Gubernatorial Candidate Forum for Vermont's LBGTQ Community is NOT INCLUSIVE

"Democracy belongs to those who show up . . ." writes Jim Hightower in another one of his essays on civic activism - "Reassembling America's Democracy.".

Since my high school years I have been an engaged citizen and have voted in every election since I became eligible. I was pleased to read that RU12?, Outright Vermont, Vermont CARES, Samara Foundation, Vermont TransAction, and Vermont Freedom to Marry are sponsoring a Gubernatorial Candidate Forum for the LBGTQ Community.

But I have also learned from a friend in the community that this event was excluding independent candidates, i.e. only candidates from the “major” parties were to be invited to participate. This decision was troubling for me, especially since groups like RU12? and Outright exist to give voice to the voiceless and marginalised and work to encourage informed and active citizens.

It wasn't until some of the independent candidates and well known, activist members of Vermont's queer community started asking why the independents were told not to show up that the language for this event was "clarified". If it's now been changed to a "primary candidates forum," how come Republican Brian Dubie was invited? He's not facing a primary. Neither is Progressive Martha Abbott (she wasn't even invited). If the original intent was a primary debate, why didn't the sponsoring groups state that in the beginning? The clarification is in fact a major change.

It just seems hypocritical to me and downright wrong not to include -- Dennis Steele (who has reached out to the LBGT community), Cris Ericson, Em Peyton, Martha Abbott (herself a member of the community!), Ben Johnson, Ben Mitchell or Dan Feliciano -- in a 90 minute forum. (Independent and third party candidates have been included in these forums before.

The sponsors are still getting what they want: a forum with the "major" Democratic party candidates. RU!2? Exec Director Kara De Leonardis writes (the same text appears on all the sponsoring organisations' websites to promote the "clarification"), its "purpose as a forum for candidates facing the primary on August 24th."

The event on July 19 - for all RU12?'s and the others' feigning 'open-ness' - is still a Democratic party event. Vermont Democrats always assume that they've got the Queer Vote, and yet nationally - every time after an election, real LBGT rights and demands are ignored. And this time the premiere Vermont Queer Groups have fallen into that trap.

To write that they'll hold a forum with all the candidates closer to the date of the general election is like throwing the dog a bone hoping he'll be satisfied. Besides, the event is one of the kick-offs for Pride Week, when there will be a captive audience of queer folk assembled in Burlington for all the festivities. Fat chance that people would travel in October for an 'all-candidates' forum.

The correct thing to do would still to have the open forum with all the candidates. Otherwise RU12?, Outright Vermont, Vermont CARES, Samara Foundation, Vermont TransAction, and Vermont Freedom to Marry are not representing the Queer Community at all.

Earth Charter celebrates 10 years

Today is the 10 year jubilee of the Earth Charter declaration at the Peace Palace in The Hague.

Earth Charter Commissioner, Leonardo Boff at the EC+10 celebrations: "If you can't change the world, you got to change yourself. Start with respecting all living things. With an attitude that acknowledge the intrinsic value of every living being."

The Earth Charter is a declaration of ethical principles for a fair,
sustainable and peaceful world.

There are 16 principles in the charter. Burlington city council has endorsed the charter. Yet, it still continues to fluoridate its drinking water and allow toxic environmental pollution by allowing the application of pesticides/herbicides, violating this principle,

6. Prevent harm as the best method of environmental protection and, when knowledge is limited, apply a precautionary approach.
a. Take action to avoid the possibility of serious or irreversible environmental harm even when scientific knowledge is incomplete or inconclusive.
b. Place the burden of proof on those who argue that a proposed activity will not cause significant harm, and make the responsible parties liable for environmental harm.
c. Ensure that decision making addresses the cumulative, long-term, indirect, long distance, and global consequences of human activities.
d. Prevent pollution of any part of the environment and allow no build-up of radioactive, toxic, or other hazardous substances.

Max Blumenthal goes inside the tea party

I've been waiting for this to become available in its entirety.

Max Blumenthal goes inside the Tea Party from Ram Bam on Vimeo.

UPDATED: The Wedding

TRH Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel

UPDATE

After the wedding, there was a cruise on the Royal Barge (my favourite part on the SVT live stream), the Crown Princely couple arrived at the Royal Palace and from the balcony there was a THANK YOU.

The King and Crown Princess have given short speeches to the crowds gathered at Leijonbacken. The King led the crowd in a traditional Swedish 'four cheers' for the couple.

Victoria, with her new husband by her side, gave a short but touching speech to the crowd.

"Dear friends," she began, "I would like to start by thanking the Swedish people for giving me my Prince."

"We, my husband and I, are so incredibly happy and grateful that so many of you want to be here and celebrate with us."

"This is the absolutely greatest days of our lives so far."

"To feel your support means more for us than you could ever believe."

People really loved the fact that she started her speech with "Kära vänner" [Dear Friends]. So do I.

Video courtesy SVT.

+++


It's official!

The Swedish Royal wedding
of Crown Princess Victoria, 32, and 36-year-old Daniel Westling, took place at Stockholm Cathedral in the Swedish capital.

Follow the festivities here.

THE DRUG OF THE NATION

"T.V. is the reason why less than ten percent of our nation reads books daily ... Why most people think Central America means Kansas ... Socialism means unamerican ... And Apartheid is a new headache remedy," - Michael Franti

Radio Netherlands: Is the World Cup too expensive for Africa?

"The investments were budgeted at a few million. The real cost will be a thousandfold; 3 to 5 billion. And that in a country where a large part of the population still lives in deep poverty."



(Apologies for the lousy embedded video obtained from RNW's site.)

See this related report from Democracy Now! (an interview made prior to the start of the matches) - Raj Patel on How South Africa Has Cracked Down on the Poor and the Shack Dwellers’ Movement

Burlington Local: Get outta my way!

Good turn out for the Burlington City Council Ordinance Cmte meeting last night!

70 or so folks were there... The Ordinance committee has decided to reject sitting ban ordinance passed to them and pursue a community awareness resolution instead.

