Peace-A-Rena

I’m breaking one of my cardinal rules and pasting in a post from another site in toto. It’s a powerful rant by Greg Palast, provoked by the recent fires in California, and the government’s response to them. I have a feeling he won’t mind. ‘Course, I’m not alone, soonerthought did the same thing, which is where I found it.

Anyway, there’s no excuse now not to read the whole thing!

BURN BABY BURN
The California Celebrity Fires

Published October 26th, 2007 in Articles

The ‘Boo ain’t no N.O.
Plus: George Bush, Flame Retard
By Greg Palast

What color is your disaster? It makes a difference. A life and death difference.

Dig:

Population of San Diego fire evacuation zone: 500,000
Population of the New Orleans flood evacuation zone: 500,000

White folk as a % of evacuees, San Diego: 66%
Black folk as % of evacuees, New Orleans: 67%

Size counts, too. Size of your wallet, that is:

Evacuees in San Diego, in poverty: 9%
Evacuees in New Orleans, in poverty: 27%

The numbers would be even uglier, though more revealing, if I included evacuees of the celebrity fire in Malibu.

The President didn’t do a photo-strafing of the scene from 1700 feet this time. Instead, we have the photo op of George, feet on the ground, hanging with Arnold the Action Man. (However, I’m informed that the President was a bit disappointed that he didn’t get to wear one of those neat fireman hats like Rudi G got at Ground Zero.)

In 2005, while the bodies were still being fished out of flooded homes in New Orleans, Republican Congressman Richard Baker praised The Lord for his mercy. “We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn’t do it, but God did,” he said about the removal of the poor from the project near the French Quarter much coveted by speculators.

But as this week’s flames spread, no Republican Congressman cried, “Burn baby burn!” to praise the Lord for cleaning up them ‘Boo, the sin-and-surf playground of Hollywood luvvies.

In New Orleans, God’s covenant with real estate developers has been very profitable. Over 70,000 families
remain, two years after the waters receded, in mobile home concentration centers far away from the N.O. re-building boom. Let’s see how long it takes to get Tom Hanks back on his beach towel.

Standing next to Governor Schwarzenegger, a smug little Bush said, “It makes a big difference when you have someone in the statehouse willing to take the lead” – a snide attack on the former Democratic Governor of Louisiana on whom the White House successfully dumped the blame for the horror show in New Orleans.

Mr. Bush never mentioned – and the media would never give away his secret – that 15 hours before the levees broke, the White House and FEMA knew the flood barriers were cracking, yet failed to inform the Governor and state police. Nor did Mr. Bush mention that his Department of Homeland Security’s FEMA trolls took away evacuation planning from the state and gave it to a crew of crony contractors who, for a million bucks, came up with a plan that came down to, “If a hurricane comes, get in your car and drive like hell.”

In California, plans were in place, money poured down with the flame retardant, and no one is suggesting that Mel Gibson move his swastika collection to a FEMA trailer.

Not comparable, the ‘Boo and the N.O.? You can say that again. But as a kid who grew up in the ass end of Los Angeles, I can tell you that disaster apartheid applies on the local scale as well. Look at the tarry filth of Compton and Long Beach shores versus the panicked reaction when a bit of garbage or oil sheen hits Malibu sands. (I remember, standing on the crude-covered shore of an Alaska Native village in March, 1991, the day Exxon announced it would end the clean-up from the Exxon Valdez spill. That day, the papers showed the careful scouring that week of every pebble on Malibu beaches hit by dinky spill incident.)

Please don’t get the idea I’m slap-happy about the California inferno. My parents live in San Diego - and one of my favorite Air America hosts had to evacuate from her Del Mar hot tub, poor dear. (I’ve heard, however, that billionaires well done taste just like chicken.)

What I’m saying is: Besides the flames, there’s a class war raging in America. Or, should I say, Class Massacre. Because only one side is taking all the bullets. Malibu, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica are “incorporated communities” – islands of privilege politically fenced off from the riff-raff sea of Los Angeles. These self-incorporated Bantustans of the wealthy have their own fire departments and schools. The money islands are relieved of having to pay for the schools and hospitals of the city where their gardeners live. (I can’t tell which is the worst disaster that can befall an Angelino – a fire, an earthquake or the LA public school system.)

