Inside/Out

Rachel Carson 1907-1964

"The beauty of the living world I was trying to save has always been uppermost in my mind---that, and anger at the senseless brutish things that were being done. I have felt bound by a solemn obligation to do what I could---if I didn't at least try I could never be happy again in nature. But now I can believe I have at least helped a little."

Last Sunday, May 27, was the 100th anniversary of the birth of Rachel Carson. The environmental movement owes, in a big way, it's existence to Carson and her radicalizing 1962 book "Silent Spring". Rachel Carson was among the first to describe the disastrous effects of DDT and other synthetic pesticides on our ecology. She also perceived the disastrous muzzling of the warnings of some scientists in the name of commerce that allowed the poisioning of the environment by dangerous chemicals. Carson wrote and spoke passionately about saving our ecosystem from rape by the corporate thirst for profits until she died of cancer at age 56.

Even though Carson's books have remained best sellers for decades, we find ourselves today with an environment badly damaged and deteriorating thanks to the deregulation begun by Saint Ronald Regan and continued by the venal assholes who have occupied the White House since, culminating with the final, facist takeover by that stumble mouthed Prince of Fools, George Weenie the Second. The enormous power of corporations that Rachel Carson feared in the 1950's and 1960's has become institutionalized today, the lines between government and business blurred to invisibility. While we are told that this new corporate government is benign and has only our well being as its purpose, the fact is that making profits for their own sake is all it cares about. Human concerns are secondary at best.

It's a good time to celebrate Rachel Carson's memory and brilliant contributions. You can learn more about her here. And it's a good time to search ourselves for new ideas to re-radicalize new generations to the dangers presented to us by our own institutions.

Mamie on 05.31.07 @ 08:03 AM PST [link]

Oh, say can you see...

It is a sad commentary on the human condition, but it was a predictable fact, given the blind greed and criminal negligence of our leaders. You see, there have been nearly 1000 American serviceperson deaths in Iraq since last Memorial Day. If Memorial Day has any meaning outside of a day to drink beer, and if there are prayers in you, say them for the souls of those young ones so unnecessarily lost to a war long overdue for an end, yet with no end in sight.

There is plenty of blame to go around. It's not just President Fool or The Evil Veep, or even Condoleeeeza the Incompetent. No, there's a Democratic majority in Congress, unable to find their balls, to blame as well. And then there are those of us out here in the dark. We have a greater responsibility for the condition we find ourselves in this Memorial Day 2007. Jules, played by Samuel L. Jackson in Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" said it this way in the movie's final scene.

JULES
There's a passage I got memorized.
Ezekiel 25:17. "The path of the
righteous man is beset on all sides
by the inequities of the selfish and
the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is
he who, in the name of charity and
good will, shepherds the weak through
the valley of the darkness. For he
is truly his brother's keeper and
the finder of lost children. And I
will strike down upon thee with great
vengeance and furious anger those
who attempt to poison and destroy my
brothers. And you will know I am the
Lord when I lay my vengeance upon
you." I been sayin' that shit for
years. And if you ever heard it, it
meant your ass. I never really
questioned what it meant. I thought
it was just a coldblooded thing to
say to a motherfucker 'fore you popped
a cap in his ass. But I saw some
shit this mornin' made me think twice.
Now I'm thinkin', it could mean you're
the evil man. And I'm the righteous
man. And Mr. .45 here, he's the
shepherd protecting my righteous ass
in the valley of darkness. Or it
could be you're the righteous man
and I'm the shepherd and it's the
world that's evil and selfish. I'd
like that. But that shit ain't the
truth. The truth is you're the weak.
And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But
I'm tryin'. I'm tryin' real hard to
be a shepherd.

You probably need to see the movie again to understand where I'm going, but, for now, leave it at this: we may believe we are righteous in our anger at, say, the Iraqis or Al Qaeda or the guy down the street whose dog is barking. But it is up to you and only you to find PEACE. And if enough of us find it, then the world will find it too.

I've quoted this one before from Ghandi: Be the change you want to see in the world.

Peace. Kindness.
Mamie on 05.27.07 @ 09:54 AM PST [link]

Honor Killing

It has taken a horrific event to bring my blog back on line. The blog looks somewhat different, at least for now, but as time permits, I'll get a little more style into the format. Meanwhile, the compelling reason for bringing Inside/Out back is the so-called "honor killing" recently in the news. I will not recommend that you watch the phone camera video of a pretty 17-year-old girl being beaten to death in a northern Iraq street by her relatives. The video is not for the faint of heart. Dua Khalil, a Kurd, was beaten and stoned in front of police officers because she was seen with a Sunni Muslim man. Her only sin was falling in love with someone from outside her faith. Or perhaps she became too westernized. Since she was killed on the 7th of April, honor killings have increased.

If you have read my blog before, you know my aversion to the war in Iraq and to the un-presidential fool who led us into it. To be sure, Bush's endless, illegal, lost war did not bring honor killing to Iraq. It's been a custom there for centuries. But we should stop and take a lesson from the tragedy of this young woman's death. This is a culture (or group of cultures, really) unimaginably different from ours in so many ways. These cultures have lived and fought side by side in that part of the world almost since the beginning of civilization. It is foolish and arrogant of America to believe that we can transplant our style of democracy (enfeebled and un-democratic as it is these days) into an area that only feels comfortable in a theocracy. The government that we have installed has not one woman in it. I have just read that some of Dua Khalil's relatives have been arrested, but her brutal death should be a signpost for us all. It's meaning is that we should leave before it is too late, because we will not change these people. There is little we can do there but sponsor more brutal deaths of our young men and women, and of innocent Iraqis.
Mamie on 05.19.07 @ 08:29 PM PST [link]