May 9, 2008

After Hillary, Voting With Conscience and Pride

     Category: Joel S. Hirschhorn

BY Joel S. Hirschhorn author of Delusional Democracy and Friends of the Article V Convention

This general election more than most will test the courage of voters to avoid lesser-evil strategic voting that has propped up our two-party plutocracy. People with intelligence and conscience must resist peer pressure and the temptation to vote against John McCain by voting for Barack Obama.

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12 Stepping Our Way to Armageddon

     Category: Carolyn Baker

By Carolyn Baker of Speaking Truth to Power

The end of everything we call life is close at hand and cannot be evaded. H.G. Wells, 1946





I recently received an email from a reader, frustrated with my insistence on holding a vision of what is possible alongside the dismal, inevitable current realities of civilization's collapse. Admonishing me to bear in mind America's Oprah and NASCAR world view and therefore abdicate any sense of optimism I might have, this reader accused me of suggesting that we should 12 Step our way through Armageddon. Rather than being offended, however, I was overcome with gratitude for this reader's image, frustrated with me as he may be, because in spite of the regular "wordsmithing" that I do as a writer, I always feel a sense of relief and validation when someone else gives words that I may not yet have for what I've been thinking, feeling, or doing.

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May 7, 2008

Beyond Media Revolutions: Is Arab Media Truly Free?

     Category: Ramzy Baroud

By Ramzy Baroud (ramzybaroud.net) - author of The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle (Pluto Press, 2006), and editor of PalestineChronicle.com

On February 12, 2008, Arab League information ministers issued a communique outlining 'tough' guidelines for Arab satellite channels. The new guidelines specifically prohibited the broadcasting of negative reporting of heads of state, religious or national figures.

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May 4, 2008

Cheney Pushes the Boundaries - Again

     Category: Hegemony

Cheney is now arguing that "Congress has no authority over the Vice President." This comes through his attorney, Kathryn Wheelbarger, in response to a request that David Addington (Cheney's former Chief of Staff and legal counsel) testify before Congress regarding Cheney's involvement in approving torture.

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We Can Survive, but Can We Communicate?

     Category: Carolyn Baker

By Carolyn Baker and Sally Erickson of Speaking Truth To Power

[As promised in my last article "Peak Civilization And The Winter Of Our Disconnect", my colleague and friend, Sally Erickson and I are offering what we believe are vitally important tools for enhancing communication with our peers as we navigate collapse.-CB]

When we think of preparing our minds, bodies, hearts, and living situations for collapse, the focus is often on our individual or household living situations. Equally important is our need to develop a circle of trusting, mutually interdependent relationships. The culture we live in is based on hierarchies of control and influence. Work relationships, kept in place largely by paychecks and ordered by project managers and bosses, are the most common experience most of us have of being part of an organized group. We have little experience outside of those hierarchies. Even more rare in our hyper-independent culture is to depend on others for mutual aid, support and comfort. So, for most people, it likely feels overwhelming to consider how to build a wider circle of people based on mutuality, as part of preparation for the ongoing collapse of basic life support systems.

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May 3, 2008

The Bomb Squads: How to Survive a Gaza Refugee Camp

     Category: Ramzy Baroud

By Ramzy Baroud (ramzybaroud.net) - author of The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle (Pluto Press, 2006), and editor of PalestineChronicle.com

The following are excerpts from Baroud's upcoming book, "101 Ways to Survive a Refugee Camp."

We waited breathless. Breathing heavily was hazardous under these somewhat exceptional circumstances. The army, my father often advised, was sensitive to the slightest movements or sounds, including a whisper, a cough, or God forbid, a sneeze. Thus we sat completely still. Muneer, my younger brother was entrusted with the mission of peering through the rusty holes in the front door. It bothered me that I was not the one elected for the seemingly perilous mission. My father explained that Muneer was smaller and quicker, he could negotiate his way back and forth, seamlessly, between the observation ground and the room where everyone was hiding. The house's main door was riddled with holes; the upper half spoke of past battles between the neighbourhood's stone throwers and Israeli soldiers. The holes on the lower half, however were not those of bullets, but rust and corrosion. These holes often served us well. Muneer would lie on his belly and peek through them; he followed the movement of the soldiers as their military vehicles often used the space in front of our house. They pondered their moves from there, and often used our house' front step as a spot for lunch or tea. Worse, they often released their frustrations on the house's helpless residents, that being my family.

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May 2, 2008

Portland ILWU Strike Coverage

     Category: Activists

In spite of being told not to strike, ILWU members across the west coast did so anyhow. The spin - both in the Portland paper, and virtually all other corporate media - is that the day shift work stoppage was not a protest against the Iraq occupation, but a tour de force during contract negotiations. Personally, I think this is a concerted effort to minimize the powerful statement the strike makes.

From Portland Oregon Live we get the following two and a half minute video coverage:

May Day: Marchers make their points in parade through Portland
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April 30, 2008

Thank You ILWU!

     Category: Activists

My hat is off to the courage of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union which has decided to stage an eight hour "stop work" on May Day (May 1) to protest the Iraq occupation. Longshore and Warehouse Union members across the west coast of the United states have called an eight hour "stop work" on the day shift (April 2008 ILWU Dispatcher). This will close 29 ports on the west coast. They are calling for the immediate and safe return of U.S. troops.

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