Monday, July 31, 2006

Modern War Speak



Getting it Straight

The Bush Administration may
set up military tribunals for
enemy combatants held without
charges or trial at GITMO
because these people are terrorists,
who fought back when we
invaded their homeland.

The war between Lebanon, Gaza
and Israel began when Palestinian
and Hezbollah terrorists
captured Israeli soldiers and
demanded a prisoner swap.

It did not begin when Israel
arrested, assassinated and imprisoned
the democratically elected Hamas government
of Palestine, or bulldozed 60 Palestinian
homes in Gaza, or murdered a Palestinian
family of 7 having a picnic on the beach.

Israel’s relentless bombing of Lebanon,
for instance, the massacre of 22 children,
30 women in Qana, is Hezbollah’s
fault because they hide behind
women and children, who are
collateral damage — tissue, blood,
body parts, relentless grinding
centers of civil grief that is ruthlessly
exploited by Hezbollah propagandists
who decry War Crimes.

The refugees hiding in Qana should have
evacuated while the Israeli Air Force
was bombing all vehicles on the move
in South Lebanon.

The women and children who were
masaccred in Qana were being held
as hostages by Hezbollah, so naturally,
Israel bombed them by accident.

The US invaded Iraq because they had weapons
of mass destruction and a despotic leader.
Shock and Awe took out infrastructure,
and the occupation caused the death of
44,000 civilians which is the result
of insurgents who want to make
it look like they are winning.

Although 100 people are dying a day
in Iraq, more than in Lebanon and Gaza,
it is not necessary to be
concerned about civil chaos. These are the
labor pains of a new democracy.

It wasn’t necessary to repair
Iraqi infrastructure. It was necessary
to build 6 huge military bases –
20 miles square, I-max theaters, swimming pools,
and air strips for National Guard troops
sentenced to endless combat rotations.

It doesn’t matter that there were
no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

It was necesseary to torture and humiliate
Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib
because they were terroristsbut
the responsible enlisted men and women
will be punished, because we got caught.

Military commanders and the Bush cadre
are not responsible for errors (torture, massacre,
rape) committed by soldiers because the
situation is in control.

It doesn’t matter that Al Qaeda had
zero connection to Iraq. They do now.
This is a huge US success story.

The US Congress rightly endorses
and funds the Iraq war – a war against
a country that did not threaten us
in any way, a war the American people
do not support. This is strong leadership.

The furious and stunned Lebanese protesters
who stormed the UN in Beirut should have
protested against Hezbollah, which
is defending their country.

It is Hezbollah’s fault the UN will not demand
a permanent cease fire until Hezbollah
is incapable of fighting back.

Hezbollah should allow itself
to be disarmed (cleansed).

The United States, and our allies,
Great Britain, Israel, Australia and (?)
are defending the world
from terrorists who are at fault
if they fight back when the country
they live in is destroyed by US
superior conventional military power.

Terrorists and guerillas don't fight fair.
They keep fighting after we've ruined
their countries and massacred their people.

North Korea and Iran are rogue states
because they want to develop nuclear
weapons, and don’t like us, which
is unfair because we have the good
of their people at heart. We want to
bring Democracy to them.

The United States, the only country
in history who has ever used weapons of
mass annihilation, has a right to them
because we believe in democracy and freedom,
and have more money than anyone
except the Saudi Royal Family.

The United States spies on its own
citizens, taps phones, monitors emails,
censors the internet and routinely rigs
electronic voting machines to maintain
the best democracy for sale..
These are the hallmarks of a free society.

Terrorists are all the same. It doesn’t matter
where they are or what their specific gripes
are. They are all the enemy and must
be annihilated. This makes our economy strong.

The best way to spread freedom and democracy
to the Middle East is to bomb the hell out
of country after country and then establish
occupations.

Bombing is good for the common people
and strengthens democratic governments.

Occupations foster strong democracies.

