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Irshad Manji

Posted on Jul 8th, 2007 by rhobherto : karmic furnace rhobherto
Irshad-abu-dis



caught a talk by irshad manji, speaking at the american library association conference, and broadcast on cspan.  had seen her a couple of other times speaking on "news" programs, trading sound bytes, and didn't really connect with her.  but listening to her yesterday, i found her story very compelling.  AND she shared an excellent idea: microcredit for muslim women around the world -- a particularly relevant application of the micro-lending revolution pioneered by muhammad yunus and the grameen bank.

found this transcribed interview [pdf] where she discusses the idea, starting on page 3.

bright stuff.
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dear Beloved

Posted on Jul 8th, 2007 by rhobherto : karmic furnace rhobherto
Macy Gray - I Try




I Try


Games, changes and fears
When will they go from here
When will they stop
I believe that fate has brought us here
And we should be together, babe
But we're not
I play it off, but I'm dreaming of you
I'll keep my cool, but I'm feigning

I try to say goodbye and I choke
Try to walk away and I stumble
Though I try to hide it, it's clear
My world crumbles when you are not near
Goodbye and I choke
I try to walk away and I stumble
Though I try to hide it, it's clear
My world crumbles when you are not near

I may appear to be free
But I'm just a prisoner of your love
And I may seem all right and smile when you leave
But my smiles are just a front
Just a front, hey
I play it off, but I'm dreaming of you
I'll keep my cool, but I'm feigning

I try to say goodbye and I choke
Try to walk away and I stumble
Though I try to hide it, it's clear
My world crumbles when you are not near
Goodbye and I choke
I try to walk away and I stumble
Though I try to hide it, it's clear
My world crumbles when you are not near
Here is my confession
May I be your possession
Boy, I need your touch
Your love kisses and such
With all my might I try
But this I can't deny
Deny

I play it off, but I'm dreaming of you
(but I'm dreaming of you babe)
I'll keep my cool, but I'm feigning

I try to say goodbye and I choke (yeah)
Try to walk away and I stumble
Though I try to hide, it's clear
My world crumbles when you are not near
(when you are not near aahh)
Goodbye and I choke (yeah, yeah, yeah)
I try to walk away and I stumble (hey, hey, hey)
Though I try to hide it, it's clear (sick of love)
My world crumbles when you are not near (your love, kisses and)

Goodbye and I choke (I'm choking)
I try to walk away and I stumble
Though I try to hide it, it's clear
My world crumbles when you are not near
(when you are not there, yeah, yeah yeah)
Yeah, yeah..





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RFK, Jr

Posted on Jul 12th, 2007 by rhobherto : karmic furnace rhobherto

http://aura0.zaadz.com/photos/3/24900/large/RobertFKennedyJr_BW.jpg?



Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. gave a rousing speech at the new york venue of the recent Live Earth concerts. 

as videos of the speech appear on the web, microsoft (MSN) has been getting them yanked as "copyrighted" material.

here is a portion of the speech (while it lasts), with still images and a rush transcript:

RFK JR -- Live Earth



"The most important thing you can do is to get involved in the political process and get rid of all these rotten politicians that we have in Washington D. C."

"...the next time you see John Stossel or Glen Beck or Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity, ...lying to the American public and telling you that global warming doesn't exist. You send an email to their advertisers and tell them you're not going to buy their products any more."


TRANSCRIPT Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at Giants Stadium Live Earth 7 July, 2007


Now we've all heard the oil industry and the coal industry and their indentured servants in the political process telling us that global climate stability is a luxury that we can't afford.

That we have to choose now between economic prosperity on the one hand and environmental protection on the other.

And that is a false choice.

In one hundred percent of the situations good environmental policy is identical to good economic policy.

If we want to measure our economy, and this is how we ought to be measuring it, based upon how it produces jobs and the dignity of jobs over the generations, how it preserves the values of the assets of our community and how it averts the catastrophe of global warming.

If on the other hand, we want to do what they have been urging us to do on capitol hill, which is to treat the planet as if it were a business in liquidation, convert our natural resources to cash as quickly as possible, have a few years of pollution based prosperity.

We can generate an instantaneous cash flow and the illusion of a prosperous economy but our children are going to pay for our joy ride.

With denuded landscapes, with poor health, with huge cleanup costs and with climate chaos which is going to amplify over time and that they will never be able to pay.

Environmental injury is deficit spending.

It's a way of loading the costs of our generations prosperity onto the backs of our children.

Climate change is upon us, its impacts are going to be catastrophic and we are causing it.

The good news is we have the scientific and technological capacity to avert its most catastrophic impacts.

We only need the political will.

If we raise fuel economy standards in our automobiles by one mile per gallon we generate twice the amount of oil that's in the Arctic Wildlife National Refuge.

