Declare Independence

Go Bjork

what is art?

this two year old & his parents have got it figured out.

Lead in your chocolate

The FDA has stated that the "safe" amount of lead to consume is below 0.5 ppm (parts per million). Conversely, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not found threshold for exposure in which there are no harmful effects.

Therefore, it is disturbing to hear that milk chocolate contains up to 0.222 ppm and dark chocolate up to 0.275ppm.

Article

Further Analysis

If anyone comes across a brand that advertises their chocolate does not contain lead... please share!!!! Not the chocolate... just your info.

It's not graffiti, it's art!!

This article is about a young girl who wrote on the sidewalk with chalk and was charged with a $300 violation. Reminds me of the 13 year old who was brought to court by record companies for downloading a few songs. This stupid country needs to go after the real criminals...the ones in the White House. Leave the art and music to the people!

Another Against

This is a video of Henry Rollins, on protesting the war.
Amazing man.




And here are some adorable kids, protesting the war...

Loss of Reading

"So we're experiencing the literary equivalent of a loss of biodiversity. All those people carrying around an 800-page novel looks like a great thing for American literacy, but it's as ominous as a Forbidden Forest with only one species of tree." Ron Charles

I have hear opinions both for and against the Harry Potter Series. Those who say it has children interested in reading, the religious groups who claim it is sinful and corrupting to read about witchcraft, and those who think the plots and characters are lacking.

The author of the following article has an interesting view. This isn't a reading craze - it is just another consumer craze; the idle masses jumping onto the next bandwagon.

It's unfortunate - but not without solution. Again, the love of reading must either start at the home or a very young age in school. Instead of forcing our children to read the prescribed agenda, let them choose what interests them. As the teacher observes the genres a student gravitates toward, they should supply them with more challenging material in the same content area. This is how real learning, and a real interest in reading is developed - rather than having every child waiting in line to read the same book...

No interference with Iraq Recontruction

So says the president...

His latest signing statement goes something along the lines of: if any person or organization halts or threatens to halt the reconstruction or stability of Iraq, said person will suffer the consequences.

Full article


For more info on Bush's abuse of Signing Statements

homeless hero

Here is an article from the Boston Globe.

quick preview:
"At 56, he had lived on Boston’s streets for about 30 years. In Kenmore Square and his Allston neighborhood — areas rife with college students and people who prefer less traditional approaches to life — some saw in Mr. Butch a latter-day Thoreau, a man who chose a path that didn’t involve taxes, rent, or office cubicles. Instead, he helped the elderly cross streets, joyously played air guitar, philosophized, and sang."

It is encouraging to see this man received positive media attention. Usually the homeless are portrayed as a nuisance or disease... a sign of society's decay. When people are shown in such a light, it is usually because the onlooker is afraid. In this case, the capitalists have every reason to be afraid. Because if the majority of America chose Mr. Butch's way of life - No work. No mortgage. No money. Just people helping each other out - there would be nobody left for the rich to exploit. Then they would have to step down from their self righteous inflated egos and become like the rest of us....because at that point, it's either join, or languish.

Feminism 101

Just finished reading "Female Chauvinist Pigs" by Ariel Levy. She is a great writer, very straightforward with a clear thesis backed up by facts and opinions from individuals across the board.

She maintains that the new "feminism" 1. women acting like men (being overly aggressive, putting down other women, attending strip clubs) 2. strippers and porn stars claiming that their professions are powerful and liberating. 3. average women jumping up on the bar and whipping off their shirts or showing their breasts for Girls Gone Wild, etc. IS NOT FEMINISM AT ALL.



Sorry ladies, but you and your bodies are being used and abused by the mainstream media and corporations ready to make a profit by any means possible. The psychology is interesting. First of all, we are surrounded by advertisements on billboards, commercials, magazines and movies, depicting what women are "supposed" to look like. These models have fame and money based on their bodies...so it makes sense that other women would think exposing their bodies will also bring them fame and fortune. At the same time, they are persuaded to buy products which will improve their bodies...make up, clothing, vaginal-plasty...



I understand that these women (in the prostitution industry or not) feel "powerful" because they are choosing when and when not to display their bodies. But why expose yourself at all? Aren't their other ways to feel powerful? And why is the same standard not held to men? Why is a woman judged mainly for her body, and not for her mind?



Ariel Levy pointed out a perfect example: in the recent Olympic Games, the female competitors also appeared in Playboy, with little to no clothing. It is as if it was not acceptable that they be famous only for their skills. Furthermore, in order to look "feminine," we must see that they do indeed have female parts. Again, why are all the male athletes not appearing in Playgirl?



