrie, gave a presentation about their activism around Palestinian-Israeli peacemaking since the tragic killing of their younger daughter.  Within days of Rachel's death, Craig was granted a leave of absence from his job as an insurance man in North Carolina, and found his life spinning off in a very different direction.

 

Once comfortable middle-class liberals, Cindy and Craig have embraced activism with increasing fervor since that dreadful day in March 2003, hours before the launching of the Iraq invasion, as their search for accountability has unwound.  They have encountered guarded and conditional helpfulness from the State Department, outright stonewalling from the Israeli government and military, and amazing solidarity and support from the activist community as they seek to determine the facts around Rachel's murder and elicit some accountability from the Israelis.

 

More, they have plunged into the search for justice for the Palestinian people and peacemaking between Israelis and Palestinians with a dedication their daughter most likely would have admired.  They have visited Palestine and Israel a number of times and gotten to know many of the key people involved in opposition to oppression, to the expropriation of Palestinian land, the building of the apartheid walls throughout the region, and the economic strangulation of those whose land is next on Israel's hit list.

 

Through the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice, they are staging the Peace Works Conference in Olympia this April. The conference lineup includes Arun Gandhi and a galaxy of talent from the world of social justice advocacy in the Middle East.

 

Throughout the Corries' presentation, the humanity, intelligence, and compassion of their daughter Rachel was an overarching presence.  A person of great intelligence, articulate speech, and passion, Rachel Corrie seemingly had no difficulty connecting with the humanity of the Palestinians she encountered.  She loved children and had taught herself Arabic; her writings are filled with affection for the people who received her so warmly and whose lives were such a horror show of daily shellings, obstructions, demolitions. She admired their dignity and ability to carry on with daily life activities in the most trying of circumstanceswith children being shot and slain, farm animals being arbitrarily killed, homes and lands being suddenly and inexplicably taken away with no restitution. The Palestinians who emerge from her diaries are 180 degrees removed from the stereotype of the fanatical suicide bomber so common in the U.S. media. And the underlying reasons why some resort to terrorist tactics are revealed as well (though, of course, this writer does not condone such tactics). The root of the enduring,  intractable Arab-Israeli conflict stand revealed as the attitude of denying the other's fundamental humanity, his/her common human dignity, by regarding him as an "enemy combatant." The transparent efforts of our own government to promote endless conflict rely on the same denial of "the enemy's" humanity, and will likely yield the same results:  an endless cycle of raids and reprisals, strokes and counterstrokesa self-reinforcing pattern from which there is no escape. Locking us into this pattern is clearly a top agenda item for the U.S. military-industrial-Congressional complex headed by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney; the daily violence serving as a smokescreen for their war profiteering and efforts to dominate global markets through military force and alliances with dictatorial regimes every bit as brutal as Saddam Hussein's (e.g., Uzbekistan).

 

The oppression of the Palestinians was the real theme of the Bread & Puppet's Daughter Courage, whose final performance I attended later that night.  There was an SRO crowd, as there had been all week; this time including Craig and Cindy Corrie in the house.  Emcee Ed Mast introduced the piece, and soon the stage was filled with a herd of human "deer" in crude but beautiful costumes.

 

Upstage center stood a "house" made of scrims (flats with transparent fabric coverings) suspended from the loft, and with a large "window" to see the puppets within (the same all-white women that were in the march), and a curtain to draw across between the episodes of daily life shown.  Above the home two gigantic cut-out feet were flown from a girder, and to the side there stood a bass drum with two boots to kick a pedal to boom the drum.  Two actors, a man and a younger woman, performed a ritual/routine between episodes, with the woman reading touching passages from Rachel Corrie's e-mails to her mother.  Then the male actor would open and hook back the curtain and the Palestinian people puppets would enact an episode from daily life: washing clothes, grieving for a killed family member, slaughtering a sheep.  At the climax of each episode, the drums boom (shelling?) and the feet step up and down, gradually stomping the people into the dust.

 

Rachel's own demise is a puppet show within the puppet show, enacted on the table top inside the "Palestinians'" home.  A tiny puppet Rachel, holding up a "NO" sign, is run over by a child's toy truck (accompanied by threatening engine-revving sound effects). After that, the truck backs and fills while the tiny puppet house gradually disappears through a hole in the tabletop. The smallness of the action places Rachel's killing (horrific as it is) in perspective as one incident in an unending campaign of war and oppression which continues after she is gone.