If we raise fuel economy standards by 7.6 miles per gallon we yield more oil than we now import from the Persian gulf.

We can eliminate one hundred percent of Persian gulf oil.

Think about, what that would do for our economy, for our foreign policy, for our global leadership.

It would dramatically improve our balance of payments.

Reduce our national debt and make all of us more prosperous and more independent and spare us from wars in the mid east that are costing us all ready a trillion dollars and from entanglements with mid eastern dictators who despise democracy and are hated by their own people.

Now you've heard today a lot of people say that there are many little things that you all can do to avert climate change on your own.

But I will tell you this.

It is more important than buying compact fluorescent light bulbs, or that buying a fuel efficient automobile.

The most important thing you can do is to get involved in the political process and get rid of all these rotten politicians that we have in Washington D. C.

Who are nothing more than corporate toadies for companies like Exxon and Southern Company, these villainous companies that consistently put their private financial interest ahead of American interests and ahead of the interests of all of humanity.

This is treason and we need to start treating them now as traitors.

And they have their slick public relations firms and their phony think tanks in Washington D. C. and their crooked scientists who are lying to the American People day after day after day.

And we have a press that has completely let down American democracy.

That's giving us Anna Nicole Smith and Paris Hilton instead of the issues that we need to understand to make rational decisions in a democracy.

Like global warming.

And so I got to tell you this that the next time you see John Stossel or Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity, these flat-earthers, these corporate toadies, lying to you, lying to the American public and telling you that global warming doesn't exist.

You send an email to their advertisers and tell them you're not going to buy their products any more.

And I want you to remember this; that we are not protecting the environment for the sake of the fishes and the birds, we're protecting it because Nature is the infrastructure of our communities.

And if we want to meet our obligation as a generation, as a civilization, as a nation, which is to create communities for our children.

That provide them with the same opportunities for dignity and enrichment and good health and prosperity and stability as the communities that our parents gave us, we've got to start by protecting our environmental infrastructure.

The air we breathe, the water we drink, the wildlife the public lands the things that connect us to our past to our history that provide context to our communities and that are the source ultimately of our values and our virtues and our character as people and the future of our children and I will see all of you on the barricades.


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stuck in my head

Posted on Jul 12th, 2007 by rhobherto : karmic furnace rhobherto

watched  the jet li, morgan freeman, bob hoskins, and kerry condon flick, unleashed, recently.  amidst all its raw brutality, i sobbed wracking gobs of tears for all its "no place like home" sentimentality; and got this song,  that plays as the credits roll, stuck in my head.


Thea - Baby Boy



"ma-ma!"



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cannabis on the tube

Posted on Jul 12th, 2007 by rhobherto : karmic furnace rhobherto
Cannabis





like kdubya, "I myself am not a weed afficiando."  nonetheless, caught a couple of excellent documentaries that examine the challenges faced by some of the advocates of the decriminalization of industrial hemp and medical marijuana: Standing Silent Nation and In Pot We Trust.  the prevailing, "reefer madness" hysteria that continues in this country to criminalize this extraordinary weed is where the real insanity lies on this subject.

Standing Silent Nation also highlights the perennial tragedy and unmitigated plight of the indigenous people of the Pine Ridge Reservation.

see on the SSN site, Hemp For Victory.

cannot find an online translation of "strength," into Lakota.  but wish Alex White Plume and others that and more.


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citizen's arrest campaign?

Posted on Jul 16th, 2007 by rhobherto : karmic furnace rhobherto
Mpeachw





dialed up a dear friend yesterday, who, at the time, was reading something about the "strategy" (or lack thereof) of the Democratic Party in conflict with the plainly villianous Bush/Cheney administration.  myself, i'd just dashed off some emails to Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, House Judiciary Committee Chairman, John Conyers, and my own New Mexico representatives, urging the instigation of impeachment hearings for King George and Lord Bruce.  the two of us commisserated in our outrage-fatigue -- perplexed, as most political progressives seem to be, as to What To Do?

an excellent conversation on Bill Moyer's Journal recently, on the subject of impeachment, has pushed me off the fence on this matter once and for all.  whatever else i am, i am henceforth an advocate for the impeachment of the President and Vice President, and will agitate, to whatever extent i can, toward this end.

perhaps but another brain-fart destined for the dustbin (like my non-materialized notion to build and publically topple a statue of the Dim Son -- gdubya -- prior to the '04 election -- "regime change starts at home!"), spoke aloud, to my friend on the phone, the idea of mounting a "citizen's arrest" campaign, aimed at George and Dick: "Posse [Something-or-Other]."  perhaps it could go "viral," and get something started.


see:


