Troubadours of Divine Bliss
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An open-hearted fireside forum of expression. We welcome your wisdom in poetry, song, storytelling, or simply a Dear Diary entry of your inner-most feelings and dreams. Please share the purest parts of yourself and know that everything shared will become a key unlocking inspiration in someone else. We are all Troubadours on spiraling on parallel paths...take the talking stick, share your walk and lead us into your realm of Divine Bliss!!!!
| Name: | Losgunna Mositrow |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | I have no word for "want" |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | sometimes I feel like St.Joan
sometimes I feel like a bride left at the altar some days I feel like an owl singing Spring I have been a widow someone's secret a rejected virgin a flea market jewel the flaw in a persian rug I am a Moken Sea Gypsy I have no words for "when" or "want", "hello" or goodbye |
| Name: | Sojourn |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Mad Farmer Liberation Front |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more of everything ready-made. Be afraid to know your neighbors and to die. And you will have a window in your head. Not even your future will be a mystery any more. Your mind will be punched in a card and shut away in a little drawer. When they want you to buy something they will call you. When they want you to die for profit they will let you know. So, friends, every day do something that won't compute. Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing. Take all that you have and be poor. Love someone who does not deserve it. Denounce the government and embrace the flag. Hope to live in that free republic for which it stands. Give your approval to all you cannot understand. Praise ignorance, for what man has not encountered he has not destroyed. Ask the questions that have no answers. Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias. Say that your main crop is the forest that you did not plant, that you will not live to harvest. Say that the leaves are harvested when they have rotted into the mold. Call that profit. Prophesy such returns. Put your faith in the two inches of humus that will build under the trees every thousand years. Listen to carrion - put your ear close, and hear the faint chattering of the songs that are to come. Expect the end of the world. Laugh. Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful though you have considered all the facts. So long as women do not go cheap for power, please women more than men. Ask yourself: Will this satisfy a woman satisfied to bear a child? Will this disturb the sleep of a woman near to giving birth? Go with your love to the fields. Lie down in the shade. Rest your head in her lap. Swear allegiance to what is nighest your thoughts. As soon as the generals and the politicos can predict the motions of your mind, lose it. Leave it as a sign to mark the false trail, the way you didn't go. Be like the fox who makes more tracks than necessary, some in the wrong direction. Practice resurrection |
| Name: | Laura |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | A heavy heart . . . |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | This morning I sat watching "This Week with George Stephanopoulos", drinking my coffee and checking my email. Half watching, half not - I glimpsed a few shots of Dan Fogelberg - and subliminal feelings of comfort turned to horror as I realized I was seeing the "In Memoriam" series of the show. My jaw dropped, my heart sank, as it began to sink in - Dan was no longer among the living. I hadn't even realized he was ill - now here he was, gone 7days.
I began crying, and here I sit three hours later, still crying. I don't think I cried like this when my mother passed away - and of course that made me feel like a dog. I never even met this man, but he obviously had a tremendous impact on my life. His music and lyrics took hold of my heart in my teenage years. Like golden thread woven through the days of despair, his music was such an uplifting comfort for me throughout some really tough times - the adolescent years. As those years passed slowly into what was, Dan's influence was permanently infused in my being. The lessons learned molded and shaped me into the person I've become. No other person, philosophy, or institution has influenced me as intensely and intimately as Dan's music. To this day, I still play guitar and sing his songs for others, just like I did all those years ago. His music is timeless - the lessons are still pertinent - and my heart is so heavy . . . |
| Name: | N-dig0 |
| E-mail address: | ndig0feather@gmail.com |
| Homepage URL: | http://myspace.com/blut0pia |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | The Troubadours of Divine Bliss and their lasting impression on my soul... |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | April 14, 2004
Here and now it's the train. I am... in the rhythm. Whooah whooah WHOOAH WHOOAH Ticketicketicketdooamdooam Ticketicketicketdooamdooam ticktunkdonkticktunkdonk frickedigech--rututututchutututut... Here and now this could be 'Dancer'... "Then" i thought of these instances--these times i'd get sucked into the rhythms of life flowing over and above and under and through. Ritetetetritetetet SHHHH! SHHHH!!! Here and now the doors are opening. Mooouamb. Tick doon da tic. Tick doon da tic ti-- Here and just then; i won a small victory. Just for myself. Just because it needed to be done. See.. This girl... she got on the train. So did many others. I didn't even notice her, except.. that's a lie! Her friend and she reminded me of a trio of girls i had encountered on my way up to Madison this last time. I was on the train. Got on a really foul, stinky train. It must have been the way back. I was exhausted, anyway, and these girls had provided some much needed comic relief; talkin' about how the person who'd been foul needed some soap, or something. At any rate, they were pretty loud about it. It was funny to me, although i could read from other people's faces that they found the banter annoying. At some point one of them said something to the effect of "that someone's probably gone and leff they stink behind!" at which point i finally spoke up and said, laughingly, "That's probably what happened". These two today looked the same, but i doubt that it was them. As the doors closed behind them, a blind man began to speak. Begging. "I don't want to offend anyone. I'm a blind man, completely blind.." and his bulging blank eyes attest to that, or excellent Dramatic Acting Techniques and Methods classes. Finally he began his trek through the car. As he reached the first set of doors, the thinner of the two girls began... "Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, but I am here to ask a blessing on us through the blood of Jesus Christ and to testify as a witness to our savior with this song..." And it began: a melody that lacked it. And i became a little annoyed at the length and its' repetitious nature, but could hardly bring myself to display that, or wear that on my face, but noticed that others were turning up their radios and headsets in a futile effort to tune her out. When she was done, because it had gotten pretty quiet, she said something along the lines of "Yeah, I ain't got no shame!" and then walked to the middle of the train, and began to preach. "I'm a twenty year old who has found the path and taken on the blood of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Remember, y'all, Easter just passed, and it's not just about eggs and candy and new clothes. It's about our Savior rising up...." and she continued on in this way. And i could somewhat bear it. I mean... an individual's chosen path is fine with me if it works for them. Why wouldn't it be? There are many paths to that which we call 'God'. As long as you don't press *your* beliefs on anyone else (especially me).. well.. kudos for you for having a path in the first place. A good majority are just sort of lost and wandering aimlessly. Worse are those who think they're on a path but really aren't. But i digress... I could somewhat bear it, had it not come to "...and you homosexuals, I'm not going to say it's okay, but god loves you. This world is all about will, free will, and if you choose to act on it, and live in sin...." And further: "... Bible didn't create Adam and Adam, God created Adam and Eve..." and into the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman. "Get away from men with men and women with women; fall of negativity. You are a sinner. We are all sinners..." DOOOOOM!! DOOOOOOOooOOOoooooOOOOOM!!!! ~~~Here and now. Here and now it comes back to the coffee shop where the barista says to me--"you have beautiful hair" and i ask "what?" because i was still singing. Feeling high on my way. And she's laughing back there, because she's happy and this song comes on: "Listen as your day unfolds, see what you future holds, keep your head up. You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold, you gotta be wiser... you gotta be hard, you gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger... you gotta be cool, you gotta be kind, you gotta stay together.. all i know, all i know is love will save the day" "Let's dance", i want to say.~~~ ALRIGHT. Where were we? ah, yes. The train and the girl preacher. And so.. I'm snapping my fingers near my ear, at first, just trying to center myself on my own divinity, which sounds an awful lot like Mari Boine. But all that came when i began to sing was "What if god was a homo..." but after the second whispered verse, before my voice could carry it louder and further away from me, i reconsidered. That could be just as offensive as the crap she's spouting. I'm not here to tromp through anyone's garden. What about... "Jesus loves all the little faeries"? Thank you Pistol Pete and Popgun Paul, a fun fae duo i've met and hosted as they passed through Madison on tour..based out of New Orleans [pre-Katrina] for such beautiful inspiration (slash weaponry). Instead, my mind, ever insistent... s'been stuck on... "Be brave and hold your head up high, your spirit's high enough to reach the sky. Be brave and set yourself free, it's time to take part in your destiny... OOOooooOOOOh.. lalalalaaaa..ooOOOoooooOOOH.. lala lalalalalalaaaa..." It's a very inspirational song by The Troubadours of Divine Bliss, another beautiful duo producing homegrown music that i've met and admire. [Also out of New Orleans, pre-Katrina] I'm singing it quietly, still under my breath. And she's gotten so loud and it's been so long that she's gone on and on and so many people have stormed out, downright insulted... which *can* happen any time a truth is spoken. After all, the saying goes, "The truth will set you free, but first it may make you miserable." But what she speaks is no truth. And so, at Fullerton, i stand, for mine is the next exit. ~~~Here and now "Everything is going my way" and that barista's hair is beautiful, too. I think it might not be hers.. Here and now i'm afraid to ask. "Sure" she'll say "I paid for it.."~~~ I'm standing up. Moving toward the train's door. I spin like a pole dancer..{dancer}.. already mouthing the first verse.. "I've been broken, i've been used, lost my voice; lost my muse-- trampled by the best.. oh yeah.. oh yeah-eah-eah... " and it's me singing it.. this song by The Troubadours of Divine Bliss, but my voice is carrying it away. She's loud. Suddenly i'm louder. "LET MY VOICE OUT, LET IT SHOUT, LET IT SCREAM... LET IT FALL DOWN LIKE A RAIN OF SHATTERED DREAMS... " "Alright!" she says, smiling. She'd stopped the moment i overcame her. Others had already noticed me singing. "Alright..." she says, as an affirmation of me, not of frustration. I lower my hand from my forehead, like tipping my hat in her direction... "...in front of you....Be brave and hold your head up HIGH! Your SPIRIT'S HIGH Enough to reach the sky..y..y... be brave and set yourself FREEEeeeEEE.. it's time to take part in your Destiny.. OOooOOOoooOOH! LAlalaLAlaaaa... OOOoooOOOOOOooOOH.. LALALAlalalalLAlalaaaaaaa.." And all along she's really enjoying it, is what it looked like. It's as though i am an affirmation of her. Yes. PRO-JECT. I am Chameleon. Blue. So many shades. And i finish at the laaaa and trail off. The blind man. He's standing at the other set of doors. And he starts to sing. Another song. See.. he's picked up on what i've done. The blind and their heightened senses. I can't tell what the message is to me, but it's meant the same way i gave mine. And my stop is come, and i look at them and i say "But you know what?? 'JESUS loves ALL the little faeries of the cities and the towns, both the hidden and the found.. jesus loves... " And because she's not heard 'little faeries' the first time (partly because she's done another one of those "Amen" type affirmations) "--ALL THE LITTLE FAERIES WHEREVER THEY MAY BE, INSIDE YOU OR INSIDE ME..." and i'm pointing at her and lifting my eyebrows, 'this one's for you' i seem to say... "God bless you more" she's saying, as i'm walking out, and as the doors lag a little bit behind me.. "CAUSE JESUS IS LOVE... and Jesus LOOOoooooOOOooOOoves.. ALL the little FAERIES!" ~~~And here and now i've gone up to the counter to get a refill on my coffee, and the barista says again, "You have beautiful hair" and i have to say "i'm tickled.. i.. i've just gotten so tired of people messing up my hair that i've taken it upon myself to... y'know.. cut it myself.." i say... miming scissors in my hand. To my head. "...and my... boyfriend... finishes up the back, or evens out any, and there have been, mistakes.." "You could never tell" "Art of disguise." I say. "I love your hair, too. Just makes me want to..." and i mime, running my fingers through her Madeleine hair. "Yes, I get that all the time..." "I understand..." and i relate the story of a friend, Madeleine, and her big hair; same texture. And how she'll hide her newest little sculpture in there... or odd little trinkets.. miming the whole time. Both of the women behind the counter crack up in peals of laughter. Dolores O'Riorden is singing about this not being 'just my imagination'... and it's reminiscent... Where am i? Am i Blue? Yes. yes. I think i am. And to think, this morning i was still thinking.. "I am I, and wish i wasn't." But that's just another me. He's not here and now. Here and now i remember i want to call xxxx. xxxx, who's stolen a piece of my heart, totally run away with it. Did i mention I let "Dancer in the Dark" shred my living soul last night? Ripped me into tiny pieces and left me teary and sad and mad and confused. But most of all with a deepest longing for the friend who recommended it, only days before his demise. And yet, all the same, feeling his presence in that fucked up way the dead have of visiting the living. He was there. How. Could. We. Know. ***** |
| Name: | Patricia Cori |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Help Wanted |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | *Help Wanted*
> *by Patricia Cori * > *Large, blue-green multinational planetary body, Planet E-A-R-T-H, > Inc. (formerly The Garden of Eden) seeks highly-qualified hero to help > restructure existing management policies and procedures as required to > redefine our objectives and help bring us into the foreground as > active members of the consciously evolving intelligent universe.* > Duties will include but are not limited to: > > * Successfully contributing to directing our six billion member > team in re-establishing the balance of life in all sectors to > include all species and elements upon (and within) PLANET > E-A-R-T-H, Inc. (herein referred to as 'PE, Inc.') > * Implementing seed thoughts that drop into the waters of our > think tanks –the human spirit –and ripple out through all > departments to create hope and the will to achieve overall PE., > Inc. goals and objectives. > * Developing of mind-stimulating alternatives to failing belief > structures currently stripping the organization of its potential > – to be distributed through all departments and sectors, > throughout all international and regional locations and divisions. > * Serving as an inspirational model of the greatness and nobility > of our founding fathers (and mothers), for whom Planet Earth was > originally selected as the ideal environment to foster the Great > Race of our members. > * Creating inspirational works of art, communication, public > relations and related activities to be utilized by all members > to successfully improve morale and instill a sense of hopeful > determination in our members. > * Encouraging personal and global actions to implement ecological > reforms required to return PE, Inc. to its former glory, as > established and directly overseen by GAIA, the CEO of Planet > Earth, Inc. > > *Some travel and uprooting from comfort zones may be required.* > Salary (rewards) commensurate with abilities. > *The ideal candidate will be a fearless speaker of truth and justice, > will inspire trust and instill a sense of empowerment at all levels, > will have highly-developed motivational skills, believe in a positive > outcome and be willing to face personal risks in the name of Planet > Earth, Inc. She or he must also have the following qualifications:* > > * Experience of 'outside the box' thinking as required for > developing new and dynamic alternatives to existing > dysfunctional and disruptive Planet Earth, Inc. management > strategies. > * A strong and unwavering voice in calling all peaceful warriors > to become personally involved in social rebellion and reform, > despite resistance from some mid-level management and union > members within PE, Inc. > * Human resources expertise and experience in all areas of soul > development and character building. > A charismatic, light-filled energy field. > * Significant education in the nature of human will and the > journey of spirit, for which some knowledge of multidimensional > geometry, physics, hyperspace and universal law will be an > advantage. > * A love for all living beings, as exhibited in PE, Inc.'s > Original Blueprint. > * Compassion, vision and a strong sense that each member of the > Planet Earth, Inc., if properly directed and motivated, can > achieve extraordinary results throughout our organization. > * Focused will and the desire to serve the highest good. > > > Political, military and/or high ranking corporate officials, those > with a history of violence or links to shadow figures or those related > to people with these qualifications are currently not being considered > for the position and need not apply. > Additional opportunities are available for healers, lightworkers, > environmentalists and activists – please contact Planet Earth, Inc. if > you fall into these categories and offer your services to the > department relative to your area of expertise. > Send your VITAL INFORMATION to: > Human Resources Department > Planet Earth Inc. > 22-22 In Your Soul, > NE Quadrant, Milky Way Galaxy > 00000 |
| Name: | Matthew Ian Presley |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Just for the sake of balance |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | IMAGINE A MAN
Imagine a man who believes it is right and good he is a man. A man who honors his experience and tells his stories. Who refuses to carry the sins of others within his body and life. Imagine a man who has acknowledged the past's influence On the present. A man who has walked through his past. Who has healed into the present. Imagine a man in love with his own body. A man who believes his body is enough, just as it is. Who celebrates his body's very being, knowing there is nothing to prove. Imagine a man who embraces his sexuality as his own. A man who delights in pleasuring himself rather than focing himself on others. Who experiences his erotic sensations without any need for shame or guilt. Imagine a man who honors the body of All That Is within his Changing body A man who celebrates the accumulation of his years and his wisdom. Who refuses to use his precious life-energy disguising the changes in his Body and life Imagine a man who has access to the full range of human emotion. A man who expresses his feelings clearly and directly instead of hiding them Who allows them to pass through him as gracefully as a breath Imagine a man who tells the truth. A man who trusts his experience of the world and expresses it. Who refuses to defer to the thoughts, perceptions, and responses of others. Imagine a man who follows his creative impulses. A man who produces original creations. Who refuses to color inside someone else's lines. Imagine a man who names his own gods. A man who imagines the divine in his image and likeness. Who designs a personal spirituality in inform his daily life. Imagine a man who refuses to surrender to gods, gurus, and higher powers. A man who descended into his own inner life. Who asserts his will in harmony with its impulses and instincts instead of trying to conquer. Imagine a man who is interested in his own life. A man who embraces his life as teacher, healer, and challenge. Who is grateful for the ordinary moments of beauty and grace. Imagine a man who authors his own life. A man who trusts his inner sense of what is right for him. Who refuses to twist his life out of shape to meet the expectations of others. Imagine a man who participates in his own life. A man who meets each challenge with creativity and compassion. Who takes action on his own behalf with clarity and strength. Imagine a man who has crafted a fully formed solitude. A man who is available to himself. Who chooses friends and lovers with the capacity to respect his solitude. Imagine a man who does not expect others to diminish their lives so he will feel better. A man who brings the fullness of his years, experience, and wisdom into each relationship. Who recognizes he is challenged and blessed by the presence of others in his life. Imagine a man who assumes equality in his relationships. A man who no longer believes he is superior to women and in need of Their indenture. Who has taken his rightful place beside them in the human community. Imagine a man who refuses to use his precious life-energy creating Crises and conflict. A man whose relationships deepen in satisfaction and contentment Without depleting him. Who chooses friends and lovers with the necessary skills to navigate Through the challenges of life. Imagine a man who values the women and men in his life. A man who sits in circles with women and men. Who is reminded of the truth about himself when he forgets. Imagine a man who has relinquished the desire for the safety of power over others and approval. A man who makes a powerful statement with every word he speaks, Every action he takes Who asserts to himself the right to reorder the world. Imagine a man who has grown in knowledge and love of himself. A man who has vowed faithfulness to his own life and capacities. Who remains loyal to himself. Regardless. Imagine yourself as this man, working together, in harmony, with the woman described below. |
| Name: | Jen |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Imagine a Woman |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: |
IMAGINE A WOMAN Imagine a woman who believes it is right and good she is woman. A woman who honors her experience and tells her stories. Who refuses to carry the sins of others within her body and life. Imagine a woman who has acknowledged the past's influence On the present. A woman who has walked through her past. Who has healed into the present. Imagine a woman in love with her own body. A woman who believes her body is enough, just as it is. Who celebrates her body's rhythms and cycles as an exquisite resource. Imagine a woman who embraces her sexuality as her own. A woman who delights in pleasuring herself. Who experiences her erotic sensations without shame or guilt. Imagine a woman who honors the body of the Goddess in her Changing body A woman who celebrates the accumulation of her years and her wisdom. Who refuses to use her precious life-energy disguising the changes in her Body and life Imagine a woman who has access to the full range of human emotion. A woman who expresses her feelings clearly and directly Who allows them to pass through her a gracefully as a breath Imagine a woman who tells the truth. A woman who trusts her experience of the world and expresses it. Who refuses to defer to the thoughts, perceptions, and responses of others. Imagine a woman who follows her creative impulses. A woman who produces original creations. Who refuses to color inside someone else's lines. Imagine a woman who names her own gods. A woman who imagines the divine in her image and likeness. Who designs a personal spirituality in inform her daily life. Imagine a woman who refuses to surrender to gods, gurus, and higher powers. A woman who descended into her own inner life. Who asserts her will in harmony with its impulses and instincts. Imagine a woman who is interested in her own life. A woman who embraces her life as teacher, healer, and challenge. Who is grateful for the ordinary moments of beauty and grace. Imagine a woman who authors her own life. A woman who trusts her inner sense of what is right for her. Who refuses to twist her life out of shape to meet the expectations of others. Imagine a woman who participates in her own life. A woman who meets each challenge with creativity. Who takes action on her own behalf with clarity and strength. Imagine a woman who has crafted a fully formed solitude. A woman who is available to herself. Who chooses friends and lovers with the capacity to respect her solitude. Imagine a woman who refuses to diminish her life so others will feel better. A woman who brings the fullness of her years, experience, and wisdom into each relationship. Who expects others to be challenged and blessed by her presence in their lives. Imagine a woman who assumes equality in her relationships. A woman who no longer believes she is inferior to men and in need of Their salvation. Who has taken her rightful place beside them in the human community. Imagine a woman who refuses to use her precious life-energy managing Crises and conflict. A woman whose relationships deepen in satisfaction and contentment Without depleting her. Who chooses friends and lovers with the necessary skills to navigate Through the challenges of life. Imagine a woman who values the women in her life. A woman who sits in circles of women. Who is reminded of the truth about herself when she forgets. Imagine a woman who has relinquished the desire for intellectual safety and approval. A woman who makes a powerful statement with every word she speaks, Every action she takes Who asserts to herself the right to reorder the world. Imagine a woman who has grown in knowledge and love of herself. A woman who has vowed faithfulness to her own life and capacities. Who remains loyal to herself. Regardless. Imagine yourself as this woman. --Patricia Lynn Reilly |
| Name: | Trevor |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Create your own Roadshow |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | "Catalysts to say what has never been said, to see what has never been seen, to draw, paint, sing, sculpt, dance and act what has never before been done. To push the envelope of creativity and language, and whats really important is, what I call it, the felt presence of direct experience. Which is a fancy term which just simply means we have to stop consuming our culture, we have to CREATE culture. Don't watch TV, don't read magazines, don't even listen to NPR. Create your OWN road show. The nexus of space and time, where you are now, is the most immediate sector of your universe. And if you're worrying about Michael Jackson or Bill Clinton or somebody else, you are disempowered: you are giving it all away to icons, icons which are maintained by an electronic media. So that you know you want to dress like X or have lips like Y. This is shit-brained this kind of thinking. That is all cultural diversion and what is real is you and your friends, and your associations, your highs, your orgasms, your hopes, your plans, and your fears. But we are told, no - we're unimportant, we're peripheral, "get a degree, get a job", get a this, get a that, and then you're a player. You don't even want to play in that game, you want to reclaim your mind and get it out of the hands of the cultural engineers, who want to turn you into a half-baked moron consuming all this trash that's being manufactured out of the bones of a dying world."
- Terence McKenna |
| Name: | Lindsay |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | The Day things went wrong |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | The day things went wrong
By: Lindsay There was a child She was gentle and sometimes wild Until that day When things went the wrong way Her dad was nice Keen and precise Until that day When things went the wrong way She was scared But stuck in his lair Her dad went crazy And a bit hazy He did things he shouldn’t Things that he wouldn’t He did a sin One she could not comprehend She knew she had to get out So she started to scream and shout To the neighbor next door The one she adored He came in a rush But then came a hush He carried the child out Out into the night He called the police He told them to never file a release They drove her dad away And locked him up that day The child went to foster care To go see her dad she did not dare She went to a good home In which she would never be alone It was this family she felt she belonged In this family she did belong This wronged child found right And then she began to see the light |
| Name: | Elizabeth |
| E-mail address: | dragonlover587@hotmail.com |
| Homepage URL: | http://www.myspace.com/soulweaver |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Just a poem.. |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | I just recently turned in my senior writing portfolio for school, and this poem was stuck at the end as a little extra for the judges to read. It's definitely the best poem I've ever written:
He said "You're like an angel- so innocent and pure. But he's not plagued with memories that even time can't cure. Nighttime visions circling round to bring their ghostly fear. A million different deathly scenes that only I can hear. But then he came and held me close, and chased away the blight. He wrapped his feathered wings around and fended off the night. The horns atop his black-haired head- to me they shimmered gold. His hardened eyes turned soft with love and somehow didn't seem as cold. He said "I am a demon," but I don't think that's true. For angels come in many forms, and even demons start anew. |
| Name: | Mykl Perkins |
| E-mail address: | myklperkins@yahoo.com |
| Homepage URL: | http://www.myklperkins.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | "Divine Bliss"
A song I wrote for The Troubadours. I wish you could hear it. |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | “Divine Bliss”
These Angels came to me; this is what they said, “You cannot stay here long, The time has come; you know what to do, Act as if you know what you’ll do. It’s time to fly, you are ready to motivate, You can’t afford to wait.” Then they grabbed my hands and swept me off my feet. “You are ready to complete this journey that you’re on, It has gotten so very long, just when you thought you knew, The world changed, it’s time you followed through.” Diversions come, diversions go, And the Angels came to let me know, The only thing stopping me is my own fear of failure. It’s time to paint a new picture; I’ll see myself shinning bright, A bigger brighter star tonight. I feel the Angels carry me, The world they’ve shown has excited me. I’m glad the universe prepared me To spread my wings and set me free. I never want myself to be, The one to cause the pain I’ve seen. I know that I can be, anything that I want to be, The time has come for me to let me be. Diversions come, diversions go, And the Angels came to let me know, The only thing stopping me is my own fear of failure. It’s time to paint a new picture; I’ll see myself shinning bright, A bigger brighter star tonight. © 2004 Nothing Grand Ever Came Of Moderation Publishing and Dreamer Music Productions™. From my book "The Friends That We Collect". This was written on February 1, 2000 in Boulder, Colorado shortly before I started recording my CD in March of that year. This one was not ready for the CD by the time I went into the studio. The Angels in this song are The Troubadours of Divine Bliss, Aim Me and Renee, two musical people based at the time in Kentucky (now Indiana), traveling around the country spreading their Bliss. I had originally met them over the summer of '99 while they were playing music on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder. It turns out that they were also good friends of a musical friend of mine who lived in Cleveland and was to be visiting me in Boulder. How random… or was it? They have been quite an inspiration to me and I have always enjoyed all the epic adventures I have had with them. Some of the greatest moments in my musical memory have included The Troubadours. I was very fortunate to have met them and I am very grateful for all the opportunities I have had to play with them in Colorado and in Ohio. As you can imagine by the lyrics, I felt like I was at ready for the next stage. At this point I felt as if what I had started had a mind of its own and there was nothing that I could do to stop it. Not that I would have wanted to. |
| Name: | Miss Lula Neal |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Wisdom from our ancestors...discovered recently by Miss Lula's great, great, great granddaughter |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: |
1:06 AM - Happiness - 1884 Current mood: ecstatic Category: Life Happiness is that single and glorious thing which is the light and sun of the whole world. Happiness is like tomorrow, only one day from us, yet never arriving. It is, in a word, hope or anticipation. In this life we pursue it. In this future we hope to overtake it. It is the experience of all that having realized our hope, of whatever nature they may be. We are not satisfied to be happy in the summing up of all the ends and aims on earth. It is a noble desire implanted in the human breast by the Creator for a purpose known only to His wisdom. We must seek happiness in the right state of mind, in labors, duties, and pleasure of life, and then we shall find what we seek. Yet we may find it under very different circumstances from what we expected. We may look for it in one direction but find it in another, and sometimes where we expect the least we my find the most and where we look the most, find the least. A great deal of the miseries of life come from this disposition to have our own way about everything. Circumstances are not half so essential to our happiness as we think. A cabin is often the seat of more true happiness than a palace. The disposition to make the best of life is what we want to make us happy. A little thing may shadow our life for days. We often bear great disappointments better than we can a small one, because we nerve ourselves to meet the former and yield to the latter without an effort to resist. The very things we ought to have come unasked for, and because we are not ready for them, we will not enjoy them. Some spend life de-termined to be happy at some future time, but for the present put off all enjoyment, even of passing pleasures , seemingly for fear lest all such present comforts detract from the sum total of future enjoyments. We must seek happiness in Heaven's appointed ways, in studying exalted pleasure with a constant effort to find it. We must seek happiness, not by way of impulse, not seeking selfishly, our own good, but with a forgetfulness of self, doing all the good we can do. Composition Miss Lula Neal --Chaplin, Ky. May the 12th 1884 |
| Name: | Angie Impellizzeri |
| E-mail address: | noodleheadpig@gmail.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Happiness |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Happiness is that single and glorious thing which is the light and sun of the whole world. Happiness is like tomorrow, only one day from us, yet never arriving.
It is, in a word, hope or anticipation. In this life we pursue it. In this future we hope to overtake it. It is the experience of all that having realized our hope, of whatever nature they may be. We are not satisfied to be happy in the summing up of all the ends and aims on earth. It is a noble desire implanted in the human breast by the Creator for a purpose known only to His wisdom. We must seek happiness in the right state of mind, in labors, duties, and pleasure of life, and then we shall find what we seek. Yet we may find it under very different circumstances from what we expected. We may look for it in one direction but find it in another, and sometimes where we expect the least we my find the most and where we look the most, find the least. A great deal of the miseries of life come from this disposition to have our own way about everything. Circumstances are not half so essential to our happiness as we think. A cabin is often the seat of more true happiness than a palace. The disposition to make the best of life is what we want to make us happy. A little thing may shadow our life for days. We often bear great disappointments better than we can a small one, because we nerve ourselves to meet the former and yield to the latter without an effort to resist. The very things we ought to have come unasked for, and because we are not ready for them, we will not enjoy them. Some spend life de-termined to be happy at some future time, but for the present put off all enjoyment, even of passing pleasures, seemingly for fear lest all such present comforts detract from the sum total of future enjoyments. We must seek happiness in Heaven's appointed ways, in studying exalted pleasure with a constant effort to find it. We must seek happiness, not by way of impulse, not seeking selfishly, our own good, but with a forgetfulness of self, doing all the good we can do. Composition Miss Lula Neal --Chaplin, Ky. May the 12th 1884 |
| Name: | Elizabeth |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | It's all in the Dice... |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | There are gods, little one.