 

The Bread and Puppet Theater brought out its puppets and a nucleus of players and puppeteers.  Local volunteers were recruited to flesh out the cast completely.  There were three dance episodes featuring the "Local chapter of the Anti-Fear Dancers," counteracting the "Federal Fear Implementation Program."  CODE PINK, are you listening?  There were several other episodic bits of stage business, of varying effectiveness. Bread and Puppet Theater is recognized as a national leader in the sort of guerrilla theater they pioneered out in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.  Masterminded by Peter Schumann, who was first exposed to this sort of thing at folk festivals in his native Germany in the Forties, Bread and Puppet relies on deliberately crude costumes and props, simply made from recycled cardboard and plywood, tree twigs, and bits of fabric. I should qualify that statement by saying it is deliberately crude, but effective.  This is artistry of a high order, and many of the images from the performance are still swimming in my mind some time later.  Not all of the pieces of the play worked equally well for me, but over all it had a strong message.

 

In a Q&A session following the performances, the Corries addressed the issue of their daughter's being appropriated as a symbol and martyr by the Left.  Cindy Corrie pointed out that they had already been wounded as deeply as possible by having their daughter taken from them in so untimely a manner, and that it was not harmful that Rachel is strongly identified with the cause she died for. Modestly discounting her posthumous fame, Craig Corrie mentioned (with names prompted by his wife) 3 other human rights observers who were killed or wounded by the IDF in the same area around the same time (while the outbreak of the Iraq War was crowding Palestine news off the front pages), and the devoted peace workers courageously risking their lives in Iraq as well.  As the play implied, Rachel's death was but one incident in a larger drama; one which she herself fit into and appreciated with her quick wit and compassionate heart.

Throughout the weekend, the Corries comported themselves with dignity, thoughtfulness, and humor, humanizing our martyr with stories of Rachel's many accomplishments, musical and artistic talent, and impulsive enthusiasm.

 

As the evening progressed, ConWorks filled with partygoers out to celebrate the center's 8^th anniversary with an all-night bash (but unfortunately the bar ran out of beer around 9:30).  This wonderful institution will be the setting for the Art of Resistance Conference, October 21-22 (q.v.)

PB
 

For more information about the Rachel Corrie Foundation and the Peace Works Conference, visit www.rachelsfoundation.org  For more information on Art of Resistance, visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aor-core  For more on ConWorks Art Center, visit www.conworks.org  And for more on Bread & Puppet, see www.breadandpuppet.org.

Mr. Bush has slipped through the net again. The House approved the extension of the PATRIOT Act, with several odious measures left intact (library borrowing and bookstore purchase monitoring). And Congress failed to approve a full investigation into Bush's illegal eavesdropping on American citizens . . . meanwhile, back in Texas, indicted Congressman Tom DeLay easily overcame Republican challengers in the primary. Let's hope this important Bush ally is convicted before the election, and his flagrant gerrymandering scheme (which threw an additional 9 votes into the Republican column in the House) is overturned in court, as it so richly deserves. Only on the ports management issue is Bush showing as a clear loser, threatening a first presidential veto of his own war funding measure to save his crony deal with Abu Dhabi capitalistas. But this is at best a diversionary issue.

Yet Bush's poll numbers have never been lower -- 34% today. The wave of corruption scandals, including the Enron trial now approaching its climax, threatens to capsize his boat, already leaking like a sieve between the lackluster economy, burgeoning debt, bungled Katrina response, and stalled occupation of Iraq.  72% of U.S. troops in Iraq say we should pull out by year's end; 89% of reservists serving there say to leave within 6 months, according to the recent Zogby poll. MoveOn.org has launched a campaign of ads and voter education intended to overturn Republican dominance in the House, changing the complexion of national politics from ultra-conservative one-party rule. I urge all progressives who can afford it to contribute to this effort. The headlines above underline how much damage the neocons are doing to our great nation every single day they remain in power.

Meanwhile, here in Seattle, the Bread and Puppet Theater--brilliant political/social puppeteers from Vermont--begins its run of Daughter Courage, a show about the inspiring life and martyr's death of Rachel Corrie, at Consolidated Works Art Centre. Ms. Corrie's parents will be there for a presentation and Q&A on Saturday, 3/11. There will be a march against the impending police state on Saturday at 11 in Tacoma, featuring puppets from the Vermont troupe, and much political theatre inspired by their presence. It sounds like a good opportunity to blow off some of the rage and anxiety I feel at the wilful destruction of our republic and our compassionate way of life.  I plan to be there with camera rolling. You?

Yours in (r)evoloutionary struggle,
PB