Let’s Toast to Ten Good Things About 2007
As we close this year on the low of Congress giving Bush more billions for war, and the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, let’s remember some of the year’s gains that can revive our spirits for the New Year. Here are just ten.
1. With the exception of the White House, this has been a banner year for environmental consciousness and action. Al Gore and the scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the Nobel Peace Prize. Green building and renewable energy have exploded. Congress passed the Green Jobs Act of 2007, authorizing $125 million for green job training. Over 700 U.S. mayors, representing 25 percent of the U.S. population, have signed a pledge to reduce greenhouse gases by 2012. Illinois became the 26th state to require that some of the state’s electricity come from renewable sources and Kansas became the first state to refuse a permit for a new coal-fired power plant for health and environmental reasons. That’s progress!
2. On the global environmental scene, the Bush dinosaurs were tackled head on. When the US delegation at the UN climate change conference in Bali tried to sabotage the negotiations, the delegate from tiny Papua New Guinea threw diplomatic niceties to the wind and said that if the U.S. couldn’t lead, it should get out of the way. Embarrassed by international and domestic outrage, the U.S. delegation buckled, and the way was cleared for adopting the “Bali road map.” Although it is a weak mandate, it lays the groundwork for a stronger climate agreement post-2012 when the first phase of the Kyoto Protocols ends.
3. Imagine living in a waste-free urban society? Well, it’s no longer a utopian dream but a well-thought-out plan for India’s state of Kerala. The plan to be “waste-free” within five years includes waste prevention, intensive re-use and recycling, composting, replacing unsustainable materials with sustainable ones, training people to produce these materials, and providing funds for setting up sustainably run businesses. The ground-breaking plan, spearheaded by a local grassroots movement, demonstrates how citizen groups can advance pioneering policies to heal the planet.
4. While the war in Iraq rages on, a new war was stopped. The specter of war with Iran loomed large throughout the year, with Washington accusing Iran of killing U.S . soldiers in Iraq and being a nuclear threat. Then in December came the National Intelligence Estimate showing that the Bush administration knew all along that Iran had shelved its nuclear weapons program in 2003. It exposed the Administration claims of an Iranian threat as unjustifiably inflated, and the winds of war were suddenly subdued. Nothing is guaranteed, but a U.S. military attack on Iran is less likely now than it was earlier in the year.
5. This year also brought a decrease in tensions with North Korea. Hostilities flared after North Korea successfully conducted a nuclear test in 2006. But the Bush administration, bogged down in Iraq and pushed by international pressure, agreed to negotiate. Following a series of six-party talks involving North Korea, South Korea, China, Russia, Japan, and the U.S, on March 17, 2007, an historic agreement was reached. North Korea agreed to shut down its main nuclear facility and submit a list of its nuclear programs in exchange for fuel and normalization talks with the U.S. and Japan. During this age of raw aggression, it is a welcome example of putting diplomacy first.
6. The Iraqi people have little to celebrate, but there was one important victory for the people this year. Remember how the Bush administration and Congress were insisting that the Iraqi Parliament pass a new oil law? Touted as a way to “share oil revenue among all Iraqis”, the oil law was really designed to transform the country’s currently nationalized oil system to one open to foreign corporate control. But opposition was fierce inside Iraq, especially from the nation’s oil worker unions. In a rare sign of independence from Washington and concern for domestic opinion, the Iraqi Parliament withstood intense U.S. pressure and refused to pass the oil law.
7. In early 2007, few Americans had heard of the private security company Blackwater. By year’s end, Blackwater had become infamous for the killing of civilians in Iraq. The radical privatization of our military to corporations like Blackwater that are accountable to no one was exposed for all to see. This frightening process is still well under way, with more private contractors in Iraq than soldiers, but at least the issue has now entered the public dialogue. And Blackwater has received such a black eye that it’s unlikely to get a new Iraq contract when the present one expires in May.
8. One victory on both the war and environmental fronts came in Australia, where Labor Party’s Kevin Rudd beat conservative John Howard to become Prime Minister. Howard was an enthusiastic backer of George Bush’s disastrous war on terror, from defending the Guantánamo prison and extraordinary rendition to sending troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. Howard also joined Bush in refusing to ratify the Kyoto Agreement, arguing it would cost Australians jobs. After assuming office on December 3, Kevin Rudd immediately signed the Kyoto agreement and he has promised to remove Australia’s combat troops from Iraq by mid-2008.
9. Sometimes a loss is a win. Hugo Chavez had initiated a constitutional referendum that would have, among other changes, scrapped term limits. His immediate acceptance of a razor-thin margin of defeat before all the votes were even counted showed his democratic colors and made it a lot harder for Bush and the corporate media to label him a dictator. Despite the loss, Chavez remains extremely popular, especially among the poor and working class in Venezuela. And throughout Latin America, the historic transformation led by progressive leaders like Chavez continues to blossom.
10. Last but not least, this year saw the resignation of some of Bush’s closest allies in government - Donald Rumsfeld resigned as Secretary of Defense, Alberto Gonzalez as Attorney General, and Karl Rove as Deputy Chief of Staff. Best of all, we can give thanks that we only have ONE YEAR left of the criminal, war-mongering, constitution-shredding, rights-violating, torture-sanctioning Bush Administration! It’s just GOT to get better than this!
So here’s a toast to a green future, diplomacy, and surviving the last throes of the Bush regime. Que viva 2008!
Medea Benjamin (medea@globalexchange.org) is cofounder of Global Exchange (www.globalexchange.org) and CODEPINK: Women for Peace (www.codepinkalert.org).
Thank you Medea, for generating the power that drives the progressive movement.