It is not necessary to mess with Kuwait or
Saudi Arabia because they are
ruled by corporations in league with the G8.

It is never appropriate to negotiate
with terrorists whose demands are always
unreasonable and unfair. Diplomacy works
best when there are no lines of communication
between disputing entities.

It is important to get these somewhat
counter intuitive facts straight.

Otherwise one might find oneself
siding with the entire civilized world,
demanding a permanent cease fire
in Lebanon, for example,
which could jeopardize or slow down
the neo-con agenda for a new world order.

And the terrorists would win.



©Susan Bright


HOME

What it is About

Earthfamily Principles

Earthfamilyalpha Content II

Earthfamilyalpha Content

Links

LANGUAGE TRANSLATIONS

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Snow Hole


We set off from White Bird.

The tiny hotel room there was a welcome rest,

from a day and late night of packing and driving.

We were lucky that the nail in the tire only made our tire low.

After a brief rest and sleep,

Some of us went to have the flat fixed and the others

went to inflate our rafts and make the final preparations.

As we put our two heavily supplied rafts into the river,

An onlooking river guide said that our Maravias were the best.

Each of the rafts had tubular steel racks that held our three dry boxes,

and our three coolers.

We had plenty of food and supplies for our 75 miles and four days on

the River of No Return.

The Salmon River is cool this time of year, not as cold as Bartons.

It is clear enough to drink, which we did for the last two days.

There are many many class two rapids, plenty of class threes,

and a class four rapid called Snow Hole that will give you that

funny feeling in your gut when you first see it.

We rode the Salmon until it merged with the Snake.

It was as if two great moving seas came together.

For several miles after the confluence of these two great volumes,

the waters gurgled and swirled as the two became one,

Creating giant whirlpools and upwellings,

one, strong enough

to almost suck the raft and us,

down into its depths.

Five men and 2 women rode for four days on these waters.

And the war,

and the climate,

and the likelihood of a peak in oil production,

quietly crept into the backs of our minds,

while Snow Hole loomed large.


HOME

What it is About

Earthfamily Principles

Earthfamilyalpha Content II

Earthfamilyalpha Content

Links

LANGUAGE TRANSLATIONS

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Tell Halaf Mother Goddess


Tell Halaf Terracotta Mother Goddess, c. 55oo-4500 BC (The Halaf population practiced dry farming (without irrigation) and kept cattle, sheep and goats. Notable among their pottery output, the Halaf communities made distinctive baked clay female figurines that represented the Mother or Fertility Goddess. They are typified by large buttocks and hips, and often, pendulous breasts.)

Tyre

an ancient city, half mainland, half island,
was the home of the Phoenicians,
great traders and makers of a purple dye
made from Mediterranean shells
worth 20 times as much as gold.
Alexander the Great wanted Tyre
and built a causeway from the debris
of war from mainland to island center
to conquer the Queen of the Seas.
Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to the
land part of the city for thirteen years,
but the residents had all gone
to the Island for safety.
Alexander was so infuriated

by Tyrian hard fought defense of
their homeland that he sold
30,000 people into slavery.
Tyre was part of the Roman
Empire in the first century,
hence the aqueducts,
and a great chariot racing
stadium. There are Phonecian,
Greek, Roman and Byzantine ruins,
Moslem temples, and a Crusader
Cathedral.

Phonecians invented the alphabet
to keep track of who sold what
to whom, and somehow poetry
and liturgy grew out of that.

Christian Zionists believe it is part of the
Holy Land which, when restored in total,
from Syria to Egypt, to the Jews
will make way for the return of Jesus.

Zionists just want the land
restored to Israel.

The inhabitants want to bake bread,
fish, watch white sails furl as ships
come and go, raise children --

They most certainly don't like
being part of a foreign empire.

Every deity since the
Ancient Mother has justified
just that.

She was a mother,
and a goddess, here and now —
which really is enough.

