Good-bye, 2007!

What a year. A recovered neck, a new career, a new marriage, a new band, a new practice, a new major, a new grandson/nephew/cousin, a baby grand-nephew, and high school--all in the family. We have a lot to be grateful for.

In an hour or so, I will accompany the amazing Grace and her mother to a celebration of the new year at the home of some friends I haven't seen in a while.

I'm looking forward to an old fart's New Year's Eve, replete with banging pots and fireworks in the parking lot. I'll be in the common house, playing games. Our lovely hostess, L, surely will provide noisemakers and poppers and hats and lots of confetti. Plus champagne and chocolate.

Happy New Year!

Foment builds around the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. And now the Pakistan government's official story about her death has shifted.

I found this interview with Bhutto on Alternet. David Frost spoke with her shortly after her caravan was attacked in Karachi last November. She explicitly addresses questions about that attack and its intent, as well as her relationship with Musharaff.

Some are calling her assassination the end of hope in the region. Meanwhile, politicos in the U.S. are using Bhutto's death (Rudolph W. Giuliani) or "clueless" (that Huckabee guy).

Again, I think we need to be paying close attention to what this situation will justify in the world arena. Of course, Bush and the rest of the world have denounced her assassination. Consider how the whole thing has played out as projected, perhaps even as Bhutto herself projected. Still her death is a shock. From what her supporters say, her global reputation seemed to lend her protected status. She is the face of democracy in Pakistan. She even represented a reconciliation with India.

Yet the attack in Karachi upon her return from exile happened in a neighborhood populated by wealthy, politically influential residents, which suggests that political weight was not protecting anyone, including Bhutto.

Instead of a messy democratic Pakistan, Bhutto's assassination sacrifices democracy to martyrdom, which is much easier to manipulate. Musharaff likely will remain in charge. The chaos engendered by Bhutto's death paves the way for another crackdown, or at least, a postponement of elections in the name of fighting terrorism.

A real democracy in Pakistan might not sustain U.S. plans for the region. Now Bhutto's calls for democratic reform pose no threat to the expanding empire. Instead, the assassination fits right into the U.S. characterization of the "terrorists' war on us." As Rudy argues,

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto is a tragic event for Pakistan and for democracy in Pakistan. Her murderers must be brought to justice and Pakistan must continue the path back to democracy and the rule of law. Her death is a reminder that terrorism anywhere -- whether in New York, London, Tel-Aviv or Rawalpindi -- is an enemy of freedom. We must redouble our efforts to win the Terrorists' War on Us.

By this logic, Bhutto's martyrdom and the ensuing chaos, once dubbed "acts of terror", further justify our war. The only possible response to her death is expanding war. Without doubt, the attack on Bhutto's rally, like the attack on her caravan, was an act of terror. But responding to terror with terror breeds terror, as we witness in the news of Iraq and Afghanistan every day. If another crackdown is the type of redoubling effort Giuliani advocates, that move is also without doubt, a course of action that Bhutto would not have approved.

While I quote Giuliani, by no means expert in foreign relations (or justice or democracy or reason), it seems obvious that his rhetoric reflects the underlying logic of our warmongering lifestyles. That's what it all comes down to, this current propagation of "democracy" across the planet.

As the American Dream supersizes itself, we keep buying it. The gap between the uber-rich and the rest of us widens, and we keep insisting that the virtue of uber-wealth sanctifies its means. We keep insisting on lifestyles that require the exploitation of others. We eat Burger King and shop Walmart and pay taxes to fund Haliburton, all delivered through exploitation in Florida, in China, in Iraq. We justify the complete destruction of a sovereign country's infrastructure, the decimation of its internal systems, including the family, because we believe our "way of life" is worth more than their lives. I think it's really that simple.

We call our way of life "democracy" and claim "they hate our freedom" but we'll sacrifice our own freedoms for great sale prices. We know the war on terror is a war for oil, and really, what's wrong with that, as long as we can drive our cars and watch tv.

The sad residue of manifest destiny.

Dramatic, sure, but let's wake up. How much longer will we consume the war on terror's doublespeak? How much longer do we watch our rights erode? Our values? How much more terror will we ignore in the world? How many more soldiers will we sacrifice? How many more mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters?

Bhutto's death is ringing around the world.

