The so-called “long war” against “terror” – a patently fraudulent
proposition, since the U.S. arms and finances the jihadists – is cover
for an endless struggle to re-capture and re-enslave a planet that is
not only escaping the clutches of Euro-American capital, but outgrowing
it. This war, which is well under way – ask Libya and Syria – will be
“total” in the sense that the United States considers itself at war with
societies all around the globe (including its European
“allies,” whom it spies on and steals from, relentlessly, as Edward
Snowden has revealed). In addition to its strictly military “full
spectrum dominance” capabilities, Washington has clearly designed its
cyber-warfare machinery as offensive weaponry against “enemy”
populations. Just last Friday, President Obama ordered his senior
security and intelligence staff to draw up a list of potential targets
for U.S. cyber attacks – which actually means that the lists and contingencies have long been in existence and are active elements of U.S. war plans.
-- Glen Ford, "The U.S. War Against the World" (Black Agenda Report).
Sunday, July 14, 2013
A note to our readers
Hey --
Another Sunday and a Monday.
First up, we thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:
The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.
We thank them all. What did we come up with?
We'll go over it later this week.
Peace.
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.
Another Sunday and a Monday.
First up, we thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:
The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.
We thank them all. What did we come up with?
We'll go over it later this week.
Peace.
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.
Editorial: The land with no protection
The violence in Iraq never ends and Sunday's violence?
National Iraqi News Agency reports a Baghdad bombing claimed 2 lives and left ten people dead, a Mosayab suicide bombing claimed 12 lives and left twenty-five people injured, 2 Kirkuk attacks left 1 military officer and 2 soldiers dead, 2 Basra bombings left 7 people dead and six more injured, 2 Nasiriya bombings left 1 person dead and twenty-five injured, a Karbala bombing claimed 4 lives and left nineteen people injured, a Kut bombing claimed 4 lives and left thirty-two injured, northeast of Hilla a police officer and a military officer were injured by two car bombings, an armed attack outside of Tikrit left 1 Sahwa dead and four more injured, 2 people were shot dead in Falluja, a Mosul roadside bombing killed 2 police officers, and a Falluja armed attack claimed the life of 1 military officer and left two of his bodyguards injured.
That's a fairly common summary of violence these days.
So common that maybe we stop wondering why the military has bodyguards? A lot of people have bodyguards in Iraq.
A lot of officials, anyway.
But the bulk of the Iraqi people have no bodyguards.
(Iraqi Spring MC reports a Baquba bombing May 17th that left many dead.)
And under Nouri al-Maliki, they have no security.
Saddam Hussein oversaw (and ordered) torture and executions.
Nouri does the same today.
But otherwise, they had a level of safety that they don't have under Nouri.
The Iraqi Prime Minister could argue that the United States brought this pattern to Iraq with the illegal war.
That may be true, that may be false but, most of all, that doesn't matter one damn bit.
It's 2013. Nouri has been prime minister since 2006.
Where's the security.
And where are the heads of the security ministries?
In July 2012, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed, "Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to forge a lasting power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet positions, including the ministers of defense, interior and national security, while his backers have also shown signs of wobbling support." Those ministries still have no ministers over them. Nouri should have nominated people for the posts back in November 2010. He didn't. All this time later, he hasn't. This not only spits on the Iraqi Constitution and sets a very bad precedent for future prime ministers, it does have to do with the increased violence in Iraq.
The average Iraqi has no bodyguard. Even sadder, they have no functioning security.
National Iraqi News Agency reports a Baghdad bombing claimed 2 lives and left ten people dead, a Mosayab suicide bombing claimed 12 lives and left twenty-five people injured, 2 Kirkuk attacks left 1 military officer and 2 soldiers dead, 2 Basra bombings left 7 people dead and six more injured, 2 Nasiriya bombings left 1 person dead and twenty-five injured, a Karbala bombing claimed 4 lives and left nineteen people injured, a Kut bombing claimed 4 lives and left thirty-two injured, northeast of Hilla a police officer and a military officer were injured by two car bombings, an armed attack outside of Tikrit left 1 Sahwa dead and four more injured, 2 people were shot dead in Falluja, a Mosul roadside bombing killed 2 police officers, and a Falluja armed attack claimed the life of 1 military officer and left two of his bodyguards injured.
That's a fairly common summary of violence these days.
So common that maybe we stop wondering why the military has bodyguards? A lot of people have bodyguards in Iraq.
A lot of officials, anyway.
But the bulk of the Iraqi people have no bodyguards.
(Iraqi Spring MC reports a Baquba bombing May 17th that left many dead.)
And under Nouri al-Maliki, they have no security.
Saddam Hussein oversaw (and ordered) torture and executions.
Nouri does the same today.
But otherwise, they had a level of safety that they don't have under Nouri.
The Iraqi Prime Minister could argue that the United States brought this pattern to Iraq with the illegal war.
That may be true, that may be false but, most of all, that doesn't matter one damn bit.
It's 2013. Nouri has been prime minister since 2006.
Where's the security.
And where are the heads of the security ministries?
