Dear Red Stater/Bush Believer/Stay the Courser/Troop Supporter

so you support the war and the president? and you say you support the troops too?

ok, motherfucker, take a look at these photos and tell me i am wrong to work so hard to end this war.

tell me how much you support our troops. tell me that you would want your husband or son or father to go through this. tell me that accidents of war happen and collateral damage can't be avoided and those guys are all volunteers.

explain to me how you can choke down this truth and still live with yourself.

Back from Crawford

Delivering the tents for the Prairie Dog Twelve's arrest, early morning Nov. 23rd 2005. I volunteered to drive the truck because I do it here in Hollywood all the time. I was bit taken aback that it was a standard- not so much because it was a stick, but that it was such an old stick shift.

After dropping them off, I made the judgement call to NOT try to cut the turn at Camp Casey I to get back to Camp Casey II- the last thing this CD needed was to get a 16ft U-Haul truck stuck in the infamous ditches of McLennan County. So Cassandra and I headed towards the Peace House instead... which worked out anyway...

I've been thinking a lot about where I just came from- work today was blurry

I met some wonderful people last week. Inspirational people- so many in such a brief period of time

And there were the handful of people that drove by Camp Casey II and told us to go home. They circled the Peace House in jacked up shitkicker trucks, peeling out after yelling a "hippies go home" or "stay the course". I saw hate there- and I tried and tried to understand that they are feeling a type of anguish as well- if they truly believe that to stand for peace is to undermine the soldiers, then of course they are going to yell and scream and shout and attack.

There is always a strange place where the "extremes" meet. We all Support Our Troops- we just want to save them.

I saw the fatigue of grief in parent's eyes, the wariness in the face of an Iraq War vet.

I saw one generation of veteran reach out to a new generation, like a parent that doesn't want to see their child waste their life going through the pains that they did.

no one hates war like a warrior

blogging has been spotty- hope to add pictures soon

Chito

Elliot from Veterans for Peace

Charlie from Iraq Veterans Against the War

Jesse Dyen

Daniel Ellsberg

The Prairie Dog Twelve

Johnny Wolff from the Crawford Peace House-a Sufi Quaker who walks the walk and talks the talk of peace and radiates it

Bill Mitchell who lost his Michael on 04-04-04, the same day Casey Sheehan died.

Ann Wright

Mona, our Blue Star Mom we will be thinking of everyday

Juan Torres, who carries the photo of his sweet-faced boy and doesn't have to say a thing.

Dede Miller, aunt to Casey Sheehan

and of course, Cindy Sheehan

the turnout was smaller than August '05, of course.but there was turnout. And an important targeted action to test the new ordinances, laying the groundwork for future actions and Camp Caseys.

Whenever President Bush visits his ranch, there will be souls there standing for peace to remind him, to haunt him, to spur his conscience if it is at all possible.

Yahoo slideshow here.

Happy Thanksgiving from Crawford, TX

Yesterday in Crawford at the site of Camp Casey I:

Jesse gets cuffed

Helped Ann Wright, Daniel Ellsberg, Dede Miller, and others get arrested yesterday to test the legality of this county's new anti-camping ordinance

The police were very, very professional, very mellow (it may not look like it, but they really were. Just doing their job and being cool about it. They probably don't want to spend next August enforcing this dumb ordinance.)

expecting many more people this weekend -Cindy Sheehan arrives tonight, so the media will get bigger- but there are other Gold Star parents here already and they deserve the same respect and admiration that Cindy does.

We need to support our troops and their families and get this situation in Iraq rectified.

Peace- Happy Thanksgiving!

i had my suspicions..