Recap: Sharon Bushor (I) proposed the above action that the cmte followed, Bram Kranichfeld (D) said he'd like to scrap the ordinance altogether, and still will feel that way unless Sharon's plan shows a real need, and Joan Shannon (D) seemed reluctant to go along with the Bushor plan, appearing to be more satisfied with the proposed ordinance. They will re-evaluate in the Fall.

Local Vermont: Soup, Glorious Soup!

Did you know...?

For the past fourteen years, the Full Ladle Soup Kitchen has been a rich and rewarding ministry for many at Christ Church, Montpelier. Every Wednesday, the Soup Kitchen serves a nutritious noon meal to 65-85 guests from the community.

(From the Mountain E-News of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont.)

David Brower must be wincing from the grave

Sierra Club Foundation writes "Enough is Enough!" and urges people to write Obama to stop coastal oil drilling. Today Jane Hamsher has an excellent post up at FDL:

Josh Gerstein has an article in Politico on the massive silence coming out of the enviros on the BP oil catastrophe, which has been notable ever since the rig collapsed. This weekend the groups took out an ad in the Washington Post, not to criticize the administration for their response, but to praise the President for putting a hold on a drilling project in Alaska:

“President Obama is the best environmental president we’ve had since Teddy Roosevelt,” Sierra Club chairman Carl Pope told the Bangor Daily News last week. “He obviously did not take the crisis in the Minerals Management Service adequately seriously, that’s clear. But his agencies have done a phenomenally good job.”

If they aren’t saying anything negative, it’s because they believe there’s nothing to criticize:

Asked if Sierra Club has any concerns about the administration’s response to the spill, [Sierra Club's Dave] Willett said, “Overall, we’re satisfied with the cleanup and recovery effort.”

[...]

These groups have demonstrated by both their action and inaction that they do not deserve that public trust. Unlike the Center for Biological Diversity, fawning groups like the Sierra Club have been successfully manipulated both by corporate money and by partisan gamesmanship. They’ve become such complete Washington DC creatures that they don’t know how to be advocates from the outside any more — their primary function is to give political cover in the midst of a PR battle. They have abdicated the role of non-partisan watchdogs, and the public should find new organizations independent of party control in which to place their trust.

While the SC may push for clean energy, however, as the the FDL link shows, big money and access to governmental power corrupt. The Sierra Club is included (implicit) in that equation. David Brower must be wincing from the grave.

People are determined to save Gazan lives

From Press TV

The next Freedom Flotilla will be much bigger than the first one, the head of a non-governmental organization says.

Yasser Qashlaq, the director of the Free Palestine Movement, said on Thursday that up to 50 ships could join the Freedom Flotilla II, the International Middle East Media Center reported.

Meanwhile, the movement, in cooperation with Reporters Without Borders, is organizing a new mission to send educational supplies to the children of the besieged Palestinian territory. Qashlaq said a ship would depart from Lebanon within a week.

Yeah, people are determined and stand in solidarity, but not if the Quisling Abbas can help it.

How Do We Respond As People of Faith to the Gulf Oil Spill?

Join members of VT Interfaith Power & Light, St. Paul's Earth Care Ministry, Quaker Meeting, Ohavi Zedek and other faith groups for an interfaith prayer service on Sunday, June 13 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s Cathedral, 2 Cherry Street, Burlington. As the tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico continues, we’ll come together for a time of prayer, reflection and readings. We'll pray for the Earth Community suffering from this catastrophe, and for wisdom, hope and courage in this challenging time.

Contact for more information: info@vtipl.org or sknight@gmavt.net

Quote of The Day

"Christianity is dying in Western Europe, even in Spain and Ireland. It is not exactly in robust health in the United States either with church membership and attendance declining across the board, especially among the young. The moral authority that Christianity once enjoyed among non-Christians eroded away long ago by scandal, hypocrisy, and identification with right wing reactionary politics (just ask the Spanish Catholics). Though Africa now has the embattled convert's fervor, it is not unreasonable to think that the same process of decline could happen there too. There are times when I think the Christian religion should die in order that the Christian faith might continue. But, a lot of babies would be lost with that bath water, perhaps too many to make the sacrifice worthwhile."
- Doug Blanchard/Counterlight's Peculiars in a much broader, lengthy essay, The Perils of Episcopalianism - "on the current tensions between the Episcopal Church and the Archbishop of Canterbury," - well worth the read in its entirety.

A Lesson from the Gulf Oil Spill: We Are All Connected (and There Is No Escape)

Katharine Jefferts Schori's career as an oceanographer and university lecturer (a B.S. degree in biology from Stanford University, an M.S. and Ph.D. in oceanography from Oregon State University) preceded her studies for the priesthood (an M.Div. from Church Divinity School of the Pacific) and her election as bishop of Nevada in 2000. Since June 2006 she has been the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.

She writes recently in the Huffington Post

"The original peoples of the North American continent understand that we are all connected, and that harm to one part of the sacred circle of life harms the whole. Scientists, both the ecological and physical sorts, know the same reality, expressed in different terms. The Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) also charge human beings with care for the whole of creation, because it is God's good gift to humanity. Another way of saying this is that we are all connected and there is no escape; our common future depends on how we care for the rest of the natural world, not just the square feet of soil we may call "our own." We breathe the same air, our food comes from the same ground and seas, and the water we have to share cycles through the same airshed, watershed, and terra firma.

"The still-unfolding disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is good evidence of the interconnectedness of the whole."

To read the full article go to Huffington Post.

Raw footage of Mavi Marmara/Free Gaza Flotilla attack

Cultures of Resistance director Iara Lee, an American citizen, was part of a media contingent on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara on May 30-31 when it was attacked by the Israeli commandos. The Israelis confiscated the camera equipment and communications technology of passengers on board. but Lee was able to smuggle out about an hour's worth of raw film footage.

Watch it, pass it on. Not for the fainthearted, but necessary to watch if you want to know the truth of what happened in attack. I am curious if the corporate media here and abroad will cover this film (there was a press conference yesterday at the United Nations in NYC.) This is no fake Hollywood terror/action film gussied up with CGI; this is real.

Israeli Attack on the Mavi Marmara, May 31st 2010 // 15 min. from Cultures of Resistance on Vimeo.

