Artemisa's Well

Just the facts: Or, reality vs. fantasy

2011-04-15T09:06:00.016-05:00

Tea Baggers and the GOP fanned fantastic fears about death panels and the destruction of Medicare to campaign against the Affordable Health Care Act of 2010 (Obamacare). But look what's really happening in 2011. Arizona's Republican governor and Republican state legislature have issued death sentences to patients awaiting promised transplants in that state. Two people have already died because

Bredesen's higher ed plan: A good idea?

2010-01-27T22:56:00.002-06:00

The rationale behind Gov. Phil Bredesen’s plan to reform higher education in Tennessee goes something like this: Northeastern states with highly educated citizens attract businesses which offer higher paying jobs. So, let’s tie educational funding to the number of graduates produced. Decrease funding for educational programs that don’t produce enough college graduates and give more money to

Tennesssee's Corker is "all heart"

2009-09-11T10:35:00.006-05:00

Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, a Republican, dismissed President Obama's health care speech as "full of platitudes." (See below)Easy for him to say that. Corker is one of the richest of our U.S. senators. No health insurance concerns for him.But what about his constituents, the people of Tennessee? Most of us are not as rich as he is. Nor do we have access to the health care options availabe to

Public Option vs. Private Profits

2009-08-19T14:56:00.001-05:00

The public option is one facet of the health care reform proposals being considered by Houses of Congress. It has been supported by President Obama. It is not the same as asingle payer plan which both Canada and Great Britain have. The public option, then, would be an option (read "choice") and not a state run medical system like those in Canada and the United Kingdom. Some critics describe the

Justice

2009-01-07T11:21:00.001-06:00

Tuke didn't lose; Tennessee did

2008-11-07T15:51:00.018-06:00

I was a volunteer with the Williamson Country Democratic Party who represented Obama and other Democratic candidates outside a polling location. Our county is among the wealthiest, according to per capita income, in the U.S. and it is overwhelmingly Republican. I was the only Democratic volunteer to work outside the voting location at the Resurrection Episcopal Church. I was the only campaign

Soros: Denmark Offers a Model Mortgage Market

2008-10-16T06:58:00.003-05:00

There is a safe way to securitize home loans. By George SorosThe American system of mortgage financing is broken and needs a total overhaul. Until there is a raealistic prospect of stabilizing housing prices, the value of mortgage-related securities will erode and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's efforts will come to naught. There are four fundamental problems with our current system of

The end of an era... Soros on financial crisis

2008-10-12T14:13:00.006-05:00

Friday night on the PBS weekly program, Bill Moyers Journal, Bill's guest was billionaire George Soros. Soros made his billions as a speculator and withdrew from the market quite a while back. (See former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker on that at the link highlighted above.) Republicans and others from the right don't like Soros, partly because he does not believe the free market, if

A ripple of hope... Remembering Bobby Kennedy

2008-10-12T09:19:00.029-05:00

Too much and for too long, we seem to have surrendered personal excellence and community value in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product now is over $800 billion a year but that gross national product, if we judge the United States of America by that, that gross national product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising and ambulances to clear our highways of

Mona Charen's 'scarf fantasy'

2008-10-09T11:55:00.018-05:00

An open letter to the Tennessean:Recently Kathleen Parker of the National Review, one of The Tennessean's many syndicated conservative columnists, came to her senses and admitted in print that Sarah Palin is unqualified to serve as vice-president. Meanwhile , Mona Charen, another Republican columnist The Tennessean publishes, is still grinding the GOP axe about Michelle Obama and her "

Dear Cremomma...Please forgive me

2008-10-08T11:03:00.008-05:00

Dear cremomma, we certainly are coming from different places aren't we?You have an advantage over me because I haven't seen the "televised event" which you describe. I do think "chanting" is a better word for what I was doing than "yelling." I was chanting "Obama" in a very low voice on purpose. A few of us had been chatting with Mr. Rich off camera; I gave him an Obama pin which he accepted