©Susan Bright, 2006
Susan Bright is the author of nineteen books of poetry. She is the editor of Plain View Press which since 1975 has published one-hundred-and-fifty books. Her work as a poet, publisher, activist and educator has taken her all over the United States and abroad. Her most recent book, The Layers of Our Seeing, is a collection of poetry, photographs and essays about peace done in collaboration with photographer Alan Pogue a
nd Middle Eastern journalist, Muna Hamzeh.

"TERRA SANCTA..."Amsterdam: Frederick de Wit, c. 1680. Engraved map with full superb original hand-coloring. (Reference: Nebenzahl #49). This highly decorative map depicts the Holy Land extending from Sidon & Damascus to the "Wilderness of Pharan" in the Sinai. Divisions of the 12 Tribes are noted, as are the biblical towns, caves, wells, & graves. Information is provided regarding the seats of ancient kingdoms from the period prior to the coming of the Israelites, as well as Roman provincial divisions from the time of Christ. The inset at the bottom depicts an encampment of Israelites during the Exodus. The 12 Tribes are deployed around the perimeter with the population of each noted; in the center is the Tabernacle with the Levites in attendance. Moses is shown (left) holding his staff opposite Aaron in priestly robes. On the sea are the legends of Jonah & the Whale & King Solomon's Lebanese cedars. Garlands, supported by angels across the top, repeat with various fruits, bunches of grapes & flowers - suggesting the theme of the Promised Land's richness. The key (upper left) explains the various symbols found in the map.




HOME

What it is About

Earthfamily Principles

Earthfamilyalpha Content II

Earthfamilyalpha Content

Links

LANGUAGE TRANSLATIONS

Friday, July 28, 2006

Women in Black


Women in Black, copyright Alan Pogue 2001

These members of Bat Shalom, an Israeli women's peace organization
nominated for the 2001 Nobel Prize for Peace, maintain a Women in Black
vigil in West Jerusalem. There are peace movements in Israel and in Palestine.
The Rapprochement Center does nonviolent resistance training.
There are Israeli soldiers who have gone to prison rather than se
rve
in the occupied territories. There is a Israeli group called Yesh Gvul
composed of active military, retired military and conscientious objectors

who maintain there can be no peace until the occupation of Palestine is over.
(Alan Pogue)


Press Your Face Against the Sky

I
climb out of the creek and press my face against the sky,
stretch out on limestone warmer than the air. Light
drops points of heat into my pores.
Small drops of water linger
just a moment.

On sunny days it’s warmer next to the creek than uphill,
in traffic, where the wind blows, where a human

appetite for power pushes us
to war after war.

On cold days I spread papers in the sun room where light
pours through long panes of glass until my work
space is static with dry heat. Cats wait
for me on a table splashed
with light.

I need juice —

for my computers, heat, air conditioning, don’t care
to wash my clothes along the river’s edge.
I like to plug things into power jacks.
Energy isn’t bad. I like cars too.
Today I stood with the Women in Black in front of the Capitol.
There was a slight chill in the breeze, but sunlight quickly
soaked through my dark clothing,

warming arms and back,
turning my long hair into a blanket.


We stood in front of the capitol because we want the world
to turn away from war. We want America to think
differently, act differently. We want
the occupation of Palestine
to end.

My father and grandfather were oil men whose business was
to make energy available to a society ravenous for it.
And we’ve grown hungrier still, so hungry that
two civilizations careen to war.


911 has pushed the world to a recession.
Business responds with massive layoffs and we spin further
down into depression —

We need a million jobs —

about what it would take to change world gears from carbon to light.
Invention waits for the right moment.

Press your face against the sky.

©Susan Bright, 2001


Shabbat

First a prayer, then bread, a sip of wine, cold gazpacho
with croutons made from homemade bread soaked in butter,
herbs. Virginia passes a platter of dates so delicious
I say I should have taken twelve instead of one

so she brings back the tray, and everyone takes more,
then squash casserole, baked chicken in mushroom sauce,
hummus and flat bread, olives and more olives,
another prayer, because this is a Shabbat, a song,
a dance, a community circle. The Jewish women
have arranged supper for women travelling to Palestine.

