I'd like to thank my local newspaper, The Star- Gazette for one of the saddest yet most amusing headline juxtapositions I've ever seen. These were all found on the same page under War in Iraq. Unfortunately someone threw out the paper and these aren't in the online edition, so these are paraphrases of the headlines.
GOP Skeptical of Patraeus Testimony
Abizaid says it could be several years before Iraq is stable
US Garrison Attacked
U.S. Rep. Kuhl encouraged by progress (only avaiable for one week, sorry)
We call this democracy.
I'd have more to say but I'm outta time, our internet was down all day today and half of yesterday.
Showing posts with label kuhl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kuhl. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Take A Stand
We held the culminating event of the summer last night. I got there early and set up the sound equipment, that went perfectly despite the fact that Ive never set up a PA before. It's pretty easy when there's only one mic. Then it got close to the hour and people started filing in. We had no food and no music and we had a decent crowd, we were getting nervous. I was quite hot from lack of a/c and carrying heavy sound equipment so I walked down to the nearest store for a drink. When I got back the food was unloading and some kid was jammin' on the piano. So that all worked out. I was quite surprised at how full the place was, my guess is around 50-70 people were there. I got to see some old friends, like the folks from Democracy School, which was very nice.
After some music and food we sat down and our first three speakers who had actually pre-written things spoke. It was good, the crowd was getting into it fairly well. Then we opened the mic to anyone who wanted to talk and probably half the audiance came up at some point to speak their mind. I was one of the early ones. I fumbled a bit at the start, I'm not sure why I got nervous, I think I need more practice with public speaking. The person before me spoke of the apathy of her generation, I continued with that theme pointing out how odd it is that my generation is so sadly apathetic considering its people my age that are fighting and dying. I pointed out how I don't like the term "leaders" when talking about politicians, in a democracy the elected officials are not the bosses they are the servants of the people, we are the bosses and if we don't like the job they are doing then we should fire them. The next guy picked up that ball and ran with it with a great sound bite. He said, "if Kuhl won't meet with us now then we'll meet with him in November." Overall the speakers were great, one person who's a Vietnam vet and usually full of fire couldn't stop talking about Lee Iacocca's book. I thought it distracted from what he was trying to say by the repeated references but it did make me want to read the book. We had one conspiracy guy who wanted to tell us all about how bush planned 9/11, I'm all for a real independent investigation but lets avoid the conspiracy theories folks. One person genuinely pissed me off by bringing up religion and how bush manipulated it so much, which is true no anger there, then she said shes a woman of faith and that the opposite of faith is not doubt it is fear, and how we must not sucome to fear. It reminded me of Patrick Swayze in Donnie Darko. Well fuck you very much my lack of faith has nothing to do with fear, the opposite of faith is reason. But we were in a church, and I was surrounded by people from Pax Christie and other groups like that so I let it slide. Again I want to say again that this whole event was very good its just that I seem to be recalling the parts I disliked much better than the good. Probably because the good was exactly what you would have expected, anyway I'm now going to focus on the part that I simply hated.
From out of nowhere a guy who has been instrumental in this whole thing came up and led the group in some crappy as old worn out hippie song, it wasn't kumbaya but it was close. He asked everyone to stand, I was expecting him to lead a prayer, he is the chaplain at a local college, but no he wanted to sing... I stood up not knowing what I was getting into. I expected the heads to bow while I held mine high with eyes open. Thats an interesting metaphor right there, the religious close there eyes while the doubters look for truth, but thats unrelated. The chaplain tried to get me into the front circle but I sure as fuck wasn't down for that, then the person next to me grabbed my hand, luckily I was on the end, but there I was in a crowded room full of old people joined in circles singing hippie songs swaying back and forth. It was horrible. It made me instantly aware of why the general public can never take the peace movement seriously. The majority in this country are against the war but the vast majority is not involved in working towards peace, besides apathy which is the biggest reason, second has to be that peace activists are weird people. Normal Americans don't want to stand in a circle singing songs that could put you to sleep, its not cool. I wanted to kick my way to the mic and say heres one from my generation and start in with some Anti-Flag. Some will say that I'm making too big a deal out of this but I don't. I think those who engage in this type of activity in an environment where we are trying to reach out to a wider audience are doing very real harm to the movement. Shit I'm part of the movement and it made me uncomfortable. The video will be up at some point, I know I'm in it a bit, I'm the fat guy with chops standing still while everyone else sways not singing and trying not to look at the camera. I had earlier talked about trying to get young people out to events. If I had managed to get any of my friends to go I would have been humiliated, they sure as hell never would have come back, I would have been a laughing stock. That part is not an exaggeration which is why I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that this crap hurts the peace movement as a whole.
So to finish up the meeting went better than I expected, a good time was had by all, just don't ask me to sing, unless you've got a punk band.
