Category Archives: war

Passages and Peace

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The dear lady that passed on in our building left behind some wonderful gifts–we were apparently like-minded, but she had barriers up and wouldn’t let people in.  I knew that she had been hurt to put up those boundaries, so I gave her that space to feel protected.  It’s a loss, however, as I have learned she had a B.S. degree and loved to read the same kinds of books I love to read.

One of those books, The Birth House by Ami McKay, had me reading it all weekend.  It’s rare that I read a book through, but since I have an interest in midwifery, I had to find out “what happened next” in the book.  As one of the commenters on the Powell’s website said, I would have liked a little more complexity to the main characters.  There’s something that’s nagging at me but I can’t bring it up to the front of my brain right now–

In the book, the main character, Dora Rare, eventually marries a man who is a conscientious objector.  Archer is the son of a wealthy widow and his objecting to the war brings scorn from a group of the women, who give him a white feather to show the world he’s a *coward*.  (the book goes on to portray him as a drunk who forces himself upon Dora–another issue with the book is that there are no men who are main characters who are good guys–this bothers me greatly.)

I had forgotten about the  custom of pinning white feathers on men during the wars…

…and then I thought of how the white feather was used.  I think that would be a powerful statement–putting a white feather on one’s clothing to show the world that you were objecting to war.  More powerful, perhaps, than the peace sign?

And as is stated in the book, the wearing of the feather brings about such controversy.  Why?

Why is it so difficult to live in peace?  From my parents’ generation (WWII) to my generation (Vietnam) to my children’s generation (Iraq, Afghanistan)…none of us have known a time without war.  Living in such times makes it so much harder to even grasp what a world would be without war…to actually know peace…

Why should one feel guilty or a coward for wanting peace?

I used to think that way before my own metamorphosis, but came to  see how badly the conscientious objectors were treated–how the youth of the Vietnam era went to Canada and were told by their parents that they would turn them over to authorities if they tried to come back home.  It took courage to leave anyway.  Or how they were beaten, hosed down with water, arrested, etc.  I now see standing up against war as an act of courage.

Even now, it takes courage to speak out against war.  You’re viewed as unpatriotic.

And with every holiday being tied to the military, it gets harder and harder for those advocating peace to speak out.

And one never hears about the Quakers, the Church of the Brethren, or the Amish–the religions who do not believe in war….it’s only the religions who somehow have managed to link Good Christians with the military that are promoted.

And the question that they cannot answer is:  Who would Jesus bomb?

Big Bird breathes sigh of relief…

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Congratulations, President Obama. Big Bird lives on…:)

I know better, but I was listening to the rightwing radio last night and they were painting a dim picture of Obama’s win.  I turned it off and went to bed to read…thinking we were going to get Bush III…

Indiana voted in Mike do-nothing Pence for Governor,  and now has a super majority in the legislature…<sigh>

…well, at least I am spared Richard my-sperm-is-a-gift-from-God Mourdock…

The news on the reaction in the Middle East.  I hope this means a peaceful movement in Israel is underway….

DN! has this up on the elections.  Elizabeth Warren is animated after her win.  Thank God.

Unfortunately, the GMO lobby won and Californians defeated the measure requiring GMO labeling. Shit.

O”Reilly had a nice take on why Obama won–because people want “stuff” and Obama was going to give it to them…

Well, now…Romney has the gov’t pay $77,000 for the care and housing of his horse…has money in offshore accounts and John McCain has so many houses he can’t even remember how many he has…all because they don’t pay their fair share of taxes…now who feels entitled?

Is it entitlement when one wants to eat? Have a roof over their head? Get medical care? I’m confused.

They went on to talk about the shift away from the standard–now women and minorities are getting their voices heard. The boys of the old school are threatened…and it will probably get uglier before it’s all done.

To my sisters who were the power behind getting President Obama re-elected:  Thank you.  We can move mountains when we focus on what’s important to us and fight for it.

I want to say, though, that women have been characterized as of “one mind”–that any woman who manages to get before a microphone speaks for all women.  They don’t.

This is one of the reasons that the middle-of-the-road women backed away from the Feminist Movement–they were treated as if they spoke for all women.  Women who wanted to stay home with their children were characterized as dull twits who lacked ambition.  Women who didn’t believe in abortion but believed in equality were marginalized, also.

