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Tuesday, May 31
Memorial Iraq
La C asked me over memorial day
why so many more businesses were closed this memorial day
then in previous years she'd recalled..
and after thinking about it for a bit
i thought..
maybe its because this memorial day, we've got dead soldiers
and we really hadn't had wartime death in quite awhile..
When young men and women start to die
Memorial day takes on it's true meaning
MEMORIAL
i watched the Showtime documentary that aired this past week on Iraq..
it was quite a bit different then I'd expected..and really did manage to show all sides of the conflict
the camera crew followed a young man returning to Iraq to find the family he'd left 13 years ago when Saddam Hussein's army had tortured him and left him for dead after he took part in a failed uprising against Hussein
he'd been rescued by american soldiers and taken to america
where hed married and lived for 13 years and stayed away from his family
so as not to risk their lives
saddam was famous for murdering the families of his uprisers and then sending the photos of their dead bodies to the rebellious one
certainly this young man was pro-american
the documentary also showed religious islamists who were devoutly anti-American and even chanted that America was the enemy and one man who wanted to slaughter americans like sheep
it showed children digging through uranium laden metal in search of salvage
a doctor verifying that cancer was eminant
soldiers who wanted to go home
soldiers who seemed hardened
soldiers who seemed softened
all in all
i think
the general impression i got was that
while many if not most of the people of Iraq
interviewed had been anti-Saddam Hussein
many if not most of the people interviewed were also
anti being occupied by America
they felt humiliated
and shamed by the occupation
i guess its a funny thing
but a lot of people here
think that just because we liberated them
just because they hated Hussein
that they would also want us there
not true
when a group of men were asked
how many would choose american style liberty
and how many would choose an Islamic run country
all hands rose for the latter..
the female journalist interviewed had perhaps the most
important message
which was that if Iraq was our friend
we must know our friend
and if they were our enemy
we must also know our enemy
clearly we do not understand these people
and trying to stream roll them into our way of thinking is useless
the only way to truly liberate Iraq is
to find a way to do it their way
which ultimately means
to butt out
as much as humanly possible
not an easy task when the war has left the country in such a shambles
that any powerful military force could easily step in
and turn it into another dictatorship
what to do with this mess
what to do
one soldier compared it to vietnam
his reasoning
that you don't know your enemy
the same person who waves and smiles in the daytime
comes back to blow you up at night
feeling that way about every person who walks past you
its no wonder
we aren't getting any closer to healing wounds over there
nobody trusts anybody
nobody understands anybody
and the blood keeps spilling
Thursday, May 26
Stamping on Stems
Stem this!
Well Georgie Poo is determined to prove once and for all that he is the official evangelical poster boy…
Yesindeedee he’s the real deal…Christian right puppet king…
While he’s taking a little break for trying to amend the constitution to keep them damn queers from getting hitched..he’s gonna take on stem cells
Yep
Nobodies gonna kill an innocent stem cell on his watch
Not while he’s the president for the lord
No sireee
Seems like folks in congress and all over the country are kinda thinking georgie poo should lighten up on the stem cell thing especially since most folks have at least one person in their life who could benefit from stem cell research
Coulda done wonders for georgie poos supposed hero
Ronnie Reagan
Anyway
Despite scientists all over the place
Declaring this the great hope for medicine of today.. georgie poos got a higher authority to contend with
Yep
He’s got the lord and well a whole boat load of ultra conservative backers
Who he doesn’t want to let down
So I ask ya...
Is it right for the president of the United States of America to impose his religious beliefs on us?!
I thought that was supposed to be a big whopping NO NO…in this country!
Now the baby Bush is threatening to veto a research bill that was approved by the House and seems favored by the Senate.
Why?
Well ya know kids…it’s like they say….”What would Jesus do?”
Cause you know the baby bush knows Jesus Christ intimately.
Christ is probably his lead advisor and no matter what the country over all wants, no matter what Science says..ultimately
George Bush is not nearly as concerned with the way this country feels about him as he is with the way Jesus and the Christian right feel about him..
And that my dears
Is a huge ass problem.
Now as to the stem cells …let’s see they have no chance of life, they can not survive outside of their little petri dish and there’s no way of them turning into babies… basically they’re just a plop of organic matter. comparable to what is often left in a dirty pair of underwear..
So I say
If we can’t save lives by using stem cells
Than nobody in this country should ever be allowed to wash their underwear again.
Cause washing underwear can and will destroy living organic matter!
So from this point on…I demand that George W Bush
Outlaw underwear washing in this country!
Save the stain!
