Irish Songs of Freedom and Rebellion

The island of Ireland was ruled by England for 500 years. Rebellions, large and small, were interspersed through  those years...until Easter 1916. The Irish have a lot of songs--a whole lot of songs. The ones below are all related to the struggle for Irish independence.  I shall let the music tell the story:

Easter 1916 ~ The Clancy Brothers

The Wearing of the Green ~ The Dubliners

The Rising of the Moon ~ The Clancy Brother and Tommy Makem

Roddy McCorley ~ Tommy Makem

Four Green Fields ~ Tommy Makem (his signature song)

After those songs of Irish Conflict, I want to close with a song that questions hate, prejudice, war and specifically civil war.

Too Many Saviors on My Cross ~ Richard Harris

 

Memorial celebrating the peace between the Republic of  Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Friday Mishmash

The Blog Blast for Peace is almost here!

Have you created your Peace Globe?

Sometimes Saintly Nick's 2009 Peace Globe

Alex's 2009 Peace Globe

Are you aware of the proposed International Megan's Law?

This is an issue that has concerned me for many years:


At the moment there is before Congress there is a bill that could make a real difference in the fight against the buying and selling and trafficking of innocent children.

This bill, International Megan's Law, would mandate reporting requirements for convicted sex traffickers trying to engage in international travel, and prevent entry into the U.S. by any foreign sex offender against a minor. There are convicted sex traffickers trying to engage in international travel, and preventing entry into the U.S. by any foreign sex offender against a minor. This bill could make a real difference in the fight against the buying and selling and trafficking of innocent children. In the U.S. and around the world, thousands of pimps, traffickers, and child molesters are treating our kids like objects to be used and discarded. This bill will send a loud and unambiguous message to those who believe they can buy, sell, and abuse our children with impunity: never again.

For more information and to express your support of International Megan's Law, click here: Help Stop Child Sex Traffiking



I may never get to wear this shirt-jacket again!


Alex has been using it as a bed ever since it's been hanging on that chair.




How 'bout dem Yanks!

The World Series is tied!

I love KATZ










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The Rest of the Stories

If I'd written all the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people - including me - would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism. ~ Hunter S. Thompson

No, I didn’t order a pizza on Thursday. The NutriSystem meals come with no vegetables or fruits, which the consumer has to supply. Therefore, I went into the cupboard and the refrigerator and created this meal for my supper: rice, spinach, carrots, whole wheat bread, margarine, and peaches.

I have this very old and very neat computer program which can keep track and provide all sorts of data on food. I have been entering all of my meals into it for the past month. Thus, I know that last nights supper in lieu of pizza consisted of:

Fats 4 g

Carbs 127 g

Fiber 5 g

Protein 9 g

Total Calories = 470

Yes, the NutriSystem order did arrive today, along with an apology from UPS because the driver had inadvertently pressed the wrong button when he scanned in the packages which indicated that he had already delivered them.

Alex is now napping beside my notebook computer rather than on it. I worked out a deal with the furball and turned on my high intensity desk lamp which evidently provides enough warmth for him.

Rimshot asked a couple of questions in his comments to yesterday's Nick's Bytes post that I shall answer here:

The First Saint Omnibus is a wonderful read. I believe that I am on my fourth or fifth reading of it. Unfortunately, my copy is so old that it has begun to fall apart. When I attempted to obtain a new copy, I learned that it is out of print, as is The Second Saint Omnibus

Yes, I am still puffing away, primarily on my collection of pipes sans tobacco and fire.

Unfortunately, there is no end is sight for these stories:

Forty Years Ago Today, I Cried

Alex's Newest Demand

I am unsure whether the furball is wacky, strange, or simply spoiled! Alex’s latest demand is that I stand beside him and brush his coat while he dines. This new command began just a few days ago and it has me stumped. Could it be because its time for him to shed his winter coat? Or is it just another way of controlling me, his servant?

