The Re Collection

This area has been going through a period of reflection and reassessment in the past few years about its rather dark racist history — well some folks in these parts are frantically resisting any reflection and reassessment, but they are the usual suspects who are always on the wrong side of history.

This interview with, Patricia Bernstein, the author of one of the two recent books that looked at this issue was inteviewed by the Waco Trib and, though much too brief a discussion, it does reveal quite a lot about local attitudes and in/action on the matter.

From Q and A with Patrica Bernstein: Of Waco, lynchings and the need for community healing

[…] it’s pretty amazing it took this long to get the whole story told and somebody didn’t do it sooner. One of the sources I used was a master’s thesis written at Baylor University in the 1970s by a gentleman whose aunt actually witnessed the Jesse Washington lynching. He had been interested in it ever since he heard her story, and his professors tried to discourage him from writing the thesis because they thought it was too negative and too inflammatory and they just didn’t see the point. But I think this is a story that long needed to be told, not just because it is an atrocity but also because of the heroism involved.

We also learn that a screenplay is being written from the book, which I would love to see be produced into a film. It would be a great vehicle for an actress to portray a relatively unknown heroine, suffragist Elisabeth Freeman and bring more attention to her life of activism. Freeman’s anti-lynching organizing with the NAACP is described here.

Another beautiful essay entitled “Pass the Bread” from Bill Moyers, in which he continues to try to explain America to himself, and to us.

I love this quote from it:

All of us have to choose sides on this journey. But the question is not so much who we are going to fight against as it is which side of our own nature will we nurture: The side that can grow weary and even cynical and believe that everything is futile, or the side that for all the vulgarity, brutality, and cruelty, yearns to affirm, connect and signify.

But what’s the bit with bread? Well, he tells a story about how a truly good man gets to heaven and asks God and the angels for a ruttered roll each morning, as his reward.

Moyers adds:

Bread is the great re-enforcer of the reality principle. Bread is life. But if you’re like me you have a thousand and more times repeated the ordinary experience of eating bread without a thought for the process that brings it to your table. The reality is physical: I need this bread to live. But the reality is also social: I need others to provide the bread. I depend for bread on hundreds of people I don’t know and will never meet. If they fail me, I go hungry. If I offer them nothing of value in exchange for their loaf, I betray them.

and:

Civilization sustains and supports us. The core of its value is bread. But bread is its great metaphor. All my life I’ve prayed the Lord’s Prayer, and I’ve never prayed, “Give me this day my daily bread.” It is always, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Bread and life are shared realities. They do not happen in isolation. Civilization is an unnatural act. We have to make it happen, you and I, together with all the other strangers. And because we and strangers have to agree on the difference between a horse thief and a horse trader, the distinction is ethical. Without it, a society becomes a war against all, and a market for the wolves becomes a slaughter for the lambs.

This points, in the sweetest and subtlest way by Moyers, to the greatest uncivilized and unethical acts of our times, and how we, collectively are responsible. What is most uncivilized and unethical about these acts, or the policy these aggregate acts comprise, is that they are done while droning on and on about faith, community, and most aggregious of all, hope.

I started getting the Waco Trib this week (well, the weekend editions anyway) and will try to write about more local issues on this blog. There are not too many lefty blogs in the Heart of Texas, so it’s a necessary public service.

Today there’s an article about the local MCC church, a gay/lesbian friendly denomination that, in conservative towns like Waco, are usually the core of the GLBT community.

I’m not Christian, or even religious, but I appreciate what MCC does for gays and lesbians, giving them a place where they can express their spirituality without shame or guilt, and of course it also provides social activities, resources for community service and even on occassion a political nudge. It’s a black eye on the rest of the Christians that this ghettoization was necessary in the first place, but overall it’s been a good thing for gays and lesbians by changing the focus of the community’s attention, to some extent, from the bar scene (and other even less productive venues).

The Waco church is having a celebratory reception for MCC founder Troy Perry — whom I met in Florida a few years back — even as I type this, and a dinner tonight which I will try to get to.

I do have one small criticism of CenTex MCC, though. They should have named themselves HOT (Heart of Texas, as the greater area around Waco is known) MCC, because that would be a lot more fun than CenTex, which sounds like a type of stretchy fabric or a condom brand. Seriously, it sounds very corporate, not religious. I’m betting the boys in the church have a much better, affectionate, nickname for their church. If I go tonight, maybe I will find out what it is!

Backlash and more…

(Which reminds me, Wendy, would you please return my copy of Backlash? — not that you read this blog, or even know where to send it to now, but just putting it out there.)