In July 2012, Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) observed, "Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to forge a lasting power-sharing agreement and has yet to fill key Cabinet positions, including the ministers of defense, interior and national security, while his backers have also shown signs of wobbling support." Those ministries still have no ministers over them. Nouri should have nominated people for the posts back in November 2010. He didn't. All this time later, he hasn't. This not only spits on the Iraqi Constitution and sets a very bad precedent for future prime ministers, it does have to do with the increased violence in Iraq.
The average Iraqi has no bodyguard. Even sadder, they have no functioning security.
Media: Orange is still orange
The internet offered so many possibilities but quickly, as many mediums before, became about seeing people naked. We guess that could be seen as progress: People.
In previous mediums, it's largely been women. So the fact that, every now and then, for a micro-second or two, a male's ass flashes on the screen might be seen as progress.
And maybe some can be really generous and argue that exploiting women, when it's done by other women, is also progress.
Some.
Not us. Because when a woman's forced to work the streets, the gender of her pimp really isn't the issue.
We felt that way repeatedly while streaming all 13 episodes of Orange Is The New Black.
Jenji Kohan has tremendous talent. She created Weeds which was breakthrough TV. There's nothing breakthrough about OITNB.
You keep hoping there will be.
Piper (Taylor Schilling) and Larry (Jason Biggs) are living together and planning their future when the law shows up because someone's ratted Piper out on what she did years earlier -- drug mule.
That was right after college when she was applying to be a waitress and met Alex (Laura Prepon) who worked for an international drug cartel. It's off to prison ("Prison, not jail," she tells her friend Polly -- played by Maria Dizzia) and she's not sure what she can handle.
In the prison, she quickly pisses off Red (Kate Mulgrew) by insulting the cooking (not realizing Red runs the kitchen), Crazy Eyes (Uzo Aduba) lets Piper use her ear buds and then decides this makes them married and Piper her wife and her homophobic case worker Sam Healy (Michal J. Harney) doesn't know about Piper's past with Alex and sees it as his duty to ensure that Piper doesn't 'turn lesbian' while serving her sentence.
She makes it through assorted struggles, such as Red refusing to serve her any meals and we're supposed to see it as cute and plucky. With Red, she gets some hot peppers (by bartering) and some other ingredients and makes a lotion that will help with Red's back pain. She knows how to make lotions because she and Polly have their own lotions business. And Red feels better and takes Piper off the hunger strike. (While on it, Piper flashes back to when she and Larry were on a cleanse.)
At last food for Piper!!!
But we're left thinking, "Who the hell cares?"
We don't find the way she treats Susanna amusing either. That's "Crazy Eyes." We could tolerate the way Piper repeatedly looks down on Susanna were it part of the character. But it's not part of the character, it's the tone of the show.
And this tone really does not work.
It's smug and condescending and it's coming from the woman who will not have a hard post-prison life. So when Piper's being smug and rude (and the tone of the show is as well), it plays a lot like White Woman Goes To Prison To Laugh At Others.
The fact that none of the non-Anglo Whites really gets a storyline that matters adds to the pompous nature.
Susanna's not always on, the track star is on and off so much you forget her from episode to episode. Others disappear for entire episodes. The only African-American who registers is Laverne Cox who plays Sophia. Sophia's loud and alive. And in prison, that means some will try to destroy her. When her needed meds are denied her, it registers because Cox provides a full fledged character. But even with Cox's amazing performance, she's repeatedly stripped of her integrity as the show preaches Listen To A White Woman over and over.
In Sophia's case, her wife has fallen in love with a preacher and the preacher's also nice to Sophia's son Michael. It's left to a White nun in prison for political activism to talk Sophia into acceptance of what's happening.
You could argue that the theme for the African-American characters is that they are always victims -- victims of falling for the wrong person (like Susanna falling for Piper or the track star falling for a guy who let her take the fall for robbery), victims of falling for dead-ends when something else seems more frightening (such as the prisoner who returns to prison because life on the outside is too scary), it happens over and over.
By contrast, the Latinas are victims who actively attempt to respond by thinking their way out of problems. Apparently, because they're Anglo Latina and not Anglo White, they don't think too well.
So when Daya (Dascha Polanco) ends up pregnant by prison guard Bennett (Matt McGorry) and her mother (Elizabeth Rodriguez) -- also in the same prison -- convinces her to have the baby, the 'answer' is for Daya to have sex with another guard to throw suspicion off Bennett when Daya begins showing.
Huffington Post quotes Jenji Kohan stating:
I don’t set out to write female lead shows, necessarily. I like deeply flawed characters. When they come to me, or when I’m introduced to them, I follow the stories and the people, rather than setting out to do a female lead thing… And when I read Piper Kerman’s book, I thought, “This is a way into a really interesting world. It’s the yuppie’s eye view to get you in there.” If you go to a network and say, “I wanna do prison stories about black women and Latino women and old women,” you’re not gonna make a sale. But, if you’ve got this blonde girl going to prison, you can get in there, and then you can tell all the stories. I just thought it was a terrific gateway drug into all the things I wanted to get into.
She has given parts to a very diverse group of performers. But it's a shame that their talent is repeatedly undermined. Wouldn't it be great if, for example, she could show an African-American solving the White nun's problems, for example?
Does nothing on the show work?
Individual scenes by the actresses we've named above (with one exception) work.