Do not kill the stain!
Long live the stain!
Don't rain
on my stain!
Refrain from killing the stain!
oh this could go on forever
Sunday, May 22
Liberty and Justice for ALL
Got an interesting email from “Planet Out” about the one year anniversary of same-sex couples getting legally married in Massachusetts.
Pretty much what the article talks about is that one year later, there have been no catastrophes.
** From Planet out**
"The sky hasn't fallen. There's a new landscape. The world has changed," Democratic state Sen. Stephen Buoniconti told the Associated Press (AP).
More than 6,000 same-sex couples have tied the knot in Massachusetts since May 17, 2004, and nearly every resident in the state now has married gay couples as neighbors, the Globe reported.
"The story of the last year is not just about these couples, it is also about how the radical right?s outlandish claims proved to be totally unfounded," Patrick Guerriero, president of the Log Cabin Republicans, said in a prepared statement. "Massachusetts has one of the lowest divorce rates in the country, and for most people, very little has changed over the last year."
**
Well yeah…isn’t that just amazing?!
A whole bunch of same- sex couples got married and the world didn’t end!
Who woulda thunk it?
I guess I’ve been naive…or maybe protected from the sentiments around this country by living in New York City, by surrounding myself with open-minded, caring, human rights loving people, but I really was shocked..SHOCKED at the way A LOT of folks in this country have reacted to gay marriage.
It’s 2005 and here we are back in the 1950’s.
We’ve got the evangelical poster boy in the white house, the Christian right doing an excellent job of making Americans feel like to be against Georgie Bush is to be against Christ and the scape-goat for this mass movement of bias and ignorance are Gay Americans.
There are 18 states in this country so horrified by the notion of extending the right to marry to same-sex couples that they have amended their state constitutions to ban gay marriage,
Our own president has sought to amend the Federal constitution of this country to do the same thing. Yeah the Constitution, the document that was written in honor of a new country, a free country, a country of liberty and independence.
So the new motto in this country is
“We are all created equal…..unless of course…you want to marry.”
You know…I was too young to understand and appreciate the civil rights movement of the 1960’s but I do know that this country has an atrocious record of how it has dealt with African Americans for oh two hundred years. Today its 2005 and thankfully this country regardless of the personal prejudices of some of its citizens isn’t tolerating discrimination on the basis of race, religion or sex…well at least outwardly…anyway.
But what about Gay Americans?
What about 10% of the people walking around you, working around you, living around you, loving around you, every single day?
It is disgusting that there were laws in this country outlawing the intermarriage of whites and blacks…and honey well into modern times..these laws were in place. I think the last one was only removed in the 1970’s?!
So haven’t we learned anything?
Looking back at the horrible track record for this supposed great, free country that kept slaves, that forced people to have 2nd class rights due to their skin color, that would not let women vote, that allowed for the open discrimination of Jews…haven’t we learned anything?
This is the civil rights movement of today, the next great wave of humans screaming for their rights.
Let’s try and learn from our mistakes.
Friday, May 20
Lies, Lies and more Lies
i think my two favorite current event writers these days
are Greg Palast and Arianna Huffington
also adore Ariannas new site
The Huffington Post
which you can check out on my linkie love list
anyway
both folks get me to thinking
or often get
me to freaking
out
about this country and this world
so hey
i dont read either on an empty stomach
anyway
Arianna today
talked about the New York Times cover story
in which some of this countries military leaders in Iraq
have some things to say
that the Bushies would not love at all
she could not understand why this story was not picked up by everyone
but then we all know
that this countries press
seems to be
well rather careful
about what they say against the war in iraq
or the bushies
which pretty much is the same thing isnt it
In the Times piece...five high ranking officers have things to say that greatly differ from the main stream info the busies want us to have
including one officer who says that our military involvement could last
MANY YEARS.
From Arianna and the Times Piece
I will quote below...
***
So, what does it all mean? Here’s the money quote from one of the high-ranking officers:
"I think that this could still fail."
You know the situation has to be really bad when military leaders feel the need to turn to the New York Times. It’s irrefutable evidence that the political leadership of both parties has completely failed the military men who have been charged with extricating us from this debacle. When you’re not being heard by the administration -- and when the loyal opposition is turning a blind eye to the most critical issue of our time -- then you leak to the press in a desperate effort to be heard.
***
Thanks Arianna and Thanks New York Times
and thanks to the brave leaders who spoke out...
So here's the question
why aren't people taking to the streets screaming?