Some are worshipped. Some are feared. Some are worshipped out of fear. Others have been forgotten; Sealed away for better or worse. But make no mistake little one. To the gods, this is all just a game. A simple roll of the dice. But all games must obey rules, And that is where our order Comes into play. Many are content to merely Live by the rules. To go Through the entirety of their Lives without understanding Them. Not those such as we. We have begun to uncover The systems, the machinery That works our world. For Centuries we have catalogued And reasearched and cross- Indexed the rules in order to Seek a greater understanding Of them so that we too may Become as gods. So that We may transcend from mere Playthings into the players. Our understanding is not yet complete. We haven’t enough knowledge to fully Break the rules, but we may…bend them To our favor from time to time. These Are the first steps little one. The first Steps to ascension. In your travels you will learn much of The world and much of yourself. You Will bend the rules, and the rules will Bend you. That is the very nature of The game. But remember this. Their Dice is our free will. It’s all in the dice… |
| Name: | Matthew Ian Presley |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | "Hideaway" |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | You can lose yourself in traffic
You can lose yourself in school You can lose yourself at work Lose your temper, lose your cool You can lose yourself in romance When feelings go astray And when you’re feeling lost You may push the ones you love away It’s like you’re the only sane one In a house full of fools Or maybe like you’re winning in Life And God changed all the rules But there’s a little place Where it’s safe to stay A sweet divine irony You can find yourself at the Hideaway Each Sunday night, come Release your talents to all who care In this little place where the music flows Freely as the Wind flows through your hair We’re reminded we are made of stars Sparkling brighter than fresh fallen snow ‘Cause the Troubadours invite you To be the star of their show If you’re happy or sad You can let your inhibitions go I’m telling you this secret, So now you know! We are all your friends forever, and a day Come; find yourself, sing and play With the Troubadours, Aim Me and Renee, At our secret little Hideaway Don't let this stay a secret, pass it on! ~Matt |
| Name: | Kavinaugh Connor |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Protesting the Iraq War
Why We Do It |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Protesting the Iraq War
Why We Do It We stand on the corner with signs to remind passersby that the voice of dissent in our Democracy is still alive and necessary, that it has not succumbed to the disregard of our politicians. We do it to encourage thoughtful people to believe in their own conclusions – that though our elected representatives ignore us, we, by our example, are representatives for common, legitimate concerns. We do it because the Congress failed the people at the moment of truth when the question was put before them: does the evidence presented confirm beyond the shadow of a doubt that Iraq poses an imminent threat of attack upon us such that the only reasonable and moral response is an immediate and overwhelming military strike. We are aghast that among those we elected there was no immediate and overwhelming cry of dissent at such an idea. Indeed, the few with conscience were sadly overwhelmed by the politically motivated who feared more to be left out of a majority of wrong thinking than included in the small heroic minority thinking rightly. And so now we ponder the question put before us with dread – do we, the people, have reason to fear our own leaders? Instead, we choose to protest! We stand forward because we are especially loath to stand back when the honest trust of our faithful soldiers is so blatantly betrayed by their commander-in-chief and the military hierarchy who are sworn to protect them. It is unconscionable to sacrifice a soldier in the service of a lust for power. We speak up believing that it takes just a few to keep the homefire of integrity burning. We stand in service to our country as a beacon, a lighthouse above the rocks of corruption. That light we share maintains faith in the inherent goodness of our fellow citizens. We stand rejoicing in the certainty that the day is closing in fast upon us when all the American people will see through the sham of our leadership and its false and vapid nationalism. That day will dawn when enough people awaken within themselves and realize that patriotism is a matter of the heart – that has a conscience – that love of country is love and care for the land and its people and is not expressed in conquering the defenseless. When that day dawns, just as our leaders have quietly usurped our power while we slept, the people will, just as quietly, go to the polls and dismiss them. Though we can be lulled into complacency, the power of the people is shared by the people forever, while the authority of any elected official is but temporarily granted – by US. That is why they fear us; that is why they hide. So we raise protest against this illegal, egregious and immoral war, and all those who perpetrated it, because our country is in such grave danger from our leadership. They strain our credibility. What could have induced this crowd to decide that it would be best for us to live by the sword? We consider these politics so awful that we must protest out of responsibility for the country we hold so dear. The killing of thousands of innocent people by our aggression must stop – now! We also plea for representatives who are true patriots, willing to sacrifice their careers for our country, rather than anyone’s life, for wanton purposes. Our truly patriotic representatives don’t fear us because they have nothing to hide; they know, as we do, that love and fear cannot abide together. Kavinaugh Connor |
| Name: | Trevor |
| Homepage URL: | http://myspace.com/trebastille |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | The "BRING OUR HEROES HOME RALLY!" this past Saturday... |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | I was also one of the folks out there. All the people I knew that were out there, which alone adds up to more than 12, a moot point at any rate, regularly write their respective congressmen and 'women. I know I do as well. We also send them e-mails and call their offices and visit our state capitals. In addition, we give out these addresses, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers to other people so they might do the same. And yes we also rally.
All of these are valid and effective ways of influencing change. We work at all levels. We don't deem ourselves more crucial gears in the machine simply because we make phone calls while others do not, simply because we talk face-to-face on occasion with our actual representatives while others do not, or simply because we have the guts to stand out on the side of the street looking like fools and meet face-to-face the assortment of passers-by, whom may or may not agree with us and may or may not do so in an aggressive manner. If we do these things and decide that they make us better than others, then we have lost sight of what we were trying to accomplish in the first place. "Be the change you wish to see in the world." Yes, this is the 21st century. However, holding up signs has been able to get things done for a long, long time. The people who actually died for most of the freedoms you enjoy today, did so on the picketline, not in a war. Most of us wouldn't know that because our history books tell us that people died for our freedom by going to war. Yes, this is also true to an extent. Yet, most of the wars fought in this country, or by this country since its inception, have been over money or land or oil or slaves. Do you think there's a possibility that the collective "they" put certain stories in our history books to influence the way we think while they omit others that have widespread relevance to our lives today? Even before I knew the stories being left out, I knew something was amiss. Now that I know a lot of those stories, I know why I didn't learn about them in school. Because you teach people what it takes to get something done and they will try to do it. Therefore, it stands to reason that a government which is in charge of its nation's education, would wish not to give us, the people, the tools to go after the real American dream, which has always been sought on or through picketlines, to get what you want, and conversely would desire to prepare you towards the house and picket fence that's been whitewashed on the back of all your eyelids. And anything you could ever want you can get with your credit card. People, your beloved President lies to you. But it doesn't stop with him. It's a whole way of life now. We can pretend we have money with our credit cards. We can pretend we have endless supplies of nourishing food with our High Fructose Corn Syrup Salads and Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil Vinaigrettes. We can pretend we're happy with our Zoloft and our Lexapro. We can pretend our government isn't engaging in some form of genocide because American Idol hasn't yet gone to commercial break. I don't plan to change the world all at once. Anyone who does is delusional. But, anyone who would criticize me for doing what I do or how I do it, who would tell me I'm being counterproductive, by definition becomes they who are being counterproductive. I effect change in my way. And trust me, I've seen real changes occur via all of the methods I've used to bring it about. And in all actuality, when I hold up my signs, and I'm sure my friends who have done the same can vouch for this, the change I see is more visceral and tangible. A revolution is a revolution of the people and does not wait for a representative of the people. Thank you. |
| Name: | Debby Donellan |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | MIDNIGHT MASS... at The Hideaway Saloon |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | I don't want to take Christ out of Christmas.
I just want to add some things. Like: red crescent Christmas cookies a green menorah with tinsel Kali as Mrs.Claus A fertility god with a penis filled with twinkle lights that sings chestnuts roasting on an open fire through it's bobble head...to remind us of what to do on a snowy night. Life's not about subtraction, deletion, diminution or contraction. The universe is expanding, and so am I. And I'm in an excellent position to watch it. I live on the edge of society, the fringe. My friends are not sport uting grass mowers whose kids play soccer on play dates. My friends are tree hugging, animal saving, vegan, flat earthers. Solstice singing, drum circling, lesbian gay, sign carriers who live on the fringe, too. And what, after all, is a fringe? It's a decoration, bling bling, beauty On the border twirling glowing. There's nothing tight woven, tight assed about us. And so we come together on this night, Birthday of earth abounding. Here at the Hideaway Saloon. Order another beer and raise your glass. We're gathered in our Midnight Mass. And those who don't like it- Kiss my ass! |
| Name: | Angie |
| E-mail address: | noodleheadpig@gmail.com |
| Homepage URL: | http://soapboxsirens.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Combination |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | And I stand here on this stage
Wearing this black dress My own thoughts boxed me in Only me have I oppressed But I am who I am today A combination of many yesterdays I have the right to change my mind I have the right to shut up and sit still Raging as determined, a tornado Quiet and peaceful, a busted windmill But I am who I am today A combination of many yesterdays I am many things to many people One thing always remained My heart and intent standing pure I am everything I have gained But I am who I am today A combination of many yesterdays I censor myself not for sake of others Thoughts carefully conceived But for integrity of THE woman, I stand Never wanting to be misperceived For I am who I am today A combination of many women before me. -ami 12/06 |
| Name: | Matthew Ian Presley |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | "Troubadours"
Aim Me Smiley She's cute and dynamic To her name, she's true As she strums her guitar Playing a uniquely beautiful tune Her honey sweet voice ranges >From the loudest cry to the softest croon Allowing the Energy to overtake her Like a wolf overcome by the moon Renee Ananda A simply subtle beauty Her accordion brings tears to my eyes They are not tears of sadness - mind you But of Joy, Wonder, and Surprise Accompanied by her soft voice Soothing as the current of a stream Or a breeze carrying a lullaby By which I can't help but dream Troubadours Both of you work Wonders Through the songs you perform and write There's no doubt you are messengers Of Pure Love, Joy, and Light You could each stand alone, But together, you add up to this: More than the sum of one and one, You truly are Troubadours of Divine Bliss ----------------------------------------- |
| Name: | lil Queen Hannah |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Troubadours |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Your music is wonderful
Your music is sweet It makes me dance On both my feet You sing wonderful You sing loud Whenever you sing You make me proud |
| Name: | Ev |
| E-mail address: | bestway@insightbb.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Disagree |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: |
The battle cry rose from shadowy fringe As over-played as it was misapplied Cloaked in sheep clothing, bloody skin The querulous crowd took a most precious pride of ancestors who gave beyond their limit so that wisdom could grow and flourish But these modern day thieves robbed us of civility And that stopped the conversation That has been going for hundreds of years Let them not hide themselves, any longer, in the robes Of faith and forgiveness Oh minister, pastor, priestess, father, rabbi, cry out Cry loud, cry long. Tell them, these purveyors of fear, that the faith In which they seek the trust of our tribe, theirs in not the faith that creates but one that destroys Theirs is not a faith that bargains for peace but for power Theirs is not a faith that casts for goodness but for evil Now is the time, before it is too late, to protect the faith of Generations not yet born. Let our religions and faiths remain safe harbor and not Be jaundiced with derision and disbelief Now, put your voice forward. Now, to quiet theirs. Now, to save A faith that has been with us always, that is here, that will always be here. A faith that has no name, one that weaves through those that do. Step forward, Step Up, Step Into Them. Only Peace and Truth, properly applied, will turn the tide. |
| Name: | bejesus |
| E-mail address: | grq04@dial.pipex.com |
| Homepage URL: | http://www.usk.org |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Is that me? |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Hey Dreamerz told me I ought to check out your videos and I have just seen myself dancing on the second video, dam I look like a freak unlike your good selves!!
I look forward to your return to these shores at some point in the not too distant future! Oh and do you guys have a Myspace page yet? I know it is spawn of Murdoch but what a networking tool to spread your music with.... Peace and good vibes, Bejesus. XX |
| Name: | Kevin |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Imagine a Woman |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | IMAGINE A WOMAN
Imagine a woman who believes it is right and good she is woman. A woman who honors her experience and tells her stories. Who refuses to carry the sins of others within her body and life. Imagine a woman who honors the body of the Goddess in her Changing body A woman who celebrates the accumulation of her years and her wisdom. Who refuses to use her precious life-energy disguising the changes in her Body and life Imagine a woman who has access to the full range of human emotion. A woman who expresses her feelings clearly and directly Who allows them to pass through her a gracefully as a breath Imagine a woman who tells the truth. A woman who trusts her experience of the world and expresses it. Who refuses to defer to the thoughts, perceptions, and responses of others. Imagine a woman who follows her creative impulses. A woman who produces original creations. Who refuses to color inside someone else's lines. Imagine a woman who knows her God. A woman who imagines the divine in her image and likeness. Who designs a personal spirituality in inform her daily life. Imagine a woman who descended into her own inner life. Who asserts her will in harmony with its impulses and instincts. Imagine a woman who is interested in her own life. A woman who embraces her life as teacher, healer, and challenge. Who is grateful for the ordinary moments of beauty and grace. Imagine a woman who authors her own life. A woman who trusts her inner sense of what is right for her. Who refuses to twist her life out of shape to meet the expectations of others. Imagine a woman who participates in her own life. A woman who meets each challenge with creativity. Who takes action on her own behalf with clarity and strength. Imagine a woman who has crafted a fully formed solitude. A woman who is available to herself. Who chooses friends and lovers with the capacity to respect her solitude. Imagine a woman who refuses to diminish her life so others will feel better. A woman who brings the fullness of her years, experience, and wisdom into each relationship. Who expects others to be challenged and blessed by her presence in their lives. Imagine a woman who assumes equality in her relationships. A woman who no longer believes she is inferior to men and in need of Their salvation. Who has taken her rightful place beside them in the human community. Imagine a woman who refuses to use her precious life-energy managingCrises and conflict. A woman whose relationships deepen in satisfaction and contentment Without depleting her. Who chooses friends and lovers with the necessary skills to navigate Through the challenges of life. Imagine a woman who values the women in her life. A woman who sits in circles of women. Who is reminded of the truth about herself when she forgets. Imagine a woman who has relinquished the desire for intellectual safetyand approval. A woman who makes a powerful statement with every word she speaks, Every action she takes Who asserts to herself the right to reorder the world. Imagine a woman who has grown in knowledge and love of herself. A woman who has vowed faithfulness to her own life and capacities. Who remains loyal to herself. Regardless. Imagine yourself as this woman. --Patricia Lynn Reilly |
| Name: | Troubadours |
| Homepage URL: | http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-869183917758574879 |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | DO YOURSELF A BIG FAVOR AND WATCH THIS CLIP...BUSH GETS BURNED BY STEPHEN COLBERT! |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | GO HERE AND MAKE YOURSELF VERY VERY HAPPY....
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-869183917758574879 WATCH IT AGAIN AN AGAIN AND SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS! CHECK OUT...WWW.THANKYOUSTEPHENCOLBERT.ORG STEPHEN COLBERT...YOU ARE MY HERO!! |
| Name: | Kiersta |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | summertime... |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | and the living is, well, uneasy. Fish are jumpin', and the panic is high.
Hurricane season starts in less than 12 hours, and the citizens of the Gulf South have a few things left on the "to do" list. Got your important papers in a suitcase? A full tank of gas? An extra gas can in the trunk? A hachet and raft in the attic, just in case? Water, MREs, a generator? Call your friends in Houston and Atlanta and make sure you have directions to their places. They may be seeing a lot of you between now and November 1st.... But this year will be different, right? We have a new levee system. Disregard the fact that 400 feet of it collapsed last weekend. And a new, improved evacuation plan. Mandatory evacuation for Cat 2 and above. Trains, buses, FEMA at the ready. Okay, that last part terrifies us. But chin up: we have a new mayor. Oh, whoops, not exactly new, but the old one, just even nuttier this time around. Still, Nagin has a certain, gee, LOOK about him that is downright familiar to all of us. Sweaty, dog-tired, and easily startled. The Big Queasy, that's right. We have been generally lucky--none of our friends have left the city yet, but several are making the break in the next few weeks. Not the first exodus, but the new wave. Sudha would love to stay, but with the closing of major teaching hospitals, she needs to get her education in NYC. Gioja and Sonja, teachers both, have not been able to find the jobs they want and deserve, so they're off to greener pastures. Soaring rents, closed schools, major lay-offs are causing many others to go, and let's face it---the overall yucky, scary feeling doesn't help. Who can blame them? They gave it the old college try. Going away parties have replaced crawfish boils as the major form of entertainment. Bon voyage....and always a little, nagging voice: what about me? Am I standing on the deck of the Titanic, waving to my friends as they get on rescue boats? Or am I a proud,gritty warrior, willing to stick it out for the good of something-or-other? The truth is...who knows. It is certainly not honorable, or boast-worthy, to stay on a sinking island and re-build your house under the sea. And as much as we tell ourselves otherwise, we don't stick around to preserve this cultural treasure, or fight the good fight, or be part of history or whatever. It's just a love affair gone wrong. Yep, most of us fell in love with a beautiful creature some time ago.Okay not beautiful but stunning in the right light, and wretched in others. And sure, this creature was deeply flawed, and sometimes drank too much, and didn't pay attention or plan for the future, and laughed too loud at parties, and sometimes threw the dishes against the wall and seemed generally self-destructive. But, man, we had some good times. Some good old times. Some glorious, magical, fabulous times together. And that's why we stay. Hard to understand, perhaps, but try not to judge us unless you've walked ten months in our soggy shoes. We're all one step away from the nuthouse, and we can't let go. I told Justin: We need a free pass this season. A get-out-of-jail-avoid-all-major-storms pass. Are you with me? So whatever your beliefs, say a little prayer for us. Good vibrations? We'll take it. A lit candle? Perfect. Voodoo ritual? How appropriate. And I know so many people across the country have given money, time, clothing, their hearts to us this past year. But we just need this one last favor. We have always depended on the kindness of strangers, dawlin. Kiersta CHECK OUT JUSTIN'S NEW ORLEANS ART PROJECT ON NPR'S "DAY BY DAY" ON WEDNESDAY @ NOON OR ON WWW.NPR.ORG!!! |
| Name: | Jess |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | The pictures speak for themselves. |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | 
I love you, girls! Cant wait to see you in Louisville soon. |
| Name: | David Nelson |
| E-mail address: | nlsndav1@sbcglobal.net |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Sharing "My Girls" |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | I have been thrilled, blessed and overjoyed to have had the opportunity to share the Troubadours with my friends in St Louis. As I read the Walkstick entries, I find myself welling up with tears to see that they have had such an overwhelming effect on so many others in the states and now abroad. I cherish our times together, am warmed by their song and am so proud of the love and life they have brought to so many. Thank you Aimee and Renee' for being such a special part of my life. I wish all a lifetime of bliss and proudly share "My Girls" |
| Name: | thomas self |
| E-mail address: | self9@peoplepc.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | farewell |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | hello troubadours,
i've enjoyed your performances over the years and i wanted to say thank you. i was a regular at the heine bros. patio in louisville and occasionally caught you at clifton's and browning's. we spoke often and sometimes i'd leave little written meanderings in the tip jar. regardless, i'll miss your music and our chats...i'm moving to seattle in three weeks and your calendar is jam-packed elsewhere. when i'm back in louisville to see my family, perhaps i'll catch a show. i wish you both well... ts |
| Name: | Brad |
| E-mail address: | rhinosdirector@ameritech.net |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Great to see you both |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Awesome to listen, however briefly, to the TODB today.
My Daughter Samantha was ready to leave so we only caught 3 songs. I was able to donate some $ to a worthy cause and see you both so it was worth it on my end. Just to put our attendance in perspective, the lovely giggle you heard that stopped your show was from Sam, and it was because she was sitting on my lap and "tooted". Peace, Brad |
| Name: | Eric |
| Homepage URL: | http://www.clearwaterforcongress.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Eric |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Troubadours, thanks for agreeing to do a benefit concert for Gretchen Clearwater's campaign for Congress (Sunday, April 2 in Bloomington, IN)! I hope Troubadours fans from far and wide come out to support this worthy cause-- Gretchen is fighting to take back our democracy for justice and decency, for the needs of working people. It's a people's campaign, and we need all the help we can get from the grassroots! If you live in the 9th district of Indiana, please vote on May 2nd. If you live elsewhere, check Gretchen's webpage out and consider supporting her campaign. |
| Name: | Erika |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | STOP THE GENOCIDE IN AFRICA |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | In the wake of the third anniversary of the U.S.
invasion of Iraq, the world's attention is focused on Iraq and Iran. But in Africa, a horrible war is raging against innocent civilians - and the world is watching it happen. After the Holocaust, the world said, "Never again." But genocide did happen again, in Cambodia, in Rwanda, and now in Darfur, Sudan. President Bush declared the situation in Darfur to be genocide in 2004, yet the administration has not done enough since to end the violence. Please take action today to help stop the killing before it's too late. http://go.care2.com/e/j3y/jg/PeuE When President Bush came into office he wrote of the devastating 1994 genocide in Rwanda: "Not on my watch." But America and the world are watching as tens of thousands of innocent civilians face the threat of torture, starvation, rape, and uprooting from their homes, families, and livelihoods every day in Darfur. While President Bush has taken some notable steps very recently to increase international peace keepers in the region, it is not enough to stop the horrific violence. President Bush needs to know that the American people care about Darfur, and that we want him to make ending this genocide a top priority for his administration. Act now to end the violence: http://go.care2.com/e/j3y/jg/PeuE Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and author, has written about genocide, "Let us remember: what hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor but the silence of the bystander." The international community has remained silent for too long while the people of Darfur have suffered. We need to speak up now, before it's too late. Sign the petition to urge President Bush to make ending the genocide an immediate priority for America and the world. http://go.care2.com/e/j3y/jg/PeuE Thank you for caring about the people of Darfur, - Rebecca Young, Care2 and ThePetitionSite team Thank you for signing up to receive Peace Alerts via ThePetitionSite or Care2 website! Your email address has not been bought from other sources. If you learned something interesting from this newsletter, please forward it to your friends, family and colleagues. ------------------------------------------- |
| Name: | Angie |
| E-mail address: | noodleheadpig@gmail.com |
| Homepage URL: | http://amiproductions.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Fabulous... |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Girls, the site looks great! You've been busy...
Thoughts to you both.. Angie |
| Name: | K & J |
| Homepage URL: | http://www.greetingsfromneworleans.typepad.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Yes Viginia, There is a Mardi Gras... |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | yes, Virginia...
...there is a Mardi Gras. It started in earnest a week ago, the parades not very crowded at first, but has steamrolled into a much smaller, but rowdy version of our beloved carnival. The sights, the smells, all bring us back to life "pre-K".....brass bands march in the streets, co-eds vomit on the curb, and beads, beads, beads. Justin is a bead competitor to watch---he nearly pushed a four-year old under a float in an attempt to get the precious plastic...although he maintains: "That kid was kind of falling anyway...." Never has a Mardi Gras been so hotly contested---the very existence of it, that is. What does it mean, in the midst of a city still full of sorrow and debris? Is is an important catharsis? Or frivolous and decadent? The way to preserve tradition? Or a affront to the memory of those who died? I only know this: I've seen groups of people laughing and dancing for the first time in six months, met families still living in trailers in Houston who came back so their kids could go to the parades, and got a glimmer of why we should re-build this broken, ridiculous city under the sea anyway. And "The Thing" is never far from our minds...costumes and floats mock the "leaders" who failed us, our blue tarps, our FEMA checks, our obstinancy, and even our tendency to joke about tragic events and drink our cares away. The last float of the night rolls by, no riders, just a sign that says "We celebrate life. We Mourn the Past. We will Never Forget." Amen, babies. And have a happy, happy Mardi Gras. We've never needed it more. Love, K |
| Name: | elsie |
| E-mail address: | pilgrimspromise@hotmail.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Love the Bliss!! |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | You girls, you girls, you girls have blessed and blissed me along my way. I'm not going to give up and I have God to thank for sending your spirits my way!
love ya, els |
| Name: | stephanie parker |
| E-mail address: | yellojeepgirl@yahoo.com |
| Homepage URL: | http://outofhabit.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | sis in bliss |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Hey ladies! Thank you so much for the beer & taking the time out of your busy schedule to spend some time alone with us. Just talking to you both about life and love and the intricacies therein gave me peace and understanding. Your music has also always done the same for me, as I know it does to most that HEAR you and what you have to say.
I love you both & may the universe continue to bless you in your walk to spread peace, truth & unconditional love. Peace be with you both! |
| Name: | Simeon |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | BLISS ROCKED THE UK!! |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | I saw you girls LIVE in London and it was just incredible! How can we get you back here? The UK needs its bliss fix too! |
| Name: | Angie Impellizzeri |
| E-mail address: | noodleheadpig@gmail.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Groupies of Divine Bliss |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Starting a fan club... |
| Name: | Dora Boone Cake |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Dora Boone Cake |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Dear Aim Me & Renee,
hey trubidores my name is dora and i love to watch you guys play at hinie brothers! i think that you guys are groovie. rock on. fight the power man. free your dream and all that stuff. one of my faveorite songs of yours is be brave. it helps me when i'm sad and gives me confidence in myself. hope to hear from you soon signed dora boone cake Referred by:: my friend's brothers, aunt's cusin's uncle's firiend's daughter's boys friend beliefs: my dreams and my self. my friends and the lady i work with. she wants to become a singer one day and i think that she can go far. i also love to vote. i also believe in peace on earth and hippies comming back to earth and conquering us all. and being a veggie head i believe that animals should be taken care of and not eaten. they should run free unless there house pets. i think that we should help the poor all we can. you can only be truly wealthy wen you have doNE your part to helping others! DONT YOU AGREE? I ALSO THINK THAT BLACK IS COOL AND CLOTHES THAT DONT MATCH ARE AWESUM! YOU CAN ALSO WEAR WHITE AFTER LABOR DAY --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Name: | Leo |
| E-mail address: | leo@leolyons.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Leo |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Hi Aim me & Renee, hope you got home safe & sound and are resting ready for a groovy Christmas. Hope Kent made you feel welcome - well those of us that bothered to leave our firesides! We had fun and hope that you will grace our shores once more in the future. Hope Mum had fun too. Did you got to Dover Castle? Heard your gigs in Faversham & Gillingham went well. Its getting mighty cold here now - deep frost this week and they say it will get worse. Still its party season so lots of dancing and singing to keep us warm until spring. All the gang say hi - Marianne, Lief, Pete, Katy et al. Lots of yuletide love from Blighty. |
| Name: | Keith |
| E-mail address: | keith@dalyanlad.fsnet.co.uk |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Thanks for the music |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Just a quick note as you guys are winging your way back to home. Saw you at The Anchor Faversham and The Barge Gillingham and thought you were fantastic!! Much power to you, keep spreading the message - one day the ordinary people will win through. Love and respect. keith xx |
| Name: | Bejesus |
| E-mail address: | grq04@dial.pipex.com |
| Homepage URL: | http://www.usk.org |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Reviews For The 2 London Shows |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Hi I just thought I'd paste in the reviews I did for the two London Shows in the Unofficial Soup Kitchen website www.usk.org I hope the tour goes well.