Laura Prepon is amazing. A (White) woman vows revenge on Piper because Piper (and Alex) got the woman locked away in the psyche ward before Piper came forward with the truth. Now the woman's out, Alex reminds her and Piper? "She's cleaning toilets every morning like Private f**king Benjamin!" In the scene, she gets across that Alex loves Piper, that Alex feels guilt (including for betraying Piper) and so much more. When she blows up at Piper ("Is that what I am to you? A f**king binky for you to suck on to feel better!"), it feels true and she lets just enough rage show that the point that no one hurts Alex more than Alex really comes across.
Natasha Lyonne (Nicky) is another one who's amazing. Kate Mulgrew, Lea DeLaria, Laverne Cox and Dascha Polanco are part of an incredible cast and manage to stand out. But Danielle Brooks . . .
The woman can act. She can make you feel for her character. But she's the one who gets paroled and comes back -- by choice. And that can happen but with the way the show works in the first 13 episodes and so much more, Brooks is stuck with a storyline that makes an argument akin to "slavery wasn't all bad and many slaves loved it."
Taylor Schilling can't act -- no matter how much you expand the meaning of 'act.' As the lead, she offers a third-rate impression of Mary-Louise Parker playing Nancy on Weeds. It doesn't work and nothing about her does for most episodes. It doesn't help that she's paired with Biggs who seems to have read a book on acting -- a pre-method book, one of those 'natural drama poses and expressions' books -- and it left him so drained that he's dull and boring.
Hint to Biggs, if you're not offering any surprises in your by-rote-performance, why are you involved in this project?
Jason Biggs has talent. He's not showing it in this series.
To Huffington Post, Jenji Kohan explained the sugar she'd found that would help the medicine go down.
And, again, it is a racially and ethnically diverse cast. And so that is a good thing.
But there's also a cost being paid. Basically, Jenji sees herself as Piper and Netflix as Sam Healy in that she feels she has the upper hand and she's tricking them.
But what we're seeing is bunch of bare breasts, fingering, eating out in the shower and assorted other scenes that, if a male was behind this show, people would be screaming their heads off.
Orange Is The New Black is the first Netflix original series to feature women in important roles -- let alone in the main roles and composing the bulk of the cast. But was it really necessary to trade on women's bodies to do that?
We can hear someone insisting, 'Women's bodies do not need to be hidden!'
And we're not saying they do. But we are saying that exploitation is wrong.
Yes, there are many same-sex couples in female prisons.
But why is it that on Orange Is The New Black, the couples are always 'lipstick lesbians.' Lyonne fingering Prepon, Prepon and Schilling having sex in the chapel, Lyonne eating out an attractive woman in the showers, . . .
Meanwhile, there's Lea DeLaria in the Jack McFarland role. Like Jack on Will & Grace, Lea has a sexual past. Past. In an apparent consolation, they've given her a dog. Seriously, she's in prison and has a dog. But she doesn't have a girlfriend. Lea's been a star for some time now and she became it with the force of her personality. And that makes it even harder to accept that her Big Boo would go thirteen episodes without having sex with any other woman in the prison.
Even when a woman's in charge of a show, she's going to apply male heterosexual conceptions of beauty and sex appeal? Orange Is The New Black isn't new at all. It's Prisoner: Cell Block H but with lots of nudity and the sex is shown, not implied.
Since this review is going to piss off a lot of people (we're referring to friends with the show, not readers of this site), let's go ahead and say it: Is diversity even that applause worthy on this show?
Bunheads comes along with all White leads. Few bat an eye. But set a show in prison and we're all supposed to cut some slack for the diverse cast? And we're also supposed to ignore that the show chooses to have Pepon and Schilling make out to a male vocalist? (This is pre-prison.) We're supposed to give credit there, too? If you're doing a series that revolves around Piper and her (female) ex-lover, maybe you should have spent some time learning about Womyn's music? At best, the show offers a facade of equality.
In previous mediums, it's largely been women. So the fact that, every now and then, for a micro-second or two, a male's ass flashes on the screen might be seen as progress.
And maybe some can be really generous and argue that exploiting women, when it's done by other women, is also progress.
Some.
Not us. Because when a woman's forced to work the streets, the gender of her pimp really isn't the issue.
We felt that way repeatedly while streaming all 13 episodes of Orange Is The New Black.
Jenji Kohan has tremendous talent. She created Weeds which was breakthrough TV. There's nothing breakthrough about OITNB.
You keep hoping there will be.
Piper (Taylor Schilling) and Larry (Jason Biggs) are living together and planning their future when the law shows up because someone's ratted Piper out on what she did years earlier -- drug mule.
That was right after college when she was applying to be a waitress and met Alex (Laura Prepon) who worked for an international drug cartel. It's off to prison ("Prison, not jail," she tells her friend Polly -- played by Maria Dizzia) and she's not sure what she can handle.
In the prison, she quickly pisses off Red (Kate Mulgrew) by insulting the cooking (not realizing Red runs the kitchen), Crazy Eyes (Uzo Aduba) lets Piper use her ear buds and then decides this makes them married and Piper her wife and her homophobic case worker Sam Healy (Michal J. Harney) doesn't know about Piper's past with Alex and sees it as his duty to ensure that Piper doesn't 'turn lesbian' while serving her sentence.