Im as puzzled as I was when nobody took to the streets screaming when it came out the Bush administration had lied about the weapons of mass destruction..
whats going on in this country
that people aren't screaming mad
that their own administration
is outright lieing to them
about a war
we've paying billions of dollars
and thousands of lives to be in?!
Okay
so the right wingers wont speak out against Bush
and the Republicans wont speak out against Bush
but what about the rest of America
there is a rest of America right?
I think I will just leave you with Ariannas final quote
below
and let you think about it
as I will
***
Clearly Newsweek is not the problem here. The problem is a war not only founded on lies but conducted on lies. And our military leaders are finally speaking out. What happens next will depend on whether we listen. They deserve a better hearing than they’re getting.
***
Thursday, May 19
Business and personal
i was accused to today of not being able to separate business and personal
this is something i have been accused of well as long as i have been working
which includes paper routes i had when i was 9 years old
but you know
i'm not so sure i would change this
cause its this meshing of biz and personal
that makes my clients feel that i really care about them
and i do
course its also what keeps hurting my feelings when my clients
dont call or email to say thanks after i kill myself for them but i digress
the meshing thing
keeps me feeling like great pals with my staff
but hmm
then again
also prevents me from being able to fire them
when they really
truly deserve it
and um
kinda brings out my inner SUCKER a bit
but still
i care
and cant help showing it
the meshing thing
is probably the reason
why ive been ripped off as many times as i have been
which is umm
about 5 times in my life
so hmmm
i guess if you hold up the money i have lost
time i have lost
pain i have suffered for feeling too personal about my business
it probably doesnt seem like a good idea
but then again
if you took all my caring
and love out of business
hell
id rather chuck the whole thing
and sell donuts on the highway
so
i guess
ill keep on meshing
how bout you?
got any ideas about business and personal
and what to do
or what not to do
id love to hear it
Monday, May 16
RASPBERRY PARK ROCKS
Well kids
I had a real old home
Weekend
Had the house warming party
At my new home away from home
In Asbury Park New Jersey
And called up my ol pal Jen
From high school
Who in turn called up
Just about everybody who was hip
Fabulous
And very NOT
Jersey shore
When the jersey shore
Was very NOT cool
Course now that my childhood has been ruined by uptight
Right wing
Wasps from hell
The entire area has had a renaissance and become hip
NATCH
Ah well
Tis good for the memoirs
Anyway
It was a blast
Great babes like Lauren and Magdelena
Of the PUNK LIGHT OPERA
Who basically rescued me from my orthodox repressive family
And taught me how to die my hair pink and bark at the moon
awwwoooooo
Was just a gas
Anyway
Thanks to Kim, Andrea, Terry, Otto
And all the fabulous kiddies for coming and to Jen
For dragging em all in
Then I actually (GASP)
Got a few of my NYC pals to get on a train and come to Asbury
Amazing
Must be love
The great Mel
And Liz and Debbie
And even Heather and Ronda all the way from Vancouver
Then for the most Asbury of experiences
LA C, Broken Man, Liz, Debbie and Moi
Went to THE STONE PONY
To see Lisa Marie Presley Rock on
Except that little miss lisa took 4 hours to come on stage
And by that point it was 10pm on a Sunday night
And we were all quite evil
And filled with cheese fries which is a bad combination
Then the first thing out of Lisa’s mouth was
“sorry I’ve got larengitis” and she proceeds to
squeak her way thru a set
I left after three songs
And now refuse to date her
Okay
Well if she asks nice I will
But she will really have to beg
Anyway
What an Asbury experience
Rock
Beer
Cheese fries
And ocean
There ya have it
Rock on folks
But honey
I gotta say
The Jersey thing
Way cool to visit
But this lady is all Manhattan
I gotta go where everyone wears black
And nobody makes eye contact
Call it an addiction if ya will
but there is beauty in a well tailored bust of immaculate rudeness
there is really
adios
Friday, May 13
I Love New York
well theres nothing like seeing NYC through a non New Yorkers eyes
to make a girl appreciate her home turf
like any place you live in
New Yorkers rarely do all the things
that tourists love to do when they come to NYC
sheesh
I think i go to a broadway show like once every three years
and thats only to entertain an out-of-town pal or family member
so it was great to introduce my dear friend Greg and his fabulous partner
Ray to Sardis the famous- Broadway restaurant filled with the cartoon portraits of hundreds of celebrities
Sardis... huge, bright, red and wonderfully, kitsch in an old New York way
thrilled the boys
and well it thrilled me too
because with the Russian Tea Room Gone
the wonderful Plaza Hotel being turned into condos
and so many many of the great slices of OLD NEW YORK
being lost every day
i cling to the little bit thats left of
the NYC of yesterday
way before TRUMP came along dears and started putting his 80 story
glass penises all over Manhattan
you know..
