More photos from last weekend

Two more images from last Saturday's peace march, with me in them:


Both photos are from CodePink and their report on the Los Angeles march.

It was a pleasure to march with you, CodePink. I look forward to a lot more activism with you over the coming years.

Antiwar Protests

My photo/blog of the peace march in Los Angeles on Saturday the 27th was featured by fellow blogger DiAnne Grieser, on two venues:

Silenced Majority
Docudharma (in comments section)

Thanks for spreading the word, DiAnne - and for your own coverage of Seattle protests.

In the meantime, I remember lots of pro-immigrant action among the protesters in Los Angeles, and I had a few thoughts as I chatted with some pro-immigrant activists. Although we disagree on immigration (I tend to see many immigrants, particularly Republican cherry-picked nationalities, as pawns of the powered elites, whereas they tend to see them as simple victims), we do agree that pitting immigrants against other immigrants, and against African-Americans and poor whites, has helped the powered elites at the expense of everyone else.

Odds and ends

Two things caught my attention:

• Medea Benjamin and Colonel Ann Wright have officially been invited to speak at the Canadian Parliament, and are in contact with Canadian MPs. They are still not allowed to enter Canada yet, but I am hoping this will change soon.
• On another Canadian note, four college students from Ontario were stranded in Washington DC, when their car was towed by the DC Police as "crime evidence," with no explanation given, with all their documents in it as evidence, while they attended a peace mobilization training. Democracy Cell Project's Dick Bell and Karen Bradley came to the rescue, housing the stranded Canadians for a week until they were able to retrieve their documents and return home. The car is still stranded, however.

The second story made the news at the Toronto Star.

War Protests

Today, there were war protests, organized by the ANSWER Coalition and United for Peace and Justice, in eleven cities. Los Angeles was one of them, and I made sure to march with the CodePink contingent and volunteer to help clean their display up.

Some of the signs by United for Peace and Justice, for the marchers to carry.
I didn't carry these - I helped carry one of CodePink's banners, which said "Don't Buy Bush's War."

Seen on a Dodge van at the parking lot on Olympic and Broadway, the starting point of the march. The march went up to City Hall and the Federal Building.

The Bus Riders' Union, a powerful working class organization in Los Angeles, carrying its trilingual banners and T-shirts.

An effigy of W seen on a sign.

Korean drummers in a funeral procession.
They support the implementation of the June 15, 2000 accords which were signed by the two Koreas, and oppose South Korea's new free trade agreement with the US. Pretty unpopular positions in Koreatown, but they are determined to get themselves heard.

Plenty of socialists and communists marching today.
There also were plenty of Ron Paul Republicans, and Democrats of most stripes - from Kucinich supporters to Edwards and Obama supporters.

CodePink's shoe display, symbolizing the Iraqi civilian dead of the war.
I helped clean these up after the march and rally were finished.

Another effigy of W, in his Chimpy McFlightSuit "Mission Accomplished" attire.

A dozen or two pro-war counterprotesters were present at the end of the march. They and some of the marchers are facing off - under police control.

Here I am, in the infamous pink miniskirt, at the CodePink booth - just before starting the cleanup. Thanks to Ally at CodePink Los Angeles for the photo.

Major fires in Southern California

I'm safe, even though I've been silent here lately.

But the skies are thick with smoke, to a point where shadows don't appear anymore, like a cloudy day.

Thousands of homes have been lost in the meantime. This fire is the worst in SoCal history, even worse than the firestorms of four years ago, when I ended up coughing up the ashes in England, even after several days away from California.

I hope the weather clears up soon - and the victims will recover.

Al Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize

The news is hours old already, but it's said and done. Al Gore, the former vice president and the rightful winner of the 2000 presidential race, is now a Nobelaureate, sharing the honor with the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Their work in alerting people to the climate change crisis, which may provoke many future wars, was instrumental; hopefully with some action, these alarms - and the resulting wars - will never have to happen.

Response from the US is pathetic at best, dominated by those who still think global warming is a liberal globalist myth. John McCain was especially virulent about his criticism of Gore as an "undeserving" recipient of the Nobel Prize.

It's not enough to come up with Al Gore, America. It's also crucial that the people of America know the facts, admit them, and do something about it, instead of burying their heads in the sand in denial, driving around in 4x4s with "OFF-ROADERS FOR BUSH" bumper stickers. (There are LOTS of them here in Reagan Country.) So even though Gore's win is a plus for the world and America, I am, more than ever, ashamed to be an American (and even more ashamed to be from Southern California), given the nation's poor treatment of its precious hero.

Aftenposten, Norway

Mann Coulter: "Jews need to be perfected"

Mann Coulter

Or so says he on CNBC, since Christianity is the "perfected version of Judaism."

MSNBC Article

The Mann also says that the US would be a much better nation if it were all-Christian. Excuse me, but such a nation would have no use for a sodomite, and everyone now knows the Mann is one. (Despite some in the transgender community who believe that an attack on the Mann is an attack on all transgenders.)

If there is anyone who needs to be banned from visiting Canada, it's not Medea Benjamin, it's the Mann, who actually threatened Canada on several occasions.

Canada bans US peace protesters

Photo courtesy of CodePink

A week ago, Medea Benjamin and Colonel Ann Wright, both of CodePink, were denied entry to Canada. They were on their way from Niagara Falls to Toronto, in order to attend a peace activists' meeting, as guests of Canadian peace groups.

The Canadians based their denial of entry on the NCIC database, kept by the US Federal Bureau of Investigations. Benjamin and Wright were listed on that database, because of their civil disobedience actions and the resulting misdemeanor charges. This is a purely political move by the US side, to turn these courageous women into criminals for exercising their free speech rights. And for Canada to deny them entry, based solely on this, is tantamount to giving up its own sovereignty in border affairs.