Shortly after returning home, Iara Lee wrote an Op-Ed about the Gaza Freedom Flotilla that was published in the San Francisco Chronicle. Click here to read the article. Yesterday she was interviewed by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!

Vermont Responds to Free Gaza Flotilla Massacre

Sam Mayfield writes on her blog,

"In response to this assault, dozens of people gathered in Burlington, Vermont on May 31 to mourn the dead and to express their sadness and outrage over Israel’s blatant lack of respect for international law.

"Two days later more than fifty citizens visited Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy’s office to insist that the US government not remain silent about the mishandling of innocent people in Gaza and the West Bank, humanitarian aid workers and human rights activists by the Israeli government anymore. Citizens stated that "The US is alone in our support for Israel" and demanded that the Senator not be complicit in Israels crimes against humanity any longer. Citizens also demanded an end to military aid to Israel."

Sam also made a video report.

Immortalised by Google

When Grandmère Mimi made her state visit to England last year we met up in Yorkshire and visited the quaint village of Lastingham for lunch.

After our meal, Mimi and me went to have a look in the church. On the way back to the car, we were Googled and have been immortalised on their street view function.

Judy would've been 88 years old today

On YouTube, Judy Garland is remembered by those who knew her best in this 1972 documentary.



All 7 parts of the documentary are here.

Love that Bob (Newhart)!

Interviews with friends of Bob Newhart at an event celebrating 50 years in show business at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, in North Hollywood on June 2, 1010.

Democracy Now! discusses Helen Thomas

Democracy Now! - June 8, 2010

JAMES ABOUREZK: Well, Helen has gotten more coverage over this than the killing of the nine Turkish aid workers who were killed by the Israeli commandos. I don’t really understand that disparity in coverage, but I kind of know how that goes, because I’ve been the target of Israeli propaganda myself over the years.

AMY GOODMAN: Do you think that her comments, for which she apologized, were problematic?

JAMES ABOUREZK: No, I don’t, to be very honest with you. If you understand what Helen was trying to say, is that there are Palestinians sitting in refugee camps all over the Middle East who cannot get back into Israel yet. Ashkenazi Jews from all over Europe are able to come freely, and from America, too, and I think that’s what she was referring to. They’re calling Helen a racist. There’s no way that she’s a racist. She never has been, never will be.

UPDATED: Helen Thomas Retires | Helen Thomas has nothing to apologise for.

UPDATE: Thomas has announced her retirement.

My reaction: Oof! Shock. Dismayed. Unbelievable. But she can say whatever she wants now. She covered the White House since JFK.

"[Helen Thomas'] comments [telling Israelis to leave Palestine and "go home" to Europe] do not reflect a desire to see Israel/Palestine judenrein, but rather an ominous sense of what a dangerous place Israel has become, and will only increasingly be, for its people," - Jack Ross, Mondoweiss

_________________

My original post from this morning.

From PULSE

The question posed at the end of the short clip is "Does Helen know that Jews lived in Israel way before the Holocaust?" The glaring fact of course is that before WWII and 1948, there was no modern state of Israel. It was Mandate Palestine: a land that was populated by a thriving Palestinian population, the majority of whom were driven out in their hundreds of thousands, with a great number murdered, by the zionist thugs who later established the state of Israel. This Prussia of the Middle East is propped up by gargantuan amounts of US military aid, refuses to make peace with its neighbours who have offered recognition of 1967 borders via the Saudi Peace Plan, has continued to encroach upon Palestinian land, regularly attacks its neighbours in assaults that kill hundreds, flouts international law, continues to build illegal outposts on stolen land, and has refused to define its borders to this day.

Thomas has nothing to apologize for. It is the Israeli regime, the illegal settlers (check out this charmer) and their enablers who owe the world -- particularly Palestinians, Lebanese and Syrians -- an apology and restitution. At most, her choice of words may have been unqualifiedly quick and injudicious, particularly in the ill-advised choice of words `go home'. But `despicable', `beyond disturbing' and Judeophobic? The attempts to discredit her -- which include rightwingnut calls for her resignation -- are overblown. She'll probably win even more fans with her courage, and her regret for causing offence is in stark contrast to the unremitting racism and unstinting support for ethnic cleansing and expulsion from the Israel-at-any-cost camp, from whom there is no apology.

Paul Jay, Senior Editor of The Real News Network has a new blog on Canada.com, one of Canada's busiest news websites. This is an excerpt from his most recent blog post, "IN DEFENSE OF HELEN THOMAS - on apologizing to apologists."

Her apology was not enough to stop calls for her head from those who have wanted to shut Thomas up for years.

Ari Fleischer, President George W. Bush's press secretary, led the call in an e-mail Friday to the Huffington Post saying Thomas' comments amount to "religious cleansing."

"She should lose her job over this," Fleischer wrote. "As someone who is Jewish, and as someone who worked with her and used to like her, I find this appalling."

Perhaps Fleishcher should also add that he is someone who knows something about apologies . . . being the leading apologist for the Bush administration as their war led to the deaths of at least one million Iraqis.

But Lanny Davis, former special counsel to and White House spokesman for President Bill Clinton, went even further than Fleischer. He issued a statement on Sunday saying Thomas, "has showed herself to be an anti-Semitic bigot."

Now, Davis should know something about apologies and apologists as well. TheHill.com reported that Davis led a lobbying effort against deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on behalf of Honduran business leaders. This is in defense of a regime that came to power in an illegal coup and is killing journalists and activists. Hmmm . . . defending those that kill activists . . .

Finally!

BURLINGTON FREE PRESS, Saturday, June 5, 2010:

Two former employees of a now-closed Vermont slaughterhouse have been charged with animal cruelty for the excessive shocking of calves with an electric prod, prosecutors said Friday.

The state Attorney General’s office issued arrest warrants for Christopher Gaudette, 37, and Frank Perretta, 51, both of Grand Isle.

The charges stem from revelations last November at the Bushway Packing Inc. slaughterhouse in Grand Isle, where hidden-camera video taken by the Humane Society of the United States showed days-old calves being dragged, kicked and shocked as they were loaded off a truck and taken to slaughter.

