test blog 5

One cutie does not want a bath. And another cutie wants a boycott. Thanks to David and Dharma Seeker.

Classes start today. Amazingly, I'm not completely dreading it. By the end of this calendar year, I'll be two classes further towards my goal. Onward. Best wishes to friends and readers who are also back in school, whether as teachers or students.

And I will drive my chariot down your streets and cry, Hey it's me, I'm dynamite and I don't know why... Van Morrison by way of The Waterboys

You may have seen some coverage of the vigil held in lower Manhattan on Friday night , in support of peace and religious tolerance. I thought you might like to read a first-hand report from a friend of mine who was there. NN writes: I attended with M, her 70+ year-old neighbor (a veteran of many civil rights protests), and L. The crowd number between 1000-2000, depending on reports, and filled a penned-in area about two blocks long. The tone of the speeches was a little too religious for my tastes, but I was happy that among those present were a rabbi, an imam, an Episcopal minister and a few other clergy. Keith Ellison, a U.S. Rep (the first Muslim) from Minnesota spoke, and a few local elected officials were present as well or sent messages. Bloomberg’s support was cited, although I’m sure he had few friends in the crowd. The entire event was completely peaceful. I saw no counter-protesters and the police seemed relatively low key with this group of mostly white, middle-class (look...

A message from CODEPINK, Women Say No To War: + + + + September 10, 2010 Won't you join me in wishing the women in Afghanistan a happy Eid to mark the end of Ramadan and letting them know your commitment to building a more peaceful, tolerant world? We will send the greetings tomorrow, 9/11, to the Coalition of Afghan Women--a wonderful network of Afghan groups working to improve the lives of women and their families. You can simply sign our message or send a personal note. I am the head of CODEPINK in Gainesville, Florida, now known as the home of the infamous Terry Jones who has threatened to burn the Qur'an. We are ashamed that he was become the face of Gainesville and we are using this debacle as an opportunity to counter the dangerous explosion of Islamophobia in this country. This week, we have joined with the local Muslim community to organize a Read a Qur'an Day and to serve dinner to the homeless. Campus CODEPINK, University of Florida, has been educating themselves...

This is why we must offer sancturary to every soldier strong enough to resist the madness of war. This is why Canada must get out of Afghanistan now . From The Guardian : US soldiers 'killed Afghan civilians for sport and collected fingers as trophies' Soldiers face charges over secret 'kill team' which allegedly murdered at random and collected fingers as trophies of war Twelve American soldiers face charges over a secret "kill team" that allegedly blew up and shot Afghan civilians at random and collected their fingers as trophies. Five of the soldiers are charged with murdering three Afghan men who were allegedly killed for sport in separate attacks this year. Seven others are accused of covering up the killings and assaulting a recruit who exposed the murders when he reported other abuses, including members of the unit smoking hashish stolen from civilians. In one of the most serious accusations of war crimes to emerge from the Afghan conflict, the killings...

About 500 people packed the Bloor Cinema in Toronto last night, to hear Naomi Klein speak briefly, and to watch " Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train ," a documentary by Denis Mueller and Deb Ellis. We also saw a new five-minute film about the War Resisters Support Campaign and Bill B-440 , an amazing piece that I look forward to posting as soon we're able to release it. We were thrilled with the turnout, and even more with the event itself. There's no doubt that Naomi Klein's presence helped fill the house. Her warm and eloquent introduction tied everything together so beautifully. The idea of this evening, she said - using this movie on behalf of Iraq War resisters in Canada - was born at a memorial service for Howard Zinn, one of her greatest teachers, and towards the end of his life, her friend. Naomi talked about her parents, who came to Canada as Vietnam War resisters, who achieved official Canadian status in 20 minutes at the border. Sh...