She makes it through assorted struggles, such as Red refusing to serve her any meals and we're supposed to see it as cute and plucky. With Red, she gets some hot peppers (by bartering) and some other ingredients and makes a lotion that will help with Red's back pain. She knows how to make lotions because she and Polly have their own lotions business. And Red feels better and takes Piper off the hunger strike. (While on it, Piper flashes back to when she and Larry were on a cleanse.)
At last food for Piper!!!
But we're left thinking, "Who the hell cares?"
We don't find the way she treats Susanna amusing either. That's "Crazy Eyes." We could tolerate the way Piper repeatedly looks down on Susanna were it part of the character. But it's not part of the character, it's the tone of the show.
And this tone really does not work.
It's smug and condescending and it's coming from the woman who will not have a hard post-prison life. So when Piper's being smug and rude (and the tone of the show is as well), it plays a lot like White Woman Goes To Prison To Laugh At Others.
The fact that none of the non-Anglo Whites really gets a storyline that matters adds to the pompous nature.
Susanna's not always on, the track star is on and off so much you forget her from episode to episode. Others disappear for entire episodes. The only African-American who registers is Laverne Cox who plays Sophia. Sophia's loud and alive. And in prison, that means some will try to destroy her. When her needed meds are denied her, it registers because Cox provides a full fledged character. But even with Cox's amazing performance, she's repeatedly stripped of her integrity as the show preaches Listen To A White Woman over and over.
In Sophia's case, her wife has fallen in love with a preacher and the preacher's also nice to Sophia's son Michael. It's left to a White nun in prison for political activism to talk Sophia into acceptance of what's happening.
You could argue that the theme for the African-American characters is that they are always victims -- victims of falling for the wrong person (like Susanna falling for Piper or the track star falling for a guy who let her take the fall for robbery), victims of falling for dead-ends when something else seems more frightening (such as the prisoner who returns to prison because life on the outside is too scary), it happens over and over.
By contrast, the Latinas are victims who actively attempt to respond by thinking their way out of problems. Apparently, because they're Anglo Latina and not Anglo White, they don't think too well.
So when Daya (Dascha Polanco) ends up pregnant by prison guard Bennett (Matt McGorry) and her mother (Elizabeth Rodriguez) -- also in the same prison -- convinces her to have the baby, the 'answer' is for Daya to have sex with another guard to throw suspicion off Bennett when Daya begins showing.
Huffington Post quotes Jenji Kohan stating:
I don’t set out to write female lead shows, necessarily. I like deeply flawed characters. When they come to me, or when I’m introduced to them, I follow the stories and the people, rather than setting out to do a female lead thing… And when I read Piper Kerman’s book, I thought, “This is a way into a really interesting world. It’s the yuppie’s eye view to get you in there.” If you go to a network and say, “I wanna do prison stories about black women and Latino women and old women,” you’re not gonna make a sale. But, if you’ve got this blonde girl going to prison, you can get in there, and then you can tell all the stories. I just thought it was a terrific gateway drug into all the things I wanted to get into.
She has given parts to a very diverse group of performers. But it's a shame that their talent is repeatedly undermined. Wouldn't it be great if, for example, she could show an African-American solving the White nun's problems, for example?
Does nothing on the show work?
Individual scenes by the actresses we've named above (with one exception) work.
Laura Prepon is amazing. A (White) woman vows revenge on Piper because Piper (and Alex) got the woman locked away in the psyche ward before Piper came forward with the truth. Now the woman's out, Alex reminds her and Piper? "She's cleaning toilets every morning like Private f**king Benjamin!" In the scene, she gets across that Alex loves Piper, that Alex feels guilt (including for betraying Piper) and so much more. When she blows up at Piper ("Is that what I am to you? A f**king binky for you to suck on to feel better!"), it feels true and she lets just enough rage show that the point that no one hurts Alex more than Alex really comes across.
Natasha Lyonne (Nicky) is another one who's amazing. Kate Mulgrew, Lea DeLaria, Laverne Cox and Dascha Polanco are part of an incredible cast and manage to stand out. But Danielle Brooks . . .
The woman can act. She can make you feel for her character. But she's the one who gets paroled and comes back -- by choice. And that can happen but with the way the show works in the first 13 episodes and so much more, Brooks is stuck with a storyline that makes an argument akin to "slavery wasn't all bad and many slaves loved it."
Taylor Schilling can't act -- no matter how much you expand the meaning of 'act.' As the lead, she offers a third-rate impression of Mary-Louise Parker playing Nancy on Weeds. It doesn't work and nothing about her does for most episodes. It doesn't help that she's paired with Biggs who seems to have read a book on acting -- a pre-method book, one of those 'natural drama poses and expressions' books -- and it left him so drained that he's dull and boring.
Hint to Biggs, if you're not offering any surprises in your by-rote-performance, why are you involved in this project?
Jason Biggs has talent. He's not showing it in this series.
To Huffington Post, Jenji Kohan explained the sugar she'd found that would help the medicine go down.
And, again, it is a racially and ethnically diverse cast. And so that is a good thing.