A justice of sorts. The struggle continues. Animal rights activist Deb Loring who's been working round the clock on this issue tells me that "they did actually charge one of the owners. There are three owners, two are re-opening and one has left the state. It's the one who left, who was on the video, that is being charged."

Read the full article here.

We Shall Overcome

"It seems appropriate."

Roger Waters, of Pink Floyd, sings a classic to protest the Israeli blockade of Gaza. I was raised on songs like this one and my activism was nurtured by them!



Saw this over at PULSE (Thanks!) PULSE have been working around the clock to counter much of MSM's biased and/or flawed coverage of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla massacre. I suggest BI readers go there and spend some time reading PULSE's important reporting! The site is listed to your right on the sidebar.

Here's more by Mr Waters:

“Over the new year 2009-2010, an international group of 1500 men and women from 42 nations went to Egypt to join a Freedom March to Gaza. They did this to protest the current blockade of Gaza. To protest the fact that the people of Gaza live in a virtual prison. To protest the fact that a year after the terror attack by Israeli armed forces destroyed most of their homes, hospitals, schools, and other public buildings, they have no possibility to rebuild because their borders are closed. The would be Freedom Marchers wanted to peacefully draw attention to the predicament of the Palestinian population of Gaza. The Egyptian government, (funded to the tune of $2.1 billion a year, by us, the US tax payers), would not allow the marchers to approach Gaza. How lame is that? And how predictable! I live in the USA and during this time Dec 25th 2009-Jan3rd 2010 I saw no reference to Gaza or the Freedom March or the multi national protesters gathered there. Anyway I was moved, in the circumstances, to record a new version of ” We shall overcome”. It seems appropriate.

Roger Waters

Interview: Naomi Klein on oil spill

Frustration is growing among residents of the US Gulf of Mexico coast over the pace of efforts to combat the growing oil spill in the region. Author and activist Naomi Klein has been visiting the state of Louisiana. She told Al Jazeera that patience is running very thin. Video, via The Real News Network.

Four Freedom Awards 2010

The Four Freedoms Medals are presented each year to men and women whose achievements have demonstrated a commitment to those principles which President Roosevelt proclaimed in his historic speech to Congress on January 6, 1941, as essential to democracy: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear.

On Saturday, May 29, HM The Queen and TRH The Prince of Orange and Princess Máxima will attend the awards ceremony at the Nieuwe Kerk, Middelburg, in the province of Zeeland. FDR's ancestors were from the province. In odd-numbered years the awards are presented in Hyde Park, New York.

The 2010 laureates are listed here.

President Roosevelt's 1941 speech can be read here.

Also this weekend, HM The Queen will attend the Memorial Day ceremony at the American War Cemetery at Margraten on Sunday, May 30th on occasion of the 65th anniversary of the Liberation from Nazi occupation. The ceremony at Margraten always takes place the Sunday before Memorial Day.

UPDATE: Willem-Alexander visits Goes today...

UPDATE
Here's an article about the visit. And the video:


__________________________
From the front page of the Ruilwinkel, and exchange shop in Goes (Zeeland);nearby is the birthplace of my father and in the same town is Wolphaartsdijk, where my uncle was the village doctor.

Donderdag 27 mei krijgen we hoog bezoek in de Ruilwinkel.
Kroonprins Willem Alexander komt 's morgens naar de ruilwinkel voor een werkbezoek. Het zal een besloten bezoek zijn.
Burgemeester van der Zaag en Gedeputeerde van Waveren zullen ook aanwezig zijn bij dit voor de ruilwinkel toch heel bijzondere moment.

I'll post the group photo, after it's released today.

Yes, in May 2009 the Ruilwinkel was recipient of an "Appeltje van Oranje."

Here are two very, very nice videos by Goes TV (the station films interviews by local youth). The interviews are in Dutch, but clearly the volunteers are proud of their important work and this recognition!

Before they left to travel to The Hague...



The volunteers' reactions after the ceremony give us an idea what happens to an honored group when they go to the ceremony.

Burlington: Surprising News...

From Haik's blog.

And from the “I didn’t see that coming” files: Former Ward Four school commissioner Jane O’meara Sanders is selling Colodny’s and moving Burlington College a click north to the Catholic Diocese at 351 North Ave. I wonder if she gets to keep the link from the chain of Saint Peter that Pope Pius IX gave to Bishop De Goesbriand.

Hey! Hay!

Watch this video: A cool solution to clean up the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico.

TRNN video: 'But my Mom doesn't have papers'

I recommend that you look at the Context links on the right hand side of this link.

Video: The Real News Network

For the Feast of Pentecost

The Humble Bicycle for Commuting

"Just an ordinary Wednesday morning in April 2010 at around 8.30 am.In Utrecht (Netherlands), a third of all trips are by bicycle. This is one of the busiest junctions in Utrecht a city with a population of 300,000. No less than 18,000 bicycles and 2,500 buses pass here every day. ... (Video is 4 times faster than reality, 8 minutes condensed to 2.)"



And a h/t to Branko Collin of 24oranges

... the participants are weavingin and out in almost perfect harmony. The effect is positively hypnotic.

I am given to understand that what makes this video by Mark Wagenbuur special is that the main form of transportation in it is the humble bicycle. As a result the video has gone viral among treehuggers

Yeah, I can imagine that they are indeed. In the Netherlands bicycling is part of the fabric of life. People ride to work in work clothes; in the USA people bike mainly for recreation and keeping fit.

I recognise this intersection in Utrecht. Notice most of the bikers don't wear helmets.

When I moved to Houston in the mid-1970s, my main mode of transportation to/from work was my bicycle. I didn't buy a car until I was nearly 30 years old! Ha!

Burlington's love affair with cycling began 20 years ago with the opening of its seven-mile lakefront bike path -- and the city is proud of its status as the "healthiest city in the U.S." in recent "best of..." rankings. To promote a paradigm shift in alternative transportation, this past week Burlington and other Vermont towns participated in the Way-to-Go Commuter Challenge, promoting carpooling, telecommuting, bicycling, walking or taking the bus as an alternative to just using an automobile -- also sending a message for legislators and the state government to provide more transporation options.