Here the day was gray and quite cold. G and I went to dinner with our friends, C & T, in town from New York. First we went to the Red Iguana, but the line in was a forty-minute wait, and that was in from outside! None of us wanted to endure 18 degree cold. So we went to La Hacienda. Yum! It was great to see those two.

End of December

Belated Happy Birthday to my brother, who as of yesterday, has been alive for 38 years. He cooked the Christmas turkey and we all greatly enjoyed eating it. My sister made her famous pumpkin streusel pie, and my sister-in-law made a new favorite for my son--orange chiffon pie. Mmmmm. Mom made the traditional Christmas fish (jello--we are Utahns, after all). All I had to make was cranberry sauce, which I plan to eat on a turkey sandwich shortly.

My brother's wife's brother (my brother-in-law?) joined us for the eve feasting and for Dad's famous Christmas Day pancakes. He is recently graduated from boot camp, for which I congratulate him. He returns to his military induction on the first of the year. We wish him a long time in California and no time in war zones, though that doesn't seem likely today.

Benazir Bhutto was assassinated last night. A suicide bomber apparently attacked a rally where her supporters were gathered. Here are images of the attack, which resulted in the deaths of at least 20 other people.

Pakistan's bizarre political saga includes corruption in Bhutto's family history, as well as the accusation of corruption during her two terms as the country's prime minister. Some saw her Washington-backed return to Pakistan as a "power-share" with Musharaff. She returned to Pakistan to challenge his rule, despite his warning that her security could not be guaranteed. Upon her arrival two months ago, Bhutto's caravan was attacked by two suicide bombers in Karachi. Over 100 people died and more than 600 wounded in the attack.

Bhutto denounced Musharaff's declaration of military law "crackdown" last month. Her assassination, which comes ten days after Musharaff lifted "emergency" law, will prove to be another turning point, both for Pakistan and for global relations in the region.

It should be noted that our presence in Pakistan is scheduled to expand considerably in the new year. And again, what is our relationship to Pakistan? According to Amy Goodman on today's Democracy Now, Bhutto's assassination preempted the headline story about

US Special Forces expecting to vastly expand their presence in Pakistan beginning in 2008, the US troops reportedly taking part in an effort to train and support Pakistani counterinsurgency forces and clandestine counterterrorism units. We also brought you news that while the US expands its presence in Pakistan, questions have been raised over how Pakistan spent $5 billion in US aid since September 11th, the money supposed to have been sent to fight al-Qaeda and Taliban, instead US officials admitting funds were diverted to help finance weapons systems to counter India, another US ally.

Hmm. Seems like a lot of money for our war on terror gets diverted to other purposes. Good thing we've got those Democrats in Congress to get us out of Iraq, eh? Love those bold moves to protect the public well-being, home and abroad.

At least they listened to the testimony of Jamie Leigh Jones. This story deserves a post of its own. It's just too much to comprehend that Haliburton/KBR, one of the recipients of those aforementioned funds, promotes rape culture among its employees. And whose money is it, anyway?

Apparently, Mr. Bush thinks it all belongs to him and his pals. He thinks his authority to nix funds for SCHIP supersedes states' rights. His rejection of Ohio's bipartisan expansion plan exemplifies the appalling reality of our national priorities. While the Bushites slash public health and education funds (in collusion with the fearless democratic leadership), the Bush administration is the biggest-spending presidential outfit since LBJ. Yet another similarity between GWB & LBJ...

Don't think about it. Just go shopping.

And let's hear it for the FCC. Commissioner Michael Copps was one of two who voted against lifting the thirty-year ban on media consolidation. He says,

We claim to be giving the news industry a shot in the arm, but the real effect is going to be to reduce total newsgathering. We shed big crocodile tears for the financial plight of newspapers, yet the truth is that newspaper profits are about double the S&P 500 average. We pat ourselves on the back for holding six field hearings across the United States, yet today’s decision cites not a single word from the thousands of Americans who waited in long lines for an open mike to testify before us. We say we have closed loopholes, yet we are introducing new ones. We say we’re guided by public comment, yet the majority’s decision is overwhelmingly opposed by the public, as demonstrated in our record and in public opinion surveys. We claim the mantle of scientific research, even as the experts say we’ve asked the wrong questions, used the wrong data, and reached the wrong conclusions.

Copps urges the American public to pay attention to who the FCC is serving with this decision.