Good story in the Nation about Cindy.

Her trajectory to activism is a morality tale she regularly relates, especially during her frequent speeches on college campuses. “What kept me from speaking out in the beginning was the sense that I couldn’t make a difference,” she says, noting that she saw millions of people around the world protesting the war in February 2003. “And George Bush responded by saying, I don’t have to listen to ‘focus groups,’ and marched into Iraq.”

Now she puts her apathy into a larger context. “I think the people in power want you to feel helpless, because if we all find our voice, our power, we really can make a lasting difference in this country,” she says. “I think we have almost two-thirds of Americans opposed to the war today, and these people just need to find their voices.”

From Three Continents to Duncan, Oklahoma is a report on the Halliburton protest last week.

Jean Rohe, the student who took down McCain at the New School graduation, tells why she did it.

… Senator Mc Cain will tell us that we, those of us who are Americans, “have nothing to fear from each other.” I agree strongly with this, but I take it one step further. We have nothing to fear from anyone on this living planet. Fear is the greatest impediment to the achievement of peace. We have nothing to fear from people who are different from us, from people who live in other countries, even from the people who run our government–and this we should have learned from our educations here. We can speak truth to power, we can allow our humanity always to come before our nationality, we can refuse to let fear invade our lives and to goad us on to destroy the lives of others. These words I speak do not reflect the arrogance of a young strong-headed woman, but belong to a line of great progressive thought, a history in which the founders of this institution play an important part. I speak today, even through my nervousness, out of a need to honor those voices that came before me, and I hope that we graduates can all strive to do the same.

Meet the New Boss…
Note link to great article on Colbert & the media at start of the post.

• Pam Spaulding at Pam’s House Blend
• Taylor Marsh
• Arianna Huffington
• Watertiger at Dependable Renegade
• Belle Waring at Crooked Timber
• Laura Rozen at War and Piece
• Barbara O’Brien at Mahablog
• Avedon Carol at the Sideshow
• Susie Mandrak at Suburban Guerilla
• Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon
• Sheri Zollinger at World ‘o Crap
• Xan, Leah and Chicago Dyke at Corrente
• Georgia10 and McJoan at Kos
• Emptywheel at The Next Hurrah
• Jeralyn at TalkLeft
• Ellen Nagler at The Broad View
• SusanG at Booman
• MaryScott O’Connor at My Left Wing
• Lindsey Beyerstein at Majikthise
• Athenae at First Draft
• Echide of the Snakes
• Roxanne at Rox Populi
• Elayne Riggs
• Julia at Sisypus Shrugged
• Shakespeare’s Sister

From Daily Kos :: Comments to
“The REAL reason the press threw Colbert down the memory hole”

Why this whole thing makes me angry

I’ve been trying to figure out why it makes me so angry that the press ignored this story despite the fact that they were sitting there staring at it for what, half an hour? It’s not that they missed it, they actually consciously chose not to report it.

And I realized the reasons that makes me so mad is that:

(1) This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Bush is perhaps more averse to criticism than any previous president, and he is allowed to hide from it 99% of the time. That Colbert was chosen to speak is something of a small miracle in itself.

(2) He nailed it. Anyone who says “but, but… it wasn’t funny” has totally missed the point. The point is: a comedian just got up and had the balls to criticize President Bush on almost every aspect imagineable - to his face. If you look closely, Colbert actually looks directly at Bush throughout much of the time he’s at the podium.

You know what I call that?? A f&cking news story!! Regardless of whether you thought his jokes were funny or not, there’s simply no escaping the fact that this is a news story because Colbert criticized Bush to his face like no one has before.

And not only did he criticize Bush, he also criticized the media itself, and the interelationship of the two. He showed a video with Helen Thomas chasing a fictional White House press secretary who was scared shitless to answer the simple question of why we invaded Iraq.

But no, that’s not news.

I keep going back to the old joke about the headline that states: “Bush says world is flat; Dems disagree”. In every other case, the press will slavishly present two sides of the story. Like in the Abramoff case when they kept wanting to call it a bipartisan scandal even though it clearly was not.

Yet now, where are the two sides? Do we get a headline that says “Colbert satire rips Bush; Repubs downplay significance”? No. We get spoiled “reporters” who simply decide the story isn’t worth running at all. I’m fed up with this.

When someone does something nice for you without expecting anything in return, it’s only right to thank them.

