Mon 16 Jun 2008
Fri 13 Jun 2008
I sent this letter today to my Congressman John Larson:
“I watched and listened carefully to Congressman Kucinich’s 35-article resolution, as I’m sure you did. You and I had already discussed a number of the charges he introduced Monday, and there were many more that weren’t included on my list. On the strength of the public record alone, as Kucinich argued with great eloquence, there is overwhelming evidence of criminal wrongdoing by the President and his agents, causing manifest injury to our country and our people. (more…)
Sun 8 Jun 2008
Trans Revisionist Editorial by Metroline Editor Joseph DaBrow
Posted by jerimarie liesegang under it's the stupid media , politics , queer[6] Comments
First HRC attempts to marginalize the Transgender Community and now Metroline is quick on their heels of Trans Oppression! The current issue of Metroline has an Editorial by the Editor Joseph DaBrow that revises Stonewall History (4th paragraph) by stating that at Stonewall “there were no drag queens there at all. It was gay human beings simply standing up for being who they were.” Has Mr. DaBrow and the publisher of Metroline John Crowley never heard of Sylvia Rivera or Marsha P. Johnson both well know and prominent Stonewall Veterans? Perhaps if Mr. DaBrow and Crowley attended our New England Trans Pride, they would have heard Miss Majors, a Stonewall Veteran, as well as many other speakers remember the critical participation of our Transgender (i.e. Drag Queens or Transvestites in 1969 vernacular) comrades at Stonewall. Or to learn that the theme of this first ever New England Trans Pride was: “Remember Stonewall? That was us!” Or perhaps they never listened to Pacifica Radio’s excellent audio documentary: “Remembering Stonewall.” (more…)
Sun 8 Jun 2008
Bill Moyers and Bill O’Reilly Producer Porter Barry Debate at the National Conference for Media Reform
Posted by Steve under uncategorized1 Comment
Click here for a link to a video of Bill Moyers and Fox News producer Porter Barry debating at the National Conference for Media Reform this past weekend. Barry and Moyers go back and forth and then when they’re done Porter gets ambushed by some onlookers who ask him about journalism.
Sun 8 Jun 2008
The Courant Continues the Hand Wringing over Heartless Hartfordites
Posted by Jim under Hartford , it's the stupid media , fake newsNo Comments
I guess the verdict is in: we who live in Hartford are hideous. Look away!!
There is a dissenting voice though, here and there.
Fri 6 Jun 2008
Look at the Hit and Run Video and Then Judge
Posted by Jim under Hartford , it's the stupid media , fake news[16] Comments
I just watched the infamous Park Street hit-and-run video and I didn’t reach the conclusion that the victim was ignored by bystanders. Less than a minute after the man was hit, several bystanders walked out into the road towards him. Less than ninety seconds after the accident a police car drove to the scene and he was attended to. It is true that several cars continued to drive by. You have to wonder what they were thinking. I chalk it up to the fact that some people have the notion that someone else will make the 911 call. But to me, the video clearly shows that a group of people walked out into the road to help this man before the police car pulled up.
What I would like to know is how did this incident take on the spin of callous city dwellers ignoring someone in distress? I see this more as the media creating a story where there was none. And then there are the wingnuts who take the distortion and add their own coat of slime. To call the hit-and-run accident a “Genovese moment” is breathtakingly stupid.
Tue 3 Jun 2008
Utah Phillips and the 2008 elections
Posted by jerimarie liesegang under uncategorized , politics , Elders[2] Comments
I just got a chance to catch up on some quasi-recent Democracy Now! podcasts and had the pleasure of just listening to Amy’s 2004 interview of Activist and Wobblie Utah Phillips. Prior to getting to the point of this post, I must reflect for a moment. As I listened to Utah Phillips, I realized how little I know and how much I missed in my life. I spent so many of the early years of my life running towards death simply because I could not live with who I was. However, quite literally the moment I stopped this death run and began to allow myself to live as who I was and not what others told me, I began an amazing journey of spiritual enlightenment and listening. Having just listened to Utah and reflecting on my having worked with some truly dedicated lifelong activists, my heart saddens for how little I know and lost and how much there is to learn and embrace. A horridly exhilarating and depressing feeling at the same moment.
At any rate, Amy asked Utah whom he would be voting for in 2004? Being an anarchist I truly struggle with our so-called democratic system and the fascists who have wrested power from it; yet I found his response potentially worth sharing given the state of our electoral politics.
Voting with our bodies
Utah relayed a discussion he had with Ammon Hennacy shortly before Ammon’s death. (more…)
Thu 22 May 2008
References on National Public Radio to the section of Baghdad known as Sadr City seldom fail to mention that it is a “Shia slum.” They don’t call it an impoverished neighborhood or its residents a disadvantaged minority. Rather, they employ a slur–they did it again repeatedly this week–and a particularly disparaging one at that. (more…)
Wed 21 May 2008
About 120 people gathered Wednesday outside the gate of the U. S. Coast Guard Academy in New London to protest the government’s war policy. The occasion was the commencement of the school’s class of 2008 and the visit of commencement speaker Richard Cheney. (more…)
Tue 20 May 2008
Equal accessibility to Hartford’s main library?
Posted by jerimarie liesegang under Hartford , accessibility[3] Comments
“Over and Over again we told them, and they still don’t want to listen” said Claude Holcomb to Richard Nelson of Queers Without Borders. Claude is the founder of ADAPT CT, an organization that has been working for 7 months attempting to get the city of Hartford and the Hartford Public Library to fix a big mistake: The city of Hartford spent $42 Million on expansion and renovation of the main library. A state of the art expansion where they even put in a fine new ramp to get from street level up to the entrance ~ but guess what? They forgot to make the doors accessible for people in wheel chairs. No button. No automatic door opener. Claude told Queers Without Borders that in researching this issue, that the cost of a button and automatic door is around $2,000 dollars. Not very much at all. Yet the city says that they can’t put in a button because the door is glass (an engineering conundrum?, we don’t think so). To add insult to injury, those needing accessible access are being told: “Go around to the back, that’s accessible.” Makes sense, beautiful front door for everyone (oops, unless of course you happen to be in a wheelchair!) All are welcomed to come to the meeting on May 23rd at 4:30 pm. The meeting will be held at 24 Park Place which is Park Place Towers, the 2nd building from the street. After reading this blog entry, we encourage you to contact Susan McMullen City of Hartford Director of Constituent Services (757-9525) and express your outrage at this clear violation of making all City space fully welcoming and accessible to all peoples. Separate but equal access cannot be tolerated. (more…)