After some music and food we sat down and our first three speakers who had actually pre-written things spoke. It was good, the crowd was getting into it fairly well. Then we opened the mic to anyone who wanted to talk and probably half the audiance came up at some point to speak their mind. I was one of the early ones. I fumbled a bit at the start, I'm not sure why I got nervous, I think I need more practice with public speaking. The person before me spoke of the apathy of her generation, I continued with that theme pointing out how odd it is that my generation is so sadly apathetic considering its people my age that are fighting and dying. I pointed out how I don't like the term "leaders" when talking about politicians, in a democracy the elected officials are not the bosses they are the servants of the people, we are the bosses and if we don't like the job they are doing then we should fire them. The next guy picked up that ball and ran with it with a great sound bite. He said, "if Kuhl won't meet with us now then we'll meet with him in November." Overall the speakers were great, one person who's a Vietnam vet and usually full of fire couldn't stop talking about Lee Iacocca's book. I thought it distracted from what he was trying to say by the repeated references but it did make me want to read the book. We had one conspiracy guy who wanted to tell us all about how bush planned 9/11, I'm all for a real independent investigation but lets avoid the conspiracy theories folks. One person genuinely pissed me off by bringing up religion and how bush manipulated it so much, which is true no anger there, then she said shes a woman of faith and that the opposite of faith is not doubt it is fear, and how we must not sucome to fear. It reminded me of Patrick Swayze in Donnie Darko. Well fuck you very much my lack of faith has nothing to do with fear, the opposite of faith is reason. But we were in a church, and I was surrounded by people from Pax Christie and other groups like that so I let it slide. Again I want to say again that this whole event was very good its just that I seem to be recalling the parts I disliked much better than the good. Probably because the good was exactly what you would have expected, anyway I'm now going to focus on the part that I simply hated.
From out of nowhere a guy who has been instrumental in this whole thing came up and led the group in some crappy as old worn out hippie song, it wasn't kumbaya but it was close. He asked everyone to stand, I was expecting him to lead a prayer, he is the chaplain at a local college, but no he wanted to sing... I stood up not knowing what I was getting into. I expected the heads to bow while I held mine high with eyes open. Thats an interesting metaphor right there, the religious close there eyes while the doubters look for truth, but thats unrelated. The chaplain tried to get me into the front circle but I sure as fuck wasn't down for that, then the person next to me grabbed my hand, luckily I was on the end, but there I was in a crowded room full of old people joined in circles singing hippie songs swaying back and forth. It was horrible. It made me instantly aware of why the general public can never take the peace movement seriously. The majority in this country are against the war but the vast majority is not involved in working towards peace, besides apathy which is the biggest reason, second has to be that peace activists are weird people. Normal Americans don't want to stand in a circle singing songs that could put you to sleep, its not cool. I wanted to kick my way to the mic and say heres one from my generation and start in with some Anti-Flag. Some will say that I'm making too big a deal out of this but I don't. I think those who engage in this type of activity in an environment where we are trying to reach out to a wider audience are doing very real harm to the movement. Shit I'm part of the movement and it made me uncomfortable. The video will be up at some point, I know I'm in it a bit, I'm the fat guy with chops standing still while everyone else sways not singing and trying not to look at the camera. I had earlier talked about trying to get young people out to events. If I had managed to get any of my friends to go I would have been humiliated, they sure as hell never would have come back, I would have been a laughing stock. That part is not an exaggeration which is why I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that this crap hurts the peace movement as a whole.
So to finish up the meeting went better than I expected, a good time was had by all, just don't ask me to sing, unless you've got a punk band.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Attempting Democracy
I'm in a local paper today. The-Leader ran the story, I'd provide a link but their website sucks and only includes two articles a day, I think its a decent paper I just don't like their website. I didn't get quoted which is fine by me, but I'm in the picture, the big guy to the left in stripes, thats Me!
We have grown tired of being ignored by our representative, a group of us left our info at his office several weeks ago and have heard nothing back. We have called, left messages, e-mails, one woman wrote an old school paper letter. One member did have a meeting scheduled for yesterday but it was canceled by Kuhl so we decided to go anyway. All we were planning to do was to formally invite him to a meeting we are holding as a part of the Take a Stand campaign.
I can't claim we were total innocents as we felt like throwing in a visual joke at Randys expense, we wanted to get bullet proof jackets in response to his flap about "packing" to defend himself from peace protesters. Unfortunately no one had one and when one person attempted to buy one they were warned that bullet proof vests are illegal in New York. So to try to make the joke anyway the purchased a couple of paint ball chest protectors, which always seem to have cheesy batman-esce muscles sculpted into them. It looked particularly stupid on a guy my size. Oh well.
Now on to what happened, we stood waiting around the corner from the office about a block away on the main street as our group gathered and a couple members of the press got ready. Then a police officer came around the corner and began by telling us he has not authorized a parade permit. At this point I need to explain the scene as I haven't been sent the photos yet and the couple I took on my phone don't feel like transferring to my computer at the moment. Its about 6-8 people standing on the sidewalk the only thing that makes us obvious is the silly vests and one guy carrying a white flag to go along with the joke. No one was carrying signs or anything that could be called a protest, we weren't yelling out, no music, nothing just oddly dressed citizens talking amongst themselves. Two of the guys immediately explained to the police officer that we had not filed for a permit because all we were doing was delivering an invitation to a meeting to Mr. Kuhl. We wanted to talk to him if it was possible then we would leave, if there was press around we would speak with them. We were not there to protest. He allowed us to do that, which is good because we were well within our rights and I'm sure some would have left in cuffs rather than be chased off by over reaching police. The officer then went back to his spot directly across from the office.