Diane Wilson, An American Hero
KW: Everyone who reads your story is overwhelmed by your courage and boldness. For instance, it must not have been easy being the first woman to run a shrimp boat by yourself. Was it the feminist movement that gave you the idea that you could do that?

Diane Wilson: The feminist movement has not made it to the Gulf of Mexico. Never seen that movement. I became a boat captain because I loved the water and had been on a boat since I was eight. I captained the boat by myself because I liked being alone. Probably if I had a male deckhand on the boat he would have tried to gain control over the wheel. Running a boat isn’t that hard. Just takes doing. Most or all women I ever knew were discouraged from running boats, but it was too late with me.

Chug! Chug! Chug! Tooot! Tooot!

This morning I caught part of Richard Dreyfuss giving a kick-ass speech to the National Press Club (which doesn’t have the transcript available for non-members).

I have it on good authority that Dreyfuss is a pompous jerk to, say, people like wait staff at posh LA eateries who grow up to be event promoters in Florida. But, if I might take the liberty of speaking on behalf of all service personnel everywhere: all forgiven, now, for this speech, which was an impassioned plea for understanding, accountability and for saving this nation before it is too late.

He should run for president; unlike the other actor who did so, he was once on the Hollywood A-list.

There are causes worth fighting for even if you know that you will lose,” Dreyfuss said during a speech at the National Press Club. “Unless you are willing to accept torture as part of a normal American political lexicon, unless you are willing to accept that leaving the Geneva Convention is fine and dandy, if you accept the expansion of wiretapping as business as usual, the only way to express this now is to embrace the difficult and perhaps embarrassing process of impeachment.

If any reader knows where the full transcript of this speech might be accessed, please let me know.

This is a hoot!

Willie Nelson Releases Gay Cowboy Song

“Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly (Fond of Each Other)” may be the first gay cowboy song by a major recording artist. But it was written long before this year’s Oscar-nominated “Brokeback Mountain” made gay cowboys a hot topic.

Available exclusively through iTunes, the song features choppy Tex-Mex style guitar runs and Nelson’s deadpan delivery of lines like, “What did you think all them saddles and boots was about?” and “Inside every cowboy there’s a lady who’d love to slip out.”

The song, which debuted Tuesday on Howard Stern’s satellite radio show …

Ok, my head just exploded!

Update:

Towleroad has some more info, which makes the story all the more interesting. Seems an old friend and employee of Willie’s came out to him, prompting him to dig out the song and release it. What a nice gift and public statement of support. Love ya, Willie! Texas needs more native sons like you.

Update 2:

Via Pam’s House Blend, see Law Dork’s full history of the song, which did not, in fact, just fall out of the “closet.”

Tonight I attended a potluck dinner followed by a talk by Camilo Mejia, the conscientious objector who was imprisoned for nine months here in Oklahoma for following his conscience and refusing to return to fight in Iraq. He is one of my heros and it was great to see him again, and to get more details about his journey — and further to see him reach ever more people with his message of personal morality and empowerment. I’ll post a story at www.okimc.org with more details about his talk as soon as I get a chance.More photos

“What Have We Done?”, a question that will ever haunt those who have gone to Iraq on our behalf, due to the greed and corruption of this administration. This story from Electronic Iraq includes fantastic quotes from the vets who now work for peace, including Camilo Mejia, a truly heroic human being that I am proud to know.

Margaret Cho was already the coolest person on the planet, and a guru of the highest order, but now she has taken up bellydancing and my head is exploding with the cosmic beauty of it all. Thankfully, she has resumed blogging (having taken a break for filming a movie and the Assassin tour) and is sharing the journey with her fans.

Her blog is not archived by month, so just start here (6/13/05), and then find subsequent posts on the subject. She’ll take you from SoCal to Cairo (her trip to an Egyptian mall is a must read), as she attends dance festivals and classes. She weaves feminism, politics, image issues and more into the picture. Speaking of pictures, “Team Cho,” her support crew, have posted a photo of Margaret dancing.

Clearly, not one of those Gaylords, but Gaylord Nelson, father of the modern environmental movement. What an inspiring life. Thank you, sir, and goodbye.

Former Senator Who Founded Earth Day Dies - Yahoo! News

My Dad’s a pretty mainstream, “middle of the road” Democrat, but he has upon occasion gotten passionate about politics. He still talks about theamazing Keynote Address Mario Cuomo gave at the 1984 Democratic National Convention. I just found it on a site called American Rhetoric, where great oratory is archived, in text, audio and in some cases, video. Aren’t the Internets great?