Now, it’s easy to say it’s just George Bush who’s the class clown of the class war. But it’s an old story. When a flood took out the tony homes at Westhampton Dunes, the Clinton Administration picked up the full tab for rebuilding these summer hideaways of the investment bankers. While today, death-by-poison stalks the environment of Black townships of Louisiana (the FEMA ‘guests’ are parked in a zone called Cancer Ally), Al Gore can’t be found. But when speaking of rising sea levels that can take out the homes of his buddies in ‘Boo or the Hamptons, Gore goes ga-ga.

The one thing I’ll say in favor of that vile little Louisiana Republican cheering the drowning of public housing residents, at least he’s honest about how the system works. He’s not afraid to remind us of the gods’-honest truth: disaster response is class war by other means.

So let me not forget to report the war’s body count:

New Orleans flood deaths: 1,577.
California celebrity fire deaths: 11 (at time of posting)

For news report, see story about this event at Oklahoma Indymedia, Gold Star Fathers Call for Peace at Oklahoma City Rally.

I just posted the minutes of last Sunday’s annual meeting of the Green Party of Oklahoma, along with some pictures I took, on the party’s web site. We had a lot of fun while tending to our pressing business, including ballot access reform, and I think that comes across in the pictures.

They are a small but dedicated group of folks who are selflessly committed to justice and who really love Oklahoma. I feel honored to be working with them.

I drove to the meeting with my friends and fellow Greens, Rachel and James, who happen to be the state party co-chairs. On the way home we took Rt 66 all the way from Stroud to Oklahoma City. Just before sundown, we took a turn on to a strip of the original roadbed of Rt. 66, a section which is no longer in use as a public road. It was kind of wild to see how unassuming and narrow it is. The “Mother Road” is such a huge iconic symbol in America, but the road itself is dwarfed by what highways have become in this country.

Speaking of icons, we also stopped at the new Pop’s soda shop in Arcadia. I’ve got some cool pictures of that place, which I’ll upload later in a separate post.

A number of Oklahoma legislators are knocking themselves out in rudely and publicly refusing a gift of a Quran from a group of Muslim Oklahomans. Another class act for the citizens of our state to be proud of. Not.

I was glad to see that the Speaker of the House, Lance Cargill, with whom I usually don’t agree, made a relatively measured statement, saying he would accept the book, and give in exchange a copy of the bible. Seeing as how the whole affair was getting a lot of publicity, I thought his approach was about as good as could be expected from an Oklahoma politician.

I sent him a email to say thanks for toning things down and to encourage more of the same:

Thank you for your measured response to the Quran controversy which was stirred up by some Oklahoma legislators. I think what they did was rude and reflected very poorly on Oklahomans, not to mention Christians, now that this story is going all over the media and the internet.

I feel that your statement will help diffuse a needless controversy, or so I hope. I further hope you will not inflame a conflict, or allow the legislature’s resources to be used for that purpose, over this matter, but that your exchange of religious books will be respectful and positive.

Thank you again.

Meanwhile, OKC activist, and my friend, Nathanial “Batch” Batchelder wrote a letter to the editor of the Tulsa World (where I think this story broke and has continued to be reported in a rather inflammatory manner, in my opinion). He addresses the ridiculous contention by the Oklahoma congressmen that the christian faith has never motivated violence. (He doesn’t mention the Crusades, or the Conquistadors, but I guess it isn’t really necessary to go back too far in history to point out the error. Commenters in some other sites have also mentioned Northern Ireland as a recent example of “christian terrorism.”)

Dear Editor,

State legislators declining the gift of a Quaran on the grounds that Islam foments violence must be unaware of Old Testament scriptures describing mass murder for God: Leviticus 24:16, Numbers 31:17-18, Samuel 15:2-3, Josua 6:21 and Luke 19:27. These passages justified the Crusades to kill infidels who would not convert to Christianity.