Simon Phillips AKA Bejesus. Troubadors Of Divine Bliss 1st London Show 1st show at The Bedford Pub on Bedford Hill in Balham 15.11.05. This was the opening night of the Troubadours of Divine Bliss UK invasion 2005 and the girls had chosen an incredible venue to start a tour in. Now I have lived in London all my life and had never been to the Bedford before and I wished I had from the moment I stepped inside this huge Victorian pub that had 2 public bars plus a Ballroom and entertainments room as well as the Shakespearian Globe Theatre that tonights gig was in! Yes a beautiful victorian attempt at asn Elizabethan theatre with wooden gallery covered in Family shields and set out with tables so you could eat and be entertained properly, well the Violetti Di Aubergine were delicious and a good foretaste before the nights host came on stage and explained the nights format that was that all tonights acts would come on and play 2 songs before the interval and two more songs after the interval, while being webcast on the pubs website www.thebedford.co.uk I think, I don't know if old stream are available or not. Well first act on were The Medicine whose parents were sitting infront of me! An interesting Anglo indian three piece who sing slightly psychedelic protest songs almost in the style of 5.30 but without the Satanism! Next up was David Ribi whose fliers claimed he was an 18 year old singer songwriter pianist, who then failed to play piano on his first set instead being accompanied by a guitarist. David;s mum was sitting at the front encouraging him, which wasn't needed as he has a great voice and gave us two songs of emotional heartbreak that should have been sung by someone much older than him, still he may go far. Then we had some real boring Irishman with lots of Angst but that was it. Then it was time for the Troubadors of Divine Bliss to infuse a little of there Louisiana magic into the room, the first number had Renee singing sweet harmonies along to Aim Mee's song and percussion from her guitar, right from the start the packed club was pretty much rivetted a great opener and then they did a song that used the accordian that almost enveloped the room, sorry i don't know the song titles. But they went down really well with lots of good interplay between the girls and I loved Aim Mee's customised acoustic. There was then one more act an angst ridden woman who was very forgettable and then into the break. During the break I went and introduced myself using the magical friend of Dreamerz line, why does that line always put the smile on womens faces? Had a good chat with them about the early days of the USK and there friendship with Tom Luplow and the last time they saw him a few days before he died, all sorts of other stuff too. Then it was back for part two, first up thsi half was Jason Ribi this time on Piano and two more emotion wrenched to the max songs one about his love for his Mum, she had tears streaming down her face throughout it, it was quite touching seeing such a private moment in public, not bad song either. Next back was Angst girl who was starting to annoy me. Then it was The Medicine once more and they got a lot more political on us which was cool. Then the Troubadors were back this time to sing about Louisianna and New Orleans and all the flood and devastation in there home town, this song brought the house down, total hit They followed that with a song about Bush et al not caring about the people it went down well and sounded great with some very gospelly vocals and great harmonies. The evening was then rounded off by the boring irishman once more whose trio stayed on to Jam wioth the Host on the show closer a good end to a great show in an incredible hidden venue, apparently recent shows included a solo free gig by Pete Townsend! After the show I stayed and chatted with the girls and got the two cd's they are promoting on this tour "Dying, Laughing Firecrackers On A Feneral Pyre" And the double set "Off The Cuff" live at the Winchester that comes complete with credits to a certain Mr Voit. They are available from www.troubadorsofdivinebliss.com. We had a good talk and were just about the last people out of the place while they were clearing the place. Damn I am out of time to write the second review, it's coming soon Ipromise. Troubadours Of Divine Bliss 2nd London Show Tue, November 22,2005 10:24:25AM At the Troubadour Club, Earls Court 16th November. Well these girls know how to choose a venue as the second London Show is at the Legendary Troubadour that had gigs by everyone from Dylan to Hendrix and The Who back in the 60's, a real classic "Folk Cellar". The only downside is it is next door to one of Londons Oldest Leather Bars! Well I was about the first paying customer down the stairs in a sparsely populated club that all night had people slouching in corners and against the wall, it's that kind of a place! I got a very warm welcome from Aim Me and Renee who both thought I wouldn't show up! No I had a real good time in Balham and wanted to hear more of a proper set that had more than 4 songs in it. Oh and Brian as for the line that makes the girls smile you have to ask Dreamerz for the secret code, I promise you however it always works if used sparingly! Still the evening started with a song or two from our host for the evening followed by the first act Millpond Moon who are a Norwegian Husband Wife duo with some cool songs and some pretty damn fine guitar playing. Then it was the Troubadours Of Divine Bliss who came on to a better populated club and grabbed everyones attention with a good six song set that a great version of Leonard Cohens Dance me To the End Of Love almost as it's centrpiece, although the hit of the show was the New Orleans Tribute song, Aim Mee said afterwards that it will now be in the set every night of the tour! It was a real shame they couldn't play longer, but they certainly sold a few cd's afterwards! Next on were The Mb's a classic English funk band in sort of a Cymandi stylee, who were totally out of place on this bill, but boy did they take the place by storm couldn't help but get up and dance to them, but don't ask me for the video proof of that, Only Renee has control of that footage! Then it was the turn of Matt Sage & The Orchestra Of Love to finish the night off. well the Orchestra turn out to be a very cool Double Bass player and a weird barefoot Hippy Chick violinist, both of whome sounded great, the problem was Matt Sage he was awful with no charisma or much ability on the guitar he was trying to play. I was bored of him in less than a song, he totally ruined what his backing musicians were doing. It got even worse when he did a solo song! No he should give up and let the other two join a decent band instead! I stayed chatting with the girls for quite a while it was a cool chat and I gave them good directions to there next show in Newbury, I hope the tour is still a roaring sucess and they enjoy Scotland. |
| Name: | Who Dat Danny |
| Homepage URL: | http://www.epi.org & http://www.thenation.com & http://votescam.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Who Dat talkin 'bout building back, WHO DATS! |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Principles for Gulf Coast Reconstruction 9-29-05
Prepared by the Working Group for a Fair Response The destruction to life and property caused by Hurricane Katrina surely renders this the most severe natural disaster in our history. Though the extent of damage and death is still being assessed, the storm covered 90,000 square miles. The city of New Orleans was devastated—80% of the city was underwater until a few days ago—but other areas, such as the Gulfport-Biloxi area, were also hit hard. More than one million persons fled their homes in the wake of the storm and its aftermath. The federal government has already allocated $62 billion to address the needs of the hundreds of thousands of evacuees who have fled from uninhabitable areas, as well as to begin the massive rebuilding effort. Much more federal funding is expected to follow. This policy memo is focused on the rebuilding effort. The crisis of Katrina presents our government with a unique opportunity to simultaneously address the destruction done by the storm and the needs of the citizens of the affected areas, many of whom are dispersed throughout the region and even the country. In the coming months and years, substantial federal resources will be committed to cleaning up and rebuilding Gulf Coast infrastructure and communities. While federal resources are essential to this process, community engagement in planning for and doing the actual work is also essential. Specifically this means that: 1. People who lost everything in the storm need to play a central role in rebuilding their communities. Federal policy should require that residents of the affected communities, including displaced residents, have a preference for all jobs that are created in the reconstruction process, to the maximum extent practicable. Contractors in the rebuilding process should be required to do outreach, assisted by government at all levels, to identify and hire residents to fill these jobs. The rules regarding hiring, training, etc., should be made explicitly part of every clean-up or rebuilding grant or contract. 2. Now, more than ever, residents and others who rebuild need fair and decent wages for the work they do. Their wages and income are as much a part of rebuilding their communities as the contracts on which they work. Requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act should apply to all reconstruction projects funded in whole or in part with federal funds. Unfortunately, on September 8, the president suspended the Davis-Bacon Act in areas affected by the flood, even as the federal government was in the midst of letting contracts related to the disaster. The stated rationale for the suspension was to save the taxpayers money. However, there are many reasons why the suspension is especially misguided. First, a foremost goal of the reconstruction should be to provide decent jobs and incomes to the residents of affected areas. While there is an obvious need to move quickly and efficiently, it is equally important to avoid exacerbating the racial and income inequities that pervade the affected areas. New Orleans, for example, has a poverty rate of 23%, close to twice that of the nation (about 13%). Second, the devastation of the storm means that in some of these areas, such as New Orleans, there is little in the way of a recognizable market economy. That means there is no market wage to speak of, no competitive forces at work that we could count on to set a fair wage. In the face of such a market failure, government contractors will, in effect, set the market wage, and the fairest way to do this is to use prevailing wage guidelines. Third, our goal is to return the Gulf Coast to normalcy. By definition, the wages that prevailed before the hurricane should be reestablished in its wake. An argument could even be made that wages should be higher in light of the new hazards of biological and toxic contamination that are present in some locales. There is no justification for the federal government to drive wages lower than those that prevailed before the disaster. A New York Times editorial on the suspension raised this point: “Does Mr. Bush really believe it is the will of the American people to deny the prevailing wage to construction workers in New Orleans, Biloxi and other hard-hit areas?” Davis-Bacon rules apply only to the construction sector, but there will be many employment opportunities in other sectors as well. In services, wage standards are also necessary, and the prevailing wage rates under the Service Contract Act should apply. According to recent SCA wage determination documents for the New Orleans area (which are posted on the Web at http://www.wdol.gov/wdol/scafiles/std/94-2233.txt ) wages in occupations likely to be relevant in the reconstruction cover a wide range. Food service wages range from $7-10/hour; transportation jobs pay from $8-15; licensed practical nurses are in the $14 range; registered nurses average around $30/hour. Note that unlike Davis-Bacon, the SCA does not explicitly allow for suspension in times of emergencies. 3. The plans to rebuild the city of New Orleans and other areas affected by Hurricane Katrina must include provisions to provide comprehensive healthcare to those workers. Every victim of the hurricane should be covered by Medicaid for six months, unless private insurance can be obtained sooner. To ensure adequate health care for those rebuilding the city, all FEMA/disaster relief contractors should be required to spend at least the national average — 11 percent of their payroll — towards health care. If contractors do not offer 11 percent, they should be required to pay the difference between what they do offer and 11 percent into a fund, which will be dedicated to providing Medicaid coverage to uninsured and underinsured workers. Another reason for ensuring broad health-care coverage is that hospitals struggling to recover from the storm will likely be treating large numbers of patients without private coverage. 4. Building the skills of residents will help them participate in the rebuilding process and is an investment in the future for them and their communities. Residents should have access to skill training they need to qualify for jobs that will become available, including access to apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs, consistent with the need to get work done as soon as possible. 5. The distribution of rebuilding work should be fair, not just another avenue to reward political heavyweights and insiders. The recent weakening of contracting requirements that ensure opportunities for minority and women-owned businesses should be reversed. Similarly, the recent weakening of affirmative action employment requirements for federal contractors should be reversed. 6. The rebuilding process needs to be about rebuilding public confidence in government at all levels, and there needs to be transparency to help insure that the rules established for rebuilding are met. All companies that participate in clean-up or reconstruction activities as direct government contractors or subcontractors should maintain and make available to the public information relating to their compliance, and efforts to comply with prescribed hiring and compensation requirements. 7. The voices of residents need to be heard throughout the rebuilding process. Government officials need to confer with community representatives throughout the planning and rebuilding, including monitoring these standards for rebuilding, to help insure that stronger and healthier communities emerge for the future. Relocation, Housing: Some of those who left the affected areas may not have the resources to return, and many will not have housing. The Housing Area Command, HAC, was created by FEMA to play the central role in providing emergency housing. Along with FEMA, HAC includes private sector contractors and partners from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the American Red Cross. HAC is actively letting contracts with private firms—five are listed in this press release: http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=18708. Such efforts are likely to escalate quickly, meaning the HAC may be an important leverage point for accomplishing the goals of local Thus, we suggest that Congress specify that Federal contracts let by HAC must include training, wage, and local hiring requirements. By Economic Policy Institute, Center for Community Change, and the Center for Law and Social Policy Printed from http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/memo_gulf _______________________________________________________ Let the People Rebuild New Orleans (The Nation) [from the September 26, 2005 issue] On September 4, six days after Katrina hit, I saw the first glimmer of hope. "The people of New Orleans will not go quietly into the night, scattering across this country to become homeless in countless other cities while federal relief funds are funneled into rebuilding casinos, hotels, chemical plants.... We will not stand idly by while this disaster is used as an opportunity to replace our homes with newly built mansions and condos in a gentrified New Orleans." The statement came from Community Labor United, a coalition of low-income groups in New Orleans. It went on to demand that a committee made up of evacuees "oversee FEMA, the Red Cross and other organizations collecting resources on behalf of our people.... We are calling for evacuees from our community to actively participate in the rebuilding of New Orleans." It's a radical concept: The $10.5 billion released by Congress and the $500 million raised by private charities doesn't actually belong to the relief agencies or the government; it belongs to the victims. The agencies entrusted with the money should be accountable to them. Put another way, the people Barbara Bush tactfully described as "underprivileged anyway" just got very rich. Except relief and reconstruction never seem to work like that. When I was in Sri Lanka six months after the tsunami, many survivors told me that the reconstruction was victimizing them all over again. A council of the country's most prominent businesspeople had been put in charge of the process, and they were handing the coast over to tourist developers at a frantic pace. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of poor fishing people were still stuck in sweltering inland camps, patrolled by soldiers with machine guns and entirely dependent on relief agencies for food and water. They called reconstruction "the second tsunami." There are already signs that New Orleans evacuees could face a similarly brutal second storm. Jimmy Reiss, chairman of the New Orleans Business Council, told Newsweek that he has been brainstorming about how "to use this catastrophe as a once-in-an-eon opportunity to change the dynamic." The Business Council's wish list is well-known: low wages, low taxes, more luxury condos and hotels. Before the flood, this highly profitable vision was already displacing thousands of poor African-Americans: While their music and culture was for sale in an increasingly corporatized French Quarter (where only 4.3 percent of residents are black), their housing developments were being torn down. "For white tourists and businesspeople, New Orleans' reputation is 'a great place to have a vacation but don't leave the French Quarter or you'll get shot,'" Jordan Flaherty, a New Orleans-based labor organizer told me the day after he left the city by boat. "Now the developers have their big chance to disperse the obstacle to gentrification--poor people." Here's a better idea: New Orleans could be reconstructed by and for the very people most victimized by the flood. Schools and hospitals that were falling apart before could finally have adequate resources; the rebuilding could create thousands of local jobs and provide massive skills training in decent paying industries. Rather than handing over the reconstruction to the same corrupt elite that failed the city so spectacularly, the effort could be led by groups like Douglass Community Coalition. Before the hurricane this remarkable assembly of parents, teachers, students and artists was trying to reconstruct the city from the ravages of poverty by transforming Frederick Douglass Senior High School into a model of community learning. They have already done the painstaking work of building consensus around education reform. Now that the funds are flowing, shouldn't they have the tools to rebuild every ailing public school in the city? For a people's reconstruction process to become a reality (and to keep more contracts from going to Halliburton), the evacuees must be at the center of all decision-making. According to Curtis Muhammad of Community Labor United, the disaster's starkest lesson is that African-Americans cannot count on any level of government to protect them. "We had no caretakers," he says. That means the community groups that do represent African-Americans in Louisiana and Mississippi -- many of which lost staff, office space and equipment in the flood -- need our support now. Only a massive injection of cash and volunteers will enable them to do the crucial work of organizing evacuees -- currently scattered through forty-one states--into a powerful political constituency. The most pressing question is where evacuees will live over the next few months. A dangerous consensus is building that they should collect a little charity, apply for a job at the Houston Wal-Mart and move on. Muhammad and CLU, however, are calling for the right to return: they know that if evacuees are going to have houses and schools to come back to, many will need to return to their home states and fight for them. These ideas are not without precedent. When Mexico City was struck by a devastating earthquake in 1985, the state also failed the people: poorly constructed public housing crumbled and the army was ready to bulldoze buildings with survivors still trapped inside. A month after the quake 40,000 angry refugees marched on the government, refusing to be relocated out of their neighborhoods and demanding a "Democratic Reconstruction." Not only were 50,000 new dwellings for the homeless built in a year; the neighborhood groups that grew out of the rubble launched a movement that is challenging Mexico's traditional power holders to this day. And the people I met in Sri Lanka have grown tired of waiting for the promised relief. Some survivors are now calling for a People's Planning Commission for Post-Tsunami Recovery. They say the relief agencies should answer to them; it's their money, after all. The idea could take hold in the United States, and it must. Because there is only one thing that can compensate the victims of this most human of natural disasters, and that is what has been denied them throughout: power. It will be a long and difficult battle, but New Orleans' evacuees should draw strength from the knowledge that they are no longer poor people; they are rich people who have been temporarily locked out of their bank accounts. Those wanting to donate to a people's reconstruction can make checks out to the Vanguard Public Foundation, 383 Rhode Island St., Suite 301, San Francisco, CA 94103. Checks should be earmarked "People's Hurricane Fund." http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050926/klein |
| Name: | jIM Poyser @Indy's NUVO |
| Homepage URL: | http://www.nuvo.net |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | FROM INDY NUVO-"BEST COOPERATIVE EFFORT TO GET OUT OF THE RAIN...JUST IN TIME!" |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Best cooperative effort to get out of the rain … just in time
Easley Winery; Aug. 27. On a Saturday afternoon, a couple dozen of us sat outside at Easley Winery drinking wine and listening to the Troubadours of Divine Bliss, an accordion/guitar duo from Louisville. As the Troubadours sang one sweet song after another, the roar of the visiting U.S. Navy Blue Angels mingled with the sound of thunder. Temperature dropped and breezes stirred and the wise management at Easley decided it was time to move the show inside. Everyone helped. I mean everyone. There was all the sound equipment to haul inside, but there was also the need to secure the umbrellas that span above the tables. The plastic receptacles for ice to keep the wine chilled and the metal containers that house various bits of menu information — both of which had been useful earlier as percussion devices — all had to be schlepped. At one point I turned in the parking lot and saw six people carrying a giant white tent, three people per side grasping onto the tent pole infrastructure. They were like a site-specific theater performance, or a piece of public art worthy of Christo. We finished and as the last person escaped the roiling outdoors, the final items in hand, the cloudburst began. We gathered then to hear more music, a bunch of strangers no longer strange to each other. The Troubadours took it all in stride and unplugged; no need for electricity in this space. What performer wouldn’t pine for a circumstance to create this level of intimacy and shared experience? —Jim Poyser |
| Name: | David Ray Griffin |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Theologian Says Controlled Demolition is Now a Fact, Not a Theory |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | "Many people who know or at least suspect the truth about 9/11 probably believe that revealing it would be so disturbing to the American psyche, the American form of government, and global stability that it is better to pretend to believe the official version. I would suggest, however, that any merit this argument may have had earlier has been overcome by more recent events and realizations. Far more devastating to the American psyche, the American form of government, and the world as a whole will be the continued rule of those who brought us 9/11, because the values reflected in that horrendous event have been reflected in the Bush administration’s lies to justify the attack on Iraq, its disregard for environmental science and the Bill of Rights, its criminal negligence both before and after Katrina, and now its apparent plan not only to weaponize space but also to authorize the use of nuclear weapons in a preemptive strike."
Want to prevent more of the same? Impeachment (of the whole crew) is more urgent now than ever before. Infuse your Representative with some courage: www.house.org Theologian Says Controlled Demolition is Now a Fact, Not a Theory Kevin Barrett, http://mujca.com October 21, 2005 In two speeches to overflow crowds in New York last weekend, notable theologian David Ray Griffin argued that recently revealed evidence seals the case that the Twin Towers and WTC-7 were destroyed by controlled demolition with explosives. Despite the many enduring mysteries of the 9/11 attacks, Dr. Griffin concluded, "It is already possible to know, beyond a reasonable doubt, one very important thing: the destruction of the World Trade Center was an inside job, orchestrated by terrorists within our own government." On Oct. 15th and 16th, New Yorkers filled two venues to hear the prominent theologian and author of two books on 9/11 give a presentation entitled “The Destruction of the Trade Towers: A Christian Theologian Speaks Out.” Dr. Griffin has continued to blaze a trail of courage, leading where most media and elected officials have feared to tread. His presentation went straight to the core of one of the most powerful indictments of the official story, the collapse of the towers and WTC 7. Dr. Griffin included excerpts from the firemen’s tapes which were recently released as a result of a prolonged court battle led by victim’s families represented by attorney Norman Siegel and reported in the NY Times. He also included statements by many witnesses. These sources gave ample testimony giving evidence of explosions going off in the buildings. A 12 minute film was shown for the audiences, who saw for themselves the undeniable evidence for controlled demolition. Dr. Griffin listed ten characteristics of the collapses which all indicate that the buildings did not fall due to being struck by planes or the ensuing fires. He explained the buildings fell suddenly without any indication of collapse. They fell straight into their own footprint at free-fall speed, meeting virtually no resistance as they fell--a physical impossibility unless all vertical support was being progressively removed by explosives severing the core columns. The towers were built to withstand the impact of a Boeing 707 and 160 mile per hour winds, and nothing about the plane crashes or ensuing fires gave any indication of causing the kind of damage that would be necessary to trigger even a partial or progressive collapse, much less the shredding of the buildings into dust and fragments that could drop at free-fall speed. The massive core columns--the most significant structural feature of the buildings, whose very existence is denied in the official 9/11 Commission Report--were severed into uniform 30 foot sections, just right for the 30-foot trucks used to remove them quickly before a real investigation could transpire. There was a volcanic-like dust cloud from the concrete being pulverized, and no physical mechanism other than explosives can begin to explain how so much of the buildings' concrete was rendered into extremely fine dust. The debris was ejected horizontally several hundred feet in huge fan shaped plumes stretching in all directions, with telltale "squibs" following the path of the explosives downward. These are all facts that have been avoided by mainstream and even most of the alternative media. Again, these are characteristics of the kind of controlled demolitions that news people and firefighters were describing on the morning of 9/11. Those multiple first-person descriptions of controlled demolition were hidden away for almost four years by the City of New York until a lawsuit finally forced the city to release them. Dr. Griffin's study of these accounts has led him beyond his earlier questioning of the official story of the collapses, to his above-quoted conclusion: The destruction of the three WTC buildings with explosives by US government terrorists is no longer a hypothesis, but a fact that has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. It’s important to note that Dr. Griffin is one of many prominent intellectuals--including the likes of Gore Vidal, Howard Zinn, Peter Dale Scott, Richard Falk, Paul Craig Roberts, Morgan Reynolds and Peter Phillips--who have seen through the major discrepancies of the official explanation of 9/11 and have risen to challenge it. These brave individuals represent the tip of an ever-growing iceberg of discreet 9/11 skeptics. Indeed, 9/11 skepticism appears to be almost universal among intellectuals who have examined the evidence, since there has not yet been a single serious attempt to refute the case developed by Dr. Griffin and such like-minded thinkers as Nafeez Ahmed and Mike Ruppert. As for the general public, polls have shown that a strong majority of Canadians (63%, Toronto Star, May '04) and half of New Yorkers (Zogby, August 2004) agree that top US leaders conspired to murder nearly 3,000 Americans on 9/11/01. |
| Name: | THE nATION |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | THE MURDER OF NEW ORLEANS |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | questions | posted September 30, 2005 (web only)
25 Questions About the Murder of New Orleans Mike Davis & Anthony Fontenat PRINT THIS ARTICLE EMAIL THIS ARTICLE WRITE TO THE EDITORS TAKE ACTION NOW SUBSCRIBE TO THE NATION This essay was reprinted with permission from tomdispatch.com We recently spent a week in New Orleans and southern Louisiana interviewing relief workers, community activists, urban planners, artists and neighborhood folks. Even as the latest flood waters from Hurricane Rita recede, the city remains submerged in anger and frustration. Indeed, the most toxic debris in New Orleans isn't the sinister gray sludge that coats the streets of the historic Creole neighborhood of Treme or the Lower Ninth Ward but all the unanswered questions that have accumulated in the wake of so much official betrayal and hypocrisy. Where outsiders see simple "incompetence" or "failure of leadership," locals are more inclined to discern deliberate design and planned neglect--the murder, not the accidental death, of a great city. In almost random order, here are twenty-five of the urgent questions that deeply trouble the local people we spoke with. Until a grand jury or Congressional committee begins to uncover the answers, the moral (as opposed to simply physical) reconstruction of the New Orleans region will remain impossible. 1. Why did the floodwalls along the 17th Street Canal only break on the New Orleans side and not on the Metairie side? Was this the result of neglect and poor maintenance by New Orleans authorities? 2. Who owned the huge barge that was catapulted through the wall of the Industrial Canal, killing hundreds in the Lower Ninth Ward--the most deadly hit-and-run accident in US history? 3. All of New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish east of the Industrial Canal were drowned, except for the Almonaster-Michoud Industrial District along Chef Menteur Highway. Why was industrial land apparently protected by stronger levees than nearby residential neighborhoods? 4. Why did Mayor Ray Nagin, in defiance of his own official disaster plan, delay twelve to twenty-four hours in ordering a mandatory evacuation of the city? 5. Why did Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff not declare Katrina an "Incident of National Significance" until August 31--thus preventing the full deployment of urgently needed federal resources? 6. Why wasn't the nearby USS Bataan immediately sent to the aid of New Orleans? The huge amphibious-landing ship had a state-of-the-art, 600-bed hospital, water and power plants, helicopters, food supplies and 1,200 sailors eager to join the rescue effort. 7. Similarly, why wasn't the Baltimore-based hospital ship USS Comfort ordered to sea until August 31, or the 82nd Airborne Division deployed in New Orleans until September 5? 8. Why does Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld balk at making public his "severe weather execution order" that established the ground rules for the military response to Katrina? Did the Pentagon, as a recent report by the Congressional Research Service suggests, fail to take initiatives within already authorized powers, then attempt to transfer the blame to state and local governments? 9. Why were the more than 350 buses of the New Orleans Regional Transportation Authority--eventually flooded where they were parked--not mobilized to evacuate infirm, poor and car-less residents? 10. What significance attaches to the fact that the chair of the Transportation Authority, appointed by Mayor Nagin, is Jimmy Reiss, the wealthy leader of the New Orleans Business Council, which has long advocated a thorough redevelopment of (and cleanup of crime in) the city? 11. Under what authority did Mayor Nagin meet confidentially in Dallas with the "forty thieves"--white business leaders led by Reiss--reportedly to discuss the triaging of poorer black areas and a corporate-led master plan for rebuilding the city? 12. Everyone knows about a famous train called "the City of New Orleans." Why was there no evacuation by rail? Was Amtrak part of the disaster planning? If not, why not? 13. Why were patients at private hospitals like Tulane evacuated by helicopter while their counterparts at the Charity Hospital were left to suffer and die? 14. Was the failure to adequately stock food, water, portable toilets, cots and medicine at the Louisiana Superdome a deliberate decision--as many believe--to force poorer residents to leave the city? 15. The French Quarter has one of the highest densities of restaurants in the nation. Once the acute shortages of food and water at the Superdome and the Convention Center were known, why didn't officials requisition supplies from hotels and restaurants located just a few blocks away? (As it happened, vast quantities of food were simply left to spoil.) 16. City Hall's emergency command center had to be abandoned early in the crisis because its generator supposedly ran out of diesel fuel. Likewise, many critical-care patients died from heat or equipment failure after hospital backup generators failed. Why were supplies of diesel fuel so inadequate? Why were so many hospital generators located in basements that would obviously flood? 17. Why didn't the Navy or Coast Guard immediately airdrop life preservers and rubber rafts in flooded districts? Why wasn't such life-saving equipment stocked in schools and hospitals? 18. Why weren't evacuee centers established in Audubon Park and other unflooded parts of Uptown, where locals could be employed as cleanup crews? 19. Is the Justice Department investigating the Jim Crow-like response of the suburban Gretna police, who turned back hundreds of desperate New Orleans citizens trying to walk across the Mississippi River Bridge--an image reminiscent of Selma in 1965? New Orleans, meanwhile, abounds in eyewitness accounts of police looting and illegal shootings: Will any of this ever be investigated? 20. Who is responsible for the suspicious fires that have swept the city? Why have so many fires occurred in blue-collar areas that have long been targets of proposed gentrification, such as the Section 8 homes on Constance Street in the Lower Garden District or the wharfs along the river in Bywater? 21. Where were FEMA's several dozen vaunted urban search-and-rescue teams? Aside from some courageous work by Coast Guard helicopter crews, the early rescue effort was largely mounted by volunteers who towed their own boats into the city after hearing an appeal on television. 22. We found a massive Red Cross presence in Baton Rouge but none in some of the smaller Louisiana towns that have mounted the most impressive relief efforts. The poor Cajun community of Ville Platte, for instance, has at one time or another fed and housed more than 5,000 evacuees; but the Red Cross, along with FEMA, has refused almost daily appeals by local volunteers to send professional personnel and aid. Why then give money to the Red Cross? 23. Why isn't FEMA scrambling to create a central registry of everyone evacuated from the greater New Orleans region? Will evacuees receive absentee ballots and be allowed to vote in the crucial February municipal elections that will partly decide the fate of the city? 24. As politicians talk about "disaster czars" and elite-appointed reconstruction commissions, and as architects and developers advance utopian designs for an ethnically cleansed "new urbanism" in New Orleans, where is any plan for the substantive participation of the city's ordinary citizens in their own future? 25. Indeed, on the fortieth anniversary of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, what has happened to democracy? |
| Name: | Aim Me & Renee |
| Homepage URL: | http://WWW.VOTE-SMART.ORG |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE GULF!
DEMAND AN INDEPENDENT KATRINA INVESTIGATION! |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | WHY WAS BUSH ON VACATION FOR THE DURATION, AT BIRTHDAY PARTIES,PLAYING GUITAR,GOLFING AND SELLING HIS PRIVITIZATION OF SOCIAL SECURITY, WHILE THE FIRST EVER EVACUATION OF A MAJOR US CITY WAS TAKING PLACE AND ALL THE MAJOR NETWORKS WERE SHOWING AMERICANS LIVING LIKE ANIMALS FOR FOUR DAYS???
CAN HE INVESTIGATE HIMSELF?? CAN A SUSPECT CONDUCT HIS OWN INVESTIGATION OF HIS CRIME OBJECTIVELY?? CALL YOUR CONGRESSPEOPLE AND DEMAND AN INDEPENDENT KATRINA INVESTIGATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -WHY DID BUSH LIE ABOUT "ANTICIPATING THE BREAK IN THE LEVY"? IT WAS WELL KNOWN THAT THIS WOULD HAPPEN. -WHY DID FEMA LIE ABOUT KNOWING OF THE PEOPLE IN THE CONVENTION CENTER WHEN IT WAS ALL OVER THE NEWS FOR FOUR DAYS? -WHY DID FEMA STOP HELP -WALMART TRUCKS OF WATER, MEDICS,RESCUERS,FIREFIGHTERS,AIRDROPS,SECURITY FORCES,FOOD,PORT-O-LETS,BUSES FROM ARRIVING TO STRANDED CITIZENS???? -WHY DID FEMA CUT THE EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION LINES OF THE LOCAL AUTHORITES?? -WHY WAS THE USS BATAN NAVAL SHIP IN THE GULF DISPATCHED. IT HAD MEDICAL & HOUSING FACILITIES,LARGE AMOUNTS OF POTABLE WATER,SAILORS -WHY WAS THE FEDERAL BUDGET CUT -ACCORDING TO THE ARMY CORP OF ENGINEERS- TO 1/6 OF WHAT WAS NEEDED TO FIX THE LEVEES. THE ARMY CORPS SAID IT WAS LACK OF FUNDS DIVERTED TO HOMELAND SECURITY, TAX BREAKS FOR WEALTHY AND THE IRAQ WAR. -WHY WAS HALIBURTON -NOTORIOUS FOR $1 BILLION IN QUESTIONABLE OVER-CHARGING OF THE AMERICAN TAXPAYERS AND $422 MILLION IN UNACCOUNTABLE TAXPAYER MONEY- WAS GIVEN A $30 MILLION CONTRACT THROUGHT IT'S SUBSIDIARY KELLOG,BROWN & ROOT TO REBIULD THE MILITARY BASES IN THE GULF. -WHY WAS THE TEXAS-BASED PARENT COMPANY OF THE MORTUARY SERVICES IN THE GULF - GIVEN THE CONTRACT TO CARE FOR THE VICTIMS BODIES WHEN THEY HAVE BEEN UNDER INVESTIGATION IN FLORIDA FOR THROWING THE DEAD BODIES IN AN OPEN FIELD FOR WILD HOGS TO EAT!! WWW.MIKEMALLOY.COM --WHY IS FOREIGN AID BEING TURNED AWAY?? KEEP YOUR EYES ON WHAT IS HAPPENING!!! DEMAND AN INDEPENDENT KATRINA INVESTIGATION!! WWW.VOTE-SMART.ORG |
| Name: | Aim Me & Renee |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | The Best part of Louisville |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | WHAT A TRANSFORMATIVE, INSPIRING DAY IN LOUISVILLE!!!
Thank you so much for letting the bon temps roule down Bardstown road and throughout Louisville. As you saw with the woman from New Orleans and all the support along the parade- you brought more light & life into the world. Thank you with all our hearts for lending all of your much needed help and radiant spirit. It was a magical event that reached all the down to New Orleans! You are the best part of Louisville, Aim Me & Renee |
| Name: | Elizabeth |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Couldn't make you see |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | I was young, but I wasn't niave
I watched helpless as you turned to leave. And still I have the pain I have to carry. A past so deep that even you couldn't bury it if you tried. After all this time, I never though we'd be here. Never thought we'd be here when my love for you is blind. I couldn't make you see that I lived you more than you'll ever know, and part of me died when I let you go. I would fall asleep only in hope of dreaming that everything would be like it was before. But nights like this it seems are slowly fleeting. They disappear as reality is crashing to the floor. After all of this, why would you ever want to leave? Maybe you could not believe that my love for you is blind. But I couldn't make you see it! Couldn't make you see that I love you more than you'll ever know, and part of me died when I let you go. |
| Name: | troubadours |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | RUMI POEMS: in this time of tragedy...we must trust! |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | LOVE IS THE MASTER
Love is the One who masters all things; I am mastered totally by Love. By my passion of love for Love I have ground sweet as sugar. O furious Wind, I am only a straw before you; How could I know where I will be blown next? Whoever claims to have made a pact with Destiny Reveals himself a liar and a fool; What is any of us but a straw in a storm? How could anyone make a pact with a hurricane? God is working everywhere his massive Resurrection; How can we pretend to act on our own? In the hand of Love I am like a cat in a sack; Sometimes Love hoists me into the air, Sometimes Love flings me into the air, Love swings me round and round His head; I have no peace, in this world or any other. The lovers of God have fallen in a furious river; They have surrendered themselves to Love's commands. Like mill wheels they turn, day and night, day and night, Constantly turning and turning, and crying out. ________________________________________________________ This being human is a guest house Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they are a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight. The dark thought, the sham, the malice,meet them at the door laughing,and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond. --Rumi |
| Name: | Peaceful Warriors |
| Homepage URL: | http://www.ThePeaceAlliance.org |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | U.S DEPARTMENT OF PEACE! |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Help Establish a U.S. Department of Peace!
