Column of the Americas

While ruminating on the concept of peace, I frequently encounter writers' works that intimate the ideal of social action and justice to achieve a lasting peace. Earlier today, I noted that some people take seriously the fact of poverty and its contribution to global warming. Many have noted that poverty may lead to feelings of victimization by one power over groups of people with money and the power that money provides in our global village.

As a Latina, I look to writers like Patrisia Gonzales and Roberto Rodriguez in their Column of the Americas. I hope the occasional reader who stops by my blog will find their words helpful in understanding people with the rich perspectives they provide.

Listening to NPR I Was Surprised

Rarely will I agree with Jonah Goldberg on anything because he has seemed so strident on television programs. The topic du jour was global warming and Mr Goldberg actually presented a cogent argument for a position with which I disagree. His take on global warming is to leave the solution to the future. I do not agree with that. However, somewhere in his argument he and later other speakers addressed the inequities to the poor around the world which global warming will create. The costs will be unbearable for the poor. Moreover, solutions according to Goldberg and another speaker whose name I missed, lies in solving problem of poverty around the world. Now if Goldberg could get behind that idea for solving poverty here in the US, I might become a fan of his.

Kiva Org

Came across the following url at another site and began wondering if an americanized version of Liberation Theology is at work here or if its just another symptom of USCapitalism run a muck. Poverty flames the fires and passions of people into unpeaceful actions and perhaps fundamental issues of poverty create hoplesness and make it easy for people to gravitate to radicalism. So although the kiva.org site may be too commercial, the thought of what we as members of the human race could do to increase peace might include other social justice issues which when left unaddressed lead to disparity of division of wealth, education etc and to the increased fanaticism seen around the world today.

http://www.kiva.org/

Competence in Policy

From Quote of the Day, I found the following by Isaac Asimov:
"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." I imagine the word to focus is incompetent. Not a very "nice" thing to say about people who lead our country, but one that should/could be considered given many issues that affect our lives. War, peace, poverty programs or lack thereof, education, all these and many more issues require thoughtfulness and knowledge of the issues. Some of the policy created by leaders at many levels of government show a lack of competence. My question then becomes how can we raise the level of our leaders' competence to do the work people elected them to do? How can we work for a more peaceful world when so many issues remain unresolved, untended, or downright made worse by poor choices and political pandering to the lowest common denominators in our society?

Language and Peace

As stated in an earlier post, many of us teach language and are aware of the power it has to get people to take action. Recent postings in the media concerning war, peace, and even entertainment have reflected a callousness that all too often leads to a deadening of nobler human instincts. This appeal to the baser elements of human beings' nature or in our society are quite evident in much of the rhetoric of public discourse. Soon, however, this will end. I hope that we can use language for peace more often by avoiding name calling, finding alternatives to violent images and metaphors. Let's paint pictures of peace with the language we select.

Playfulness and Blogging

I need to write more and use the two blogs I do have for that purpose. Although I am more politically minded in this particular blog, readers to it can see a bit of playfulness in the added cyber pets and YouTube videos included. As I tell students, communication requires all the various technologies available to us.

Opinion of Congress Improving?

A story that mirrors my own thinking claims many USAmericans remain dissatisfied with Congress, although people's opinions of Congress are slowly improving. Congress has too many procedures that actually getting work done in a pace that many of us want. We want more action and less talk from these congressional and senatorial types.

It's good that the congress' polls are up. Now let us hope that more of these political types will take steps to do what is right for USAmerica instead of what will keep them in power. Our country has been hurt too much by war mongering, incompetent people now running the executive branches of government.

Beginnings of Peace?

The Middle East's problems often have at their core issues concerning the people of Palestine. This week two factions met in Mecca Saudi Arabia to find ways of unifying their government and ending Palestinian on Palestinian violence and in hopes of persuading outsiders to end their embargo and isolation of the people of Palestine. I wish these efforts good fortune and pray that our government will see the wisdom of allowing the democratically elected members of the Palestinian government to work for their people. Palestinians' choices cannot be our choices for we do not live in Palestinian lands. Those lands, too, should be returned to them without further delay. While Israeli security should be maintained, the close fisted tough approaches used to date do not provide for a long term solution and not demonstrating fairness to both sides of the longstanding struggle only makes USAmerican interests at risk.

Thoughts on Oversight Committees

Since Leahy and Gonzales' exchange last month, more people have gone before congress to present information. Now that more of the interviews or presentations can be seen on CSpan, an average citizen can read the postures, tone of voice and other gestures that people make when giving testimony. I just wonder how deeply invested in the current administration many citizens are because too many citizens, despite the president's low poll numbers, remain unquestioning of the things that politicians do.

If we went to war to bring "democracy" to Iraq, then why are so many of our civil rights being trampled on?

More importantly, why can't we get straight answers from those charged with preserving the republic/democracy? If so many acts lack transparency, we should have a greater outcry about the behaviors of those in power who work so hard to dampen our freedoms. See patriot act and the various attorney generals, generals, and others who obfuscate in front of congressional oversight committees.

Clash in Palestine Despite a Truce

These kinds of events must end if we are truly for peace. I realize the bulk of the news is concentrated on the Iraqi war, yet there are other conflicts within the Middle East that require the greatest support from all of us--where ever in the world we reside.