The 11th Good Thing in 2007:
“Better World Links” has been relaunched in a brand new design and with a much improved functionality and invites other Common Dreams readers to participate !
http://www.betterworldlinks.org
I understand the idea of positive thinking, but I fail to see how we really have gotten anywhere. If we toss one guy out, they put in even more corrupt bas%%rds to replace them.
We need to take action- not pat ourselves on the back. Our government is a miserable failure and there is no way to stop them as long as our elections are stolen. I wish code pink would organize to stop it!
Please read Bev Harris
New problems identified with Iowa caucuses
http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/genera_bev_harr_071230_new_problems_identif.htm
and organize Code Pink to do whatever they can to expose our fraudulent elections!
And we need real Americans to RUN FOR CONGRESS! Enough with the Corporate stooges!
www.peacecandidates.com
peace candidate December 31st, 2007 1:30 pm — “I understand the idea of positive thinking, but I fail to see how we really have gotten anywhere.”
You’re not alone. For a somewhat less rose-colored recap of the past year’s dubious accomplishments, read Cockburn’s Goodbye 2007 and Good Riddance.
sorry medea, i can hardly stomach these let’s feel good pieces — like, we’re supposed to feel good that rumsfeld is gone when instead we got an escalation that rumsfeld couldn’t have sold? loved cockburn’s wicked piece on http://counterpunch.org
Thanks for some bright notes, Medea.
peace and love,
jim
we only have ONE YEAR left of the criminal, war-mongering, constitution-shredding, rights-violating, torture-sanctioning Bush Administration! It’s just GOT to get better than this!
wanna bet? i say it’s gonne get MUCH WORSE…
The writer’s intentions are very good, but forgive me for being a party pooper. 2007 sucked big time. 2007 will be the year that Democrats had a chance to do something about Bush, his abuse of power and this illegal war of genocide in Iraq and they collaborated with Bush instead, those Vichyite bastards. The DEA continues to harass medical marijuana users as Marijuana Clinics are getting shut down and zoned out left and right. Government and private officials are embarking on a Pol Pot/Khmer Rouge like experiment in New Orleans. Taser use by SS waffen police is getting out of hand. Jena reminds us that the South’s KKK days are far from over. We are inching towards war in Iran. The idiot Federal Reserve keeps destroying the US Dollar. The housing and mortgage crisis was manufactured this year as we see corporate whore companies like Bear Sterns handing their CEO’s bonuses like water, while people are losing their homes. We have Democratic Presidential candidates (save for Kucinich and Gravel) who prefer to go along and get along. Immigrants, Mexicans and Muslims continue to be scapegoated on the American lamestream media leading to horrific vigilante abuses.
But hey don’t let me rain on anyone’s parade.
Look, I don’t want to be a total skunk at the garden party, so I’ll say this: the only thing that made my heart sing this year was when the Lakota Nation told the 4th Reich USA to shove it! Yeah baby!!!I’ll toast to that one, hell yeah!
or we can toast in the spirit of drinking prior to new years
well I can, cheers guys.
Anyone who marginally keeps up with international news is familiar with Code Pink and Medea Benjamin, and knows that her activities in 2007 included her being illegally removed and illegally arrested numerous times at Congressional hearings in D.C., being unlawfully detained from international travel, being deported at gunpoint from Pakistan for peaceful protest, being on the receiving end of hostile interviews by Bill O’Reilly on Faux News, receiving death threats, etc.. To categorize her for a once a year “Good Things” article as a rose-tinted Pollyana teeters blindly over the brink into moronic blather.
george w. bush (not the president but the poster that is) Don’t get me wrong. I respect everything that Code Pink has done and I have posted many times singing their praises. As I said in my post, her intentions were very good and I don’t mean that to be patronizing. I also never used the word Pollyana in my post to unfairly characterize Medea. Her contributions to the struggle is priceless and may God Bless her for that. I guess it’s just the cynic in me to highlight all the horrific stuff that went on in 2007, and there was a lot of bad stuff indeed that went on. I apologize if you took my post that way. It wasn’t meant to attack this wonderful human being. Regards.
Leftists and progressives, and especially “liberals,” are so used to losing that they usually can’t even face up to their own victories. It’s a middle class habit to always seek out the most depressing news and then whine about how nothing has changed and we are all doomed. You weak-willed, lazy Americans should really get you head out of your collective ass and take a look around. All around the world, poor and working class people–usually lead by women–are planting the seeds of survival, change and progress. The internet is an easy way to find out about strikes, co-ops, take-overs, real democratic elections, and real ORGANIZING. Talk is cheap, and pessimistic talk (Hello, Pacifica radio!) is dangerously demoralizing, and therefore debilitating, and therefore hands easy victories to the world’s oppressors! Please save your whining for your therapist, and join the international FIGHT for progressive change. Or, just shut up and get out of the way of people who are actually DOING SOMETHING!
troublemaker: “Or, just shut up and get out of the way of people who are actually DOING SOMETHING!” I formed my own micronation since the US government is completely incompetent to govern my affairs. Changing the US is like trying to make a silk purse out of sow’s ear. Anyways, respects to Code Pink.
Don’t like the country you live in? Form your own. I did. Self governance is the best!
http://www.geocities.com/micronations/
Amen, troublemaker. The turned tide in Latin America alone should be enough for the down in the mouthers to float right off their sofas and bump into a clue. But they are so disoriented that can’t even get out of their own way. Most of them have already gone through all the therapists in the yellow pages and driven off all their mentally healthy friends years ago. But, if they were to be denied their whining rights on Common Dreams, they might fly off into that darkest oblivion where cynicism hears nothing but its own echo and pessimism never passes for intellect. The world would be a better place for their absence, but then what would they do?
This article is sort of like the surgeon telling the family.
“The operation was a total success______ but your husband died.”
