Richie Haven's Magic Lives On

Sad news: Richie Havens died yesterday, 22 April, 2013. I am so glad to have had a chance to see him perform. I can truly say that Richie Havens touched my life deeply with his passion and beauty. Here is an article I wrote about the experience, which was about a month before Jamie and I flew to Buenos Aires to begin our South America adventure.

Richie Havens Magic

March 2009
Valdosta, Georgia, USA

Richie Havens performed along with an accompanist on guitar at the Suwannee Springfest back in March 2009, and I was lucky enough to get to see him. What a beautiful, shining example of a Wonderful Human Being he is! Jamie and I were standing together down in the amphitheater, and a good friend came and enjoyed the show with us, and then another beautiful friend found us, too. The whole incident was about peace and love and compassion, and was truly a moving experience.

Overcoming Inertia

Note: This article was written a few weeks ago, but due to some engrossing assignments, I didn’t have time to clean it up and post it until now. So please accept my apologies for lagging a bit behind in the national conversation. I feel that the main ideas discussed are important, despite this. Thanks to all my readers, Julie

Pre-script: So this commentary is not so out of the loop after all: 
US Aids Honduran Police Despite Death Squad Fears

A report published 30 January 2013 by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that during fiscal years 2008 through 2011, the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Aid spent $97 million of the allocated $350 million in support of the Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI), a spinoff of the 2007 Mérida Initiative that was aimed at fighting drug crime in Mexico and Central America. The funds were funneled through four foreign assistance accounts into programs to “strengthen law enforcement and maritime interdiction capabilities, support capacity building and training programs, and deter and detect border criminal activity,” according to the GAO.

Thoughts on World events, Sources of Anger, and the Coming Out of the Progressive Agenda

World events

World events over the past two months since my last post have been riveting. The elections came and went, and then, just as I foretold, Israel attacked Gaza, only ceasing when Obama, trying hard to pull off his pivot to Asia, sent Clinton to babysit. Egypt’s newly elected leader, Mohamed Morsi, shone in the international spotlight for his role in brokering the peace, only to set off violent conflict in his own country by letting his success go to his head and decreeing himself above the law. Though he backed off, the polarized nation continues to struggle with the significance of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood having come to power after the revolutionary uprising was sparked by the liberal opposition.

I had also been moved to write about Greece, and indeed, the situation there has only become more tense. Fallout from the Lagarde List scandal combines with austerity measures, pay cuts, and tax increases to force regular Greek citizens to carry heavy burdens for the corruption and ineptitude of their leaders. Add to the mix the growing influence of the neo-Nazi paramilitary Golden Dawn and their ability to crush freedom of expression in the birthplace of democracy, and the situation warrants even more attention from those who see that Greece’s fate is not isolated from the fate of other democracies of the world.

And so the world struggles forward, with conflicts and difficulties that seem, at the moment, to be heading away from rather than toward resolution...

Outside the Surreality Bubble

People all around the world watch the circus of U.S. elections unfold with the understanding that the presidency of the United States affects their lives. Decisions about war and peace, whether or not to address climate change, crafting trade policies and ensuring the stability of financial institutions on the part of the “leader of the free world” reach far beyond the borders of the United States of America. But it is not a one-way relationship: conditions and events in the rest of the world also affect the lives of U.S. citizens. This is not just a result of recent “globalization.” It has long been a reality that has simply been overlooked by a contentedly self-absorbed society.

Fundamentalism is the Enemy of Peace and Freedom

Well, Pam Geller has finally gained the attention she so very much desires with the billboards posted by New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority, marketing fear of Islamic jihad and the dehumanization of all Muslims.

One billboard redefines Islamophobia as “Islamorealism” using an anonymous number of alleged “deadly Islamic attacks,” while others advocate support of the “civilized man” in the war against the “savage.” They are disturbing on multiple levels, beginning with the idea that any and all speech, even when it is overtly propagandistic, deeply offensive, and highly inflammatory, is sacred.

As a non-Muslim who supports the rights of the Palestinians to personhood and statehood, I find the existence of the billboards to be far more disconcerting than the ridiculous YouTube video [Innocence of Muslims] because Pam Geller actually took her case to court and won the right to post her inflammatory messages after the MTA had refused them.

Islamophobia: Hate Destroys the Hater

All over the Muslim world, people are angry.

They have every right to express their anger

 – as long as it is done nonviolently toward both persons and property and within the laws of the land –

...just as the maker of a trailer of the fake movie has the First-Amendment right to express his opinion

 – as long as it is not fraudulently harmful or willfully offensive within the limits of freedom of speech in the United States.

The laws in the United States strongly protect the freedom of speech

– to the point of the absurdity that money has been deemed a form of speech by the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission.

However, there are limits to freedom of speech that are based on the “harm principle” and the “offense principle,” i.e. limits on pornography, hate speech, and crying “fire” in a crowded theater when there is no fire.

In U.S. law, there is legal precedence for prohibiting “fighting words,” which cause those hearing the words to react with a “breach of the peace.” A stampede in a theater would qualify for that, as would an attack on an embassy, it would seem to me.

Can President Santos Bring Peace to Colombia? or, Let the Wars be of Words

This week, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced that his government has begun engaging in peace talks with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolutionarias de Colombia (FARC). In a nationally televised speech on Monday, 27 August, he acknowledged that "exploratory talks" had been taking place since February in Cuba, and now, the stage is set for dialogue to be formally launched in Oslo in October that will continue in Havana. Reporting on Colombian media reports, Mercopress states:

The agenda of the dialogue will include issues such as “integral agrarian development policy”, “political participation”, “end of the conflict”, “solution to the problem of illicit drugs”, “victims” and “implementation, verification and ratification” of the agreement.