You are a Social Liberal (71% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (10% permissive) You are best described as a: Socialist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

we're all doomed!

and now for something completely different...

so's yesterday i go to a commercial audition. i work my way across town to a tiny little casting warren. (luckily this one doesn't have any of those nasty "no actor parking" signs around it -- it's all meters, all the time.)

i'm looking for the chevy audition. i'm thinking that the agent said it was chevy tahoe and i'm hoping i'm wrong since i really don't like suvs, my politix and all.. but i can't remember. i got the call at the last minute.

i make my way up to sign in and then i peruse the storyboards which tell me what the copy says and what i'm expected to do for the audition. and there it is. it is indeed for chevy tahoe. which i dread, but wait a minute, i'm renting an suv next week to go camp outside of bush's ranch. suvs can be rented. they are also good for sleeping in, as i did in august in crawford. i slept in my ford explorer the two nights that i was chased out of my tent by big brown spiders... sooo, maybe i can just bite the bullet and rationalize my way into some spending money (ie: rent. which, by the way, is getting harder to keep up with... maybe an suv will be my next home? maybe that's the first step towards our soilent green future)

but this is no regular suv ad. this is an anti-prius suv ad. they actually mock the prius. they think it's funny that a prius is small and that you can't carry as much stuff as you can in the gas guzzling tahoe. i guess it would be hard to load your 300lb children into the back of a prius or something... why the fuck do parents need huge death machinges to carry their kids around in anyway? but i digress..

and not only do they mock the hybrid, but they go on to gloat about their energy consumption. i believe the new slogan is going to be "more miles of fun per gallon."

ha ha ha. so funny. and cute! fun fun fun. who the fuck cares about the environment and the future and the folks giving their lives for oil? i need a biiiiiig fucking truck just to carry all my stuff around so fuck you! i'm even going to attach grill bars so that i'm sure to decapitate you when i'm talking on my cell phone sometime..

i wonder if i'll get a callback...

chito for peace

this is from a cowboy i met in crawford and then saw again in dc at the march on washington. he thinks i worry too much, i think he's great...

Subject: cowboys
"chito for peace" here. on somewhat of a roll here so bear with me. just had my afternoon coffee. this is about who is not a cowboy but why they want to be cowboys.

i had this friend named townes van zandt he became a pretty good singer/songwriter. he drank himself to death. people get it wrong when they talk about his demons. his dream in his youth was just to be a montana cowboy and sing his songs around the nitely camp fire. not getting his dream killed him.

teddy roosevelt became a cowboy inspite of serious physical ailments. but he was a man who walked the talk. he was no chickenshit and never asked somebody to do something he couldn't nor wouldn't do himself. yes, he saw that america could and should play a role in the world. he also became our first real environment president. unfortunately he too saw war as the true test of a man's mettle. but he went and led from the front in cuba. he was not shy of danger. to the contrary, he ran to the sound of cannons. he knew as a rich, well educated man that it was his obligation and duty to see that those less fortunate had the opportunity to better themselves. yep, teddy was the man that dime novelists been writting about for 60 years.

fast forward to 1980. politics has now become the new frontier for deception, magicians, practioners of smoke and dazzle. and who is their man, a freaking actor, too perfect. and who is riding shotgun in this high drama, none other than a devoted disciple of machiavilli. the book "the prince" becomes the bible of how to in politics. who always gets the girl, none other than the cowboy in the white hat, always, always. ronald reagan was no cowboy, granted he hailed from the west. you ever get a good look at them horses he rode. they weren't even top notch expensive animals. the damn boots he wore cost more than the horse he rode. he wore that old hollywood stage hat. he was sold as a cowboy who loved God, espoused the values of family, honest straight shooter, of high ethical moral standards, and strong on defence. in reality, he didn't own cows never worked cows. he only played cowboy in the movies, didn't do his own stunts even. his wife was upstairs consulting psycics, working the ouija board, and reading the stars for advice she'd give her husband the president, he'd beenmarried several times, didn't give a rat's ass about his kids and they even said so. he honestly read the lines given him and played the part like nobody else. it was just another acting gig. yes, he knew about the dirty dealings of iran-contra and it was with his blessings that it was carried out. and now they want to make him out as a great president with the worst, well, almost the worst deficit in U.S. history. lee atwater knew how to do it. knew about cowboys and the american public. cowboys win and yankees from new england lose always, always always. and if you don't believe me, just ask yourself how you feel about cowboys. roy rogers, gene autrey, wild bill hickok, buffalo bill cody, butch cassidy and the sundance kid, will rogers, "who was that masked man" on and on. cowboy songs cowboy poets. michael martin murphy. gary cooper, High Noon, jimmy stewart. well... see what i mean.

