Global
An Open Letter to:
Hon. Walter B. Jones Jr.
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C.
Hon. Walter B. Jones Jr.
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C.
Dear Congressman Jones,
I was glad to open the New York Times last Monday and see the headline:
“In Steinbeck’s Birthplace, a Fight to Keep the Libraries Open.” After
visiting Salinas, Calif., over the weekend, I was eager to find out whether
the disturbing and uplifting events there would gain any significant
national coverage.
It was a close call. Other than the medium-length Times article, accompanied by a photo of an 8-year-old girl standing next to an endangered library, the media coverage was sparse. And the Times piece -- while doing a good job of focusing on the danger that all three public libraries in Salinas might close by midyear -- bypassed the connections that many participants in a 24-hour “read-in” had made between lavish spending on war overseas and a funding crisis for libraries at home.
It was a close call. Other than the medium-length Times article, accompanied by a photo of an 8-year-old girl standing next to an endangered library, the media coverage was sparse. And the Times piece -- while doing a good job of focusing on the danger that all three public libraries in Salinas might close by midyear -- bypassed the connections that many participants in a 24-hour “read-in” had made between lavish spending on war overseas and a funding crisis for libraries at home.
It is amazing how little was said in US mainstream media about the decision by Israel's supreme court recognizing some non-Orthodox conversion to Judaism. Israeli and European papers debated this issue clearly revealing that Israel is the only country in the world that recognizes members of a particular religion as nationals of the state entitled to automatic citizenship regardless of where they live and what their current citizenship happens to be (or even if they want such "right").
Despite a concerted propaganda campaign with billions spent, most Jews chose to live outside Israel and most are non-Zionist or even anti-Zionist. Zionists thus made sure on many occasions that persecuted Jews have only one place to migrate (e.g. by pressuring the US Congress and the German government not to increase Soviet Jewish migration to the West but to insist on migration to Israel).
Despite a concerted propaganda campaign with billions spent, most Jews chose to live outside Israel and most are non-Zionist or even anti-Zionist. Zionists thus made sure on many occasions that persecuted Jews have only one place to migrate (e.g. by pressuring the US Congress and the German government not to increase Soviet Jewish migration to the West but to insist on migration to Israel).
I celebrate your new robotic fleet,
the unmanned killer plane technology.
Behind a far-off screen controllers mete
out surprise attack on unsuspecting enemy.
They continue to war, denying defeat,
and punishing us for the philanthropy,
of our reward expectant GOP elite.
I too face hidden bombers I can’t see,
when I patrol that same endangered street,
so I need robots who will die for me.
the unmanned killer plane technology.
Behind a far-off screen controllers mete
out surprise attack on unsuspecting enemy.
They continue to war, denying defeat,
and punishing us for the philanthropy,
of our reward expectant GOP elite.
I too face hidden bombers I can’t see,
when I patrol that same endangered street,
so I need robots who will die for me.
Hello from Brookings Hall.
My name is Meredith, and I am one of about 20 Washington University students occupying the admissions office in Brookings. We're determined to continue our sit-in until the chancellor, Mark Wrighton, agrees to negotiate a living wage for all campus employees. Right now anyone directly hired my the school earns a living wage, but subcontracted custodians, groundskeepers, and food service employees start off at $7.50 an hour. This is is a far cry from the $9.79 per hour with full benefits that the St. Louis Board of Aldermen decided was enough to survive. Washington University is not a poor school; we could easily pay our workers adequately if only we considered them more important than plasma screen TVs in the library and other amenities. We need to show Chancellor Wrighton what our priorities are, and we need community support to do so. We hold rallies on the quad outside our window every day at noon and 5 and have started a tent city there as well.
Even if you've heard more than enough about Terry Schiavo, it seems useful
to consider why Bush's political grandstanding backfired. Over seventy
percent of Americans, including solid majorities of self-described
evangelicals, opposed the intervention of the White House and Congress.
Those surveyed mistrusted the Bush administration's blatant disregard for
local control, the rule of law, and the right to be protected from a
capricious federal government.
Their responses also speak to a broader shift in how we deal with difficult end-of-life issues. For twenty years, gradually increasing majorities have agreed that for all our technological inventiveness, what some people need most is the right to die in peace.