I get so busy in my wedge of this city
that i often forget there is even a life above 14th street
let alone in the outer boroughs..
but maybe thats a human way to break down
a city as big and busy and NYC
make your neighborhood your village
here in the Lower-East-Side..
I feel like I'm nestled in a rather busy
town
not a wedge of the great Manhattan
anyway
i digress
my point is
well i guess its just that
Greg and Ray reminded me of something very important
that is simply
I love New York
Tuesday, May 10
ashes and snow
went to an amazing exhibition today in nyc
called "ashes and snow"
an exhibition of photography and film
by a man named gregory colbert
who spent 13 years in india
shri lanka, tibet and other places
photographing and filming
children, women and young men
interacting with elephants, whales
leopards
hawks
in the most haunting and surreal way
the exhibition space itself was haunting and surreal
called "the nomadic museum"
they basically stacked up cargo crates to form a 45,000 square foot
temporary structure along the hudson river that made one feel once inside
as though you had stepped into a dream
with the new age world music in the backtground
the images of children sleeping next to elephants
men swimming underwater with whales
a young girl dancing with a bird
and old women holding a wild cat
sleeping with three leopards at her side
and then a seemingly endless film of all these images
in motion
it was just so magical and surreal i did not have the words for it
then to step out from this onto the busy rush hour traffic of the west side highway
was surreal indeed
i understand the traveling show is making its way around the globe
and my god does the world need something like this
i spent an hour there
and i felt like i spent an hour incased in peace
slowing down my heart and my mind
breathing
remembering nature
feeling childlike
feeling calm
and wonder
oh how the world needs this today
today when nukes
in north korea
in maybe iran
threaten us
when so much of our world seems poised for demise
when men care only about forcing their religions on each other
forcing their domination on each other
forcing death on each other
we need to watch
children sleeping and dancing
and just casually, calmly being with nature
we need to remember how wondrous and fragile it all is
i want to dance with the elephants too
or at least to imagine it
Sunday, May 8
me myself and i
hey kids
how ya?
just wanted to break my bitching about oil
bush
and oily bush
to chat about life for a spell
been awhile since i did that
well my life
has been rather nutsola
of late
so busy
i started doing that obnoxious thing
of sending out giant group emails to my friends
cause im too busy to send personal ones
yeah
that busy
but im in the may wedding season
keeping up on the writing for the radio show
finishing up the renovating of my new home
away from home
and changing my entire existance
to go from
woman in love
to woman
alone again but loud
proud
and defiant
meow
oh
umm
i mean roar
i know you've all been there
when you're used to buying for two
and suddenly
its one
sigh
but
im still quite cute
so theres hope for me yet
anyway...
summer is a coming
and theres ptown
roof parties..
asbury park new jersey
and lots
and lots
of
chutzpah
so maybe it will all turn out okay
after all
as to my pals
i promise to start sending
our personal emails
sometime soon
oh
next radio show
manyana
monday
12:45
at
www.womr.org
listen live
Thursday, May 5
the smoking gun
Was just reading Greg Palast’s latest piece
And man is it red hot..
Greg is just completely baffled as to why this country is not asking for the impeachment of GWBUSH after the “Smoking Gun” memo
That was unveiled this week by the Times
The London times that is…
The memo marked “Secret and Strictly Personal” Following a closed meeting with the president…
And was dated 8 months ago …before bush dragged us to Iraq
The memo reads..
“"Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam through military action justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."
Yep
That’s worth saying again
"The intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."
I’ll quote from Palast’s piece below…
**
The memo goes on to describe an elaborate plan by George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to hoodwink the planet into supporting an attack on Iraq knowing full well the evidence for war was a phony.
A month ago, the Silberman-Robb Commission issued its report on WMD intelligence before the war, dismissing claims that Bush fixed the facts with this snooty, condescending conclusion written directly to the President, "After a thorough review, the Commission found no indication that the Intelligence Community distorted the evidence regarding Iraq's weapons."
We now know the report was a bogus 618 pages of thick whitewash aimed to let Bush off the hook for his murderous mendacity.
**
Thanks Greg.
Now the, Honey if this is not scary shit I don’t know what is.
Why did the country scream to Impeach Clinton when he lied about where he put his pecker..but there are no millions on the streets screaming for the impeachment of G W Bush now that its been proven full on that he lied about the reasons to go to war and this has cost thousands of lives?!
