Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Chaos and violence continue

"I wish this tragedy will end soon" that my wishes for the New Year. The shadows of what we saw will still live inside our minds for a long time. One of these shadows visited me at this a special night when a man try to open my car's door to give balloons to my nephews. These balloons terrified me especially when my sister asked me jokingly "is that poisoned gas inside the balloons?" she was laughing.
Then I suddenly turned to Dody to ask him give his balloons.
"No it is mine" Dody replied.
"I know it is yours darling, please . I will buy a new one for you immediately"
At last I took the balloons and threw out the car with wondering and disapproval looks from Dody's small eyes that he couldn't understand why I threw his lovely balloons from the window. I couldn't explain to him what we are passing through during the democracy regime that the terrorisrs invented creative way to kill. Really I felt sorry because my mistrusting of those people who tried to delight my nephew and I was suspicious with them. But this our reality as civilians we should protect ourselves with the only weapons that we have the suspicions.

The above is from "January 01, 2008" (Inside Iraq) by an Iraqi correspondent for McClatchy Newspapers. Or you can flip over to today's New York Times for Solomon Moore and Stephen Farrell's "Iraqi Revelers Embrace the New Year" to grasp how two outsiders who can leave at any time 'see' the evening. While some may find good news that "scores of perfumed and bare-headed Iraqi women" celebrated New Year's Eve -- the reality is that itwas at "two of Baghdad's largest hotels" and the party goers are likely the same ones who sun themselves, grab a facial or steam at the city's country clubs and bragged, over the summer, of how removed they are from the Iraq War.

And sadly, the writers maintain their willful ignorance throughout but move from the glitterati of Baghdad to the US military.

Paul von Zielbauer's "2 More Marine Trials in Killings of 17 Iraqis" appears on the same page (A8):

A Marine infantryman accused of killing 17 Iraqi civilians during a combat maneuver in Haditha in late 2005 will be tried by court-martial on charges of voluntary manslaughter but will avoid more serious murder charges originally pressed against him, the Marine Corps announced Monday.
The infantryman, Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, a squad leader whose men killed 24 Iraqis during a house-to-house raid after insurgents attacked their convoy, will also be tried on charges of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, dereliction of duty and obstruction of justice, the Marines said in a news release.
In a separate decision on Monday, a Marine first lieutenant was ordered to face court-martial for what Marine prosecutors said was the officer's role in covering up photographs of the aftermath of the killings, the Marines said.

In other reality based news, the US military announced today: "A U.S. Soldier died as a result of a non-combat related injury in the vicinity of Qayyarah Airfield West Dec. 31. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense. The incident is under investigation."

That, along with a DoD anouncement, brought the death toll for US service members to 3904 since the start of the illegal war.

Violence continued in Iraq today.

Bombings?

Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad bombing at "a funeral" that claimed 30 lives and left thrity-eight wounded. Peter Graff (Reuters) notes that the 30 dead is "confirmed" by not one, but "[t]wo police sources" while Baghdad's spokesperson insists twenty-four is the number dead. Reuters also notes an Al-Zab roadside bombing left three Iraqi soldiers injured.

Shootings?

Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports the morning began with US forces conducting a raid in Diyala Province that claimed the life of 1 'Awakening' Council member and leaving two more wounded while later an Iraqi soldier was shot by unknwon assailants in the province. Reuters reports 2 Iraqis were shot dead by US forces on Monday at a checkpoint ("Police in the city had said U.S. forces killed an elderly couple in a car after a roadside bomb exploded near the military vehicles.") and an armed clash outside Balad resulted in 1 police officer dead and two more injured.

Corpses?

Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 3 corpses discovered in Baghdad. Reuters notes a corpse was discovered in Falluja.

Meanwhile, Andy Sullivan (Reuters) reports:

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said on Tuesday the Bush administration mismanaged the Iraq war, distancing himself from his party's unpopular president two days before Iowa's first-in-the-nation presidential contest.

That will be applauded by the press. It will also be allowed by some elements who should know better. It wasn't "mismanged," it was illegal. But Dems have run from the illegal war whose unpopularity has only grown and it's what will be pushed: It was "mismanged"! You've already heard Bambi make similar comments and, sadly, you've seen alleged elements of the peace movement push the revisionary crap on display in Charlie Ferguson's War -- a load of lies masking as a documentary by never-directed before Ferguson who cheerleaded the illegal war before it began and still supports it. Dems (and the peace movement) could have staked out a stronger position over the year, instead they helped create a platform where Romney's weak ass statements can be seen by some as 'brave.'

