Bob Morris @ Nov 7th 2005 08:43 - Category: Unfiled ;
What’s happening in France is unprecedented. U.S. riots generally last three days, with day two the most violent. By contrast, France has now had eleven days of steadily escalating and spreading unrest.
And, it’s "spread to neighbouring Belgium and possibly Germany"
Muslims issue fatwa against riots
Technorati tag: Paris riots
Bob Morris @ Nov 7th 2005 07:29 - Category: Anti-war ;
The Internal Revenue Service has warned one of Southern California’s largest and most liberal churches that it is at risk of losing its tax-exempt status because of an antiwar sermon two days before the 2004 presidential election.
Joe Mirando, an engineer from Burbank, questioned whether the 3,500-member church would be under scrutiny if it were not known for its activism and its liberal stands on social issues.
The White House hates criticism of their wars. Just ask Valerie Plame. Hell yes, I think this is politically motivated, especially considering the retired paster who gave the sermon, George Regas, is active in the LA peace movement and co-founded ICUJP. a faith-based peace group formed during the build-up to the Iraq War.
Also on the front page of the LA Times
Abortion proposition finds its forum in the churches
Will any of them get warned by the IRS?
Bob Morris @ Nov 7th 2005 00:08 - Category: Anti-war ;
Yes, there were commies in the anti-war movement in the 60’s. Still are! This is a good thing. Organizing is in the DNA of socialists and communists. It’s only in the US, home of predatory capitalism, that the mere mention of communism is greeted with horror and vitriolic attack by the rulers. As for the rest of the planet, Marxists often hold governmental positions and people understand that socialists organize for social change. That’s what they do, and with 150 years of experience to draw upon, they can often successfully organize when other, less experienced groups can’t. Plus, they never stop, and continue organizing long after others have quit.
From Country Joe McDonald, author of "Fixin’ To Die Rag", perhaps the best-known anti-war protest song in the 60’s.
I wrote "Fixin’ To Die Rag" in summer of 1965 after I had been discharged from the US Navy for several years. It just popped into my head one day and I finished it in about 30 minutes. <Photo from Country Joe’s website, "Getting ready to sing the Rag at Woodstock.">
I was raised in a family of American Communists and so I knew a lot about Capitalism and Communism. The song attempts to put blame for the war upon the politicians and leaders of the US military and upon the industry that makes its money from war but not upon those who had to fight the war … the soldiers.
The song attempts to address the horror of going to war with a dark sarcastic form of humor called "GI humor". GI humor is a way people have of complaining about their situation so it will not get them in trouble and keep them from going insane in an insane environment: war.
Come on all of you big strong men,
Uncle Sam needs your help again.
He’s got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Vietnam
So put down your books and pick up a gun,
We’re gonna have a whole lotta fun.
And it’s one, two, three,
What are we fighting for?
Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it’s five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain’t no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we’re all gonna die.
Come on generals, let’s move fast;
Your big chance has come at last.
Gotta go out and get those reds
The only good commie is the one that’s dead
You know that peace can only be won
When we’ve blown ‘em all to kingdom come.
Come on Wall Street, don’t move slow,
Why man, this is war au-go-go.
There’s plenty good money to be made
Supplying the Army with the tools of the trade
Just hope and pray that if they drop the bomb,
They drop it on the Viet Cong.
Come on mothers throughout the land,
Pack your boys off to Vietnam.
Come on fathers, don’t hesitate,
Send your sons off before it’s too late.
You can be the first one on your block
To have your boy come home in a box.
Bob Morris @ Nov 7th 2005 00:07 - Category: Water ;
The explosive growth of three private water utility companies in the last 10 years raises fears that mankind may be losing control of its most vital resource to a handful of monopolistic corporations. In Europe and North America, analysts predict that within the next 15 years these companies will control 65 percent to 75 percent of what are now public waterworks.
Bob Morris @ Nov 7th 2005 00:02 - Category: Climate change ;
Every British motorist will soon be driving on petrol made from sugar beet and diesel made from oilseed rape as part of the Government’s fight against climate change.
While even the British work to the mitigate the effects of global warming, the neocons in the White House continue to resist and fight, shrieking that nothing must be allowed to hurt corporate profits. In ten years, they will universally be seen as the greedy, short-sighted criminals that they are.
Biofuels, which are made from crops and do not add to the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) causing global warming, are to become an everyday feature of UK road transport, in the biggest fuel shift since unleaded petrol was introduced more than 15 years ago.
Other countries will follow. This is a huge step in the right direction.
Also, check the UK-based, and activist oriented ClimateChangeAction for in-depth articles about global warming. Good stuff indeed, including lots of links. I discovered Climate Ark, a global warming portal, here.
Subscribe