You'd think that this belief--that the most difficult intimate decisions must be our own--would also raise support for maintaining the right to abortion. But it hasn't. In the 30 years since Roe v. Wade, support for keeping abortion legal, and without onerous restrictions, has stayed even, at most, and new onerous restrictions keep getting imposed.
Their responses also speak to a broader shift in how we deal with difficult end-of-life issues. For twenty years, gradually increasing majorities have agreed that for all our technological inventiveness, what some people need most is the right to die in peace.
You'd think that this belief--that the most difficult intimate decisions must be our own--would also raise support for maintaining the right to abortion. But it hasn't. In the 30 years since Roe v. Wade, support for keeping abortion legal, and without onerous restrictions, has stayed even, at most, and new onerous restrictions keep getting imposed.
The central lesson in the Terri Schiavo case is not to be found in the
broad area of right to life. A freedom to choose a merciful end for a
long-suffering and much beloved relative within the bounds of the law is
likewise a diversion from the truth. What needs to be understood and
remembered by the American people is the unprecedented and obscene level of
hypocrisy exhibited by the GOP majority in Congress, and by the Bush White
House.
Hypocrisy is said to be the tribute vice makes to virtue. Both executive and legislative branch Republicans are pandering to their fundamentalist Christian base by deceitfully claiming those virtues implied by the phrase, "culture of life." The hypocrisy lies in the fact that any true belief in the sanctity of life would have to include a stand against capital punishment, and a total aversion to pre-emptive wars based on deceit. And the vice which spawns such hypocrisy is a sordid eagerness to turn a political profit from the suffering of innocents like Terri Schiavo who cannot even protest their manipulation.
Hypocrisy is said to be the tribute vice makes to virtue. Both executive and legislative branch Republicans are pandering to their fundamentalist Christian base by deceitfully claiming those virtues implied by the phrase, "culture of life." The hypocrisy lies in the fact that any true belief in the sanctity of life would have to include a stand against capital punishment, and a total aversion to pre-emptive wars based on deceit. And the vice which spawns such hypocrisy is a sordid eagerness to turn a political profit from the suffering of innocents like Terri Schiavo who cannot even protest their manipulation.
AUSTIN -- Why in the name of sanity, you may ask, should an aging, overweight spinster like myself agree to go bungee jumping with her nephew? My fellow aunts will understand immediately, however, when I explain that the nephew in question is 15, wears his baseball hat backward and has attitude.
As a veteran aunt (helped raise one set of two, am working on the next set of three), I have been enjoying my recent stint as non-parent in residence. Being an aunt is a great gig. You get to hand the kids back at the end of a week or a month, so discipline is not your problem. Veteran aunts never insist on vegetables or museums. Aunts without children of their own have an extra edge, since we're not really, exactly grown-ups. As permanent non-parents, we can still side with kids. We can Mame it up all we want. (All this may hold true for uncles as well. I'm just not well-informed on that angle.)
As a veteran aunt (helped raise one set of two, am working on the next set of three), I have been enjoying my recent stint as non-parent in residence. Being an aunt is a great gig. You get to hand the kids back at the end of a week or a month, so discipline is not your problem. Veteran aunts never insist on vegetables or museums. Aunts without children of their own have an extra edge, since we're not really, exactly grown-ups. As permanent non-parents, we can still side with kids. We can Mame it up all we want. (All this may hold true for uncles as well. I'm just not well-informed on that angle.)
"April Fools! We're not really going to wreck the bankruptcy system and turn families over to the gentle mercies of credit card companies! We just wanted to see how extreme we could get and have the media still believe it!"
That's what I'd like to hear the United States Senate announce today, but I won't hold my breath.
When a majority of U.S. Senators, including 19 Democrats, voted to pass the bankruptcy bill, some of them may have thought that no one was watching. Certainly consumer groups, labor, community organizations, and civil rights groups had written the bill off as virtually unstoppable. Stopping it was not at the top of their agendas, each already overloaded with other defensive battles against the Bush onslaught.
That's what I'd like to hear the United States Senate announce today, but I won't hold my breath.
When a majority of U.S. Senators, including 19 Democrats, voted to pass the bankruptcy bill, some of them may have thought that no one was watching. Certainly consumer groups, labor, community organizations, and civil rights groups had written the bill off as virtually unstoppable. Stopping it was not at the top of their agendas, each already overloaded with other defensive battles against the Bush onslaught.