And the 70s Feminists who fought against alimony because it…well, I’m not really sure why they were fighting against alimony…but as this quote by Barbara Seaman, amongst others, puts it quite well–this is something that I lost out on when I divorced.  I also got less than half of the assets (with a mortgage to pay off) and my ex got away with only paying one-fifth ($20,000) of his income to support his three children.  Although I had stayed home for eleven years, the judge did not allow for that, and had instead computed the amount of support as if I had a job!!  Yes, I had a lousy lawyer–whose partner still smirks at me to this day whenever I have to trudge back to the place I grew up in…I’ve always wondered what that smirk means….

Anyway, I hope that with the election that women and minorities will do their homework, and support thoughtful politicians who approach the legislative process with the “Do unto others…” mindset…it would make life so much easier and just might bring about Peace…

Holy Crap

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Secret Cold War tests in St. Louis…

From the story:

But in 1994, the government said the tests were part of a biological weapons program and St. Louis was chosen because it bore some resemblance to Russian cities that the U.S. might attack. The material being sprayed was zinc cadmium sulfide, a fine fluorescent powder.

Now, new research is raising greater concern about the implications of those tests. St. Louis Community College-Meramec sociology professor Lisa Martino-Taylor’s research has raised the possibility that the Army performed radiation testing by mixing radioactive particles with the zinc cadmium sulfide, though she concedes there is no direct proof.

…makes you wonder what they’re doing now, in unsuspecting neighborhoods, for the war on terrorism?

My thoughts went to the chemtrails and how much they affect me and others.  I’ve definitely noticed a correlation between behavior and continuous (daily) spraying of trails.  When I had this last migraine, they had been spraying five or six trails at a time, all day,  every day, for three weeks.  (And I noticed that just before the elections in 2008, they were spraying the hell out of the skies for the four days prior to election day–keep your eyes on the skies before this election, folks, and see if you see the same phenomenon.)

Here’s a report on a news station:

I’ve read this this website before, but I can’t remember if I posted it.  A little dramatic, but I think there is cause for concern.

I went to the Environmental Working Group website, and could find nothing on the chemtrails.  Nothing on the Union for Concerned Scientists, either.

Joe Marmon has sued California authorities for contaminating the air.

Here’s a European take on the chemtrails phenomenon.

Czech Republic:

Birds of a Feather…

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I found  this on the long relationship of Benjamin Netanyahu and Romney.   So…Netanyahu appears to be part of the mindset of austerity measures, if what I’m reading between the lines is correct…

So, if we’re supposed to come running when they start bombing Iran…isn’t that asking government to interfere?

Doesn’t that go against the idea that gov’t should just get the hell out of our lives…?

Oh…I think I get it now…there’s a book out there on teenagers that goes something like “I hate you, Stay out of my life! But first, can you take me to the mall?”

Netanyahu is like a teenager…”Get out of my life, but can you bomb Iran first…?”

 

 

Entertainment?

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You know, sometimes it ain’t so bad being without cable…

I had no idea this kind of garbage was on NBC.  And look at the cast–Todd Palin…why does that not surprise me?

…um, do people know that GE, a defense contractor, owns NBC?  Do they think that just maybe this is a way to *glam up* war so more folks will blindly go into combat not knowing how horrific and soul-destroying it is…?  Or how the viewers watching it will become more numb to human suffering?

What about Mark Burnett, the producer of “Survivor”…which I always detested for its pitting people against one another, and encouraging a “weakest link” mentality…I often said that I grew up on “Gilligan’s Island”, where everyone worked together– while my kids were exposed to crap like “Survivor”, where people worked against one another for their own selfish reasons.  This encourages that  mentality of fear and violence and discourages cooperation and charity.

Good God.

Doublespeak

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…is a word in Communications for when you’re talking in such a way that it seems you mean something when you really mean something else…

…such as this.

This is why I am upset that people who went to Obama fundraisers didn’t put that money towards a third party candidate–someone who will restore the Constitution, not sign anymore Free Trade agreements, not sign legislation that gives the top 1% tax breaks, push for livable wage, get us out of all conflicts, and will push for re-regulating banks and sustainable farming/regulating environmental polluters.  And what happened to our antitrust laws, again?

That’s the candidate I want…