Cool Saturday solidarity.

You don’t see this very often:
In Rare Move, Three Candidates Join in Pledge on Darfur by Helene Cooper
WASHINGTON, DC (New York Times) May 28 – The three senators who would be president have agreed to a rare joint statement accusing the Sudanese government of atrocities against civilians in Darfur and warning [...]

“May 30, 1942: The Day the United States Sold Its Soul.”

MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL, Minn.  (Star-Tribune) May 30 – Every American knows that Dec. 7, 1941 — the date that Japanese planes attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor — is “a date which will live in infamy.” But few Americans remember a second infamous anniversary: May 30.

Three months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President [...]

“Stopping the War Machine: …”

“… Military Recruiters Must Be Confronted” by Ron Kovic
(TruthDig.com via Common Dreams) May 28 – As a former United States Marine Corps sergeant who was shot and paralyzed from my mid-chest down during my second tour of duty in Vietnam on Jan. 20, 1968, I am sending my complete support and admiration to all those [...]

“Despite Landmark Treaty, Children Still Under Siege.”

HIROSHIMA (Inter Press Service via Common Dreams) May 27 - The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which came into force in September 1990, has been described as a landmark treaty ensuring the human rights of the world’s 2.2 billion children.
But despite the fact the treaty has been ratified by all of the world’s [...]

Summer reading shelf.

For starters:
- The Shock Doctrine – Naomi Klein (non-fiction)
- Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo – Hayden Herrera (biography)
- The Solitudes and Little, Big  by John Crowley (novels)
- Lush Life  – Richard Price (novel)
- The Book Thief  – Markus Zusak (novel)
- Black Dogs and The Cement Garden – Ian McEwan (novels)
- Holding the Line – [...]

Fare thee well, friend.

Singer/songwriter/activist/unionist/ American hero Utah Phillips has died.
(San Francisco Chronicle) May 27  – Bruce “U. Utah” Phillips, the Grammy-nominated folk singer known for his bushy white beard, tireless tour schedule and equally tireless work for social justice, died of congestive heart failure Friday at his home in Nevada City. He was 73 and had been having [...]

Planet Autism, 5/27/08.

You have got to be kidding me.
St. Lucis teacher has students vote on whether 5-year-old can stay in class by Colleen Wixon
PORT St. LUCIE, FL (TCPalm) May 23 – Melissa Barton said she is considering legal action after her son’s kindergarten teacher led his classmates to vote him out of class.
After each classmate was allowed [...]

Happy Memorial Day.

Yes, I am flying the flag today.
Remember your heroes today.  Whoever they might be.

Save it for later.

Your ten dollars, that is.
Went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull  last night with Mrs. Agitator and the Liberal-In-Training.
“Dumb” doesn’t begin to describe it.  Maybe seeing (and loving) Ironman  last weekend spoiled me.
It was great seeing Karen Allen in a movie again, however.  She saved it for me.  But the [...]

Cool Saturday sounds.

Robert Randolph & The Family Band: “The Thrill Of It.”
(He’s a Jersey guy, by the way.)
It’s Memorial Day weekend.  Summer’s comin’.  GO OUTSIDE.

8th Grade Agitators!

New York 8th Graders Boycott Practice Exam But Teacher May Get The Ax – by Juan Gonzalez (New York Daily News via Common Dreams)
Thursday, 22 May – Students at a South Bronx middle school have pulled off a stunning boycott against standardized testing.
More than 160 students in six different classes at Intermediate School 318 in [...]

Stating (what should be) the obvious.

First, read this fabulous post by one of the Delaware Valley’s finest,  JudiPhilly.  In it, she reviews Jeffrey Toobin’s book The Nine, and also discusses the importance of the Supreme Court as an issue in the coming fall election.
I’ve been wanting to unload about this topic for a while now.  Judi does a good job of saying a lot [...]

Holding him in the Light.

It doesn’t sound good.  Praying for him can’t hurt.  So I will.

What I’ve learned.

I’m coming up on finishing my third year as someone who holds an elected position in my local teachers’ union.  I was honored to be re-elected for a second term as vice-president this past week, which keeps me in my position as grievance chair, also known as the designated rabblerouser.  And I love what I’m [...]

Exactly.

(Copyright 2008 by Tony Auth/Phila. Inquirer)

Happy Feyday.

Happy birthday to Tina Fey, born May 18, 1970.
I {heart} her.

Cool Saturday sounds.

The New Pornographers: “The Laws Have Changed.”
These folks are way cool.  Turn.  It.  Up.

Geez Louise! ANOTHER book!

The Translator: A Tribesman’s Memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari
I’ve been following the genocide in Darfur for several years now, and I read everything I can get my hands on that’s written about what’s happening there. Most of what I’ve read has been histories of the region, books about the long-running wars in and around [...]

“School Military Recruiting Could Violate International Protocol.”

By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON (Inter Press Service via Common Dream) May 14 – Pressed by the demands of the “global war on terrorism”, the United States is violating an international protocol that forbids the recruitment of children under the age of 18 for military service, according to a new report released Tuesday by a major civil [...]

The end of the affair.

It started when I was in college, with a seduction.
Early in my freshman year, I found myself being attracted each morning by her smell, that alluring and unique scent that wafted across the campus as I stepped from the exit steps from the Broad Street Subway in North Philadelphia.  She beckoned to me, so seductively but [...]