A few minutes later we had everyone, we had to wait as one person purchased a new memory card for their digital camera. We walked down the street and up to the door, which was locked as we knew it would be. The secretary we met the last time opened the door a few inches and asked us what we wanted, the pleasant persona we encountered the last time was gone. We explained that we simply wanted to invite him to an event, then explained how we have tried to set up meetings with him and have gotten no where. The secretary said she would pass on the invitation and she passed the blame saying she doesn't set the schedule without telling us who does. We talked for a minute, two at most then turned around. We then asked permission from the police officer if we could stick around just for a couple of pictures. At this point a couple men in suits came out of the office. Pictures were taken and I promise they will be up at some point, then we walked away, and as we did a second cop car with two officers showed up. Back-up for us unruly citizens. A woman from The Leader then asked us questions, we had her walk with us to the end of the block as to keep things kosher with the po-po. I was more than a little concerned about the angle when her first statement was about how we should have gotten a permit. A permit to talk to an elected official, Fuck That! She talked to a few of us and I think the article was ok, there was one "quote" that I don't recall in the least and I was standing next to the person quoted, hopefully it was my bad memory and not hers as it was a fairly volatile comment.
We then stood on the street and made some quick little videos of our reactions, I'm guessing mine is pretty lame, public speaking isn't really my thing, but the others like my finish. So that how I spent my thursday lunch break, how was yours?
We have grown tired of being ignored by our representative, a group of us left our info at his office several weeks ago and have heard nothing back. We have called, left messages, e-mails, one woman wrote an old school paper letter. One member did have a meeting scheduled for yesterday but it was canceled by Kuhl so we decided to go anyway. All we were planning to do was to formally invite him to a meeting we are holding as a part of the Take a Stand campaign.
I can't claim we were total innocents as we felt like throwing in a visual joke at Randys expense, we wanted to get bullet proof jackets in response to his flap about "packing" to defend himself from peace protesters. Unfortunately no one had one and when one person attempted to buy one they were warned that bullet proof vests are illegal in New York. So to try to make the joke anyway the purchased a couple of paint ball chest protectors, which always seem to have cheesy batman-esce muscles sculpted into them. It looked particularly stupid on a guy my size. Oh well.
Now on to what happened, we stood waiting around the corner from the office about a block away on the main street as our group gathered and a couple members of the press got ready. Then a police officer came around the corner and began by telling us he has not authorized a parade permit. At this point I need to explain the scene as I haven't been sent the photos yet and the couple I took on my phone don't feel like transferring to my computer at the moment. Its about 6-8 people standing on the sidewalk the only thing that makes us obvious is the silly vests and one guy carrying a white flag to go along with the joke. No one was carrying signs or anything that could be called a protest, we weren't yelling out, no music, nothing just oddly dressed citizens talking amongst themselves. Two of the guys immediately explained to the police officer that we had not filed for a permit because all we were doing was delivering an invitation to a meeting to Mr. Kuhl. We wanted to talk to him if it was possible then we would leave, if there was press around we would speak with them. We were not there to protest. He allowed us to do that, which is good because we were well within our rights and I'm sure some would have left in cuffs rather than be chased off by over reaching police. The officer then went back to his spot directly across from the office.
A few minutes later we had everyone, we had to wait as one person purchased a new memory card for their digital camera. We walked down the street and up to the door, which was locked as we knew it would be. The secretary we met the last time opened the door a few inches and asked us what we wanted, the pleasant persona we encountered the last time was gone. We explained that we simply wanted to invite him to an event, then explained how we have tried to set up meetings with him and have gotten no where. The secretary said she would pass on the invitation and she passed the blame saying she doesn't set the schedule without telling us who does. We talked for a minute, two at most then turned around. We then asked permission from the police officer if we could stick around just for a couple of pictures. At this point a couple men in suits came out of the office. Pictures were taken and I promise they will be up at some point, then we walked away, and as we did a second cop car with two officers showed up. Back-up for us unruly citizens. A woman from The Leader then asked us questions, we had her walk with us to the end of the block as to keep things kosher with the po-po. I was more than a little concerned about the angle when her first statement was about how we should have gotten a permit. A permit to talk to an elected official, Fuck That! She talked to a few of us and I think the article was ok, there was one "quote" that I don't recall in the least and I was standing next to the person quoted, hopefully it was my bad memory and not hers as it was a fairly volatile comment.
We then stood on the street and made some quick little videos of our reactions, I'm guessing mine is pretty lame, public speaking isn't really my thing, but the others like my finish. So that how I spent my thursday lunch break, how was yours?
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