Columns
SMITHEREENS: Reflections on Bits & Pieces
A Memorial Day for the Victims of Washington's Wars
The New York City chapter of Veterans For Peace (V4P) raises an interesting question: "What would Memorial Day look like if we commemorated all the victims of war, and not just the military fallen from our own country? What would it be like to honor all the dead and acknowledge all the destruction wrought around the world by US military actions?"
And V4P has come up with a rousing and reflective response—a 2021 Memorial Day Zoomathon set for Monday, May 31st at 11:00 AM local time. The online conversation will pair Americans (mostly military vets) with a globe-spanning array of nearly two-dozen Indigenous and foreign speakers "who have been on the receiving end of US military aggression." It's a remarkable list a speakers:
Cheyenne Arapaho Nation: Larry Bringing Good
Afghanistan: Nematullah Ahangosh, Basir Bita, Kathy Kelly, Danny Sjursen
Iraq: Matthew Hoh, Lubna Mousa
Vietnam: Peggy Akers, Theresa Mei Chuc, Doug Rawlings
Japan: Susan Schnall, Kiyoko Takei, Masashi Takei
Okinawa: Ken Mayers, Teiko Yohana Tursi
Korea: Soobok Kim, Stan Levin, Georgia Wever
Palestine: Afaf Alnajjar, Miko Peled
Closing: Leah Bolger, Rory Fanning
Moderator: Susan Schnall
Music: Anthony Donovan
As Arundhati Roy has written in Public Power in the Age of Empire:
“Colorful demonstrations and weekend marches are vital but alone are not powerful enough to stop wars. Wars will be stopped only when soldiers refuse to fight, when workers refuse to load weapons onto ships and aircraft, when people boycott the economic outposts of Empire that are strung across the globe.”
Tone Deaf Messaging
I just received one of the oddest voicemail messages ever left on my phone: "Hello," it began, "No one's available to answer your call. Please leave a message after the tone." What? But you called me!
And then there was an anonymous message about renewing an auto warranty that ended: "If you wish to delete this message, press nine." (Which, of course, is the number that saves the message.)
Finally, there was a Birthday Card from my Kaiser doctor that included two tips for maintaining "emotional well-being." They were: "Breathing exercises and meditation" and "finding ways to stay connected safely with loved ones, friends, and neighbors."
This plea for human contact was immediately followed by the line: "Next time you need to see me, why not try a video visit?"
A Dem Fund-raiser Presses Your Buttons
An unsolicited email pitch arrived a few days back. It read:
"Last week the CDC announced that fully vaccinated Americans don’t have to wear masks anymore! Some Democrats are worried if they don’t wear their masks, people will mistake them for a REPUBLICAN. No need to worry!! All you need is one of our 'VACCINATED' Buttons! To celebrate this milestone, we’re offering 'Vaccinated' Button Sets! Each set has 4 buttons, each with its own unique Pro‑Vaccine design."
But nowhere in the online pitch was there any protocol requiring people to offer proof that they were, in fact, "vaxed." And isn't $15 for four (that's $3.50 per button) a bit steep? And why do you need more than one? Gifts for unvaccinated friends?
The Chicago-based Stop Republicans website looks like a joke. There's no content except for a long, boilerplate statement of privacy policies. Could it be that the site was created by Republicans as a means of filching money from easily duped Dems? Well, maybe not. According to the fine print, the SR site is "an accountability project of the Progressive Turnout Project."
Amazon's Robot Shopping. Good to Go?
Five immediate thoughts:
1. It would be nice to get a printed receipt at the checkout gate to see if the 'bots made any errors—or if you discover your avocados are brown on the inside. (It turns out Amazon Go sends a "receipt" to your online electronic account.)
2. How do the sensors know what you've picked up? Are there microchips in the corn chips?
3. What if you remove an item from your cart (indicating a decision not to purchase) but then you toss it over to the other side of the green checkout gate? If you pick the item off the floor after you've checked out, do you score a freebie?
4. What happens if you grab a sandwich and walk through the exit gate without paying? There aren't any employees present to chase you.
5. What if you hide your credit card inside a protective RFID-blocking "sleeve-holder" made from carbon fibers, aluminum, or silver? You would be untrackable. It would be like you never entered the store. (Tip: You can buy one of these card-covers for $5.31 on Amazon.)
If Her Name Was Faith, I'd Call This "A Leap of Faith"
Recently I came across the beguiling sight of a young mother with toddler at the public playground on the north side of the MLK Middle School. Mom was holding the tot's hand and offering encouragement as the little girl teetered on the edge of a wooden plank before leaping into the sandbox. And leap she did.
I couldn't resist offering a paraphrase of Neil Armstrong's famous sentence: "One small step for a child; one giant leap for child-kind!"
A Pointed Question
Question: What do they call you if you are told to appear for a covid shot at a specific spot and you show up exactly on time?
Answer: "Punctual."
When Movies Start to Ape One Another
King Kong Versus Godzilla was a desperate excuse for a movie. It's right up there with Batman vs. Superman. What next? Wonder Woman vs. Supergirl? How about a King Kong "origin story" about a chimp named Prince Kong? And make it a musical.
Movies for the Slower Moving?
Now that I've hit my 78th birthday, I'm thinking it may be time to write and direct a summer blockbuster. Not a "coming of age" film but, instead, a "coming of aging" film.
Modeled after the Fast and Furious franchise, it would be called Slow and Crotchety. Expect a lot of lightsaber-like clashes with walking canes, slow-mo walker collisions, and spectacular stunts involving souped-up mobility scooters. Starring in the lead roles—Betty White, Larry David, and Cher.
