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ACTIVIST ALERT
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E-NOTES: WHEN THE NEWS IS NOT ENOUGH. THE BLOG OF E. ETHELBERT MILLER
Wednesday, August 06, 2014
On the anniversary of the U.S. dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nine countries - the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea - possess the demonic capability to annihilate the human race and render the Earth uninhabitable. Combined, these countries have 16,300 nuclear warheads, 93 percent of which are maintained and deployed by the United States and Russia, now locked in hostilities over the Ukraine. In fact, serious conflicts fester in every region of the other nuclear nations: South and East Asia, the Korean peninsula and the Middle East.
The Natural Order of Things | August 6, 2014
While we live, we are able to live. When it's time to die, we are able to die. This is the natural order of things, and to the extent that we align ourselves with this, we experience peace even in the midst of distress.
- Meikyo Robert Rosenbaum, "Breathless"
Tuesday, August 05, 2014
It’s official. Today I’ve filed the signatures necessary to get my name on the ballot.
I’m grateful to everyone who has circulated ballot petitions or otherwise helped our campaign to get to this point. With petitioning over, however, our work is only still beginning. Now it’s time to focus our attention on making calls and knocking on doors to win over undecided voters.
Can I count on you to help reach out to undecided voters between now and Election Day? Sign up at the link below to volunteer:
Muriel Bowser’s been dodging debates since April by claiming she wants to wait until the mayoral field is set. Now that I’ve done what’s needed to qualify as a candidate, she’s out of excuses for avoiding a substantive discussion before District residents about the challenges facing our city.
It’s more important than ever that supporters like you help spread the word about my record of results. Sign up now to volunteer:
Thank you for your support,
David Catania
NEW BOOK
Fideler, Elizabeth F. Men still at work: professionals over sixty and on the job. Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. 223p bibl index afp ISBN 9781442222755, $36.00; ISBN 9781442222762 ebook, $35.99 Fideler, Elizabeth F (author).
In this follow-up to her Women Still at Work (2012), Fideler (Boston College) seeks to understand why many professional men age 60 or older choose to continue working at a time in life when many others have retired, and to describe their experiences as they navigate work life in an increasingly challenging economy. Drawing upon findings from the latest research on men, work, and aging, the results of her own survey, and candid profiles from in-depth interviews she conducted with such men, Fideler provides a glimpse into the complex inner world of this fast-growing segment of the US workforce. Older men's desire to find meaning in their work--and make a difference in others' lives via their work--is an oft-mentioned motive. The author also found that many of these men enjoyed a rich workplace social life through their relationships with colleagues and clientele alike. Surprisingly, more utilitarian and baser motives, such as the need for pay and benefits, or the allure of wielding power and authority, were not nearly as important to these men as one might think. Overall, an engaging, accessible overview of what the future holds for many younger men who will undoubtedly work into their 60s ... and beyond.
Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.
--J. R. Mitrano, Central Connecticut State University
Monday, August 04, 2014
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Sunday, August 03, 2014
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Saturday, August 02, 2014
DOES COLEMAN HAWKINS KNOW YOU'RE
OUT TONIGHT?
going back outside into the cold
but the Hawk is blowing.
There's another drink to be drunk.
The lady by your side has a dress
with a zipper you just met.
Your head is filled with sex and sound.
The man with the horn is sweating notes.
There's no exit for you now baby - only love!
- E. Ethelbert Miller
Friday, August 01, 2014
IPS
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INTERNATIONAL LAW
So what is International Law? We keep hearing about it in the media? Do nations pay attention to it?
I asked John Feffer (Director ,Foreign Policy In Focus at IPS )to help lift the intellectual fog and shed some light. Here is his response to my question:
FEFFER:
International law comprises a lot of different kinds of laws, from bilateral treaties to UN resolutions to WTO rulings. So, yes, nations pay attention to international law all the time, even the United States. At the WTO, for instance, the US has often lost cases and acceded to the rulings. Which means that the US accepts the punishment (economic penalty). Other international tribunals include the one connected to the International Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) and the International Criminal Court (neither of which the US has ratified, though it often observes the letter of the law).
Yes, nations are punished -- there are penalties assessed at the WTO, at the tribunal of UNCLOS. There are enforcement mechanisms. At the WTO, nations that win the dispute can impose an equivalent trade sanction. But there is no real enforcement body, like the WTO police.
But I suspect that you are thinking mostly of international law as it pertains to human rights violations -- connected to military action or a sovereign nation's violations of rights identified in the UN charter. The only punishment here is "name and shame" unless the UN passes a resolution on economic sanctions. Again, there are no enforcement body. In the case of the Right to Protect, gross violations of human rights - war crimes, genocide - can precipitate collective action to stop the atrocities. But all of this depends on collective decision-making and the individual actions of countries. The UN doesn't have a standing army, not even of peacekeepers.
In general, when it comes to human rights violations, powerful countries are better able to ignore criticism. The EU has a simple mechanism for enforcing its HR principles -- if aspiring countries don't meet the requirements, they can't join the club. So, for instance, EU candidate countries have to abolish their death penalties to get in. The EU -- and other international bodies -- might complain about the US death penalty. But they can't really do anything about it.
