The following is an update from
Suzanne Taylor and TheConversation.org Making
Sense of These Times Website. Thank
you for your interest. If you wish to be removed from this list at any time,
just let us know.
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Featured Conversation:
Joe Simonetta, Senior Editor of the World Business Academy and author of
Seven Words That Can Change the World
Suzanne's
comments: There's a conversation underway, revolving around Joe
Simonetta and his wonderful book, "Seven Words That Can Change the World." It
proposes a new definition of sacredness that all people of good will could
subscribe to, whereby the book could become a unifying force for a new story we
tell about reality. The handful of participants, who each have significant
transformational work of their own (read the Allan Savory talk that we link to
-- it is sensational), all have read Joe's book. What we're talking about in
the latest post is how to use the Net to create an
alignment -- building on a previous post where we talk about creating "something
that is ongoing and participatory, so that we're starting something, not just
selling something. Maybe it's the planting of a new seed as the new story, and
we field conversation that comes back, with selective posting so people can read
it and feel like they are part of something that's
developing."
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Column from Geov Parrish:
The Doomsday Regime: The Bush Administration is Hurdling us Toward
Armageddon -- March 11, 2002
Suzanne's
comment: Geov apologizes for harping on a theme, "but it seems like
every week brings us a measurable step closer to this completely unnecessary
brink." If there's anything you haven't thought yourself about how terrifying
Bush's new nuclear pronouncement is,
Geov has covered it in this brilliant column, which has this chilling end: "Six
months ago today, the world was horrified by the devastation in New York, D.C.,
and Pennsylvania. Since then, it has been doubly horrified by the Bush
Administration's exploitation of a few thousand tragic deaths to set in motion a
series of policy decisions, based explicitly upon an aggressive desire for
military domination of the world for up to the next 50 years, that if pursued
for any length of time will unquestionably kill tens of millions, including many
of us. If not all life on earth. No wonder he's not worried about global
warming."
Other
quotes drawn from the column:
"...George W. Bush is planning to destroy the world...
a dramatic and terrifying change in recent U.S. military policy...
"...Bush's nuclear planning is far more sickening than
it appears at first glance. (And that's saying something.)...nuclear weaponry in
2002 bears
about as much resemblance to that of 1945 as today's
computers do to the very first prototypes. 2002's nukes are far more
destructive...
"...if the world's assorted dictators, departments of
"defense," and terrorist cells weren't already inclined to consider weapons of
mass destruction, of whatever sort they can afford, they will now see a
compelling reason to invest in them...the fraudulently-elected George W. Bush
has almost single-handedly made the world an infinitely more dangerous
place...
"The track record suggests Bush and Rumsfeld are just
insane and arrogant enough to use such weapons; but if they don't, chances are
pretty good they'll have created the "moral" space for someone else to use
them...This document also comes at a time when -- due to U.S. actions in
Afghanistan alone -- countless scores of thousands of Muslims have newly pledged
themselves to martyrdom."
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Other
additions to our Quotes section:
"War without end is likely to have — indeed is already
having — profound consequences for the American constitutional system. It tends
to produce the very thing that the framers of the Constitution most feared:
concentrated, unaccountable political power...
"War inevitably produces
an exaltation of presidential power. The president is commander in chief of the
armed forces — a distinctive feature of the American system — and in wartime
people tend to fall in behind the commander...The danger lies in political use
of that wartime popularity...
"Secrecy is a second threat to the constitutional
premise. The Bush administration is the most secretive Washington has seen in
years...
"Civil liberties have often been overridden in times of crisis
and war — as in the removal of Japanese-Americans from the West Coast in World
War II. Those occasions were followed by regrets and apologies. But how will we
protect civil liberties in a war without end?"
Taking Our
Liberties
Anthony Lewis
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/09/opinion/09LEWI.html [Access to this article requires (free)
registration on the New York Times Website.]
"There is something about this new, intensely violent,
stage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that is starting to feel like the fuse
for a much larger war of civilizations. You can smell it in the incredibly foul
wind blowing through the Arab-Muslim world these days. It is a wind that is fed
by many sources: the (one-sided) Arab TV images of Israelis brutalizing
Palestinians, the Arab resentment of America's support for Israel and its threat
against Iraq, the frustrations of young Arabs with their own lack of freedom and
jobs. But once these forces are all bundled together, they express themselves in
the most heated anti-Israeli and anti-American sentiments that I've ever felt...
"'The question is whether Palestinian extremists will do what bin Laden
could not: trigger a civilizational war,' said the Middle East analyst Stephen
P. Cohen. 'If you are willing to give up your own life and that of thousands of
your own people, the overwhelming power of America and Israel does not deter you
any more. We are now on the cusp of the extremists' realizing this destructive
power, before the majority is mobilized for an alternative. That's why this
Israeli-Palestinian war is not just a local ethnic conflict that we can ignore.
It resonates with too many millions of people, connected by too many satellite
TV's, with too many dangerous weapons.'"
A Foul Wind
Thomas
L. Friedman
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/10/opinion/10FRIE.html [Access to this article requires (free)
registration on the New York Times Website.]
Other quotes, that appear on the site in the
Quotes section, are in bold in the Five Star Piece below.
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Five Star Piece: Kucinich Rocks the
Boat, John Nichols -- Published in the March 25, 2002 edition of The
Nation
Suzanne's comments: This is a
perfect companion piece to Michael Moore's letter, our last Five Star Piece. It
reports on the overwhelming response to a speech by Dennis Kucinich -- again, we
see that those who oppose the Bush mania for war and other atrocities are very
alive and very well. Next thing you know, we could become a force. This report,
with a link to the fabulous Kucinich speech, gets it right -- after umpteen
emails that have it wrong -- that Barbara Lee was the first heroic
Congressperson to oppose giving Bush war power. With people like Barbara and
Dennis and Michael out there, we all can
breathe a little easier -- and step up our efforts to rally ourselves.