Remember Earth Hour on Saturday:

Earth Hour is going global Saturday, when we're all supposed to turn off the lights (and, come on people, the TVs, stereos and computers, too) for a mere hour from 8 to 9 p.m. to raise awareness of climate change and promote energy conservation.

Update on the Petition to Chinese President Hu Jintao on Tibet

We reached our target! In just 7 days over 1 million of us have signed the petition calling for human rights and dialogue in Tibet—the fastest growing internet petition in history. As the crisis continues, it's time to deliver our petition and make sure Chinese President Hu Jintao hears our voices.

An International Day of Action has been declared for Monday, March 31st. On Monday, thousands of people in cities across the world will march to Chinese embassies and consulates, and stack hundreds of boxes containing our petition outside them. 1 million signatures make a mountain of boxes—it will send a powerful global message. ~ AVAAZ.org

Thursday Stuff

Dental Update

Unfortunately our insurance agents may not be as knowledgeable about our PPO as they could be ~ Humana Representative, March 27^th, 2008

The above isn’t an exact quote, but it is the gist of what I was told by the human I finally reached at Humana this afternoon. Unfortunately, as a former insurance agent, I already knew that! During the months I worked for Liberty National Life Insurance Company as an agent selling life and health insurance, I received no training and very little information on the policies I was selling—other than how to “entice” (my word) people to purchase them.

I may also add that none of the several books that Humana has sent me since I enrolled with them through the Social Security Administration says that I have no dental coverage. Rather, the book that lists the in network providers has a long list of available dentists and dental specialists. So… if there is no coverage, why in the hellacious ways of the U.S. health insurance industry are they listed?

After my conversation with the Humana rep, I decided to attempt to obtain my need met via another channel. I undertook the long process of calling, pushing buttons, and being placed on hold that it takes to reach my Veterans Administration primary care nurse practitioner. Of course, when I did get through, I wasn’t permitted to speak with her directly; I was able to speak with her nurse. The result was that a referral will be made to the VA dental clinic and I will be informed of the appointment not later than (NLT as we used to write in the army, which is also my initials) the beginning of next week

Introducing Vaughn

As I have previously written, Vaughn has replaced Tasha as my VA homemaker since Tasha gave birth to her son. Yesterday Vaughn gave me permission to share with you his photograph (below) as well as his “celebrity look-alikes that we obtained yesterday. As with my look-alikes, we had problems recognizing the similarity between him and them.

Becoming Serious About the Oppression in Tibet

I wonder why the nations of this crazy world do not say to China “Either back off from Tibet or our athletes will not attend the Beijing Olympics?”

A Buddhist Prayer for Peace

May all beings everywhere plagued

with sufferings of body and mind

quickly be freed from their illnesses.

May those frightened cease to be afraid,

and may those bound be free.

May the powerless find power,

and may people think of befriending one another.

May those who find themselves in trackless,

fearful wilderness—

the children, the aged, the unprotected—

be guarded by beneficent celestials,

and may they swiftly attain Buddhahood.

Paul Robeson: A Singular Life

Paul Robeson: No More Auction Block

Paul Robeson: Thumbnail of a Singular Life

• born April 9, 1898 in Princeton, N.J., son of a former slave turned preacher
• attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J.: graduated #1 in his class
• was an All-America football player at Rutgers
• entered Columbia University where he obtained a law degree
• due to lack of opportunity for blacks in the legal profession, did not practice law
• drifted to the stage, making his debut in London in 1922
• appeared in Eugene O'Neill's play All God's Chillun Got Wings in 1924
• played title role in O'Neill's The Emperor Jones which caused a sensation in New York City (1924) and London (1925)
• starred in the film version of The Emperor Jones in 1933
• gave his first vocal recital of Negro spirituals in Greenwich Village in 1925
• became world famous as Joe in the musical Show Boat with song Ol' Man River
• played the title role in Othello in London (1930) to great praise
• his 1943 Othello set an all-time record run for a Shakespearean play on Broadway
• spoke of 20 languages with some fluency
• his political awareness impelled Robeson to visit the Soviet Union in 1934 and from that time onward became identified with left-wing commitments
• active in civil rights and labor movements from 1930s onward
• opposed colonialism in Africa and Asia
• in 1950 the U.S. State Department withdrew his passport because he refused to sign an affidavit disclaiming membership in the Communist Party
• in the following years he was ostracized for his political views: his films and recordings were removed from circulation/he was never seen on TV until after his death
• in 1952, unable to leave the United States, sang concert at the Peace Arch on the U.S.-Canadian Border with more than 40,000 attending on both side of border
• in 1958 the Supreme Court overturned the affidavit ruling, after which he left the United States to live in Europe
• published his autobiography, Here I Stand, in 1958.
• he returned to the United States in 1963 because of ill health
• died January 23, 1976, Philadelphia, Pa.

