From Where I Sit

I came across this website, and I thought I'd pass it on since they give instructions on assembling simple kits for relief to Haiti school children and dispossessed families, as well as instructions for getting them there. In this season of giving, I think it is one way in which we can take the spirit of giving to a higher level. What We Do: Stories at International Relief & Development

Modernized poverty appears when the intensity of market dependence reaches a certain threshold. Subjectively, it is the experience of frustrating affluence which occurs in persons mutilated by their overwhelming reliance on the riches of industrial productivity. Simply, it deprives those affected by it of their freedom and power to act autonomously, to live creatively; it confines them to survival through being plugged into market relations. And precisely because this new impotence is so deeply experienced, it is with difficulty expressed. - IVAN ILLICH http://www.primitivism.com/needs-illich.htm I find this to be so very true. This is a philosopher guy who died 8 years ago, but boy don't his words ring true today. It's beyond this 'taking your coffeemaker and electric switch for granted". It speaks to a level in which we are, as he states, mutilated by the over-reliance on all this stuff. It is an interesting thing to think about, even in a context in which I d

I received this email today. I thought I'd post it here, because these are the questions I ask myself (and would love to ask others) every day: After The 8 Years of the Bush/Cheney Disaster, Now You Get Mad? You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a president. You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed energy company officials to dictate energy policy and push us to invade Iraq. You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got ousted. You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed. You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us. You didn’t get mad when we spent over 800 billion (and counting) on said illegal war. You didn’t get mad when Bush borrowed more money from foreign sources than the previous 42 Presidents combined. You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars in cash just disappeared in Iraq. You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people. Y

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It's the morning after. I feel despondent and angry (but not surprised). Early this morning I received a survey from a website I subscribe to ( Bold Progressives ), who wanted to capture my thoughts about last night's debacle. So rather than reinvent the wheel, my answers below are a clear enough expression of what I feel today. Q: What do you think the Progressive Movement should do next? A: I don't know that there is much we can do, really. How can a bunch of losers like us, who don't have the time to go around rallying troops, canvassing people--we all have jobs and not all that much free time, like the Reds do--nor the money to throw at commercials that spout lies all over the place, accomplish? It's the same old story: the rich will always prevail. The paradox here though is how so many "common folks," those who really don't fall under the category of "rich" or even "well-off," have also been suckered into believi