Isn’t there any room for appreciating some accomplishments? Are so many so used to loosing that they don’t even know how to win?
The time is now and the value of griping is rapidly diminishing.
Don’t you think?
Happy New Year!
Peace,
Ken
Two other good things in 2007:
Bush/Cheney are one year closer to retirement
Medea and the Code Pink ladies have stayed in the face of “business as usual” to keep it annoyed and uncomfortable.
Media Benjamin brought up the “historic transformations” going on in Latin America under the leadership of Hugo Chavez. But this did not seem to impress any one of you “progressives” trying most of the time to be intellectual exhibitionists and cute with words.
9. Sometimes a loss is a win. Hugo Chavez had initiated a constitutional referendum that would have, among other changes, scrapped term limits. His immediate acceptance of a razor-thin margin of defeat before all the votes were even counted showed his democratic colors and made it a lot harder for Bush and the corporate media to label him a dictator. Despite the loss, Chavez remains extremely popular, especially among the poor and working class in Venezuela. And throughout Latin America, the historic transformation led by progressive leaders like Chavez continues to blossom.
Surely it took Medea Benjamin weeks of mental contortions to come up with “Ten Good Things about 2007”. Or maybe the list is an attempt at tongue-in-cheek, he asks hopefully.
2007 has been a horrific year for all but the oil and weapons merchants and their attendant American politicians who have once again made a killing, literally as well. Oh, of course, we shouldn’t forget the millionaires whose numbers, if 2006 is anything to go by, increased again.
Otherwise 2007 is one deathly cloud that doesn’t seem to have a silver lining. The Iraqis, you suggest, should celebrate their “nationalized oil,” almost none of which can be tapped any longer because the infrastructure remains devastated, first due to U.S.-imposed sanctions and then the missiles we paid for, and continue to do so, with our taxes and at the gas station. While we line the pockets of oil and weapons merchants with cash and credit – half a trillion dollars worth so far — the Iraqis do so with their lives and futures. Besides, one would think they’d prefer to have, if it’s not too much to ask of their occupiers, a little bit of water and electricity, both of which were plentiful and cheap under the regime we liberated them from. But, hey, at least they have democracy now. Let them toast to that and drink oil. Don’t mean to sound bitter.
As for the waste-free Kerala project – it’s a great idea and it’s plodding along slowly and very strapped for funds. The larger point though is that while most American greens see “living in a waste-free urban society” as a utopian ideal, almost-waste-free urban societies used to be a dime a dozen in the ‘third world’. Most waste is not a luxury they can afford and “intensive re-use and recycling” was a mundane reality (not a starry-eyed ideal) simply because of high levels of poverty. Every piece of paper, metal, glass, etc. had economic value. That should be no surprise considering that the toxic plastic containers the civilized world recycles so diligently ends up for processing in the third world, usually poisoning, sometimes eventually killing, the workers who melt them down. These days though, with western values packaged in plastic selling like candy in the “developing countries”, the ethos of recycling and re-use is taking a beating. So, yes you are right. We should celebrate Kerala.
Well, I’ll stop here before this becomes yet another painful memory from 2007. Well, look at the bright side: We may well look back fondly at 2007 once 2008 sinks its fangs in.
Happy new year.
Shreeram
http://www.worldviewsblog.blogspot.com/
I love it that one of the best radical progressives anywhere is also a wonderful optimist, and has enough strength to cheer us up. Bless you, and Best Wishes.
Plus lets remember mathematical curves. A curve tends to peak for a moment, but then it comes down one way or the other. Either that or it goes off to infinity which is most unlikely.
Peace and Happy New Year.
Signing out for 07.
Ken
Peace candidate to Medea Benjamin,”We need to take action, not pat ourselves on the back”
Anyone who has the nerve to tell Code Pink to get busy is truly in denial. You wish Code Pink would do this and that… Why not join them and help out? You would personally have to live to be 1000 years old to do half of what Medea has done. I think the peace candidate just might be a couch potato.
Medea Benjamin knows more about what serving ones country is than all of us commentators combined. I commend her on the ability to see small victories in the midst of major atrocities, a necessary and fortunate skill to have in the midst of the huge opposition she has faced. Anybody here today had the guts to get arrested for what you believe in? Her job is made much harder because so very few have been willing to help save the constitution. Why is it her job anyway. Cause nobody else was brave enough to take it.
Go Code Pink! Thank you and all your members for a shining example of what Patriotism really is!
As much as this year has been depressing in so many ways, I appreciate Medea pointing out some positive stuff. To have been through what she has been through this past year and still see some positive accomplishments is admirable.
Keep up the good work Medea! We all hope 2008 will be better.
REMEMBER THIS?–
March 7 1999
On Getting Along
By Howard Zinn
You ask how I manage to stay involved and remain seemingly happy and
adjusted to this awful world where the efforts of caring people pale in
comparison to those who have power?
It’s easy. First, don’t let “those who have power” intimidate you. No
matter how much power they have they cannot prevent you from living your
life, speaking your mind, thinking independently, having relationships
with people as you like. (Read Emma Goldman’s autobiography LIVING MY
LIFE. Harassed, even imprisoned by authority, she insisted on living her
life, speaking out, however she felt like.
Second, find people to be with who have your values, your commitments, but
who also have a sense of humor. That combination is a necessity!
Third (notice how precise is my advice that I can confidently number it,
the way scientists number things), understand that the major media will
not tell you of all the acts of resistance taking place every day in the
society, the strikes, the protests, the individual acts of courage in the
face of authority. Look around (and you will certainly find it) for the
evidence of these unreported acts. And for the little you find,
extrapolate from that and assume there must be a thousand times as much as
what you’ve found.