But there's also a cost being paid. Basically, Jenji sees herself as Piper and Netflix as Sam Healy in that she feels she has the upper hand and she's tricking them.
But what we're seeing is bunch of bare breasts, fingering, eating out in the shower and assorted other scenes that, if a male was behind this show, people would be screaming their heads off.
Orange Is The New Black is the first Netflix original series to feature women in important roles -- let alone in the main roles and composing the bulk of the cast. But was it really necessary to trade on women's bodies to do that?
We can hear someone insisting, 'Women's bodies do not need to be hidden!'
And we're not saying they do. But we are saying that exploitation is wrong.
Yes, there are many same-sex couples in female prisons.
But why is it that on Orange Is The New Black, the couples are always 'lipstick lesbians.' Lyonne fingering Prepon, Prepon and Schilling having sex in the chapel, Lyonne eating out an attractive woman in the showers, . . .
Meanwhile, there's Lea DeLaria in the Jack McFarland role. Like Jack on Will & Grace, Lea has a sexual past. Past. In an apparent consolation, they've given her a dog. Seriously, she's in prison and has a dog. But she doesn't have a girlfriend. Lea's been a star for some time now and she became it with the force of her personality. And that makes it even harder to accept that her Big Boo would go thirteen episodes without having sex with any other woman in the prison.
Even when a woman's in charge of a show, she's going to apply male heterosexual conceptions of beauty and sex appeal? Orange Is The New Black isn't new at all. It's Prisoner: Cell Block H but with lots of nudity and the sex is shown, not implied.
Since this review is going to piss off a lot of people (we're referring to friends with the show, not readers of this site), let's go ahead and say it: Is diversity even that applause worthy on this show?
Bunheads comes along with all White leads. Few bat an eye. But set a show in prison and we're all supposed to cut some slack for the diverse cast? And we're also supposed to ignore that the show chooses to have Pepon and Schilling make out to a male vocalist? (This is pre-prison.) We're supposed to give credit there, too? If you're doing a series that revolves around Piper and her (female) ex-lover, maybe you should have spent some time learning about Womyn's music? At best, the show offers a facade of equality.
You wouldn't do it to a dog
"We're really interested in our four-legged family members eating not just healthy but also home grown."
"That's not a problem here at Pet Love," Pet Expert Pete explained. "We have many healthy choices for feeding.
"That makes us feel so good," the woman standing with the man said to Pete.
Pete smiled back, turned and waived to indicate they should follow.
"We've come a long way from the days of Purina dry chow," Pete said laughing causing the couple to grin at one another.
"Well, we lover the whole idea behind Pet Love," the man said.
"Don't you? Isn't it just an idea that seemed so obvious but we all overlooked it. It is so important not to waste.
With that, Pete punched in a code on a key pad causing a large door to slide open.
As the three stepped inside the bright, glowing, large room, the woman said, "I like that it's so well lit. It makes me feel that Pet Love has nothing to hide."
Pete led them from station to station, conducting a mini-tour that really couldn't be termed 'impromptu' since Pet Love employees conducted these tours several times a day.
"That's Gerald," Pete said pointing. "He broke his leg before we got him. We set it and were very careful about his diet to avoid bone spurs or other problems. He's largely had a grain diet."
"And shots?" the man asked. "What about shots?"
"Gerald hasn't had the need for shots. At Pet Love, we believe that a little pain is part of life and we don't want to inject a lot of pain killers or other things."
"That seems a little cruel," said the woman.
"No, honey," the man said. "If you think about it, it makes a great deal of sense."
Pete nodded to the woman in agreement with her partner.
"Well . . ." the woman said slowly, "Gerald does seem happy, I guess."
Pete, "Yes, he does. Who's the good boy, Gerald? Who's the good boy?"
The woman still appeared unsure and was looking around at the various stations. Pete noticed.
"If you see one you want," Pete said, still smiling, "just let us know. Otherwise, we'll match your profile and select one for you."
"I don't . . . I'm not . . .," the woman fumbled.
"Hon, are you okay?" the man asked her.
She looked at him, then peered at Pete, "Really, are they happy?"
"They love this setting. It's bright, like you pointed out, and they can see friends and be fed and, yes, they are happy."
"Well . . ."
"Hon, what's wrong?"
Looking at her partner, the woman nervously said, "I'm just not comfortable with our Fifi eating a living thing."
Pete grabbed the woman by the shoulders and pressed his face close to her own, "Look, green living is all about not wasting anything. These strays get to serve a great purpose by becoming food. I mean, what are you proposing as an alternative? That we go back to using plastic bags?"
"No, no . . ." the woman said clearly distressed.
"Good. So let's look around and see if we can find --"
"Gerald," the man said. "Gerald will do."
"Alright, that's great, let me take you over to the cashier and we can get your rung up right away and figure out what cuts would be best for your pet."
As the man and Pete walked off, the woman stood staring worriedly at Gerald.
"Are you okay with this really?" she asked him.
Gerald shook his head back and forth frantically. But he could not speak.
The ball gag in his mouth -- in all the mouths of the homeless -- prevented speech.
As the government repeatedly refused to address the homeless problem in the United States it grew and grew until President Richard Nixon IV Feed The Homeless proposal was warmly embraced.