Don’t these legislators know that Rev. Pat Robertson used his TV ministry to call for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez? Or that biblical scriptures were used to justify slavery in America for 250 years? But that’s “old violence.”

Modern violence by our “Christian nation” is worse: Since the US invasion of Iraq, more than a million Iraqis have been killed, some five million have been seriously wounded, two million have left the country, and two million are homeless refugees inside Iraq. That’s 40% of the Iraqi population.

Perhaps the 17 righteous legislators who would not accept a Quaran should consider the admonition: “Look not to the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but rather to the log in your own eye.” Shame on them for another “Oklahoma embarrassment.”

Sincerely,
Nathaniel Batchelder
2912 N. Robinson
Oklahoma City, OK 73103
405-524-5577
batchokc@aol.com
www.PeaceHouseOK.org

I’m not ashamed to say that I was — and still am — a huge fan of a television drama that was aimed at teenagers.

My So-Called Life was not your average teen series. It wasn’t even average TV fiction. In my opinion, and I’m not alone, it was the best fiction ever made for American TV.

Perhaps you missed it when it debuted on a Thursday night in August 1994; a week or two later, in the same time slot, was the premiere of a little sitcom called Friends. The latter became a phenomenon; the former was lucky to have its 19 episodes all broadcast, rather sporadically, during that TV season.

I was watching that first night, and immediately fell in love — with Angela Chase, her friends, her family and her self-aware, angst-ridden view of her oh-so-fortunate life. The writing was excellent, the acting simply astounding, and the production’s ability to capture and provoke the widest variety of human emotion so exceptional, that those who witnessed it at the time, and not a few who have found it since, were forever changed by it. They still talk about it reverentially, and, like one of the characters says about a particularly moving night, “We had a time.” The series ended with lots of unresolved plot threads, so passion was all the more excited to know “what happened.”

I took part in the discussion board that popped up around the show (maybe it was on AOL, or ABC, the network that broadcast it) and although many of the other participants were in their teens or twenties, the conversations on that board were frequently transcendent. Oh, how I wish they had been preserved. There was a very vigorous effort to save the show, but ABC lost faith in it, and Claire Danes was exhausted (watch the series and you’ll see why) and wanted to do film (she did pick up an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her work in the show).

Those original boards may be gone, but a fan web site still exists and is still active; in fact it just was given a complete remodel, so while it is a museum to a past event, it’s a dust-free one.

I recorded (on VHS) many of the episodes as they aired (or when MTV showed them the following summer) and wore those tapes out. Then a couple of box sets of six episodes came out and I bought them, but the production of that VHS series was not completed.

In 2000 or so, a DVD set with all 19 episodes came out, with a very limited number of copies pressed. Since I was on the fan email list, I got the opportunity to pre-order, but the cost was $100 and I didn’t have any money at the time and missed the opportunity. I’ve been looking for a copy of that set for years, but from what I heard, if it was offered, the cost could run about $300 or so.

Well, my wish has come true and the series is finally being reissued in a proper DVD commemorative edition, with interviews with the writers, cast and crew, a book, the whole works. I am ecstatic, to say the least. This is the best news in “my so-called life” in a long time.

I ordered it today (for only $48 — yay!), and will be waiting on pins and needles until it arrives. I feel like Angela, Rayanne, Ricky, Jordan and the rest are family or close friends that I haven’t been able to visit with in much too long. I know it sounds crazy to say about a tv show, but this tv show was Art. So think about a great book that stays with you, and remains relevant to your life. If you are the least bit interested in art (whether tv, writing, acting), or or just the human condition, then you need to check out My-So-Called Life.

There’s no excuse now. It’s on Amazon and all the other places, including (soon) the Netflix waiting list.

CNN’s mega-hyped special series on the environment, called Planet in Peril, and hosted by Anderson Cooper, is sponsored by Conoco Phillips.

I haven’t been watching the series, just caught a glimpse after Countdown tonight, enough to catch the sponsorship info. But someone who did watch said this:

It was disturbing to see the onslaught of American Petroleum Institute and pro-Coal commercials playing during Planet In Peril last night. Why are they lobbying so hard right now? Is there energy legislation on the table?