Fourth. Note that throughout history people have felt powerless before
authority, but that at certain times these powerless people, by
organizing, acting, risking, persisting, have created enough power to
change the world around them, even if a little. That is the history of the
labor movement, of the women’s movement, of the anti-Vietnam war movement,
the disabled persons movement, the gay and lesbian movement, the movement
of black people in the South.
Fifth: Remember, that those who have power, and who seem invulnerable are
in fact quite vulnerable, that their power depends on the obedience of
others, and when those others begin withholding that obedience, begin
defying authority, that power at the top turns out to be very fragile.
Generals become powerless when their soldiers refuse to fight,
industriaists become powerless when their workers leave the jobs or occupy
the factories.
Sixth: When we forget the fragility of that power in top we become
astounded when it crumbles in the face of rebellion. We have had many such
surprises in our time, both in the United States and in other countries.
Seventh: Don’t look for a moment of total triumph. See it as an ongoing
struggle, with victories and defeats, but in the long run the
consciousness of people growing. So you need patience, persistence, and
need to understand that even when you don’t “win,” there is fun and
fulfillment in the fact that you have been involved, with other good
people, in something worthwhile.
Okay, seven pieces of profound advice should be enough.
http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/1999-03/mar7_1999.htm
Troublemaker, “Talk is cheap, and pessimistic talk(hello Pacifica Radio)is dangerously demoralizing”
On the evolutionary scale of Patriotism, Pacifica radio is the soaring Bald Eagle, Troublemaker is the lowly flea.
Pacifica Radio, the first and oldest public radio station in America has 50 years worth of priceless archives that chronicle some of the most important transformational struggles in our history, with countless one of a kind interviews with some of Americas best, brightest and most famous patriots, musicians, teachers, writers, poets, peace advocates, comedians and a ton more than that. What do you have in your archives, Troublemaker?
There are two types of troublemakers. One is the informed patriotic dissident, and the other is commenting with us today. And he is welcomed, in America.
Thank you Medea. Though I’m aware there isn’t much to celebrate in 2007, accusing you of wearing rose-tinted glasses is idiotic. I wish I were able to do a tiny bit of what you do for the cause of peace and progressive ideals! But you count with my financial support, at least.
Another toast to TRUTH and the American Way and i offer
Number 11 in Good Things About 2007:
The year of the birth of the NEW FOURTH ESTATE
This civilian journalist has been the ONLY media following Mordechai Vanunu’s [the whistle blower of Israel’s WMD Program’s]
FREEDOM OF SPEECH TRIAL and reported on his 2nd Christmas Arrest:
Details and Video @ VANUNU ARCHIVES:
http://www.wearewideawake.org/
This civilian journalist has also begun a ‘court of inquiry’ on the world wide web about that day in infamy: June 8, 1967 when the unarmed spy shop the USS LIBERTY was attacked by Israel and the USA Govt. covered it up and Congress and the old 4th estate went limp and did nothing to investigate:
WAWA Blog January 1, 2008: The Blow Back from “My nightmare in the Mediterranean” : 6th in the LIBERTY series “It was God that kept us afloat”
7th in this series to be published by Jan. 2, 2008 and I have only just begun…
The following can be accessed through:
http://www.wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=664&Itemid=177
Here’s to Seconding Captain McGonagle’s Two Word Epithet: And the Fourth in the Series: “It was God that kept us afloat”
Veteran’s Day: Part 3 in the series: “It was God that kept us afloat.” The Torpedo that Hit the USS LIBERTY: Made in the USA?
November 6, 2007: Honoring LIBERTY and Calling for a Second American Revolution!
Veterans Day is a week away, Remember LIBERTY
The above is a pro-bono public service from a proud member of the NEW FOURTH ESTATE and 21st century muckraker,
I don’t take assignments from editors or paychecks from conglomerates;
i follow my heart and report the truth as accurately as humanly possible and have been to occupied Palestine five times since June 2005.
Eileen Fleming,
Reporter and Editor WAWA:
http://www.wearewideawake.org/
Author “Keep Hope Alive” and “Memoirs of a Nice Irish American ‘Girl’s’ Life in Occupied Territory”
Producer “30 Minutes With Vanunu.”
Thank You Medea for doing a great job at finding some positives in 2007. This has been a difficult year yet there are some reasons to be grateful. We need to remember that focusing on what is wrong all the time makes us blamers and complainers. That is just about as powerless as you can make yourself.
This President and VP are a disgrace to humanity. Congress has totally not shown up to provide the necessary checks and balances. Corporations are running the show. All of this is unacceptable. Yet we have to face the facts that we are reponsible. I know I hate that idea. If my elected officials are not representing me then I need to show up and insist they do. If corporations are abusing the planet and the people then I need to make sure I don’t buy their products or stocks. If the President and VP are so heartless and power hungry then we are at fault because we elected them, whether we voted for them or not. If we didn’t do every thing we could to set the country in a new, more conscious, and progressive direction then we are responsible. Taking responsibility for the way things are means we have the power to change them.
I choose to take responsibility, be more focused, and more proactive in 2008. How about you?
Joseph
Joseph Bernard, Ph.D.
www.explorelifeblog.com
www.peace-together.com
Here is ten reasons to think otherwise:
1) Congress just pasted a 35mpg due to kick in twenty years from now: This ought to have been the standard 30 years ago.
2) Every major Democratic political candidate with the exception of Edwards is signing off on Nuclear Energy without a clue as to the consequences to nuclear waste disposal.
3) Polar ice caps are disappearing faster than anyone predicted and appear history by the time the one party systems 35mpg kick in.
4) Most people in the know predict that within our lifetimes we will be fighting wars over water.
5) Environmental refugees now appear as the next greatest threat to humankind due to climate change.
