-Caveat Lector- >From WorkingForAChange (URL @ bottom)
>>>}Begin A 2002 wish list Geov Parrish - WorkingForChange 01.04.02 - We had a few folks -- okay, quite a few folks -- over for New Year's Eve, and amidst all the other bacchanal nonsense, my beloved introduced a midnight tradition, which she swears we've done in past years, but I sure didn't remember. (Read that however you like...) And I'd never heard of it, though I'm sure it's the descendant of some well-established, alcohol-soaked pagan ritual somewhere. As soon as the clock struck twelve, we and our assembled friends all took pages from various 2001 calendars, threw them into the fireplace, and made a wish for 2002. There couldn't have been a more appropriate year for it. And, so, in the spirit of putting the Dubya-infested, democracy-eroding, lethal- to-tall-buildings bloodfest that was 2001 behind us, here are just a few of the things I'd love to see happen in 2002: Osama bin Laden is captured, and George Bush acknowledges that preventing future terrorism cannot be accomplished through military strikes, but only through working to end wars, poverty, and tyranny around the world -- be ginning with U.S. allies. Somebody in the Democratic Party -- or a consultant, perhaps -- realizes that they actually won the 2000 presidential election, and that those 90 percent approval ratings for George Bush have come about precisely because there has been almost no public challenge to his fraudulent "victory" or any of his policies in the last year from Democrats -- and, hence, also no airing of dissenting views by mainstream media. Or, more simply, that the re is no point to having a Democratic party unless it stands for something beyond simply holding power. Democrats across the country rush to put these bold new realizations into practice. Conservatives who harbor a deep distrust of government, as being inherently power-hungry and dishonest, apply that distrust not just to property taxes or environmental regulations, but to the death penalty and the use of daisy cutters. Oil companies, fearing the unstable politics of the Middle East and Caspian region, and recognizing that ANWR won't provide much energy or provide it soon, instead start massive investments in renewable energy technologie s. The Bush Administration rushes in with more money. Editors across the country remember that principles of fact- checking should also apply to reprinting government press releases. Or, better, that such transactions are best handled through the ad department. A criminal investigation is opened into links between Enron and the Bush Administration. The World Trade Organization dissolves. Law enforcement officers begin to be treated with the same level of accountability as any other public employee. And all of them start being treated with the same level of accountability as the rest of us when we go to wo rk. Britney Spears comes to a basketball arena to give a concert, and only the stagehands show up. America becomes a place that loves its children. A conservative movement sweeps America, in which zealots insist that the Bill of Rights be posted conspicuously in every classroom. John Ashcroft holds breakfast readings of the Bill of Rights in his office. Men stop beating, raping, and killing women. And each other. A cure is found for AIDS, and it is made freely available throughout Africa, as part of a comprehensive, world-wide recognition that providing food, housing, health care, and public health facilities is a cheaper and more effective way to improve security than any standing army. Questioning authority, and authorities, becomes all the rage. Of course, this might (or might not) explain my headache Tuesday morning. None of this will happen through our squeezing our eyes shut and praying real hard, or staring into the fire looking for visions, or even cursing a t the television. It'll take work to get even a bit of the way there. But amidst the work, ya gotta dream. Reclaim History! Things that happened on Jan. 4 that you never had to memorize in school: 1904: U.S. Supreme Court rules, six years after the U.S. had seized the country during its independence struggle with Spain, that Puerto Rican citizens cannot be refused admission to the United States. 1944: Danish playwright and priest Kaj Munk is taken from his home and murdered by the occupying Gestapo. His outspoken sermons and plays called upon Danes to resist the Nazis, leading to his death. 1945: In Raguse, Sicily, Maria Occhipinti, lies down in front of army trucks which come to find new young conscripts to incorporate into the new Italian army. Within minutes, a crowd surrounds the soldiers, forcing them t o release their recruits, but kill a demonstrator and set off a major revolt. The city falls to the insurgents and resists governmental troops for three days, falling only after the death of many townspeople. 1960: United Steel workers end six-month strike. 1976: Spain: Major wildcat anti-fascist strike wave starts; at its height over 500,000 workers are involved. 1979: In an out-of-court settlement, $675,000 is awarded to the victims of the Kent State University shootings of 1970. 1980: Citing "an extremely serious threat to peace," Pres. Jimmy Carter announces a series of measures in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, most notably an embargo of grain and high technology and reinstitut ion of draft registration. (Only much later have we learned that the U.S. was funding mujahadeen attacks against the Soviets before their invasion, an act that was itself arguably "an extremely serious threat to peace.") 1997: Eighty thousand rally in Ogoni portions of Nigeria against military dictatorship and Shell Oil's plans to destroy Ogoni land. Nigerian Army opens fire on peaceful demonstration, wounding four. © 2002 WorkingForChange.com URL: http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=12578 End{<<< ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men. Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all. Then accept it and live up to it." The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." 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