Martha and Shirley's look at 2007 in books went up this morning, and Kat addressed the year in music. One more year-in-review to go and it posts tonight.

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.








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Kat's Korner: The year in music

Kat: 2004 saw a few speak out musically on the illegal war. 2005 saw a few more. 2006 added to the ranks. If you thought 2007 was when it would explode -- already roughly 70% of the American people were against the illegal war -- you under estimated how many cowards are around today.

In some cases, that's still around, in other cases, it's new cowards. To no one's surprise, the Disney Kids had nothing to say on this or anything other than "Me think me sexy, don't you?" The CK kiddie porn they've been selling since the late 90s got even more stale and, sad to say, all this time later they're still "child" stars having apparently spent too much time on studio sets and never lived a real life. It's reflected in what they passed off as music.

But it wasn't just the aging kiddies, still thinking the world was interested that they'd hit puberty, who fell silent; there were also a lot of cowards in the ranks of the long-established. I thought my own disappointment in the shallowness at the heart of the Brill Building created 'peace queen' Carole King would be the biggest disappointment musically of the illegal war, then along came Judy Collins.

Does Judy Collins really believe that she's ever going to have another hit single? Older now than Tina Turner, Grace Slick or Cher when they hit number one (in the eighties and nineties respectively), she must be the music world's biggest optimist if she thinks so. But this year found Judy Collins, a woman who marched, protested and sang against an earlier illegal war, doing her third covers album of male songwriters -- feminism, like peace, apparently only receives lip service from Our Lady of Eternal Disappointments -- and offering non-stop crap. If there was a reason for her bad album of Beatles' covers, it might be to reconfigure "Revolution," but Judy was interested in love and art songs and, apparently, in singing them badly to Vegas-style arrangements. Judy, you didn't surpass Carole, but the two of you are now joined at the hip as poster gals for Frauds and Phonies. It must be really easy to weigh in on peace before you're known outside the folk circles. Must be really risking it to weigh in after you're a name. Collins wasn't risking s**t and, instead, served up s**t which, thankfully, really didn't sell. If there's any justice, future generations of women will honor her as much as she's honored the work of female songwriters in album form -- in other words, may they render her as invisible as she has anyone not named Bob, John, Paul or Leonard.

The latest It Takes a Woman to Sob, It Takes a Penis to Pen failed as a statement, it failed as music, it failed as entertainment. May all her peers embrace it as a cautionary tale and grasp that, to jingle-jangle Dylan, "When you ain't standing for nothing, you got nothing to lose."

In between the two age extremes were a host of artists who disappointed. This included a singer-song writer I'd praised. A few years back, he had a song about the war. It was the only thing that got attention. But somehow he appeared to think the attention was a sign that America needed his badly written love songs which he offered in two discs. Those in the know, will know who I mean. Most won't know because there is still some justice in this world: Translation, his crap didn't sell.

As sure as the sun will rise and set, Billy Corgan will wake with a chip on his shoulder and, year after year, show up to insist he was the real talent of the early 90s alternative music scene. This go round, he insisted he was going 'political.' An album cover he didn't design doesn't count as political nor do a bunch of personal love songs using violent imagery in their provide-your-own-meaning-to-my-random-thoughts lyrics. If anything Smashing Pumpkins Zeitgeist made an argument that Corgan's been underrated for writing music and highly overrated for writing lyrics.

Prince fared better offering up a genuine statement but surrounded it with songs about lives that none of us could relate to outside of a few straight men with a fetish for wearing women's underwear. "Resolution" is the downloadable track and strong enough to make Planet Earth worth having. When Prince decides to visit it for more than one track, look out. Till then, note how strange the alien is.

We could go on and on because the ugly wasn't only intensely ugly, it was the norm. Instead, let's move on to the best of 2007.

At number one?

1) Joni Mitchell's Shine, Holly Near's Show Up and Ann Wilson's Hope & Glory.

That was the thing that made writing this a real headache. What do you do when there are so many choices? I eliminated it to three but couldn't go further. In a moment of booze filled inspiration, I thought I had it. Each of the three were number one for different reasons: art, entertainment and, long before I'd sobered up, I'd forgotten the third reason. Good for me, because they all provide joy and they are all artistic.