6) The major political parties do nothing more than pay lip service to the issue while insuring that their corporate pay masters are not marginalized
7) While most people pay lip service to the environment, they nevertheless want their gas guzzlers, and new housing developments.
8. Both Dem and Repub are now engaged in the last buffalo hunt with regards the ancient forests of the pacific northwest, adopting legislation to open all to clear cutting for their logging industry handlers.
9) Sustainable practices go ignored by most people in our contemporary moment.
10) The oil industry continues to fund campaigns of both political parties to insure sustainable energy development get no more than token consideration.
Once upon a time there was a astonishing planet that was turned into a burnt offering for the greedy…
This is one of those times when it is difficult to look back and find the good in anything. We hear too much of the bad and unfortunate outcomes of political situations (it does sell newspapers!).
So let’s celebrate all the little victories there are, as they show progress in a better direction. It is encouraging. And, we have an opportunity to re-evaluate what is important and confirm our values at times like this.
Happy New Year !
Thanks, Medea!
We all need more positive light in our lives, not only for ouselves but for the sake of this country.
Happy New Year!
Medea Benjamin seems to celebrating a few empty promises, except maybe in Kerala, the garden spot of India, thanks to the Communist Party of India, which has been running the show there for decades, giving Kerala the highest scores in India on the Human Development Index.
The Kerala model of development is worth careful study for anyone interested in a sustainable economy that preserves human values like education and a reasonably secure social safety net.
Dear “douglos”–
Doesn’t the word “patriotism” seem very similar to “Fatherland” and “patriarchy”? No, I am not a patriot. Patriotism is suicide. I am a humanitarian and an internationalist. I’ve learned about the world by, in part, working with Medea Benjamin in the late-1980’s, listening to Pacifica Radio for 40 years, and by being an apprentice there in the ’90’s. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something, and we can all do more, wouldn’t you agree?
Let’s not confuse tea leaf reading with reality. In fact very little has changed, it’s all hot air (literally). Articles like this don’t energize, they placate.
I know it was difficult, and took much diligent searching, but thank you, Medea, for putting some cheer under our holiday tree, even if we didn’t get the presents we really wanted.
RE - Al Gore and the scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Sheila Watt-Cloutier should have won.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071012/wattcloutier_nobel_071012/20071012/
Re - When the US delegation at the UN climate change conference in Bali tried to sabotage the negotiations, the delegate from tiny Papua New Guinea threw diplomatic niceties to the wind and said that if the U.S. couldn’t lead, it should get out of the way
Here again, you are giving Canadian Environment Minister John Baird too less credit! With Bush leaving office it leaves all the work to Baird.
Troublemaker,
Agreed, we all can do more. And I can imagine after a couple of decades of pitchin in to what appears to be a losing battle that one might lose faith. My definition of patriotism is the one I wish our country could be, the ideal one that we never have been. If you look at the way we slaughtered the indigenous people that preceded us by 30,000 years, the way we destroyed 95% of old growth forests, 200 million buffalo and damned up every river we could make a buck off of on the backs of the labor of slaves, one might quickly deny any association with such a barbaric culture. But such is the history of the species know as homo sapien. No matter where you are born, your stuck with barbarians.
Since you appear to be a former dismayed activist, I should like to retract my earlier slanderous remark against thee. Sorry.
Maxpayne said, “Code Pink is a joke”.
Alright Max, let the world here about your massive contribution to the world. Since you have obviously contributed absolutely zero to date as evidenced by your ridiculous assessment of Code Pink and your inability to appreciate the value of Common Dreams, I suggest that you share your comments where they might be more appreciated, like underneath Rush Limbaughs desk.
Positivity is for Nazis.
MAXPAYNE IS A PLANT.
In a few miutes the crystal ball falls. Lets all try to have a good next year. Maybe it will be far better than -07, ___ we’ll see.
I did enjoy this site this year and learned more than I did in the past 72. Thank you all for the valued lessons. I do honestly mean that. Nite, __ Kem.
Thank you, Medea. I needed that.
Sure, there are more bad things out there than good, but that doesn’t make the good bad.
Here’s a few more:
1. Our elected leaders have been conning us into wars for decades now, but thanks to George Bush’s clumsiness we now know they’re doing it. And knowledge is better than the alternative.
2. Our leaders, as venal as they may be, aren’t stupid, and they know perfectly well that the scientists are right and that global warming is real. They also know that no matter how rich you are, if you can’t breathe you can’t live. And most of them have children. So they know something has to be done about global warming, and as soon as they figure out how, they’ll do it.
3. Our elected leaders, because they’re not really stupid, also know the futility of trying to control all of the oil in the Middle East. So they’ll give up on doing so as soon as they can figure out how to do it without losing face (and power).
4. Dennis Kucinich is still alive and kicking and he’s been on televised Presidential debates, telling us all what no politician has ever dared do before: the truth. Even if he doesn’t get elected, that’s a good thing, simply because he’s forcing other politicians to at least tell us partial truths, and to offer us something in return for our vote.
Happy (eighth) Year of the Rat to all.
Wow, those all are positive developments. If as much progress is made again in ‘08, maybe there is some hope glimmering out there.
Wow KEM, you’re a fucking idiot ! You can KISS MY ASS because I’d rather smoke weed than eat junk food, tobacco, alcohol, petroleum-manufactured drugs, etc … any day.
It is what it is. Pay attention.
Clearly a glass half full article. Well there is a little in the glass anyway. I was trained as an engineer so I still see all that wasted money spent buying such a big glass when you have so little to dribble into it.
Thanks Medea reading this has just made my New Year day better…
& the silver lining in the cloud is GW Bush will be out of power in the last lonely year of being head of the most criminal organization humanity has ever witnessed…
“It’s just GOT to get better than this!”