We practice speaking Arabic. Carole will bring back poems.
Everyone names a gift for the delegation. We send love
and hope, endurance, patience for listening, open minds,
courage, invention. We give donations to defray the cost.

Patrice, who has sold her car to raise money for the trip,
is at another fund-raiser. Joni talks about how she resisted
the trip at first, how it became a deep necessity.

I ask Lourdes, whose music is legend, if she will sing
or perform in Palestine. She says perhaps not
because mourning is not a time in Palestine for song.
I ask Annette what she fears the most. Her answer
reaches deep into the fabric of our world. She says,

If we are killed or harmed (even if by accident)
by the people living under occupation, it could
be used out of context to justify more atrocity.
She says,
A greater fear is that the ethnic cleansing
of Palestinians will not be stopped, that the entire region

will be destroyed. That is more important
than
one person’s life.
Friends bring huge plates
of baklava, which no one can resist, and marzipan.
I ask Annette what she is most confident about.

She says, The understanding that occurs when women
speak to one another, from that peace can be born, I trust it.
I say,
We will not allow the work to be corrupted,
and long for a global community supper,
plenty for everyone, no nationalites, just human beings
living in harmony. Virginia mingles in the crowd
carrying an oval basket of gigantic red grapes, succulent
and abundant, like
the vision of peace women

offer to the world with their lives.

©Susan Bright, 2001

Susan Bright is the author of nineteen books of poetry. She is the editor of Plain View Press which since 1975 has published one-hundred-and-fifty books. Her work as a poet, publisher, activist and educator has taken her all over the United States and abroad. Her most recent book, The Layers of Our Seeing, is a collection of poetry, photographs and essays about peace done in collaboration with photographer Alan Pogue and Middle Eastern journalist, Muna Hamzeh.

*Poems and photographs from The Layers of Our Seeing by Susan Bright, Muna Hamzeh and Alan Pogue. Plain View Press, 2001. Presently in it's 4 edition, this collection grows as the world it mirrors changes. Each print run is different.

Phoenix Jabber, Alan Pogue, 1998, Hebron

Atta Jabber's oldest child stands on the ruins of a Jabber home. It has become one of the more than three thousand Palestinian homes which have been destroyed by the Israeli military occupation forces. No Palestinian can build or make a home improvement without the permission of the Israeli military courts. They are not likely to give permission. Even a passive rain water collector is not allowed. Digging a well is not even considered since the Israelis control water use in Palestinian territory. Palestinian families grow but their homes may not be expanded.

The Israeli government hopes to quietly force thousands of Palestinians off their land this way under the cover of a facade of legality. This leads to frustration and hopelessness among the Palestinians. Air and water are squeezed out of them. Even so Atta's daughter wears a "Peace Camp 95" tee shirt she received while attending a camp for Israeli and Palestinian children whose parents wished to foster mutual understanding and epaveful relations. Voices for peace must be fostered rather than ignored, as they are in the U. S. media. (Alan Pogue)

HOME

What it is About

Earthfamily Principles

Earthfamilyalpha Content II

Earthfamilyalpha Content

Links

LANGUAGE TRANSLATIONS

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Surrounded


Surrounded 06, fractal by Mansco

Surrounded

Do you know what Condoleezza means in Arapaho?

Israel
is surrounded by enemies who want it disappeared.
Lebanon
is surrounded by exploding fire balls, rubble
full of sirens, terror, death, and humanitarian catastrophe.
Rome
is surrounded by Empire and opera, past and present
and Catholicism, past and present, and the Coliseum
in a sport/time warp.
America
is surrounded by media spin, the prom queen
and the coach, Condoleezza Rice beaming as camera
flashes caress her, Hughes mouthing fractals of the generic lie,
over and over, every word the opposite of itself.