Texas Textbooks Decison

You can read the blow-by-blow of what happened yesterday in The Texas Observer.

But Steve Benen in the Washington Monthly says it best:-

At its core, this is not just a travesty for academic integrity and students in Texas, but it's also a reminder of what's gone horribly wrong with the twisted right-wing worldview. These state officials have decided they simply don't care for reality, so they've replaced it with a version of events that makes them feel better. The result is an American history in which every era has been distorted to satisfy the far-right ego.

Winners Queen's Day 2010 Video Competition

This year the Queen visited Zeeland on Queen's Day but it was celebrated in villages and cities all over the country.

'Hoe beleef jij Koninginnedag 2010?' How do you experience Queen's Day 2010? - the theme of the video competition - was an idea of The Prince of Orange and Princess Máxima of The Netherlands.

The winning videos can be seen on its YouTube channel.

My three favourites:

In the pouring rain, a young boy started playing his recorder before 9 A.M. He was still playing at Noon!



Queen Beatrix, HRH The Prince of Orange and Princess Máxima receive gifts from admirers in Middelburg.



Chalk drawings done by children show the atmosphere on Koninginnedag in the village of Lonneker, a few miles north of Enschede (Province of Overijsel).





The winners have been invited to Noordeinde Palace and will also get a tour of the Royal Mews.

Historical Find: Lighting that fire with a sex toy

New York Daily News

The world's oldest sex toy was more than just a feel-good aid. The 30,000-year-old siltstone phallus doubled as a tool to ignite fires.

The racy relic was found in a cave in Germany and is being studied at the University of Tubingen there, according to Independent Online.

The find was a rare one since examples of masculinity from that period are unusual to stumble upon, although female-inspired works of art are rather common.

The prehistoric phallus, which has marks where it was obviously used for striking against flints, also features carved rings around one polished end. Researchers say it's easy to see what it was used for.

Photo: University of Tübingen

The Great Global Kiss

Yesterday was the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO). There were events around the world to honor the day. The Amsterdam daily Parool has picked a kiss at the Homomonument at the Westermarkt as its photo of the day.



Photo acknowledgment: Elmer van der Marel for Parool, May 18, 2010

Everyday Exposure to Pesticides Linked to Hyperactivity

Beyond Pesticides, May 18, 2010:

A team of scientists from the University of Montreal and Harvard University have discovered that exposure to organophosphate pesticides is associated with increased risk of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the study focused on 1,139 children from the general U.S. population and measured pesticide breakdown product levels in their urine. The authors conclude that exposure to organophosphate (OP) pesticides, at levels common among U.S. children, may contribute to a diagnosis of ADHD.

“Previous studies have shown that exposure to some organophosphate compounds cause hyperactivity and cognitive deficits in animals,” says lead author Maryse F. Bouchard, a professor at the University of Montreal Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and scientist at the Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center. “Our study found that exposure to organophosphates in developing children might have effects on neural systems and could contribute to ADHD behaviors, such as inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.” Marc Weisskopf, PhD, ScD, another study author told Reuters, “What this paper specifically highlights is that this may be true even at low concentrations.”... MORE

Middelburg 17 May 1940 — the Forgotten Bombardment

Wis[s]e Words:

On 10 May 1940 the Germans invaded the Netherlands and Belgium on their way to France. As they had tried more or less the same thing in the First World War the French strategy was to meet them halfway, moving into Belgium and the Southern Netherlands to stop them. As you know this wasn’t quite succesful, but some French units (including French Moroccan units) managed to get as far as Breda before retreating westwards into Zeeland. This was the reason why the Dutch surrender on the fifteenth did not include Zeeland, as that was occupied by French troops. The slow withdrawal of the French meant that on the 17th Middelburg was near the frontline, with most inhabitants fortunately evacuated already as a precaution. That day a combination of aerial and artillery bombardment by the Germans broke the last resistance in Zeeland, with the last French soldiers already having disappeared into Belgium.

Twentytwo people died in the bombardment, which could have been much higher had there been no evacuation. The material devastation however was enormous, with most of the historical centre — some parts dating back to around 800 CE — destroyed. Some 253 houses and 320 shops and other business buildings were destroyed, as well as another 18 or so public buildings, including the old abbey and the city hall. The evacuation may have saved lifes, but it also meant there were few people other than the voluntary fire fighters available to extinguish the many small fires that the bombardment started; much of the damage therefore was done by fire rather than explosion. That it was such nice, warm, dry spring weather didn’t help either…

Unlike Rotterdam the bombardment was not intended as a terror bombardment, but a tactical decision to break the remaining resistance in Zeeland. The Germans supposed that Middelburg was were the French units had their headquarters and allegedly also believe there were artillery and anti-aircraft guns in place in the city, which was not the case. These reasons for the bombardment do not excuse the crime of course, but do make the bombardment more understandable than that of Rotterdam.

UPDATED! Blogs News/Update

Ten Percent has moved to HERE (I've updated my blog list on the side bar, too.) And my favourite Cajun who writes at Wounded Bird is taking a much needed rest.

UPDATED! Another milestone, fancy that!

Oh, and here's a "traffic report" I received from Sitemeter this weekend on visits to Blazing Indiscretions!

Visits

Total ....................... 50,000
Average per Day ................. 49
Average Visit Length .......... 4:20
This Week ...................... 341

Can Journalism Be Saved?

If you are troubled by the downward spiral of print, television and radio journalism, listen to this presentation by Robert McChesney and John Nichols at PULSE - Can Journalism Be Saved?

Greece & Thailand and Where Else?

COUNTERLIGHT

Let's remember that so many of the proposed financial aid plans for countries like Thailand and Greece are about rescuing investors who lost their bets. They certainly aren't about helping the people who actually live there. Some line is trotted out about their governments being irresponsible and corrupt, and that's probably true (true for the increasingly plutocratic USA and Europe), but why punish the people, who had to live under those governments, with austerity measures in the middle of the worst global depression since the 1930s?[...]

I raise my old socialist question again, whose economy is it?