Well, it’s 2:20am January 1, 2008 out here in CA, 5:20am in NY, the bars are closed, the buzz is gone, and that’s Hope talking.
Hope is the food of the hopeless. Hope has no nutritional value and is never a substitute for a plan. The left hasn’t had a plan since all the leaders of movements for economic and social justice were forced into extinction by ‘77 and we all been goin into the toilet ever since. In case anybody hasn’t noticed, we LOST the Class war. Defensive positions always lose against a well funded and disciplined enemy.
You will notice how all the Big Talkers have run out the clock on Impeachment, censure or ANY meaningful action that would challenge the Imperial Presidency. NONE. NONE. NONE. 8 fucking years and they do NOTHING. So they’re going to do something now? What would they? Everything’s working just fine so far.
So now they’re telling you “…to just wait.” For WHAT? So Hillary can be an Imperial President with gulags and no Bill of Rights and no Constitution and all RICHFILTH above the Law and they bail out the Richfilth with our tax dollars and put their thumb in their mouth when we are made homeless? Is that what we’re waiting for? Iraq til 2013?
Won’t that be grand. Imperial Hillary. Very kinky but bad politics. Hope is the food of the Hopeless.
Are you?
Benjamin is right on. But she didn’t list one glaring event that didn’t happen: the initiation of impeachment proceedings against Bush and Cheney. Evidence of their malfeasances continues to mount, yet Pelosi and Reid refuse to allow impeachment to begin. 2008 should not end with this evil pair being left to history to judge.
You’re right Medea. Its not time to pull the plug yet. It seems the patient in intensive care has stopped smoking, and we will see if they stop getting those little bottles of hard liquor snuck in.
Some day she may be able to lift up that torch again…
Medea Benjamin would make a great president, secretary of state, or other powerful figure in our gov’t.
Thanks Ms. Benjamin for this article - and for all the great Work that you and all the other activists do!
Our enemies will be overcome.
This article is a joke right? I am so sick of the positive spin people. If no one admits its broken it’ll never get fixed. So stop dotting your I’s with little hearts and wake the fuck up.
BTW, the best things that happened in 2007:
The Roger Waters Dark Side of the Moon Tour
Bruce Springsteen Tour
and the continual progress of my 11 year old autistic son.
I think that anything short of a revolution is futile.
We get two basic contradictory messages these days… 1. “Get out and do something!” and 2 “be afraid, be very afraid!”. We must be careful that these two messages (true or not) do not paralyze us into just complaining or doing nothing useful.
While if you are disgusted with politics, random acts of kindness are just as revolutionary as any act.
I always had the feeling that 2007 or “Two 007″ would be the year that much of the secret info would come out and the National Intelligence Estimate kind of made it a great Year in that respect as well as others.
Keep up the Good fight and Happy New Year everyone,
Jim
Medea works like hell for the light/against the dark.
Those who can’t see that - please take 2 mins to see at least the first part of:
Paul Hawken’s speech at the bioneers conference on the worlds largest unnamed movement:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1fiubmOqH4
Esperanza is everywhere - the world is pregnant with hope!
I’m sure glad to know that I’m not just an ordinary idiot MAXPAYNE. Thank for the compliment. I don’t kiss trolls asses though, try one of your team members here for your sexual desires. Smoke on, whatever activates your damaged brain cells.
Loved No. 3. It is exactly this spirit of bottom-up ‘can-do’ that allowed citizens to also combat, albeit indirectly, fascism in the 30s/40s. It is precisely the messages that govt. should be leading with but isn’t.
Add:
11. Gore uses Nobel Prize to cosh US delegate Harlan Watson in Bali, and directly castigates Whitehouse for it’s slopy destructive attitude.
12. We didn’t invade Russia, China, North Korea, or Havana.
Samski,
“The ground-breaking plan, spearheaded by a local grassroots movement, demonstrates how citizen groups can advance pioneering policies to heal the planet.”
But see, it isn’t the government that leads in Kerala, it is the people. THAT is what is missing in the U.S. We have become indolent and whiney.
Pogo was right.
medea,no matter how much you feel al gore has done good for the world,he has in reality done far more bad than good.he is a liar on the grandest level and is totally supportive and reaping the cash from electromagnetic chaos and weaponry and related evils.the real executioner of the climate is E.M.R.,electromagnetic radiation and al gore,not only knows it,he was certainly on the ground floor of it.you al gore supporters are fucking fools !!!!!
Luckylefty, you said: “Hope is the food of the hopeless. Hope has no nutritional value and is never a substitute for a plan.”
Trouble is, without hope there never IS a plan and nothing ever changes for the BETTER. You’re welcome to give in to hopelessness in 2008 and take up navel-gazing, but I doubt it’ll float your boat.
(BTW, I’m still waiting for someone to clue me in as to how to bold words in this little Courier type box. I DO hate caps!)
Happy New Year to all, and may we each add a little more peace and love to our corners of the world in 2008.
Adele
iammyself: Had in mind WWII propoganda campaigns that are an effective model of leadership. It promoted individual ‘can-do’ and grassroots organisation.
No-one in govt has blitzed the public with a comparably scaled PR campaign for the GW issue.
What is it about you baby boomers and vietnam? You really think you made a difference with all those protests in 68 and 69? The war continued for 6 more years, and in fact esculated into two more nations, slaughtering millions more - not to mention tens of thousands of Americans. And heck, let’s not forget the economic crisis of 1979 caused primarily by Vietnam. So if you’re a baby boomber who participated in that, get it outta your head that you made a difference, because you didn’t do shit - what you did was akin to whining on an internet blog like this one. Tantamount to nothing.