Obama-rama in Nashville

2008-10-07T10:08:00.017-05:00

Nashville's Obama Headquarters asked for volunteers to be a presence for the media who would be descending upon the city in advance of the presidential debate to be held at Belmont University tonight. Thinking about traffic and parking, I volunteered for the first shift: 5:30 to 8:30 a.m. We were to gather at Bongo Java, a coffeehouse across the street from the University. E-mails went out to

About this bazillion dollar bailout

2008-09-22T04:43:00.003-05:00

Hi, everyone! When it rains it pours, right? A hair- raising presidential election, an overwhelmingly destructive hurricane season and now what many are calling the worst economic crisis our country has faced since the Great Depression. Enough already! It's been hard to keep my head straight.For some reason though, this bazillion dollar bail-out of Wall Street is the one that's giving me the

Protest Iranian Government's Repression of Feminist Writers

2008-09-09T07:15:00.000-05:00

Solmaz Igdar is a student, a child rights advocate, and regular contributor to the website of Kanoon-e Zanan-e Irani -- the Association for Iranian Women (www.irwomen.com). She was arrested on August 29, 2008, while attending a ceremony in Khavaran to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Iranian regime's mass execution of political prisoners. Security forces disrupted the ceremony and

I have trouble watching the Republicans..

2008-09-04T18:48:00.004-05:00

I have trouble watching the Republicans running down Obama. They never discuss the issues: the national debt, the financial crisis, the falling dollar, the decreasing incomes and increasing costs of living for most Americans, our overextended military. Instead, they talk about Obama's lack of experience, ignoring how he exceeds his jaded opponents in wisdom, compassion and insight. Because young

Taking Back the Republic

2008-09-04T08:22:00.012-05:00

Four years ago, in concluding his speech before The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Michael Ruppert said: "Our task, if we and much of human civilization are to survive, is not to keep our republic, but to take it back." Earlier in the speech, Ruppert referred to the imminent financial collapse of the U.S. (which we are now beginning to experience) and to an article by economist John Kenneth

Vetting Sarah Palin

2008-09-02T19:23:00.010-05:00

Bloggers at The Edge of the American West have done a tasteful job of examining Palin's executive experience and evaluating her performance as Mayor of Wasilla. Check it out by clicking the highlighted print.And here's another link: http://content.vetpalin.com/index.htmlAnd about her standing up to Ted Stevens, the indicted Republican senator from Alaska:

Jersey girl defends journalist, irritates Yemeni government

2008-06-15T16:11:00.001-05:00

I'm visiting my daughter in Chicago again. Off and on the weather's been hot and humid and she has no air conditioning in her studio apartment. At times I've felt like screaming because of that. I am 65 and appalled at my inability to "process" warm and humid environments; I've come to worship the evaporation as a cooling process and mourn situations (high humidity, etc) which short circuit its

Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru

2008-05-16T18:37:00.003-05:00

Last night, my husband and I watched the first half of Akira Kurosawa's 1952 film Ikiru. His (my husband's) back hurts by the end of the day and the movie is 143 minutes long. I am a big fan of Kurosawa's films, many of which I have seen via Netflix, one of the main reasons I am a member. How could I see these old films any other way?Ikiru is what my husband would call a "slow" film, lots of

Mama, oh Mama

2008-05-12T19:28:00.003-05:00

Right before she died, Mama turned to the nurse who was taking care of her and said, "You know, my husband was a most unusual man." At least that's what my sister says happened. I was at work at the regional library about 25 miles up the road from the little town where my mother was born, grew up and was then dying. We had brought her home from the hospital in Atlanta because her doctor cousin,

Which is worse? Cyclone Nargi or Burma's military regime?

