I am a speech pathologist, doctoral level. I was a national moderator for http://www.johnkerry.com but have not chosen a candidate for 2008. I am a mother of a 26 year old. I am a photographer, traveller, dreamer, music freak.
Now that I have your attention, I just want to say that the Big Tent experience is primo and I want to personally thank DailyKos, Google and Digg and the City of Denver and the DNC (even if the latter didn't have much to do with it.)
I want to thank whoever made it so we got Cajun food tonight and all the Fat Tire we can drink. & I want to thank whoever gave us this wonderful proximity to the awesome Tattered Cover Bookstore and to the MSNBC sound stage where I just saw Rachel Maddow and Pat Buchanan going at it (no, I don't mean that way!) I want to thank Arianna Huffington for having a cool spa next door and for showing up and blogging there! I want to thank her for the free book. & the free Dean Ornish book.
I want to thank Markos for the free book and for signing it, and for holding down the fort in a crazy zoo so far! I want to thank the Volunteers and Security who work out in the front and keep all of corporate (aka mainstream or traditional) media from bursting in here at once to see what we're doing.
I was in the Big Tent (for bloggers) and had scored a couch with a nice AC adaptor plug-in and wasn't about to move. I had pictures to upload, email to check and blogging to do and wasn't about to give up my spot.
Katie Couric came in with her entourage. I ignored that.
Dan Rather spoke upstairs and I admire him. I forgot to go.
I thought that the Big Tent was for bloggers and that the Alliance Center next door was for the "new media" - you know, like The Nation or Mother Jones. Yet all these corporate reporters were flooding the doors trying to worm their way in to see what we were doing. The Pepsi Center was right next door - there was a Convention going on! Yet they wanted to be with us.
I was coming home from a regional blogger conference and was still mentally processing and mulling over alot of things in my head when I saw these symbolic grave markers at Green Lake in Seattle. I stopped to photograph them, but soon realized that it would be impossible to portray how many there actually were. First, I took a photo encompassing all that would fit in one frame, and then moved to where that photo ended and took another one, with the hope of connecting them for a panorama. It took me twenty photos. When walking back, I decided to film them. It took me a few seconds short of five minutes just to walk by and capture the graves of Arlington West, which are here in Seattle for the fifth year. For shame!
(See the video below. Please watch the whole thing before reading the article.)
Commencement addresses are a historic event because young people are on the threshold of the rest of their lives. Jessica Lange spoke at Wellesley and asked students to work for peace.
My son graduated last summer and wasn't going to go through exercises, then found out he had a chance to do so and the speaker would be Quincy Jones! I will be there and I am glued to my screen right now as Obama is about to come on.
I couldn't get out of work today so am gradually reconstructing what happened in Seattle today prior to our caucusses tomorrow. I had my car radio on, checked the internet when I could, and grilled my son the minute I walked in the door.
I first heard of Blackwater, like many people, when four of their members were ambushed in Fallujah and their corpses were dragged through the streets, then hung from a bridge over the Euphrates. I had also heard about Dyncorp, with members alleged to have been involved in rapes in Kosovo with no legal way to prosecute them, and that they were from Texas with conservative government ties. Prior to that, I had known about "mercenaries" or "soldiers of fortune" and generally thought of them as macho rightwing adventures with a thirst for blood. They are also known as "cowboys" or "hired guns."
More curious than ever, knowing that these contractors remain in Iraq in huge numbers yet are seldom mentioned when there is talk of a drawdown in forces in Iraq, I solicited questions from friends via email, and we came up with some basics. The links we collected are at the bottom of the thread.
Yesterday the Cheney video du jour was the 1994 one where he warned against invading and occupying Iraq.
Today he's in the YouTube universe again, and this may go viral too!
Amazingly, a rowdy group of Jackson Hole Citizens toppled a statue of Cheney while shouting
"Impeach Cheney first" and the Sheriff drove by and appeared not to mind!