But make no mistake, the imperialist conservatives will assure you we didn’t lose in Vietnam. This group of baby boomers is even more insane than the one’s I spoke of above. Listen to what they say… that’s right, they claim it’s your (the public’s) damn fault we lost - political reasons. Not the fault of the government, or the foreign policy blunder one after the other - that’s right it’s not politicians fault, it’s you’re fuckin fault you stupid morons. Who the fuck actually believes the asshole who’s in charge of conducting the war, pointing fingers at everyone else including the public. If you just bought a bumper sticker, and a lapel pin, all of a sudden things would have magically turned around in Vietnam. It’s never their fault. Goddamnit, I wish I had a built in excuse scapegoating everyone else everytime I failed at something - taking responsibility is just too hard, it’s hard work.
And building off that, also make no mistake that you get morons like Hannity or O’Rielly who vocally and adimately apply this same rationale to why things aren’t going well in Iraq.
Supposed to turn the fork over when you are finished.
To clarify, John Baird was the one who kept disrupting Bali deliberations that no deal was worth doing unless it could be watered down so much as to include the US. The idea that the rest of them can come up with something was something he would not stand for.
RE: “Code Pink is a joke”
If they truly were, then Wright and Benjamin would not have been kept out of Canada when specifically invited into the country by MPs to address committee. Think of it, if Suharto was let into the country for the G-8 a few years back, then how much worse can what Wright or Benjamin had done to warrant being excluded despite being MP invite! Suharto was let in. Benjamin and Wright were kept out. Make sense!
No matter what else Benjamin or Wright have ever seen or done - that it warrants keeping them out of the country makes their application under the Freedom of Information Act as to why a must read.
re: MAXPAYNE IS A PLANT
On his mother’s side? Or are you referring to the garden variety.
Paid devil’s advocates know who their bosses are.
re:You can KISS MY ASS
Let’s leave the rimming for the politicians. Or, at least for Harper. You do know that Bush never has need of toilet paper when he visits Canada.
RE: - But make no mistake, the imperialist conservatives will assure you we didn’t lose in Vietnam.
Who too? The same people who are convinced by Ann Coulter’s assertion that Canada fought in Vietnam?
Canada: A People’s History is on line and I dare any neo con to show me where it mentions that Canada participated in Vietnam. It does show how bad we treated those who came here through the Underground Railway, how we won the war of 1812 and how it was Paul Henderson (and not Ronald Reagan) who won against the Russians in the dying minutes. But there is no mention of Canada actually participating in Vietnam - though the conflict is mentioned:
http://history.cbc.ca/history/webdriver?MIval=EpisodeSum2.html&lang=E
Found this little tidbit: Senator Joseph McCarthy was discredited in the United States after he directed his anti-communist attacks on the American army.
re: - So if you’re a baby boomber who participated in that, get it outta your head that you made a difference, because you didn’t do shit - what you did was akin to whining on an internet blog like this one. Tantamount to nothing.
That is what they used to tell the victims of child molesters - they told the kids to just forget about it. Vietnam involved a loss of innocence and a betrayal of trust.
Maybe it is remembering Vietnam which makes some babyboomers fight on. Though I think when history gets too repetitive it could seem almost like a flashback. You see it in Romeo Dallaire’s eyes when he talks about Darfur that he feels as if it is Rwanda all over again.
I don’t know, but I think that a lot of Vietnam vets saw history repeating with Iraq.
RE: Goddamnit, I wish I had a built in excuse scapegoating everyone else everytime I failed at something - taking responsibility is just too hard, it’s hard work.
Sometimes taking responsibility involves chastising oneself for not being a better back seat driver.
Back to Romeo Dallaire again. He knew that a slaughter was coming and tried to get anyone and everyone in the West to help him prevent it and just got the run around. Thousands of people are alive today that would not otherwise be alive because of him - but what haunts him, according to his own account, is all the people who would have been saved if he could have convinced the people who had the power to send more peacekeepers to do so.
Kem: lol.I think he’s still gonna tackle the bones yet.
National Wartime Nutrition Program 2002 - Proving pretzels, in incompetent hands can be lethal.
It’s difficult to tell from these annual “Ten Good Things to Cheer… ” columns whether the Lady Benjie has smoked just a bit too much herb or has possibly stopped taking Lithium, or both. As maniacally reckless expressions of indifference or contempt for the forgotten other, about whom Medea professes so much to care, they’re hard to top. (With the sole exceptions of “liberals” of The Nation ilk and the CNN/MSNBC/Fox News gang, that is.)
I thought last year’s “Ten Good Things… ” piece set a high bar for sheer callous disregard of the victims of America’s and apartheid Israel’s murderous aggressions in Lebanon, (to cite the most egregious item from 2006) but she manages to leap over the shameful distinction of that article this year one perky “success” after another. The whole lot is a disgusting dung heap.
I’m sure, for example, that Kerala’s increasingly destitute farmers, desperately driven to contemplation of suicide by unmitigated financial circumstances, are tickled pink to learn of their province’s “ …plan to be ‘waste-free’ within five years… ” (For more about Kerala and India, P. Sainath’s India Together is a useful antidote.)
The assassination of her Barbie Bhutto doll–possibly a role model source for the Lady Benjie’s narcissism and arrogance–is as lip-glossed as her beloved Democratic Party’s signal role in collaborating with the Busheviks every wretched step of the way since the heist of the November 2000 elections.
(By the way Lady Benjie, have you no faith in Benazir’s 10% Ken?)
The folks at United for Peac, er, Apartheid Israel and the Democratic Party must be clinking their champagne glasses still. Cheers, Medea…
Re - Pretzels
Samski, this is for you (click on ” Bush’s Christmas Story”)
http://www.airfarce.com/video/021206.html
RE: - And Blackwater has received such a black eye that it’s unlikely to get a new Iraq contract when the present one expires in May.