A Call to Action September 14th, 2005 HELP SPREAD THE WORD! Dear Friend, On September 14th, 2005, legislation to establish a U. S. Department of Peace will be re-introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The primary function of a United States Department of Peace will be to research, articulate and facilitate nonviolent solutions to domestic and international conflict. The Department of Peace will employ proven and effective strategies for reducing violence in our country and around world, including nonviolent communication skills, conflict resolution techniques and cultural relationship building. Learn more at The Peace Alliance website: http://www.ThePeaceAlliance.org We need your support to help make this bill law -- by calling, faxing and/or emailing your representative and also by spreading the word to everyone you know (you can copy this alert and forward to your email address book.) Nothing you can do will have as much impact as contacting your member of Congress on, right before or after, Wednesday, September 14th. Further instructions are given below. TAKE ACTION NOW! *** CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE *** Contact your Representative at the U.S. capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121. To find your Representative, visit http://www.vote-smart.org Tell the staffer who answers your call that you want your Representative to sign on as a co-sponsor of the Department of Peace legislation. Request a written response explaining your member's position and the reasoning behind it. (You can call your local office as well.) It is most effective if you call the D.C. office first, then follow-up with a fax or email. *** WRITE YOUR REPRESENTATIVE *** To write your Representative, click below to get started. This will allow you to send an email or a fax to your congressperson. http://www.thepeacealliance.org/action NOTE: you can first visit our website to see if your congressional representative is already a co-sponsor at: http://www.thepeacealliance.org/endorsements.htm If they are a co-sponsor, it is important that you still call to thank them and ask them to help garner more support with their colleagues in congress. There will be no bill number assigned until after 11:00 a.m. eastern on the 14th. We will post the bill number on our website as soon as it is available on that day. In the meantime, just tell your Representative that you want them to support the Department of Peace bill. H.R. 1673 is last sessions bill number for reference. Call now and on the day the bill is re-introduced. Please also call your senators and ask them to introduce the bill into the senate. Find your senators at http://www.vote-smart.org Join us now. Create a Department of Peace. Help make history. Together, we can do this. *************************************************** You can also contribute to our campaign by making a financial donation on our website at http://www.ThePeaceAlliance.org/donate, and by participating in and/or starting up a local campaign group. We already have active groups in more than 265 Congressional districts in over 46 states. Visit http://www.thepeacealliance.org/organize *************************************************** HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE LEGISLATION: -- Provide much-needed assistance for the efforts of city, county, and state governments in coordinating existing programs in their own communities, as well as programs newly developed and provided by the Dept. of Peace -- Teach violence prevention and mediation to America's school children -- Effectively treat and dismantle gang psychology -- Rehabilitate the prison population -- Build peace-making efforts among conflicting cultures both here and abroad -- Support our military with complementary approaches to ending violence -- Gather and coordinate information and recommendations from America's peace community -- The Department of Peace will create and administer a U.S. Peace Academy, acting as a sister organization to the U.S. Military Academy. Learn more at http://www.ThePeaceAlliance.org |
| Name: | Rescue Worker |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Water Rescue Team From Louisville: Account of New Orleans |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Hello to everyone. Just wanted to let you know I was back in town from
doing the water rescue work in New Orleans. I’m scheduled for my oral interview with my fire dept tomorrow for a full-time position, which is something I really wanted after retiring from the Air Force. A full-time position only opens up every few years on my dept. so I am really excited about the timing. To everyone that emailed me wishing me the best- thank-you that meant a lot to me. I really value our friendships and consider myself blessed to know such wonderful people. As a white person and an American I am really ashamed of the way FEMA and the Government handled this disaster in the days prior to and immediately after the hurricane. Just like the military has war plans on the shelf for every region, FEMA has EAPs (Emergency Action Plans) for regional disasters and contingencies. They have checklists and resources on call for such events. I refuse to believe that if this had happened in an affluent white upper class area such as the Northeast that they would have left the folks sleeping on the interstate for 5 days with no food, water, medical attention, or shelter like they did in New Orleans. Something really smells rotten to me. I was on the second wave of Jefferson County Water Rescue teams that deployed down. Driving down in our convoy was at times an exercise in futility when it came time to refuel our vehicles. Fuel stops that carry diesel are tough to find at times in normal circumstances but with so many fuel stations closed down due to lack of gas it was down right exhausting. At one point we got directions to a fuel station in a small town in Mississippi (as redneck as they come), which was servicing Emergency Vehicles only according to the sign. The cops manning the station refused to fuel our vehicles. Evidently by emergency vehicles they meant cops only. We encountered gas lines up to a mile long in many places. As we drove into downtown New Orleans we encountered a state of total anarchy. The scene reminded me a lot of Somalia, but instead of dirt roads we had cement highways in this instance. Fires everywhere burning with no fire response, as there was no water to put it out with. Abandoned fire trucks, firefighters and EMS carrying shotguns and pistols. A mass of humanity on both sides of the Interstates in dire straits. People had died where they sat I assume from lack of water or exhaustion. We hooked up with our other team and put our boats in the water off an on-ramp. I’ve been in some pretty rank water in my travels but this was by far the dirtiest, nastiest water I’ve ever encountered. I don’t know if I’ll ever get the terrible smell out of my gear. Trash, clothes, sewage, bloated bodies, oil and fuel all in one big soup. We proceeded to start rescuing people with our boats. It was exhausting as all of our boats are equipped with prop guards and we were forever sucking up trash and clothes into our props, which meant getting into the water, shoulder level to work on the problem. Although we had dry suits, we could only put them on tied to our waist, as there was no way humanly possible to wear the dry suit over our heads in the heat and humidity. After rescuing people we could only transport them to the on ramp and release them to walk on their own on the interstate, as there was no agency to transfer them to. 5 days with no food or water and that’s all we could do for them. It was very tough on us. After awhile we noticed some military helicopters landing and departing a couple hundred yards away. It was my old Special Tactics Team who had established a Helicopter Landing Zone (HLZ). It was great to see them. We exchanged hugs and a plan was put into place to work together and rescue the refugees and fly them to a recovery point where they could board buses (eventually) for transport to another city. I finally got to sleep for 5 hours for the first time in 45 hours. The days were very long but I am thankful to the fire dept on the outskirts of New Orleans who feed the 30 of us for free every night and secured all of our trailers and boats, and to the fire station in Baton Rouge (90 minutes away) who allowed us to sleep there every night even though we woke them up every night as we didn’t usually get there until about midnight. That was brotherhood in action. Our Command staff was dismayed by the lack of coordination at the Emergency Operations Center (EOC). There was no clear idea what rescue team was working what sector etc. Eventually it was discovered that our combined contingent (Special Tactics and Jeff. Co. Water Rescue) had rescued more people than all the other teams combined. It was estimated that we rescued between 800- 1000 people. It was tough knowing that all the people on dialysis, all the people that require chemo, all the people that require constant medication like diabetics, all the bedridden people, all of them would die. My hats off to the nurses at the hospitals who we attempted to rescue in our boats who refused to abandon their patients even though they lacked electrical power and food and water. Although the press focused on the negative news- trust me there were thousands of stories of neighbors and friends sharing water and compassion for one another. Many of the survivors spent many days in that putrid water searching out food and water, friends and relatives without the ability to clean themselves. That water was like a petri dish and I’m afraid a great majority of them will suffer ailments because of it. There were many, many animals locked in houses and pet stores to die a slow death from hunger. At one point one of the guys was greatly affected after witnessing a couple dogs tearing at the flesh of the body of their owner. There were so many people surviving in their attics because of how high the water was. Imagine trying to live in your attic for an extended period with the extreme heat and lack of ventilation. There were so many people that refused to leave for whatever reasons probably distrustful of the government, which I could totally understand. They were were frightened to death that we would take them to the Dome after hearing all the horror stories about the rapes, murders, and general mayhem occurring inside. I could go on but I think you get the picture. Lots of emotional highs and lows. I’ve learned over the years to keep my feelings and emotions in check while the mission is ongoing. It wasn’t until I got home and went to the gym for my workout that I felt the stuff welling up inside of me. It’s so hard to imagine if we had to go through the same circumstances losing everything like that. These people didn’t have insurance; the great majority of them didn’t even own a piece of luggage. They packed what they could in a trash bag or plastic bag from the grocery and that was it. And from the looks of things left over on the interstate after they were finally bused out- they weren’t even allowed to bring even those meager belongings on the bus with them as there were piles and piles of personal belongings left on the highway after they left. I felt honored to be a part of this. To be a part of this basic humanity to help in the little way I could to care for my brothers. I felt extremely proud of the men and women on the Rescue teams. They were not hesitant in the least bit to show compassion and understanding to the refugees. Although I saw some very disturbing images, it was a very positive experience at least for me to take part in this as it relates to the victims. The government ineptitude is something else. As we departed New Orleans 8 nights after the hurricane hit we finally saw the first porta-potties roll into town. It took that long to get the most basic of human necessities to roll into town. All those people including the rescuers had either the highway or the water to use as a latrine. I think that sums up how well prepared they were. The ironic thing was it was FEMA itself that came out with a report in 2002 I believe that stated that New Orleans being hit by a hurricane would be one of our top 3 potential natural disasters. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Peace to you for your support. |
| Name: | MICHEAL MOORE |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT
Friday, September 2nd, 2005 Dear Mr. Bush: Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag. Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with? Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her! I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike? And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ! On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that. There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland. No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this! You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit. Yours, Michael Moore MMFlint@aol.com http://www.michaelmoore.com/ P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them before they get to DC on September 21st. |
| Name: | Katherine |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | TOO BAD 2005 ISN'T AN ELECTION YEAR AND LA ISN'T A SWING STATE...& THE GOV'S NOT FAMILY!! |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | check out the difference between FEMA's response to
>the Florida hurricanes last year and the response to >Katrina. > >http://billmon.org/archives/002125.html > http://billmon.org/archives/002125.html |
| Name: | The Ancients |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | HOLY UNION |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | 
Dearest Friends Around the World, When even the President of the United States says of disaster relief efforts following hurricane Katrina, “the results are not acceptable,” you know that something has gone terribly wrong—and that more help is desperately needed, now. The extent of human suffering, of loss, of turmoil and desolation, are beyond adequate description in the aftermath of what has been described as one of the worst natural disasters ever to befall the United States. We are all left breathless at the magnitude of what has happened here—80% of the city of New Orleans is under water—and we are sent reeling by pictures and news reports of the devastation and the misery everywhere in the region. We are not, however, impotent in the face of this occurrence. There is something that you can do right now to lend the weight of Who You Are, to add your Beingness, to the present moment. What the people in all the areas impacted by Katrina need more than anything today is a sense of hope, a sense of peace, a sense that someone cares and is helping, in the face of this disaster. We can all bring them these gifts, and we can do so in many ways. Perhaps, at a metaphysical level, this is our purpose in all of this. This is our function. In these tumultuous times our opportunity and our invitation from the Heavens is to decide and declare, express and fulfill, Who We Really Are. Those who have been called upon to do so (and you know exactly who you are) are being depended upon by The Ancients to bring the instant healing of Pure Light into this moment, so that darkness will prevail no longer, but truly signal the dawn. We urge you at this hour to use the marvelous Tools of Creation that we have all been given by the universe: Thought, Word, and Deed. 1. Think good and wonderful thoughts. We know that, while there are those who think that this is all so much “fluff and nonsense” with no substance and providing nothing of value—exactly the opposite is true. What is needed now is for us to set up a Perimeter of Peace, Power, and Possibility around New Orleans and every city and area affected by Hurricane Katrina. Hold these places, and the people in them, in the Light; see them showered with God's love and Heaven's peace; envision them safe and secure in the sure and certain knowledge of the Presence of Angels and the Coming of Goodness and the Healing of Wounds and the Miracle of Solutions to what may at this moment appear to be insurmountable problems. Use guided imagery, visualizations, meditation, and whatever other tool and device you are aware of—individually and in groups—to set up the energies that will create the space of possibility for miracles to occur. 2. Help spread the word in your community of friends and relatives about all the ways in which they can help. In addition to gathering and focusing the energy of groups that already exist, or quickly forming your own new “instant community” of helpers, you can work individually on the above, as well as on many other assistances that can be provided—including, of course, funds and other resources (see below). Get people involved. People who you know personally. People who will respond to YOU. Begin a relief network. Spread the word! 3. Go immediately to the websites listed here to offer additional help. If you can, consider providing temporary free housing for evacuees at _www.HurricaneHousing.org_ (http://www.hurricanehousing.org/) . Help with desperately needed food at _http://www.americassecondharvest.org/_ (http://www.americassecondharvest.org/) Let’s all work hard at this. Let’s really work at it. Become a powerhouse of help, a vessel of endless love. This crisis in America’s historic delta will go on for many, many weeks. It is up to us to step in and offer immediate, meaningful and continuing assistance. If not now, when? If not us, who? Thank you for responding to this call. With all our love, Jean Houston Deepak Chopra Wayne Dyer Barbara Marx Hubbard James Redfield Neale Donald Walsch Marianne Williamson Gary Zukav |
| Name: | from new orleans... |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | what's goin on? |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: |
Helveticathe trucks are finally rolling in with supplies today but the pace of relief from the national government has been sickeningly slow. i got this letter from my friend sonia, bassist for cowboy mouth who is out on tour and whose family is still stuck in their house. she says it better than i can right now, so i am passing it along. i still have friends trapped in the city. any way we can push for more assistance is necessary. a lot more people have been added to the safe column of the list i sent out. i've enclosed an updated list at the bottom of this email. there is a really good interactive list at stoffaproductions.com/community. i've also been talking with people about setting up a fund for new orleans musicians, who will need a lot of help in the long term. i'll keep you updated. thanks for all the support. love myshkin sonias letter: dear friends, i'm sure you've heard about the desperate situation caused by hurricane katrina. the question now, on day 5, is why the federal government is not sending aid. still. how come we can get aid to indonesia in a day but cannot help the people of new orleans and the gulf coast in 5? i've heard repeatedly on the news the federal officials talking about what they are doing, what they are going to do, but there still is no sign of aid in the city of new orleans or the gulf coast. the aid must be hidden in the same place as those weapons of mass destruction. the city is actually surrounded by national guard who are not allowing anyone but press in and not allowing anyone out. people who are trying to evacuate are actually being turned back from crossing over the crescent city connection by gunpoint. it is not on the news. this is from people i and the band know who have called desperately trying to get help and information. i don't understand why this is happening. how we can send 11 buses yesterday to evacuate 300,000 people? buses without air conditioning that they then have to rescue people from who pass out from heat along they way. how they can say the astrodome is the destination for refugees and then turn the buses away once they get there? how we can have so much food and water and not get it into the city by air or boat or car? how can the reporters come and go and FEMA can't? how can they stop evacuations because of fear of "violence"? isn't the job of the national guard actually to go into dangerous situations and help, restore order, HELP. (hello iraq?) it is difficult not to see intention in the incompetence. please, if you get a chance, call your senators and representatives and let them know that you are watching what they are NOT doing and are horrified. that you are paying attention. people are literally dehydrating and starving to death. literally. please call and demand not only accountability, but action. this situation is desperate and unbelievable. on right wing radio they are blaming the people who stayed and calling them the "criminal element." is it criminal to steal water when your baby is dying? literally. would you not riot as the buses passed you by without stopping over and over and over. please do what you can. please be aware. i am terrified and feeling rather desperate myself. we have to remember that we are not helpless. that we are not so separate from our government. we must call and demand action. please. links for the senate, house and white house are below. i know that i have more personally at stake, but we all as americans should be horrified. please do whatever you can... pass this along... make sure people know... and please say a prayer for my family who are still trapped in their house... gratefully, sonia http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ keep it real let it rock! |
| Name: | Angie Impellizzeri |
| E-mail address: | noodleheadpig@gmail.com |
| Homepage URL: | http://gypsy-dog.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | FEMA'S sending 1,000 Flag Decals for Relief Effort in N.O. |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | ...Ok, not really, but their amount of response and finger pointing (particularly back at the victims, which includes many state and local officials) is simply disgusting. And if anything were to bring down these mistruths and injustices, let it be a sacrifice of 10,000 people.
And when I first heard this song, I won't even discuss what I thought the lyrics are, but they couldn't be ANY more applicable. While the devastation to this region is enormous, there are people that think that all of our resources should continue to be deployed (why?) overseas. These are our own people. Not to be insensitive to our fellow citizens of the world- but I think they would understand AND be happy for us to leave (Iraq/Afghanastan). But your flag decal won't get you Into Heaven any more. They're already overcrowded From your dirty little war. Now Jesus don't like killin' No matter what the reason's for, And your flag decal won't get you Into Heaven any more. Last night (Sept. 5, 2005), an impromptu funeral march was held around the immediately block of Heine Brothers. What if that march spanned a whole city block or several city blocks? Will those voices be heard? I think so. There were some people who were quietly enjoying their meal behind a gated fence. They could see us. They could hear us. Yet, I don't think I saw a single mouth stop chewing to sing along in a sign of solidarity. Why do people not want to get their hands dirty? Why do they passively sit and watch as our great country (I still have faith) is falling apart and becoming the illusion that it is. I call to the Troubadours (and I'll gladly help) to stage a peaceful march through town, singing the songs of their neighbors and friends... calling attention to this attrocity of Federal involvement and truly show people what is happening in this great country. We are divided in so many ways-- financially, religiously, orientation to sexual preference, beliefs of all kinds and right down to the type of car we drive. Do we really want a homongenous society? No, We the People do not. We the People DO want a country of diversity, equal rights, clean air and water and a promise that our future generations will respect and love what we have done for them- rather, preserved for them. It is time to think in alternatives-- alternatives to the regime that is in place, to the policies that are in place, to the menu that is served to us on election days.... I say, go in peace and if anyone is interested in starting a musical campaign to enlighten the masses, I say, VOTE AIMME in 2008. Peace- Angie |
| Name: | Laurali |
| E-mail address: | marzmama@yahoo.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Love from Portland, OR |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Boy, all these posters are a tough act to follow. I just wanted to tell you how much I love your sound. Some day I may make it back to Louisville since that's where my family is. It helps to know that ya'll are singing such beautiful tunes. I especially liked (forgive me) that Angel song.
And may I say that breastfeeding is a great way to promote world peace, as it is the best way to feed baby and help them feel secure. And really violence is just a reflection of human insecurity, wouldn't you say? |
| Name: | Simon Thomson |
| E-mail address: | entertainmentliveuk@eluk.co.uk |
| Homepage URL: | http://www.eluk.co.uk/ |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Love the site. |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Hi there, I have just added your site to the Entertainment Live UK website and thought I would drop in and see your website. Cool |
| Name: | Julia Butterfly Hill |
| Homepage URL: | http://circleoflife.org |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | "A patriot musy always be ready to defend his country against his government" |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Independence Day 2005: Reflections on Patriotism by Julia Butterfly Hill I am ashamed of my government. I am ashamed that we have made a mockery of our Bill of Rights by allowing the newly reauthorized and expanded "Patriot" Act to give our government near-absolute authority to define dissent as "terrorism." I am ashamed that my President speaks about "liberty," "freedom," and "democracy" yet our country continues to carry forward a centuries-long agenda of environmental destruction, social inequity, imperialism and violence. I am ashamed that regardless of scientific evidence pointing to global warming and peak oil production, we aren't making any significant strides towards a sustainable new society where all of us can thrive together in harmony with nature. I am ashamed that these atrocities, and thousands more, happen in my name. Yet this Independence Day, I am reclaiming the term patriot for all of us who don't agree with the status quo. Rather than looking at our options as set out in George W. Bush's proclamation: "You're either with us, or you're with the terrorists," I choose instead the words of American essayist, Edward Abbey: "A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government." On Independence Day, we remember our founding fathers who stood up for what they believed in and risked their lives to set in motion the country we live in today. We celebrate them with fireworks, picnics and parades. But these were ordinary people who fought against the tyranny of the English government, denouncing the status quo. America's legacy of patriotism includes other ordinary people, summoning the courage to speak out when our most treasured values and principles are threatened. Some of the most inspiring patriots I can think of include Rosa Parks, who, 50 years ago, demanded that she as a black woman be accorded the same dignity as everyone else riding the bus; people like Cesar Chavez, who took a daring stand in the fields for a better life for all farm workers; and people like Camilo Mejía, who was the first U.S. soldier to actively resist the Iraq War, relinquishing his own freedom in the process. Indeed, every right we often take for granted today is the result of people who have acted courageously to help create a more humane and inclusive America. From women's suffrage, to civil rights, to today's movements for peace, sustainability, and global justice, concerned people have shown that activism is not only patriotic -- it's essential to making our country and the world a better place. We cannot allow those in government to unilaterally create our country and our world. Each of us has precious talents to offer and can use those gifts to create positive change -- whether that action is voting, organizing, gardening, dancing, speaking out, writing letters, volunteering with a local cause, or engaging in direct action and civil disobedience. I sat in a redwood tree for 2 years without coming down in order to protest the destruction of our nations' ancient forests. People come up to me and tell me all the time, "Wow, Julia, I never could have done that." And I respond, honestly, "Neither could I." In fact, when I climbed the tree, I planned to stay there for only a couple weeks, or maybe a month. Each day, I made a new choice to stay in that tree. But for two years and eight days, the call of activism rang far louder in my ears than the call of clean sheets and a comfortable bed. This Independence Day is a perfect time to allow yourself to hear the call of activism. It is a perfect time to reclaim patriotism -- regardless of your political point of view. Find that action that drives you day in and day out to make our country and our world a better place for all life. Choose to participate in local revitalization efforts, voter registration drives, teach-ins, debates, marches and other events. Commit yourself to smiling at everyone you pass one day, or to picking up every piece of trash on your block. Become one of the millions of people utilizing their minds, money, voices and votes to create a better country and a better world. I promise when you find the actions that call to you most powerfully, your excitement and passion will be powerfully contagious. And to help you out, my nonprofit, Circle of Life, has assembled some of the best grassroots resources for activism in the country, at http://www.activismispatriotism.org. You, yes you, make an enormous difference. Your country and your world need you – now more than ever. From every mountainside, let activism ring! Julia Butterfly Hill is an activist and the bestselling author of The Legacy of Luna. In 1999, while still living in the giant redwood Luna, she founded Circle of Life to promote conscious action toward a peaceful, just and sustainable planet. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sign the Declaration of Independence from Oil! Check out the New Freedom from Oil Animation at: http://www.freedomfromoil.com - Please forward widely! This year, celebrate the 4th of July by taking action together to declare our independence from oil. Go to FreedomFromOil.com and join the American energy revolution today! When in the course of human events these rights are threatened by our dependence on oil, it is necessary for responsible citizens to declare our independence from this dirty and dangerous source of energy. Oil harms our health, destroys our climate, pollutes our air and water, degrades our forests, and threatens our freedoms and our security. http://www.FreedomFromOil.com |
| Name: | PEYMAN |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | MAY DAY GREETINGS! |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | MAY DAY GREETINGS
from the Freedom Socialist Party, U.S. and Australia Warm revolutionary greetings on this international workers holiday to our sisters and brothers, compańeras and compańeros around the globe. The fifth year of the 21st century is filled with heroic resistance against imperialism, from the Andes to the Urals. Salutations to the brave working people in Iraq, Palestine and on every continent who are fighting to protect their children, their water, food, jobs, pensions and lives from neoliberal capitalist misery and war. Let us turn today’s strong rebellion into an advance toward universal human fulfillment. A radical, international, antiwar force of workers, women and oppressed peoples could provide leadership to end the current conflicts and construct a new economic system based on cooperation and meeting social needs. Onward to a socialist, feminist, egalitarian world in our time! End the occupations of Iraq and Palestine! For reparations from U.S. corporations to the Iraqi people! For the full recognition of women’s reproductive and civil rights everywhere! Down with the Central America Free Trade Agreement! Freedom Socialist Party Australian Section 580 Sydney Road Brunswick, VIC 3055 Australia U.S. Section 4710 University Way NE, #100 Seattle, WA 98105 USA |
| Name: | Rika |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | If it's wrong to love you. |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | If it’s wrong to love you,
Will my tears wash the pain away? Without you here beside me, Can I make it through another day? I lie awake in my room, Wondering what you would say… If it’s wrong to love you… I’ll do it anyways. |
| Name: | anonymous |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Revenge
I sit upon a death-laid throne, The music starts to fade, My eyes see all the horror, All the havoc that I made. I reach for tomorrow, Yet it slips through my grasp, The walls start to tremble, My lungs start to collapse. I feel a sharp pain, In the pit of my heart, I scream out in horror, My words rip me apart. Death is so close, Its there to embrace, So I reach out once more, And I see your cruel face. You are the one that ripped me apart! You are the one that tore at my heart! Well, it all stops here, on the edge of Death's Gate, You can try to run, but its ****ing, its too late! I take my revenge as I plunge into life, No one can stop my horrible strife! I take up the sword, hoping to kill, The inhumane body that tortured my will! You let out a shriek and pray you wont die, Looking pathetic on the floor where you lie! And, Ha! I laugh as i see you so pale, In the dark dungeons of your own jail! And then i remember how you tattered my soul, With the same sword that my hands now hold. It comes rushing back to my bloodshot eyes, All the times that I wished I could just die. My hands start to tremble at the painful scrutiny, For now you see what you made me see! But should I take my revenge, should I snuff out your life? Should I cleave out your will with this blood stained knife? And lucky for you, I actually think, About what this horrible murder would bring. So I lower the sword, and walk away, And now you look over your shoulder each day. In Elvenhome on High The waves caress the sand shore, Upon the girth of Alalminórë, A boat to go where tears fall no more, In Elvenhome on high. Great Eagles fly over the open sea, Contemplating what is to be, To a mountain; they stop along the lee, In Elvenhome on high. Forests house a maiden fair, With lips of love and eyes of care, She sees the past and present 'ere, In Elvenhome on high. The Black Raven My misery shall not be mourned, Not in fire, ice, nor sky, For gloom is but a fact of life, And the Black Raven shall never die. My pain stricken heart may break again, And though I question why, I know that when love turns to lust, The Black Raven is ever nigh. Alas! upon the deathly throne, My soul is set to lie, But this is not the end, I know, For the Black Raven forever flies. |
| Name: | JEREMY |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | WORDS OF THE VISION |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Words of the Vision
THE VISION So this guy comes up to me and says "what's the vision? What's the big idea?" I open my mouth and words come out like this… The vision? The vision is JESUS – obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus. The vision is an army of young people. You see bones? I see an army. And they are FREE from materialism. They laugh at 9-5 little prisons. They could eat caviar on Monday and crusts on Tuesday. They wouldn't even notice. They know the meaning of the Matrix, the way the west was won. They are mobile like the wind, they belong to the nations. They need no passport.. People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence. They are free yet they are slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying. What is the vision ? The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes. It makes children laugh and adults angry. It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars. It scorns the good and strains for the best. It is dangerously pure. Light flickers from every secret motive, every private conversation. It loves people away from their suicide leaps, their Satan games. This is an army that will lay down its life for the cause. A million times a day its soldiers choose to loose that they might one day win the great 'Well done' of faithful sons and daughters. Such heroes are as radical on Monday morning as Sunday night. They don't need fame from names. Instead they grin quietly upwards and hear the crowds chanting again and again: "COME ON!" And this is the sound of the underground The whisper of history in the making Foundations shaking Revolutionaries dreaming once again Mystery is scheming in whispers Conspiracy is breathing… This is the sound of the underground And the army is discipl(in)ed. Young people who beat their bodies into submission. Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrade at arms. The tattoo on their back boasts "for me to live is Christ and to die is gain". Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their upward eyes. Winners. Martyrs. Who can stop them ? Can hormones hold them back? Can failure succeed? Can fear scare them or death kill them ? And the generation prays like a dying man with groans beyond talking, with warrior cries, sulphuric tears and with great barrow loads of laughter! Waiting. Watching: 24 – 7 – 365. Whatever it takes they will give: Breaking the rules. Shaking mediocrity from its cosy little hide. Laying down their rights and their precious little wrongs, laughing at labels, fasting essentials. The advertisers cannot mould them. Hollywood cannot hold them. Peer-pressure is powerless to shake their resolve at late night parties before the cockerel cries. They are incredibly cool, dangerously attractive inside. On the outside? They hardly care. They wear clothes like costumes to communicate and celebrate but never to hide. Would they surrender their image or their popularity? They would lay down their very lives - swap seats with the man on death row - guilty as hell. A throne for an electric chair. With blood and sweat and many tears, with sleepless nights and fruitless days, they pray as if it all depends on God and live as if it all depends on them. Their DNA chooses JESUS. (He breathes out, they breathe in.) Their subconscious sings. They had a blood transfusion with Jesus. Their words make demons scream in shopping centres. Don't you hear them coming? Herald the weirdo's! Summon the losers and the freaks. Here come the frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes. They walk tall and trees applaud, skyscrapers bow, mountains are dwarfed by these children of another dimension. Their prayers summon the hounds of heaven and invoke the ancient dream of Eden. And this vision will be. It will come to pass; it will come easily; it will come soon. How do I know? Because this is the longing of creation itself, the groaning of the Spirit, the very dream of God. My tomorrow is his today. My distant hope is his 3D. And my feeble, whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous, resounding, bone-shaking great 'Amen!' from countless angels, from hero's of the faith, from Christ himself. And he is the original dreamer, the ultimate winner. Guaranteed. -Pete Greig |
| Name: | Aim Me Smiley |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | OPEN LETTER TO MR.BUSH |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Dear President Bush,
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's law. I have learned a great deal from you and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's Laws and how to follow them: 1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not to Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians? 2. If I wanted to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7, in this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her? 3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev. 15:19-24). The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense. 4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev. 1:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them? 5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states that he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it? 6. A friend of mine feels that, even though eating shellfish is an abomination (Lev. 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there "degrees" of abomination? 7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here? 8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die? 9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves? 10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them (Lev. 24:10-16)? Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws (Lev. 20:14)? I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging. |
| Name: | JOBS WITH JUSTICE |
| Homepage URL: | http://UNIONVOICE.ORG/CAMPAIGN/TYSONAPPEAL |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | TAKE ACTION SUPPORT TYSON MEAT-PACKERS UNION |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: |
I stand in support of your basic right to keep your union to improve job safety standards, secure a livable wage, and win important benefits like affordable health care. I firmly believe that no worker should have to endure the types of threats, one-on-one meetings with supervisors, and mandatory group meetings such as those you have been through. I know and appreciate the fact that you perform one of the most dangerous jobs in America to provide food and nutrition to so many of America's families, yet organizations such as Human Rights Watch continue to spotlight companies like Tyson Foods for failing to implement needed recommendations that would serve to greatly reduce on-the-job injury. When companies like Tyson Foods attempt to harass, intimidate, and coerce workers from this basic right, the economic consequences of union busting for our entire community are severe. Communities suffer when full-time jobs fail to pay enough to support a family, contribute to the tax base, and inject badly needed purchasing power. I call on Tyson Foods to provide its employees with a safe workplace, to allow workers to decide for themselves whether or not to keep their union without intimidation, and to treat its workforce with dignity and respect. Signed by: [Your name] [Your address] |
| Name: | JOBS WITH JUSTICE |
| Homepage URL: | http://UNIONVOICE.ORG/CAMPAIGN/TYSONAPPEAL |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | TAKE ACTION SUPPORT TYSON MEAT-PACKERS UNION |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: |
I stand in support of your basic right to keep your union to improve job safety standards, secure a livable wage, and win important benefits like affordable health care. I firmly believe that no worker should have to endure the types of threats, one-on-one meetings with supervisors, and mandatory group meetings such as those you have been through. I know and appreciate the fact that you perform one of the most dangerous jobs in America to provide food and nutrition to so many of America's families, yet organizations such as Human Rights Watch continue to spotlight companies like Tyson Foods for failing to implement needed recommendations that would serve to greatly reduce on-the-job injury. When companies like Tyson Foods attempt to harass, intimidate, and coerce workers from this basic right, the economic consequences of union busting for our entire community are severe. Communities suffer when full-time jobs fail to pay enough to support a family, contribute to the tax base, and inject badly needed purchasing power. I call on Tyson Foods to provide its employees with a safe workplace, to allow workers to decide for themselves whether or not to keep their union without intimidation, and to treat its workforce with dignity and respect. Signed by: [Your name] [Your address] |
| Name: | by Rev. Jesse Jackson and Greg Palast |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | JIM CROW RETURNS TO THE VOTING BOOTH
DOES AMERICA HAVE APARTHEID VOTE-COUNTING SYSTEM? Seattle Post-Intelligencer Wednesday, January 26, 2005 |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Jesse Jackon and Greg Palast on 2004 Voter Black-Out
The inaugural confetti has been swept away and with it, the last quarrel over who really won the presidential election. But there is still unfinished business that can't be swept away. After taking his oath, the president called for a "concerted effort to promote democracy." The president should begin with the United States. More than 133,000 votes remain uncounted in Ohio, more than George W. Bush's supposed margin of victory. In New Mexico, the uncounted vote totals at least three times the president's plurality -- and so on in other states. The challenge to the vote count is over, but the matter of how the United States counts votes, or fails to count them, remains. The ballots left uncounted, and that will never be counted, are so-called spoiled or rejected ballots -- votes cast by citizens, but never tallied. This is the dark little secret of U.S. democracy: Nationwide, in our presidential elections, about 2 million votes are cast and never counted, most spoiled because they cannot be read by the tallying machines. Not everyone's vote spoils equally. Cleveland State University Professor Mark Salling analyzed ballots thrown into Ohio's electoral garbage can. Salling found that, "overwhelmingly," the voided votes come from African American precincts. This racial bend in vote spoilage is not unique to Ohio. A U.S. Civil Rights Commission investigation concluded that, of nearly 180,000 votes discarded in Florida in the 2000 election as unreadable, a shocking 54 percent were cast by black voters, though they make up only a tenth of the electorate. In Florida, an African American is 900 percent more likely to have his or her vote invalidated than a white voter. In New Mexico, a Hispanic voter is 500 percent more likely than a white voter to have her or his ballot lost to spoilage. Unfortunately, Florida and New Mexico are typical. Nationwide data gathered by Harvard Law School Civil Rights Project indicate that, of the 2 million ballots spoiled in a typical presidential election, about half are cast by minority voters. The problem is that some officials are quite happy with the outcome of elections in which minority votes just don't count. They count on the "no-count." Before last November's election, the American Civil Liberties Union sued five states for continuing to use punch-card machines, those notorious generators of "hanging" chads and "pregnant" chads that disproportionately disenfranchise black voters. Four of those states settled with the ACLU by adopting simple fixes to protect voters. One state, notably, refused: Ohio, which forced 75 percent of its voters to use punch-card machines. In minority and low-income areas, these old machines on average spoil an unacceptable 8 percent of the votes cast on them. In high-income white districts, spoilage is typically 1 percent. In Ohio, the decision to keep the vote-destroying machines in place in African American districts was made by the state's Republican attorney general, Jim Petro, and its secretary of state, Kenneth Blackwell. Blackwell, not incidentally, co-chaired the Bush-Cheney re-election committee. The election in Ohio was fundamentally flawed, a fact compounded by the widespread use of electronic voting machines susceptible to manipulation and hacking. This election saw an explosion in a new category of uncounted, ballots: rejected provisional ballots. In Ohio alone, more than 35,000 of these votes were never tallied. Once again, the provisional ballots were cast overwhelmingly in African American precincts. Why so many? In November, for the first time since the era of the Night Riders, one major political party launched a program of mass challenges of voters on Election Day. Paid Republican operatives, working from lists prepared by the party, fingered tens of thousands of voters in Ohio, Florida and elsewhere, questioning their right to a ballot. One of these secret "caging lists" was obtained by BBC Television from inside Republican campaign headquarters in Florida. Every one of the voters on those sheets resided in African American neighborhoods, excepting a few in precincts of elderly Jewish voters. These lists helped Republican poll workers challenge voters on the basis of an alleged change of address. An analysis of one roster showed that several of those facing challenge were African American soldiers whose address changed because they were shipped overseas. Challenged voters were shunted to "provisional ballots," which, in Ohio and elsewhere, were not counted on the flimsiest of technicalities. Who won the presidential race? Given the millions of ballots spoiled and provisional ballots rejected, the unfolding mystery of the exit polls and widespread use of electronic voting machines, we will never know whether John Kerry or George W. Bush received the most votes in Ohio and other swing states But we can name the election's big winner: Jim Crow. Last Thursday, the president said, "Our country must abandon all the habits of racism." From benign neglect of the voting machinery to malign intent in challenging minority voters en masse, the United States is turning that ill habit into an electoral strategy. In 1965, Congress gave us the Voting Rights Act, promising all people the right to cast a vote. It is now time to making counting that vote a right, not just casting it, before Jim Crow rides again in the next election. -------- Rev. Jackson is founder of Rainbow Coalition/ People United to Save Humanity (Operation PUSH). Greg Palast, author of the New York Times bestseller, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, investigated the election for BBC Television. |
| Name: | Aim Me Smiley |
| E-mail address: | troubadours@excite.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Mr.Bush, you are not my president. |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Mr Bush, you are not my president.