2008-05-08T11:59:00.000-05:00

While here in the U.S. we're worrying about the price of gasoline or perhaps, less selfishly, concerned about how U.S. biofuels are putting upward pressure on the price of food throughout the world, the people of Burma (Myanmar) are struggling to survive the assault of a natural disaster that appears to be record breaking, the worst in Burma's history. And because of shortsightedness and fear

The Energy Crisis of 1973, Tomcats and Cars

2008-04-26T06:28:00.001-05:00

This week we had new carpet (made of recycled plastic bottles) put down throughout the upper floor of of our tiny home. To prepare for this traumatic event my husband and I moved boxes of stuff from closets and bookshelves to the lower floor. Today, we are putting stuff back and I came across a notebook filled with tear sheets of my old newspaper stories. This blog is a result of that

The unbearable costs of Empire: from an address by Michael Ruppert, 2004

2008-04-22T15:11:00.000-05:00

What we are witnessing now is a collision: a collision of a financial system relying on fractional reserve banking, debt-financed growth, and a fiat currency system with a planet and energy resources that are finite, limited, and running out. Infinite growth is battling with finite energy. One is not possible without the other and I have absolutely no doubt as to which side will win.In November

Please Pray For Zimbabwe

2008-04-17T22:22:00.001-05:00

Posted on Brother Martin's Advocacy site on Multiply.com, April 17, 2008. This is from Margaret Kriel's Morning Mirror, please try and pass it on to as many people as you can. the situation of Zimbabawe is worse than here in the Philippines in terms of food crisis and economic problem. Prayer is the last resort I think. Many thanks.Dear World,I am a 16 year old person living in Zimbabwe . I

Loving Children in Tennessee

2008-03-04T19:59:00.001-06:00

Several members of Tennessee’s State Legislature have voiced their disappointment at our state’s failure to pass legislation further limiting the right of Tennessee’s women to control their bodies’ reproductive function through abortion. These lawmakers and their constituents claim that their concern is for the lives of unborn children. It would therefore seem logical to expect that those in

The Practice of Hope

2008-02-25T12:05:00.001-06:00

I ordered a book online last week and it arrived today: The Practice of Hope, Diversity, Discontent and Discourse by Brij Mohan. I was attracted by the title which I ran across in a Wikipedia article related to Critical Theory. Mojan is a professor at Louisiana State University. The book's back cover announces that The Practice of Hope concludes his trilogy on "The Hermeneutics of Hope."

On "The Buzz is Obama"

2008-02-13T08:22:00.000-06:00

My heart is starting to beat againpushing against the heavy,leaden weight that has pressed it downfor so many yearsOff and on since 1968. A weight grown merciless and crushing in this reign of Bush and Cheney shuffling their glib and greedy henchmen in and out the doors of power. God’s men drunk with the spoils, sauntering the corridors, scoffing at our dead heroes, slamming the door on the

A father's plea

2008-02-12T14:54:00.000-06:00

THIS IS MY WORLD Feb 8, '08 1:06 PM Friends this is “MY PART OF THE WORLD.” Greetings of the season. I am father Robin Sahaya, I work as a missionary in the dioceses of Simla Chandigarh. I am appointed in a mission station called Samana-Patran. This Mission station consists of two districts in the state of Punjab in India. I am working over here since three

On the subject of economic and agricultural centralization

2008-02-06T17:04:00.000-06:00

Bringing Morals Back to the Tablefrom The E. F. Schumacher SocietyMany of us are eating locally and organically produced food. From a modern economic perspective, where price is often the paramount consideration, these choices seem illogical.What accounts for this shift, and does it have the possibility of expanding to all of our economic decisions?At the end of his 1966 essay "Buddhist Economics

What would you call it?

2008-01-24T10:48:00.000-06:00

Some people say Franklin Delano Roosevelt saved the U.S. from disintegration during a time of great economic crisis. Others say he tampered with free market capitalism, the perfect wealth machine, and messed it up. FDR and New Deal haters got their foot in the door with the administration of our movie star president, Ronald Reagan. But the administration of George W. Bush has shredded the New

Song sung blue

2008-01-15T07:44:00.000-06:00

I am so very bluejust don't know what to doin a room with boxes piledfull of notebooks, books and other thingsof past lives and dreams, forgottennow it seems or frozen in my heart.It might be the transition time, my daughter was here and now she's gone.Back at school and so much more grown and wise, finding her way.Now we are alone again:My shy husband, her stepfather, once a middle child, pouts

