The General Speaks

From my friend's blog that I check in on almost daily, I found he had added this link: Ruminations from the Distant Hills - because of it's "It is impressive in its love of the woods."

This for example includes a favorite quote of mine: Purple

"If you pass by the color purple in a field and

don't notice it, God gets real pissed off." - Alice Walker

Some other ideas I found posted there impressed me in other ways, such as:

Piece be with you

"Gun-loving pastor to his flock: Piece be with you"

By DYLAN T. LOVAN

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A Kentucky pastor is inviting his flock to bring guns to church to celebrate the Fourth of July and the Second Amendment.New Bethel Church is welcoming "responsible handgun owners" to wear their firearms inside the church June 27, a Saturday. An ad says there will be a handgun raffle, patriotic music and information on gun safety."We're just going to celebrate the upcoming theme of the birth of our nation," said pastor Ken Pagano. "And we're not ashamed to say that there was a strong belief in God and firearms — without that this country wouldn't be here..."

(To which I can't help but add, in response to the last sentence above, "That's what all my Indian friends tell me.)

And I found this quote there too:

The General Speaks

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron." - Dwight D. Eisenhower

Outside the Glass Bell Jar

I’ve lived all my life on the right hand side of that bell graph of normalcy, that graph in the Psychology 101 books, where Intelligence is the lower line with 100 or Average in the middle, the other line going up on the left side representing population. It feels, to me (living with the results of that stupid IQ test that was “off the charts” in the early 1960’s), like a glass bell jar that looks much like the graph and I’m on the outside looking in, sometimes banging on the glass, trying to talk with the people inside, and they just can’t hear what I’m saying.
Perhaps that’s why I have so much empathy for the people, trapped outside also, on the other side of the IQ line. Maybe it is why I can connect with them, and they with me. They are on the outside too, banging the glass, trying to get in, trying to be heard. I think both they and I know that we are all people, human beings, and what we want at the most basic level is to be recognized as humans – and to be with all the other humans.
And to be treated as unique individual humans, which we all are, which makes us all very much the same.
Go way back in the History of Our Human Family. We Humans have no claws, no big teeth or other natural weapons, and no shell or feathers or fur for protection. We Humans survived only because We Humans helped each other do so, up against Lions, Tigers and Bears (Oh my!). Our big brains helped us figure out that the only way we could survive in this world and, with the help of our opposable thumbs to carry out the actions we figured out with our imaginations, we somehow got to where we are in the world.
The world that needs us to remember this ancient basic premise of helping one another is still very much needed if we are to survive as a species or face our own extinction by our very own hands.
Yet we keep hearing about “Safe Nuclear Power,” “Clean Coal Technology,” and the need to continue to wage war.
More people have died from radiation poisoning working in places that handle nuclear materials, many more from the ways we store –or dump- the waste products than by any weapon produced.
Mercury released from all the coal that has ever been burned, falls from the sky in the rain, and enters our world’s food chain (much like radiation).
And War is as far away from helping each other survive as you can get.

Greed for money, lust for power, even at the expense of the rest of our Human Family, fuels this fire that needs to be put out.
Lip service just doesn’t cut it - we’ve got to live it.
In “Coram Deo,” in the face of God, as the man we know as Jesus said on the Mountain where he made all those fish sandwiches, speaking about hypocrites.
Those words are just as true today, in so many ways, here in this Christian Nation whose motto is “In God We Trust,” whose biggest export is high-tech weapons…


Tim MacSweeney
Sunday, June 07, 2009

And the Band Played the Star Spangled Banner

This song is based on "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda," the lyrics changed to reflect not the "War to End All Wars," but the Second World War that followed the First, and the USA rather than Australia...

And the Band Played the Star Spangled Banner (Lyrics)

From Prarie Home Companion Saturday, May 29, 2004

Listen

Now when I was a young man and loose and free

And I followed a young man's drummer

I hitch-hiked from New York to Yosemite

And led me a beautiful summer

Then in December, nineteen forty-one

I heard the call, there was work to be done.

I joined the Army and they gave me a gun

And they shipped me away to the war...

And the band played the Star Spangled Banner

As the ship pulled away from the shore

And amidst all the cheers, the music, and the tears

We sailed off to fight in the war.