I understand that the Feminist movement has been fractured and divided over the years. I know that each person should be free to choose what empowers them. If taking off your clothes and having sex with strangers makes you feel strong and powerful, fine. But please do not claim that this is moving women and feminism forward as a whole, because it is not. It is holding women to the same submissive and abusive standards that we have been chained to for thousands of years. And keep this in mind - 65-90% of women in the porn/prostitution/stripping industry have been sexually abused, assaulted and/or raped as children or teenagers. Therefore, their ideas of sex and love are coming from a misguided and harmful place; their power was taken away...and they are trying to reclaim it in ways that are still harmful to them. Add on the fact that our youth and adult population looks to pornography for guidance in their first (and continued) sexual encounters, and your result is one very sad, abused and ignorant population.



I shall end (for now) with some interesting notes and inferences from Ariel's book. and of course I can't contain myself and added my extra opinions in parentheses :

-From the porn industry's point of view, if you don’t buy, or even worse, criticize their magazines or videos, you are obviously embarrassed and uncomfortable with sexuality. (The industry will never admit that their system is just inherently abusive. So in their opinion, there must be something wrong with the viewer. And of course, this terrible idea is consequently implanted into our minds as well - that the industry is right and we are wrong to resist it).



-Most Female Chauvinist Pigs want to be like men and profess to disdain women who are overly focused on the appearance of femininity. But they shun these girly-girls while simultaneously fixating on them in magazines and pornography.




-Acting like a F.C.P. may get you ahead, either in money or favor, but you are simultaneously reinforcing the system that traps you.

-Jenna Jamison claims to hold power and sexual liberations but she cannot look at her own sex tapes. She was also a victim - beaten and gang raped in highschool and sexually abused by her boyfriend’s friends. (one of the 65-90% I referred to before).



-$1billion on abstinence only education from 1996-2006. Yet there isn’t a single study that shows this approach works. Instead the United States has one of the higher teen pregnancy ratings and 1 our of every 4 teenage girls will get an STD. (add this to my previous statement of women and men looking toward porn for guidance).

[In reference to stripping, etc]:
-"If you think you are being brave, you think you are being sexy, you think you’re transcending feminism. But that’s bullshit." -Susan Brownmiller (fuck yea!)

-"If we believed that we were sexy and funny and competent and smart, we would not need to be like strippers or men or like anyone other than our own specific, individual selves. That won’t be easy, but ultimately it would be no more difficult than the kind of contortions FCPs are constantly performing in an effort to prove themselves. More importantly, the rewards would be the very things Female Chauvinist Pigs want so desperately, the things women deserve: freedom and power." -Ariel Levy

Criminal Justice

First off, the CIA released a bunch of classified information. Read the full article here
you know, the usual: assassination attempts, wire tapping, domestic spying, etc.

Second, today Cheney and a bunch of other dicks have finally been subpoenaed for the wiretapping scandals. Maybe some justice will finally be delivered.

Ironically enough, according to the Aztec Calendar, today is the day of the Vulture:
Cozcacuauhtli (vulture) signifies long life, wisdom, good counsel and mental equilibrium. It is a good day to confront the discontinuities, disruptions, failures and deaths one suffers in life. Cozcacuauhtli is a day for tricking the Trickster.

Gay Bomb?!

My brother sent this article to me, and I could not believe the words. So I thought I would show it to you in full context. Let me know if it makes any sense. . .

taken directly from BBC NEWS, January 15, 2005


US military pondered love not war

The unconventional proposals were made by the US Air Force

The US military investigated building a "gay bomb", which would make enemy soldiers "sexually irresistible" to each other, government papers say.

Other weapons that never saw the light of day include one to make soldiers obvious by their bad breath.

The US defence department considered various non-lethal chemicals meant to disrupt enemy discipline and morale.

The 1994 plans were for a six-year project costing $7.5m, but they were never pursued.

The US Air Force Wright Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, sought Pentagon funding for research into what it called "harassing, annoying and 'bad guy'-identifying chemicals".

The plans were obtained under the US Freedom of Information by the Sunshine Project, a group which monitors research into chemical and biological weapons.

'Who? Me?'

The plan for a so-called "love bomb" envisaged an aphrodisiac chemical that would provoke widespread homosexual behaviour among troops, causing what the military called a "distasteful but completely non-lethal" blow to morale.

Scientists also reportedly considered a "sting me/attack me" chemical weapon to attract swarms of enraged wasps or angry rats towards enemy troops.

A substance to make the skin unbearably sensitive to sunlight was also pondered.

Another idea was to develop a chemical causing "severe and lasting halitosis", so that enemy forces would be obvious even when they tried to blend in with civilians.

In a variation on that idea, researchers pondered a "Who? Me?" bomb, which would simulate flatulence in enemy ranks.

Indeed, a "Who? Me?" device had been under consideration since 1945, the government papers say.