and, in rides george w (not on a horse) on a bicycle, watch out he's gonna crash. hell he can't even ride a bike. who knew the formula for politics, what atwater did was definately not lost on our dear friend karl rove. who worshipped the ground atwater walked on. rove took it to another level. his candidate was not a cowboy (neither was reagan) but his candidate was scared of horses never owned a ranch and never drilled a wet hole. (well)spent everybody else's money, was a spoiled brat, had a drinking problem, and was not even in line for politics even in his own family. but george was a wannabe. he had the boots, fake accent, and was married to a west texas gal had drank gallons of jack daniels and now was born again christian. perfect. first competitor a real live cowgirl, a hot pistol, the jewel of the west. what happened they didn't take rove seriously. they forgot the cowboy equation. cowboys always win over cowgirls in politics in texas. PERIOD and above all they were willing to sell their souls to the highest bidder. it was just a stepping stone anyway. and the rest of the story you all know.

you can argue with me if you want. you can also be insulted by it like i am. but the facts speak for themselves. we have become a redneck nation. i oughtta know being a real live redneck having grown up on a real live working cattle ranch in texas and mexico. that cowboy formula will work time and again till the american people catch on but unfortunately they won't.

fortunately i don't see another wannabe cowboy politician on the horizon yet. unless you count kinky down here running for texas govenor. problem i got with him is he kissing bush's ass. he'll come right out and say he likes him. and for that, kinky,you don't get my vote. would you have liked hitler?

oh well there's my spiel. don't make it more complicated than it is. real cowboys play at politics, real politicians play at being cowboys. so long, chito

Julia Ward Howe sentiments expressed in this proclamation written in 1870 were the driving force behind mother's day and are, unfortunately, still appropriate. . In case you haven't read it.............

Mother's Day Proclamation

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.

Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.

We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.

"From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.
"Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.

As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.
Julia Ward Howe

Veterans' Day at Arlington West

maxine waters and bill mitchell (gold star father) look out over the list of fallen soldiers

ann wright and vicky castro (gold star mother) talk about her son

aztec dancers bless the memorial and call for an end to war

UP YOURS ARNOLD!

as a human being who still has some faith in the human race and clings to the ideal that we are all equal and down deep more alike than different, i am commited to the idea that when the misguided among us finally understand that they have been misled they will be deserving of my compassion.

for i am further down the path of disillusionment. i have lived longer with the recognition and pain of being let down by my country.

and because of this, i vow to never gloat over the pain and confusion that they will feel as they travel through varying stages of anger, denial, bargaining, depression and acceptance. for ultimately, when the course of our nation is corrected, we will be stronger and fairer and wiser and we will be one family again.

however, i reserved a special, tiny, dark, cold, stinky, sadistic part of my soul for the greedy, self-serving public propagandists who misled my friends, family and neighbors. i'm talking about rush, sean, bill, arnold, karl, dick, colin, condie, george, john & ken and the lauras. may you all eat bird-flu-laden shit and die extremely protracted, physically painful, health-care free, publicly humiliating, itchy, scary, smelly, ugly, lonely deaths.

those damned teachers!

something i figured out today. since i started teaching this fall, i've noticed that when i go to the cush cush cush teachers' lounge to eat my lunch that i can no longer find any plastic utensils with which to eat. since the elaborately decorated lounge is in actuality a room off the side of the cafeteria, i finally asked why they weren't available right there in the teacher's side of the lunch line. seems it's no mistake.

as of this school year, teachers are being charged a nickel for each plastic fork, knife or spoon. (some schools reportedly charge two cents for a white paper napkin)
fucking teachers... always expecting some kind of handout! and then a free plastic spork to eat it with. arnold will show them!

vote mutherfuckers, vote!