Yankee Stay Home

USA warfare and overseas occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq must stop. The "helpful hand" of the Yankee is not. Our forces are bumbling and deadly; the people of those nations don't want our solutions; our own nation has become improverished by foolish wars and lack of attention to domestic infrastructural gaps.

Thousands have died. Let's not sacrifice more. Bring home the US Armed Forces.

President Obama and other scheming weasel politicians who fail to promote peace should never be reelected.

Those voting against the Obey-McGovern-Jones amendment (that sought to schedule a wind-down in Afghanistan) are wasting American money & lives. Vote them out of office.

Health Insurance is not Health Care

Health insurance is not health care.
We suffer.

False promises add more suffering.

Korean Hostilities Ignored

Received this morning from the Korea Tourism Organization LA Office (Newsletter):
"Please be assured that it is completely safe for foreign visitors to enjoy their tour in South Korea even though there is a bit of tension between South and North Korea over the sinking of a South Korean ship. A daily average of 20,000 foreigners continue to visit Korea without any inconvenience or exposure to any type of harm. If you have any questions about the safety of traveling in Korea, please feel free to contact us, and we will do our best to provide you with the most accurate information. Thank you."

I was in South Korea last week, and the great majority of people are (as typically) unconcerned about the possibilities of sudden hostilities.

This does not mean there's no danger. Most people in Seoul and throughout South Korea live with strong urgency, busy being busy; onward & upward, often to unknown purpose. "Groupthink" is strong. Many cultures systemically ignore or neglect warnings & problems, but the security threat on the Korean peninsula is substantial. If trouble occurs, the foreign tourist is highly exposed, without good survival tools, liable to harm from any direction.

North Korea is unpredictable, and KTO's "bit of tension" could suddenly erupt into shooting or invasion. As mentioned, I was there last week. But make no mistake, there's danger of death or injury; the threat is recently elevated.

Settlers or Squatters?

Settlers or Squatters?
Imposing a New Order.
Grandma is perplexed

New maps, new place names
Refashioned by media
We're redeveloped.

Tribal heritage
Vies with consumer mindspace
I go to the mall.

The Mavi Marmara Massacre

Israeli commandos have stormed a group of ships bringing aid to the people of Gaza. Many people on board the Mavi Marmara were killed; hundreds more are now held in Israeli custody. It seems they tried to resist highly-armed commandos forcibly boarding their ship underway in the Mediterranean Sea. In the USA we're told the ship passengers are activists, radicals, militants and terrorists... as are the people of Gaza. Welcome to the land of spin. Yes, we live in spin.

Squatting in Arizona

Regulate
Human migration?
Is it proper a community restricts access to its resources?

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..."

These words are not part of the International Declaration of Human Rights, or the U.S. Constitution, but are from a sonnet contributed in 1883 by 34-year old Emma Lazarus toward building New York's Statue of Liberty. The poem offers "world-wide welcome" for the homeless. So are communities in the USA now obligated to accept all comers?

I don't think so.

Miss Emma had no authority to open the land to everyone. At that time, many indigenous communities and nations within the Americas were being forcibly subdued, destroyed or purged. Large-scale ethnic cleansing was taking place; settlers were wanted to repopulate native territories. Asian and "colored" prospective settlers were discouraged.

Another dimension is continuing community investment since colonization. Community members invest in roads, bridges and other infrastructure through taxes. Some provide time & sweat, some are killed for defense. When sacrifice is disregarded, people become discouraged from participation and community-building. Big government for big corporate interests has sucked the vitality of local communities. Americans are taxed to support wars in the Middle East and Asia; they are taxed to bailout giant corporations, while their own communities are dismantled, services cut, resources extracted. Expect some people to fight - protecting the little they have.

Snatch

The Poet snatches time
As focus, appreciation, reverie...
Give way to work,
cleaning, grooming,
social camaraderie,
family affairs

The Poet snatches time
To describe, interpret, transcribe
Beauty of Living
Challenge

Perhaps for a time-snatcher
Moments of Appreciation
Become longer or more frequent.
But focus, joy and emotions
Are experienced by all
Natural understanding.

Hawaiian people need help

Korea and Kuwait were occupied nations that regained independence. But the Korean and Kuwaiti people do little for those nations & peoples still subject to Colonialism.

Hawaiian people need help.
Hawaiian lands are occupied, stolen without compensation.

Clarify Hawaiian inheritance.
link:   HI Alliance

Price Gouging?

A Boston store was accused of "price gouging" for pricing a case of water at $16. We normally would say, "so what?" - if a potential customer doesn't like prices, they can go elsewhere.

(article here)

Why should this case be any different? Boston was facing a water emergency... does that mean nobody offering drink can profit? It seems "price gouging" is always all around us; it's the basis of capitalism.

Perhaps life & death situations might be different, but otherwise, the pursuit of private profit is the bedrock of U.S. society. Income motivates work, and resources shift to take advantage of high returns. Of course, some people feel a moral focus to volunteer, or to help others without receiving payment. But can we demand selflessness from everyone? Is it right that society confiscates and reallocates valuable resources that some people prepare with risk and foresight? Is the US capitalistic? Needs are motivators. Capitalism is cruel & indifferent...

(Florida's price gouging law)

(Illegal price gouging in Texas)