Small Wisdom

Small Wisdom:  http://theissueslist.blogspot.com/2013/08/small-wisdom.html

“The day had been spent in the expectation of these hours,
 and now they were crumbling away, becoming, in their turn, another period of expectancy...It was a journey without end, leading to an indefinite future, eternally shifting just as she was reaching the present.”

― Simone de Beauvoir, The Mandarins

“I want to see the world without explaining away its mystery by calling things wicked, righteous, sinful, and good. I want to erase in myself the easy explanations, the always mendacious explanations about why things happen the way they do, and in this way, come to know the mystery of being–-not by any approximation in thought, but by being. I want to be and not be ashamed of being.”
― Therese Doucet, A Lost Argument

“From now on it is not dying we must fear, but living.”
― Arundhati Roy, The Cost of Living

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”

― Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

“I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I'm a human being, first and foremost, and as such I'm for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.”
― Malcolm X

“The Bible has noble poetry in it... and some good morals and a wealth of obscenity, and upwards of a thousand lies.”
― Mark Twain

“Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us, or somebody who says everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the fallibility of all the human beings involved?”
― Carl Sagan

“The ideals which have always shone before me and filled me with joy are goodness, beauty, and truth.”
― Albert Einstein

“If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.”
― René Descartes

“There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.”
― Anaïs Nin, Journals Of Anais Nin Volume 3

“Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

“Truth is a matter of the imagination.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness

“There is an inmost center in us all, where truth abides in fullness;....and, to know, rather consists in opening out a way where the imprisoned splendor may escape, then in effecting entry for a light supposed to be without.”
― Robert Browninghttp://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/ethics/de-beauvoir/de-beauvoir-simone.jpg

“Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves, but deal in our privacy

with the last honesty and truth.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sometimes it's not enough to know what things mean, sometimes you have to know what things don't mean.”
― Bob Dylan

“Hold fast to dreams,
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird,
That cannot fly.”
― Langston Hughes

Bradley Manning & Edward Snowden: Where do we go from here?

~Mr. Obama... The time has come to walk the talk.

Thursday, August 1, 2013 8:59:27 PM

solidarity, human rights, peace, justice ... 

“I believed that if the general public, especially
 the American public, had access to the information
 contained within [the military’s own databases], 
 it could spark a domestic debate on the role of 
 the military and our foreign policy in general 
 as it related to Iraq and Afghanistan.” 

Bradley Manning

"Would you be willing to give up what Edward Snowden has given up? He has given up his high paying job, his home, his girlfriend, his family, his future and his freedom just to expose the monolithic spy machinery that the U.S. government has been secretly building to the world. He says that he does not want to live in a world where there isn’t any privacy. He says that he does not want to live in a world where everything that he says and does is recorded.

Thanks to Snowden, we now know that the U.S. government has been spying on us to a degree that most people would have never even dared to imagine. Up until now, the general public has known very little about the U.S. government spy grid that knows almost everything about us. But making this information public is going to cost Edward Snowden everything."

"Often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government is an existing government employee committed to public integrity and willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and patriotism, which can sometimes save lives and often save taxpayer dollars, should be encouraged rather than stifled. We need to empower federal employees as watchdogs of wrongdoing and partners in performance. Barack Obama will strengthen whistleblower laws to protect federal workers who expose waste, fraud, and abuse of authority in government. Obama will ensure that federal agencies expedite the process for reviewing whistleblower claims and whistleblowers have full access to courts and due process."


http://my.opera.com/WritingResource.org/blog/
It is now time for Mr. Obama to do the right thing and walk the talk.

No Justice, No Peace. March to Remember Trayvon

Zimmerman Walks!

http://www.writingresource.info/criticalissues/

    It's open season on young black men in America.
                Walking while black is illegal.
    No Justice, No Peace.
        Time to March.
https://www.facebook.com/events/188737014629259/

Rally, Speakout, March for Justice for Trayvon!

July 14 at 4:00pm in PDT

Penninsula Park, N. Ainsworth & Albina

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George Zimmerman ignored the dispatcher's instruction to leave Trayvon alone.  He then tracked down the 17 year-old kid because he was black.  Trayvon was unarmed and just walking home.

http://my.opera.com/WritingResource.org/blog/2013/07/14/no-justice-no-peace-zimmerman-walked-and-its-time-to-march

 George accosted the young man and after a scuffle pulled a gun on him. Instead of ending the fight, he decided to shoot the young man, because he knew he could get away with it. George was found not guilty of any crime, but a 17 year old kid who committed no crime is dead.  He was guilty of walking while black.

We are all Trayvon and cannot let this injustice stand.  No Justice, No Peace.
                             Time to stand up, March, Speak Out, and Demand Justice.