Let's Impeach the President, by Neil Young

A Constitutional Duty: IMPEACH in 2007, by Seymour Hersh

The Case for Impeachment, by Lewis Lapham

Why Bush Hasn't Been Impeached, by Gary Kamiya

Impeach Cheney, by Bruce Fein

The Misunderestimated Mr. Cheney, by John Dean

Impeaching the Shadow Master, Bernard Weiner

Impeachment, by Scott Horton



cc:

Ruckus Society , MoveOn, Michael Moore, Larry Kramer, Robert Kennedy, Jr., Daily Kos, Firedoglake, Bernard Weiner, Brad Friedman, Justin Raimondo, Cindy Sheehan, Scott Horton, LANIC


http://aura1.zaadz.com/photos/23/225417/large/Women_in_protest.jpg?




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"BREAKING NEWS: Santa Claus attempts to arrest President Bush!"

Posted on Jul 20th, 2007 by rhobherto : karmic furnace rhobherto






haven't heard a peep about my "citizen's arrest" idea (see last entry).  but, still turning the idea over in my head, i posted another note, here, yet wondering if i might get something started.

spelled out the idea again of a citizen, or slew of citizens, attempting to place King George and Lord Bruce under arrest -- principally for having committed "the supreme international crime," their war of aggression against Iraq:

    To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime;
it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes
in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.

~ Robert H. Jackson -- cheif US prosecutor at the Nuremberg Tribunals


began to conclude in a fit of pique and self-deprecation: 'yeah, right. maybe i can enlist the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus in this effort, too.'  like, that's the end of that.

but then it stuck me: what if even "Santa Claus" showed up to arrest George or Dick?  and the Tooth Fairy, and Mickey Mouse, and any number of other concerned citizens?

hmmm?


cc: Code Pink, Michael Moore

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Portugal's ambitious "just say no to oil" plans

Posted on Jul 21st, 2007 by rhobherto : karmic furnace rhobherto







PORTUGAL: Making Up for Lost Time in Renewable Energy
, By Mario de Queiroz

LISBON, Jun 20 (IPS) - For decades, Portugal basically ignored the infinite possibilities proffered by its geographical conditions for producing clean energy. But that is starting to change, and the country is now among those that are putting the strongest emphasis on alternative energy sources.

The most abundant sunlight in Europe, strong winds from the Atlantic Ocean to the west, strong flowing rivers and huge ocean waves have long been disregarded in this South European country, which has chosen instead to pour a large part of its revenues into paying its bulky oil bill.

But Portugal is now one of the countries in the 27-member European Union (EU) with the most ambitious alternative energy goals, having set a target for 45 percent of its electricity to be produced from alternative sources by 2015. . .



see too: Wave farms show energy potential, By Jason Margolis


Go Portugal!
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agitate, repeat

Posted on Jul 22nd, 2007 by rhobherto : karmic furnace rhobherto







still running with the "citizen's arrest" thing.  did some more web searching today.  and, wow!, lot's of folks are getting this bug.

posted the following comment, here.



A recent Bill Moyer’s Journal piece on “Impeachment” ended my fence sitting on this question. Impeach King George and Lord Bruce NOW!

Also, wanting to lessen my outrage fatigue and answer the ever-present question, “What to do?,” the notion of a citizen’s arrest campaign recently popped into my head, too. (hundreth monkey?) A web search on this issue led me here. (Thank you!, btw) Seems there is a rising groundswell of interest and discussion of this subject.

see, for example:

Citizen’s Arrest: In Pursuit of Accountability in U.S. Foreign Policy

YouTube - Arrest Warrant for Bush/Cheney


As ever: How to focus and challenge this energy, this effort?

Writing about this a couple of days ago, in what started as a concluding fit of pique and self-deprecation, I wrote, ’Maybe I can enlist Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy in this effort, too.’

But then I thought,’Wait a second! No, seriously! What if, among others, even “Santa Claus” showed up to arrest George and Dick?

“BREAKING NEWS: Santa Claus attempts to arrest President Bush — delivers warrant at White House!”

Mickey Mouse, even.’


Almost certainly, arrest would result from such an effort — arrest of the concerned citizen. But recall the southern blacks who, only 40 years ago, peacefully and patiently stood in line to enter a “White’s Only” diner, sit at the counter, and get arrested — one, after another, after another.

I would join a similar line formed in front of the White House, the Naval Observatory (Cheney’s digs), or any event at which George or Dick appear.

You, me, Martin Sheen, and even Saint Nick (he is pissed!).

Let’s do this!


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dear Beloved

Posted on Jul 25th, 2007 by rhobherto : karmic furnace rhobherto


take my hand


(i could use some of your strength right about now)



Alanis Morissette "Thank You"



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