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| DO or DIE: Milit apropriations, Dream Act, DADT INSIGHTS - by Joe Howard Crews - One single bill must be addressed by the lame duck Senate before Thanksgiving: The Military appropriations bill, which also includes repeat of the hateful DADT law, and enactment of the Dream Act. This is a "do or die" effort - failure would mean no passage of these two provisions for at least two years . Read More You heard it first from ProgressivePost:
By Joe Howard Crews
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Event Reminders:A Prarie Home Companion Returns to SDWednesday, 11/17/2010 Special Pre-Sale opportunity to the live radio broadcast of A Prarie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. Get your tickets now before they go on public sale! Presented by Broadway San Diego. Riparian restoration at Anstine Reserve in Vista Restoration Work at Buena Vista Creek Valley Transgender Day of Remembrance NVA New Play Festival: A Christmas Carol Escondido Democratic Club Meets List of Democratic events in San Diego County To read the best progressive newsletter west of the Mississippi, click on Jellison's EZINE here NVA New Play Festival: Picturing My Sister This 'N ThatThe gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within reach, is joy. There is radiance and glory in the darkness, could we but see, and to see, we have only to look. I beseech you to look.- From a letter written by Fra Giovanni, 1513 If you obey all the rules you will miss the fun. When death, the great reconciler, has come, it is never our tenderness that we repent of, but our severity. In History, stagnant waters, whether they be the stagnant waters of custom or those of despotism, harbour no life; life is dependent on the ripples created by a few eccentric individuals. In homage to that life & vitality, the community has to brave certain perils and must countenance a measure of heresy. One must live dangerously if one wants to live at all. The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence. The God of life summons us to life; more, to be lifegivers, especially toward those who lie under the heel of the powers. All we ask, God, is to be safe from the rain, just warm enough in winter to watch the snow with a smile, have enough to eat so that our hunger will not turn us to angry beasts, and sanity enough to make justice that will not kill our love of life. Peace is not the product of a victory or a command. It has no finishing line, no final deadline, no fixed definition of achievement. Peace is a never-ending process, the work of many decisions. The first question which the priest and the Levite asked [on the Jericho Road] was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But...the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?' I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do. Each person has inside a basic decency and goodness. If he listens to it and acts on it, he is giving a great deal of what it is the world needs most. It is not complicated but it takes courage. It takes courage for a person to listen to his own goodness and act on it. Let all bear in mind that a society is judged not so much by the standards attained by its more affluent and privileged members as by the quality of life which it is able to assure for its weakest members. Murder and capital punishment are not opposites that cancel one another, but similars that breed their kind. It is the deed that teaches not the name we give it. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. Dust turned to hope. Peace begins when the hungry are fed. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant. There never was a war that was not inward; I must fight till I have conquered in myself what causes war. Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal. There is no such thing as defeat in non-violence. We are going to have to find ways of organizing ourselves cooperatively,sanely, scientifically, harmonically and in regenerative spontaneity with the rest of humanity around the earth.... We are not going to be able to operate our spaceship earth successfully nor for much longer unless we see it as a whole spaceship and our fate as common. By logic and reason we die hourly. By imagination we live. War is, at first, the hope that one will be better off; next, the expectation that the other fellow will be worse off; then, the satisfaction that he isn't any better off; and, finally, the surprise at everyone's being worse off. The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions. The wolf shall also dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. Dare to be naive. No one is so foolish as to prefer to peace, war, in which, instead of sons burying their fathers, fathers bury their sons. Non-violence, which is the quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain. And all good things are yours. All works of love are works of peace. Sports plays a societal role in engendering jingoist and chauvinist attitudes. They're designed to organize a community to be committed to their gladiators. I expect to pass through this world but once, therefore any good that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer it or neglect it, for I shall not come this way again. Truly man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds them. We live by the death of others. We are burial places! I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men. The soul of our country needs to be awakened . . .When leaders act contrary to conscience, we must act contrary to leaders. Your life and