                                           http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/

The United Fascist State

There has already been a "fascist takeover." The Demagogues and Republicons represent corporate interests and enforce those ambitions by attacking, invading, occupying and exploiting nations abroad while stifling dissent and curtailing civil rights at home.  The United States executive branch, both houses of congress, and the U.S. judiciary are bought and paid for by transnational economic cartels.

1.  Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays. This technique was used extensively when ratcheting up attacks during the Iraq war.
       President Barack Obama delivers "New Nationalism" Address on the Economy at Osawatomie High School, Kansas, on 6 December 2011.  http://www.youtube.com/embed/W_oEWrBKHTA

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." These people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc. "Rendering" is a prime example.
       http://www.newcivilisation.com/home/2254/international-affairs/guantanamo-anniversary-confirms-us-exceptionalism-and-disdain-of-human-rights/

3. Identification of Enemies or Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.  The people of Iran have become scapegoats while right wing syncophants advochttp://theissueslist.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-united-fascist-state.htmlate war with Iran.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.  The G.W. Bush administration bankrupted every state in the union and drove us into economic crisis with unfunded wars of choice. Obama embraces the Bush agenda.

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.  http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/sexism-pervade-white-house/story?id=14559177#.Ucht4_FhJ4w  

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common. Obama's recent moves for absolute control of the media have become a real concern.  http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/who-owns-the-media-the-6-monolithic-corporations-that-control-almost-everything-we-watch-hear-and-read

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.     http://www.aim.org/aim-column/media-embrace-obamas-controversial-picks-for-national-security-team/

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions. All three Abrahamic traditions oppose wars of choice, but Bush and Obama, while claiming religious fealty, continued to pursue platforms based in endless war.  http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2009/0122/p01s02-usgn.html

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.  http://clearingthefogradio.org/escalation-protecting-corporate-interests-terrorism-in-the-us/

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed. Union membership is dwindling, now around 8% http://www.gainesville.com/article/20120902/articles/120909952

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is curtailed or openly attacked.
nytimes.com/2013/04/28/opinion/sunday/whither-moral-courage.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.  (DHS & NSA)   http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20130523/OPINION03/305230086/Obama-staff-has-lost-sense-balance-over-leaks-obsession

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
Fortune 500 firms often pay nothing for our US timber and oil.
theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/06/edward-snowden-and-booz-how-privatizing-leads-to-crony-corruption/277052/

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
 http://harpers.org/archive/2005/08/none-dare-call-it-stolen/

Notes:  http://rense.com/general37/fascism.htm

Is Lars from Mars?

Anyone who believes Obama has the support of 70% of the country has been listening to too much talk radio or mainstream media.

Entertainment is not news. And Gitmo is an international disgrace.

But Lars Larson is not a news analyst, not by a long shot. His is a sick form of entertainment embraced by the semi-literate and abysmally misinformed. A huge part of Obama's election did come about because of his race, but this was certainly not the primary factor. Follow the money.

“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”   ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
Lars is wont to judge Obama by the color of his skin. I find Obama's character lacking. He's not stupid, which makes him either a moral coward or a thug.

Obama was elected because the corporate cons played on the fears and apprehensions of the American people. He got the anti-Romney vote, the corporate vote, Republican votes, and the political spin machines convinced people that voting for a third party was voting for Romney. They were wrong.

There is nothing “great” about Obama except his oratorical skills. When it comes down to substance and integrity, he has none. He sold out the people who supported peace, justice and freedom and sucked up to the people who continue to deliver endless war, judicial homicide, drone war crimes and corporate hegemony. I find nothing wonderful about four news wars, no kindness in putting corporate cons in charge of health care delivery, and absolute cowardice in his abject surrender to the right wing. Anyone who finds courage in the murder of innocents is simply not paying attention.

Obama is not a “left wing hack,” unless you are willing to buy into the most transparent of the corporate spin. He governs like a right wing Republican war hawk. It was never Obama's intention to "bring our races together." He intended to get elected... and now he is a very rich man.

Lars Larson, however, is not speaking anything resembling truth, he is appealing to incipient racism. Most people really can't handle the truth. (One of Clint's better lines.) The truth is Obama could not be farther from left and stands to the right of Ronnie Reagan, George Bush, Dick Cheney, Romney, Rumsfeld, et al.

The fact that Obama is a jerk with no scruples is not what makes Lars a bigot. Lars established his credentials as a bigot years ago.