Complete index to and partial text and audio database of the 100 most significant American political speeches of the 20th century, according to 137 leading scholars of American public address, as compiled by Stephen E. Lucas (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Martin J. Medhurst (Baylor University). Find out who made the cut and experience the power of rhetorical eloquence in this provocative list of “who’s who” in American public address.

They also have great movie speeches and a collection called “Rhetoric of 9-11.”

BTW, I think Cuomo would have made a great SC justice; Dad wishes he had been president.

Daily Kos :: Galloway’s Testimony Before Senate: MUST READ!

Only Senators Coleman and Levin were in attendance for the hearing of testimony by George Galloway, MP, on what part he may have played in the Iraq oil for food debacle. But Galloway knew he had a much larger audience and he used the opportunity well.

“Senator, this is the mother of all smoke screens,” he said and, by golly, Coleman, representing the entire administration, had to sit there and listen to it. The only downside is that none of the video I saw included an angle that caught his face. He got smacked down and he bloody well knew it. Levin was an ass too, but Coleman was the top stooge.

“Filibuster Frist” @ Princeton University

Open Letter to Anyone Who Gives a Shit About Justice by Ajai Raj.

Ajai Raj — great name by the way — is the kid who had the balls (and the bad taste) to ask Ann Coulter about ass-fucking at her recent intentionally incidiary stage show at UT Austin. As Steve Guillard said in the the comments section of his blog on this event, “[…] the kids in the audience took her seriously. This guy got the point that this was a show and he upstaged her.”

And from the Burnt Orange Reports comments:

Arresting that student was wrong, period. He should have just been kicked out. Where does it end? This sets a bad precedent. What he was said was indeed immature and vulgar, but guess what, folks–he has the right to say it. Personally, I would have asked, “How do you feel about heterosexual marriages where the husband repeatedly rapes his wife, beats her and denigrates her? Is that better than two homosexuals getting married?”

Regarding the argument that there were children in the room–I’m sure that hearing hate speech from Ann Coulter will make more of an impression that “f*ck” “ass” or masturbatory gestures. They are too young to understand that–but mommy and daddy embracing “values” and speech such as killing liberals and converting Arabs to Christianity and killing their leaders is something they may vaguely understand now, and will stick with them, rather than lewd actions and speech.

and

It’s all very funny, especially since its the Ann Coulters and the Antonin Scalias of the world, as well as the Republican/Bigot Party who are truly obsessed with the behavior now so verbally and colorfully tossed back at them and who want to put people in prison for it. Maybe we should now put these true “instigators” and “outside agitators” in jail under the newly expanded and capitalized offenses of “Bad Taste,” “Disruptive” and “Lewd Conduct” and, most ominous, “Crossing the Line.

I say kick Chris Matthews out on the street and give this kid a show on cable. So he’s got a criminal record — it’s a good way to start off in the broadcasting business; just ask Chuck Colson, G. Gordon Liddy, and Oliver North.

If you watched cable news last summer, you would quickly answer “Ronald Reagan.” If you watched it this spring, you know for sure it was Pope John Paul II.

But you would be wrong. Because the people who by all rights should receive the credit for overpowering the dictatorship in Eastern Europe will never get the 24/7 star treatment by the corporate-owned media.

Kurt at Okie Funk has great post about how Oklahoma progressives don’t know each other, with some ideas for how that can change.

I pretty much agree with what he says, except I don’t plan on working the Dems to do anything. I totally support those who take up that work, but for me, I’d rather agitate from outside the political duopoly.

BTW, Kurt is the author of an amazing series of profiles on Okie Progressives, which (so far) includes Woody Guthrie, Will Rogers and Ralph Ellison, among others. Highly recommended

Marla Ruzicka, a California Green Party member and international peace activist, died the other day in Iraq, the victim of yet another car bomb. Her story is amazing — what a brave, loving woman she was. What dedication she had to the true meaning and potential of America. So of course, rabid conservative bloggers are spitting on her memory.

But I think her true legacy, decent and unselfish, will win that battle. Ironically, her death may uncover the project she was working on at the time of her death: the U.S. government’s secret tally of civilian casualties.

Human Rights Watch:

[…]Ruzicka and her colleagues at CIVIC (nearly all local volunteers) worked to identify victims individually, gathering detailed information about the circumstances of their injury, their personal lives, and the impact of the war on them. This information was widely viewed as some of the most accurate data about the condition of civilians and helped put a human face on their suffering. Its reliability made it possible for many civilian victims to receive compensation.[…]