R.I.P. Burlington's Spirit of Generosity

Yesterday, I wrote about the proposed ordinance changes against street people and Burlington's Phoenix House. Here's my comment on the Blurt/Seven Days post:

"I've said it before to my friends here (and I'll say it again): Burlington is a small town pushing hard to be a city. And if you read all the accolades Burlington has received in the PR "Best of..." categories, you'd think we were the most hospitable, liveable place in North America! We're not! As I read the whining comments on here, hardness of heart comes to mind. You've lost that spirit of generosity that has made Vermont great!

"When I lived in London ten years ago, I might have been irritated by the constant panhandlers, but recognised that this is part of life in a big city. Actually, I stopped frequently outside my neighbourhood tube station and talked with the people who sat there ("Spare some change, sir?") and heard their stories. Turns out the majority were human! Fancy that! And several friends I made had once been among the working class, laid off unemployed (one pay-check away from poverty), and were struggling to find food for their own families. (With the new ConDem government it will get worse!)

"The memo accompanying this resolution was written by police chief Schirling. He heads up that same force that sends deputy officers as department liaisons to NPA meetings, encouraging citizens to act as block wardens and report on citizens' "undesirable" activities in neighbourhoods. So much for friendly, community policing.

"I'm actually more concerned about the despicable NIMBY resolution against Phoenix House. "The Other America" is alive right in our own backyard.

UPDATED: Abuse of a Dutch boy's privacy

UPDATE from DutchNews.nl

The nine-year-old boy who survived Wednesday's air crash in Tripoli is to be flown back to the Netherlands on Saturday, Ed Kronenburg, who is in charge of the Dutch crash team in Libya said on Friday.

[...]

In the meantime, the Libyan authorities have taken steps to improve security around the boy to ensure his privacy.

The Telegraaf newspaper caused disbelief on Friday morning by publishing a short phone conversation made with the boy via a doctor's mobile phone. Deputy prime minister André Rouvoet called the paper 'shameless'.

In a statement, the newspaper stressed the reporter had said nothing about the accident or the fact the boy's parents were killed.

The boy's relatives are en route to Tripoli, according to (Dutch) Volkskrant.

_________

That Telegraaf obtained the phone number of the boy's room and was allowed to interview him is appalling enough. But other papers are also showing photos of the boy in his Tripoli hospital room.

He is featured in the lead photo of this series in Parool. He's already got his own website! (In Dutch media, the full names of alleged criminals are never released, but his full name was given.)

Why did hospital staff allow this breach of privacy? (In the USA there are patient privacy policies in place, e.g. hospitals are prohibited to release names of patients who are members of my parish to the clergy.) Why did the Dutch embassy officials allow this violation of a vulnerable child, a minor? (Were these photos taken before or after his relatives arrived in Tripoli? Were they aware of the interview, did they give permission?)

I see now in today's Parool that the Foreign Affairs ministry has stated the telephone interview was "evil."

Telegraaf has issued a statement that the paper never intended to "abuse the patient."

Thinking about the new use of "curated."

Last month Green Mountain Daily reported the Burlington Free Press VTBuzz blog "is curating (their word) a six part exploration of the gubernatorial candidate websites."



Not so fast, BFP. The use of the word is not as "newfangled" as you thought, and you certainly didn't coin it. As I read today on JEREMIAH'S VANISHING NEW YORK:--

I like thinking about how words are used and how they travel virally through groups of people. Words like "Doucheoisie," and prefixes, too, like "Celebu-." And now, thanks to a few blog posts about the opening of Mast bookshop on Avenue A, I'm thinking about the word "curated" and what it means these days.

[...]

The Times actually did a whole story about this word in 2009. They wrote that curate:

- "has become a fashionable code word among the aesthetically minded, who seem to paste it onto any activity that involves culling and selecting."
- "is code for 'I have a discerning eye and great taste.'"
- is "an innocent form of self-inflation."
- "can be good for one’s image and business."

"Pretentious?" asked the Times, "Maybe. But it’s hardly unusual for members of less pedigreed professions to adopt the vernacular of more prestigious ones."

So the use of "curate" is aspirational, which does put it in the same league as "artisanal." And that makes some people nervous because it signals to consumers something very specific. It signals "exclusivity" and is meant to attract people who yearn to be in the club. It may also repel people who find the use of such words pretentious and exclusionary.

In addition, museum curators really aren't happy about it.

Photo: source
via Jeremiah's.

VERMONT: Burlington's "Disneyfication"

SEVEN DAYS BLURT blog:

A proposed ordinance being reviewed by Burlington City Councilors could ban people from sitting on the sidewalks of five key downtown streets that feed onto the Church Street Marketplace.

The ban would also extend to sandwich board signs or other types of advertising, though it would allow any existing licensed "encumbrances" to continue until their license expires.

The Burlington City Council Monday night agreed to send the proposed ordinance to its Ordinance Committee for review. The three-member committee is chaired by Councilor Joan Shannon (D-Ward 5), and includes Councilors Sharon Bushor (I-Ward 1) and Bram Kranichfeld (D-Ward 2).

Ain't this in a kick in the pants! Indeed, the public spaces in Burlington have now become white bread fucking elitist and the city council has turned itself into a class(ism) act!

Then, there's this appalling NIMBY resolution:

On Monday, too, the council voted 10-4 to oppose the issuance of an Act 250 permit to Phoenix House to operate a 20-bed transitional house on Elmwood Avenue, just a half block from the top of Church Street. The opposition to the proposal was fueled, in part, by downtown business concerns that it would add more "undesirable people" onto the Marketplace and detract shoppers from coming to the pedestrian mall.

Here - contact your city councilors.

Photo: credit Andy Bromage/Seven Days.

The Peace Tree

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace."

The Peace Tree, a blog devoted to social justice and peace activism, and to which I was graciously invited by Mark Prime as a contributor, has stopped publishing.

Mondoweiss: NPR report on West Bank expulsion order makes horror a she-said/she-said story

From Mondoweiss: "NPR report on West Bank expulsion order makes horror a she-said/she-said debating point" Here's a bit but I recommend you read the whole post.