However, researchers concluded that the premise for such a device was fatally flawed because "people in many areas of the world do not find faecal odour offensive, since they smell it on a regular basis".

Captain Dan McSweeney of the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate at the Pentagon said the defence department receives "literally hundreds" of project ideas, but that "none of the systems described in that [1994] proposal have been developed".

He told the BBC: "It's important to point out that only those proposals which are deemed appropriate, based on stringent human effects, legal, and international treaty reviews are considered for development or acquisition."

beginning of the end?

Follow this link to BBC article on the impending collapse of Zimbabwe - due to rampant inflation.

and I am sure the World Bank and IMF had NOTHING to do with this...


but, I wouldn't mind bartering...trading goods for food and such. money is just the middle man that gets in the way and messes everything up, hence the situation in Zimbabwe.

QUICK - impeach him before he gets ya...

Before it's too late, follow the link below to a website which gives directions for a Do-It-Yourself impeachment for Dick Cheney. and good old George is up for it too.

Download the petition here

truth.

"We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection"

-Dalai Lama


...enough said.

Why not...

My life has swept me away from finding great articles to share with you these past few weeks. But here is an update, complete with some quotations, interesting news links, and my latest poem (composed during my break at work...)



In remembrance of Mikhail Bakunin, great anarchist philosopher, born today in 1814:

“If there is a State, then there is domination, and in turn, there is slavery.”

“People go to church for the same reasons they go to a tavern: to stupefy themselves, to forget their misery, to imagine themselves, for a few minutes anyway, free and happy”

“Everything will pass, and the world will perish but the Ninth Symphony will remain.”

and my personal favorite:

“A Boss in Heaven is the best excuse for a boss on earth, therefore If God did exist, he would have to be abolished”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the ever declining news:

Robots To Guard Schools in Korea

Job Approval from Homeland Security

Banning Books in Georgia

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


My newest poem, based on truth and dedicated to my 17 yr old brother:



I remember it like yesterday.

The day my brother stated without fear:
"I would rather spend
One hundred years
Locked in jail
For something I said,
Than live 100 free
For keeping my beliefs
Trapped in my head."

But that was long before
They rearranged the words
On the news
And put limits
On musical lyrics produced.
Before they monitored
Our digital dialogue
And blocked out our sun
With their corporate smog.

We always said
We wouldn't go down
Without a fight
But I would rather
Not be arrested
For something I whispered
In the night.

I promised him
We wouldn't sell our souls
But for now,
We had to play the role.
It was far better
To stay concealed
And strike
When the right time
Was revealed.

The message was hidden
In plain view
Our insider informers
Used the enemies own tools.

I remember how rapidly
Everything moved forward.
The people's power
Was about to be restored.

I remember
Our barricaded doors
And fire blankets
Nailed to the floors.
Windows covered with kevlar
The stairs steaming with hot tar.
Our bay-window
Set up with cement blocks
And our long dormant ammunition
Now waiting in full stock.

Our sight was slim
And the light was dim
But we knew the ranges
Like the back of our hand
Everything was going on
As planned.

What we didn't count on
Were the countless
Brainwashed masses
Who joined the ranks
Of the military
To avoid
The crematory ashes.

But we pushed on
Through the faded light of dawn
Set off the pre-planted
Bombs on the border.
Took out the ranking leaders
Of their tyrannical order.

But our bullets ran low
And the last shells fell to the ground
Soft like snow.

We were forced to go
Underground.
And it's a miracle
We haven't been found.

We sealed our tunnel tight
And like vermin,
Only emerge at night.

For months
We haven't felt
The faint heat of the dimming sun.
Had fresh food
Or found the other remaining members
Of our revolution.

I start to wonder
Which prison is really worse?
Or if we will even be able
To out live
This self inflicted curse.

Did our efforts
Help to bring change?
Or was every single thing
We ever fought for
Sacrificed in vain?

We are still here waiting.

A poem to share with you

I wrote this today while subbing in an elementary school.
You can guess why...


Plunging down
Into a predictable pattern
Is the prerequisite
For any potentially practical adult

For me
It is a precarious premonition.
A promise for the fruition
Of guaranteed boredom and frustration;
Permission for an existence
Compact with disdain.
Leading directly to
A premature departure
From this worldly plane.

I prefer the unpredictable.
The pictorial forefront of
Uncharted life.
The essence of quantum physics
Persistently eliminating strife.

I will worship the tangible,
Photographic past
As I keep my cells sensitive
To the metaphysical
Unfinished future.
And continue to generate
Infinite possibilities
For the permeating prose
Of the present

The majority pursues
The preworn path
Striving to ensure
The perpetual motion
Of the status quo
Upholding the promise
Of permanent prejudice
On their uneven economic plateau.