Don’t bet on it - these contracts will be deemed government secrets - just like everything surrounding the Maher Arar case.
RE: - After assuming office on December 3, Kevin Rudd immediately signed the Kyoto agreement and he has promised to remove Australia’s combat troops from Iraq by mid-2008
In honour of Rudd’s Environment Minister Peter Garrett (formerly of Midnight Oil) from someone who just doesn’t get it:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=-asDejsediM
RE: - In a rare sign of independence from Washington and concern for domestic opinion, the Iraqi Parliament withstood intense U.S. pressure and refused to pass the oil law.
After a few more Blackwater “accidents” there will be a call to vote on the issue again. Already one person who voted against the oil law, Malalai Joya, has been kicked out of Parliament. Sadly the draft of the proposed oil law is only available in pdf.
RE: - It’s difficult to tell from these annual “Ten Good Things to Cheer… ” columns whether the Lady Benjie
Well she is trying to see the bright side - if she was then she would probably be more successful at it. Think of it, the only bright side of Mike Huckabee becoming President would be that clip of him calling on Canada to save its National igloo.
The only thing funny about comparing Bhutto to a barbie doll is ??? I’ve got funnier images of the George Bush barbie doll being stomped on and wearing his - er - cowboy outfit. But I have already used up my url quota for this post.
luckylefty, southdakotadude,
CODE PINK could care less about the economic issues such as trade and taxes. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see their tax returns indicating all the companies they invest their stocks in even if we’re talking Halliburton. Whether motherfuckers like Kem Patrick and vaudree believe it or not, CODE PINK has always been a JOKE and will continue to stay that way and hoping from country to country meaninglessly like they’ve done makes them a bigger LAUGHING STOCK. Besides, they should have concentrated on bolstering Kucinich’s candidacy rather than allow him to languish only to watch him throw his support to Barack Obama who has no intention of changing the economic, environmental, and foreign policies of trade and war. CODE PINK is just a pro-femi-NAZI coalition no better than the macho-male coalitions that can be sickening.
it goes back further, before Vietnam. Look up the writings of H.L. Menckin from 1900-1920’s.
This is the same bullshit, same problems, and same complaints about the Government and corperations made from a decade ago.
Samski, thanks!
maxpayne, do you know where the term “motherfucker” originated? It is what black slaves used to call certain plantation owners who took certain liberties with their mothers. The CBC has a special on the “F” word a while back. It was much more interesting than their documentary on the history of nude protesting.
Your opinions concerning Code Pink tell me nothing as to why they were banned from entering Canada:
Wright and Benjamin plan to request their files from the FBI through the Freedom of Information Act and demand that arrests for peaceful, non-violent actions be expunged from international records.
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/10/04/peace-activists.html
NDP MPs Invite Medea Benjamin and Colonel Ann Wright (Ret.) to speak on the Hill
OTTAWA – The NDP is urging the Harper government to allow US Peace Advocates Medea Benjamin and retired US Army Colonel Ann Wright to share their message of peace in a public forum on Parliament Hill scheduled for Thursday.
In a letter sent today to Harper, the Public Safety Minister, and Foreign Affairs Minister, the NDP MPs advised that Medea Benjamin and Col. Ann Wright, cofounders of Code Pink, have been invited to address legislators and representatives of civil society in a public forum to be held in Ottawa on October 25. The letter requested the government to “ensure unimpeded entry into Canada, to enable Ms. Benjamin and Colonel Wright to share their message of peace with Members of Parliament, and the broader community.”
“New Democrats are deeply concerned that Canadian border police are enforcing rules determined not by our own Canadian government, but by the FBI and other US security agencies,” the letter states. “Foreign government ‘watch lists’ should not form the basis for automatically denying entry into Canada of US citizens, or any other nationals. Government policies, not the individuals who oppose them, often present the greater threat to democracy, security and freedom.”
Ms. Benjamin and Colonel Wright will participate in a panel of distinguished experts including Canadian rights advocate and spouse of Maher Arar, Monia Mazigh, and Roch Tassé, Director of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group.
Harper and his Ministers have been invited to attend.
ndp.ca/page/5813
Letter to Harper:
http://www.ndp.ca/xfer/pdf/2007-10-12-letter-harper.pdf
What part of the “Letter to Harper” do you disagree with?
RE: This is the same bullshit, same problems, and same complaints about the Government and corperations made from a decade ago.
Only a decade ago? Reagan has been out of office for over a decade!
If CODE PINK wants to fight for peace, perhaps they can lobby hard enough to remove the ban on the planet’s most PEACEFUL plant for medicine, CANNABIS. Anyway, they look too warlike at times and often bring their “peaceful” reputation to doubt no matter what.
hemp4victory - have you heard of Marc Emery? What do you think of him? The Americans have no problem with Marc Emery crossing the border from Canada into the United State - in fact, that is what they wish to force Marc Emery to do.
http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/video.php?id=713
Marc Emery is a politician and Businessman who is in trouble with American Law enforcement with the business (and the earnings from said business) which he declared openly on his tax returns. Though, American Law Enforcement do not question the accuracy of the Tax returns at all.
Marc Emery is the leader of the BC Marijuana Party and had a seed vending business until the Americans insisted that we close him down.
I don’t know what Code Pink’s view is on Marijuana - my guess is that the group takes no official opinion on it at all (since it is a bit beyond the mandate of the group) - and leaves it to individual members to formulate their own opinions on the issue.
It is like with all the straight politicians who march in gay rights parades - I doubt if most of them are actually members of a gay rights group. It doesn’t mean that they can’t participate in order to score political points, though.
Perhaps Medea Benjamin could take some time off her “busy” schedule to visit the Dakotas for a change.