Spring

Some photos to remind us of spring...


Evergreen Beach Madroña


New Growth


Beach Boulder

Kucinich Wrongly Excluded from Presidential Debate

The exclusion of Kucinich from the Presidential Debate is a disservice to the American People.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Kucinich for President campaign late today filed an emergency complaint with the Federal Communications Commission claiming that the ABC television network “is violating its obligation to operate in the public interest” by excluding Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich from tomorrow night’s scheduled debate in Manchester, NH.

Further, the complaint charges, the televised event “is not a true presidential primary debate without including all credible candidates, but instead is effectively an endorsement of the candidates selected by ABC.” The filing also notes that ABC “is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Walt Disney, Co., whose executives have contributed heavily to other Democratic presidential primary candidates, including Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, former Senator John Edwards, and Governor Bill Richardson.”
[ ... read more]

Gun Point Diplomacy

Bush Administration 'diplomacy':

click for full size

The Year in Pictures

I posted the year in political pictures. But I also took a lot of pictures that weren't overtly political. Here are some of those, chronicled month by month.


Evergreen Creek - January


Trees and Shadows - February


Sense of Scale - March


Trees and Blue Sky - April


Bee Approaching Flower - May


Yosemite Valley View - June


Mount Rainier - July


Rose - August


Ukelele - September


Mushroom Season - October


Maple Leaf - November


Power Lines - November bonus photo


Moss - December

Recommended Reading: Zarafa

Zarafa by Michael Alinn; I give it two thumbs up and a hearty recommendation as an enjoyable and provocative read. An interesting and compelling historical narrative, Allin weaves the tale of a Giraffe sent from Africa to France in the early nineteenth century. Crossing the paths of important historical events and figures of the day, the book follows the Giraffe, dubbed "Zarafa", on a many thousands miles journey from Sudan to Paris. There's more from Wikipedia:

Zarafa (?1824-12 January 1845) was a giraffe in a menagerie in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris for 18 years in the early 1800s. She was one of the first three giraffes to be seen in Europe for over three centuries, since the Medici giraffe was sent to Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence in 1486. In her lifetime, the giraffe seems not have been given a name, but was referred to as "the giraffe". Nowadays she is known by the name Zarafa (Arabic for "charming" or "lovely one"), a name given to her by the writer Michael Alinn in his book Zarafa.

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Legalities of the 'War on Terror'

This is a must see article: go to original

The Hidden Power
The legal mind behind the White House’s war on terror.
by Jane Mayer
July 3, 2006

On December 18th, Colin Powell, the former Secretary of State, joined other prominent Washington figures at FedEx Field, the Redskins’ stadium, in a skybox belonging to the team’s owner. During the game, between the Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys, Powell spoke of a recent report in the Times which revealed that President Bush, in his pursuit of terrorists, had secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on American citizens without first obtaining a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, as required by federal law. This requirement, which was instituted by Congress in 1978, after the Watergate scandal, was designed to protect civil liberties and curb abuses of executive power, such as Nixon’s secret monitoring of political opponents and the F.B.I.’s eavesdropping on Martin Luther King, Jr. Nixon had claimed that as President he had the “inherent authority” to spy on people his Administration deemed enemies, such as the anti-Vietnam War activist Daniel Ellsberg. Both Nixon and the institution of the Presidency had paid a high price for this assumption. But, according to the Times, since 2002 the legal checks that Congress constructed to insure that no President would repeat Nixon’s actions had been secretly ignored...

The Year in Political Pictures

This project was inspired by Sarah. I became more active politically and photographically this year. Here are some of the highlights. (all photos hyperlinked to higher resolution versions)


Bangor Main-Gate Overpass MLK Jr. Banner - January


Speaking Truth to Power - February
(Please see more from the Lt. Ehren Watada support rally.)


Waiting - March
(See here and here for more photos from PMR actions in Tacoma.)


Bring Them Home - March bonus photo
(Please see more photos from the Washington State Impeachment Investigations.)


Pedestrian Interference Ordinance - April


Vaude deVille - May
(Please click here to see more from the Rachel Corrie Foundation Peace Works 2007 Collaborative Story Telling Event. Stories were read from Anthony Arnove and Howard Zinn's book, Voices of a People's History of the United States.)


Leaving Groundwater Protection Area - May bonus photo


The People of Iraq are Suffering - June
(Click here and see more photos from the Special Operations Weapons Exposition in Tacoma.)


Venezuelan Diesel - July


Nuclear Imprint - August
(Please see more from the Ground Zero for Nonviolent Action's Civil Resistance Action and Hiroshima/Nagasaki nuclear bombing remembrance.)


Town Hall Meeting with Brian Baird - September


"Another World is Possible", Roy - October
(Please see more from the Seattle Occupation of Iraq protest.)


Tackle... - November
(Please see Oly PMR November 2007 for more.)


"Don't Shed Blood for Oil" - December

and finally

No Iran War Petition-Delivery - December bonus photo
(See more from the Petition Delivery.)

Political and social change can be difficult and sometimes painful work. But if we honestly assess the present-day realities and take appropriate actions in earnest, I believe that we can save not only ourselves, but future generations as well, from a greater suffering.

Wishing you all the best in the new year,
RW

Naomi Klein Shock Doctrine - Must See Video

This is a must see video interview with Naomi Klein by Geoffrey Millard. Go to video (it's in two parts).

Bombings Kill Dozens in Iraq

Questions:

What is the USA doing in Iraq? Did Iraq pose a threat to the USA prior to the invasion? Were there Weapons of Mass Destruction? Why do millions of Iraqis suffer, their civilian infrastructure so widely reduced to ruin? Is it because of the petroleum resource? Were these deaths necessary? Were they preventable? If the occupation is unjust - if it is wrongful - what can you and I do to stop it?

Two Bombings Kill At Least 26 in N. Iraq
Officials Call for Increase in Security Forces
By Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, December 26, 2007; A14

BAGHDAD, Dec. 25 -- Two bombs ripped through a pair of cities north of Baghdad on Tuesday, causing some of the worst carnage in the country in recent weeks and revealing that, despite the relative calm that has taken hold, insurgent groups remain capable of carrying out devastating attacks.

The morning bombs were detonated in Baiji, an oil refinery town, and Baqubah, a provincial capital where the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq has lost some of its earlier dominance. The attacks, which killed at least 26 people and wounded as many as 100, prompted calls by officials for an increase in Iraqi soldiers and police in the northern provinces to quell the violence.

In Baqubah, tensions were particularly high because of allegations by Iraqis that, hours before the bombing there, U.S. forces had executed two members of an American-backed volunteer force. The U.S. military denied the accusations.

The bombing in Baiji, near a checkpoint outside a two-story housing complex for oil industry employees, was the more devastating of the two attacks Tuesday...

go to original

Breath/Spirit by Kazuaki Tanahashi

www.brushmind.net