"[Kucinich] admits he underestimated the depth of the discomfort until February
17, when he delivered a speech to the Southern California Americans for
Democratic Action, in which he declared, 'Let us pray that our country will stop
this war.'...Kucinich's 'Prayer for America' speech was interrupted by repeated
standing ovations. But the real measure of the message's resonance came as the
text of the speech circulated on the Internet - - where a genuine worldwide web
of opposition to the Administration's actions led to the posting of Kucinich's
words on websites and dispatched them via e-mail."
Dennis Kucinich never doubted that millions of
Americans had deep concerns about George W. Bush's ever-expanding war on
ill-defined foes abroad and on civil liberties at home. But the
Congressional Progressive Caucus chair admits he underestimated
the depth of the discomfort until February 17, when he delivered a speech to the
Southern California Americans for Democratic Action, in which he declared, "Let
us pray that our country will stop this war."
Recalling the Congressional vote authorizing the
President's response to the September 11 terrorist attacks--a resolution
supported by Kucinich and all but one member of Congress, California Democrat
Barbara Lee--the Ohioan thundered, "We did not authorize an eye for an eye. Nor
did we ask that the blood of innocent people, who perished on September 11, be
avenged with the blood of innocent villagers in Afghanistan. We did not
authorize the Administration to wage war anytime, anywhere, anyhow it pleases.
We did not authorize war without end. We did not authorize a permanent war
economy. Yet we are upon the threshold of a permanent war economy."
Kucinich's "Prayer for America" speech was
interrupted by repeated standing ovations. But the real measure of the
message's resonance came as the text
of the speech circulated on the Internet--where a genuine worldwide web of
opposition to the Administration's actions led to the posting of Kucinich's
words on websites (including TheNation.com) and dispatched them via
e-mail. Within days, Kucinich received 10,000-plus e-mails. Many echoed
New Jerseyan Thomas Minet's sentiments: "Since the 'Axis of Evil' State of the
Union Address, I have been searching like Diogenes with his lantern for one
honest person in Congress who would have the guts to speak out about the attack
on Democracy being mounted by the Bush Administration. It has been a frustrating
search indeed, and I was just about ready to give up hope when I ran across 'A
Prayer for America.' Thank God for this man's courage." Others simply read,
"Kucinich for President."
For Kucinich, a former Cleveland mayor who led
Democratic opposition to the US bombing of Yugoslavia and proposed establishing
a Cabinet-level Department of Peace, speaking out against military adventuring
is not new. But he says he's never experienced so immediate and enthusiastic a
response. "We can't print out the messages as fast as we are receiving them," he
says. "But I've read through a lot of them now, and they touch on the same
themes: The Administration's actions are no longer appropriate, and it is time
for Congress to start asking questions. The people understand something most of
Congress does not: There is nothing unpatriotic about challenging this
Administration's policies."
Kucinich was not the first Congressmember to express
concern about Bush's plans. Lee cast her cautionary vote in September. In
October, responding to reports of civilian casualties in Afghanistan,
Representative Jim McDermott criticized the speed with which the Administration
had taken military action and the failure of the White House to adequately
consult Congress. In December, Kucinich, McDermott and Lee joined five other
House Democrats in signing a letter to Bush, written by Representative Tammy
Baldwin, which noted, "We are concerned by those in your Administration and
among our own ranks in the Congress who appear to be making the case for broad
expansion of this military campaign beyond Afghanistan. Without presenting clear
and compelling evidence that other nations were involved in the September 11
attacks, it is inappropriate to expand the conflict." Another letter, by
Representative Peter DeFazio, called on the White House to comply with the War
Powers Resolution before expanding the war. In February Senator Robert Byrd said
that Congress should no longer hand the President a "blank check." Senate
majority leader Tom Daschle suggested the war "will have failed" without the
capture of Osama bin Laden--a statement rebuked by Republicans, who want no
measure of success or failure applied to this war.
But Kucinich's speech was a clarion call. "For most
people, Kucinich's speech represents the clearest Congressional criticism they
have heard about the conduct of the war, and of the Administration's plans to
expand it. That's enormously significant," said Midge Miller, who helped launch
Senator Eugene McCarthy's antiwar challenge to President Lyndon Johnson in 1967.
"Citizens look for Congressional opposition to organize around--they look for
leaders to say something. When I read Kucinich's speech, I thought, This could
be a turning point."
It has certainly been a turning point for Kucinich.
Overwhelmed by invitations to speak, he says his top priority will be to work
with Baldwin and others to encourage a broader Congressional debate over
international priorities, Pentagon spending and the stifling of dissent. Expect
battles in the House Democratic Caucus, where minority leader Dick Gephardt has
been more cautious than Daschle about criticizing Bush. But Kucinich thinks more
Democrats will begin to echo Senator Byrd's challenge to blank-check military
spending in a time of tight budgets. Kucinich plans to encourage
grassroots activists to tell members of Congress it is not merely necessary but
politically safe to challenge "the Patriot Games, the Mind Games, the War Games
of an unelected President and his unelected Vice President."
Kucinich, whose working-class district elected a
conservative Republican before him, is confident Democrats from even the most
competitive districts can safely join him in questioning the war. "The
key," he says, "is to recognize that there is a great deal of unity in America
around some basic values: peace and security, protection of the planet, a good
quality of life for themselves and for others. When people express their
patriotism, they are not saying--as some would suggest--that they no longer
believe in these things. There's nothing unpatriotic about asserting human
values and defending democratic principles. A lot of Americans are telling me
this is the highest form of patriotism."
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