It was a great relief to Nixon because he didn't want to have his limbs torn asunder -- as had been the fate of Richard Nixon III. Even clones had feelings. Hadn't the tears of President Barack Obama 2.5 demonstrated that?
Over
I don't want to know you.
I don't want just to be free,
Or just to be away.
I really don't want to know you
Not anymore.
And I can live with what we did,
And with what we are,
I just don't want to know you.
Time doesn't need to be dialed back
Or even reset.
I will live with all that happened.
I'll live with all but you.
Not life before,
And I'll gladly go off the grid,
I'll carry the scar,
I just don't want to know you.
Wish the sun would darken and crack,
Or a mountain rise,
A cloud flattened, me saddened,
I don't want to think of you.
I don't want to know you.
I don't want just to be free,
Or just to be away.
I really don't want to know you
The White House Troops
Ben: No, I really think you're hot. Turn on your cam so I can see if you're as hot as you sound.
[Redacted]
Ben: Alright. Yeahzzze!!!! You are hot!!!!
[Redacted]
Ben: So what are you into?
[Redacted]
Ben: Hot!!!!! Hells yeah! Let's do it!!!
[Redacted]
Ben: By the way, have you donated to any Tea Party groups or maybe to the ACLU?
[Redacted]
Ben: Don't be offended! It's hot to talk politics. See how it gives me a chubby? If you answered the question, I'd have a raging hard!
[Redacted]
Ben: Alright! Now I think I'm dripping a little. Tell me, have you ever had impure thoughts about the government?
[Redacted]
Ben: Alright. Yeahzzze!!!! You are hot!!!!
[Redacted]
Ben: So what are you into?
[Redacted]
Ben: Hot!!!!! Hells yeah! Let's do it!!!
[Redacted]
Ben: By the way, have you donated to any Tea Party groups or maybe to the ACLU?
[Redacted]
Ben: Don't be offended! It's hot to talk politics. See how it gives me a chubby? If you answered the question, I'd have a raging hard!
[Redacted]
Ben: Alright! Now I think I'm dripping a little. Tell me, have you ever had impure thoughts about the government?
The Summer Tell All: The Death of the Summer Edition
Each year, Third Estate Sunday Review has used a week's edition to offer the summer read. That ends with the edition you're reading. It's over, it's dead, it's killed.
What happened?
It was so much fun in the early days.
Now it's hurt feelings and frustration.
Marcia loves science fiction. That's a known and a given. She has an element that will twist a story we're working on. She doesn't get a full hearing. She barely gets to speak before someone says/snarls, "We've already worked four hours on a science fiction piece. We don't need another one."
And that may or may not be true, but Marcia's point wasn't science fiction.
In previous editions, Stan has been wronged. He wrote a great story that was worked on by others and after a number of rewrites, it just wasn't worth publishing here.
The week after that summer edition posted, we did post Stan's story -- an earlier draft by him and two other people.
Stan and others have suggested great ideas that were forgotten. Because these editions start with everyone pitching their ideas and then we window it down to what sounds interesting. And then that's what we work on. What gets written is then judged (in its final form) to see whether or not it's worth publishing.
Currently, this writing edition -- which has turned this site into The Third Estate Monday Review -- has laste over 30 hours. All of us have taken at least a two hour break. Some have taken more and good for them.
In the movie business, a great script comes in. It's original and unique and funny. And then Robert Redford's not interested unless his part is made equal to Jodie Foster's so you get another writer to do a re-write. This new draft means Jodie walks from the film (this actually happened). Now you need to find a different co-star and that means another rewrite. And maybe another . . .
In the end, the film either isn't made or its widely trashed.
And that process is what is happening here. Recognize this, "Along with Dallas, the following helped on this edition:"
The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.
That's 20 people. Which is at least 17 too many to write a short story.
Betty enjoys poetry and if this edition works anywhere, it's probably the two poems. So good for Betty and the group that worked on them. It was a small group and it allowed them to focus.
Otherwise? The science fiction piece will be published.
The others?
How desperate are we?
The point of the summer edition, by the way, was never to have readers marvel, "Oh, it's the next Edith Wharton!" The point was to encourage fiction and to celebrate summer, the one time many adults crack a book.
Hopefully, that was achieved in these editions.
But now it's just too much to manage.
So this is both the latest yearly summer edition and also the death of the summer edition.
Free Lynne Stewart (Monica Moorehead, WW)
Repost from Workers World:
July 8 — The struggle to win compassionate release for the
imprisoned, cancer-stricken people’s lawyer, Lynne Stewart, is still
very much in the forefront of the progressive movement’s agenda.
The 73-year-old Stewart is currently in her fourth year of serving a 10-year sentence in Carswell Federal Prison in Fort Worth, Texas, on a fabricated “aiding terrorism” conviction for legally representing Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, who was falsely imprisoned for “sedition” in the 1995 bombing of the World Trade Center.
Since early March, an international campaign has been in full swing to demand Stewart’s release based on her deteriorating medical condition. Stewart is suffering from stage four lung cancer and has lost over 60 pounds. Thousands of people have both signed the compassionate release petition and made phone calls on her behalf, which forced Carswell prison warden, Jody R. Upton, to sign the release papers in early May.