What's in a Name? Marital-wise
When couples uncouple in divorce court, why do some ex-wives opt to keep their married names? Do ex-husbands ever object and seek legal redress for such expropriations?
I guess it makes sense if the divorcee is someone like Melinda Gates—henceforth to be known by an amalgam of her family name and her married name: "Melinda French Gates."
It's a good thing she married Bill Gates and not Elon Musk. There's something a bit off-putting about a name like Melinda French Musk.
Invisible Hand: Playing by Nature's Rules
"You hear time and time again that a corporation has the rights of a person. The idea that Nature has no rights whatsoever is absurd.” — Mark Ruffalo, actor, environmental activist, and producer
Recemtly, Smithereens received an alert from the Sustainable Berkeley Coalition and Berkeley Citizens Action (BCA) noting that "the effort to recognize the Rights of Nature in Berkeley is stuck in bureaucratic delays...."
As a long-time staffer with Friends of the Earth and Earth Island Institute, I was concerned. Here what I've learned.
A Resolution to Recognize the Rights of Nature was submitted by former Councilmember Cheryl Davila at a Berkeley City Council meeting on October 27, 2020. The Agenda committee referred the item to the Facilities, Infrastructure, Transportation, Environment and Sustainability Policy Committee (FITES) and, six months later, on March 3, 2021, FITES voted to forward the item back to council with a qualified positive recommendation.
At the March 15 meeting of the Agenda and Rules Policy Committee, Mayor Arreguin stated that he was opposed to the recommendation but, during the March 30 Council meeting, he expressed his support for the Rights of Nature proposal and recommended referring it to the Peace and Justice Commission. However, the Peace and Justice Commission has not been meeting during the pandemic. Result: Stalemate.
For more information on the Rights of Nature movements (along with local legislative examples, histories, timelines, documents and references) you can contact BCA and/or watch: https://www.invisiblehandfilm.com/what-are-rights-of-nature/
The OTARD Trap
OTARD is an acronym for Over The Air Reception Device and it has been called "the latest trick being used by the telecoms to get their radiation-emitting 5G antennas into neighborhoods." According to Americans for Responsible Technology (ART), the Federal Communications Commission's new OTARD rule will allow telecom providers to pay residents for the privilege of installing powerful wireless devices directly on private homes. No permits required; No public hearings.
Don't be an OTARD DOTARD. This ART video spells it out.
BBC Reports Israelis Were 'Killed' While Palestinians Simply 'Died’
TRT World, a Turkish public media broadcaster, recently noted that BBC anchor Jane Hill had come under criticism after delivering an update on Israel's bombardment of Gaza and reporting that Israelis were "killed" (in the disproportionate exchange of missiles and bombs) while Palestinian victims simply "died."
In related news, Associated Press reporter Emily Wilder was fired for posting alleged "pro-Palestine" tweets. In fact, Wilder (who is Jewish) was actually addressing examples of pro-Israel bias in the Western media's reporting. In one recent tweet, Wilder cited several examples of media bias, noting that “Using ‘Israel’ but never ‘Palestine,’ or ‘war’ but not ’siege and occupation’ are political choices.”
Partisan Bias in the Western Press?
The issue of alleged press bias surfaced again in an Associated Press report that appeared in the May 22 edition of the SF Chronicle. Two AP journalists based in "Gaza City, Gaza Strip" filed a dispatch that opined: "the rocket barrages that brought life to a standstill in much of Israel were seen by many Palestinians as a bold response to perceived Israeli abuses in Jerusalem…." [Emphasis added]
Actual abuses have been easy to perceive in photos and video feeds from the Occupied Territories. Most recently, they have included midnight evictions of Palestinians from their homes and the Israeli military's invasion of the Al Aqsa Mosque during the holy month of Ramadan.
Another issue of bias in the AP report was the referencing of "rocket barrages that brought life to a standstill in much of Israel" without mentioning the Israeli barrages that "brought life to a standstill"—literally!—in Gaza.
From Weapons Fairs to War Zones: Unraveling the War Machine
This year, World BEYOND War's global #NoWar conference will move from Zoom to Hopin (see tutorial here) and will expand from one day to three—starting on Friday, June 4. As WBW's organizers explain: "Instead of pouring trillions into weaponry, the world must invest in … a Green New Deal."
#NoWar2021 will bring together key international allies to share expertise from their various campaigns in the global struggle to abolish war. Speakers will be joining the virtual conference from Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia, Bolivia, Canada, Colombia, Hawai'i, Iran, Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan, Italy, London, Montenegro, New Zealand, Spain, Sicily, Syria, Yemen, the Indigenous Anishnabe Nation and the US.
For more information, click here. To register for one day or all three, click here
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Charting a Peaceful Course
World BEYOND War also is offering a six-week online course on "War and the Environment." As WBW Executive Director David Swanson points out:
"The US military is one of the biggest polluters on earth. Since 2001, the US military has emitted 1.2 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases—equivalent to the annual emissions of 257 million cars. The US military is the world's largest institutional consumer of oil ($17B/year) and the largest global landholder with 800 foreign military bases in 80 countries. By one estimate, the US military used 1.2 million barrels of oil in Iraq in just one month of 2008."
The online class begins on June 7 and runs through July 18, 2021. For more details—on course content, facilitators, time commitments, and registration—click here. Cost: $100 ("Pay less if you have to, more if you can.") Half of the spaces for the course have already been sold.