I ran into Karen Hughes one day at the grocery store
sometime during GW’s first term, after 911 and before
the invasion of Iraq.

She wandered isle to isle, no basket, looked dazed,
too much decongestant maybe.

People who recognized her wouldn’t acknowledge it.
"She’s lied so much," I thought, "she’s invisible."

Do you know what Condoleezza means in Arapaho?

Here
she is flirting with Kofi Annin, sitting at a formal
supper with the Lebanese ministers, laughing.
Laughing?

Shouldn't we be bringing food to them?

Here
is a cheery shot— Condi with Fuad Saniora
whose country is obliterated thanks to photo op
diplomacy.

The world
is surrounded by a young Empire bent on conquering
what it doesn’t understand.

Earth people
are surrounded by global capitalism ravernous for
war profits.

So what does Condoleezza mean in Arapaho?

Syria is surrounded by revenge and fury and refugees.
Iran is surrounded by sand. Iraq is surrounded by death squads.

Look —
Condi is consoling the Lebanese people,
"These are just the birth pains" she quips,
then
she is off to do a piano recital at an Asian gala
for diplomats.

So what does Condoleezza mean in Arapaho?

It means: Crazy-woman-who-is-going-to-get-us-all-killed.

Surrounded —
every human soul of us,
and flowers, hospitals, villages, huts and mansions, even
UN Relief centers on the phone to Israeli air controllers.

Surrounded
by self-replicating obscene revenge
when the truth is what every human being needs
most is a safe and quiet place to live.

©Susan Bright, 2006

Susan Bright is the author of nineteen books of poetry. She is the editor of Plain View Press which since 1975 has published one-hundred-and-fifty books. Her work as a poet, publisher, activist and educator has taken her all over the United States and abroad. Her most recent book, The Layers of Our Seeing, is a collection of poetry, photographs and essays about peace done in collaboration with photographer Alan Pogue and Middle Eastern journalist, Muna Hamzeh.

Note: This photo is a fabrication, as perfectly true as spun news.

HOME

What it is About

Earthfamily Principles

Earthfamilyalpha Content II

Earthfamilyalpha Content

Links

LANGUAGE TRANSLATIONS

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Reparations



Abrihim Al-Mansi With the Key to His Home, copyright Alan Pogue 2001
Beit Jala, Palestine. The home was taken from him in 1948.


Keys

If the earth is alive, then it is sentient and scientists
will summersault for the next thousand years as
the masks we call knowledge fall away, and we try
to understand what sort of creature our living universe
could be, what part of it we are, perhaps a cancer, or
the funny bone, dust, or an aberrant sort of water.
Perhaps ownership will fall away, and with it stealing,
and with that, government, and then atrocity.

Perhaps in a kinder world, human beings will draw energy
from stars, from wind and there will be enough for everyone.
Perhaps wealth will be distributed fairly, and healthcare
and education. Perhaps all children will have parents who are kind.
Perhaps human beings will celebrate their differences, tolerate
strange ideas and stranger gods.

For now, Grandfather Jabber holds a survey of his land in one hand,
huge muscular hands that have worked the land, know it grain by grain.
In the other hand he holds a deed that is three-hundred years old.
A fifty-year-old treaty pre-empts his deed. Israel has ordered
a demolation. Bulldozers will level his home, rip up the orchard.

Old men in Palestine wear huge keys around their necks to symbolize
the homes and land that was taken from them at the end of the last war
by victors intent on planting seeds for the next clash of civilizations
deep into the soul of the earth. There are issues here.
The land belongs to Grandfather Jabber.

The people who now own it are the historical owners of land stolen
in turn from them by people who can't imagine giving holocaust
survivors
back their homes, land, property. My country sits on land
stolen from people who did not believe human beings could own
the earth. They thought it was a free and sacred being.