But I reconstruct my world
At each moment
I bend to accommodate
And integrate
Each new truth, I behold
It is empirical impossible
For this mode of thought
To grow old.

It is far more fortuitous
To encompass flexibility
For it results in a fruitful future
Where all can be free.


opinions/comments on this are very welcome :)

passing thoughts/judgement

By trying to preserve the "Garden of Eden," and by creating an exclusive club, Christianity has only destroyed itself and the surrounding world.


In the end, only nature will flourish to rule over all.

Public Eye on Corporations.

Knowmore.org is similar to Wikipedia, you can look up business/environmental practice of 500 Corporations, as well as edit the pages and share your negative or positive information or experiences.

Ratings as followed:

Red- Harmful practices/areas of concern
Yellow-Neutral practices
Green- Responsible practices

The Great Distraction

So again, as the news was splattered with clips and opinions on the VA tech school... the ban on Abortion took place. and most did not even notice; they were perfectly distracted.
But the hypocrisy runs further.

Values of life are unequal.
A flag was put at half staff on the biggest base in Afganistan for the VA kids, but this same honor is not given for those American soldiers who are dying in Iraq (not to even mention innocent Iraqi civilians...but we won't get into that right now).

So, if a citizen of immigrant parents kills innocent people, they are honored.
If the government kills its own citizens in an unjust war, they are not honored.

And people wonder why I have no respect for this country...

Federal Abortion Ban

First of all, if you are a man and you are against this practice, shut your damn mouth.
Second, if you are a woman and this practice offends you... don't have one.
There. Controversy solved.

So, Congress backed the ban on a method of abortion, given after 12 weeks of pregnancy. There are still other methods available, those who terminate before 12 weeks will not be affected.

At first this doesn't appear to be to bad...but don't be fooled. This is only the beginning. They are testing the water to see how much they can get away with.

As the line between Church and State fades even further, women are now being stripped of their autonomy, and the choice lies in the hands of rich, white males. This is nothing new. It is how the story was first told back in the Middle Ages:
The rise of Capitalism had begun. The white males in power realized they would need an adequate, unlimited workforce in order to sustain this new found form of economic exploitation. They realized in order to control the number of workers, they must control the number of births, therefore the need arose to control women's bodies.

The Catholic Church and State were united like never before:
-Sex for pleasure, and sex outside of marriage became a sin punishable by DEATH, and the offender would burn in hell for all eternity (as opposed to previously needing to complete a small number of prayers to wash away the offense).
-Using protective measure during sex was also forbidden, since the Church now decreed that the result of sex should only be to bear children.
-Women were now held responsible for the sins both men and women committed during intercourse.
-Young unmarried women were even encouraged to disfigure themselves in order for men to NOT find them attractive, and therefore not want to have sex with them.

-Women were being push out of industries they once owned (brewing ale, textile production, laundry service, sale of goods at markets) Men took over these industries as they became more profitable with new technology. Therefore, women were increasingly kept in the home with little to no capital.
-Urbanization brought men to the cities and women again were kept at home, tending to fields and raising children.
**-Midwives were accused of killing Christian babies, delivering women out of wedlock and preforming abortions, most were stripped of their duties UNLESS they became spies for the State.
-Expecting mothers were brought to hospitals where male doctors with degrees delivered their babies. (women were rarely allowed to attend the universities). They convinced many women that midwives were a threat, with little knowledge and dirty methods.

-Finally, any women who spoke out against these oppressive changes were accused of Witchcraft. Over 400,000 women were burned at the stake, dismembered, drowned or tortured to death under such accusations. Many women learned if they did not speak out, they would not be killed. They stayed in the homes, had many children and laid the groundforce for Capitalism.

Source: 3 Independent Studies I took on "Women and Work in the Middle Ages," at SUNY New Paltz.


Today the abortion ban points toward the same goals: To uphold Capitalism and to uphold the beliefs of the Catholic/Christian Churches.

Today we must not be afraid, and we must not back down. We need everyone to be united in order to lift this ban and prevent the authorities from taking any further steps to control women's bodies.

Separate Bedrooms?

Solving the snoring problem...
Or encouraging marriage for money? maybe breeding partners? a scenic trip back to 1950? or houses designed specially for those who are just complacent enough to ride out a hate filled marriage.

Either way, it sounds like an excuse to me.












~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Or if you don't have the commitment needed to propose, you can hire someone to dump your partner for you. Just pay a small fee and you're rid of responsibility.














Can you stand how everyone keeps giving their autonomy away?
Can you believe how emotionally detached we are?
Who's to blame?

Why, its Capitalism
And You.

Don't ever let someone else live your life for you.
Don't ever settle for anything less than what you desire.

There is no such thing as "too good to be true." what sick fuck got you to believe that?

The Price of Treason

The Price of Treason: brought to you by NIN


art to the next level.
above the hypocrisy.
shining in the light.