It’s time for the American people to understand the game that is being played here. Big media doesn’t want to tell the full story, of course, but I have heard first-hand from editorial page editors who have told me they can cover any story, save one—media consolidation—and that they have been instructed to stay away from that one. That’s a story for another day, perhaps.

Today’s story is a decision by the majority unconnected to good policy and not even incidentally concerned with encouraging media to make our democracy stronger. We’re not concerned with gathering valid data, conducting good research or following the facts where they lead us.

Our motivations are less Olympian and our methodology far simpler: We generously ask big media to sit on Santa’s knee, tell us what it wants for Christmas, and then push through whatever of those wishes are politically and practically feasible. No test to see if anyone’s been naughty or nice. Just another big shiny present for the favored few who already own an FCC license—and a lump of coal for the rest of us. Happy holidays!

Well, at least congress has responded to the FCC's maneuverings with bipartisan opposition.

To end today's rant on a light note, Regis Philbin is spreading some good news: Listen to Amy. He sat next to Amy Goodman at the Christmas bash of Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas. After talking to her, he listened to her broadcast for the first time and plugged Democracy Now on ABC.

The Fifth of December

Today marks one month since I started this little project. A few friends of mine did NaNoWriMo last month. Inspired, but realistic, I decided to try some other way to write every day.

Well, every day, no. But 8 out of 30...anyway, writing is writing.

Little did I know, there is now a NaBloPoMo, which challenges bloggers to post 30 times in 30 days. My sister, Courtney, rose to the challenge with 30 entertaining posts in as many days. I congratulate her, the dough boy congratulates her. (I really don't understand the dough boy's relationship to the whole project, but there he is.)

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Last Saturday, Courtney, Chris and I climbed Angel's Landing in Zion. We were on top of that stone mountain behind us. We ascended 1,500 feet over 2.5 miles.

It was amazingly gorgeous. On the way up, we watched condors and crows soaring at eye-level. On the way down, we saw two condors perched on a tree just above a stretch of trail.

It also was scary as hell. I still shiver to think of the "trail", which became footholds etched into the stone in some places. Thank god for the chains. Courtney kept wondering who could have come up with the idea to carve a trail into that cliffside?

Up was scariest because I worried about going down. But down went fast and was punctuated by the condors.

The chipmunks on top were great distraction from the fact that we were hanging on a 1,500 ft. peak. Chris truly is afraid of heights. He was very brave. Of course, Courtney is fearless.

She and Chris took these photos.

Today's Hero:
Sheila Jackson Lee

Thanks

It's another balmy November day in the City of Salt. At 9:05 am, it is 61 degrees outside.

I don't recall weather this warm this time of year. Maybe in Zion, where we travel this week to give thanks, particularly for Flanigan's and no roasting turkeys in our own ovens.

I am so looking forward to be fleeing the city and delighted to be spending time with mi familia.

Today's Heroes:
Benazir Bhutto
Jessica Valenti

Today in History:
1840: Claude Monet is born.
1889: Journalist Nellie Bly launches her attempt to travel around the world in less than 80 days, which she accomplishes in 72.
1906: Actress, dancer and movie historian, Louise Brooks is born.
1918: Czechoslovakia becomes a republic.
1922: The BBC begins radio broadcasting in the United Kingdom.
1954: Condoleeza Rice and Yanni are born.
1967: In Colombia, the 150th anniversary of La Pola's death is declared "Day of the Colombian Woman".
1979: In response to the hostage crisis, President Jimmy Carter issues an order that freezes Iranian assets in the U.S.

Today is World Diabetes Day...

witness

IMAGINE: “An Exhibition of Peace”
Utah Arts Festival Gallery
230 S. 500 West, No. 120
Artist reception: tonight, Monday, November 12
6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Cat Palmer, local artist and activist, has designed an exhibit that includes photographs and line drawings by Ty Norager, a soldier from Clinton, Utah. Mr. Norager's emotionally riveting images witness his experience serving in Iraq. The exhibit, which features work by Ms. Palmer and Mr. Norager, is on display at the Utah Arts Festival gallery. Mr. Norager, on leave to attend a fellow soldier's funeral, will be present tonight for the reception.

Yesterday was Veterans Day, which once was called Armistice Day to commemorate the cease-fire that went into effect on November 11, 1918. At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, the Germans and the Allies officially stopped fighting World War I.
Armistice Day became Veterans Day in 1954. The name change was intended as a gesture to honor all U.S. veterans, since the "War to End All Wars" certainly was not.