I was so shocked by this video that I can't even remember how I discovered it. It's made by Max Blumenthal, who made the Young Republicans "Generation Chickenhawk" video that people were watching last week. He is a very slick infiltrator and manages to get alot of inside stuff on these Rapture folks, before getting exited from the building by cops without an explanation.
There is nothing in the Bible about The Rapture. It was thought up by an 18th century Fire and Brimstone preacher. These folks depend on interpretations of others, just as they do for the Constitution. They don't read the Bill of Rights and I am not so sure they read the Bible either.
There seems to be a sea of bitterness on the internet, and rightly so. If it's not the Republicans, it's the Democrats and it's been this way for years.
For short-term sanity, I suggest the following:
Watch this video of Bush being hit by bird poop:
http://abcnews.go.com/... Visualize what you think it symbolizes.
I have been tracking the world's media coverage of the three most media-hyped deaths, as well as the size of the crowds, the type of funeral or ceremony, and in fact, the number of funerals (3 for James Brown) and days of official mourning (8 for Ford). Saddam's death is the most controversial because of lack of world consensus on the Iraq war and because of our known contributions to him (weapons, etc.) prior to 1991. Ford was a US President, yes, but by default and not for long. James Brown was known world wide and yes, he did have some history of prison, domestic violence and drug use. He was still a phenomenal role model of black pride and pure energy. He is still at the top of the Google Sweepstakes for media posterity.
Seattle celebrated the last four days with Pride Events, both on Capital Hill and at the Seattle Center. This was the first year for the parade to go from Westlake Mall downtown to the Seattle Center. It was arguably more public, but seemed to be somehow "neutered."
Nevertheless, I was moved to tears hearing Seattle Men's Chorus (& some of Seattle Women's Chorus) sing "This Land Is Your Land". They are embarking on a tour of ten red states, ending with a Gala performance in Salt Lake City. They will do traditional American music, for Jack and Ennis & those like them, in America's lonely places.
The Solstice Parade was held 24 hours after The President left our airspace. The paper mache puppets (Condi, Rumsfeld) are part of the latest series by Backbone Campaign, of Vashon Island, WA. They were displayed at the Fremont (aka Center of the Universe) in Seattle.
The Goddess periodically opened her pedestal, releasing big babies from the earth's continents, who began to fight, before being reabsorbed. The preacher man with the flag with crosses for stars railed against sin, flanked by giant erogenous body parts.
Vanna White spun the Wheel of Torture and contestants used water board, electrical shock etc. on the Beat the Bush puppet. Other depictions showed him in a tank or with his Mission Accomplished suit, or chasing salmon and skiers while holding the earth.
In yet another incarnation, he rode a unicicle, which many thought looked uncomfortable, since he was more transparent than usual (The Emperor Wore No Clothes).
Yesterday I attended a most interesting event. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin was stumping for Maria Cantwell of Washington. Many who came to see Russ have mixed feelings about Cantwell who has been weak on the war though strong on the environment. & everyone here (Seattle) loves Feingold!
Before the speeches, I noticed Bill Moyer of the Backbone Campaign heading out the door with a large gold backbone! (The Backbone Campaign is a grassroots effort to embolden citizens and elected officials to stand up for progressive values. I followed him outside and he told me they had been relegated to the area near the chain link fence ("like at the convention," he said, probably because the Backbone Campaign also give "Spineless Awards").
I just heard from KarenInDC and she is at the Code Pink rally in DC and completely unable to make a crowd estimate but CNN has helicopters overhead.
Karen is in a sea of pink - pink balloons, pink banners, pink flags, pink signs - from all over the US. They are headed later to the Washington Monument but right now they are being lined up inside a big square - of coffins. I could hear shouts of "Stop the War!"
PM Update:
See the photos, especially the aerial one where they spelled out words!
http://www.democracycellproject.net/blog/archives/2006/05/code_pink_at_th.html