In Memoriam: Trying to be Paul Robeson

I did not learn of Paul Robeson until 1964 when I was a university student—and then only because I had a professor who was left of left. Robeson had returned to the U.S. from Europe the year before and my professor had met him in NYC. From the moment I heard the marvelous stories of his life, Paul Robeson became a guiding light in mine.

A few nights ago, by chance, I saw for the first time the 1933 film in which Robeson starred (the first film, as I understand it, in which an African-American had the lead), The Emperor Jones. Then, again by chance, I found my misplaced CD of Robeson’s Peace Arch Concerts.

So I felt led to publish this post in honor and memory of this marvelous man, a personal hero of mine.

Note regarding my health: There is no change from yesterday.

Sentenced to Death

A 23-year-old Afghan reporter and college student has been sentenced to death for distributing a controversial article about Islamic treatment of women that he downloaded from the Internet:

Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh… a reporter for the daily Jahan-e Naw and a journalism student at Balkh University, was arrested Oct. 27 in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif, an area where mullahs hold particular influence over law and cultural life.

His alleged offense was distributing to classmates a report, printed from a Web site, commenting on a Muslim woman's right to multiple marriages. The article, written in Farsi, which is close to the Dari language spoken in Afghanistan, questioned why men are allowed to have four spouses in Islam while women are denied the same right.

Without a lawyer to represent him, Kambakhsh was hustled Tuesday into a small hearing room where three judges and a prosecutor conducted a five-minute proceeding, according to his older brother.

He was then handed a piece of paper saying he had acted against Islam and should be executed, said the brother, Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi, who visited him in prison Wednesday night.

~The Washington Post, 25 January 2008: Read complete article HERE

For a more detailed report, click HERE

If I suffered from high blood pressure, steam would have been pouring from my ears when I heard this report of Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh’s “trial” and death sentence mourning on the BBC’s Reporting Religion. You may listen to what I heard by clicking HERE.


I am sick of the hatred, violence, prejudice, and injustice advanced by religious fundamentalism, no matter what the flavor—Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, etc. I have written about fundamentalism and the menace of its zealots to the peace and justice of the world. I won’t repeat myself here, but if you want to read what I wrote back in 2005, click HERE.

More and more words and thoughts are coming under attack. It’s crazy! What if you were to print this post and share it with some friends, then a few months later the police knocked on your door, placed you under arrest, held you in prison for months, and then, after a five minute trial, sentenced you to death for sharing something that I had written?

Absurd, you say, it couldn’t happen. But it has happened and will happen again. And I can bitch, and moan, and complain about it because, at least at the moment, I have the freedom to do so in this blog. But even that freedom is not guaranteed.

So I must do something regarding in injustice perpetrated by these Islamic fundamentalists on this young man, Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh. I understand that at this only Afghan President Hamid Karzai can save his life. So I am writing and emailing the President of Afghanistan pleading for justice. Will you join me?

Official Website of Afghan President Hamid Karzai

Email address of President Hamid Karzai president@afghanistangov.org

Snail mail address of President Hamid Karzai:

President Hamid Karzai
Gul Khana Palace
Presidential Palace
Kabul, Afghanistan

Norman Rockwell (1894-1978)