My president is a person of integrity and deep spiritual beliefs. A person who knows the difference between “Love thy neighbor” And “Loathe thy neighbor” A person who understands that Religion is not a clique Where people put others down in order to make themselves Feel superior but a fervent call from within to humbly devote Your Self in the service of Love and Peace. Mr. Bush, you are NOT my president. My president believes in Negotiation NOT Intimidation… Cooperation NOT Isolation… Community instead of Immunity. Mr. Bush, you are not my president. My president believes in free and fair elections Run by non-partisan, non-corporate controlled voting systems. My president does not have to resort to racist bulling & dirty tricks to win an election. My president is not afraid of a paper trail. Mr. Bush, you are not my president. My president knows that Social Security is and has been one of the great successes of our government and should never be left in the hands of the greedy gamblers of Wall Street. Mr. Bush, you are not MY president. My president does not say he has a mandate then Say he is against MAN DATES. Mr. Bush, you are not my president. My president believes that Healthcare is a basic human right And not a priviledge for the wealthy. My president sees that a persons health, left in the hands Of capitalism, leads to death for the poor and cures for the rich. Mr.Bush, you are not my president. My president feels the connection between the declining Health of the environment and our own physical and spiritual Demise. Mr. Bush, you are not my president. My president knows that diversity is our strength Not a weakness…that America was created as a melting pot of Beliefs, cultures and ethnicities. It has never and will never Thrive on a tyranny of religion,race, thought or speech. Mr. Bush, you are not my president. My president does not need to rule by fear. My president earns my respect and teaches that the only thing We have to fear is fear itself. My president would not lie to me and create a false imminent threat And then turn around and actually give birth to a real terror and more hate. Mr. Bush, you are not my president. My president would not use our brave sons and daughters souls to Increase profits for Texas oil. Mr.Bush, you are not my president. My president understands that democracy cannot and will not Come from the butt of a gun. Mr.Bush, you are not my president. My president would not spend over 40 million dollars On a party when our children are sitting ducks left To rifle through landfills to protect themselves. Mr. Bush, you are not my president- But enjoy your lil party today for tomorrow you will fall. Just like all the other Tryannies before you- Absolute power absolutely corrupts. We see right through the oldest trick in the book- Divide & Conquer. The Divided States will once again become the United States. Americans all across this country are taking back their government.. Town to town, community to community…the foundation is shifting And this neo-conservative regime will fall like a House of Cards. It is time. It is time for us to wake up. It is time for us to wake up The Spirit within ourselves. If you are deeply troubled with the country You see before you. If you are hungry for change. You must start within Yourself and move that peace, compassion, truth, vision of justice and contagious hope out…out into your family, your community, your local and county government. Our only possibility of genuine change will come If we unite locally. We are the chosen revolutionaries to take back our Democracy and return it to a country NOT a company. If we are not the ones speaking out against injustice…then who will? Not the corporations. If we don’t stand for peace then who will…the Christian Right won’t. If WE don’t stop the dismantling of Social Security who Will? The AARP certainly won’t. If we aren’t the ones who protest Rising healthcare costpitals, who will? The medical and drug Companies most definitely won’t. OUR country is run by a country Club of bribed corporate employees. We must unite as the MORAL majority – as workers, teachers, senior citizens, African Americans, church members, peacekeepers, Environmentalists, union members, mothers, fathers, Middle Eastern Citizens, veterans, homosexuals, farmers, entrepreneurs…we are the majority and we have genuine, heartfelt MORALS. It is time to redefine the American Way. The souls of our children and the children to come are praying that we will awaken our Spirit and let Love’s indomitable strength and the Eternal Truth light our way. It is time. |
| Name: | Max Ehrmann |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Excerpt from the Desiderata |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy. |
| Name: | Author Unknown |
| E-mail address: | kentuckycounts@yahoo.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | I AM NOT LEAVING
|
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | I am not leaving!
Please hear what I said, I am not leaving! I’m staying where I’m at, thank-you very much. And as long as I stand upon her soil, She will be my land of the free. As long as I believe what I believe, You will see the meaning of brave! I will not under threat of tyranny or mob, Toss the place that I love in the ashen pile of lost causes, And walk quietly into a meaningless mist! No, I will stay, and you will listen. You will not lecture me about values! You will not receive the exclusive rights to my morality! Please hear what I said. For where ever I stand upon her soil, I am the deep well of my beloved country’s finest values and highest morals, Fairness, compassion, wisdom, strength, commonsense, tolerance, And you shall tremble before them, for they are righteous! So let the cheers for my demise die this night in a million throats! Let the gloating turn to great and frightening doubt! For I am not leaving! My beloved country needs me now more than she ever has before. And I pledge my allegiance to that which she still is, And to that great and shining day that she has yet to live! -Author unknown- |
| Name: | Michael Moore |
| E-mail address: | MMFlint@aol.com |
| Homepage URL: | http://michaelmoore.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | 17 REASONS NOT TO SLIT YOUR WRISTS by Michael Moore (yeah, that one) |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | 17 Reasons Not to Slit Your Wrists...by Michael Moore
Dear Friends, Ok, it sucks. Really sucks. But before you go and cash it all in, let's, in the words of Monty Python, “always look on the bright side of life!” There IS some good news from Tuesday's election. Here are 17 reasons not to slit your wrists: 1. It is against the law for George W. Bush to run for president again. 2. Bush's victory was the NARROWEST win for a sitting president since Woodrow Wilson in 1916. 3. The only age group in which the majority voted for Kerry was young adults (Kerry: 54%, Bush: 44%), proving once again that your parents are always wrong and you should never listen to them. 4. In spite of Bush's win, the majority of Americans still think the country is headed in the wrong direction (56%), think the war wasn't worth fighting (51%), and don’t approve of the job George W. Bush is doing (52%). (Note to foreigners: Don't try to figure this one out. It's an American thing, like Pop Tarts.) 5. The Republicans will not have a filibuster-proof 60-seat majority in the Senate. If the Democrats do their job, Bush won't be able to pack the Supreme Court with right-wing ideologues. Did I say "if the Democrats do their job?" Um, maybe better to scratch this one. 6. Michigan voted for Kerry! So did the entire Northeast, the birthplace of our democracy. So did 6 of the 8 Great Lakes States. And the whole West Coast! Plus Hawaii. Ok, that's a start. We've got most of the fresh water, all of Broadway, and Mt. St. Helens. We can dehydrate them or bury them in lava. And no more show tunes! 7. Once again we are reminded that the buckeye is a nut, and not just any old nut -- a poisonous nut. A great nation was felled by a poisonous nut. May Ohio State pay dearly this Saturday when it faces Michigan. 8. 88% of Bush's support came from white voters. In 50 years, America will no longer have a white majority. Hey, 50 years isn't such a long time! If you're ten years old and reading this, your golden years will be truly golden and you will be well cared for in your old age. 9. Gays, thanks to the ballot measures passed on Tuesday, cannot get married in 11 new states. Thank God. Just think of all those wedding gifts we won't have to buy now. 10. Five more African Americans were elected as members of Congress, including the return of Cynthia McKinney of Georgia. It's always good to have more blacks in there fighting for us and doing the job our candidates can't. 11. The CEO of Coors was defeated for Senate in Colorado. Drink up! 12. Admit it: We like the Bush twins and we don't want them to go away. 13. At the state legislative level, Democrats picked up a net of at least 3 chambers in Tuesday's elections. Of the 98 partisan-controlled state legislative chambers (house/assembly and senate), Democrats went into the 2004 elections in control of 44 chambers, Republicans controlled 53 chambers, and 1 chamber was tied. After Tuesday, Democrats now control 47 chambers, Republicans control 49 chambers, 1 chamber is tied and 1 chamber (Montana House) is still undecided. 14. Bush is now a lame duck president. He will have no greater moment than the one he's having this week. It's all downhill for him from here on out -- and, more significantly, he's just not going to want to do all the hard work that will be expected of him. It'll be like everyone's last month in 12th grade -- you've already made it, so it's party time! Perhaps he'll treat the next four years like a permanent Friday, spending even more time at the ranch or in Kennebunkport. And why shouldn't he? He's already proved his point, avenged his father and kicked our ass. 15. Should Bush decide to show up to work and take this country down a very dark road, it is also just as likely that either of the following two scenarios will happen: a) Now that he doesn't ever need to pander to the Christian conservatives again to get elected, someone may whisper in his ear that he should spend these last four years building "a legacy" so that history will render a kinder verdict on him and thus he will not push for too aggressive a right-wing agenda; or b) He will become so cocky and arrogant -- and thus, reckless -- that he will commit a blunder of such major proportions that even his own party will have to remove him from office. 16. There are nearly 300 million Americans -- 200 million of them of voting age. We only lost by three and a half million! That's not a landslide -- it means we're almost there. Imagine losing by 20 million. If you had 58 yards to go before you reached the goal line and then you barreled down 55 of those yards, would you stop on the three yard line, pick up the ball and go home crying -- especially when you get to start the next down on the three yard line? Of course not! Buck up! Have hope! More sports analogies are coming!!! 17. Finally and most importantly, over 55 million Americans voted for the candidate dubbed "The #1 Liberal in the Senate." That's more than the total number of voters who voted for either Reagan, Bush I, Clinton or Gore. Again, more people voted for Kerry than Reagan. If the media are looking for a trend it should be this -- that so many Americans were, for the first time since Kennedy, willing to vote for an out-and-out liberal. The country has always been filled with evangelicals -- that is not news. What IS news is that so many people have shifted toward a Massachusetts liberal. In fact, that's BIG news. Which means, don't expect the mainstream media, the ones who brought you the Iraq War, to ever report the real truth about November 2, 2004. In fact, it's better that they don't. We'll need the element of surprise in 2008. Feeling better? I hope so. As my friend Mort wrote me yesterday, "My Romanian grandfather used to say to me, 'Remember, Morton, this is such a wonderful country -- it doesn't even need a president!'" But it needs us. Rest up, I'll write you again tomorrow. Yours, Michael Moore |
| Name: | Sent to Troubadours |
| E-mail address: | kentuckycounts@yahoo.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | A Prayer after Election Day |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | A Prayer on the Day after the Election
Holy One, you who placed the bittersweet in the tree, you who created seasons and insisted that things change and change again, you who understand the broken heart and the exhaustion of the poor, draw near now, today. Many of us have a headache and heartache that won't go away. Many younger than us have given their all and have had their idealism smashed on a rock. We and they are not the first, nor will we be the last. The true route to enlightenment is through despair -- and we will walk that road today. We will walk it with those who stayed the long season towards justice, year in and year out. We will walk it with the oppressed who know what it's like to have only the hope of a hope left. We will walk it with our own youthful idealism gently held. Idealism is fragile but hope is strong. Bring us hope, Holy One. Bring us through the tunnel to the light. Let us not give up because that would be too easy. Make us strong for the hard season. And help us to help each other to that healing kind of laughter, which is both acceptance and challenge to the way things are. Let us be light in this heavy time. You will show us the way we don't yet know. Amen |
| Name: | Aim Me and Renee |
| Homepage URL: | http://troubadoursofdivinebliss.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | A PLEA FROM THE TROUBADOURS |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Our Dear Friends,
We, Troubadours of Divine Bliss, write to you because we feel compelled to encourage EVERYONE to get out and VOTE. It's imperative that we make our voice heard in order to insure that America remains a democracy. Vote because you care, because it's your right as an American, vote because your mad, vote for your children, for all children, for your health, because you pay taxes, for education, for world peace, for whatever matters to you the most...make YOUR voice heard. It is important not to become depressed, but to become determined! There are already things surfacing about voter fraud and suppression. What can you do? Be prepared. Don't give up or give in. Volunteer to drive people to the polls, to poll watch, to educate people on what to look out for and what our rights truly are. Encourage undecided voters and cynics to get out to vote. If you live in a precinct that allows Early Voting...VOTE EARLY...we need to make sure there's time for our votes to be counted, to clear up any registration challenges, and to make the polls more accessible on Election Day! This elections is about turn out, turn out, turn out. It's about preserving our right to democracy. We cannot allow this election to be stolen...we must be educated and educate...we must be revolutionary voters! Democracy is on the brink and we have to be the bridge. Below, please find some helpful hints to make sure YOUR voting experience is a successful one. Please read and print off the information below. Please consider emailing your friends and family to encourage the same. We can have an impact if we organize and unite for our dream of a government for the people, of the people and by the people. With hearts hopeful for peace, Aim Me and Renee Troubadours of Divine Bliss PROTECT YOUR VOTE: They're doing it again. In Nevada, a Republican contractor has allegedly ripped up thousands of Democratic registration forms.(1) In Florida, Jeb Bush has purged tens of thousands of legitimate voters -- mostly black, mostly Democratic -- from the rolls because their names are similar to a felon's.(2) In Ohio, the Republican Secretary of State has been so uncooperative that a federal judge said that he "apparently seeks to accomplish the same result in Ohio in 2004 that occurred in Florida in 2000."(3) But there's one big difference between the election of 2000 and the election of 2004: this time, a number of powerful, well-staffed groups will be aggressively responding to each and every instance of voter intimidation, suppression, and fraud. Messing with our right to vote is a felony, and with your help we'll make sure that anyone who does is prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Some precincts will be targeted for vote suppression (ESPECIALLY FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN VOTERS), and that's what we have to be on the look-out for. SWING STATE VOTERS...please help protect these votes and anyone else's who are challenged. GET OUT AND VOLUNTEER! BE A POLL WATCHER OR POLL DRIVER. We'll be in Cincinnati, Ohio in African American, inner city neighborhoods to be Poll Watchers and Poll Drivers. We would like to give a shout out to all Swing State voters or anyone who can travel to volunteer in Swing States to make plans NOW to make a difference. since one key suppression tactic is slowing down the voting process, we have to be careful not to fall into that trap. Don't obstruct: just demand that whoever is giving you trouble step aside with you and let the voting continue. But before we get into what you should do if things go wrong, here are a few pointers to help make sure your voting experience is a good one: Find your polling place ahead of time. Having this information ahead of time will help make sure that you can zip to the polls and back during that half-hour lunch break. You can locate your local polling place using your zip code at http://www.mypollingplace.com. In most cases, the site will tell you what kind of voting machines to expect and how they work. (By the way, if mypollingplace.com conflicts with information you've received from your county or state election officials, use the official information.) When in doubt, ASK. Poll workers are there to help you. They'll show you how to work the machines, and if you're at the wrong polling place, they should tell you how to get to the right one. Every polling place should also have a posted list of your voting rights, and instructions for filing a complaint if your rights have been violated. Know your rights. If you're an eligible voter, you have the following rights: If your name is not on the official voter list but you believe you are eligible to vote in that precinct, even if an election official challenges your vote, you have the right to cast a "provisional ballot." If you're in line when the polls close, you should stay in line because you're entitled to vote. In many states, your employer must allow you time to vote at some point during the day. You can't be fired for being late due to long polling lines. You have the right to vote without being intimidated by anyone. For your rights in your own state, check out this website: http://www.ourvote.com/ Bring photo ID, preferably government-issued ID or a utility bill, phone bill, or paycheck with your name and current street address. If you're a new registrant, it may be required. Vote in the morning. In a great majority of polling places, everything will go smoothly, but by going early you can help prevent lines later in the day. A regular ballot is better than a provisional ballot. If your eligibility to vote is questioned, ask if you can cast a regular ballot by providing additional ID or by going to another polling place. Only cast a provisional ballot if there's no alternative available. So, what if something does go wrong? First, document it. If there are specific individuals involved who are challenging your right to vote, intimidating voters, or interfering with the process, try to get their names. Write down exactly what happened, including the time of day, descriptions of the people involved, and any other details you can remember. Then, report it. There are lots of organizations that will be working to respond quickly to complaints of voter intimidation, suppression, and fraud. Here's who to call: MoveOn PAC: Go to http://www.moveonpac.org/. On election day, our website will host a form where you can post your problem and get help. Common Cause: Call 1-866-MYVOTE1. Common Cause has set up a hotline that you can call to report any problems you have voting. They'll document where problems are occurring, watch for wide-spread voter suppression, and provide real-time legal help to the hot spots. 1-866-OUR-VOTE. This hotline has been set up by a coalition of nonpartisan groups to deal with the most serious problems on election day. They have hundreds of lawyers standing by to immediately respond to the most egregious problems. 1-866-OUR-VOTE is the "911" of voter suppression hotlines. Please don't call unless your problem is serious enough that you have to talk to a lawyer |
| Name: | Know Your Precinct |
| Homepage URL: | http://www.mypollingplace.com/find.php |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | BE PREPARED...HELP OTHERS BE PREPARED |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Know your Precinct BEFORE you show up to vote. Please check it by going to:
http://www.mypollingplace.com/find.php Or call, 1-800-Our-Vote to verify your Precinct. Be prepared so there are NO surprises when you get there. Your VOICE has a right to be heard! So does everyone elses, so memorize and record this number to help someone else whose vote may be challenged if they are in the wrong precinct. |
| Name: | Risks to YOUR Vote |
| Homepage URL: | http://myvotemyright.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Top Five Risks to Eligible Voters in 2004 |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Top Five Risks to Eligible Voters in 2004*
1. Voter Registration Problems These problems include citizens who apply to register to vote through the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) or other agencies under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) but whose applications have not been properly forwarded to or acted on by registrars; incomplete voter lists at polling places; and voters going to the “wrong” polling place due to inadequate communication of polling place locations or because they have moved within a jurisdiction. 2. Erroneous Purging In addition to troubles in getting on the registration rolls, many voters will find they have been erroneously removed from the list. In the 2000 election, hundreds of eligible Florida citizens were mistakenly identified as felons and were removed from registration lists because of flawed data and a faulty data matching process. 3. Problems with the New ID Requirement The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) requires that first-time applicants who register by mail present ID prior to voting on Election Day unless the state has already verified their identity. While HAVA says the application of the new requirement must be “uniform and non-discriminatory,” many states have yet to establish mechanisms for ensuring uniform and nondiscriminatory application. New procedures can lead to confusion and, ultimately, wrongful disenfranchisement on Election Day. The new requirement opens the door to unequal and discriminatory treatment. 4. Difficulties with Voting Systems Unfamiliarity with a voting system on the part of voters, election administrators or poll workers can lead to confusion on Election Day. Most jurisdictions will not be switching to new voting machines in 2004 so many voters will vote on the same systems they used previously. This means we can expect the same types of problems we saw in 2000: confusing ballot design, machines that don’t work and votes that are never counted. 5. Failure to Count Provisional Ballots Provisional ballots are intended as a safeguard for voters whose eligibility is in question on Election Day, including those whose voter registration is in doubt, who may have been erroneously purged or who have ID problems (see items 1, 2 and 3). HAVA requires that povisional ballots must be counted if the voter is eligible to vote. However, some election officials have chosen to apply standards for counting provisional ballots that are unrelated to voter eligibility. In a recent Illinois primary, one jurisdiction rejected 93 percent of the provisional ballots cast. Most were rejected because poll workers failed to notify voters that they had to cast these votes in their assigned precinct in order to be counted under state law. *Compiled by the League of Women Voters and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. 1. Voter Registration Problems 2. Erroneous Purging 3. Problems with the New ID Requirement 4. Difficulties with Voting Systems 5. Failure to Count Provisional Ballots |
| Name: | Protect YOUR Vote |
| E-mail address: | buyersonly@excite.com |
| Homepage URL: | http://www.verifiedvoting.org/ |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | 1-866-OUR-VOTE |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | HOW TO PROTECT YOUR VOTE OR ANOTHER VOTERS VOICE:
If someone interferes with your right to vote: 1. DOCUMENT IT Write down exactly what happened and the names of the people involved. 2. THEN, REPORT IT Call 1-866-MYVOTE1 to leave a message about your problem. • Fill out the problem form at www.moveonpac.org. • • If you need immediate legal assistance, call 1-866-OUR-VOTE. This is the 911 of voter hotlines – only use it if there’s a serious problem. |
| Name: | Garlic & Grass |
| Homepage URL: | http://garlicandgrass.org |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | WHY WASN'T 911 STOPPED? |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | THE TOP TEN UNANSWERED QUESTIONS ABOUT 9-11
1. NONEXISTENT AIR DEFENSE. Why weren't Air Force planes sent up to intercept the hijacked planes? In the year before 9-11, jet fighters were sent up routinely (at least 67 times) whenever, according to the FAA's own standard operating procedure manuals, an airliner went off course by two miles or by 15 degrees. The mainstream media has never highlighted this. Routine FAA and military procedures should've intercepted the first plane before it struck the World Trade Center. The FAA was notified by a frantic stewardess that the plane was hijacked -- fully 25 minutes before it crashed. Usually it had only taken 10-12 minutes for jet fighters to go from stationary to 29,000 feet and 1850 mph. Jets should have intercepted that first plane. But for the second plane, which crashed 15 minutes later and which was known to be hijacked 20 minutes before it crashed, the failure to intercept strains credulity. Fighter jets should already have been in the air above Manhattan. And then the plane that supposedly struck the Pentagon was known to be hijacked a full 45 minutes before it crashed -- after two other planes had already been hijacked -- yet it flew unchallenged over the most protected airspace in the world. That this plane was not intercepted is simply incredible. The Pentagon has the most advanced radar and air defense in the world, and Andrews Air Force base, which is charged with defending the Pentagon, is a mere 11 miles away (1 minute flying time). >>More at: http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline 2. BUSH'S REACTIONS ON 9-11. Why did George Bush go into a meaningless photo op in an elementary school after hearing that an airliner had crashed into the World Trade Center? He was briefed by National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice before entering the classroom. She must've told him that the plane had been hijacked, since the FAA and NORAD had known it had been hijacked fully 25 minutes before it crashed. And then, while listening to 2nd graders read, why does Bush merely nod calmly when told about the second plane smashing into the WTC? He gazes off into space for whole minutes while the towers burn, looking conflicted and worried. >>More at: http://www.cooperativeresearch.net/timeline/main/essayaninterestingday.html 3. THE COLLAPSE OF THE TWIN TOWERS. Why did the towers collapse? No steel skyscraper had ever collapsed because of fire. In the 100-year history of steel skyscrapers, none. Ever. The steel used in skyscrapers doesn't melt at temperatures that fire can attain when burning in open air. Jet fuel is essentially refined kerosene which burns at around 700 C in optimal open conditions. This is not nearly hot enough to melt (or even significantly weaken) steel, which melts only at 1,535 C. Also, given the shocking speed and neatness with which both towers fell, and the seismic evidence of small earthquakes moments before they fell, and the fact the buildings were pulverized instead of falling in chunks, it seems that the towers actually fell due to a controlled demolition rather than fire. It's imperative that an investigation into what happened on 9-11 include this possibility and examine the readily available evidence. >>More at: http://911research.wtc7.net/talks/towers/introduction.html 4. THE COLLAPSE OF WTC BUILDING 7. Don't forget about this building. Yet another steel skyscraper collapsed from fire that day. None ever, and then three, in one day. WTC 7 was another building in the World Trade Center complex. It was the furthest of the buildings from the Twin Towers, little debris struck it, and there were no large fires burning inside of it. Yet, as that horrendous day was ending, at 5:20 pm, WTC 7 collapsed in a remarkable 7 seconds. Nearly the speed of freefall. It fell in what appeared to be a perfect implosion-style demolition. Yet, the official story is that it collapsed because a diesel generator located in its basement exploded, causing the whole building to 'pancake' neatly, floor by floor, to the ground. This seems impossible both because an explosion in the basement wouldn't cause a neat implosion, and because the 57 floors of the building couldn't have 'pancaked' in freefall speed. >>More at: http://www.wtc7.net/videos.html 5. ATTACK ON THE PENTAGON. Why won't the Pentagon release their video footage of this event? The event was perhaps the most bizarre of all. Consider Question #1 again. The plane that supposedly struck the Pentagon was known to have been hijacked for 45 minutes -- after two other planes had already been hijacked and flown into the WTC. Yet this plane supposedly flew unchallenged over the most protected airspace in the world and then crashed into the headquarters of our trillion-dollar military. While footage of both WTC crashes has surfaced and been shown ad infinitum on television, no footage of the Pentagon explosion has ever been released. The Pentagon oddly released only 5 still-frames from their security cameras' footage. One of these 5 frames shows something that might be a plane or a missile or a gray smear. The other four show an exploding fireball on the side of the Pentagon. There was barely any debris from whatever caused the explosion, and yet supposedly the remains of the passengers were all identified by the FBI. So the explosion completely vaporized tons of steel, yet didn't destroy human remains? Also, the hole in the side of the Pentagon was too small for a 757 to fit into. Why won't the Pentagon release the rest of the footage? >>More at: http://911research.wtc7.net/talks/pentagon/video.html 6. CRASH IN PENNSYLVANIA. Why was the debris from this plane spread out over eight miles? The official story is that the plane crashed after the passengers stormed the cockpit. But normally when planes crash into the ground the debris ends up in a relatively small area. Often the fuselage and wings remain near each other. The debris being scattered over eight miles is very odd. Is the official story believable? Numerous eyewitness accounts suggest the plane was shot down by another, unmarked plane. >>More at: http://www.rense.com/general54/ccover.htm; and http://911research.wtc7.net/planes/attack/flight93.html 7. THE CLEANUP LOOKED LIKE A COVERUP. Why was the debris from the Pentagon and the World Trade Center destroyed immediately after 9-11? Normally forensic teams examine all evidence from a crime scene. Yet the steel from the collapsed WTC was immediately shipped to Korea and China, where it was melted down within days. That steel would've indicated whether the buildings collapsed due to fire, something that has never happened and would mandate drastically redesigning tall buildings. That steel also would've told the tale if the buildings had collapsed instead due to another cause--like an explosive demolition. Similarly, at the Pentagon, the surprisingly small amount of debris was swiftly whisked away to an undisclosed location. >>More at: http://www.wanttoknow.info/9-11cover-up10pg; and http://911research.wtc7.net/wtc/groundzero/cleanup.html 8. INSIDER TRADING. Who were the big investors who knew 9-11 was about to happen? Although the stock trading on American and United Airlines was up by 1200% the day before 9-11, no public investigations into who profited were undertaken. While hundreds of Arab-looking Americans were rounded up and interrogated for apparently little reason, the SEC and the FBI didn't arrest any of those who made millions from uncanny 9-11 stock trading. As it turned out, the SEC did discover who had benefited, and shared that information with Canadian intelligence. We know this because shortly thereafter the list of the 30 banks and corporations that made the trades were listed in a Canadian investigative newsstory. Still, no prosecution has been undertaken. >>More at: http://www.hereinreality.com/insidertrading.html; and http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j121901.html 9. THE FEDERAL COMMISSION. Why did Bush block the formation of the 9-11 Commission? Why did it take 411 days to finally form the commission, when other commissions have been formed in less than a week? It took six days to form the Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Also, why did Bush withhold funding from the 9-11 Commission when it was finally formed? The commission to investigate the crash of the Space Shuttle Columbia, which killed seven people, received $50 million. Bush only allocated $3 million to the 9-11 Commission. He later acceded to giving it $11 million. Resisting the investigation of 9-11 looks ridiculously bad from a political standpoint, so why has he done it? Perhaps most damning of the 9-11 Commission is that its chairman and director were both selected by the Bush Administration. Six of the commission's nine other members also had deep, longstanding ties to the administration and to the intelligence, petroleum, and military industrial complexes they were charged with investigating. Normally, a suspect does not get to select his judge and jury, even if he's innocent. While we consider independence to be a hallmark of the American judicial system, unfortunately nothing about the 9-11 Commission was independent. >>More at: http://www.joycelynn.com 10. LARGER MOTIVES. The people running our country right now -- Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Libby, Abrams -- are all connected to a group called the Project for a New American Century (PNAC). In fact, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Jeb Bush are a few of the group's founders. The manifesto of PNAC, written in the late 1990's, calls for the establishment of an American empire to ensure, in their words, "political and economic freedom abroad...and an international order friendly to American security, prosperity, and principles." The document boldly called for: a 40% increase in the military budget, the formation of a Space Force (in addition to the Air Force) to patrol and control outer space, "Star Wars" missile-to-missile defense systems, a fiercer and more potent global CIA presence, and an aggressive policy of "pre-emptive war" to defeat enemies before they become strong. In essence, PNAC is about ruling the world. PNAC's documents sadly acknowledge that the majority of Americans do not want an American empire and would not support the formation of one, "absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event -- like a new Pearl Harbor." Nine months after these people came to power, strangely enough, they got their "new Pearl Harbor." And since 9-11, they've got their 40% increase in the military budget (exactly 40%, in fact). They've got the beginnings of a Space Force, "Star Wars" is fully funded, as is the CIA's Total Attack Matrix. And they clearly got their first pre-emptive war. These coincidences at least merit some investigation. >>More at: http://www.newamericancentury.org/defensenationalsecurity2000.htm These questions are wide-ranging. They even seem overwhelming. What's more, I don't know the answers to them. In fact, I honestly don't know anyone who can definitively say exactly what conspiracy happened on 9-11. It may have partially involved Arabs and Osama bin Laden. It may not have. I just know the official story can't be right. We absolutely need a full and open inquiry that will ask all of the questions. Then, and only then, will this nation of ours be safe, secure, and at peace. We need truth, not war. |
| Name: | Laura |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Thoughts for your mid-life crisis |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | When I am an old woman I shall wear purple.