©Susan Bright, 2006

Susan Bright is the author of nineteen books of poetry. She is the editor of Plain View Press which since 1975 has published one-hundred-and-fifty books. Her work as a poet, publisher, activist and educator has taken her all over the United States and abroad. Her most recent book, The Layers of Our Seeing, is a collection of poetry, photographs and essays about peace done in collaboration with photographer Alan Pogue and Middle Eastern journalist, Muna Hamzeh.




Grandfather Jabber, (Alan Pogue) 1998, Hebron, Palestine.
Israel ran two four-lane highways through their orchards, offering them $60 in compensation. The Jabber family refused the money. They have lost 13 properties to settlement expansion. He is holding a survey to the family property and a deed from the Ottoman Empire. Alan Pogue

* Poems and photographs from The Layers of Our Seeing by Susan Bright, Muna Hamzeh and Alan Pogue. Plain View Press, 2001. Presently in it's 4 edition, this collection grows as the world it mirrors changes. Each print run is different.

HOME

What it is About

Earthfamily Principles

Earthfamilyalpha Content II

Earthfamilyalpha Content

Links

LANGUAGE TRANSLATIONS

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Middle East School


Pablo Picasso, Guernica

Community

Small bits of sense float to the top
of the chaos, the idea, for instance,
that peace comes moment to moment,
in small breaths as people
know each other, respect each other —
are free to speak, across borders,
in small groups, when we share
small things, gardens, children, song,
food, a joke, hope.

Whole populations are running for their lives –
fast death blasting from
an angry sky.

Small bits of sense surface.
An Israeli Air Force captain refuses to commit
war crimes, a Fatah soldier joins him,
Israeli and Palestinian enlisted men and women
begin Combatants for Peace.

Yesterday, some good news.
Michael Provence, whose letter from Beruit was
forwarded to us by one of our readers,
is safe in Paris, with wife and child,
soon to return home.

He is, we find, a Middle East scholar --
The Great Syrian Revolt and the Rise of Arab Nationalism

"The Great Syrian Revolt of 1925 was the largest and longest-lasting anti-colonial insurgency in the inter-war Arab East. Mobilizing peasants, workers, and army veterans, rather than urban elites and nationalist intellectuals, it was the first mass movement against colonial rule in the Middle East. The revolt failed to liberate Syria from French occupation, but it provided a model of popular nationalism and resistance that remains potent in the Middle East today."

Whole populations are running for their lives –
fast death blasting from
an angry sky.

Hezbollah is heir to that nationalist movement against
colonialism and to the gruesome occupation of Palestine.

Let’s all go to Middle East School, shall we?

©Susan Bright, 2006

Susan Bright is the author of nineteen books of poetry. She is the editor of Plain View Press which since 1975 has published one-hundred-and-fifty books. Her work as a poet, publisher, activist and educator has taken her all over the United States and abroad. Her most recent book, The Layers of Our Seeing, is a collection of poetry, photographs and essays about peace done in collaboration with photographer Alan Pogue and Middle Eastern journalist, Muna Hamzeh.

Note: Follow this link to read Michael's third letter, the story of his trip with wife and small child out of Lebanon by bus.

HOME

What it is About

Earthfamily Principles

Earthfamilyalpha Content II

Earthfamilyalpha Content

Links

LANGUAGE TRANSLATIONS

Monday, July 24, 2006

The River of No Return


Last Night,

While walking the streets of this famous mountain resort town,

We stopped at the little Real Estate Kiosk,

And we looked at the postings.

Yes, they were expensive.

REALLY EXPENSIVE.

I was considerably impressed with a 1500 square feet second floor condo

For 900,000 dollars.

It probably had a view.

Most of the property on this page show listings for around 600.00/sq. ft.

Many of the properties are millions of dollars.

As we drove into town, I looded over at the little airport.

It had more private jets parked on it than Love Field.

This is where the Harrimans and the Governator,

And the Bruce Willises of the World hangout,

The property is well beyond the reach of most of us.

But the question I have is this.

Property in Boise is off the chart.