Lust for Pets

I keep adding pets to my blogs because I can't have them where I live. If I could have the space I'd have horses, dogs, and cats. Tigers are exotic but not practical when other domestic animals form part of the family. Hence I'll not include them in a real life fantasy but in a cyberspace "realityl". As I get older, many of the films, books, and teachings come back as old haunts to remind me of who I really am. This is important as I strive to find my real self and the real reasons for my desires. Now I have been discovering that my greatest desires are not to become reality because I lack stamina these days. So I'm hoping to slow down to give my stamina an opportunity to grow and reach a point of strength that will support all that I need to do before my time on earth expires. Molly Ivins' passing reminds me how limited or finite our time here is and that I must make the most of it.

In terms of peace, I feel more strongly that we must become more radical in demanding our rights as citizens of the most precious place on the planet--USAmerica. Who having read the founding fathers' struggles, and the struggles of subsequent generations can give up on such a wonderful place or at least a place that promises so much to all who live within its borders. These are the things that all politicians must address. We must work to fulfill the promise of the past as we work to meet the needs of the present.

Carter's Speech at Brandeis

Propaganda machines operate round the clock to keep people from seeing Palestinians as human beings who suffer and pray for justice in this world. People who dare to attempt a humane presentation of these people quickly become fodder for the self-righteous and self-proclaimed defenders of Israel. For his efforts at writing about the issue, former President Jimmy Carter has been unjustly maligned. Yet Mr. Carter's ideas need some fair airing. At Brandeis, we get a glimmer of his thinking on the history of the issue and the resultant attacks on him for his efforts. I am sure his opposition can twist his meaning. We all can twist words of others for our own arguments, yet is that an ethical approach to public debate? Can we learn what is best if we always twist others' words and ideas to suit our own biases. Listen to the speech and see if the solutions Mr. Carter proposes are truly incompatible with USAmerican ideals and values.

Immigration: Will It Be the New Wedge Issue for the Right?

Not satisfied with using issues such as abortion and gay marriage or gays in society as wedge issues to divide our country and to inject religion or religious views into public/political life, zealots for Jesus now attempt to take positions on the immigration issue. Here however, the divide will not be easily made as some Christians actually believe in the words that Christ spoke. In addition, older religions also value the tenets of treating the poor and the stranger or outsider with some charity. See the following story from alternet. News of radical religious right's positions on the immigration issue.

January 27, 2007 March on Washington

Sen Leahy

One of the deterrents to peace is mindless adherence to prejudice. The case of Maher Arar -- the Canadian citizen who was stopped at JFK airport, sent to Syria to be tortured and later found to be completely innocent--demonstrates the bias we have toward people from Middle Eastern backgrounds. This particular bias fuels anti-USAmerican sentiments and thus increases instability among people around the world caught in the rhetorics of war on terrorism. In many ways the question can legitimately posed--who is the real terrorist when innocent people from Middle Eastern backgrounds cannot safely travel within USAmerican borders?

High Technology Notwithstanding

War and Peace issues are serious matters. As one of the videos I viewed yesterday demonstrates, people's lives are altered in ways that are horrific. Those of us not living in war zones must do what we can to end as many of the causes of war as possible. Of course, idealistically speaking, finding the end of all wars does not seem possible.

A Perfect Circle - Imagine

After I listened to John Lennon earlier, I found a different version of his song. The videos are quite enlightening.

Jimmy Carter and Surviving Ideologues

History the study of it and engagement with it appeals to me as a curious human and as a scholar of issues. More often than not, we can find the strands of current issues rooted in the past. However, when people haven't a clue as to what took place in the past and the reasons for the actions of the past, then people are apt to make judgments based on their own limited and limiting world views. Additionally, an inability to understand the underlying reasons for problems in today's world can often lead to shallow and idealogical attacks on the works of people who have a tendency to be studious about the issues that we face. Such seems to be the case with former president Carter. Despite his personal experience, engagement with and knowledge of issues concerning the Middle East, his work is under attack. Yet his work is most important for he sheds light on something our media in USAmerica fails to do---he presents a point of view that is not in lock step with Israeli Zionism. Being fair does not mean one is anti-semitic, anti-Jew or even anti-Jewish state in the Middle East. However, in our democracy, taking a seldom heard position is tantamount to being "unAmerican."

A Democratic Response

Jim Webb demonstrates the kind of leadership that more democrats should exhibit.

Media Needs Character and Strength

Jane Fonda continues to do public service despite the fact that she is not among the "Hollywood" top ten box office draws anymore. In a piece she wrote and that I found in Alternet, she discusses the importance of a strong, powerful, courageous media. This is something that we do not have and without it it the opportunities for democracy and peace wither on the vine of civic life. The world as it is today in these United States consists of a weak show time-type media. Challenges to the power base do not take place. No one questions the actions of the government, which is merely an extension of corporate USAmerica. How can we have governance that is honest and responds to its citizens when people fear to question government actions and demand what is best for the country's citizens in place of the actions taken that are good for the rich and the powerful. Somewhere else I read of the increasing reality that we are now a class-based society not dissimilar from British society. Our dukes and earls are the heads of corporations. The trite pronouncements are nothing more than propaganda mouthed by the various arms of the media--from news to entertainment.

The concept of honesty and honor seem dead in today's USAmerican world and thus our standing in the world quite rightly has fallen to low levels. Tis a pity as this country has been good to many despite its imperialistic agendas and many people who live within its borders have worked to keep the founding ideals at work with a heavy cost to their lives.

Let the plans for our future develop with no war mongers and more peacemakers. That is my prayer for the future.