Shine is a strong statement and a strong album from Mitchell. It took a world gone mad to get Joni back into the studio and it took one of our most gifted songwriters to capture it. I had predicted that those who didn't like the album would diss the anger. We don't seem to like that in women, as a society, do we? "Oh, Joni, push the hair behind the ears and sing us another song about how your heart got broken that we can say 'Me too!' to if it's not so revealing that we have to pretend 'That's her hang up!'" Reality check, this is an album containing many songs about a broken heart, the love affair ending is the one with the world around her. The key to Joni at her best isn't just that no one else could lay it out like she does, it's also that no one else would even try. In 2007, music lovers got Joni with no fans, no partitions, no curtains. It was Joni going as naked and as deep as she ever has. If you had the good sense to appreciate real art, you grasped that Shine was another classic in her canon. If you didn't, you can catch up ten to twenty years from now when it will be 'safe' to do so. A true artist because art requires bravery.

Holly Near's Show Up brought her a new audience. This wasn't a case of getting the old fans together because she spoke beyond her base. "Who is she?" and "What should I get next?" were the most common questions in e-mails after people listened to Show Up. She is a gifted songwriter and singer who went the Ani DiFranco route before DiFranco was born meaning in the seventies she switched over to her own label. Even a few dedicated folkies wrote in to say they'd forgotten her. That's an indication of the way music was and the way it is today. "The internet is killing music!" That's the cry we hear but there's a converse to that. Not only are Near's recordings now more available to anyone who wants them, word of her work is as well. Though only a few 'big' music magazines still exist today, they had tremendous power and, check the archives, they weren't overly interested in reviewing releases from the non-major labels. I enjoyed all the e-mails on Holly Near but Eli put it best, "It's not a comeback for her, it's us that are coming back." And that's an accomplishment of the internet.

Near's recorded a powerful album -- musically, lyrically and vocally. Her scope is epic, her details telling, and if you're not singing along with the tracks on this album, you must despise melodies. It's rare that someone reminds us, years later, of how great they are. It's even rarer that they demonstrate they are even better. Holly Near pulls off that feat.

Some loving Ann Wilson's Hope & Glory may not be singing along. They may be too intimidated to sing along with one of the most powerful voices in rock. That's fine, Wilson's provided a treat just for the ears. When I heard about this album, I knew I'd love the vocals and hoped there would be a track or two I could listen to repeatedly. Outside of Stevie Nicks, most solo projects have been huge disappointments. But Heart's Wilson didn't aim for 'hip' or 'now,' she aimed for quality. Twelve tracks that rock which is an amazement before you get to the fact that the album works as a whole and actually says something. When you grasp that eleven of the tracks are rock classics and that the twelfth song stands up alongside them, you have to give Wilson her due. She and Ben Mink wrote "Little Problems, Little Lies" and it's telling the story of someone stationed in Iraq:

Little problems, little lies
And all the young dudes fighting
So far away from home
Some are unsung heroes
Some are made of stone
Some of them are broken
The broken places strong
Some of them are crazy
Their innocence is gone.

All three women struggled to convey the world around them and all three succeeded. They are real artists in a land of posers.

3) Tori Amos' American Doll Posse. An amazing album and one of the best of the decade. It doesn't rank higher in part because this was the year that I rediscovered Scarlet's Walk and it had to compete with that. It's also a lengthier album whose many themes will take years to fully digest. Like the women above, Tori still believes music can say something, can speak and should offer up something more than end rhymes. With each release, she again makes the case for being the finest artist to emerge from the alternative rock scene. While her peers scramble to figure out if solo or super group is the answer, Tori knows the answer is not in aping, it's in exploring.

4) Bright Eyes' Cassadaga. When an artist like Tori explores, the boys in the rock critic world play dumb. When the artist, like Conor Oberst, happens to be male, they ignore the art and offer gossip. That's why Cassadaga remains an album still not written about despite a multitude of print reviews. The bulk of what's printed demonstrates how rock killed music criticism and music criticism killed rock, a vicious cycle. Stats passed off as insight and the boys rushed in to say, "This is a song about Winona Ryder and that one is about . . ." Did it serve any purpose? Did it communicate the joy that Oberst is offering or the darkness he's digging into? No. But the boy-critics are afraid of feelings (though they'll get behind a woman playing weakness) so they offer gossip and call it a review. In the process, they failed to note this is the album that takes Bright Eyes' amazing live performances and brings that sound into the studio. This is the band album we've all been waiting for.

5) Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals' Lifeline. A multi-media release that reminds me of the strength of the Rolling Stones, seventies-era, when they'd leave England to record elsewhere (for tax purposes) and emerge with a masterpiece. You can pick your own favorite track. Mine have shifted depending upon mood but the one that I'm always humming to myself when the CD's not playing is "If Your Heart Isn't It." If Billy Corgan could write like that, he'd have the rock-god status he feels wrongly denied of. I noted that listening to this CD provides a problem: You grasp quickly that in today's schlock radio, there's no place for it. In a world where men pass themselves off as teenage boys (and critics look the other way), Harper's a full grown man. There's nothing boyish or coy about him. Feminists and feminism didn't make "masculinty" a dirty word. However, the bulk of the males recording today appear determined to do so.

6) Lizzie West & the White Buffalo's I Pledge Allegiance to Myself. Amy Goodman as this decade's Ed Sullivan? While Democracy Now! regularly provides "a really big show," it's not a comparison I'd make myself. But there's no denying that Goodman's program exposed this 2006 release to a huge audience on their January 05, 2007 broadcast which featured the album's "19 Miles to Baghdad." As strong as that song is, my favorite remains "Take These Demons" and I look forward to a live album that extends that song. If you haven't added the CD to your collection already, you can go to CD Baby and order it there.

7) Rickie Lee Jones' The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard. Rickie Lee at number seven? When I would work on the list and narrow it down, that would always bother me because this isn't just a strong album or a random gathering of songs, it's an overall statement. But the reality is there's very little difference between the ones coming after the first three positions though there is a huge gulf between them and the other releases of 2007. Each month in 2007, I'd think, "This will be in the top three." When Holly Near's CD was released, I knew it would be at the top. It's a depressing fact that I spent far too much money this year on CDs that I don't listen to. One group, in fact, made the argument for my never buying them again but instead checking with Sumner and Maggie to see what track is worth downloading and I'm an album person. Rickie Lee's tackling themes of redemption and spirituality in this release but not in the manner of one of Dylan's endless religious conversions. Does morality have any meaning in the world we are living in? In a fabulist world, do fables have any more meanings? It's a deep album and a guitar driven one.

8) Patti Smith's Tracks and Carly Simon's Into White. Both women record for Sony and Sony made it clear they weren't interested in original composition. The women could have chased down the embarrassing Rod Stewart Schlock Gravy Train, instead they made art. (Stewart's big band albums are schlock due to the way they're performed. I'm not insulting the songs themselves and, point of fact, in 1981 Carly Simon was exploring that terrain quite adeptly with Torch.) Instead, they demonstrated that, pay attention Diana Ross and Judy Collins, when you're forced into a genre (covers from the past) you can still comment on today. Just because you're recording 'golden oldies' doesn't mean you have to sound like one. Both women delivered the goods in 2007 and, give a listen, the sounds of either have nothing in common. One's rocking, one's more soothing. And artists working on cover albums should grasp that there isn't a generic production that has to be used and that if they can't find something new to explore in the songs, they probably shouldn't be recording them.

10) Your pick. That's partly my cop-out because each year e-mails come in on this asking, "How could you forget/overlook ___!" In some cases, such as when I forgot Aimee Mann's The Forgotten Arm, I honestly had forgotten it. Had I remembered it at year's end, it would have made the list. So to cover my own forgetfulness, I'll leave the spot open. It's also true that some albums I absolutely loathe result in e-mails that make me re-listen. I've yet to re-listen and think, "Well this should have been on my top ten." But it goes to the fact that these lists are nothing but personal judgements. So that slot's left open for both reasons.

Best Collection in 2007: Ani DiFranco's Canon. The Righteous Babe offers her first double-disc compilation that's not a live recording. Disc one is classic. Disc two less so. In October, I said I'd weigh in on "Both Hands." Having listened repeatedly, I'd argue that the re-recording is a butchering of the song. The problem with disc two is that Ani's included the wrong songs. She has more than enough memorable and solid tracks from the second half of her career to choose from; however, the bulk don't make it onto the second disc. Again, "Half-Assed" is among the songs that should have been on the second disc. About half the songs on the second disc don't belong on any best of, greatest or any collection.

Best From The Vault release: Stephen Stills' Just Roll Tape which, though recorded in 1967, made it's first appearance this year. It's no frills demos that grab you in ways that the bulk of albums -- in any year or decade -- don't. Great news in 2008 would be that either there's another from the vault release from Stills or, better yet, he's got a new batch of song and intends to release them in a similar format.

