Politics And The Arts, Internationalism, And Activism: An Interview With Gary Corseri By Lloyd Rowsey

By Lloyd Rowsey
Interview of
Gary Corseri
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
Dec. 1, 2008

(INTRO: Gary’s Biography: “Revolution without the Arts is meaningless,” writes Gary Corseri, whose articles, poems, stories and plays have appeared in/at The New York Times, Village Voice, Redbook, The Miami Herald, Philadelphia Inquirer, The Japan Times, Georgia Review and hundreds of  periodicals and websites worldwide.  His dramas have been presented on PBS-Atlanta and in five states, and he has performed his work at the Carter Presidential Library and Museum.  Dr. Corseri has taught in public schools and prisons in the U.S., and in universities in the U.S. and Japan.  He has published two collections of poems.  His novels, Holy Grail, Holy Grail, and A Fine Excess, as well as the Manifestation anthology he edited, may be ordered at Borders, etc.  He can be contacted at Gary_Corseri@comcast.net.

Lloyd’s Biography: A graduate of Stanford Law School, Lloyd Rowsey worked for the U.S. Forest Service for 23 years.  His poems and articles have appeared at OpEdNews and elsewhere. He can be contacted at lloydrowsey@hotmail.com.)

Question by LR: Gary Corseri, I’m familiar with your writings – some of which are prose-poems – at several notable websites, and from them and from our personal emails, I know that you are a radical, a political activist, an internationalist, and a poet of considerable achievements.

Do you have words you can share with us regarding the relation between the arts – especially the fine arts as expressed in words or in pictures – and political activism?

(In this regard, my take is that the American public is almost oblivious to poetry and fine art.  But I consider Barak Obama’s victory a sea-change in America, and I’m hoping there will be a comparable sea-change in the American public’s appreciation of poetry and pictorial fine art.)

Your thoughts?

Strangers in a (not so) strange land by William Bowles

By William Bowles
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
Creative-i
1 December 2008

In another life I lived in New York City and for about six of the seventeen years I spent in the Big A I was the designer of the US’s first Hispanic museum, El Museo del Barrio, situated in an enormous building, a block long and half-a-block deep, a former Boys Harbor orphanage. New York’s Hispanic community during and after this period was a powerhouse of creativity in all the artistic fields, music, fine art, photography, fashion, theatre and of course, writing. I was extremely lucky and privileged to have been a part of it.

So what brought on this nostalgic trip into the past? Well the other day, I went to a superb concert by Gilad Atzmon at the Purcell Room, here in London. In fact it was Gilad with a string quartet as well as his regular group, performing some of The Bird’s songs from the album Charlie Parker made, ‘Bird with Strings’, as well as Gilad’s take on the invasion and destruction of Iraq (see Gilad’s Valencia gig).

In any case, this guy sitting in the front row turns round and we make eye contact and I recognized him immediately and he I, after around twenty years! This was truly a blast from the past. Tontxi Vazquez, living in London these past six years.

The Great Land Giveaway: Neo-Colonialism by Invitation by James Petras

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by James Petras
Global Research, December 1, 2008

Colonial style empire-building is making a huge comeback

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

“The deal South Korea’s Daewoo Logistics is negotiating with the Madagascar Government looks rapacious…The Madagascan case looks neo-colonial…The Madagascan people stand to lose half of their arable land.” Financial Times Editorial, November 20, 2008

Pentagon plans to station 20,000 troops for ‘domestic security’

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updated: added brief video

The Raw Story
Agence France-Presse
Monday December 1, 2008

The US Department of Defense plans to deploy 20,000 troops nationwide by 2011 to help state and local officials respond to terror or nuclear attacks and emergencies, The Washington Post said Monday.

Citing Pentagon officials, the newspaper said the plan calls for three rapid-reaction forces.

The first 4,700-strong unit, built around an active-duty combat brigade, is based at Fort Stewart, Georgia, and is already available for deployment, according to General Victor Renuart, commander of the US Northern Command, it said.

Two additional groups will later join nearly 80 smaller National Guard and reserve units made up of about 6,000 troops to support local and state authorities nationwide, The Post said.