... nowhere does Garcia-Navarro grapple with the terrible inhumanity of a regime that has kept other people stateless for 60 years, depriving them not just of civil but human rights. A military occupation that arbitrarily defines the legitimate owners of a land as "infiltrators" is unspeakable. Why is "our" U.S. government paying for the illegal expulsions?

To do Garcia-Navarro justice, the on-air report gives details curiously absent from the transcript, but holes nevertheless remain. NPR’s transcript changes many terms and the order of the actual Garcia-Navarro report that aired this morning.

I've included choice bits of the actual broadcast that were not included in the online transcript of the story below. Why were they removed? They smooth over the ugly facts of the original broadcast. I guess we should also ask Lourdes Garcia-Navarro about the alterations.

Real News Video: Training that makes killing civilians acceptable

This is Your War on Drugs

Megan McArdle in THE ATLANTIC:--

"This is our nation's drug enforcement in a nutshell. We started out by banning the things. And people kept taking them. So we made the punishments more draconian. But people kept selling them. So we pushed the markets deep into black market territory, and got the predictable violence . . . and then we upped our game, turning drug squads into quasi-paramilitary raiders. Somewhere along the way, we got so focused on enforcing the law that we lost sight of the purpose of the law, which is to make life in America better."

20 Gallons

In the time it takes to read this short sentence, another 20 gallons of crude oil will have escaped from the wrecked Deepwater Horizon well into the Gulf of Mexico.

Lena Horne 1917-2010

Surveillance Cameras: You Are Never Alone

If George Orwell were alive, what would he write?

"It’s hard to adjust to the idea that cities — New York in particular,and Times Square most of all — are now places where unseen watchers canmonitor your every move." - City Critic, New York Times

And... who knew? The Burlington school board's Policy and Advocacy committee

"is currently writing the district’s policy on the use of surveillance cameras in schools."

(I've not seen any local media coverage about this.) Your tax dollars at work indeed, treating children as criminals. But hell, it's business-as-usual in our schools. The little buggers are groomed anyway, to be passive and unquestioning automatons, to accept being monitored by the surveillance cameras of businesses on Church Street (the major pedestrian shopping district in Burlington).

Look at this ACLU link (my emphasis in bold):

Camera surveillance systems also inevitably raise issues of racial profiling and voyeurism. Everyone has heard of the camera operators who zoom in upon women's breasts or police officers who used infrared video surveillance equipment to watch a couple engaged in romantic activity.

The bottom line is: Are cameras worth the cost in terms of money and civil liberties? Cities and states are still wasting limited security budget dollars on camera surveillance systems. In the last five years, the US Department of Homeland Security had handed out about $300 million in grants for camera surveillance systems. These funds could have gone toward hiring more experienced police officers, improving equipment for first-responders so that they can be ready to help in cases of emergency or other such security needs.

And consider the civil liberty costs of video surveillance systems. Video surveillance technology will only grow more sophisticated. There will come a day when the cameras will be routinely linked with other technologies in attempt to instantly identify you and me via face recognition, RFIDs, or other technologies. Do we want a society where an innocent individual can't walk down the street without being considered a potential criminal? Do we want a society where people are comfortable with constant surveillance?

Recommended video (Quicktime): Its Eyes, filmed on location in New York's Chelsea Market and Harlem - treating "surveillance cameras as a biological organism slowly taking control of our urban space."

Real News Video: "Dead end for New Labour"

Good analysis on The Real News Network from Leo Panitch. I like his style and he has no pretensions. It's far better than what you'd hear on PBS or NPR or read in the US corporate media.

"Labour Party will have to split before it can be renewed":

Feast of Julian of Norwich, Contemplative

Lord God, who in your compassion granted to the Lady Julian many revelations of your nurturing and sustaining love: Move our hearts, like hers, to seek you above all things, for in giving us yourself you give us all; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today is the Feast Day of Julian of Norwich, one of my most favourite spiritual writers and saints. She celebrated God and Nature. If you don't know much about her, why don't you read a bit.

Her book is a tender meditation on God's eternal and all-embracing love, as expressed to us in the Passion of Christ.

She describes seeing God holding a tiny thing in his hand, like a small brown nut, which seemed so fragile and insignificant that she wondered why it did not crumble before her eyes. She understood that the thing was the entire created universe, which is as nothing compared to its Creator, and she was told, "God made it, God loves it, God keeps it."

She was concerned that sometimes when we are faced wiith a difficult moral decision, it seems that no matter which way we decide, we will have acted from motives that are less then completely pure, so that neither decision is defensible. She finally wrote: "It is enough to be sure of the deed. Our courteous Lord will deign to redeem the motive."

A matter that greatly troubled her was the fate of those who through no fault of their own had never heard the Gospel. She never received a direct answer to her questions about them, except to be told that whatever God does is done in Love, and therefore "that all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well."

And you can read more about her here!

Firsts in the British Parliament

At least something positive from yesterday's British elections:

Caroline Lucas won the Green Party's first seat.

Two Labour candidates, Shabana Mahmood and Yasmin Qureshi became the first women Muslim MPs.

Otherwise, Richard Seymour/Lenin's Tomb says "Oh, what the fuck?" Oh, and George Galloway was trounced by the Labour candidate.

That Remembrance Day Disruption

I think the idea of a bomb attack crossed everybody's mind in the flash of a second at that moment, and I didn't even hear that "bom, bom". It's also neglected that the one part of the crowd got frightened by the panic of the other part of the crowd. My initial fear was getting trampled and trapped in this "stampede" as well as what was going to happen next...
Terrifying. - a witness to the Remembrance Day disruption

It's not as if people were in a moving crowd initally. They were still, silent, in an almost meditative state on what was happening in front of the monument. Just look at the Remembrance ceremony at about 01:13:32 on this (Silverlight) video.

Then bam! A mass exodus, but to where? I'm sure there are psychological studies of crowds that would confirm what happened was real.

Many people, of course, had the tragic attack at last year's Queen's Day celebrations in Apeldoorn on their minds.