Property in Alpine is off the chart.

Property in Austin, in Santa Barbara, in wherever,

Is pretty much off the chart.

I have gone through two major property devaluations in my life.

One was in 73, and the other was in the late 80s.

I watched values go down to under 50 cents on the dollar.

In some cases, they went to 35 cents on the dollar.

But this time, I wonder,

Nothing is more dangerous than projecting the past onto the future,

With blithe reckless confidence.

What if this time,

Our currency is getting ready to be worth 10 cents on the dollar?

Then, a million dollar condo doesn’t sound so preposterous.

What if our currency is already devaluing and we are seeing it

In the values of our REAL Estate first?

If the currency goes down in value, real estate goes up,

Equities go up, bonds go in the toilet.

With Climate Change and Resource Depletion,

And the scourge of War riding over the event horizon,

These are wild and unpredictable times.

The rich people are buying really expensive real estate.

Meanwhile,

I’m getting ready for a trip down

the River of No Return.

HOME

What it is About

Earthfamily Principles

Earthfamilyalpha Content II

Earthfamilyalpha Content

Links

LANGUAGE TRANSLATIONS

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Everyone's Child



A child like a rag doll blown
from a car blown
from a road leaving
a small village
in Southern Lebanon —

Leaflets dropped by Israeli
planes told villagers to evacuate.

When they did
the planes came back
and blew their convoy off the road
leaving a child like a rag doll
nameless, unknown,
because everyone who knew
her is also dead, or gone.

Do you think this is too horrible
to see?

Or that the horror
is in the doing.

©Susan Bright, 2006


Note: Isn't Ethnic Cleansing what we call forced migrations of populations?

Robert Fisk writes that this photograph by Nasser Nasser (shown widely in the Middle East, not at all here) is a symbol of this war. You can read his columns from Beruit in The Independent. Sign in to receive a month free portfolio subscription.

* (About the photo) The body of child is seen at the site of an attack that struck the vehicles of villagers evacuating out of their village, on the main road near the southern border village of Ter Harfa, Lebanon Saturday July 15, 2006. At least 12 Lebanese villagers, including women and children, were killed in what appeared to be an Israeli airstrike on a convoy of vehicles evacuating a village near the border with Israel in southern Lebanon, a witness said. The convoy was leaving the village of Marwaheen, which abuts the border, when it was attacked. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Listen to, or read Amy Goodman's

interview with Fisk Wednesday, July 19th, 2006 on
Democracy Now.


Susan Bright is the author of nineteen books of poetry. She is the editor of Plain View Press which since 1975 has published one-hundred-and-fifty books. Her work as a poet, publisher, activist and educator has taken her all over the United States and abroad. Her most recent book, The Layers of Our Seeing, is a collection of poetry, photographs and essays about peace done in collaboration with photographer Alan Pogue and Middle Eastern journalist, Muna Hamzeh.


HOME

What it is About

Earthfamily Principles

Earthfamilyalpha Content II

Earthfamilyalpha Content

Links

LANGUAGE TRANSLATIONS




Saturday, July 22, 2006

The Mother List


*
This list comes from numbers watch.