Making Smarter Cars Instead of Stupid Decisions by William Cox

by William Cox
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
www.thevoters.org
December 1, 2008

When the Big Three CEOs recently descended on Washington in their fancy corporate jets with inflated egos and high hopes for a juicy piece of the government’s $8.6 trillion corporate welfare pie, they were sent home hungry to do their homework and to write an essay about how they plan to spend bailout funds.

Undoubtedly, the executives will travel business class when they come back this week; they will each have a business plan in hand, and Congress will give them $25 billion of taxpayer funds to gamble with. Equally without doubt, the money will be wasted, they will not learn from their mistakes, and they will be back again, and again, and again.

The Big Three have a track record of making really stupid decisions. Manufacturers have recklessly spent thousands of dollars per vehicle on advertising to convince drivers that they really want big gas-guzzling cars and trucks instead of the smaller fuel-efficient vehicles they really need. The car companies have foolishly peddled financing and leasing deals far beyond the financial means of their buyers, and they have vigorously opposed realistic fuel economy standards.

Bruce Fein: Army to deal with potential domestic “civil unrest and crowd control”

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TheRealNews

US prepares for “continuity of government”

more about “Bruce Fein: US prepares for “continui…“, posted with vodpod

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Sent to DS from Joel:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 1, 2008 10:00 a.m.

CONTACT: The Real News Network

Taruna Godric, 416-916-5202 ext. 414

E-mail: smcommunications@therealnews.com

Website: http://www.therealnews.com

US prepares for “continuity of government”
Bruce Fein: Army to deal with potential domestic “civil unrest and crowd control”

Civil liberty groups within the U.S. are expressing concern about the federal government’s preparations for potential domestic emergency situations.  As of October the U.S. government has deployed a full army brigade to be on duty to deal with civil unrest and crowd control.  The Real News spoke to American Freedom Project founder, Bruce Fein to discuss the constitutional significance of these preparations.

According to Fein the central concern revolves around a provision made to the Posse Comitatus Act, “which makes it a crime to use the military for domestic law enforcement unless congress has expressly authorized an exception to that prohibition.”  He says a provision sponsored by Sen. John Warner has created a giant loophole within the act that “basically endows the President with authority at his own unilateral discretion, to decide that he will use the military anytime he wishes for domestic law enforcement purposes.”

Fein sees this loophole and the deployment of a U.S domestic army as an infringement on the constitution.  He comments on how such directives are being discussed and implemented in private without public knowledge. “It’s outrageous in my judgment that these ideas or plans for a “continuitive” government…should occur in secret.”

For complete coverage of this story visit our website: http://therealnews.com/

see

National Security & Homeland Security Presidential Directive 51 (2007)

Preemptive Policing & the National Security State: Repressing Dissent at the Republican National Convention

Elite combat brigade for homeland security missions raises ire of ACLU

Secret Bush Administration Plan to Suspend US Constitution

Militarizing the “Homeland”: NORTHCOM’s Joint Task Force-Civil Support by Tom Burghardt

Bush Extends 9/11 National Emergency Yet Again by Peter Dale Scott

“Emergency Preparedness” or Martial Law? by Tom Burghardt

Every Trick in the Book By Mike Whitney

Dandelion Salad

By Mike Whitney
November 29, 2008 “Information Clearinghouse“

“Conditions have deteriorated on a scale and with a speed that no one could have predicted just a few months ago. Market conditions of unprecedented strength are roiling the world’s financial markets. The global economy is either in, or close to, recession and 2009 is not likely to be a year of great recovery.” Brett White, chief executive officer of CB Richard Ellis, LA Times

Without any public debate or authorization from Congress, the Federal Reserve has embarked on the most radical financial intervention in history. Fed chairman Ben Bernanke is trying to avert another Great Depression by flooding the financial system with liquidity in an attempt to mitigate the effects of tightening credit and a sharp decline in consumer spending. So far, the Fed has committed over $7 trillion, which is being used to backstop every part of the financial system including money markets, ba

Riz Khan: India’s 9/11: The aftermath + Mumbai attacks in the British press

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Updated: added a few more links to stories in the British press; see below