Why isn’t this memo on the cover of every American Newspaper right now??
Why aren’t folks freaking out in outrage?!
Why…well its because in today’s right wing, conservative, evangelical, climate…folks are just plain out scared to trash George Bush…
The man can pretty much get away with murder and we just wont
raise a peep.
And yeh I can already hear your gnashing your teeth and blowing smoke ready to let loose with a barrage of your nasty comments…
But really, this just can’t be all right with you?
Can it??!!
Being tricked by the president, lied to, having the facts altered even in an investigation about having the facts altered
This has gotta bug you
Doesn’t It??
IN Closing Palast says
**
Now, we have the stone, cold evidence of bending intelligence to sell us on death by the thousands, and neither a Republican Congress nor what is laughably called US journalism thought it worth a second look.
My friend Daniel Ellsberg once said that what's good about the American people is that you have to lie to them. What's bad about Americans is that it's so easy to do.
**
thanks for your piece Greg
and sorry for us all…
Oil toil and trouble
Had quite a long discussion about politics and the world
With my buddy from Amnesty and other “save the world before its too late” projects
A great guy named Tim..
T pontificated (love that word) quite a bit on oil..
The subject came up while were idling…along with a thousand other cars at a traffic jam caused by a toll booth coming off the interstate..
“They’re not gonna address the issue of oil until it’s too late,” he said shaking his head, “It’s like you wonder how they felt when they cut down the last tree on Easter Island.”
This all got me thinking too.
One bit of advice I’d been given awhile back that holds true is this…when you’re thinking about whats important give yourself the caption…WILL I CARE ABOUT THIS IN 20 YEARS?
Honey in 20 years... I think we will care a whole lot more about there being no oil, then we will about there being no more hard boiled eggs at the salad bar
I spent a day on the road watching yuppies drive around in gas guzzling S.U.V.’s with no other passengers in them …watching thousands of cars, waste what must add up to kazillions of gallons of gas idling at toll booths, looked at the black smoked filled sky over Newark and rolled up my windows as the stench of sulfar hit my nose and I wondered…
Just when in the hell is this shit gonna hit the fan?
Will it be tomorrow?
Why isn’t this administration scared about this?
Destroying whats left of our rainforests, drilling in the anartic…this is not the answer to the plight we are heading towards.
Let’s no even talk about the environment…since some fundamentalists in office today don’t care about 100 years from now as Armageddon will be around way before that.. OH LORD!
Let’s just talk about oil.
This country wastes a boat of load every second.
Why isn’t the production of new cars legislated.
You don’t get 45 miles to the gallon?
We don’t let you produce the car!
What will our lives be like when we fight a true blue, oil crisis?
“Commercial airlines will go out of business under the burden of oil shortage and shockingly high prices for starters. You won’t be able to go anywhere,” Tim said…still idling in the traffic jam.
Our lives could be suddenly frozen. No Fedex’s will arrive as no planes took off.
Where will our food come from if the delivery trucks can’t fill up?
If you start to think about what our lives will be like when NOT IF, we run out of oil…
It’s just pandemonium.
So why are we waiting to hit the wall.
Why aren’t we declaring a crisis of prevention now?
Why the hell isn’t all the money put into new cars put into finding fuel alternatives?
Honey… I don’t know.
Do you?
Tuesday, May 3
Moynihan Station
well i had quite an honor last night
got to cater a fundraiser for
MOYNIHAN STATION
the movement started by the late and GREAT Daniel Patrick Moynihan
to move Penn Station to the old Farley Building that was being used as a post office..
Lots of New Yorkers like moi know that the demolition of the old Penn Station
was the most horrible thing to happen to old new york architecture
the only thing good about it was that it so horrified folks like Moynihan
that it launched the landmark preservation society that fights to keep old buildings in nyc standing
and if not for them
there wouldnt be much of old new york to oggle these days
anyway
the Farley building was a sister buildng to the torn down original penn station
and all the tracks run under there as well
so Moynihan took on the task of
re-building penn station to be part of New Yorks pride
not its shame
of course since his death the money and momentum
started to fade
so enter his daughter and her pals
and some great and wonderful benefactors
and voila
the fundraiser
at which were
Senator Chuck Schumer
Senator Hillary Clinton
Mayor Bloomberg
and some other major league folks
so yeah
it was a great cause
and i was thrilled to help out
cause i adored Pat Moynihan
and adore his family
and it was just good karma all round
here's hoping
trains pull into Moynihan station sometime soon
toooot
tooooooott
all aboard!
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