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The Body Is the Bodhi Tree | July 31, 2014
Buddhism does not espouse any ascetic practice, nor does it hold a doctrine tending to a dualistic conception of existence which makes the flesh the source of evil and the spirit the foundation of everything good. The body as a material phenomenon has its limitations, as a living organism has its impulses, desires, passions, and moods; and there is nothing evil or wicked in it.
- Soyen Shaku, “The Middle Way”
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Thursday, July 31, 2014
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Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Gaza Update with Special Guest Tariq Abu Khdeir
Come and hear first-hand from Tariq Abu Khdeir, the 15-year-old Palestinian-American arrested and beaten by Israeli police in Jerusalem last month.
August 1 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Busboys & Poets 5th & K
1025 5th Street NW, Washington, DC United States
 The Institute for Policy Studies, Busboys & Poets, and the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation invite you to this Gaza update and discussion.
Tariq Abu Khdeir is the 15-year-old Palestinian-American arrested and beaten by Israeli police in Jerusalem last month. Tariq’s cousin Mohammed Abu Khdeir was kidnapped and tortured to death by right-wing Israeli extremists the day before Tariq was detained. Tariq and his family will be visiting with members of Congress earlier in the day and will join us for this special Gaza discussion.
Following Tariq’s presentation, we will have a roundtable discussion featuringPhyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies, Palestinian human rights attorney Noura Erekat, Retired Col. Ann Wright, Busboys’ own Andy Shallal, and others. We will talk about the context of the current assault, the consequences, the U.S. role and responsibility, and beyond.
Free and Open to the public refreshments will be available during the event.
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Today's selection -- from What Hath God Wrought by Daniel Walker Howe. In 1815, Americans were young, went barefoot, and didn't take baths:
"Life in America in 1815 was dirty, smelly, laborious, and uncomfortable. People spent most of their waking hours working, with scant opportunity for the development of individual talents and interests unrelated to farming. Cobbler-made shoes being expensive and uncomfortable, country people of ordinary means went barefoot much of the time. White people of both sexes wore heavy fabrics covering their bodies, even in the humid heat of summer, for they believed (correctly) sunshine bad for their skin. People usually owned few changes of clothes and stank of sweat. 
"Only the most fastidious bathed as often as once a week. Since water had to be carried from a spring or well and heated in a kettle, people gave themselves sponge baths, using the washtub. Some bathed once a year, in the spring, but as late as 1832, a New England country doctor complained that four out of five of his patients did not bathe from one year to the next. When washing themselves, people usually only rinsed off, saving their harsh, homemade soap for cleaning clothes. Inns did not provide soap to travelers.
"Having an outdoor privy signified a level of decency above those who simply relieved themselves in the woods or fields. Indoor light was scarce and precious; families made their own candles, smelly and smoky, from animal tallow. A single fireplace provided all the cooking and heating for a common household. During winter, everybody slept in the room with the fire, several in each bed. Privacy for married couples was a luxury. ... "It was a young society: The census listed the median age as sixteen, and only one person in eight as over forty-three years old. Women bore children in agony and danger, making their life expectancy, unlike today, slightly shorter than that of men. Once born, infants often succumbed to diseases like diphtheria, scarlet fever, and whooping cough. One-third of white children and over half of black children died before reaching adulthood. The women had enough babies to beat these grim odds. To help them through labor, neighbors and trained midwives attended them. Doctors were in short supply, hospitals almost unknown. This proved a blessing in disguise, for physicians then did as much harm as good, and hospitals incubated infection. The upside of rural isolation was that epidemics did not spread easily." 
What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 (Oxford History of the United States)
Author: Daniel Walker Howe
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Copyright 2007 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
Pages 32, 37 If you wish to read further: Buy Now |
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Romantic Love | July 30, 2014
In Buddhist practice, we discover that mindful attention can reveal a deeper truth in whatever object we are paying attention to. The same is true in romantic love. When we use our attention to touch and open the deeper truth in a person, we not only catalyze the experience of love, we become love. The source of love is revealed to be within us; we no longer have to go looking for it somewhere outside.
- Nicole Daedone, "Love Becomes Her"
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Tuesday, July 29, 2014
The Washington City Paper reported today that Muriel Bowser is attempting to chop even more time off debate season.
First, she refused to debate before the ballot is set. Then she claimed she promised organizers at American University that their September 18 debate could be the first, but the organizers denied that commitment. Now she says waiting until September 18 is a commitment she made to herself.
We have 8 more days to collect the signatures we need to get on the ballot and put an end to these empty excuses for dodging debates.
Can I count on you to volunteer to collect signatures this weekend?
You can pick up ballot petitions at the campaign headquarters anytime Thursday or Friday, and we’ll work with you to find a time and location over the weekend that’s convenient for you.
With ballot petitions due August 6th, this weekend is our last big chance to collect the signatures we need to qualify. Let’s get my name on the ballot now, so that we can move on to discussing the substantive issues at stake in this election.
Thank you,
David Catania
Baseball
After last night's Nats loss to the Marlins I started feeling like a Cubs fan. All year long one can see this team being average and a tad lucky. The only good thing about this team is that they play sweet defense. But last night there was the right fielder trying to make a circus catch with the score 6-0. What was he thinking?
BLACK WOMEN...
Peace Studies Journal just published “Inner Lions: Definitions of Peace in Black Women’s Memoirs, A Strength-based Model for Mental Health” (July 2014). JOURNAL LINK ~ ARTICLE LINK