AlJazeeraEnglish

Riz explores the aftermath of the 26-11 attacks on Mumbai, where 10 attackers besieged the city, leaving at least 174 people dead in their 60-hour rampage. What was the motivation of the attackers? How could Indian security forces be so unprepared for such an attack?

more about “Riz Khan: India’s 9/11: The aftermath“, posted with vodpod

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Message of the Day: Peace

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http://shalomplace.com/seed

A Daily Spiritual Seed
- resources for prayer and spiritual growth

- – -

MESSAGE OF THE DAY

Let us accept the invitation, ever-open, from the Stillness, taste
its exquisite sweetness, and heed its silent instruction.
- Paul Brunton, “Perspectives”

(Our Advent “work”)

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SCRIPTURE  READINGS
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/

Is 2:1-5;    Ps 122:1-2, 3-4b, 4cd-5, 6-7, 8-9;    Mt 8:5-11

R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

I rejoiced because they said to me,
“We will go up to the house of the LORD.”
And now we have set foot
within your gates, O Jerusalem.

Jerusalem, built as a city
with compact unity.
To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD.

According to the decree for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
In it are set up judgment seats,
seats for the house of David.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
May those who love you prosper!
May peace be within your walls,
prosperity in your buildings.

Because of my relatives and friends
I will say, “Peace be within you!”
Because of the house of the LORD, our God,
I will pray for your good.

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REFLECTION ON THE SCRIPTURES
- from “Daily Bread”
http://www.preacherexchange.com/daily_bread.htm

“They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into
pruning hooks.”

In Isaiah’s idyllic vision — a world where nations no longer wage
or even train for war — the peoples of the world are resourceful
participants in its transformation, refashioning weapons into farm
implements. But how can we dismantle the modern war machine, bound
as it is to our economy and mindset? We should not be put off by
the enormity and complexity of this task; rather, the scale of the
challenge highlights our necessary participation in it. Let us
begin by imagining our world retooled for peace. As we walk in the
light of the Lord, let us see clearly our role as ambassadors of
peace.

“For willingness to be agents of God’s love and justice, we pray.”

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THEOLOGICAL GEMS FROM EMIL MERCH’S “THEOLOGY OF THE MYSTICAL BODY”
from http://www.innerexplorations.com/chtheomortext/theolgems.htm

459. The supernatural involves a change of a different order, a
change that is at once far more radical and more delicate, a change
that affects a being by causing it to be the very thing it was but
in a different way.

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

* Web Archive: http://www.aweber.com/z/article/?dailyseed
* RSS:   http://www.aweber.com/z/rss/?dailyseed

Be here now in love, and all shall be well.
- http://shalomplace.com
Philip St. Romain, Editor
Daily Spiritual Seed is an outreach of:
Heartland Center for Spirituality
3600 Broadway
Great Bend, KS  67530

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Are skills the new money?

Dandelion Salad

RussiaToday

Its a new way of doing business. Instead of paying somebody to do a job, you offer your skills in return. The idea has caught on in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, where locals have adopted a ‘time banking’ scheme, enabling them to preserve money.

more about “Are skills the new money?“, posted with vodpod

Gates: Active force, reserves must integrate

Dandelion Salad

By William H. McMichael – Staff writer
http://www.airforcetimes.com
Posted : Wednesday Nov 26, 2008 7:14:48 EST

SecDef calls for Congress to mandate that Guard, Reserves have lead in DoD ops in the homeland

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates took a giant step Monday toward more tightly blending the active-duty military and reserve components into an “integrated total force,” calling for wide-ranging personnel policy changes, codifying the reserves’ homeland defense role and adequately funding oft-overlooked reserve equipment requirements.

In a Monday memo sent to every senior uniformed and civilian Pentagon leader and copied to three other cabinet secretaries, Gates directed the development of a new Total Force Integration Policy that recognizes the “cultural divide that exists” between the active and reserve components. “All vestiges of the cultural prejudice” that remain in law “should be removed” by Congress, he wrote.

Gates also called upon Congress to “mandate that the National Guard and Reserves have the lead role in and form the backbone of DoD operations in the homeland.”

[...]

via Gates: Active force, reserves must integrate – Air Force News, news from Iraq – Air Force Times

h/t: CLG

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

see

“Emergency Preparedness” or Martial Law? by Tom Burghardt