53 years later, November 11 records a total death toll for soldiers in Iraq at 3,860. 3,721 of those deaths have occurred since Mr. Bush, in his outfit, declared "mission accomplished." Estimates of wounded vary from 23,000 to 100,000 with an official total at 28,451.
Still, while 2007 is on record as the deadliest year in Iraq since 2003, today's headlines hail a sharpdecline in November of rocket and mortar fire.

This week, as we honor U.S. soldiers, let's listen to what many of them are saying about the reality of the situation in Iraq. Let's work to keep them from homelessness and out of Iran.

Other headlines today announce that 26 Iraqis died today and five were wounded in various incidents around Iraq.

Add those 26 to this number: 1,109,283.

As of November 10, 2007, that's the total death toll for Iraqis: 1, 109, 283.

Some days I am haunted. Images and stories from the war zone produced for mainstream consumption often do not represent its absurd horror. Similarly, even as we have begun to listen to accounts of Iraq from U.S. soldiers, the U.S. impact on Iraqis' lives is rarely described in our public discourse. Photographer Farah Nosh has created a stark slideshow, Iraq, Brutally Wounded, which portrays life for war-injured Iraqis.

It is difficult to comprehend the way life has shattered for Iraqis in the past four and a half years. Many of those who have survived the invasion have been displaced. Indeed, the invasion has created one of the biggest refugee crises in history. The disrupted lives of Iraqis are chronicled by Lori Grinker in this photo-essay, Life Interrupted.

I don't understand how sacrifice is supposed to work in this context. It seems that during this war, more than a million people have been asked to sacrifice for the interests of a very few. All I know to do is to honor the fallen, the displaced, the wounded and the disaffected, and to keep paying attention.

The Agnostics

"Who knows if there's a God? There's us, now, and caterpillars and other insects and mulch."

My friend, Wen, wrote a novel and you can read it. The Agnostics won the 2007 Michigan Literary Fiction award. Wendy Rawlings is the author of Come Back Irish and the director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. She's also one great pal.

Buy her book for yourself and your family & friends. Those winter holidays are upon us, after all.

Today my son and I took the beasty Bugs up City Creek. We went up the Bonneville Trail hook-up and initially, I didn't want to get so far away from the water. But it felt as if we climbed above the haze. That crappy air is crappier today.

It was gorgeous to be above the city, walking through chaparral. Outside feels strange, the low November angle of the sun, the haze, the draining color and bare trees. Everything looks like winter, but it was 64 degrees today and the sky was so blue.

It's dark out now. Daylight has been saved, or restored, I can't remember how it works exactly. Only that we fell back and now it's dark at 5 pm. A beautiful day.

FAREWELL, ROCKY! HELLO, RALPH!

Today's Heroes:
Jeremy Scahill
Keith Olbermann
Daniel Levin

Today's Mayor:
Ralph Becker!!! Woo-hoo!
So I'm hopeful about Mayor Becker, even though it was a bit painful to watch his initial acceptance speech last night. He seemed stunned. Clearly, he'll be polishing his speaking skills in the years to come.
Of course, Rocky's had years to polish his now iconic public persona. In that regard, Ralph's apparent discomfort in the spotlight is refreshing. For all the great good Rocky has accomplished, and that good is substantial, his mayorship has been more about Rocky than about Salt Lake City.
Ralph plans to accomplish great good, as well, and while Mr. Buhler mocked his "Blueprint for the City", the fact that Ralph offers detailed responses to specific problems (like the crappy air we breathe) turned the vote in his favor. When he and the other primary candidates spoke at our place (Mr. Buhler did not attend), the candidates were asked what kind of transportation they employed. Ralph was the only respondent whose individual transportation choices reflected the values he espouses. He recognizes that the crappy air is connected to transportation and growth and a host of other problems our city faces.
And most of these concerns are concerns for the state, as well. We know Ralph will work with state leadership. He has for 11 years.
Ralph is theoretically and practically committed to the city, the state, and the people who live here with him. He won by such a landslide because he was on the ground, talking to those people. And listening. Throughout his campaign, he maintained a civil, even tone and focused on the realities of Salt Lake's needs. He did not stoop to contrived antagonisms, like the unfortunate "Doer". (Kudos, by the way, to Dave Buhler for his gracious concession.) I hope Ralph Becker will conduct his term as mayor like he, his fabulous staff, and all the volunteers conducted his campaign.
And finally, farewell to one of the best damn mayors Salt Lake City ever had!!! Whatever you think of Rocky's ego, you gotta love those orange flags. Seriously.
Rocky's legacy is as impressive as he thinks it is. He has greened our city, actively endorsed immigration reform, pursued sane wage laws, and championed human rights.
Rocky was a champion of justice long before he was famous. That he now uses his fame to illuminate the connections between a corrupt media and endless war; between a lying federal administration, a disabled constitution, and rising fascism; that he condemned the abominable war when to do so was far from popular makes Rocky Anderson a true patriot.
The concerns of Salt Lake City are not divorced from the state, or the nation, or the planet. Rocky's mayorship demonstrated our city's need to care about the place where we live. Earth.