Its time for the word "citizen" to stop being synonymous with "victim"

Christians, right?

Those crazy Christians may be on to something...

In reference to the new number system, linking license # to state ID #:
"The book of Revelation that say humans will be "marked … so that no one can buy or sell who does not have that mark" as a prophecy of a global numerical control system to be used by the beast, or antichrist. The number would be used during the Great Tribulation, which some Christians believe will precede the second coming of Jesus."

I do consider Capitalism to be "the beast." A global numbering system sounds like too much control to me. But instead of the end being brought by Jesus, I think it will be closer to the system collapsing on itself, and life returning to a more natural form.

I don't see disaster,
I see hope.

Curse Against Bush

According to the Tecumseh Legend, Bush is cursed to die.

"How else to explain the horrifying sequence of seven American presidents who did not live to see the end of their mandates in the strict periods of 20 years."

Ha. nice. just gives the Democrats another reason not to take action and impeach him...

Victory!

Turns out that people can still make a difference...

Over 50 acres of wetland/farmland is now under permanent protection in New Paltz. It cost nearly 1 million dollars, but the funds were raised and now investors and contractors can't get their greedy hands on this precious land.



photos taken by me!

Are you serious?

Would the government and FBI really misuse the Patriot Act?

Oh snap, they did. But don't worry, they're super sorry and pinky swear that they will never do it again.

I can't tell if this is good news or just more disturbing news. Well, I suppose it's not disturbing since I assumed they would abuse this power to the max... And it must be good news because their corruption is being publicly displayed and criticized, which should make people less likely to support future renewals of this act.

If the democrats are of any use, they will disable this intrusive act, along with No Child Left Behind, the Clean Air Act and all the other dumb shite the president has thought up or signed into law (and by signed I mean made a few incoherent marks in or around the area he was supposed to write his name) during the past 7 years.

It sure is going to take a lot of time, effort, intelligence and money to fix this country. . . I vote we just hit the reset button.

Further Intrusion of our Privacy

Bush has proposed that websites must keep records of everyone who uploads a video or picture, in case something is illegal and police need to investigate.

Sure it sounds like they have our safety in mind, but what they are really doing is taking the first amendment right out of our hands. So what if I decide to upload an anarchist picture? Will the CIA decide that Anarchism falls under the category of Terrorism? Will I be investigated? Brought to court? Excommunicated? Executed?

Honestly, I don't want to find out. And I am going to watch what I upload from my computer.

And there in lies the key: Self-Policing.

I hate this administration more and more everyday...

Clean Up Day

On Clean Up Australia Day, more than 1 million people collected over 8,000 tons of trash. Now that is showing some initiative.

But we can also make a difference at home. Here is some info for those who live in the Hudson Valley in upstate NY:
GREAT RIVER SWEEP, April 2007
Long Dock, Beacon, NY
Join Hudson Valley Pack and Paddle for this years volunteer cleanup on the Beacon Waterfront as part of Scenic Hudson's Great River Sweep. The Great River Sweep is an annual all-volunteer cleanup of the Hudson River watershed and for one week in April each year, hundreds of communities join to save our river. Hudson Valley Pack & Paddle's past cleanups have included the following locations: Long Dock, Beacon, three cleanups, the Wappingers Creek, two cleanups, Denning Point and the Fishkill Creek, two cleanups. We are very proud to have been able to remove over 300 cubic yards of trash, (about 8 big Dumpsters full) with the help of numerous volunteers over the last 7 years and with the support of Jim Popovich and Royal Carting

Or organize your own Hudson Valley Clean Sweep group!

For other national Clean Ups, visit the Earth 911 site

a little mix of updates...

Superior Court Judge Ronald C. Kline was sentenced to 27 months in a federal prison after a hacker breeched his computer, leading to the discovery of child pornography: Full Article

Apparently dropping sales in yellow "Support our Troops" ribbons could mean that people no longer support the war...or maybe their attention span just ran out: Full Article

Ann Coulter is a bitch: Video Clip



*And look out for the full eclipse of the moon, tonight March 3 between 5-7pm EST :)

Interrogation of an Artist

So what if he had a cardboard cut out of Bush on his front lawn...with a knife sticking in his head. Some of Michael McDonald's neighbors were so offended that they called the police. Who in turn called the Secret Service. The S.S. accused McDonald of threating the President's life.

Hm, wait. Let's do some math:

If < means "less than"
and > means "more than"
the following equation must be true:

1 man (Mr. Bush) < 3,135 U.S. Soldiers < 62,296 (max) Iraqi Citizens

So what IS the value of a life?
Shouldn't McDonald's neighbors be horrified and disgusted by all the lives the President has taken? Shouldn't Mr. Bush be the one interrogated and removed from office? (at the very least...)



for more up to the minute update on the war's death total, visit Wikipedia
see the artwork and read the article on Artist Michael McDonald

Greenest City in the World and more...

