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Event Reminders: Our Vets for Peace speak out on Memorial DayMonday, 05/28/2012 The San Diego chapter of Veterans for Peace believes the strongest and most patriotic tribute to our troops who have been killed in war is to speak out as poignantly as we can for PLEACE. A contingent of Vets for Peace and our supporters will engage the public on Memorial Day (Monday) at our traveling memorial in front of the USS Midway Museum docked at the San Diego Harbor. Wilderness Awareness Class Carlsbad activists exposing corporate 'Pirates' List of Democratic events in San Diego County To read the best progressive newsletter west of the Mississippi, click on Jellison's EZINE here Cartoons of the Week Obama, the negotiatorGOP's Unplanned ParenthoodUnions & the Middle ClassObama plays poker with GOP WOMEN Occupy San Diego with arts festival SD Women OCCUPY - downtown Art Show List of Democratic events in San Diego County To read the best progressive newsletter west of the Mississippi, click on Jellison's EZINE hereThis 'N ThatWhat good is a house, if you haven't got a decent planet to put it on?- Henry David Thoreau Immorality: the morality of those who are having a better time. When we treat man as he is, we make him worse than he is; when we treat him as if he already were what he potentially could be, we make him what he should be. Nobody realizes that some people expend a tremendous amount of energy merely to be normal. 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. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of humans as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is not safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask why the poor have no food, they call you a communist. If you live alone, whose feet will you wash? And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 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?' The master's tools will never destroy the master's house. We challenge the culture of violence when we ourselves act in the certainty that violence is no longer acceptable, that it's tired and outdated no matter how many cling to it in the stubborn belief that it still works and that it's still valid. For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love. Men are so accustomed to maintaining external order by violence that they cannot conceive of life being possible without violence. 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. Compromise does not mean cowardice. There are three truths: my truth, your truth and the truth. If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality. If I can't dance I don't want to be part of your revolution. Until we have the courage to recognize cruelty for what it is--whether its victim is human or animal--we cannot expect things to be much better in this world... We cannot have peace among men whose hearts delight in killing any living creature. By every act that glorifies or even tolerates such moronic delight in killing we set back the progress of humanity. In the struggle rewards are few. In the fact, I know of only two, loving friends and living dreams. These rewards are not so few it seems. The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. The finger pulls the trigger, but the trigger may also be pulling the finger. Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him. If we don't stop the bomb who will take care of the flowers? What is the revolution that we need? We need to dissolve the lie that some people have a right to think of other people as their property. And we need at last to form a circle that includes us all, in which all of us are seen as equal... We do not belong to the other, but our lives are linked; we belong in a circle of others. Hitler and Mussolini were only the primary spokesmen for the attitude of domination and craving for power that are in the heart of almost everyone. Until the source is cleared, there will always be confusion and hate, wars and class antagonisms. Talk less, say more, Those who are ready to sacrifice freedom for security ultimately will lose both. Peace begins when the hungry are fed. The dark night is over and dawn has begun. Rise, hope of the ages, arise like the sun! All speech, flow to music; all hearts, beat as one. When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others. Peace is an environment where conflicts are resolved without violence, where people are free, not exploited, living so they can grow to their full potential. Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all. Conflict is inevitable, but combat is optional. If peace . . . only had the music and pageantry of war, there'd be no wars. We are, each of us angels with only one wing; and we can only fly by embracing one another. A time will come when a politician who has willfully made war and promoted international dissension will be as sure of the dock and much surer of the noose than a private homicide. It is not reasonable that those who gamble with men's lives should not stake their own. If it were proved to me that in making war, my ideal had a chance of being realized, I would still say "No" to war. For one does not create human society on mounds of corpses. America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. Smiling is very important. If we are not able to smile, then the world will not have peace. It is not by going out for a demonstration against nuclear missiles that we can bring about peace. It is with our capacity of smiling, breathing, and being peace that we can make peace. A man may build himself a throne of bayonets, but he cannot sit on it. 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. Life only demands from you the strength you possess. Only one feat is possible- not to have to run away. We cannot change the past, but we can change our attitude toward it. Uproot guilt and plant forgiveness. Tear out arrogance and seed humility. Exchange love for hate --- thereby, making the present comfortable and the future promising. And then to each other. If you love the justice of Jesus Christ more than you fear human judgment then you will seek to do compassion. Compassion means that if I see my friend and my enemy in equal need, I shall help them both equally. Justice demands that we seek and find the stranger, the broken, the prisoner and comfort them and offer them our help. Here lies the holy compassion of God that causes the devils much distress. By logic and reason we die hourly. By imagination we live. Peace is that state in which fear of any kind is unknown. When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall -- think of it, ALWAYS! The human mind likes a strange idea as little as the body likes a strange protein and resists it with a similar energy. None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. There is no way to peace. Peace is the way. Our friends show us what we can do; our enemies teach us what we must do. To fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting. The non-violent technique does not depend for its success on the goodwill of the oppressor, but rather on the unfailing assistance of God. Non-violence, which is the quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain. The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. To see the world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour. As long as ever you can. If you think you're too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room. The first principle of non-violent action is that of non-cooperation with everything humiliating. I do not believe in using women in combat, because females are too fierce. | Articles & News: Progressive Democrat running against D. Feinstein News Dianne Feinstein has an interesting Democrat running against her -- Mike Strimling, who is running on a Tax the Rich platform. "Tax The Rich. I run to allow you to vote for your beliefs. The rich have attacked the middle class. Taxes were four times higher on millionaires from 1942 to 1982—when America was strongest. Even in 1918, taxes on millionaires were 77%. Now, Romney pays only 15% on millions! You pay more! When the rich were taxed, they kept their money invested, creating jobs. Now, they yank money out of American jobs. The result is clear. The richest 1% own more wealth than the bottom 90% combined. Tax cuts for the rich have bankrupted America." The Police, the iPhone and Your Right to Record Searing tribute to the war dead this Memorial Day