Oil and oppression in Burma

2008-01-09T12:17:00.002-06:00

Our economic system-- the global economic system -- is founded upon the assumption that cheap, easily accessible oil and natural gas (the creme de la creme of fossil fuels) will always be available. But the fact is that these resources, like all natural resources, are finite. They can be used up. Experts say that the world has passed the peak of available petroleum stored on our planet. At

Homeland security to seize Apache Lands

2008-01-07T16:47:00.000-06:00

In violation of United Nations Declaration on Rights of Indigenous People the U.S. government plans to forcibly take land from the Lipan Apache people to construct a fence and levee to keep illegal immigrants from crossing the U.S. border. The following is a letter from Margo Tamez, the daughter of a family being threatened by agents of the U.S. government.Dear Relatives,I wish I was

Thanksgiving and Some of Dharma

2007-12-31T17:48:00.000-06:00

November 22, 2007: Thanksgiving, for Robert Thanksgiving and Some of the dharma It is time for me to be, to fix our meal I haven’t meditated; i shall now I haven’t written; i have too and i haven’t read but a very little of Some of the Dharma by Jack Kerouac up to page 35. His mother was a devout Catholic; his older brother, Gerard, died early. Kerouac loved him.

reactionary stasists?

2007-12-22T05:14:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone.Just browsing this a.m. and found the following site with its review of a new book: The Future and Its Enemies.Sounds to me as though the author has found a good derogatory label: reactionary stasists, for those of us who believe localization is a good thing. The site itself, Globaliztion Institute, is obviously in the pro-growth lemming pack leading the world over the cliff.

More deaths suspected in Myanmar

2007-12-15T11:45:00.000-06:00

In keeping with my commitment to do more than I have been doing to work for human rights, I am posting the following link to a Reuters new story about Myanmar. Apparently, the United Nations' underestimated the number of deaths resulting from the government's response to the recent protests by monks and other activists in that country. Activistists who entered the country as tourists and met

I read the news today, take 2; the Eagles

2007-11-17T16:56:00.001-06:00

When I got up this morning, my husband Jimmy had already “left the building.”This is not unusual, he’s retired--yes, we’re old people--but he gets up at 5:30 every day. This morning, a Saturday, his appointed duties, after breakfast at Hardee’s, were going to the community “shred” day at the county recycling station and washing the car. He probably washed the car first because the car wash he

"I read the news today oh boy"

2007-11-05T10:32:00.000-06:00

That line from the Beatles song, "A Day in the Life"hits just the note for me.Sung,(whose voice I'm not quite sure. Lennon's maybe. He wrote the words.)it has a plaintivetone. So "I read the news today oh boy"in Nashville,Tennessee:"Minuteman Leader Comes to Campuses: Aims to recruit border watchers"Chris Simcox, president of Minuteman Border Watchers, will be speaking at Belmont University in

Campaign Iraq

2007-09-14T11:10:00.000-05:00

Candidly stated, Operation Iraqi Freedom was a war designed to install a pro-U.S. puppet in Iraq, establish multiple U.S military bases before the onset of Peak Oil, and to reconvert Iraq back to petrodollars while hoping to thwart further OPEC momentum towards the euro as an alternative oil transaction currency. [1] In 2003 the global community witnessed a combination of petrodollar warfare and

Six years ago: 9/11

2007-09-11T15:32:00.000-05:00

I was just about to park the car when National Public Radio interrupted its regular programming with a message that a plane had flown into one of the towers of the World Trade Center.It seemed as though the announcer's grasp of the situation grew within the seconds of my hearing. First... it wasn't yet clear what had happened... then... it apparently was not an accident...I saw a fellow worker

The Glue of Friendship

2007-09-04T19:20:00.000-05:00

After my friend watched "The llth Hour" trailer on YouTube, she e-mailed me that "yeah, she had been noticing things" but she had other concerns and that it was hard for her to prioritize. For some reason my immediate response was to tell her about my mother's "glue of friendship quote."When I was a young woman and my mother was alive she would write letters to me. Sometimes she would enclose