His signing, however, was only the first step in the process of winning her release from prison. The second step is to have the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Charles E. Samuels Jr., sign the release, which he has refused to do up until now. Every minute of every hour of every day that Lynne Stewart remains in prison deepens the torture imposed on her and on her family and supporters.
Stewart’s life partner, Ralph Poynter, has been the most passionate and the most outspoken supporter on Stewart’s behalf, doing almost round-the-clock media interviews and initiating vigils in front of the White House, like the one on June 17.
Longtime social activist, Dick Gregory, also attended a recent protest in front of the BOP in Washington, D.C., to demand Stewart’s release.
In a July 2 message to the movement, Poynter declared: “The struggle to free Lynne Stewart continues on many fronts. First and foremost, each and every one of us must increase the number of people worldwide who sign the petition.
“Lynne Stewart’s condition is deteriorating rapidly. Medical treatment to arrest the cancer that is metastasizing in her body has been halted because she is too weak to receive it. She remains in isolation, as her white blood cell count is so low that she is at risk for generalized infection.
“We shall not stand by idly while the Federal Bureau of Prisons murders Lynne Stewart. The Bureau of Prisons can and must reverse its decision.”
In her June 25, “Disappointed but not devastated” message, Lynne Stewart stated defiantly: “We will never give up. I hope that your affront at this crass bureaucratic denial of the request, which you by your signatures and letters and phone calls, demanded — How far can we let this go? when a 73-year-old woman who IS dying of cancer (maybe not on their timetable), her life of good works ignored, be shunted aside … ‘she does not present circumstances considered extraordinary and compelling … at this time.’ We must show them that I cannot be ignored, that YOU cannot be ignored.”
On July 9, demonstrations demanding Stewart’s compassionate release will take place in New York City at Foley Square, Lower Manhattan Courts, followed by a march to 500 Pearl St. from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and in Los Angeles in front of the Westwood Federal Building, 11000 Wilshire Blvd. at 5 p.m.
And on July 12 in Washington, D.C., a protest will take place at Columbia Heights Civic Plaza, 14th Street and Park Road NW from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Sign the petition at IACenter.org/LynneStewartPetition or at LynneStewart.org. See Dick Gregory, Luci Murphy and others defend Lynne Stewart in Washington, D.C., at http://tinyurl.com/lpn9csq. Hear political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal’s audio column on Lynne Stewart along with commentaries by Lynne herself at http://tinyurl.com/kg6njsx.
Free Lynne Stewart and all political prisoners!!!
Movement keeps pressure on to release Lynne Stewart
By Monica Moorehead on July 8, 2013 » Add the first comment.
Lynne Stewart, June 2013
The 73-year-old Stewart is currently in her fourth year of serving a 10-year sentence in Carswell Federal Prison in Fort Worth, Texas, on a fabricated “aiding terrorism” conviction for legally representing Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, who was falsely imprisoned for “sedition” in the 1995 bombing of the World Trade Center.
Since early March, an international campaign has been in full swing to demand Stewart’s release based on her deteriorating medical condition. Stewart is suffering from stage four lung cancer and has lost over 60 pounds. Thousands of people have both signed the compassionate release petition and made phone calls on her behalf, which forced Carswell prison warden, Jody R. Upton, to sign the release papers in early May.
His signing, however, was only the first step in the process of winning her release from prison. The second step is to have the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Charles E. Samuels Jr., sign the release, which he has refused to do up until now. Every minute of every hour of every day that Lynne Stewart remains in prison deepens the torture imposed on her and on her family and supporters.
Stewart’s life partner, Ralph Poynter, has been the most passionate and the most outspoken supporter on Stewart’s behalf, doing almost round-the-clock media interviews and initiating vigils in front of the White House, like the one on June 17.
Longtime social activist, Dick Gregory, also attended a recent protest in front of the BOP in Washington, D.C., to demand Stewart’s release.
In a July 2 message to the movement, Poynter declared: “The struggle to free Lynne Stewart continues on many fronts. First and foremost, each and every one of us must increase the number of people worldwide who sign the petition.
“Lynne Stewart’s condition is deteriorating rapidly. Medical treatment to arrest the cancer that is metastasizing in her body has been halted because she is too weak to receive it. She remains in isolation, as her white blood cell count is so low that she is at risk for generalized infection.
“We shall not stand by idly while the Federal Bureau of Prisons murders Lynne Stewart. The Bureau of Prisons can and must reverse its decision.”
In her June 25, “Disappointed but not devastated” message, Lynne Stewart stated defiantly: “We will never give up. I hope that your affront at this crass bureaucratic denial of the request, which you by your signatures and letters and phone calls, demanded — How far can we let this go? when a 73-year-old woman who IS dying of cancer (maybe not on their timetable), her life of good works ignored, be shunted aside … ‘she does not present circumstances considered extraordinary and compelling … at this time.’ We must show them that I cannot be ignored, that YOU cannot be ignored.”
On July 9, demonstrations demanding Stewart’s compassionate release will take place in New York City at Foley Square, Lower Manhattan Courts, followed by a march to 500 Pearl St. from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and in Los Angeles in front of the Westwood Federal Building, 11000 Wilshire Blvd. at 5 p.m.