As of now will be London. Over the next 20 years, they plan to cut their carbon emissions by 60 percent:

read more about their comprehensive plan

Al Gore demonstrates how one can convert their home to Green power:

Gore purchased 108 blocks of “green power” for at least each of the last three months, according to a summary of bills from Nashville Electric Service.

That’s a total of $432 a month spent to pay extra for solar or other renewable energy sources. NES power – outside this program - is derived largely from coal, which emits carbon, a green house gas.

The green power purchased by Gore in those three months is equivalent to recycling 2.48 million aluminum cans, or recycling 286,092 pounds of newspaper, according to comparison figures on the utility's Web site.


(Of course, you can conserve more than Mr. Gore by not driving an SUV (hybrid or not) and having an enormous home to heat)

You can easily save the environment by:
-carpooling
-walk or biking riding to local stores
-buying local products (save on carbon emission from trucks would otherwise need to bring in goods from other areas of the country)
-using energy saver light bulbs
-recycling bottles, cans, paper
-picking up trash, instead of just stepping over it

UNCENSORED-Another artist againt the war...kinda

My friend showed me this video today, by Madonna, entitled, "American Life." Essentially, she is bashing not only the war our president started, but the way some of our more wasteful, self-centered, American citizens live, while also giving an accurate view of the pain and death that war causes.

Quite a truthful look at the situation, filmed even before the war started. Unfortunately, she did not release it in 2003, stating that it would be disrespectful to the troops.

Actually, you know what is disrespectful to the troops? Sending the off to die in a war that was started by lies.


Anyway, check it out: American Life

Art is Resistance

It is very exciting when artists, in any medium, use their power and popularity to project a positive message. Especially like the one that Trent Reznor is spreading as a precursor to his new album "Year Zero." All over the world, Reznor is leaving little clues that magnify the shift into totalitarianism in America. Added up, it's a call for a revolution, of non-violent resistance and art.

Check out Art is Resistance

and the message board for more details, clues and revelations.

See you in the frontlines.

why teaching for tests DOES NOT WORK

Apparently, students test scores are rising, but their ability to read is declining (see article )

Why? Because now teachers are so preoccupied with meeting the National Standards (set by President Bush, who, as one of my fifth graders fondly recalled, was a C student), that they are teaching specifically for the tests, and not for the students.

So, instead of releasing well rounded individuals into the world, we are sending out adults who are only capable of regurgitating "facts" and have no capacity to think beyond the box or question what they are told. But this is to be expected when politicians and corporations are running the show. All they are concerned with are profit and products. In this case, our dumbed down students are the product, becoming the malleable workforce of tomorrow, reaping in ridiculously high profits for our CEOs, while their own children are run through the same appalling education system.


The only way to end this is to take education back into the hands of the community, the teachers, the parents, and most importantly, the children.

Here is a great essay on this topic by Jonathan Taylor Gatto, former teacher, now turned education activist: Against School

Or if you really want to make a difference, get into the education system and help us change it from the inside out!!!I can guarantee some good professors here: Undergrad/Graduate Studies in Education
Or check out the Complete Listing of Colleges offering Educational Studies

Union of Concerned Scientists

Urge the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fulfill its responsibility for protecting our food by banning drug-producing safflower and other “pharma” food crops grown outdoors. Send a letter here: Keep Drugs out of our Food


And here is another letter to send, courtesy of the Union of Concerned Scientists, urging the Bush Administration not to produce new nuclear weapons: No New Nuclear Weapons

French President calls for revolution?

President Jacques Chirac opened a Paris conference on world environmental governance with a call for a green "revolution" to meet the challenges of global warming.

"Soon will come a day when climate change escapes all control. We are on the verge of the irreversible," Chirac told the meeting.

United Nations scientific report on global warming.

"Faced with this emergency, the time is not for half measures. The time is for a revolution -- a revolution of consciousness, a revolution of the economy. A revolution of political action."

Chirac opened the two-day gathering flanked by

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, head of the UN General Assembly Sheikha Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa and Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I.

"Our international political system is inadequate for dealing with the vital challenge of the 21st century -- the question of the environment," Chirac told the gathering of some 200 delegates, including environment ministers and scientists from more than 50 countries.

Warning that "in this area too, unilateralism leads to a dead-end," Chirac argued that the existing UN Environment Programme should be transformed into a full-blown United Nations Environment Agency (UNEA), with more far-reaching powers and greater means.

"This UNEA will carry the environmental conscience of the world," he said. "With a strong political mandate... it will give greater strength, greater coherence to our common action."