And how well I remember how at Anzio

We strolled to the beach through the water

And the counterattack was a powerful blow

And we fell like lambs at the slaughter.

Who misread the enemy? Too late to tell.

We were pounded by bullets and bombs and by shell

And in two days they blew us to hell

Nearly blew us right back to New Jersey.

And the band played the Star Spangled Banner

As the flag was raised on the hill

We bowed our heads as we buried our dead

Then we went back to maim and to kill.

We marched north through Italy, tried to survive

In that mad world of death, blood and fire

And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive

As the death toll got higher and higher

In a field north of Rome I raised up my head

And when I awoke in my hospital bed

And saw what had happened, I wished I was dead

And I lay there a month without talking.

They collected the wounded, the crippled, the maimed

And shipped us back home to New Jersey.

The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane

The proud, wounded heroes of Italy.

And when I was carried back to Fort Lee

I looked at the place where my legs used to be

And thanked Christ there was no one there waiting for me

To grieve and to mourn and to pity

And the band played the Star Spangled Banner

As we came to the U.S.A.

But nobody cheered, they just stood there and stared

Then they turned their faces away

So now on Memorial Day on my porch

I watch the parade pass before me

I see my old comrades, how proudly they march

Reliving old dreams and past glories

And the old men march slowly, their bones stiff and sore

Tired old men from a long ago war

And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"

And I ask myself the same question

But the band plays the Star Spangled Banner

And the old men answer the call

But year after year, those old men disappear

Soon no one will march there at all...

Dedicated to all who fell, and to my Great-Uncle Fred who survived this event and all that followed, and to the end of the outdated notion of War...

Call 800-517-5696 today

Call 800-517-5696 today to protest more war funding!

Dear Friend,

Do you want the United States government to spend tens of billions of dollars more to fund the war in Iraq and expand the war in Afghanistan?
Next week, your representative will be asked to vote on a war supplemental bill that would do just that.
Call toll-free on May 12800-517-5696
Say no to more spending on two wars. Urge your representative to use our tax dollars to
bring the troops home
take care of them upon their return
rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan
take care of health, education, and energy here at home
Please join a national call-in day organized by our friends at FCNL to oppose more war funding.
The U.S. government already spends $1.9 million every minute on the military — and that doesn't include funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
With your help we can make a difference. Please call today.
Peace,

Laurie Creasy,

American Friends Service Committee

Forward this message to your friends.

American Friends Service Committee

1501 Cherry Street

Philadelphia, PA 19102

http://support.afsc.org/site/R?i=Oe5KD4Nuftly9JiicuPyCg..

NVCC Students for a Culture of Peace

SCOP Club Meeting Thursday April 16th, 2009

@4:30 PM in the Cafe-West

Chairwoman - Helena Dubose

Agenda:

1. Afghanistan Continued (Monica)

2. SGA meeting report-back (Jamie)

3. Wesleyan Peace Workshops (Brittany)

4. Sculpture Update (Keep an eye on the central walkway to the college!)

5. Other Business-

"We the people of the United Nations, determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war… " Charter of the United Nations, 1945

Culture of Peace : what is it ?

(from: http://www3.unesco.org/iycp/default.htm)