“How many times have we heard Lars and his ilk insist they are not racist? "I'm not racist, but ... ." The hell with "but." There is no "but." The argument is clear: We cannot give amnesty to "illegal aliens" because they are "guys like this." Or -- at the very least and to be far more charitable than they deserve -- because the masses of brown hordes invading our country include a disproportionate number of "guys like this."

"We must stop illegal immigrants because they will rape our children!"

Lars excels at issuing reactionary bile on his program, but this little snotty remark -- with its overtly racist insinuation , tucked away on his web site -- goes quite a bit further. It is something to remember the next time you hear, "I'm not racist, but ... ." With a comment like this, he proudly aligns himself with the most extreme right-wing elements in this country, openly fascistic elements. He endears himself even to those racists he may be given to condemn on the air. But let's cut the bullshit, please. These guys speak the same language. They know the code.

The beauty of Larson's undiluted bit of venom is that is so pure. There is no code, no wink-and-nod. It is clear what he means, and he means what he says: we can't let "guys like this" in our country BECAUSE they are "like this," -- they are guys prone to raping 10-year-old girls! If that were actually true, how could one possibly argue against building a 20-foot wall topped with razor wire and a moat full of alligators along the entire U.S.-Mexican border?

Larson likes to boast, cigar in hand, that he speaks for true American conservatives, not Republicans in Name Only, but the real deal, those lost souls who worship Reagan. On that, I'll take him at his word. If one wants to understand the dark heart of darkness that beats vibrantly within the Republican Party, I present to you their unofficial spokesman: Lars Larson of KXL radio, Oregon's own right-wing, racist pig.

Yes, racist. Racist to the core.”

~Lyle Wallace

And I am sorry Walter Perkins, but Obama fooled you again. He is a notch above average intelligence, absolutely insincere, and the furthest thing from authentic. He sold us out on health care, peace, fixing infrastructure and has not even bothered to address our failing schools.

And his claim that illegal assassinations and drone warfare are justice has lost us any credibility for years to come. The bottom line is his embrace of judicial homicide as a “good thing.” It is this surrender of integrity which allows him to condone endless war while he talks about peace. He talks the talk, but when the cameras are turned off, he turns tail, takes the money and runs in the opposite direction.

Obama was reelected in spite of the color of his skin. When you are running against a Romney, the fear factor is pretty high and many Americans, during the flim-flam of a national campaign, can be cowed into voting for the so-called “lesser evil.” But it is time for us to stop settling for evil and demand integrity.

George Bush, the problem child of the Bush family, did very little. His claim to ignorance was valid. During the Cheney-Bush presidency... Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, Douglas Feith, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Dick Cheney, John R Bolton, Colin Powell, Elliott Abrams, James Woolsey, and Richard Perle ran the show.


But Obama, by talking left and leading from the right has been much worse for this nation than Bush. He added four more wars, drones, offshore drilling, and letting off profiteers and lawbreakers to Bush's mere two war road show.

Lars is a racist and he plays on fears related to incipient racism... but Obama is either a coward or compromised. His intransigence, aggression, embrace of endless war, failure to lead, and attacks on the American people have crippled this nation, forfeited any legitimacy we might have established, and leave a sad legacy of war, coffins, crime and chaos. We can do better.

The Portland City Council should request an EPA Safe Drinking Water Act Waiver and Not cover or close reservoirs

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http://theissueslist.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-portland-city-council-should.html
 Media Page

Testimony for EPA Safe Drinking Water Waiver- LT2

March 13, 2013
Portland City Council

Good morning. Now is the time for Portland City Council to request an EPA – Safe Drinking Water Act Waiver.

Without the waiver- Portland will continue to increase water utility rates that have doubled over the last decade, continue to lose jobs as we have seen with Siltronics and Steinfelds, AND reduce water quality while jeopardizing the microbrew industry and the health of children……all for a Cryptosporidium public health problem that has NEVER existed and NEVER WILL because we do not have exposure to sewage, in our Bull Run drinking water.

So why are we asking for an EPA Waiver?

-The public health science for Portland supports a waiver

-EPA is currently reviewing the regulation, and sees data showing the opposite of what they projected the last 20 yr.

• No surface water utility outbreaks from Cryptosporidium
• No deaths linked to drinking water and Cryptosporidium
• No endemic drinking water disease linked to Crypto-

These outcomes are consistent with my comments made a decade ago requesting a waiver, because I identified sewage… not Cryptosporidium as the cause. The City of New York has also made a request for a waiver from LT2. We are not alone.