my life flow into each other as wave flows into wave, and unless there is peace and joy and freedom for you, there can be no real peace or joy or freedom for me. To see reality--not as we expect it to be but as it is--is to see that unless we live for each other and in and through each other, we do not really live very satisfactorily; that there can really be life only where there really is, in just this sense, love. Peace we want because there is another war to fight against poverty, disease and ignorance. What good is a house, if you haven't got a decent planet to put it on? If all the Churches of Europe closed their doors until the drums ceased rolling they would act as a most powerful reminder that though the glory of war is a famous and ancient glory, it is not the final glory of God. The human mind likes a strange idea as little as the body likes a strange protein and resists it with a similar energy. If there is to be any peace it will come through being, not having. When the rich make war, it's the poor that die. Peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict -- alternatives to passive or aggressive responses, alternatives to violence. You see things; and you say, "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say, "Why not?" Every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. They make a desert and call it peace. Always forgive your enemies. Nothing annoys them more. While seeking revenge, dig two graves - one for yourself. If you see good in people, you radiate a harmonious loving energy which uplifts those who are around you. If you can maintain this habit, this energy will turn into a steady flow of love. I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones. | Articles & News: CA Single Payer prospect superior with Jerry Brown Article The election of Jerry Brown as governor gives single payer activists an historic opportunity. Had Meg Whitman been elected instead, there would be no possibility that she would sign our single payer bill, Sen. Mark Leno's SB 810. The health care crisis has worsened. Getting SB 810 passed in the Senate and the Assembly and successfully pressuring Brown to sign it will require single payer activists to work very hard. Fortunately, our movement starts from a strong position. Democrats should hold their ground Kamala Harris widens lead slightly over Cooley For updates on official election returns, check CA Sec. of State Returns here. Cartoons of the Week CA leads nation in utilizing new health care law Let's all tell Russ Feingold 'THANK YOU!' Who ownes your genes? YOU do. Small Town Politics and Zen - from Fallbrook Lizard Birth (just for silliness sake) Outstanding Letters to the Editor: CA Democratic victory for gays in Assembly race SD election results - NC TIMES LATE BREAKING NEWS Bush 'The Decider' - now the lying 'Explainer'
George W. Bush, in his new book, tries to re-write history, but "Today Show" host Matt Lauer and MSNBC anchor Lawrence O'Donnell make him squirm in this powerful interview about false statements Bush wrote in his new book. Bush becomes defensive, unrepentant of his handling of gross failures in Katrina and attacking Iraq for WMDs. He smirkingly defends Karl Rove ("Bush's Brain") and Dick Cheney (the "real president"). CIA faces second probe over videotape destruction A couple for 44 years, still denied right to marry
Edith "Edie" Windsor, who shared her life with her late spouse, Thea Spyer, for 44 years, filed a lawsuit against the federal government for refusing to recognize their marriage. The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of the "Defense of Marriage Act", a federal statute that defines marriage for all federal purposes as a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife. Windsor and Spyer were married in Canada in 2007 and were considered married by their home state of New York. Chalmers Johnson: the Military-Industrial Complex
"Blowback" and "The Sorrows of Empire" author Chalmers Johnson and his take on the Military-Industrial Complex, American defense spending and the coming downfall of the Empire. Tax cuts where? The proof is in the pudding ...
... but the Republicans have no pudding. The TEA party people clamor incessantly for spending cuts, but no one can ever get a Republican politician to name even one specific program whatsoever that they would cut. They can't name them because their voters would freak out if they knew. Here, let me name a few for them: Social security, medicare, education, welfare. Basically any social programs that help the poor and middle class or working people of America. Maggie Gallagher imposing her kind of marriage
A clever cartoon spoof on Maggie Gallagher explaining to St. Peter why he should let her through the Pearly Gates. St. Peter subjects her to a tough grilling on same-sex marriage. Quite clever, indeed! BILL MOYERS: Plutocracy destroying our democracy
"Plutocracy and Democracy don't mix", states Bill Moyers. It is the rule of the rich, which is anathema to democracy. It is buying up and enslaving the political and spiritual soul of America. It greatest threat is controlling the minds of the weak and vulnerable segment of the populace though media propaganda. It uses the sacred tools of democracy to destroy democracy from within. Ted Olson: Why Prop 8 is a loser's position
Constitutional lawyer, Ted Olson, in his victory over Prop 8 speech, calls this a great victory for individual and civil rights under the U.S. Constitution. A short, but great speech. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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