Selves and Others

A Citizen's Reflection on Race, Violence, and Power

Cynthia Boaz — 2008-01-31T14:13:00Z

On December 10, the social justice community in Rochester, New York commemorated the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The themes of the evening's panel discussion were race and racism, and most of the attention was given to the shockingly high rate of black-on-black violence perpetuated by young men against other young men in this community. Although the discussion was occasionally contentious, most people in the room seemed to agree upon several things: 1) the problem is not unique to the upstate New York region and this issue is equally relevant in Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Washington DC, and another half dozen cities across the United States; 2) the epidemic has something to do with the legacy of slavery; 3) structural and institutional racism perpetuate the problem by ensuring that most blacks who find themselves on the lowest rungs of the class ladder stay there, and 4) the responsibility for addressing the issue lies with both the individual and the community. Many people - both black and white - also shared concern that the extraordinary advances made by the Civil Rights Movement are being undermined on one hand by de-facto segregation, and on the other by legalized discrimination, the most visible form of which is racial profiling by law enforcement. (...)

- Cynthia Boaz

Peace Activists Occupy Huckabee's Iowa Campaign Office

Mike Ferner — 2008-01-31T10:50:00Z

Des Moines – With 40 percent of Iowa's Republican caucus voters expected to come from the ranks of conservative Christians, peace activists occupied Mike Huckabee's campaign headquarters in Iowa's capital city today with signs asking the former Baptist minister, “Who Would Jesus Bomb?” (...)

- Mike Ferner

Thinking Outside the Christmas Box

Rosemarie Jackowski — 2008-01-31T09:44:00Z

You say that Christmas has become too commercialized. In some towns the display of decorated trees is now controversial. Confused about whether to say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays". What about Kwanza, Hanukkah, and the Holy Days of Islam? Maybe a simple greeting of "Peace to you brother" would be appropriate. Better be careful though with that one. I have a few friends who have been arrested for saying "Peace" at the wrong time in the wrong place. Ah, the stress of it all could drive a person to over- indulge in the spiked nog. (...)

- Rosemarie Jackowski

The Truth about Immigration

Mickey Z. — 2008-01-31T09:43:00Z

Scream it from the mountaintops (or at least on your blog): Immigrants are destroying any and all hope of for planetary survival. Illegal aliens are Public Enemy #1. Foreigners are terrorists.

- Mickey Z.

Slavoj Zizek on the Dilemmas of Capitalism

Thomas Riggins — 2008-01-31T09:00:00Z

Slavoj Zizek begins his new article in the London Review of Books (11-15-07) with the words, “One of the clearest lessons of the last few decades is that capitalism is indestructible.” He thus joins a crowd of commentators who confuse historically temporary configurations of power with permanent, almost metaphysically substantive economic relations of necessity. (...)

- Thomas Riggins

Humankind at the Edge

Martin LeFevre — 2008-01-31T08:55:00Z

Humanity is

the start of the race; I say

Humanity is the mold to break away from, the crust to break through, the coal to break into fire,

the atom to split.

— Robinson Jeffers

Fittingly, at the end of this annus horribilis, I'm reading “Robinson Jeffers, The Poet of California,” a biography by a local professor, James Karman. In the 1920's, Jeffers' poetry was considered “unsurpassed by any other poet writing today in English,” in the words of a leading reviewer of the time, “equaled only by the very great,” added another from the New York Times. (...)

- Martin LeFevre

Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammed at Christmas

Martin LeFevre — 2008-01-31T08:50:00Z

At the core of the Christian faith is the idea of “God becoming man in Jesus.” As soon as I became old enough to question my conditioning, I instinctively felt this was an inherent blasphemy. (...)

- Martin LeFevre

Two Empires Down, One to Go

Martin LeFevre — 2008-01-31T08:45:00Z

After being booed and berated for days, the US led coalition of the swilling—Canada, Japan, and Australia—ended its opposition in Bali to launching negotiations on a new pact to fight global warming. "It was exactly what we wanted. We are indeed very pleased," said Humberto Rosa, head of the European Union delegation. (...)

- Martin LeFevre

The Search For Intelligent Life

Martin LeFevre — 2008-01-31T08:40:00Z

Fog enshrouds the town as we enter the mountain community from the valley below. With a few hundred meters more of elevation, the fog clears, though the skies remain cloudy. Reaching the man-made lake, there is a brightening, and even a small patch or two of blue. (...)

- Martin LeFevre

Karl Rove's Six Degrees of Obama Separation

Martin LeFevre — 2008-01-31T08:39:00Z

Karl Rove has taken to advising Barack Obama. What do you make of that? Of course the Machiavellian Prince's counsel was not sought, but that just makes the whole thing that much more interesting.

Only fools read politics at face value. Certainly, the Republicans main premise of the last decade and more has been: You can fool enough of the people enough of the time. And despite the ‘stolen elections' conspiracy-buffs, it's worked so far for the Bush clique. Indeed, Karl Rove believes they just have to get cleverer (read, more diabolically cunning) in their hoodwinking. (...)

- Martin LeFevre