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me. And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves, And satin sandles, and say we've no money for butter. I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired, And gobble up samples in shops, and press alarm bells, And run my stick along the public railings, And make up for the sobriety of my youth. I shall go out in my slippers in the rain, And pick flowers in other people's gardens, And learn to spit. You can wear terrible shirts, and grow more fat, And eat three pounds of sausages at a go, Or only bread and pickle for a week. And hoard pens and pencils, and beermats, and things in boxes. But now we must have clothes that keep us dry, And pay our rent and not swear in the street, And set a good example for the children. We must have friends to dinner and read the papers. But maybe I ought to practice a little now? So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple. Jenny Joseph |
| Name: | Jason |
| E-mail address: | Smog@wowmail.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | ROYGBIV |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Indeed, most days are grey with the incessant echoes of my friends Tic and Toc.- but today I experienced Bliss, and have enjoyed colors previously faded by routine.
"Are you a musician?"-They asked, one before the other. "No, but someone has to listen." I replied. Thank you for letting me listen, you have created a palette for my mind.- Jason |
| Name: | Rachael |
| Homepage URL: | http://www.thegreatstory.org |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | The Great Story |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | This is a fantastic website. If the Troubadours of Divine Bliss were scientists, this would be their website. This is the story of a couple of people who live in their van and travel the country delivering the truth of The Great Story. |
| Name: | Aim Me and Renee, Troubadours of Divine Bliss |
| E-mail address: | troubadours@excite.com |
| Homepage URL: | http://troubadoursofdivinebliss.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Farenheit 9/11 |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Absolutely heart-broken, enraged and determined...
that's how we felt after seeing Michael Moore's, "Farenheit 9/11". This film was #1 at the box office this weekend...it was only in 800+ theaters while the films it beat were in over 3000+ theaters...this speaks volumes. It also grossed more than $21.8 million dollars in it's first weekend...already a record breaking documentary! We went to the opening matinee of the first day at 1 p.m. in Akron, Ohio. We were amazed and excited to find that a small, conservative Ohio town filled the theater to capacity with well informed patriots who seek a true democracy. People booed and hissed at the real evil doers and then gave a standing ovation and chanted Kerry as they left the theater. As they exited, there were many red, swollen eyes from the roller coaster of emotion. There seemed to be an overwhelming feeling of unity and determination to make a change. We also went on Sunday night for the last showing in a Cleveland, OH theater. Again, the theater was sold out to capacity and an audience left feeling empowered and emboldened to seek and share the truth. PLEASE, be a good American and go support this film, "Farenheit 9/11". You will be supporting a living democracy! You will be supporting Michael Moore's quest to reveal the truth and giving the power back to people! You will be supporting independent media and film! You will be supporting movie theaters that don't censor! You will be kicking Disney's animated a** for doing Jeb 's bidding! You'll find other like minded, kindred spirits who are just as frustrated and hungry for change as you are. God Bliss You! God Bliss America and God Bliss Farenheit 9/11! With the fire of peace, Aim Me and Renee |
| Name: | This came from |
| Homepage URL: | http://www.freewillastrology.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | The Boat, by Kabir |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | The Guest is inside you, and also inside me;
you know the sprout is hidden inside the seed. We are all struggling; none of us have gone far. Let your arrogance go, and look around inside. The blue sky opens out farther and farther, the daily sense of failure goes away, the damage I have done to myself fades, a million suns come forward with light, when I sit firmly in that world. I hear bells ringing that no one has shaken, inside "love" there is more joy than we know of, rain pours down, although the sky is clear of clouds, there are whole rivers of light. The universe is shot through in all parts by a single sort of love. How hard it is to feel that joy in all our four bodies! Those who hope to be reasonable about it fail. The arrogance of reason has separated us from that love. With the word "reason" you already feel miles away. How lucky Kabir is, that surrounded by all this joy he sings inside his own little boat. His poems amount to one soul meeting another. These songs are about forgetting dying and loss. They rise above both coming in and going out. |
| Name: | MICHEAL BERG |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | GEORGE BUSH NEVER LOOKED INTO MY SONS EYES... |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | 'George Bush never looked into Nick's eyes'
By Michael Berg LONDON: My son, Nick, was my teacher and my hero. He was the kindest, gentlest man I know; no, the kindest, gentlest human being I have ever known. He quit the Boy Scouts of America because they wanted to teach him to fire a handgun. Nick, too, poured into me the strength I needed, and still need, to tell the world about him. People ask me why I focus on putting the blame for my son's tragic and atrocious end on the Bush administration. They ask: "Don't you blame the five men who killed him?" I have answered that I blame them no more or less than the Bush administration, but I am wrong: I am sure, knowing my son, that somewhere during their association with him these men became aware of what an extraordinary man my son was. I take comfort that when they did the awful thing they did, they weren't quite as in to it as they might have been. I am sure that they came to admire him. I am sure that the one who wielded the knife felt Nick's breath on his hand and knew that he had a real human being there. I am sure that the others looked into my son's eyes and got at least a glimmer of what the rest of the world sees. And I am sure that these murderers, for just a brief moment, did not like what they were doing. George Bush never looked into my son's eyes. George Bush doesn't know my son, and he is the worse for it. George Bush, though a father himself, cannot feel my pain, or that of my family, or of the world that grieves for Nick, because he is a policymaker, and he doesn't have to bear the consequences of his acts. George Bush can see neither the heart of Nick nor that of the American people, let alone that of the Iraqi people his policies are killing daily. Donald Rumsfeld said that he took responsibility for the sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners. How could he take that responsibility when there was no consequence? Nick took the consequences. Even more than those murderers who took my son's life, I can't stand those who sit and make policies to end lives and break the lives of the still living. Nick was not in the military, but he had the discipline and dedication of a soldier. Nick Berg was in Iraq to help the people without any expectation of personal gain. He was only one man, but through his death he has become many. The truly unselfish spirit of giving your all to do what you know in your own heart is right even when you know it may be dangerous; this spirit has spread among the people who knew Nick, and that group has spread and is spreading all over the world. So what were we to do when we in America were attacked on September 11, that infamous day? I say we should have done then what we never did before: stop speaking to the people we labelled our enemies and start listening to them. Stop giving preconditions to our peaceful coexistence on this small planet, and start honouring and respecting every human's need to live free and autonomously, to truly respect the sovereignty of every state. To stop making up rules by which others must live and then separate rules for ourselves. George Bush's ineffective leadership is a weapon of mass destruction, and it has allowed a chain reaction of events that led to the unlawful detention of my son which immersed him in a world of escalated violence. Were it not for Nick's detention, I would have had him in my arms again. That detention held him in Iraq not only until the atrocities that led to the siege of Fallujah, but also the revelation of the atrocities committed in the jails in Iraq, in retaliation for which my son's wonderful life was put to an end. My son's work still goes on. Where there was one peacemaker before, I now see and have heard from thousands of peacemakers. Nick was a man who acted on his beliefs. We, the people of this world, now need to act on our beliefs. We need to let the evildoers on both sides of the Atlantic know that we are fed up with war. We are fed up with the killing and bombing and maiming of innocent people. We are fed up with the lies. Yes, we are fed up with the suicide bombers, and with the failure of the Israelis and Palestinians to find a way to stop killing each other. We are fed up with negotiations and peace conferences that are entered into on both sides with preset conditions that preclude the outcome of peace. We want world peace now. Many have offered to pray for Nick and my family. I appreciate their thoughts, but I ask them to include in their prayers a prayer for peace. And I ask them to do more than pray. I ask them to demand peace now. -Dawn/The Guardian News Service. The writer is the father of Nick Berg, the US contractor beheaded on video in Iraq this month by a group believed to be linked to Al Qaeda. |
| Name: | Jess |
| E-mail address: | voltzmanga2@aol.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | This aint quite blissful but it's from my heart and I meant every word of it. |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | go on, write some more
pretend that youre mature. have another revelation hand-me-down resolution that never sees tomorrow. be the butterfly who likes his own cocoon a little too much. stuck inside yourself you'll never grow you'll never see that life is about seeing others, that love is about treating others Golden Rule style. but a page is easier to deal with than someone else, isnt it? no emotion, no opinion, no devotion required from you, only an idealistic reflection of yourself staring back, a projection of what you wish you had said in the way of conversation that day, a production of the scene that was supposed to have been played out. yeah, keep talking to the air inside yourself- it'll never catch on to your deceit; it'll never disagree. but you'll see: you will end up utterly alone, one-sided and convinced that you have done no wrong to any of your friends. because poetry dont mean shit in the end and artsy fartsy baloney aint worth a dime if you wont reciprocate the love. Trust me, you cant control Daddy Time and Mother Nature dont give a damn if you cant flow with the shifting of her tides. so you better hurry up and humble yourself before someone does you more harm than you yourself are capable of. go on, give the truth, the honest apology you must demand from yourself or for god's sakes, your selfishness will kill you next time and no one will care. let go and live and stop wasting your, no, MY, precious time. |
| Name: | JAMIE KEMPER |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | TECHNOCRATS |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | and here in america we're playing musical chairs
don't get caught without a flag or your out of the game but no joy is found in this heart when that great big red white and blue towel is waved more like sorrow for those who died who were raped killed and removed from their land for my grandfather and all his brothers who only made it home with a telegram for all those who did not vote for bush or reagan or johnson or nixon or any other blue blooded fascist who for so long have been choking us with bitter sweet lies and love through consumerism and mass media creating some audience of uneducated passive observers getting us yeah us the youth not them the draft dogger the bureaucrats that sit so sweetly at the top of some superficial intellectual class system of freedom of democracy where have you gone down the drains of some florida election booth gobbled down by some right-winger who just can't see IT TAKES TWO WINGS TO FLY to soar to be free because here in america we're playing musical chairs don't get caught with out a flag or your out of the game |
| Name: | Kavinaugh of Manville |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Hail Trouba-groupies,
I’m glad to see you’ve been watching our Kommando in Cheek. This is my recollection of his interview on Meet the Press following his State of the Union speech. Russert: Mr. Bush, there are many sensitive, aware, perceptive people who would like to know why you stated, before the election, that America is not interested in nation building, but now we are trying to make a democracy out of Iraq. What’s going on? Bush: Sensitive, Aware, Perceptive, People – yes - now see, those are exactly the kind of people we’ve been trying to reach. Russert: Yes, but… Bush: SAPPs; Lon calls them SAPPs. Russert: Lon? Bush: Cheney. I call him Lon; makes him laugh. Russert: I see – ha, ha, ha – I get it – ha, ha, ha. Bush: Ha, ha, ha – see? Ha, ha, ha – get it? Ha, ha, ha. Russert: Ahem, yes. A-hem. Okay then, many SAPPs want to know how you can justify nation building in Iraq. Bush: Now see Tim, the SAPPs have to understand – we’re not building a nation, we’re in a war, and in a war people get hurt and buildings get hurt, and cars and buses and little kids on welfare – I understand it; why can’t SAPPs understand it? WE ARE NOT NATION BUILDING! Y’know Tim, we messed ‘em up pretty good – but we got SADDAM – weeee got ‘im – found ‘im in a hole! Anyway, all we’re doing is cleaning up the mess after Saddam made us blow his country all to hell. We’re not nation building. It’s not like we just went out in the middle of the desert and started building a nation – started building a Mc Donald’s and Pepsi factories and NASCAR and Casinos and infrastructure and all that – and schools, and a church; gotta have a church…one nation under God… Russert: So you got Saddam. Bush: Found ‘im in a hole – Russert: Yes, that’s good, but what about Osama bin Laden? Bush: Well, that’s an entirely different story. The best intelligence we have says that Osama operates out of caves. As far as we know, Saddam had only one hole, but Osama has many caves and he is constantly SNEAKIN’ AROUND! – especially after dark, from cave to cave. Look! He’s very clever! But we’ll get ‘im. We got Saddam didn’t we? We got ‘im………..uuhhh………. er,…………..found ‘im in a hole. Russert: Okay. Let’s cut for a Halliburton commercial and when we come back, we’ll talk about oil. Bush: Hah! I love oil. Peace, Kavinaugh of Manville |
| Name: | Pagan P Davidson |
| E-mail address: | pagan_spangler@netventure.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | PAGAN,NEW ORLEANS |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Hey guys! I know this is a blast from your past. I have truily missed no two people more than I have missed you.
There is so much to tell, to start I'm living in Tacoma Wa. I am married to terrific guy, and I have a bueatiful little girl named Amara,she is almost two. My husband Sean (not the shawn you met.)and I moved up here last fall. And with getting settled in jobs and watt not, we havent been able to check out the peorty scene here to much yet, but we will. You guys will love Sean if and when you never meet He is defenatly your kind of guy. Smart, funny and with more talent than sence, I love him more than I thought it was possible to love, and best of all, he loves me back. Oh, Im a Spangler now, will write soon. Love ya! Pagan |
| Name: | YOU |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | CENSURE FOR BUSH! |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | _____________________
Subject: Censure President Bush Dear friend, In an attempt to escape responsibility for the misleading statements that led the nation to war, President Bush has announced plans to form an independent inquiry to look into what went wrong. An inquiry would serve the Bush administration well: it would envelop the issue in a fog of uncertainty, deflect blame onto the intelligence services, and push any political damage into 2005, after the upcoming election. But the facts need no clarification. Despite repeated warnings from the CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency, President Bush and his administration hyped and distorted the threat that Iraq posed. And now that reality is setting in, the President seeks to pin the blame on someone else. We can't let him. Congress has the power to censure the President -- to formally reprimand him for his betrayal of the nation's trust. If ever there was a time to use this function, it is now. Join the call for Congress to censure President Bush now at: http://www.moveon.org/censure/?id=-2338539-cVIcWJHPorO27sZ1MDlrvw Thanks. |
| Name: | JENNIFER ROCK |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | BUSH'S STATE OF THE UNION |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | bush's 20 sept 2001 state of the union address, w. jen's commentary
very interesting ... fluff for the american people? lies? he's an evildoer! "Whether we bring our enemies to justice, or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done ... America has no truer friend than Great Britain ... Americans have known surprise attacks -- but never before on thousands of civilians ... (jen's addition: except for defenseless countries we've bombed ourselves, right?) The United States respects the people of Afghanistan -- after all, we are currently its largest source of humanitarian aid -- but we condemn the Taliban regime. (jen's addition: we hate them so much we'll give them millions of dollars?) Give the United States full access to [all of your oil, er ... uh, i mean] terrorist training camps, so we can make sure they are no longer operating. Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated. [It will not end until every single drop of oil has been found, tapped, and its profits end up in my wallet.] We have seen their kind before. They are the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions -- by abandoning every value except the will to power -- they follow in the path of fascism, and Nazism, and totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way, to where it ends: in history's unmarked grave of discarded lies. [Sound familiar? C'mon, son, listen to yourself! What about your own regime?] This war will not be like the war against Iraq a decade ago ... And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists ... Nations from Latin America, to Asia, to Africa, to Europe, to the Islamic world. [Is Latin America considered a nation? Just a question.] The civilized world is rallying to America's side. They understand that if this terror goes unpunished, their own cities, their own citizens may be next. Terror, unanswered, can not only bring down buildings, it can threaten the stability of legitimate governments. And you know what -- we're not going to allow it. (Applause.) Americans are asking: What is expected of us? I ask you to live your lives, and hug your children. [Awww, compassionate conservativism at its best.] I ask your continued participation and confidence in the American economy ... We will come together to strengthen our intelligence capabilities [Except your intelligence, Busy-boy.] to know the plans of terrorists before they act, and find them before they strike. (Applause.) We will come together to take active steps that strengthen America's economy, and put our people back to work. [Nevermind the net loss of 2.3 million jobs ... no, nevermind that.] But this country will define our times, not be defined by them ... Fellow citizens, we'll meet violence with patient justice -- assured of the rightness of our cause, and confident of the victories to come. In all that lies before us, may God grant us wisdom, and may He watch over the United States of America. Thank you. (Applause.) |
| Name: | Elizabeth |
| E-mail address: | dragonlover587@hotmail.com |
| Homepage URL: | http://mindweaver.blogdrive.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | new song chorus |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Its all just the shadow of a dream,
That slowly fades away. Its been creepin' through my thoughts, And just won't leave me to my sleep. That haunting picture in my head that will not leave me be. Its all just a shadow of a dream. |
| Name: | Millerz and Lenz |
| E-mail address: | webmaster@millerzandlenz.com |
| Homepage URL: | http://www.millerzandlenz.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | We love the Bliss!! |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Aim Me and Renee
Thanks so much for letting us crash your stage at the Highlands Tap Room last night. We were totally blown away by your incredible talent and energetic presentation!! We are looking forward to experiencing "The Bliss" again soon! Marty, Vicki and Jimmy |
| Name: | robert, ILLusion, Godsey |
| E-mail address: | gothicillusion2002@yahoo.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | missing the bliss |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | hey all, whats up I was rather upset latly I had to miss one of the shows that was in my area. december 4 I drove down to florida for a few weeks only to see the e-mail in my box saying the girls were in my area back home. to think if I would have waited a day more I could have taken part in the bliss. also by missing the show I was not able to tell Aim Me hapy birthday, well happy birthday Aim Me. at least now that I can get on the site again since before it wasn't working for some reason I can just look at the calander to tell when the next shows are. I guess catch you all later. your poetic friend Robert. |
| Name: | YOU |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | A Jar of Mayonnaise...and a coupla beers. |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: |
When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar........and the beer. A Professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous "yes." The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed. "Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things-your family, your children, your health, your friends, your favorite passions-things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else-the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house, and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand." One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of beers." As we look to a brand new year, filled with promise, may you and all your loved ones be blessed with life, health, prosperity and happiness and may you always leave room for the couple of beers - or whatever their equivalent would be in your life. |
| Name: | William Cuff |
| E-mail address: | liam2833@aol.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Liam |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | I saw two shows. Pete's and the Winchester. I am always in awe of your ability to perform. It has to be from the heart. I will try never to miss your performances. Fantastic! I could go on and on. Happy Holiday's and take care. Liam |
| Name: | Tomas |
| E-mail address: | tmbfi@msn.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | tommy two tone |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | I saw the girls last night at Pete's Tavern (guest appearance by Brian Henke). Great show! I heard a version of John Prine's "Angel From Montgomery" that nearly moved me to tears. I checked the 3 CD's already released and did not find a recorded copy of it...i was wondering if anyone knows where I can find one? |
| Name: | Carrie |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Sorry |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | For the double post. I must not know how to work this, it told me it could not be displayed. HA yeah right!
"First" The Praise was for Dennis ;) |
| Name: | Carrie |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Praise, Remembrance & Inspiration
|
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | First things first…
You were great last night! Your talent pours from the stage, rushes over the audience as a warm invitational look into your soul. Let the music continue you to move you, it moves me each time I hear it again. The cheers from the crowd should be evidence that I was not the only one moved by your performance! Second/Third… Struggling to find words here. I’ll try to make it simple (although truly complex). Thank you Aim me and Renee’ It has been a few months now however; I have not seen you in person since the memorial service for Frank (Francis). That was truly moving for me and I appreciate it so much, you and the others made a difficult time easier. I would not have made it without all of you. The times we have shared over the years meant a great deal to him/us. I know the struggles of life can overwhelm us all at times, but there is a plan the Universe holds for each of us. For me it is yet to be seen/unfold. Francis was helping me to understand/see clearly the opportunities ahead, the choices that we all have laid in the path before us. The past few months have been difficult ones for me, I find comfort in knowing the last year Frank had known happiness in the music; the friendships and musicians he had found to complete his life’s work was just about to unfold, he was excited about that. I plan to complete that dream in the upcoming months and will be leaning on you and the others heavily to do so. The times he spent in the studio with the two of you… Well as they say Priceless!(I will find the tape I promise)! He enjoyed your friendship, creativity and spiritual journey. The two of you are truly an inspiration to many of us struggling, searching for inner peace in a sometimes-cruel world. You are evidence it does exist. Thank you so much for that and everything else! Please……… For Francis, all the others, the universe and myself…. “KEEP THE MUSIC ALIVE” “Got Love” Carrie |
| Name: | Carrie |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Praise, Remembrance & Inspiration
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| Your Talking Stick Entry: | First things first…
You were great last night! Your talent pours from the stage, rushes over the audience as a warm invitational look into your soul. Let the music continue you to move you, it moves me each time I hear it again. The cheers from the crowd should be evidence that I was not the only one moved by your performance! Second/Third… Struggling to find words here. I’ll try to make it simple (although truly complex). Thank you Aim me and Renee’ It has been a few months now however; I have not seen you in person since the memorial service for Frank (Francis). That was truly moving for me and I appreciate it so much, you and the others made a difficult time easier. I would not have made it without all of you. The times we have shared over the years meant a great deal to him/us. I know the struggles of life can overwhelm us all at times, but there is a plan the Universe holds for each of us. For me it is yet to be seen/unfold. Francis was helping me to understand/see clearly the opportunities ahead, the choices that we all have laid in the path before us. The past few months have been difficult ones for me, I find comfort in knowing the last year Frank had known happiness in the music; the friendships and musicians he had found to complete his life’s work was just about to unfold, he was excited about that. I plan to complete that dream in the upcoming months and will be leaning on you and the others heavily to do so. The times he spent in the studio with the two of you… Well as they say Priceless!(I will find the tape I promise)! He enjoyed your friendship, creativity and spiritual journey. The two of you are truly an inspiration to many of us struggling, searching for inner peace in a sometimes-cruel world. You are evidence it does exist. Thank you so much for that and everything else! Please……… For Francis, all the others, the universe and myself…. “KEEP THE MUSIC ALIVE” “Got Love” Carrie |
| Name: | Dennis |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Words of Wisdom |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Hello, everyone. I read the following at freewillastrology.com, and wanted to pass it along...
Beauty and Truth Lab "We are now as a race about to move into the eye of the storm that will decide the future of the race and the planet. It is crucial for all of us to know as the crisis deepens that what will look and feel like destruction is the stripping away of delusions. "The secret of this storm is that it is a birthing and it is going to demand everything of you and 1. We must now purify our hearts and galvanize our wills to ensure that the new divine humanity can be born. We are going through a dark night of the species as a whole. The crisis is offering humanity these intensities to expand and shatter the heart of humanity and for the first time in history we will start to create a world of love and justice. "What are you doing to stop this madness? How are you living? What are you risking at this time of unprecedented crisis? Nature is bleeding to death. The population is exploding. Weapons of mass destruction are proliferating and religions are retreating into fundamentalism. The mass media is feeding us trivialities when we need to be taught about real reality. The rich world is locking itself into materialism that leaves the rest of the world starving. "We need to become mystic activists. Mystics must get active and equally the activists must become mystic. Activists must learn to act from divine peace that will feed them divine wisdom. You must always act from as loving and forgiving a heart as possible and remember you have to learn how to ask and you will be given what you need. Then this world can become the living kingdom of this divine humanity." -Andrew Harvey www.positivenews.org.uk I couldn't agree more. There are many other articles that deliver wisdom, insight, entertainment, and any other form of written nourishment. Be sure also to check out the website under Mr. Harvey's name. Peace be with you all. |
| Name: | Dreamerz |
| E-mail address: | voitmister@hotmail.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Happy Birthday AimMe! |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Just the best to you on this special day. |
| Name: | DAVID DAVIS |
| E-mail address: | ONENOTFORSALE@AOL.COM |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | THOUGHTS IN LATE NOVEMBER. |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | I CAUGHT THE ACT LAST SUN. AT THE HIGHLANDS TAPROOM.