In one of the most dramatic acts of bravery, nearly 50 U.S. military veterans at an anti-NATO rally in Chicago threw their service medals into the street on Sunday, an action they said symbolized their rejection of the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The enormous crowd grew silent, as they listened to the searing words of these American heroes. The Government Is Not the Country An alternative view of Memorial Day
This Memorial Day (May 28) we must remember those leaders who lied to us and the dead soldiers, enticing them into war to enrich the Military Industrial Congressional comples. It is time for Christians to slay the golden calf of the military. Christians should stop joining the military. They should stop encouraging their young men to enlist. They should stop being military chaplains and medics. American churches must be demilitarized. Why we endorse Lori Saldaña for Congress
Lori Saldaña strongly supports Social Security, Medicare and universal health care, gay marriage equality and reigning in the out-of-control banks and mortgage corporations. She supports returning wealth and job opportunities to the middle class and working poor. Her leading opponent, Scott Peters, sends conflicting messages on these issues. Greek exit from Euro could sink Europen banks Baptist pastor's anti-gay sermon lights firestorm TN officials caught red handed in voting scam Chuck Lowery says NO to Props E and F! Support AB 1648-CA DISCLOSE Act of 2012 Baptist pastor wants concentration camp for gays
A small-town Baptist church pastor in North Carolina, in a Mother's Day sermon, called for gays and lesbians to be imprisoned in a concentration camp surrounded by an electric fence. A video of his shocking sermon. See story elsewhere in ProgressivePost. This hateful sermon has lit a firestorm and will result in a mass demonstration in the town Sunday, May 27. “burning rocks” found right outside San Onofre
A 43-year-old San Clemente woman is undergoing surgery after two rocks that she collected at a South County beach next to San Onofre Nuclear Plant, ignited in the pocket of her shorts, officials from Orange County Fire Authority said. -- The incident happened about 3:30 p.m. Saturday when the woman was standing in her kitchen after returning from an outing to Trestles Beach. She had been home for about an hour when the pocket of her cargo shorts caught fire, OCFA Capt. Marc Stone said. How Did Mitt Romney Get So Obscenely Rich?
Economist, and former Sec. of Labor, Robert Reich explains how. Is what Romney did to American workers ethical? Should such a man be in the White House? Doonesbury takes on Romney's youthful
A shocking Memorial Day reminder: "Our real enemies are not those living in a distant land whose names or policies we don't understand; The real enemy is a system that wages war when it's profitable, the CEOs who lay us off our jobs when it's profitable, the Insurance Companies who deny us Health care when it's profitable, the Banks who take away our homes when it's profitable. Our enemies are not several hundred thousands away. They are right here in front of us." - Mike Prysner OCCUPY Global: Extreme weather & climate change
Occupy Global - issues its first manifesto: "Extreme weather is fueled by climate change.: The statement – the Global May Manifesto – calls for systemic change in the global economy: the radical democratisation of international institutions like the IMF, BIS and UN; the replacement of the G8/20 with a democratic UN assembly; a system of global taxation on financial transactions; and for the abolition of tax havens. It does not represent the position of any local or city assembly; rather it is offered for their consideration. -- Endorsed by consensus on 4 May 2012 by the International Assembly, this statement has been in development since January 2012. It was a process that has seen thousands of people from six continents and hundreds of cities participating in the discussion and planning for the international days of protests during the month of May. Late-breaking news: This just in ...
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Wallace, insinuating that Gay Marriage is judicial activism, asks where is it in the Constitution that permits gay mariage. "Where is the right to interracial marriage in the Constitution" asked Ted Olsen of Wallace. Brilliant arguments by Olson. When Wallace insists the voters have the right to outlaw gay marriage, Olson asks if it would be constitutional for the voters to force blacks to drink at separate water fountains.
The naked face of a police state in America
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Police pepper spraying and arresting students at UC Davis - In this video, now gone viral nationwide, a group of college students are huddled on the ground in a defensive position at UC Davis on November 18. UC police Lt. John Pike, then casually douses them with a chemical agent. Bystanders who were simply watching what was going on are also exposed. - If the police had legal grounds to make arrests, it seems apparent from the video that little or no force was necessary to achieve that goal. The students are obviously not a threat to the officers. It appears that the heavily armored riot police could have simply grabbed them and put them in flexi-cuffs had they chosen to do so. That means that this entire assault appears to be a perfect example of excessive force.
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Ted Olson Interview With Fox News Chris Wallace
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Wallace, insinuating that Gay Marriage is judicial activism, asks where is it in the Constitution that permits gay mariage. "Where is the right to interracial marriage in the Constitution" asked Ted Olsen of Wallace. Brilliant arguments by Olson. When Wallace insists the voters have the right to outlaw gay marriage, Olson asks if it would be constitutional for the voters to force blacks to drink at separate water fountains.
Prophetic words from Chalmers Johnson
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San Diego's own sage, author, scholar and prophet,Chalmers Johnson, gave his take on the Military-Industrial Complex, American defense spending and the coming downfall of the Empire years before it happened. Johnson is the author of "Blowback" and "The Sorrows of Empire".
Manning Video:American troops slaughter civilians
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Army intel analyst Bradley Manning faces decades in prison for allegedly leaking this video of a U.S. helicopter attack killing 11 civilians and wounding two children in Baghdad, Iraq. The Army covered up the evidence and declared the war crime "justified". Now they say that exposing the massacre is criminal.
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