Both women have been able to enter Canada freely as recently as August. In addition, they have entered other countries, including W's puppet states, without problems, as well.

The stakes are getting high for me too. Not only have I met Benjamin at the CodePink New Year's Eve party in San Francisco last year (where I debriefed her on her South Korean trip the previous month), but I've since turned her into a Facebook friend as well. I know her as a fearless, feisty woman who will fight for what's right. If that's considered criminal by the W regime, it's one thing. But for Canada, which has been sympathetic to the US peace movement, especially during the Vietnam War, to now consider her a criminal as well, solely based on the information provided by the W regime, it's a huge change. Perhaps the winds are blowing in a different direction, now that there is a Conservative government in power.

Benjamin and Wright have been invited to speak at the Canadian Parliament - if they can be allowed entry, that is. I hope to see that happen soon. Until then, all my Canadian vacation plans - including ones to Banff, Jasper, Toronto, and more - will be on hold.

CodePink

Back in the US, W is heartless

He vetoed a popular, bipartisan bill to extend the S-CHIP program for poor children across America.

The Republican opponents were whining about expansion of the government program to cover middle class children, and adults.

I'm sorry, but the private sector, which you love so much, is unable and/or unwilling to cover these people.

Tell me healthcare is not a right all you want. I won't shed a tear if YOUR coverage is denied, and you die from it. Because, as you love to say, the free market will keep churning. Without your fascist ass.

Christian Science Monitor via Yahoo!

More on the Korean summit

Now that a joint declaration has been issued, and President Roh has returned to Seoul, commentaries and analyses are popping up all over the world.

The following article from The Guardian (UK) is well-written, because it shows vested interest by the US and China in keeping the two Koreas divided (and in the case of Republican administrations in the US, keeping South Korea its loyal puppet). But they will have to face the call soon, since a peace treaty will require signature by the US and China, signatories of the Korean War cease-fire. (North Korea also signed, while South Korea, under the leadership of then-President Syngman Rhee, a reactionary Korean-American, never did.)

The Guardian UK

The joint declaration itself has been uploaded to BBC, by way of Yonhap News Agency in South Korea.

BBC

Worldwide reception, including from the W White House, seems positive, with the notable exception of W's puppet party in South Korea, the Grand National Party. While its concerns of North Korean nuclear disarmament progress (or as it says, lack thereof) are valid, for now it's time to wait and see if North Korea will comply with disarmament deadlines, not try to score political points. The Grand Nationals' fascist predecessors had used the fear tactic too well in past decades, and I hope today's South Koreans are above that.

Another technological anniversary

This time, it's the 50th anniversary of the first man-made satellite, Sputnik, as of tomorrow.

It not only put the human race beyond the Earth's atmosphere, but also created the Cold War space race, where the Soviets got a head start with Sputnik and Vostok, but the US triumphed with manned Moon flights (Apollo). The race continued with Soviet emphasis on long-term space station stays and American emphasis on reusable space shuttles, and now, with the Cold War over, the technologies are coming together for the International Space Station and beyond.

BBC

The two Koreas meet again

Photo courtesy of Reuters

The two Koreas are holding a summit, for the second time ever.

I've been looking at some footage coming in from Seoul, the DMZ, and Pyongyang, and it was bizarre to see President Roh Moo-hyun's Mercedes sedan, displaying South Korea's national and presidential flags, drive through the grand socialist monuments throughout Pyongyang, after a 3.5-hour drive from Seoul. (Roh rode in a North-provided Mercedes convertible, with the North's No. 2 man, for much of the Pyongyang tour, though.)

Reports say that the Pyongyang citizens gave an enthusiastic response to the visit, while Kim Jong Il himself was much more muted, especially compared to the first summit back in 2000 (which I didn't follow), when he was very enthusiastic upon then-President Kim Dae-Jung's arrival.

The scheduling of the summit is said to have political undertones, in part to dent the US Republican-backed opposition Grand National Party's lead in the South's presidential election, scheduled for December.

A short summit will not get much done - everyone knows that. What needs to happen is a persistent, consistent series of meetings between the two Koreas, at many different governmental levels, that will work out their differences and result in a peace treaty (which will also require the US and China to join in, as they are the armistice signatories). Also, Kim Jong Il needs to visit South Korea, even though it won't provide much material for his propaganda machine.

At least the first summit in 2000 provided the framework for some progress, including a new road that Roh used for this visit, the rail links that were tested back in May, and so much more. The goal is to peel away the secretiveness of the North Korean society, so that goods can flow freely across these new links, and so can people (especially families that have been separated for over 50 years). Letting South Koreans (who are hungry for trade, as evidenced by their secret US free trade pact earlier this year) use North Korean rails to trade with China, Russia, and Europe will be a boon to the North as well. However, I believe that this won't fully happen, until Kim Jong Il dies and leaves no heir to his personality cult, which requires a secretive society. Until then, patience and limited contacts, and a good mix of sticks and carrots, is the best way.

I'll see what comes out of this summit. I'm bummed that Roh chose to visit a Unification Church-owned car factory near Pyongyang, though.

BBC

Britney loses her kids' custody

The moralistic lecturer who couldn't quite live up to her own teachings, Britney Spears, has finally been stripped of her custody rights to her two children.

Such is what happens when you sign a virginity pledge only to sleep with Justin Timberlake, lecture about the sanctity of marriage only to annul one after 54 hours, call motherhood the "greatest gift of all" and go on partying, and have faith in someone like W.

The teens of America need a much better role model than this media whore.

BBC