As defined by the United Nations, the Culture of Peace is a set of values, attitudes, modes of behaviour and ways of life that reject violence and prevent conflicts by tackling their root causes to solve problems through dialogue and negotiation among individuals, groups and nations (UN Resolutions A/RES/52/13 : Culture of Peace and A/RES/53/243, Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace). For peace and non-violence to prevail, we need to:
Foster a culture of peace through education
by revising the educational curricula to promote qualitative values, attitudes and behaviours of a culture of peace, including peaceful conflict-resolution, dialogue, consensus-building and active non-violence. Such an educational approach should be geared also to:
promote sustainable economic and social development
by reducing economic and social inequalities, by eradicating poverty and by assuring sustainable food security , social justice, durable solutions to debt problems, empowerment of women, special measures for groups with special needs, environmental sustainability…
Promote respect for all human rights
human rights and a culture of peace are complementary: whenever war and violence dominate, there is no possibility to ensure human rights; at the same time, without human rights, in all their dimensions, there can be no culture of peace...
Ensure equality between women and men
through full participation of women in economic, social and political decision-making, elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against women, support and assistance to women in need,…
Foster democratic participation
indispensable foundations for the achievement and maintenance of peace and security are democratic principles, practices and participation in all sectors of society, a transparent and accountable governance and administration, the combat against terrorism, organized crime, corruption, illicit drugs and money laundering…
Advance understanding, tolerance and solidarity
to abolish war and violent conflicts we need to transcend and overcome enemy images with understanding, tolerance and solidarity among all peoples and cultures. Learning from our differences, through dialogue and the exchange of information, is an enriching process…
Support participatory communication and the free flow of information and knowledge
freedom of information and communication and the sharing of information and knowledge are indispensable for a culture of peace. However, measures need to be taken to address the issue of violence in the media, including new information and communication technologies…
Promote International Peace and security:
the gains in human security and disarmament in recent years, including nuclear weapons treaties and the treaty banning land mines, should encourage us to increase our efforts in negotiation of peaceful settlements, elimination of production and traffic of arms and weapons, humanitarian solutions in conflict situations, post-conflict initiatives…

Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men than defences of peace must be constructed "

Constitution of UNESCO, 1945

Community Days of Advocacy For Justice & Human Rights

Community Days of Advocacy for Justice & Human RightsApril 4-19, 2009
NNIRR invites its members, partners and allies to join in our Community Days of Advocacy for Justice & Human Rights. Organize community delegations to meet with members of Congress during the Congressional Spring recess (April 4-19) to deliver a strong message on critical issues facing immigrant families, workers and communities. Register your event or action here.


Raise your voices, tell Congress to end all raids, detentions and
deportations!

Organize an action or activity as part of NNIRR's "Community Days of
Advocacy for Justice & Human Rights" this week!

Keep your eyes on the prize: socially just immigration reforms.

Click below to be part of Community Days of Advocacy and download
materials to prepare for speaking with your members of Congress:

Invitation to join NNIRR for Community Days of Advocacy for Justice & Human Rights
Invitación a participar con NNIRR en los dias de Acción Comunitaria por la Justicia y los Derechos Humanos
Click here to register your event / Para matricular tu evento haga clic aqui
Orientation to Community Days of Advocacy
Orientacion a los Dias de Accion Comunitaria
Participant talking points and critical messages
Puntos de discusión y mensajes principales para las y los participantes
Reportback Form (Word doc)
Reportback Form (pdf form)
Formulario para reportar los resultados (Word)
Formulario para reportar los resultados (forma pdf)

Call your Representative and two Senators today and set a meeting so
they can hear from you. Get the contact information for your:
Representative at http://www.house.gov/

Senators at http://www.senate.gov/

Our message is clear:
Ending raids is a good start. But this will not be enough to end the
ICE abuses and rights violations against immigrant and refugee members
of our communities.

Meet with or call your Congressional delegation to demand action to:
End all raids or enforcement operations;
Suspend all detentions and deportations and investigate the abuses;
Protect the labor and civil rights of all workers, regardless of
immigration or citizenship status;

Restore due process rights for all;

End the humanitarian crisis of migrant deaths & rampant rights
violations at the U.S.-Mexico border;
Hold Congressional hearings with our communities to learn directly from
those impacted by raids and other immigration enforcement and services.
ICE, police and local, county, state and other federal government
agencies must be accountable to our communities. And,
Enact fair and just immigration reforms.
Organize a community delegation to meet with your Congress members
today.
You can also call your Representative and Senators at (202) 224-3121.
Ask to be connected to their office and then talk to their staff person
in charge of immigration issues. Tell them why ending raids is not
enough!

Raise your voices, take action for justice and human rights!
National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights
Red Nacional Pro Derechos Inmigrantes y Refugiados


Para leer este mensaje en español, haga clic aqui:
Días de Acción Comunitaria por la Justicia y los Derechos Humanos

Will It Change Things?

"If I play my ukelele long enough..."

"believe" - Ukulele's for Peace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QsXUtUOiig

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZnmz50JsKE

CAPTAIN KAZOO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BFvtDTm__E