Election 2012: Close down the denial mechanism and educate yourself about climate change
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A year ago today I was at a resort in suburban Albuquerque NM. It was a nice spring day, and I walked down to the Rio Grande River and saw this tree which was winning the race to be first to leaf out for 2011.
Above: April 10, 2011 Bernalillo NM on bank of Rio Grande
The slow but certain suicide of Capitalism
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I’m not an enemy of Capitalism. From my earliest years some deference was paid to the person who lived in the biggest house in town; who occupied a position of status or rank; the most “successful” relative…. Right or wrong, they were thought to be deserving of being a bit better off.
Election 2012: Talking politics at the DFL Senate District 53 convention
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If you aren’t normally involved in politics, or even if you are, you might be interested in this recap of last weekends local district political convention.
Election 2012: Voters the only antidote to Voter ID
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Sunday night, March 25, we tuned in on the new PBS series entitled “Finding Your Roots”, where historian Henry Louis Gates explores roots with prominent citizens. We watched the episode featuring political leaders Newark NJ Mayor Cory Booker and GA Cong. Continue Reading
Thinking about peace, near a St. Paul vigil against war
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CORRECTION 3/20/2012 • March 19 is a tragic anniversary. As my friend, Wayne Wittman, of Veterans for Peace put it: “On March 19, 2003, after a terrific bombardment called “Shock and Awe” we and the other nations we could coax to join us launched an invasion of the sovereign independent Nation of Iraq.”
Travelling with the Lexington Institute: Notes on Cuba, part two
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My sister, Flo, was in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic 1966-68, and was back to the DR to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps. She and Carter decided to add on a trip to Cuba enroute home. Here’s a vintage photo of Flo at the border of Haiti and Dominican Republic about 1967 or so.
The enigmatic island: Notes on Cuba, part one
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Cuba has always intrigued me, though the closest I’ve been is neighboring Haiti, which has both benefited and been cursed by its proximity to the island Communist Republic to its immediate west.
This is part one of a two-part post. Click to read Travelling with the Lexington Institute: Notes on Cuba, part two
“Takeaways” from the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize forum
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At the preview of the Nobel Peace Prize Forum on February 14, we were told that, for the first time, the major sessions of the Forum would be live-streamed and accessible around the world. I did not publicize that to my own mailing list, since I was most interested in attendance at the event. Continue Reading
Business, art and music day, at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum at Augsburg College
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A wonderful Jazz combo from Augsburg College opened the 2012 Forum, first with a fine rendition of John Lennon’s Imagine, and Sting’s We Work the Black Seam Together.
Haiti, remembering eight years ago
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About this time of year in 2002, Paul Miller and I met each other at a meeting, and we learned we lived in the same community.
Paul was already active in the cause of Justice for Haiti, and over the coming months he began to urge me to visit the island Republic with him. It took a while. Though I was a geography major, I needed to re-learn where Haiti was, and a little about it.