American’s For Balanced Energy Choices - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQSqviu9_7k

and another had the same reaction I did with this

If they want to be taken seriously, one would think that CNN would have sought a corporate sponsor who was more concerned about the environment than CP.

According to Wikipedia, the Conoco Phillip’s environmental record is mixed:

On April 11, 2007, ConocoPhillips became the first U.S. oil company to join the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, an alliance of big business and environmental groups that in January sent a letter to President George W. Bush stating that mandatory emissions caps are needed to reduce the flow of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. ConocoPhillips has said it will spend $150 million this year on the research and development of new energy sources and technologies— a 50 percent increase in spending from 2006.[4]

A recent University of Massachusetts study has ranked ConocoPhillips third among U.S. corporate producers of air pollution. According to the researchers, ConocoPhillips facilities release more than eight million pounds of toxic chemicals annually into the air.[5] The company has also been implicated in some of the United States’ worst toxic waste dumps; the Center for Public Integrity has announced that United States Environmental Protection Agency documents link ConocoPhillips to 52 Superfund sites.[6]

In 2003, ConocoPhillips was named as a defendant in a lawsuit brought by a Georgian environmental group called Green Alternative. The suit claimed that a number of foreign oil companies colluded with the Georgian government to induce authorities to approve a $3 billion pipeline without properly evaluating environmental impact.[7]

In 2007, a number of environmental groups including the Sierra Club and the Prairie Rivers Network announced their support for ConocoPhillips’ plan to expand its Wood River oil refinery. A spokesperson for the group said that, despite ConocoPhillips’ history of environmental policy violations, she was optimistic that the corporation would comply with pollution laws as it expanded the refinery.[8

I’ve watched or listened to so little commercial media for so long, that I am extremely biased against it. Unlike a lot of regular viewers, I cannot tune out the corporate propaganda. And I would be extremely suspect of any program on the environment that depended on an energy company to be broadcast.

Some more things to read on the topic:

http://www.environmentalintegrity.org/pub460.cfm

http://www.deusexmalcontent.com/2007/10/its-so-easy-being-green.html

Reuters photo

My friend Desiree gets right in the face of Condoleezza Rice, who is, indeed, a “war criminal.”

(Tried to embed the video, but had technical problems.
Updated, with photo from Reuters.)

Update 2: Reuters story

Update 3: This AP photo is better, due to the angle (and Rice’s expression).

This cartoon makes me think of my Quaker friend Christine O’Brien, who died last November ending a beautiful life, deeply lived. We would have had a great conversation about it, laughing, talking about Zen koans, Quaker meetings in which not a word is said, but everyone feels connected and full of love at the end, or about brief but powerful messages, like “Attention” that get everyone vibrating silently. She would bring out one of her little Paragraph magazines, and read a prose poem we both would consider “cosmic”.

And we would sit and watch the light move across her patio and through the French doors into the dining room, playing shadows across art objects, dried flowers, rows of little stones and beads, books, lots of natural wood and wonderful, wonderful food in handmade plates.

What some people call “religious” is just a bunch of noise and anxiety. You really don’t have to say, or hear, a thing to feel connected to something powerful. In fact, the less said, the better.

This is so cool! Those little bots keep going and going and going ….

NASA announced it was extending for the fifth time the mission of Mars space probes Spirit and Opportunity, in their indefatigable exploration of the Red planet.

The two robots touched down three weeks apart on Mars in January 2004 for an expected 90-day mission that instead could stretch out to 2009, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said on its website.

In September, Opportunity began a perilous descent into the Victoria crater, in Mars’ Meridiani Planum region.

On the opposite side of the dusty planet and in the opposite direction, Spirit in early September began climbing onto the Home Plate volcanic plateau where scientists believe the volcanic rock might contain traces of water.

[…]

To date, Spirit has driven 7.26 kilometers (4.51 miles) and has sent back to Earth more than 102,000 images. Opportunity has driven 11.57 kilometers (7.19 miles) and has returned more than 94,000 images.