Chirac said the Paris conference aimed to build a coalition of support for the creation of such an agency, an idea widely backed in Europe but opposed by the United States, as well as emerging powers Brazil, China and India.

"We are, and rightly so, proud of our intelligence and our technical achievements. But in the space of a few centuries we have burned resources accumulated over millions of years," he told the gathering.

"We are destroying eco-systems that sheltered a biodiversity lost for ever, depriving ourselves of vital keys for the future. We know all this: so what are we waiting for to take the necessary measures?" he asked.

He called for a "radical transformation of our methods of production and consumption," calling for a break with past technologies and a massive shift towards clean energies such as solar power, and bio-energy.

"But to do so we need clear and loyal rules of competition. Either the international community works to create them, or we face 'ecological war'," he warned.

He said the effort must be "fairly shared," saying "northern countries, first to build their wealth on the mass exploitation of natural resources, must accept their responsibilities."

The assessment released on Friday by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said global warming was almost certainly caused by humans, and carbon pollution disgorged this century would disrupt the climate system for 1,000 years to come.

Reducing corruption?

The amount of money spent on earmarks ("public" projects, funded on govt money, in Senators' hometowns) reached totaled $47 billion in 2005 alone. From Teapot Museums to the Bridge to Nowhere, your representatives have effectively wasted your money. The earmarks are often sneaked into larger bills which are guaranteed to pass. The S.1 bill was drafted into order to put an end to extravagant earmarks and a number of other corrupt acts occurring in Congress. Last week, the bill passed 96 to 2. This sounds good in writing, but we'll to wait to see the actual results in Congress.

Taken from The Library of Congress

Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007 - Authorizes a point of order by any Senator against consideration of a conference report that includes any matter not committed to the conferees by either chamber.

Adds Rule XLIV (Earmarks) to the Standing Rules of the Senate to make it out of order to consider any Senate bill, amendment, or conference report, unless a list of all its earmarks, the identity of the Member or Members proposing them, and an explanation of their essential governmental purpose, along with any associated joint statement of managers, is made available to all Members, and to the general public on the Internet, for at least 48 hours before its consideration.

Amends Rule XXVIII (Conference Committee; Reports; Open Meetings) to make it out of order to consider a conference report unless it is available to all Members and the general public on the Internet for at least 48 hours before its consideration.

Amends Rule XXIII (Privilege of the Floor) to deny floor privileges (except for ceremonial functions and events) to former Senators and Senators elect, Secretaries, Sergeants at Arms of the Senate, and Speakers of the House of Representatives if they: (1) are registered lobbyists or agents of a foreign principal; or (2) are in the employ of or represent any party or organization for the purpose of influencing, directly, or indirectly, the passage, defeat, or amendment of any legislative proposal.

Amends Rule XXXV (Gifts) to exclude gifts from lobbyists or agents of a foreign principal from the gift ban exceptions.

Requires a Member, officer, or employee, before accepting otherwise permissible transportation or lodging from any person other than a governmental entity, to obtain a written certification from such person that includes certain disclaimers regarding a registered lobbyist or foreign agent. Prescribes additional disclosure requirements, including certain information regarding noncommercial air travel.

Amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require a publicly available report, in the case of a principal campaign committee of a federal candidate (other than one for President or Vice President), of any flight taken by the candidate on an aircraft not licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate for compensation or hire.

Amends Rule XXXVII (Conflict of Interest) to impose a one-year lobbying moratorium, upon leaving such position, on any employee on the staff of a Member or on the staff of a committee meeting specified rate of pay and congressional employment criteria.

Prohibits a Senator from directly negotiating or having any arrangement concerning prospective private employment until after the election for his or her successor has been held, unless public disclosure of such employment negotiations and arrangements is provided.

Requires a Member to prohibit all of his or her staff from having any official contact with the Member's spouse or immediate family member if such individual is a registered lobbyist or is employed or retained by a registered lobbyist to influence legislation.

Amends Rule XLIII (Representation by Members) to prohibit a Member, with the intent to influence on the basis of partisan political affiliation an employment decision or employment practice of any private entity, from: (1) taking or withholding, or offering or threatening to take or withhold, an official act; or (2) influencing, or offering or threatening to influence, the official act of another.

The Dangers of Fluoride, Part II

It took until 2006 for the ADA's alert, following the Food and Drug Administration's October disapproval of fluoridated bottled water marketed to babies,(6) and after the recent National Research Council's (NRC) fluoride report indicated babies are fluoride overdosed from "optimally" fluoridated water supplies (7).

Sources:
(6)FDA
(7)NAP

Yet Walmart continues to market Fluoridated Water for infants.
Sign the petition against Walmart here!