ASTOUNDED! WILL BE OUT TONIGHT TO DRINK AND BE MERRY. THE PURE TALENT AND NATURAL BEAUTY OF YOUR ACT WILL SURELY BE REWARDED TEN-FOLD! DAVID |
| Name: | Wayne |
| E-mail address: | texfulton@aol.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | have a job? |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | I applaud the young person who wrote about buying American. I go out of my way to do this. My cars are not only American but I make sure they are not made outside the US. Why all this..........our jobs are being exported oveseas and have ben for a long time. When you call DELL computers you may be talking to someone in India, Excite.com? Someone in the phillipines. Buy a volkswagen? Brazil. It's goes on and on. If we don't buy American products we will not have a place to work. 80% pf the stuff at Walmart is made overseas. Were will our children work? |
| Name: | Leighann |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | RANTIN' & RAVIN' |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: |
I live in Troy, Illinois. Our schools are crowded and deteriorating, and lack air conditioning. We are considered one of the finer districts in Southern Illinois. Taxes for the school have not been approved by locals since 1963. There was a small state legislated increase in the eighties. We are also facing further destruction of the countryside surrounding our rural locale by the proposed construction of a large beltway intended to run through several Southern Illinois towns. No one wants the beltway, but most of us would like to see our kids well cared for and well educated. Following is a Letter to the Editor written in response to these situations. I think that situations like these are becoming a universal concern to all Americans, sometimes in other guises(ie.lack of health care and Wal-Mart/McD's etc..). Thank you Aim Me and Renee for another chance to speak out. And remember the motto "George W. - Like a Rock Only Dumber" Dick Cheney is evil, and he's the one who's really running the show. I can't think of any democrats who are much better. Buy American, do without some things(don't sacrifice your family to a minimum wage job with crappy or no benefits) and fuck NAFTA and the WTO. We don't need dollar stores, Wal-Mart or plastic shoes from payless. We need good, steady jobs that produce quality American made products. We need to pay our workers enough to buy those products. The corporations running our country want cheap labor and a third world economy - and we're letting them have it. Our schools are under funded for a reason. Skilled,educated people will not slave at a McDonald's or Wal-Mart for less money than it takes to maintain a comfortable,healthy lifestyle and family. |
| Name: | Dennis |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | We are a wonderful People |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Greetings, everyone. I have just spent some 20 min. or so looking back through the Talking Stick, and I have been struck with a tremendous sense of honor to be a part of this circle within the Great Circle. Together, honoring that which is Sacred within our own hearts, we uplift each other to an ever-unfolding present moment of greater Love, purer Devotion, and stronger Unity. Let's keep up the good work! |
| Name: | Wayne |
| E-mail address: | texfulton@apl.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | R U S H |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | How cool is it that Rush has finally been taken down by his own words. His HATRED of drugs it seems has turned into quite a liking for them. How true.........what comes around........ |
| Name: | Elizabeth |
| E-mail address: | dragonlover587@hotmail.com |
| Homepage URL: | http://www.geocities.com/ken_and_stingmon2001/YugiHome.html |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | hehehe..the girls wanted me to post this...so i will!
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| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Panther Guy you guard my sleep
Bite back my pain with the edge of your teeth. Carry me into the jungle dark Lope easy past the eyes that watch. Stride the fish-scale river shine And the pumping green-blood vines. We will leave my tears behind In a pool that silver chimes. We will leave behind my sorrows Leave it in the rotting hollows When I wake, you are beside me Damp and matted from the journey. Your eyes hazy as you try to know How far down we tried to go. And the way I clung to you All of my tears soaking through. Fur and flesh, muscle, bone. Like a child, blind, unborn. Whose dreams caress you deep inside. Are my dreams...worth the ride?? hehehe..There ya go! Hope you like it! Yami's Angelwings |
| Name: | Jeremy Walls |
| E-mail address: | xjay963x@hotmail.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Back 2 Skool |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Well, it's time for me to head back to Morehead again...I'm really going to miss everyone. Please keep in touch. I just wanted to let everyone know that this year I am working on a creative writing magazine called Inscape. It's printed twice a year and has poems, short stories, and art. We are sent pieces from all around the world. I would love it if you all would email me your work so I could submit it for you. Feel free to email me with any questions...Thank you all so much for an incredible summmer. |
| Name: | Trevor |
| E-mail address: | taceternity@hotmail.com` |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | The jigsaw |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | I suppose every thought I
should have is worth some elaboration a side of ranch two-days homework a studio in the city but I couldn't take the frosted winter's windows unless we wallpapered the way summer felt when we stayed in the cabin in Indiana next to the fake lake but I cared not one bit at that moment about all the wrongs and falsities while sleeping in the sun on that dock and I decided right then and there nothing could ever really be lost like when I was nine and Georgia fort builing was always on my mind under the helms where i befriended kindred souls I'd never met before but that was in the shade because of the UTI I had, God Almighty I wanted so bad to be in the pool, but they rarely put those under trees since no one likes to clean out leaves with a net you caught fish at midnight with water and water moccasins swimming by and laying down looking up gravel in my toehead baby hair I'm pretty sure I found a piece of myself there in that crazy constellation circus, in the entropy of the universe and then i found a piece in the food box from Georgia next to the peanut butter I had memorized its shape visualized its coloration, out of 1,000 here was the one who betrayed and gave away the table's gray in that house where it's still hidden under the helms where only a child would think to look |
| Name: | trevor d. |
| E-mail address: | taceternity@hotmail.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Angels Unsent |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | I'm sorting through notes
filled with quotes from wise men who copied their thoughts from women with knots for hair (not quite all there.) They paraphrased the bible, which was written by men playing some women's twin in some sick play, as if to say: The Good Book's history is a literal interpretation of His story while Christianity tends to force evasion of making sense down everyone's throat. We all tote our skeletons around in a duffel bag when there's no available closet because without it or skin tends to sag and hang not within a noose, however loose, you can't steal anyone else's skeleton or trade them for your own because the human race bear's fears face when reduced to skin and bone and blood and tears since that is all that is left after two hundred aching years in the ground, where the only sounds include the rumble of the thunder in the monochromatic subways and the fires of hell. Then there's the smell, that of decay. They are all the same whether buried alive or killed by fame. Some souls are lost to the pit, others rise above While others still linger here and you can hear their pain The same You can feel it in lost love Where all is forlorn and all children born in this matter, they come along and become the sadder half of the generation, The ones who give meaning to the stereotypes of this nation for another decade, another chance for the US to give aid. to another third world country and find another enemy hiding in the "dark" to spark Another war(?) which we will enter before it ends and sends the world another look at death and why it does not make sense It does not make sense. Another loss of innocence, More quotes, And we will rewind and learn a few things on the replay so we will have a few more things to say So I might sleep another night, since we know what will happen, We know where to begin. We know what to do again, Which prevents us from moving any further than we do Nothing new, Nothing more to say, it's all the same as the news repeats itself and we rack up the death toll only to push it to the back of the shelf, Villians killing millions Science not in compliance With "virtue which is relative at best." And after all this time, no one but I to attest, To realize, that no one ever really apologized. Certainly not the one we hold to be most accountable to the world. But the truth be unfurled We break truth's threshold, it's never been bent And we are all Angels unsent. |
| Name: | I'm Not Stupid |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Go To Google
Enter Weapons of Mass Destruction Then hit "I'm Feeling Lucky" THIS "ERROR" PAGE WILL APPEAR !!!We Want the Truth!!! |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | These Weapons of Mass Destruction cannot be displayed
The weapons you are looking for are currently unavailable. The country might be experiencing technical difficulties, or you may need to adjust your weapons inspectors mandate. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please try the following: Click the Regime change button, or try again later. If you are George Bush and typed the country's name in the address bar, make sure that it is spelled correctly. (IRAQ). To check your weapons inspector settings, click the UN menu, and then click Weapons Inspector Options. On the Security Council tab, click Consensus. The settings should match those provided by your government or NATO. If the Security Council has enabled it, The United States of America can examine your country and automatically discover Weapons of Mass Destruction. If you would like to use the CIA to try and discover them, click Detect weapons Some countries require 128 thousand troops to liberate them. Click the Panic menu and then click About US foreign policy to determine what regime they will install. If you are an Old European Country trying to protect your interests, make sure your options are left wide open as long as possible. Click the Tools menu, and then click on League of Nations. On the Advanced tab, scroll to the Head in the Sand section and check settings for your exports to Iraq. Click the Bomb button if you are Donald Rumsfeld. Cannot find weapons or CIA Error Iraqi Explorer Find more on Weapons of Mass Destruction. |
| Name: | Rae of Sunshine |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | I have lost my dreams
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| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Or I have too many dreams and don't know which one is the most important. I find myself searching for answers, I'm always searching, searching, searching. I find tons of things that interest me and that I totally fall in love with but what is my heart's true desire? Can you ever know the true desire of your heart? Is that odd that someone would ask that? I feel that I've held on to several dreams and now looking at them I think they are not my dreams at all. I change, grow, mature, and develop new ideas but I hold on to my old dreams. There is an intricate web that I have spun in my mind of what my dreams are and now I am having trouble untangling the mess.
In the past 24 hours I have decided to do 100 different things but have commited (sp?) to nothing. Peace Corps Stay in Louisville Seattle job (if I get hired) Go to UW Go to UK Go to UofL Go to any school that pays me to go there Apply for a job in New Jersey Apply for a job in Kentucky Drop out of society and live off my art Go to photography school Go to the Unitarian Seminary Join a monastery and take a vow of silence the list goes on and on and on in my mind. All day long I think of what I should do. The peace corps is the toughest one to deal with. I feel I've had this "dream" forever. At one point I think I would have liked it and really had a good time, but now I look at the possibility in front of me and think "this is not my dream anymore". And it's so sad to realize this and to move past it. I am at a humongous turning point in my life where I have to decide to continue as I have been or to venture out and find my destiny lies somewhere beyond my comfort zone. But if it's not comfortable, is it really your dream??? Why is the world so full of things to do but not a long enough life to do them? "Everything I ever wanted stands in front of me, I have lost my dreams". - Dar Williams |
| Name: | Isaiah |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | A Gift to the Family |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Silent does the Night flow, dripping into dreams, slipping through the seams of one world to another, to another...
Reality is a fine line between waking and sleeping, this life and that. We are those who walk the thread and follow time on its zig-zag course through Truth. The depths of Mystery meet the height of Illumination somewhere; it is the Axis on which all of Existence is hinged. Perception tinged by individuality spreads the illusion of separation, and the doors hold their hinges, begging to be freed, to be thrown open. And the eyes are flooded with Life, the great Heart beating rhythm that never pauses, always between this beat, that. (Grass grows between toes that cling to be free of gravity.) Serenity embraces those who choose Love over the ever-present fear that plays under bridges we build to advance our own self-concept. There is but one image in the mirror, staring itself in the eye, looking over our shoulders as we fix our hair, as we brush our teeth, as we affirm our own existence. Yet we push forward with persistence and precision, bent on the decision to grow... to grow. The Path weaves its course and each step brings us closer to observing ourselves on the Path, removedly involved and patient. To the Great Teachers of the Universe, Namaste. I know you as my Self. |
| Name: | Leighann |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Some Balance Please? |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | A letter written to Fox News Agency:
I would like to see articles on the human suffering in Iraq. Articles explaining the result of years of sanctions and exactly how Saddam amassed such military power would be very interesting. I also wonder why there are no articles on civilian casualties. I know they exist. Judging by the information being reported by truly independent, fair and balanced news agencies they are quite extensive and heart wrenching. Saddam was a horrible man, but he was tolerated as long he was willing to play ball with American oil magnates. Let's hear about some of the obstacles met by oil developers who want to build a pipeline through Afghanistan and who also want a piece of Iraq's fortune. Maybe you could be so bold as to draw the connection between these corporate interests and the current invasion of Iraq. Just how many contracts have been awarded to Haliburton and what is their prospective value? An article on our rebuilding efforts in Afghanistan would be very informative. I am particularly curious as to how far women's rights have progressed since our attack on that country. I'm also curious about our country's plans to punish Saudi Arabia for the Sept. 11 bombings. Whatever happened to those forged documents produced by the USA when we were desperately trying to prove that Iraq had nuclear capabilities? I'm just a housewife from Illinois, but I apparently have a better understanding of the politics of this war than your entire staff combined. Do you not have a conscience? How do you sleep at night? You are not journalists by any stretch of the imagination. You are no more than a mouthpiece for a corrupt administration. Leighann Jones Troy, Illinois |
| Name: | In Repair |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | By grace and swiftness, you enter into me. I am a corridor, a room of treasures, a pool of Wisdom. The well runs deep, with bittersweet whisperings that draw you in. Each breath a symphony of evolving Beauty, each step an extension of rhythm.
Never touched, never tapped, only tormented, teased. I toss in a sea of You. I am lost to Be With You. Beauty. Love. Forever. Shining. Like diamonds against the void/ we stand against the torrent of inspiration, the deluge of dreams. I speak of messages scattered in the wind, and who - who will be the one to receive these words, to deliver this pearl to the oyster waiting, waiting... We walk with arms outstretched and wings full open, hoping to catch the gust that will uplift us to Your graces. Faces watch in awe of those in flight, of those still waiting, yearning with wings outstretched and arms full open. And one by one, our parachutes catch; we land among oysters bursting with pearls. |
| Name: | Broken Vessel |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Ruptured in childhood, my emotional wealth and spiritual health call out to be heeded - 'Love Me,' I pleaded to a thousand waiting eyes. The Answer I heard came only from within; it said, 'Love Me,' like it needed to be verified. I cried, disguised as angry, loving, happy, content - there is no face behind these masks. I ask you, have you ever seen the womb of God's Heart? It births us in each moment, but I tear my eyes away, afraid to see past the masks that keep me safe, comfortable, alone. But this fear that keeps me here, isolated, cold, untouched and unseen, unwell and unclean - this fear is a mask itself. The shelf is full of other masks that lied to me, that hide from me my greatest Truth, masks that teach me, masks that can't reach me, masks that kill me, masks that fulfill me, masks that help me to be me. Enough of them, though, I focus here on fear, the mask that tells me that I cannot, I shall not, I should not - No.
Yes. I will. Yes. I can. YES. This word is what I need to put that mask away and face the Love that frees me from desire, from emptiness, from falsehood -YES- I will look into the mirror. -YES- I will accept what it shows me. -YES- I will know my Voice and follow my Path beyond myself. And my birthright will be claimed, I will be named a child of something greater. |
| Name: | Hugh Trowsers |
| E-mail address: | hugh@hughtrowsers.co.uk |
| Homepage URL: | http://www.hughtrowsers.co.uk |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Blissy questions |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Is bliss divineless still bliss?
Is every kiss eclipsed? Are ducks ever on the pond? Are Wee Tam and the Big Huge alarmed? |
| Name: | Finlandia |
| E-mail address: | antiwar.com |
| Homepage URL: | http://www.antiwar.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Finlandia |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: |
This is my song, O God of all the nations A song of peace for lands afar and mine This is my home, the country where my heart is Here are my hopes and dreams, my holy shrine But other hearts in other lands are beating With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine. My country's skies are bluer than the ocean And sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine But other lands have sunlight, too, and clover And skies are everywhere as blue as mine O hear my song, thou God of all the nations A song of peace for their land and for mine. |
| Name: | Jeremy |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Rattled by loss
Confound by eternity The thoughts that cloud Subdue the dreams That once flowed free The deception of lies And the perception of truth Play together in a world Coexisting with laughter The codependency of the two Balance on the moon of interpretation Morphed by the past Shifting day by day Into this which cannot be seen |
| Name: | Jessa |
| E-mail address: | voltzmanga2@aol.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | A Prayer |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | I say a prayer for you, my sister, under the light of the stars which reflect off the lake. I light a candle to offer peace to Venus and Mercury, Luna and Mars; Luna's absence I take to signify both Hers Divine and yours at this vulnerable hour.
Keep her safe, Neptune and St. Christopher; protect her body and her heart from herself and others. Bring back the moon and make her whole again. Give me the strength, Serenity, to let her go if her direction changes on this life's path, to know that she is always here. Restore happiness to her face; straighten her back and strengthen her legs so that she may walk through this firestorm until Rain extinguishes its fury. And lastly, Maat, lover divine, help her keep faith in your love for her, mine, and others'. Show her that her heart is always heavy with goodness and humanity. I love you, girl. |
| Name: | Jeremy |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | A few things to think about... |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | "Wars have never hurt anybody except the people who die."
-Salvador Dali "Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind." -John Fitzgerald Kennedy My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth. -- George Washington The most disadvantageous peace is better than the most just war. -- Desiderius Erasmus Peace is the happy natural state of man; war is corruption and disgrace. -- James Thomson You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake. Jeannette Rankin I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. Albert Einstein |
| Name: | Peacemaker |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | MODERN DAY HEROINE-RACHEL CORRIE: LIKE A TIENAMEN STANDING OFF A TANK |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: |
Activism ISM: The killing of Rachel Corrie and its aftermath Statement, International Solidarity Movement, 21 March 2003 OVERVIEW AND BACKGROUND Our friend and fellow activist for peace, Rachel Corrie, was murdered on Sunday March 16, when she was deliberately run over by an Israeli-driven, US-made (Caterpillar D9) bulldozer, while trying to prevent a Palestinian civilian home from being demolished by the Israeli military in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip. Rachel was in Rafah volunteering for the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a Palestinian-led movement of both Palestinians and internationals working together for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. Rachel and the ISM have chosen nonviolent, direct-action methods and principles to resist the daily brutality of Israel's 36-year-old military occupation and its ongoing and illegal land confiscation and settlement of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. A direct result of the international community's failure to offer Palestinians an international protection force, Rachel Corrie and other ISM activists have actively confronted Israel's policy of home demolition and international apathy towards this policy by living with families under threat and by refusing to leave homes or areas threatened with demolition. The ISM believes that its presence slows the process of destruction and hopes that the international community will ultimately act to support the daily nonviolent struggle of normal Palestinian families to exist. Demolishing civilian homes is an atrocious act of violence that violates Articles 12 and 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Articles 33, 53, and 54 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Despite this clear international prohibition, the Israeli military government has carried out thousands of these home demolitions with impunity; resulting in thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians left without basic shelter and experiencing a cataclysmic blow to their lives, some becoming refugees for the second or third time in their lives. Deaths during home demolitions are far too common: On 2 December 2002, 68-year-old Ashur Salem, deaf, was crushed to death when the Israeli army dynamited his home while he was sleeping. On 6 February 2003, 65-year-old Kamla Abu Said, partially deaf, was also crushed to death when the Israeli army razed her home in Gaza. And less than two weeks before Rachel's killing, on 3 March 2003, 33-year-old Nuha Sweidan -- 9 months into her pregnancy -- was crushed to death when the Israeli military dynamited an adjacent home to her own, causing Nuha's house to collapse on top of her. None of the governments or international bodies that criticize Israel's destruction of Palestinian homes has taken any concrete actions to stop it, despite universal condemnation by human rights organizations. Words of criticism are empty when they come at the very moment an additional $1 billion in supplemental military aid to Israel and an extra $9 billion in loan guarantees are under consideration by the US Congress. Rachel's death should at least give them pause. Instead, news of her death was juxtaposed in one newspaper with two articles detailing wide bipartisan support for further aid to Israel. On Sunday 16 March 2003, Rachel and her fellow ISM volunteers were confronting the drivers of two bulldozers who were in the process of razing Palestinian civilian land and homes. For two hours, Rachel and other ISM activists followed the bulldozers, trying to block their passage and hamper their efforts at destruction. Rachel was clearly identifiable in a bright fluorescent orange jacket and was speaking through a bullhorn when she was brutally run over. In its attempts to sweep responsibility for the incident under the carpet, the Israeli government has undertaken efforts to discredit Rachel, and to blame her and her colleagues for her death. Reports from the other seven ISM volunteers who witnessed the event and what is plainly obvious from photographs taken at the scene -- before and after -- make it incredible to assert that Rachel's death was an "accident". Following her crushing by the bulldozer, an Israeli tank came near the fallen activist and her friends, and then backed off. At no point did the Israeli forces offer any assistance. The Israeli government typically blames its victims for their fate. In the pages of the international media Palestinians whose homes are destroyed or who die trying to protect them are reflexively called "terrorists" or "terrorist supporters". Rachel was not Palestinian and therefore was hard to label a "terrorist", but nevertheless, Rachel was blamed for her own death. In addition, Rachel was accused of "protecting terrorists", even though the home she died protecting was that of a Palestinian medical doctor. NOTES ON THE EVENTS AND AFTERMATH When she was killed, Rachel was engaging in what is typically a relatively low-risk action, serving as an international monitor to an ongoing, blatant abuse of international human rights law and confronting a soldier in the process of committing an act of violence against an unarmed, nonviolent Palestinian family. Rachel was clearly identifiable and non-threatening in both her nature and approach. Rather, Rachel did put her life on the line to stand up against a policy that is inhumane. Thousands of people do this every single day around the globe, in an effort to stop violence and atrocities against land, people, animals and crops. In this case, the bulldozer driver decided not to stop when Rachel nonviolently confronted him, instead choosing to run her over with a 9-ton bulldozer. Rachel is guilty only of assuming that another human being into whose eyes she was looking would not take her life. A picture has been circulated that shows Rachel burning a drawing of the American flag. Trying to use this picture to somehow indicate that Rachel deserved to be run over by a bulldozer is an appalling act of demonization that infers that forms of protest which include flag burning are capital offences. In the words of Rachel's parents: "The act, while we may disagree with it, must be put into context. Rachel was partaking in a demonstration in Gaza opposing the war on Iraq. She was working with children who drew two pictures, one of the American flag, and one of the Israeli flag, for burning. Rachel said that she could not bring herself to burn the picture of the Israeli flag with the Star of David on it, but under such circumstances, in protest over a drive towards war and her government's foreign policy that was responsible for much of the devastation that she was witness to in Gaza, she felt it OK to burn the picture of the American flag." Eyewitness testimony to Rachel's killing is clear and consistent. However, some journalists chose to selectively quote Rachel's colleagues, leading to different reports of the events that led to Rachel's death. For example, some media outlets reported that Rachel "slipped and fell", leaving out the additional detail her colleagues reported -- that she fell under the weight of the dirt and rubble that was heaped on top of her. Some journalists reported that Rachel sat, crouched, and/or lay in front of the bulldozer, implying she could not be seen. Witnesses report that first she sat down in front of the bulldozer when it was still at least 10 meters away and she was in plain sight. Then as the bulldozer kept advancing, she got up, climbed up on a mound of dirt and rubble, in order to look the bulldozer driver in the eye. It is not credible to assert that the bulldozer driver could have missed her. The photographs taken on the day of the incident and at the scene show various angles of Rachel engaging the bulldozer drivers and show two different bulldozers. Again, reading the eyewitness testimonies will clarify that Rachel and the other ISM volunteers were in the area engaging two bulldozer drivers for approximately two hours before Rachel was crushed. The photos are 100% consistent with the eyewitness accounts and offer clear evidence that the bulldozer drivers were aware of the presence of the ISM volunteers and their efforts. The Israeli Embassy in Washington DC has been using quotes by Thom Saffold in the Washington Post (Monday March 17, 2003), to try to advance their claim that Rachel bears sole responsibility for her death. Thom Saffold, while a previous volunteer with the ISM, is not a spokesperson for the ISM, he was not present at the incident, nor is he currently in Palestine with the ISM. Washington Post correspondent Molly Moore distorted the plain meaning of Saffold's words when she irresponsibly composited three separate and unrelated statements into a single quote that any intelligent person can see does not reflect the philosophy of ISM or Saffold's original meaning. CONCLUDING STATEMENT Rachel Corrie was acting in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King when her life was snuffed out. Many justice and human rights defenders before Rachel have lost their lives in their struggle for righteousness and in their attempts to make this world a better place and, sadly, others will follow after her. Rachel was a mature, conscientious human being who worked to bring people together and did wonders as an ambassador of the true face of the American people in a different part of the world -- an American people that does not turn up outside Palestinian homes and give their occupants 5 minutes to gather what possessions they can, before bulldozing into dust the fruits of a life spent working to provide for a family. In a very direct way, Rachel stood up for family values and for those who were too poor and powerless to be able to protect themselves. She was a true American hero. The United States government has a particular responsibility to investigate Rachel's death, not only because she was a US citizen killed by a foreign government, but also because the US government actively supplies Israel with the military hardware and funds that enabled and continue to enable Israel to carry out these illegal and immoral acts. The world cannot go on ignoring the violence that continues daily to claim the lives and livelihoods of many other unarmed, nonviolent Palestinian civilians. Rachel Corrie offers us an opportunity to look through a window into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and see things as they are. Let us not close the curtains and go about our business. She and the Palestinian people deserve better. PRESS CONTACT Huwaida Arraf at 202-494-0471 or huwaida@palsolidarity.org Related Links For eyewitness accounts and photos visit the International Solidarity Movement Photo story: Israeli bulldozer driver murders American peace activist by Nigel Parry and Arjan El Fassed, The Electronic Intifada, 16 March 2003 The day after: Israeli forces kill 9 Palestinians, including 3 children PCHR press release, 17 March 2003. Remembering Rachel Corrie, Peter Bohmer, The Electronic Intifada, 17 March 2003. Of broken bodies and unbreakable laws, Laurie King-Irani, The Electronic Intifada, 19 March 2003. Rachel Corrie, Nuha Sweidan and Israeli war crimes, Steve Niva, The Electronic Intifada, 17 March 2003. Amnesty International condemns killing of Rachel Corrie; Group calls for investigation, suspension of weapons transfers, Amnesty International press release, 17 March 2003. Activists demand immediate halt of Caterpillar bulldozer sales to Israeli Defense Forces SUSTAIN press release, 18 March 2003. "On the brink of...", Suheir Hammad, The Electronic Intifada, 20 March 2003. |
| Name: | Jeremy |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | I have just learned the war in Iraq has just begun. I have no idea what is going to happen, but I will pray for peace.
How many roads must a man walk down Before you call him a man? Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail Before she sleeps in the sand? Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly Before they're forever banned? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, The answer is blowin' in the wind. How many times must a man look up Before he can see the sky? Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have Before he can hear people cry? Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows That too many people have died? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, The answer is blowin' in the wind. How many years can a mountain exist Before it's washed to the sea? Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist Before they're allowed to be free? Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head, Pretending he just doesn't see? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, The answer is blowin' in the wind. ~Bob Dylan |
| Name: | Lamentia Of Sorrows |
| E-mail address: | lamentia252@hotmail.com |
| Homepage URL: | http://www.geocities.com/lamentia2000 |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | My Gift To The World...My Words! |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | I thought I would share some poems with you all...