The Fifth of November

Eugene V. Debs and Tilda Swinton share November 5th birthdays. So do Vivien Leigh and Ike Turner. What meaning you can glean from that trivia is yours to treasure.
Two years ago today, the movie, "V for Vendetta" premiered on England's Guy Fawkes Day, or the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot. In 1605, Guy Fawkes and fellow Roman Catholics conspired to blow up King James I and the Protestant-dominated Houses of Parliament. The plot failed, but November 5 remembers Guy Fawkes, who was discovered with the explosives on November 4, arrested, tortured, and eventually executed. In 1983, Alan Moore and David Lloyd published the graphic novel, V for Vendetta, upon which the 2005 movie was based.
Today begins the 2007 Writers' Guild strike. (Coincidental, entirely, to my initiation of this blog, which has no particular larger purpose beyond public rambling. Sometimes ranting and railing.)
So, good luck to the Writers' Guild. These writers aren't demanding "perks," but payment in the form of residuals from the sale of their work through new media, like this here internet. Producers and studios receive residuals, but claim they can't afford to pay the writers. For art, and for the rare moments of real entertainment writers inject between reels of propaganda, consumers of Hollywood products should support their demands.
Thankfully, we don't have to worry about missing an injection of the Daily Show. Stand-up guy Jon Stewart is willing to pay the show's writers out of his own pockets.
In grimmer news, as we continue to spread freedom across the globe, millions of Iraqis have been displaced from their homes, but cannot escape Iraq. U.N. estimates of 4.4 million displaced Iraqis are considered to be conservative. Read more from outstanding reporter Dahr Jamail.
In 2002, President George W. Bush named Iraq one of three countries constituting an "Axis of Evil". Five years later, while North Korea has receded from public discussion, it's game-on for the Bush administration in its relentless campaign against Iran.
28 years ago today, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini pronounced the U.S. the "Great Satan". I was 13. I remember Khomeini described as an ideologue, a fanatic, a religious zealot. But since 9/11, the leaders of the so-called free world have employed similar fanatical rhetoric to justify their disastrous wars. Bush claimed recently that disabling Iran's (allegedly developing) nuclear program (presumably by dropping bombs on the country) will prevent World War III.
Never mind that for so many parts of the world, we are well past number three. Never mind that our troops are trapped in what seems to be war without end.
Never mind that our ally in the endless war on a concept, President Pervez Mushareff, has declared "Emergency Rule" in Pakistan, although Benazir Bhutto names the declaration "Martial Law". Never mind that "pro-Western" Mushareff has control of a fully operating nuclear program.
As of today, Pakistan's constitution has been suspended and more than 1,500 people, including Mushareff's political enemies, have been arrested. Lawyers protesting the constitution's suspension were beaten by police.
We should be paying close attention to what's happening in Pakistan, just as we should wonder why our media aren't paying closer attention to what's happening in Burma.
Consider how the Burmese government so effectively shut out the world by shutting down the media. The images stopped, and the world seems to have stopped paying attention to those brave, brave monks and the Burmese people.
Ignoring the brutality in Burma won't make it stop. It is our responsibility as beings to witness, at the very least, and condemn these brutal injustices as another generation is inducted into the cycle of oppression.
At best, we can emulate the Burmese people. They have not stopped. They won't stop because, as one young activist stated, "we are living for democracy and human rights, not for ourselves."
What are we living for?