The Rise of Activism

First, this is a tribute to the schools, organizations, and all the thousands of individuals who participated in the March 20 Student Day of Action. And secondly, this is dedicated to the movers and shakers of Students for a Democratic Society, and their historical activism of the 60's! And SDS's current campaign...Call for March 20 Student / Youth Action Against the War.

I've witnessed arrests from sit-ins at military recruitment stations. There is an increase in organizing and new SDS chapters are showing up. I also see an increase in our students support of worker's rights.

But there are those who are critical of the new SDS. But these critics are few and far between and the majority of the reports I've been reading have been very supportive of this new level of activism among our youth! And we as citizens have learned much since the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act. Today with the technologies available, we can use the FOIA to the people's advantage.

There are now sites like David Kaplan's that offer us resources in the how-tos of obtaining government documents. Just last week, the U.S. House passed four different open government bills. And the proliferation of information has led to a huge increase in people over the entire world calling for Access to Government Records.

Transparency and accountability have never been so acheiveable as they are right now. This is primarily due to the social networks we have established on the web and the ability and speed at which we can share information. Our youth are grabbing the torch of humanity and justice, and I truly believe they know exactly what to do with it! This rise in activism that I am witnessing gives me increased hopes that our future is going to be in good hands!

A Voice from Walter Reed

With all the current mainstream media beating the Walter Reed scandal in every direction possible, I as usual much prefer my stories from the source! The following is from a new blog called Walter Reed: This Veteran's Life.

I once had a voice, but it was taken from me. I once had a life, but that too has changed. Somewhere in all of this confusion there is clarity. And somewhere in all these words I find it. This is how I find peace with myself, and with the world around me.

I have been called a patriot, and treated like a criminal. I have been called a Soldier and treated as the enemy. I have been told to get a hair cut and not to eat the civilians. My humor misses most people. Sometimes it is too rough, too dark, and too close to home. But that is what happens when you have seen too much and spoken too little. It finds a way to the surface. A way to be heard.

I urge everyone to read these first hand stories! These stories go way beyond statistics, reports, and finger pointing we see in the mainstream. This veteran's stories tell us of the importance of healing the soul as well as the body. According to this blogger, they may never be able to change anything, but they hope they will be able to change themself. And you can read of their hopes that this blog offers them.

I may not ever be able to change anything. But maybe I will be able to change me. Maybe this will give me a place to scream into the void when my screams fall on deaf ears.

We need more of us telling our own stories. It's up to all of us to listen and to speak up! Only by writing the stories ourselves can we hope to change our current physical and mental degradation!

The Festival's Main Attraction

As an add-on to the last post concerning the Festival of Nukes, I wanted to embed this video as an addition or maybe as a refresher course in the power of a nuke. But mostly because I've been too busy in other places to spend much time here! No matter how much time a person has...they still have to allot portions of their time in the best way they see fit.:)

But it is a mind provoking video and thanks go out to GOODMagazine for making the video available!

The Festival of Nukes

Okay...I'm sitting here scanning through my Google Reader with the morning's first cup of coffee...and the headline of this story grabs my attention, "Bush administration picks Lawrence Livermore warhead design!





My first thought is "Warheads?". But as I read on this little tid-bit of information seemed to add weight to the already bad start of this news release!

United States and its allies are trying to curb the spread of nuclear technology.

OH...but wait...I'm reading on and the story continues to spiral out of control, and my increasing apprehension is fueled by another pertinent question, "What the Hell?".

Many of the warheads in the nation's stockpile were designed and built 40 years ago, and their plutonium and other components are deteriorating in ways researchers do not fully understand.

Now that is some real important information! The words plutonium ...deteriorating...and don't understand...just somehow automatically raise the hair on the back of my neck. So let me see if I have this right...

Our nuclear weapons are getting old and the thousands of self-destruct warheads we have are becoming unstable. And the answer to this problem is to make more warheads to replace the old warheads that are already unstable in ways our best scientists and researchers still do not understand. And while we're doing all this, we're honestly attempting to convince the entire world's population that we are trying to curb the spread of nuclear technology!!?? Could this be more hawkish posturing for Iran's benefit?

But perhaps I'm reading this all wrong? Maybe the mindset is we're not expanding...only replacing. We're not adding to the number...we're merely occupying high ground we already hold. But I guess in all their wisdom, it's smarter to have the new warheads "first", before we dismantle the unstable old ones? Then when our specialists finally disarm the old heads, all we have to do is go bury them out their in Navajo Land, and not worry about the deadly radiation anymore! Besides, the operation could make a millionaire out of a few Navajos right?

There is an interesting OpEdNews article concerning the supposedly good reasons for newer nukes!

In September 2000, PNAC drafted a report entitled "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century." The conservative foundation- funded report was authored by Bill Kristol, John Bolton and others. The report called for: ". . . significant, separate allocation of forces and budgetary resources over the next two decades for missile defense," and claimed that, despite the "residue of investments first made in the mid- and late 1980s, over the past decade, the pace of innovation within the Pentagon had slowed measurably." Also that, "without the driving challenge of the Soviet military threat, efforts at innovation had lacked urgency."

The only hope we have seems to lie so far in the unsupportive nature Congress has shown towards the idea of introducing new nukes! But there is growing concern that the new democrats may defend the building of these new nukes even though common sense tells us "real people" that this is a "deadly" mistake!

According to the Nuclear Posture Review Report which was leaked and reported on by the Los Angeles Times back in 2002, our nuclear direction has been planned for a good while now. But now as we continue to open windows and expose the entire story, we all are beginning to be offered a good view of the destructive nature of our increasingly omnipotent politicians and their desire to perform in the "The Festival of Nukes".