Movie review: Food, Inc.

FOOD INC., now showing at the Drexel, is a genuine must-see tour de force. Featuring primarily food author/activists Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser, this lengthy but very watchable documentary gem lays out the horrific crisis America faces in feeding itself---or rather, in being force-fed by corporate evil-doers. The agri-rape and pillage of Monsanto and its unholy host of boardroom buccaneers has made a mess of our food production and distribution system. If you can face the ravages of the mass meat industry without becoming a vegetarian, you are ready for a job as Dick Cheney's private chef. Despite its pithy topic, the film never lapses into jargon. Nor does lose its pace or punch. Grounded with excellent appearances by regular down-home farmers and true mainstream folk, this is a march to where we all live and eat. Lets hope it has an impact. Thanks to Jeff & Cathy Frank for bringing---and keeping---it here. Bring the kids. They'll never drag you to McDonald's again!!

The passing of Aquino, the rigging of elections and the need for People Power

The death of former Philippine President Corazon Aquino on August 1, 2009 should be remembered for many reasons: not just because she led the People Power revolution in the Philippines that stood for peace and human rights, and not just because she did it after the brutal Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos had her husband assassinated, but most importantly, she stood up to one of the first documented stolen elections.

While the American mainstream media steadfastly refuses to recognize the use of both computer hardware and software in modern election manipulation, President Ronald Reagan’s good buddy Marcos immediately knew the score with the new technology and blatantly used mainframe computers to rig his 1986 election. With the support of the Reagan administration, Marcos simply had the vote count shut down until “new tapes” were brought in that reversed Aquino’s victory.

Bipartisan compromise

Cheap frames

Before I know it I’m sucked into the New York Times story and I haven’t had my Prozac or anything.

Through the miracle of language, here we are, walking with U.S. troops on patrol through the streets of Mosul, and by the time the story’s point has been thoroughly explicated, two kindergarten-age Iraqi boys, bait on the hook of evil, are blown to Kingdom Come by an IED that had been planted in the car in which they sat helplessly.

Even (or especially) if the story is true, I whistle in amazement at the triviality of the use to which it was put in this page-one article, “In Battle, Hunches Prove to Be Valuable”: to illustrate the idea that intuition or a funny feeling that something’s amiss can save the lives of soldiers fighting wars of occupation, or whatever. The story’s focus was as narrow as a videogame, as though aimed, so to speak, primarily at the nation’s couch potato warriors, who support our troops by reveling in virtual danger.

Change in the SOFA

In November 2008, then President George W. Bush and then Puppet Nouri al-Maliki negotiated an unprecedented, unconstitutional treaty to "legalize" three more years of war in a manner not unlike the "legalization" of invasions, detentions, torture, and warrantless spying by secret decree of the Office of Legal Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice.

This treaty was public, but it was not called a treaty. Instead Bush presented it as a "Status of Forces Agreement" or SOFA, even though it went far beyond what any other SOFA had previously done. The U.S. Constitution requires that two-thirds of senators present consent to any treaty. A certain Senator Barack Obama favored upholding that requirement. Another senator by the name of Joe Biden introduced a bill (S. 3433) that, had it been brought to a vote and passed, would have cut off any money for U.S. operations in Iraq authorized only by an unconstitutional treaty.

How Leonard Peltier could leave prison by August 18

For a formidable and growing global community of supporters, the prospect of Native American activist Leonard Peltier finally leaving prison inspires a longing that cuts to the depths of the soul.

So Peltier’s first parole hearing of the Obama Era---on Tuesday, July 28---inspired hope of an intensity that will have a major impact on the new presidency. A decision must come from the Federal Parole Commission within three weeks. His attorney is calling for a surge of public support that would create an irresistible political climate for Leonard’s release.

The relationship between Peltier and those who have followed his case over the decades can be intensely personal. His imprisonment has come to stand not only for five centuries of unjust violence waged against Native Americans, but also for the inhumane theft of the life of a man who has handled his 33 years in jail with epic dignity, effectiveness and grace.

The Joint Public-Option Single-Payer United Front

If you support a healthcare bill with a public option in it, chances are many single-payer advocates don’t trust you. If you supported that same bill in exactly the same way and also advocated leaving in it the language that allows states to create single-payer, those same missing passionate advocates might not line up perfectly with you, but many of them would be willing to work together -- or at least have a beer on a picnic table and talk about it.

The perfect storm

A timely combination of influences & events underscores the need to legalize marijuana

A perfect storm is gathering to end the prohibition against marijuana in the United States. Economic, generational, and technological forces have combined with new views from the public and powerful opinion makers to create an unprecedented climate for the legalization, regulation and taxation of marijuana.

Storm clouds are brewing from all segments of society to upend the “reefer madness” fear and misconceptions that have dictated U.S. drug policy for decades. The upheaval begins with the economy, but doesn’t end there. As Bob Dylan noted long ago, "You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” Here’s a review of the pressures bearing down on the prohibitionists.

It’s the economy, stupid

Six

The health care bill is being held up by six "centrist" senators who meet daily to put together a bill that would have "broad bipartisan agreement"; as opposed to a bill that would, you know, reform health care.

David M. Herszenhorn and Robert Pear write in the New York Times:

The fate of the health care overhaul largely rests on the shoulders of six senators who since June 17 have gathered "" often twice a day, and for many hours at a stretch "" in a conference room with burnt sienna walls, in the office of the Senate Finance Committee chairman, Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana.

President Obama and Congressional leaders agree that if a bipartisan deal can be forged on health care, it will emerge from this conference room, with a huge map of Montana on one wall and photos of Mike Mansfield, the Montanan who was the longest-serving Senate majority leader, on the other.

The battle over health care is all but paralyzed as everyone awaits the outcome of their talks.

Why this little scenario needs to change, right now:

Today we all stand before Leonard Peltier’s Parole Board

Native American activist Leonard Peltier has been in prison for more than 12,226 days, more than 33 years. His is one of the longest ordeals of any political prisoner in human history.

With him, our souls have suffered. Our bodies ache for his freedom.

Today, July 28, 2009, Peltier goes before the Federal Parole Commission in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. All over the world, beginning in the wee hours of the morning in the South Pacific, prayer vigils, peace marches, ecumenical gatherings, group chantings and all forms of individual meditation accompany this hearing. It is one of the most important tests of the new Obama Administration.

Peltier was charged more than a third of a century ago with the murder of two FBI agents. The circumstances of the prosecution, and the legal history of the case, involve thousands of pages of missing evidence, compromised witnesses and procedures so twisted as to stagger the imagination and leave any sense of fair play and reasonable jurisprudence buried in the dust.

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