And on July 12 in Washington, D.C., a protest will take place at Columbia Heights Civic Plaza, 14th Street and Park Road NW from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Sign the petition at IACenter.org/LynneStewartPetition or at LynneStewart.org. See Dick Gregory, Luci Murphy and others defend Lynne Stewart in Washington, D.C., at http://tinyurl.com/lpn9csq. Hear political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal’s audio column on Lynne Stewart along with commentaries by Lynne herself at http://tinyurl.com/kg6njsx.
Free Lynne Stewart and all political prisoners!!!
Highlights
This piece is written by Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Kat of Kat's Korner, Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man, Mike of Mikey Likes It!, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Ruth of Ruth's Report, Marcia of SICKOFITRADLZ, Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends, Ann of Ann's Mega Dub, Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts and Wally of The Daily Jot.
Unless otherwise noted, we picked all highlights.
"Can someone drive NPR's Carrie Johnson to the free..." -- most requested highlight of the week by readers of this site.
"Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Walk On Water"..." Isaiah covers the mortality of Barack.
"Iraq snapshot," "Nuland and Benghazi" and "Victoria Nuland indirectly confirms CIA arming 'rebels' out of Benghazi" -- Congressional reporting from Ruth and C.I.
"Cinema Retro," "The Heat," "The Wolverine," "Olivia Flores Alvarez has Tyler Perry's number," "The Big Wedding" and "Flashdance" -- Stan, Betty, Ann and Marcia cover movies.
"Mistresses," "Mistresses," "MSNBC gets called out" "666 Park Avenue," "CBS makes a stupid mistake," "newsroom" and "TV shows" -- Stan, Ruth, Mike, Trina, Rebecca and Betty cover TV.
"Black Bean and Corn Salad in the Kitchen" -- Trina offers a summer recipe.
"Kurt Cobain is dead (tell Mojo)," "Janis Ian" and "Sandy Shaw" -- Kat and Ann cover music.
"Empty nest syndrome?" -- Trina writes about a family member moving.
"Stir crazy" -- Ann writes about being on family leave with her new baby.
"How to get preSs for Curiosity" -- Betty on science.
"the frankenstein foods" -- Rebecca on modified foods.
"stream steve grand's video - you'll love it," "Steve Grand's "All American Boy"," "Gay Country Singer Adjusts to Newfound Web Fame," "Steve Grand on Good Morning America Tuesday morning" and
"Someone tries to have a career by being open from the start" -- community coverage of emerging country artist Steve Grand.
"Ginny Brown calls Pilger out"\ -- Elaine notes Brown.
"Barry insists he thought the job was just posing," "THIS JUST IN! HE'S SO OVERWORKED!," "Iraq snapshot," "Waiting For Snowden," "Justin Raimondo's great column," "We are Ed Snowden,"
"Stand up to the NSA spying," "the corruption remains the same," "The cheap Chicago hustler,"
"Breeding whistle-blowers" and "US arrest warrant for Ed Snowden doesn't go over w..."-- some of the Ed Snowden coverage.
"Can someone drive NPR's Carrie Johnson to the free..." -- most requested highlight of the week by readers of this site.
"Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Walk On Water"..." Isaiah covers the mortality of Barack.
"Iraq snapshot," "Nuland and Benghazi" and "Victoria Nuland indirectly confirms CIA arming 'rebels' out of Benghazi" -- Congressional reporting from Ruth and C.I.
"Cinema Retro," "The Heat," "The Wolverine," "Olivia Flores Alvarez has Tyler Perry's number," "The Big Wedding" and "Flashdance" -- Stan, Betty, Ann and Marcia cover movies.
"Mistresses," "Mistresses," "MSNBC gets called out" "666 Park Avenue," "CBS makes a stupid mistake," "newsroom" and "TV shows" -- Stan, Ruth, Mike, Trina, Rebecca and Betty cover TV.
"Barack Renews The Patriot Act" -- Isaiah dips into the archives.
"Black Bean and Corn Salad in the Kitchen" -- Trina offers a summer recipe.
"Kurt Cobain is dead (tell Mojo)," "Janis Ian" and "Sandy Shaw" -- Kat and Ann cover music.
"Empty nest syndrome?" -- Trina writes about a family member moving.
"Stir crazy" -- Ann writes about being on family leave with her new baby.
"How to get preSs for Curiosity" -- Betty on science.
"the frankenstein foods" -- Rebecca on modified foods.
"stream steve grand's video - you'll love it," "Steve Grand's "All American Boy"," "Gay Country Singer Adjusts to Newfound Web Fame," "Steve Grand on Good Morning America Tuesday morning" and
"Someone tries to have a career by being open from the start" -- community coverage of emerging country artist Steve Grand.
"Ginny Brown calls Pilger out"\ -- Elaine notes Brown.
"Barry insists he thought the job was just posing," "THIS JUST IN! HE'S SO OVERWORKED!," "Iraq snapshot," "Waiting For Snowden," "Justin Raimondo's great column," "We are Ed Snowden,"
"Stand up to the NSA spying," "the corruption remains the same," "The cheap Chicago hustler,"
"Breeding whistle-blowers" and "US arrest warrant for Ed Snowden doesn't go over w..."-- some of the Ed Snowden coverage.