Comments from current Council members- quote

“spending a lot of money to address a public health problem that may not exist sticks in my craw” — Commissioner Steve Novick

“we need to review water budgets in great detail and see where we can reduce costs” — Mayor Charlie Hales

“the federal government insists we solve a problem that doesn’t exist and further insists we pay for this folly” — Commissioner Nick Fish

Regarding the above statements – that’s why we’re asking for the waiver

EPA says- “science will determine the ultimate outcome”

The scientific papers I’ve written over the years provide the guidance for a successful outcome leading to an EPA waiver exempting us from LT2. The scientific hard work has already been completed. Now it’s up to Council. Bull Run has provided safe healthy drinking water for over 100 years without a microbial or chemical public health incident. As a city we NEED and DESERVE the waiver…. and we all need to start working together now. Thank you.

Over a decade ago a broad based community stakeholder group requested the City of Portland obtain an EPA Waiver from the scientifically unsupported Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule, (LT2). The weight of scientific evidence continues to show added treatment and covering the reservoirs are unnecessary, introducing toxic and carcinogenic chemicals into the drinking water. Additionally, we have spent hundreds of millions of dollars for a public health problem that does not exist. We want an EPA Waiver to stop the wasteful spending and retain safe healthy drinking water. We are not alone. New York City is asking for an EPA LT2 Waiver. Crowley Spearheads Call for EPA to Waive Hillview Reservoir Mandate

SOUTHEAST EXAMINER

Continuing resistance of water ruling Bull Run
March 2, 2013
By Stephen Paulsen

Scott Fernandez M.Sc. biology/ microbiology recently spoke at a town hall in the Mount Tabor neighborhood. He spoke in favor of an EPA Safe Drinking Water Act Waiver from the Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule. Scott asked to stop wasting hundreds of millions of dollars for a public health problem that does not exist, and keep our Bull Run drinking water safe and pure… more…

Moms for Safe Drinking Water

For over a decade citizens of Portland have been asking for a waiver from the EPA LT2 regulation that would unnecessarily force us to cover our reservoirs and add UV treatment for a public health problem that does not exist.

Copyright © 2013, bullrunwaiver.org -- Privacy | Sitemap

Obama is making the wrong choices

Obama is installing right wing zealots and extremists to head Defense, Commerce, and the CIA. His choices hurt this nation, undermine security, and compromise our credibility. These wrong-headed choices provide more evidence of incompetence and malfeasance. The background of these appointees
makes it clear they favor corporate elites over regular people.

Why Progressives Should Oppose Hagel | The Progressivehttp://www.progressive.org/why-progressives-should-oppose-hagel

John O. Brennan on Key Issues - NYTimes.comwww.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/01/07/.../07brennan-issues.html

Undernews: Obama names anti-union, former bigtime subprime ...http://prorevnews.blogspot.com/2013/05/obama-names-anti-union-former-bigtime.html

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  Obama's terrorism speech:
  
  
  Our export of terror continues.

  
  

  
  "What should be beyond
  
   dispute, at this
  
   point, is that Obama's
  
   speeches have very
  
   little to do with Obama's
  
   actions, except to the
  
   extent that they often
  
   signal what he intends not to do.
  
  
  How many times does Obama
  
  have to deliver a speech
  
  embracing a set of values
  
  and policies, only to watch
  
  as he then proceeds to do the opposite"
  
  
  

  

  
  "The Atlantic's Conor 
  
   Friedersdorf added that
  
   Obama "has a long record
  
   of broken promises and
  
   misleading rhetoric
  
   on civil liberties"
  
    
   ACLU's executive director
  
   Anthony Romero... noted,
  
  "the president still claims 
  
   broad authority to
  
   carry out targeted killings
  
   far from any battlefield,
  
   and there is still
  
  insufficient transparency."
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  McClatchy's Leslie Clark and Jonathan Landay
  
  astutely noted that Obama's formulation for
  
  when drone strikes should be used was broader
  

  

  
  than past government statements which meant he
  
  
  "appeared to be laying groundwork for an expansion
  
  
    of the controversial targeted killings"
  
  
  ...his speech had something for everyone, which
  
      is  another way of saying that it offered nothing
  
    definitive or even reliable about future actions.
  
  
  
  
   No matter how good it made some eager-to-believe
  
   progressives feel, it's impossible rationally to assess
  
   Obama's future posture regarding the war on terror,
  
   secrecy and civil liberties except by his actions.
  
  
   Until one sees actual changes in behavior and substance 
  
   on those issues, cheering for those changes as though
  
   they already occurred or are guaranteed is the height
   
   of self-delusion."
  
   
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/27/obama-war-on-terror-
  
  speech
  
  
  Obama's terrorism speech: seeing what you want to see
  
  
  www.guardian.co.uk
  
  
  
  Glenn Greenwald: See More
  
  
  
   http://peaceresources.blogspot.com/PeaceResource.org
  
  
  peaceresources.blogspot.com