You Make My Soul Cry Seeing Your Pain Feeling My Own I'm Bleeding With Emotion An Outpouring of Many Twisted, Tormented, Taunted Thoughts You Maky My Soul Cry All Those Things You Could Have Done The Words, The Actions, The Paths Taken And Not I'm Soaked With Melencholy A Drenched Saturation Of Destiny's Chosen Fate You Make My Soul Cry Looking Into Shadows Walking Into Light I'm Shouting with A Trembling Voice A Question In The Night -- Who Am I? You Make My Soul Cry Forever Searching This Existence Eternally Looking For My Life's Meaning I'm Grounded With Determination A Knowing That One Day I Must Face Myself -- You! ~Lamentia Of Sorrows~ Thine Of All Of All The Stars In The Sky -- I Looked Upon Thine First! I Wished Upon Thee The Hardest. In The Night, The Cool Breath Of Fate Passed By Touching My soul. Of All The Stars In The Sky -- I Loved Thine The Most! So, I Set Forth To Find Thee. Fall And I Shall Catch Thee! ~Lamentia of Sorrows~ Blessed Power Come Great One -- Poor Into Me. Sacred Elemental Love Of Thy Eternity, Ravage My Body Deep Down Inside! Tender My Needs, Feel Me; Alive! Lift My Soul show It Ecstasy! Blessed Power, Raw -- Always Hold Me, Take My Pain Far From Here -- Replace With You Please My Dear! Grant Love Forever I Beg Thee! Void Of Mine -- By You, Leave! ~Lamentia Of Sorrows~ ~My The Spirit of the Universe Bless You All~ |
| Name: | SCRAM SCAM! |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | SCRAM SCAM!!!!!!!!!! |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | FYI... Exxon/Mobile Brands: ExxonMobile, Exxon, Mobile, Esso, On The Run,
>and Mobile1 > > Join the resistance!!!! > >I hear we are going to hit close to $3.00 a gallon by the summer Want >gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united >action. Phillip Hollsworth, offered this good idea: > >This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" >campaign that was going around last April or May! > > >The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't >continue to "hurt" ourselves by refusing to buy gas. It was more of an > >inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT, who ever >thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work. > >Please read it and join with us! > >By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super >cheap. Me too! It is currently $1.97 for regular unleaded in my town. > >Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to >think that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50- $1.7= 5, we >need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the >Marketplace....not sellers. > >With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to >take action. The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down >is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! And >we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. > > > >How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying gas. But >we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force a >price war. > >Here's the idea: > >For the rest of this year, DON"T purchase ANY gasoline from the two >biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not >selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they >reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. But >to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and >Mobil gas buyers. It's really simple to do! Now, don't whimp out on me >at this point...keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach >millions of people!! > >I am sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it >to at least ten more (30 x 10 =300)... and those 300 send it to at least >ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message >reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE >MILLION consumers! > >If those three million get excited and= pass this on to ten friends >each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one >level further, you guessed it..... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!! >Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people and DON"T purchase >ANY gasoline from EXXON and MOBIL. That's all. > >(If you don't understand how we can reach 300 million don't worry about >it all you have do to is send this to 10 people.... well, let's face it, >you just aren't a mathematician. But I am... so trust me on this one.) > >How long would all that take? If each of us sends this email out to ten >or more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could >conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days!!! I'll bet you didn't >think you and I had that much potential, did you! Acting together we can >make a difference. If this makes sense to you, please pass this message >on. > >PLEASE HOLD OUT UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND >KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK. |
| Name: | AimMe Smiley |
| E-mail address: | troubadoursofdivinebliss@yahoo.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | FRUIT OF THE DOOM |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: |
Call to Action: WEARNICA - An International Day of Artistic Resistance to War On February 5th, Colin Powell stood before the U. N. to make his case for a new resolution authorizing the U.S. to take military action against Iraq. Notably absent was Picasso's "Guernica", (pronounced WARE-nee-ka) perhaps one of the this century's greatest, most unsettling artistic images depicting the horrors of war. Under pressure from the U.S. Government, The tapestry was covered prior to the Secretary of State's speech out of concern that the painting's message might speak to historical parallels that the Bush administration and UN officials were clearly determined that the media or the public should not make. Just as Picasso was moved by terrible attacks on a small Basque village in northern Spain in 1937 to create a mural condemning the brutality of war, people all over the world have begun looking for ways to express their own outrage at the circumstances unfolding before us. On May 3rd, 2003, The Works on Shirts Project (http://www.worksonshirts.org) will be staging "WEARNICA", an international exhibition of artistic reactions to war, mounted on the backs of white cotton dress shirts and worn into cultural, commercial and governmental locations around the globe to raise public awareness of the realities of war in our time. We need your help. With your help, we can send a message to the Bush administration and the world that the power of art to reveal the horrors of war and the promise of peace cannot be covered up. We need artists, organizers and volunteers to make this event a success. Previous artistic experience is not required. Anyone with a desire to express their personal reactions to this crisis is encouraged to participate. Please forward this information to your members and urge them to spread the word. The Idea is Simple: At each show, participants will arrive individually and then gather at the predetermined location wearing an original piece of anti-war inspired artwork, rendered or mounted on the back of a white cotton dress shirt. By creating artwork that can be worn as clothing, it's possible to stage large-scale exhibits in any location open to the public. As long as the individual participants conform to the standard behavior for the general public in the space, the white dress shirts will tie the pieces together into a cohesive whole, and the images and the show will speak for themselves. Toronto Star art critic Peter Goddard wrote of the Guernica coverup: "If there is a war with Iraq, there's already been the first casualty - art." We have the power to change that. Where one image has been silenced, a thousand will drown out the drums of war. Athomas Goldberg International Coordinator The Works on Shirts Project http://www.worksonshirts.org/ athomas@worksonshirts.org |
| Name: | Laura |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened. Don't open the door to the study and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument. Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground. |
| Name: | Jennifairy |
| E-mail address: | jyoung@advantageconsulting.net |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | The True Battle Lies in What We Daily Choose |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Dr. Seuss style AMERICA, 2003
The Whos down in Whoville liked this country a lot, But the Grinch in the White House most certainly did not. He didn't arrive there by the will of the Whos, But stole the election that he really did lose. Vowed to "rule from the middle," then installed his regime. (Did this really happen, or is it just a bad dream?) He didn't listen to voters, just his friends he was pleasin' Now, please don't ask why, who knows what's the reason. It could be his heart wasn't working just right. It could be, perhaps, that he wasn't too bright. But I think that the most likely reason of all, Is that both brain and heart were two sizes too small. In times of great turmoil, this was bad news, To have a government that ignores its Whos. But the Whos shrugged their shoulders, went on with their work, Their duties as citizens so casually did shirk. They shopped at the mall and watched their T.V. They drove their gas guzzling big S.U.V., Oblivious to what was going on in D.C., Ignoring the threats to democracy. They read the same papers that ran the same leads, Reporting what only served corporate needs. (For the policies affecting the lives of all nations Were made by the giant U.S. Corporations.) Big business grew fatter, fed by its own greed, And by people who shopped for the things they didn't need. But amidst all the apathy came signs of unrest, The Whos came to see we were fouling our nest. And the people who cared for the ideals of this nation Began to discuss and exchange information: The things they couldn't read, in the corporate-owned news, Of FTAA meetings and CIA coups, Of drilling for oil and restricting rights. They published some books, created Websites, Began to write letters, and use their e-mail (Though Homeland Security might send them to jail!) What began as a whisper soon grew to a roar, These things going on they could no longer ignore. They started to rise up and fight City Hall Let their voices be heard, they rose to the call, To vote, to petition, to gather, dissent, To question the policies of the "President." As greed gained in power and power knew no shame The Whos came together, sang "Not in our name!" One by one from their sleep and their slumber they woke The old and the young, all kinds of folk, The black, brown and white, the gay, bi- and straight, All united to sing, "Feed our hope, not our hate! Stop stockpiling weapons and aiming for war! Stop feeding the rich, start feeding the poor! Stop storming the deserts to fuel SUV's! Stop telling us lies on the mainstream T.V.'s! Stop treating our children as a market to sack! Stop feeding them Barney, Barbie and Big Mac! Stop trying to addict them to lifelong consuming, In a time when severe global warming is looming! Stop sanctions that are killing the kids in Iraq! Start dealing with ours that are strung out on crack!" A mighty sound started to rise and to grow, "The old way of thinking simply must go! Enough of God versus Allah, Muslim vs. Jew With what lies ahead, it simply won't do. No American dream that cares only for wealth Ignoring the need for community health. The rivers and forests are demanding their pay, If we're to survive, we must walk a new way. No more excessive and mindless consumption Let's sharpen our minds and garner our gumption. For the ideas are simple, but the practice is hard, And not to be won by a poem on a card. It needs the ideas and the acts of each Who, So let's get together and plan what to do!" And so they all gathered from all 'round the Earth And from it all came a miraculous birth. The hearts and the minds of the Whos they did grow, Three sizes to fit what they felt and they know. While the Grinches they shrank from their hate and their greed, Bearing the weight of their every foul deed. From that day onward the standard of wealth, Was whatever fed the Whos spiritual health. They gathered together to revel and feast, And thanked all who worked to conquer their beast. For although our story pits Grinches 'gainst Whos, The true battle lies in what we daily choose. For inside each Grinch is a tiny small Who, And inside each Who is a tiny Grinch too. One thrives on love and one thrives on greed. Who will win out? It depends who you feed! Author: Unknown |
| Name: | PLB |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | BEGIN AGAIN |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | One of the best things we can do in our lives is this:
BEGIN AGAIN. Begin to see your self as you were when you were the happiest and strongest you've ever been. Begin to remember what worked for you and what worked against you, and try to capture that magic again. Begin to remember how natural it was when you were a child, to live a lifetime each day. Begin to forget the baggage you have carried with you for years. The problems that don't matter anymore, the tears that cried themselves away, and the worries that are going to wash away on the shore of tomorrow's new beginnings. Tomorrow tells us it will be here every new day of our lives; and if we will be wise, we will turn away from the problems of the past and give the future and ourselves a chance to become the best of friends. Sometimes, all it takes is a wish in the heart to allow your self . . . to begin again. |
| Name: | Jessa |
| E-mail address: | voltzmanga2@aol.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Look at what someone has done to me! :-) |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | infatuation
inexplicable chemistry theres something about her that opens me like a hole in the clouds the light streaming through. is it her light or mine, i wonder? maybe neither maybe both our inner lights reflecting off each other and all at once i am warmed and blinded. |
| Name: | Concerned Citizen |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Between Iraq and a heart place |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: |
> > I propose a world sing-along. > > Perhaps Sting or Bono or Stevie Wonder are available to host it. > > > >> Sing to the tune: "If you're happy and you know it." > >> > >> If you cannot find Osama, bomb Iraq. > >> If the markets are a drama, bomb Iraq. > >> If the terrorists are frisky, > >> Pakistan is looking shifty, > >> North Korea is too risky, > >> Bomb Iraq. > >> > >> If we have no allies with us, bomb Iraq. > >> If we think someone has dissed us, bomb Iraq. > >> So to hell with the inspections, > >> Let's look tough for the elections, > >> Close your mind and take directions, Bomb Iraq. > >> It's "pre-emptive non-aggression", bomb Iraq. > >> Let's prevent this mass destruction, bomb Iraq. > >> They've got weapons we can't see, > >> And that's good enough for me > >> 'Cos it's all the proof I need > >> Bomb Iraq. > >> > >> If you never were elected, bomb Iraq. > >> If your mood is quite dejected, bomb Iraq. > >> If you think Saddam's gone mad, > >> With the weapons that he had, > >> (And he tried to kill your dad), > >> Bomb Iraq. > >> > >> If your corporate fraud is growin', bomb Iraq. > >> If your ties to it are showin', bomb Iraq. > >> If your politics are sleazy, > >> And hiding that ain't easy, > >> And your manhood's getting queasy, Bomb Iraq. > >> > >> Fall in line and follow orders, bomb Iraq. > >> For our might knows not our borders, bomb Iraq. > >> Disagree? We'll call it treason, > >> Let's make war not love this season, > >> Even if we have no reason, Bomb Iraq. |
| Name: | Patriot for Peace |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | LAST CALL FOR PEACE!!! |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | MAKE ONE MORE CALL!
Momentum on Our Side: Call Congress Now 1-800-839-5276 EPIC’s Perfect Storm Campaign continues. Never in our nation’s history have the churches been so united against a war. Never have so many Americans acted to prevent a war before it starts. Among working Americans, veterans, military families, celebrities, and even Republicans, there is a groundswell of public opposition to war and support for the continuation of weapons inspections. Around the world this past weekend, millions rallied against war on Iraq. The momentum is on our side. However time is running short. We need you to call your Representative this week via the Capitol switchboard at 1-202-225-3121 or toll-free at 1-800-839-5276! Call now! This is the last week to act before President Bush gives his State of the Union address on Tuesday, January 28th. To encourage the president to move our nation away from war, REP. SHERROD BROWN (D-OH) and RON KIND (D-WI) are circulating a sign-on letter in the House of Representatives that urges President Bush to commit to the procedure outlined in UN Security Council Resolution 1441. As well, the BROWN/KIND LETTER specifically urges the president to announce his commitment to 1441 in the upcoming State of the Union address on January 28th. Of the 48 members of Congress who have signed the letter so far, 9 actually voted for the Bush war resolution last fall. This letter reflects what could, with enough signatures, become a powerful position in Congress, uniting both those that voted for the president’s resolution, and those who voted against. Members of Congress must sign the letter by close of business Thursday, January 23rd. The letter will be sent to the President on Friday, January 24. On January 27, Dr. Hans Blix, the UN's chief weapons inspector will deliver a report to the Security Council concerning inspection efforts in Iraq. The State of the Union address is currently scheduled for the following day. It is imperative that as many Representatives as possible sign this letter in order to ensure that its message is as powerful as possible. ACT NOW! Urge your Representative to sign the Brown-Kind Letter. Even if your Representative voted for the War Resolution last fall, call them. Tell them the names of the members who voted for the Bush resolution and who have also signed on to this letter like Reps Crowley, Wexler and Kind. Find your Member of Congress at: www.congress.org ALSO CALL: The White House opinion line--(202) 456-1111--and let them know how you feel about a possible US invasion of Iraq. Call between 9am and 5pm EST, M-F. |
| Name: | William Rivers Pitt |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | There's Something Happening Here... |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: |
There's Something Happening Here By William Rivers Pitt t r u t h o u t | Perspective Monday January 19 2003 Someone once said that convictions are tested not when things are easy, or when circumstances do not challenge the mettle of your beliefs. Convictions are tested when standing on your principles causes inconvenience and pain. If you are able to withstand the test with your convictions intact, you come away with a clearer knowledge of your own strength. There are thousands and thousands of Americans today who can say their convictions passed intact through a small but significant testing. They came by bus, by car, by rail and by plane to the nation's capitol to shout down a push for war in Iraq. Citizens from as far away as Alaska and Oklahoma made the trek, a sacrifice of time and money that is noteworthy. Moreover, these people endured for an entire day temperatures that lingered several degrees below freezing down on the Mall. If you think that is not a test, try it sometime. While standing and listening to several hours of speeches, the cold crawls through your boots and up your legs, turning your feet and toes into blocks of frozen wood. The muscle cramps begin once the skin loses feeling. Your face becomes a chapped mask. Speaking is painful. The skin of your hands reddens and cracks. Simple tasks like writing and shaking hands become a misery, even with gloves on. The wind is always there. At the end of it all, when your body has lost circulation and the pain truly becomes all-encompassing, you are asked to walk from the Capitol steps to the Navy Pier so you can do it all over again. Anyone could have bailed when it became too uncomfortable, but I did not see anyone taking themselves away from the scene. The purpose behind the International ANSWER Coalition's rally against looming war was far to important to walk away from. At stake is nothing more or less than the future of this republic. A war in Iraq, pursued in the unilateralist fashion the Bush administration is slowly being relegated to by disinterest and hostility from former coalition members, would leave us isolated in a time of unprecedented danger. A pre-emptive strike would set a precedent for other nations around the world, further destabilizing an already rocky global situation. Thousands of American troops could be killed, and tens of thousands more face the permanent disability from exposure to chemicals, ill-tested vaccines and petroleum smoke that some 28% of veterans from the last Gulf War currently endure. A unilateral attack without international support would assuredly bring more terrorism to our shores. When those fires go out, they will have done more than extinguish more innocent American lives. Those fires will burn to ash, finally and irrevocably, the Constitution and Bill of Rights. We have seen the Bush administration's rights-restricting reaction to the first attack. Further attacks will motivate them to finish the job once and for all. The war will not be fought 'over there.' It will be right here, on your street and mine. It will be fought with those constitutional protections so many of us have come to take for granted right there on the firing line. Some have argued that the Bush administration does not truly mean to go to war in Iraq, that this incredible buildup has been a diplomatic tool to pressure Saddam Hussein into UN compliance. Done properly, this might have been a canny process. With this administration, however, it is a game of Russian Roulette with five bullets in the chamber. This is the administration that has told the world, though its bungling of the North Korea situation, that the best way to deal with America is to blackmail us with nuclear weapons. This is the administrations whose utter disregard for diplomatic engagement has caused the Israel/Palestine situation to worsen dramatically in the last two years. When a nation sends 150,000 troops into a region, along with all of the weapons of war, the situation develops an inertia of its own. The administration may once have seen this as a bluff. Now, they are faced with the reality that backing down will be an embarrassing and expensive defeat. Some frostbite is a small price to pay for taking part in an action to see such a disaster stopped in its tracks. Counting the pinked noses at this protest is, as ever, something of a subjective affair. The organizers pegged the crowd at 500,000 people, but few in the media believed that to be accurate. A more likely number falls between 200,000 and 300,000 people. Whatever the actual numbers may be, the crowd stood shoulder to shoulder from 3rd street, in front of the Capitol building, all the way down the Washington Mall to the Washington Monument. It was a sea of signs and faces that, when on the march from the Capitol to the Navy Pier, stretched for several miles. D.C. police chief Charles Ramsey said, "It's one of the biggest ones we've had, certainly in recent times." U.S. Capitol Police chief Terrance Gainer said, "I know everyone is skittish about saying a number, but this was big. An impressive number." A C-SPAN cameraman I spoke to spent the entire protest on the roof of a cargo truck just to the side of the stage. He told me that he had covered dozens of protests in his time, and that the crowd on Saturday was the biggest he had ever seen. Combined with the hundreds of thousands of protesters who came to Washington during the relatively balmier late-October rally, the number of people who have gone out of their way to say 'No' to Mr. Bush in downtown Washington is creeping slowly towards one million strong. This, for a war that has not started yet. The crowds on Saturday and in October had their share of fringe elements; the inevitable free-Mumia-free-Peltier-super-socialist folks were loud and proud. What made Saturday notable were the tens and tens of thousands of very average, mainstream Americans who braved the distance and the elements to be there. The rally became a referendum against so much of what the Bush administration has done, from rights restrictions to economic malfeasance. God help the administration if they get this one wrong. The rally in Washington coincided with massive gatherings all across the nation and the world. In San Francisco, over 100,000 people marched. They were joined by huge protests in Michigan, Oregon, Boston, Denver, Portland, Moscow, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong and elsewhere. At one point during the Washington rally, I spoke with British Labour Minister Jeremy Corbyn. He could not explain Tony Blair's slavish adherence to Bush policy - noting at one point that a recent poll in Britain showed that 97% of the people there think Blair is far too close to Bush - but he was clear in one respect: The people of England do not support this action, and the looming February 15th protests there promise to be enormous. This was not some isolated twitch to be dismissed. Saturday, January 18th was a day when a good portion of America and the world stood in solidarity against a very bad idea being promulgated by an American administration whose priorities are badly out of joint. It bears notice, again, to point out that the war has not even started yet. There is something happening here, and it is getting clearer by the day. ------- William Rivers Pitt is a New York Times bestselling author of two books - "War On Iraq" (with Scott Ritter) available now from Context Books, and "The Greatest Sedition is Silence," available in May 2003 from Pluto Press. He teaches high school in Boston, MA. |
| Name: | sheri mc donald |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Save Choice from Extinction |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Planned Parenthood Action Network
planned parenthood action network Since December 2000, Planned Parenthood Federation of America has been documenting, publicizing and speaking out against the Bush administration's widespread attacks on women, choice and other reproductive rights. Now, after publishing our timeline of Bush's almost monthly assault on the bodies and lives of women, our warning is being heard. In today's Sunday New York Times (1/12/03) the lead editorial lays out the same message: President Bush, stop your war on women. To read the editorial click here. To see the full Planned Parenthood document "War on Women: A Chronology" go to www.saveROE.com. We are also including below an excerpt from our report "War on Women: A Pernicious Web" which puts Bush's actions in context and exposes his agenda to undermine reproductive freedom. It is more important than ever that you stand up and speak out on these important issues. We need the pro-choice majority to make their voices heard and send a clear strong message to President Bush and his anti-choice colleagues in Congress. You can make a difference by taking action now, sending this email to your friends and networks, writing letters to your newspapers, and staying informed about the current threats to Roe v. Wade. Visit www.saveROE.com often. We also will be forwarding you information later this week on how you can join us in sending President Bush a message that demands he stop his war against women. _____ War on Women: A Pernicious Web With great precision, and often shielded by the smokescreen of an imminent war and a bad economy, George W. Bush is systematically working to gut reproductive freedom in the U.S. and around the world. He's using every means available to him, a strategy in which each issue supports and leverages the other. Taken together they form a pernicious web that, left unchecked, will strangle reproductive rights and access to reproductive health care services. They include: Instituting gag rules that censor free speech; supporting legislation that limits access to family planning and abortion services; sinking large sums of money into medically unproven abstinence-only sexuality education; and nominating staunchly anti-choice judges to federal benches and right-wing, religious ideologues to important scientific posts. His refusal to sign the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is a testament to his overall contempt for women and his steadfast refusal to respect their fundamental civil and human rights. » Reducing Access to Family Planning » Building the Platform to Outlaw Abortion » Redefining the Legal Status of the Fetus » Packing the Courts to Overrun Roe » Replacing Science with Right-Wing Ideology » Censoring Free Speech |
| Name: | Robert (illusion) Godsey |
| E-mail address: | gothicillusion2002@yahoo.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | words to think about |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | I add this to help inspire and bring new creation to writers and creaters. This is called (WORDS) The words are sensitive, they are spoken true, but in many eyes that is all they are, they are just words, have they no feeling, have they no remorse, these words, they are my life, they are my wins, my loses,they are everything that is me, next time you laugh think about it, look at what you have, then look at me, who is truly the sensitivve one. this is writin to help people understand that when they say something to someone they do not always understand what it can truly mean to that person either in a negative or positive manor. and also they do not understand what the words that someone peaks can have a truly deep meaning from the person from which they come. |
| Name: | anon |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | "I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright. I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more. I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive. I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger. I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess. I wish enough "Hello's" to get you through the final "Goodbye." |
| Name: | TMM |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | TROUBIES KEEP IT REAL!! |
| Name: | Anon |
| E-mail address: | Anon |
| Homepage URL: | http://troubadours.tripod.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | The Trouble Tree |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | I hired a plumber to help me restore an old farmhouse, and after he had just finished a rough first day on the job, a flat tire made him lose an hour of work & his electric drill quit, then his ancient one ton truck refused to start. As I drove him home, he sat in stony silence.
On arriving he invited me in to meet his family. As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands. Upon opening the door he had undergone an amazing transformation. His tanned face was wreathed in smiles and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss. Afterward he walked me to the car. We passed the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do at the little tree. "Oh, that's my trouble tree," he replied. "I know I can't help having troubles on the job, but one thing's for sure, those troubles don't belong in the house with my wife and the children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home and ask God to take care of them. Then in the morning I pick them up again." Funny thing is," he smiled, "when I come out in the morning to pick them up, there aren't nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before." |
| Name: | Ann |
| E-mail address: | annmc214@aol.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Am I OK? |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | I stand in front of the mirror trying to figure out what I see
Who is this person looking back at me? Somewhere as time has gone by My wings have been clipped, not allowing me to fly I feel myself fighting to flap my wings Regardless of what life might bring I can no longer distinguish between the real me And who I pretend to be Why do I care what others may think? I've got to swim hard before I sink Why are some people so free? And others just scared to be When is it ok for the truth to come out? And for people to know what you are really about Do others want to get to know who you really are? If they knew would you still be a star? When will I ever have the courage to just be me? Not giving a damn what others may see Why do I feel it necessary to hide All the things I feel inside I don't know how much more I can take Before my heart truly starts to break Am I almost ready to take the leap? Or will I be getting in too deep? The time has come for me to take one final glance Trust myself, and give ME a chance. |
| Name: | Jess Williams |
| E-mail address: | jwilliams42@go.com |
| Homepage URL: | http://216.122.180.47 |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | . |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Hello from Texas
. |
| Name: | Mykl Perkins |
| E-mail address: | myklperkins@yahoo.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Where are you? |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Hey ladies, I have a son! Simon Perkins,born Jan 16th. I tried to email you and it was sent back. Do you have a new email? let me knoww. Love Always! Mykl |
| Name: | Quelliey |
| E-mail address: | quelliey@yahoo.com |
| Homepage URL: | http://alltogethernow2002.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Money. Why? Love. Why? GAWD! |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Help me Gawd! I need to know why we live and die and awful things happen as the crow flies. So now let's celebrate together you and me happily forever til the final day of breath. Let us rejoice in nature and love and good will towards all things and be at peace. It's a new way to do an old thing it's the new season of fashion my passion is to be still and be Real and to hear my inner voice crying STOP! Your life is not your own and you must reclaim it with your soul. Your whole being is at stake for now and after this life is past we shall sing. Hallelujah my Gawd I'm FREE! I will get down and serve that which is always to be withheld from view and you can do the same with me. So join me in my quest for self-fulfillment. |
| Name: | Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. |
| E-mail address: | none |
| Homepage URL: | http://www.savebiogems.org |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | Declaration of Energy Independence |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Dear Friend,
There is nothing patriotic about handing over our natural heritage to the oil industry. But that's exactly what the White House wants to do in the name of national security. I'm asking you to join me in opposing the senseless destruction of our environment by going to http://www.savebiogems.org/declaration.asp and signing the Declaration of Energy Independence. The declaration calls on our government to pursue a sustainable energy future that will preserve -- not destroy -- our last, unspoiled wildlands. We have little time to lose. With the nation's attention focused almost exclusively on the war against terrorism, the Bush administration has moved quietly but aggressively in recent months to open up fragile wildlands to giant energy corporations. In Utah, they were in such a hurry to lease millions of acres of our redrock canyonlands for oil and gas development that they skipped the environmental review that is required by law. My colleagues here at NRDC have already gone to federal court to block this illegal giveaway of redrock country. But that's only the beginning. The Bush-Cheney energy plan -- hatched in closed-door meetings last year with Enron and other energy giants -- would pave the way for oil and gas companies to despoil an alarming number of our last wild places: the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, Wyoming's Red Desert, and many, many more. President Bush says we need the oil to become more energy independent. Don't buy it! Using the tragic events of September 11th as an opportunity to advance the special interests of the oil industry will not enhance America's energy security. Our nation simply doesn't have enough oil to drill our way to self-sufficiency. If we really want to declare energy independence, then the only answer is to dramatically reduce our appetite for oil. For starters, we could increase the fuel efficiency of our cars and light trucks to 40 miles per gallon. That would save nearly two million barrels of oil a day by the year 2012 -- more than all the oil we imported last year from Saudi Arabia. The Declaration of Energy Independence sets forth plenty of other ways to slash our dependence on oil. It proves that fighting terrorism does NOT require the destruction of our own natural heritage. Please do your part by visiting http://www.savebiogems.org/declaration.asp and signing the Declaration of Energy Independence. It will take you less than a minute. Then please forward this message to your family and friends. If millions of us sign the declaration, then the White House and Congress will be unable to ignore its message. And thank you for helping to save America's last wild places. Sincerely yours, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Senior Attorney Natural Resources Defense Council ===== BioGems: Saving Endangered Wild Places A project of the Natural Resources Defense Council http://www.savebiogems.org |
| Name: | a very big fan. |
| E-mail address: | -- |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | U do make a difference,
just do it with dignitty!!!!! |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | to the ladies i love
who give me support, people watch u, and how u react, we need someone to help us along in our tracts u try as u know that what u stand for is right, thats enough for most us who dont know how to fight. without fist rasied, us closest to u know, your all about love, cheer and doing the right thing. so if i could ever love u 2 more than i do, just tell me who wrote this and i will give u a butterfly!!!! love, me |
| Name: | Ron |
| E-mail address: | fallman242@yahoo.com |
| Your Talking Stick Title: | You, Me, And Wick's |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Aim Me, Renee, Troubadours, and all who read this,
This is a time of twists and turns. A time that finds itself in conflict with itself. It feels like harmonic convergence juxtaposed with discordant, directionless chaos. Its as if the world wants to love and to survive, but it has an awful plague of inner demons that feed self destruction and self loathing and who don’t want to sleep. But its far past bedtime for them. And I have heard the Troubadours singing sweet lullabies into their discontent ears, and it made me feel safe at a time when I felt that I simply couldn’t. It has been my church. Two voices that turned into the voices of many, stroking the awful beast in everyone, bringing the peace inside us that all desire. “Free your dream.” “Free your bliss.” “Free yourself.” Have you ever noticed how hard it can be to re-train that voice inside you that constantly says “no” when you threaten to free yourself? It’s stubborn. It can be relentless. But we overcome it one moment at a time. Imagine what it’s like to not even glimpse the possibility. What if you were indoctrinated into a life that was just that closed. What if your childhood was filled with cannots, shouldn’ts, don’t, won’t,, and the that universal spirit crusher, “No.” “What do you mean ‘if’?” you ask… “My childhood WAS filled with that.” Yes. Mine too. Its what powers the inner-critic. And that’s 99% of its composition. But what did YOU do with it? You turned it inside out. You gave it a cartoon face and put it on a leash. You have to jerk that leash sometimes, or maybe all of the time. But you took yourselves somewhere else. You, me, all of us who come to this church of bliss… we are so lucky. We beat cruelty out of its conquest. We play a tambourine, we sing a song, we share our words, we make a heart shape with our fingers before our eyes as we make ourselves and each other the most important promise, and then we free ourselves a little more everyday. All along we watch Aim Me and Renee, prove bliss. These two beautiful people are not about theories. Look at the way they live. Bliss is proven. Joseph Campbell should have known you both. Sometimes I think he somehow does. That’s why I look at Wick’s management, and what was surely a couple of misguided people at best, and just feel sorry for them. To me, there is no POSSIBLE way that they could have hosted so many shows in a row, having this event right in front of them, and then taken this action without being completely blind. Those who said the awful things that they said, and then made these decisions, act with hateful ideas, and polluted minds. Yes, I know that this is self evident, and obvious. But I think its worth remarking. It’s worth mentioning because Aim Me and Renee and their Troubadours don’t desire to live that way. They help us set love free, all of the time. They lead exercises in self love. They gently pull us to one another to remove the “danger from that stranger.” Who has done this for the management of Wick’s. I saw Renee and Aim Me try. But maybe there was too much self loathing, doubt, hate, and latent truths in these people to overcome in a few weekends, even for the most powerful duo I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure what moves someone to take such extreme measures. What are they trying to squash? Were they frightened to face some homo-erotic dream in their sleep that night? Did someone tell them that god hates fags? Did something make them think that somehow this was the “right thing to do?” We couldn’t truly know. I suspect that it was some combination of things like this. But I do know that when I got the email from Renee and Aim Me I was shocked and I was furious. “How could anybody do such a thing to this group of people?!” But then I read the beautifully even tempered response from the Troubadours of Divine Bliss. And I remembered that most have not freed any dreams. Most of us have not tried to turn self-loath into self-love, and fear into understanding. And you and I are not there yet either, because its not a destination it’s a search. The search is the thing. But we want to go. It’s the most important work. The world has a long way to go. But will you and I keep trying to drag Louisville and the world kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century? I think we will sing them, and talk, and persuade them into it. Let’s give them one moment at a time… Getting to know The Troubadours has helped me string together more of those moments. Until I can see a continuous flow I dare not stop. I dare not stop because you are all beautiful, and I am too. I dare not stop because my girl Isabella, (you all know Bella…) needs to see that this place exists around all of us. She needs to be shown that it can and will be widened. I don’t however hold any delusional ideas that anyone is necessarily going to bliss Wick’s into understanding. And I still believe that setting boundaries is a healthy response. I tell the story to anyone who will listen. And of course I won’t eat there, I won’t drink a beer there, and I won’t visit. And my new band, I’m sure, will be getting a call from our agent to do a show there. There has already been talk of it. I will not play that show. It’s out of the question. Bliss doesn’t allow… Don’t ever stop loving yourselves. Don’t let this incident keep you from loving others. Keep it going. Keep the balloon in the air. Free your dreams. Free yourselves. Free your bliss. Love, Ron |
| Name: | bliss |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: | Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
-Martin Luther King, Jr |
| Name: | anon |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: |
Hello Renee and Aim Me. I, like you, am disheartened by Wick's actions and commend you on your call to non-judgement, compassion and fairness in dealing with this situation. Homophobia runs deep in the suburbia that Middletown Wicks finds itself in, but still, their actions seem extreme. I have been to many of your shows and have never heard you advocate the homosexual lifestyle, nor felt the urge to dance with other men; so I am unsure why they would punish you. It seems very unfair. I share your dreams of peace and tolerance and will help you in anyway I can to promote those goals |
| Name: | anon |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: |
Dear Aim Me and Renee, That's pretty depressing. America stands equal to each other, and we can allow Wicks to run a free enterprise. I bet at least 1/2 of their profits come from homosexuals. What is the next step? Are they not going to allow homosexuals to eat or drink there? I don't share the sexuality, but I have friends that do, and to each their own. I support your efforts. |
| Name: | anon |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: |
Hey guys, sorry about everything at Wick's. Then again if they are that close minded I don't want to give them my money anyway. :)If there is anyway I can help do anything at all please let me know. Love You Guys |
| Name: | anon |
| Your Talking Stick Entry: |
Guys~ What a horrible, horrible close-minded thing for Wick's to do!!! I am outraged to hear of such a thing happening!!! I am, or should say, was a weekly patron at Wick's in the Highlands, and it sickens me to think that they cannot accept the lifestyles of other people just because they may not be deemed as "PC". How can a place like Wick's not let you share your bliss just because of the sexual oreintation of some of the people that support you. I thought that in America, you had freedom of expression and of speech, obviously not. For them to ban you from Wick's because two men were dancing together is insane and prejudice. Those who are "offended" should be banned themselves!!! They can go out as a heterosexual couple and dance and do as they please and not be persecuted, and the same should go for same sex couples. I am sorry for your troubles, I am sorry that not all people can be as open as they should be, I am sorry for those who think that other's relationships should be "hidden" so to speak. Continue to share your bliss ladies, and eventually there will come a time when people will see that no matter ones sexual orientation, people are people, and no one should be tossed aside because we all do not think or act the same way. Variety is the spice of life, for those who don't know that, I am sure their lives taste pretty bland. You are in my heart and prayers... |
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