Saturday, May 3, 2008

Feature: Shifters

The Phantom Tollbooth

by Norton Juster, illustrated by Jules Feiffer

It has been a long trip," said Milo, climbing onto the couch where the princesses sat; "but we would have been here much sooner if I hadn't made so many mistakes. I'm afraid it's all my fault."

"You must never feel badly about making mistakes," explained Reason quietly, "as long as you take the trouble to learn from them. For you often learn more by being wrong for the right reasons than you do by being right for the wrong reasons."

"But there's so much to learn," he said, with a thoughtful frown.

"That's just what I mean," explained Milo, as Tock and the exhausted bug drifted quietly off to sleep. "Many of the things I'm supposed to know seem so useless that I can't see the purpose in learning them at all."

"You may not see it now," said the Princess of Pure Reason, looking knowingly at Milo's puzzled face, "but whatever we learn has a purpose and whatever we do affects everything and everyone else, if even in the tiniest way. Why, when a housefly flaps his wings, a breeze goes round the world; when a speck of dust falls to the ground, the entire planet weighs a little more; and when you stamp your foot, the earth moves slightly off its course. Whenever you laugh, gladness spreads like the ripples in a pond; and whenever you're sad, no one anywhere can be really happy. And it's much the same thing with knowledge, for whenever you learn something new, the whole world becomes that much richer."

A ho Mitakuye Oyasin !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday, May 2, 2008

FEATURE:Crossroads

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i_LLY8gc6av_Whr8kdxbeuy5EFXwD90D3UA00
I AM SO GLAD WE LIVE IN A NATION GOVERNED BY LAWS....GEEZ, WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO ME IF I JUST REFUSED TO "SHOW UP"
CAN YOU SPELL---CRIMINAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

House Committee Threatens Rove With Subpoena By Ben Evans The Associated Press
Friday 02 May 2008
Washington - The House Judiciary Committee threatened Thursday to subpoena former White House adviser Karl Rove if he does not agree by May 12 to testify about former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman's corruption case.
In a letter to Rove's attorney, committee Democrats called it "completely unacceptable" that the Republican political strategist has rejected the panel's request for sworn testimony even as he discusses the matter publicly through the media.
"We can see no justification for his refusal to speak on the record to the committee," the letter states. "We urge you and your client to reconsider ... or we will have no choice but to consider the use of compulsory process."
Committee Democrats are investigating whether Rove and Republican appointees at the Justice Department influenced Siegelman's prosecution to kill his chances for re-election. It is part of a broader inquiry into whether U.S. attorneys were fired for not aggressively pursuing cases against Democrats.
Siegelman, a Democrat who served one term as governor after being elected in 1998, was convicted in 2006 on bribery and other charges and sentenced to more than seven years in prison. He was recently released on bond pending appeal.
Last year, Alabama attorney and one-time Republican campaign volunteer Jill Simpson, told the committee under oath that she heard conversations among GOP operatives in 2002 suggesting that Rove was pushing the Justice Department to pursue a conviction against Siegelman. She also has said Rove asked her in 2001 to find evidence that Siegelman was cheating on his wife.
go to Thom Hartman's interview with Don Sieglman here:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thom-hartmann/interview-with-former-ala_b_99338.html
Rove, who frequently worked in Alabama politics before orchestrating President Bush's White House campaigns, has denied having anything to do with the case. In a recent magazine article, he called Simpson a "complete lunatic" and said he had never heard of her.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Feature: Crossroads

Very interesting....go to Real News to catch this very surreal story.....americans are so screwed...we have been bent over...lied to .....fooled...our own apathy has created a monster.

http://therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1415&thisview=item

Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline is on
Pepe Escobar: Asian countries create interdependent energy economy with Iran, despite US opposition
Tuesday April 29th, 2008
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has met with Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Reza Gillani to discuss the construction of a gas pipeline from Iran to India. The Real News Analyst Pepe Escobar calls this "one of the most important energy developments of 2008," because it shows that Asian countries that have good relations with the US, such as India and Pakistan, are willing to do business with Iran, despite Washington's attempts to isolate the country.

Feature: Shifters

Longshore Union Strikes Against War By Peter Cole The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Tuesday 29 April 2008
On Thursday, May Day, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union will declare an eight-hour strike to protest the war in Iraq. Since the ILWU controls every port along the U.S. Pacific Coast, including Seattle and Tacoma, this strike demonstrates the collective power of workers willing to use it.
The ILWU is demanding "an immediate end to the war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Middle East." Although the majority of Americans repeatedly have expressed their desire to end the war, President Bush has not obliged us, so it drags on. Because our leaders refuse to listen, ILWU members are taking the next logical step for workers: Strike.
For those unfamiliar, the ILWU is perhaps the most militant and politicized worker organization in the nation. It operates in one of the most important sectors of the world economy - marine transport - and, thus, is in a strategic location to put peace above profits.
Forged in the fires of 1930s worker struggles to gain basic rights, the ILWU was born in 1934 when longshoremen (there were no women in the industry then, though there are now) performed the incredibly hard, dangerous and important work of loading and unloading ships. To improve their wages and wrest some control over their lives, men all along the coast struck - and in a few instances died - to gain union recognition.

See the full article at ::: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050108B.shtml

Feature: Doorways

May 1 2008-- http://www.maydaynewhaven.org/

Twenty-two years ago a group of friends decided they wanted to create a May Day Festival on the green in NEW HAVEN CT. We formed the May Day Celebration Committee. We are all volunteers and the group is open to anyone who wants to help.
Our vision 22 years ago remains the same - to organize a multi-cultural festival that honors and celebrates our labor history and the labor, peace, social service and social justice groups that today continue the struggle for peace and human rights.