To learn about the negative effects of Fluoride
and why it is so dangerous, read below:

Fluoride & the Pineal Gland: Study Published in Caries Research

The wheels of science grind very slowly. Finally, the first half of the work that was the subject of Jennifer Luke's Ph.D. thesis; presentation in Bellingham, Washington (ISFR conference) in 1998 and a videotaped interview I had with her (see www.fluoridealert.org/videos.htm), has been published in Caries Research.

In my view this work is of enormous importance and could be (or should be) the scientific straw that breaks the camel's back of fluoridation.

When Luke found out that the pineal gland - a little gland in the center of the brain, responsible for a very large range of regulating activities (it produces serotonin and melatonin) - was also a calcifying tissue, like the teeth and the bones, she hypothesized it would concentrate fluoride to very high levels. The gland is not protected by the blood brain barrier and has a very high perfusion rate of blood, second only to the kidney.

Luke had 11 cadavers analyzed in the UK. As she predicted she found astronomically high levels of fluoride in the calcium hydroxy apatite crystals produced by the gland. The average was 9000 ppm and went as high as 21,000 in one case. These levels are at, or higher, than fluoride levels in the bones of people suffering from skeletal fluorosis. It is these findings which have just been published.

It is the ramifications of these findings which have yet to be published. In the second half of her work she treated animals (Mongolian gerbils) with fluoride at a crack pineal gland research unit at the University of Surrey, UK (so there is no question about the quality of this work). She found that melatonin production (as measured by the concentration of a melatonin metabolite in the urine) was lower in the animals treated with high fluoride levels compared with those treated with low levels.

Luke hypothesizes that one of the four enzymes needed to convert the amino acid tryptophan (from the diet) into melatonin is being inhibited by fluoride. It could be one of the two enzymes which convert tryptophan to serotonin or one of the two which convert serotonin to melatonin.

Significance? Huge. Melatonin is reponsible for regulating all kinds of activities and there is a vast amount of work investigating its possible roles in aging, cancer and many other life processes. The one activity that Luke is particularly interested in is the onset of puberty. The highest levels of melatonin ( produced only at night) is generated in young children. It is thought that it is the fall of these melatonin levels which acts like a biological clock and triggers the onset of puberty. In her gerbil study she found that the high fluoride treated animals were reaching puberty earlier than the low fluoride ones.

We know from recent studies - and considerable press coverage - that young girls are reaching puberty earlier and earlier in the US. Luke is not saying that fluoride (or fluoridation) is the cause but her work waves a very worrying red flag. Fluoride's role in earlier puberty needs more thorough investigation. Of an interesting historical note, in the Newburgh versus Kingston fluoridation trial (1945-1955), it was found that the girls in fluoridated Newburgh were reaching menstruation, on average, five months earlier than the girls in unfluoridated Kingston, but the result was not thought to be significant at the time (Schlessinger et al, 1956).

When one considers the seriousness of a possible interference by fluoride on a growing child's pineal gland (and for that matter, elderly pineal glands) it underlines the recklessness of fluoridation. The precautionary principle would say, as would basic common sense, that you don't take these kind of risks with our children for a benefit which, at best, amounts to 0.6 tooth surfaces out of 128 tooth surfaces in a child's mouth (Brunelle and Carlos, 1990, Table 6).

For more information please visit:

Fluoride Statement

Fluoride Accumulates in Pineal Gland

the true timeline of Saddam

A short, accurate film of the CIA's real relationship with Saddam Hussien:

http://www.bushflash.com/thanks.html

The US government put this man in power, armed him deadly weapons, and used him to their short-sighted advantages. It is not a coincidence that at this point in 2006, this all time low in troop moral and public faith in the president, Saddam is executed. A cellphone video of the hanging is "leaked" onto the internet. All these actions of US propaganda are designed to justify the unjustifiable war on Iraq.

Well, no one cares anymore because we can see through these loosely knit lies. Even if it actually was Saddam being executed in that video (remember, he had countless body doubles) it doesn't matter. There are so many other leaders/generals/psychopaths alive who have committed even greater war crimes and crimes against humanity. Let's even the playing field and kill them all.

Or what if we confront murderers with compassion, instead of sinking to their own cruel levels. Is it possible we could create a better world if we replace the tactics of hate and fear with understanding and love? This mode of thought has worked in the past: In Iroquois culture, capital punishment and prison were never installed; instead, violators were reintegrated into society, with serious offenders sentenced to community service. This method of living worked for centuries, until the arrival of the Europeans and their backwards ways. Unfortunately, we have been stuck in that cycle ever since.

So it is up to people like you and me to change this pattern and develop a more civilized, thoughtful and caring way of life. Start right at home with how you treat your neighbors, friends and family. Take time to talk with the people who bag your groceries, sweep your floors and pump your gas. The world will start to change the moment we begin treating each other like human beings.

Sincerley,

The Professional Revolutionists