I recall feeling the terror in the mid 1990s, when I was in Amsterdam for Queen's Day. My Dutch friend and I ventured into the center of the city - what was to be our first and last time. We were nearly crushed by a crowd that was moving along the Reguliersbreestraat (between the Munt and Rembrandtplein), packed like sardines. I was never so scared in my life; got separated from my friend and could not see his head (he's taller than I am). In the middle of all of this was a man in a wheelchair, pleading to be taken away. This was just across the street from the famous Tuschinski cinema. It was stifling, I could hardly breathe. I never even thought of a bomb attack. What if... !! I was afraid that I would lose my footing, fall down and get trampled. Fortunately we eventually got out of that narrow strip of street and made it to the Rembrandtplein, which was just as crowded, but had more room. From there we recovered to the quieter Amsterdam-Zuid residential district.

UPDATED: Remembrance and Liberation

UPDATE: Panic during Remembrance Day ceremony

Dozens of people were injured after panic broke out during the Remembrance Day commemorations on Amsterdam's Dam square on Tuesday evening when a man began shouting during the two minutes silence.

The man has been arrested but the motive for his actions is still unclear, a police spokesman told Nos tv.

Most of the injured had either broken bones or scrapes and bruises received when parts of the crowd began moving following the shouts. At least one safety barrier fell during the crush.




_____________________________


This year marks the 65th anniversary of the Liberation in the Netherlands after WWII by the Canadian, Polish, British and US soldiers.

This is the week of Herdenking en Bevrijding - Remembrance and Liberation - and of my birthday, on May 5th. Yesterday, Her Majesty Queen Beatrix, HRH Princess Margriet and Pieter van Volenhoven will attend the Remembrance ceremony at the Canadian War cemetery in Groesbeek, where more than 2,300 young Canadians have found their final resting place. This evening, HM and TRH The Prince of Orange and Princess Máxima will attend the Remembrance service for the people who have fought and died during World War II at the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, after which HM and The Prince of Orange will lay a wreath at the National Monument on Dam Square.

About 16 years ago, I think it was. I was on holiday in Holland. On May 4th, my cousin's then-boyfriend (a pilot) took Agnes and me up in his plane as a birthday gift. (She celebrates her birthday two days after mine.) We took off from Lelystad airport and flew over the Ijsselmeer, over Marken and Volendam and down over the woods of 't Gooi to Hilversum and over the Loosdrecht lakes and back to the airport. As soon as we landed it was nearly 8 o'clock and time for the two minutes of silence observed throughout the country.

So there we were, on the tarmac, quietly sitting in the small airplane - windows open - and all I felt and heard was the soft, free wind blowing.

Kent State Murders - 40th Anniversary

Dead: Allison Krause - Age: 19, William Schroeder - Age: 19, Jeffrey Miller - Age: 20, Sandra Scheuer - Age: 20. They were the four students killed on the Kent State campus in Ohio on May 4, 1970, during a Vietnam war protest. The National Guard opened fire.

90210

LOS ANGELES TIMES: - Two members of Congress, Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) and Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), called on Halliburton on Friday to provide all documents relating to "the possibility or risk of an explosion or blowout at the Deepwater Horizon rig and the status, adequacy, quality, monitoring, and inspection of the cementing work" by May 7.

Today is World Press Freedom Day

May 3rd is World Press Freedom Day, with special focus on freedom of information and the right to know. Here's Jonathan Groubert's conversation on Radio Netherlands' program, The State We're In, with Mike Bonanno (real name Igor Vamos) of the Yes
Men, the culture jamming duo who pull elaborate, funny and sometimes
disgusting stunts on international corporations to draw attention to
injustices.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

A lovely photo that captures Queen's Day 2010.

"Koningin Glimlach!" ["A queen's smile"], sent into PZC by Jos Zanders.



"U heeft ons en het land Koninginnedag teruggegeven." ["You have given back Queen's Day to us and the country."] - Queen Beatrix to all the people in Zeeland after the completion of the festivities in Middelburg on Queen's Day, April 30th.

Hedges: No One Cares

"The roots of mass apathy are found in the profound divide between liberals, who are mostly white and well educated, and our disenfranchised working class, whose sons and daughters, because they cannot get decent jobs with benefits, have few options besides the military... And for this reason the poor have little interest in the moral protestations of liberals. We have lost all credibility. We are justly hated for our tacit complicity in the corporate assault on workers and their families..." - Chris Hedges

Nanosilver Migrates Out of Fabric in Study

Beyond Pesticides, May 3, 2010:

Researchers have found that silver nanoparticles can migrate out of fabrics that have been treated with the particles for its antibacterial properties when it is exposed to simulated perspiration, raising concerns about human exposure to nanosilver through skin absorption. This is the first study to use artificial sweat to mimic the conditions of human skin, however it is not clear if the silver materials in sweat would be absorbed through human skin.

Silver has long been used as an antiseptic to reduce bacterial growth on skin, however recent advances in nanoscience (the science and manipulation of chemical and biological materials with dimensions in the range from 1-100 nanometers) led to the development of silver nanoparticles. Due to their small size, these nanoparticles are able to invade bacteria and other microorganisms and kill them, and silver nanoparticles (or nanosilver) are now widely impregnated into a wide range of consumer products, including textiles such as socks, sportswear, underwear and bedding, vacuums, washing machines, toys, sunscreens, and a host of others.[...]

The researchers conclude that as nanotechnology becomes increasingly prevalent in consumer products, the potential for exposure to nanoparticles increases. Yet, little is known about how these silver materials may interact with people’s bodies. There is concern that the the tiny particles may be more toxic than other, larger-sized and more traditional types of silver compounds, as the smaller particles could be more easily absorbed and distributed throughout the body.

... MORE

"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

John 13:31-35

At the last supper, when Judas had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.' I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

I have always loved the Gospel reading for the Fifth Sunday of Easter. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. Just think what it would mean if the Church, Christians, faithful Christians really took those words to heart! As the priest said in Sunday's homily, if we had love for one another, we might not have had the Inquisition; might not have had the Crusades; might not have had a Hitler. If find if I am hurt by people close to me, irritated by the foibles and idiosyncrasies of my friends or family - I love them but don't particularly like them at a given moment - I remember Christ's words and act as if I loved them, I realise how silly and selfish I have been!

Wall Street Owns the Country

More GRITtv

Happy May Day!