A complete list of things caused by global warming

Air pressure changes, Alaska reshaped, allergies increase, Alps melting, anxiety, aggressive polar bears, algal blooms, Asthma, avalanches, billions of deaths, blackbirds stop singing, blizzards, blue mussels return, boredom, budget increases, building season extension, bushfires, business opportunities, business risks, butterflies move north, cannibalistic polar bears, cardiac arrest, Cholera, civil unrest, cloud increase, cloud stripping, methane emissions from plants, cold spells (Australia), computer models, conferences, coral bleaching, coral reefs grow, coral reefs shrink, cold spells, crumbling roads, buildings and sewage systems, damages equivalent to $200 billion, Dengue hemorrhagic fever, dermatitis, desert advance, desert life threatened, desert retreat, destruction of the environment, diarrhoea, disappearance of coastal cities, disaster for wine industry (US), Dolomites collapse, drought, drowning people, drowning polar bears, ducks and geese decline, dust bowl in the corn belt, early spring, earlier pollen season, earthquakes, Earth light dimming, Earth slowing down, Earth spinning out of control, Earth wobbling, El Niño intensification, erosion, emerging infections, encephalitis,, Everest shrinking, evolution accelerating, expansion of university climate groups, extinctions (ladybirds, pandas, pikas, polar bears, gorillas, whales, frogs, toads, turtles, orang-utan, elephants, tigers, plants, salmon, trout, wild flowers, woodlice, penguins, a million species, half of all animal and plant species), experts muzzled, extreme changes to California, famine, farmers go under, figurehead sacked, fish catches drop, fish catches rise, fish stocks decline, five million illnesses, floods, Florida economic decline, food poisoning, footpath erosion, forest decline, forest expansion, frosts, fungi invasion, Garden of Eden wilts, glacial retreat, glacial growth, global cooling, glowing clouds, Gore omnipresence, Great Lakes drop, greening of the North, Gulf Stream failure, Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, harvest increase, harvest shrinkage, hay fever epidemic, heat waves, hibernation ends too soon, hibernation ends too late, human fertility reduced, human health improvement, hurricanes, hydropower problems, hyperthermia deaths, ice sheet growth, ice sheet shrinkage, inclement weather, Inuit displacement, Inuit suing, insurance premium rises, invasion of midges, islands sinking, itchier poison ivy, jellyfish explosion, Kew Gardens taxed, krill decline, landslides, landslides of ice at 140 mph, lawsuits increase, lawyers' income increased (surprise surprise!), lightning related insurance claims, little response in the atmosphere, Lyme disease, Malaria, malnutrition, Maple syrup shortage, marine diseases, marine food chain decimated, Meaching (end of the world), megacryometeors, Melanoma, methane burps, melting permafrost, migration, microbes to decompose soil carbon more rapidly, more bad air days, more research needed, mountains break up, mudslides, next ice age, Nile delta damaged, no effect in India, nuclear plants bloom, ocean acidification, outdoor hockey threatened, oyster diseases, ozone loss, ozone repair slowed, ozone rise, personal carbon rationing, pests increase, plankton blooms, plankton destabilised, plankton loss, plant viruses, polar tours scrapped, psychosocial disturbances, railroad tracks deformed, rainfall increase, rainfall reduction, refugees, release of ancient frozen viruses, resorts disappear, rift on Capitol Hill, rivers raised, rivers dry up, rockfalls, rocky peaks crack apart, Ross river disease, salinity reduction, Salmonella, sea level rise, sex change, sharks booming, ski resorts threatened, slow death, smog, snowfall increase, snowfall reduction, societal collapse, songbirds change eating habits, sour grapes, spiders invade Scotland, squid population explosion, spectacular orchids, tectonic plate movement, ticks move northward (Sweden), tides rise, tree beetle attacks, tree foliage increase (UK), tree growth slowed, trees could return to Antarctic, trees less colourful, trees more colourful, tropics expansion, tsunamis, Venice flooded, volcanic eruptions, walrus pups orphaned, wars over water, water bills double, water supply unreliability, water scarcity (20% of increase), weeds, Western aid cancelled out, West Nile fever, whales move north, wheat yields crushed in Australia, white Christmas dream ends, wildfires, wine - harm to Australian industry, wine industry damage (California), wine industry disaster (US), wine - more English, wine - no more French , wind shift, winters in Britain colder, wolves eat more moose, wolves eat less, workers laid off, World bankruptcy, World in crisis, Yellow fever."


Sheesh.

No wonder no one wants to think about it.


HOME

What it is About

Earthfamily Principles

Earthfamilyalpha Content II

Earthfamilyalpha Content

Links

LANGUAGE TRANSLATIONS

"rainbow earth" courtesy the Church of Reality