Presidents' Day Rally and Lobby Day

Olympia, Washington State Capitol

Two weeks from today: Monday, February 15, 2010

More information: Presidents' Day Rally and Lobby Day

Computers

I recently got a new computer. It's great. It's so much faster than my old one, which is about 5 years old now. Last night I was up late, enjoying the new processing power. Before going to sleep, I went outside. It was very late at night (or early in the morning.) The air smelled so good. It was like perfume. Amazing. Wonderful! It was like there were flowers everywhere.

Then I thought of my new computer, which was the reason I was up so late. I thought of what it might smell like outside of the factory in China where it was made. What does it smell like, I wonder. I wonder what it smells like inside the factory too, and also in the neighborhoods and homes where people who work in the factory live.

Anyway, I am thankful for the new computer, and I only hope that I can use it for truly beneficial purposes, for the benefit of myself, as well as the benefit of all humankind and the planet. Toward sustainability, health, and reconciliation - in peace - Berd

Mike Davis and Bill Moyers Discuss Socialism

Video, Moyers and Davis Discuss Economic Crisis

Bill Moyers sits down with socialist historian Mike Davis for his critique of the government's response to the economic crisis and how he thinks it compares to Roosevelt's New Deal. Mike Davis is a writer and historian, who currently teaches creative writing at University of California, Riverside.

I came across the above video interview while reading tomdispatch.com: a second 911

Militarism and Military Spending Signify Theft from Needy

Did you know that 54% of federal income tax revenue will be spent (based on projections for the 2009 budget) on military? The world is rife with economic exploitation, of the Earth's resources, of human labor. Inequitable human labor in a day and age of high technology is not only unnecessary, but immoral and unacceptable as well.

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." - Dwight David Eisenhower

From the War Resister's League [original charts available at link]:

Dolores Huerta Quote

Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez in 1962:

"I quit because I couldn't stand seeing kids come to class hungry and needing shoes. I thought I could do more by organizing farm workers than by trying to teach their hungry children."