Best track: The Ballet's "I Hate The War." This 2006 track is available on the CD Mattachine! and for free download at The Ballet's website. December 10th, WBAI's Out-FM featured the song. Ruth wrote about it then. We've all tried to get the word out on it. If you haven't heard it, you're cheating yourself. If you have heard it, you're probably singing, "Na na na na na na na, I hate the war" right now.

Most Improved: Norah Jones. Somewhere in Not Too Late is the sound of an artist emerging. When you chance upon it, it may stun you if, like me, you'd written her off as Snorah Jones. This isn't a great album but indicates that she does have the capacity and it's moved her from my "Change the station!" list to someone whose next release I'll be eagerly awaiting.

In the past year-in-review pieces, a few e-mails have come in noting that I focused too much on men but when I've looked at the list, it's been more or less equal numerically so I'll assume that I've missed noting someone's favorite releases by women. On this list, women outweigh men and that's because, despite Neil Young's brave art in 2006, most men in 2007 stayed silent or released something which made a strong argument that they should have stayed silent. That hasn't resulted from their being too ambitious and over-reaching, it's resulted from the biggest musical game of the decade: Playing Coward. The decade's almost over and they'd all do well to realize that legacies are made or lost by whether or not you, in the words of Holly Near, show up. Pete Seeger was not the biggest artist on the charts as a solo artist. But his legacy has endured because, when he was needed, he always showed up. Those who've been silent to 'protect' themselves should grasp, before it's too late, that they are killing their own legacies.


























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2007 in books (Martha & Shirley)

Martha and Shirley with you to take a look back at the year in books.

What was 2007 like for books?

The "good" was brilliant. The rest was so-so or just awful.

In August during a round-table for the gina & krista round-robin, we brought up this general mood in the community on books and C.I. suggested Stephanie Coontz' The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap. Enough people took up the suggestion, of "Use this time to grab books you either missed or weren't aware of," for Coontz' 1992 book to come in at number ten. C.I. had tied in the Colonial American tactic of using fear on and against children with the central point of Naomi Klein's then to be released book and it's a sign of both how threadbare 2007 was and how strong Coontz' decade-old-book still is that it spoke to more community members than the bulk of 2007 releases.

Kayla told us, "With few exceptions, I have no need to read a book of previously published columns or essays. Frank Rich is a good example of someone whose weaknesses are on full display when he gathers up his output for the paper [New York Times] and re-releases it in book form. As a general rule, if your last name is not Vidal, Walker or Zinn, you should probably face the fact that your output will not make for a book because it simply doesn't hold up as writing." That's Gore Vidal, Alice Walker and Howard Zinn.

Charlie pointed out the other big problem with 2007, "Pep rallies in transcript form." We ran our take on it past non-Democratic community members because we didn't want to offend. There were no objections, so we'll share it.

As two women who are lifelong members of the Democratic Party and who have voted nothing but straight ticket our entire voting lives, we both felt as though we were back in school, being hustled off the gym and having to sit through a team of boosters in bad polyester outfits the home ec classes had made. We watched as the team stomped and hollered and couldn't help thinking throughout, "If they had any real talent, they'd be cheerleaders or twirlers. Instead they're just yellers. If they had any guts, they'd be trying out for the team and not on the sidelines applauding and squealing with joy." And that's what they did in 2007, yelled at us loudly. They had no insight -- their cheers were old and moldy -- and they had no entertainment value -- their prose was lifeless. But they did reveal the hollowness at the heart of mass conformity. We doubt that was their intention but we also doubted they realized how tacky their uniforms were or how they were way to old to belong to a pep squad. We pictured them pulling out of the school parking lot in their mini-vans, or at least hybrids, with a bumper sticker that read: "My child and money go to the Democratic Party."

The books that made the list did so because they spoke to the community. They grabbed the world we live in and translated it into a worthwhile reading experience.

1) Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine: The Rise Of Disaster Capitalism. The clear first choice. Thank you to Eli, Gina, Krista and Beth for helping us with the count. We also thank Beth for doing some research. Klein's book was mentioned at The Common Ills repeatedly in the last months of 2007, however, in terms of citations, it was the third most mentioned book of 2007 (the other two make the list as well). As Beth noted, the book expands on Klein's 2004 essay "Baghdad Year Zero" (Harper's magazine) which is the most cited piece at this site in 2004, in 2005, in 2006 and 2007. As ombudsperson, Beth points out that may have "primed the pump" in the community which made it, far and away, the first choice for the book of 2007; however, there was also another factor that Hilda addressed in a November Hilda's Mix: It was readily available on audio format. Though the clear first choice among the community at large, it was the universal first choice among blind community members. We spoke with Allison who explained, "My husband reads very well but for us to have made it through this book with him reading it out loud to me would have taken weeks. The week it came out, we went to Barnes & Noble to pick it up and then over to the audio books to grab a few other titles. The bulk of our books are in audio form. My husband said, 'Hey, it's on CD.' I knew right away what 'it' was and replied, 'I don't care if it's Howie Mandel reading it, grab it'." It is a big book in any format and Miguel noted that includes translations such as the Spanish version he gave his grandmother for Christmas. What's so free about "free trade"? Klein examines that and what really goes into exporting and importing in this in depth analysis that demonstrates people have to be in a state of shock to be robbed and 'free' traders are more than happy to prey on any crisis. She opens the book with a look at torture experiments conducted by the US government which grabs the reader but also fits with the theme because economic enslavement is torture. [Click here for Third's discussion of this book.]

2) Joshua Key's The Deserter's Tale. Beth says this was the most noted 2007 book at The Common Ills and notes that it got a "push" beginning in 2006. It needs to be noted that the link goes to Overstock.com which a member suggested early on and that, unlike with a book that didn't make the list, Overstock.com is a pleasant experience. You don't wait for the book only to learn that the dealer has a contract with a delivery service whereby packages are only delivered from nine to five, Monday through Friday, and require a signature. That is far from the only reason a book, we all know which one, didn't make the top ten (that book received no votes from any community member) but that remains one of the souring experiences for books in 2007. Why a publisher would enter into such an arrangement is beyond us. But those who do, need to note the delivery policy at their website. Not every member who read the book got it from Overstock.com. Some used Amazon and many noted in their e-mails that they were surprised to find it, within weeks of its release, at their local bookstores. In addition, the book was readily available to many readers at their libraries. Joshua Key tells his story to Lawrence Hill and it holds your interest long before he arrives in Iraq. When the book turns to his experiences in Iraq, you're offered a look at the sameness in everything including the violence. Returning to the US for a brief leave, Key explains to his wife Brandi what is going on there and how he can't return. They and their children go underground in the United States and the sense of being discovered and found at any moment is strong enough that you may have to repeatedly remind yourself, "He makes it to Canada. He make it to Canada." The family does make it to Canada and if you read this book, you loved it. So let's note this from C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot"s:

On November 15th, the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals of war resisters Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey? Does he even care? Judging by his column, the answer is no. An over hyped voice of the 'left' gives the greatest gift of all in 2007: The reality of how little the alleged 'left' cares about ending the illegal war. (Give to the DNC! Give to two presidential candidates who refuse to promise, that if elected in 2008, they would pull out the troops by 2013!) That just about sums it all up. In the real world, the Canadian Parliament has the power to let war resisters stay in Canada. Three e-mails addresses to focus on are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use. Both War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist are calling for actions from January 24-26.

Make your voice heard so that the Canadian government knows you support Hinzman, Hughey, Key, Ryan Johnson, Patrick Hart, Corey Glass, Kimberly Rivera and all the other over 200 war resisters now in Canada have your support.
[Click here for Third's discussion of Key's book.]


3) Aimee Allison and David Solnit's Army Of None covers war resistance within the ranks and outside. It also makes a strong argument for stopping Bully Boy's escalation by countering the lies of recruiting. Members listed ranked their three choices in the voting and Allison and Solnit's book came in first among teenagers and young adults as well as in the over-fifty group. We're not sure whether that's because it spoke most clearly to those two groups or because it was read in larger number by those two groups. If it's the latter, and you fall in-between young adult and fifty-or-older, we encourage you to grab this book which offers strong visuals as well as text, such strong visuals that we are honestly surprised someone hasn't attempted to make a DVD of the book. (If such a DVD is made, we hope they include footage of the workshops.) Along the way, the authors offer a historical view of today's resistance and that may, as Lucy noted, "sneak by you on first read, but it's one of the details you absorb when you read it again." Wally loved this book and shared how he loaned it to a high school neighbor of his grandfather's. The reaction he shared in the gina & krista round-robin, it caused an earthquake at a local high school, it probably why young readers respond so strongly to this book; however, it is a book for all ages. [Click here for Third's discussion of this book.]

4) Aidan Delgado's The Sutras Of Abu Ghraib: Notes From A Conscientious Objector In Iraq (tie) Camilo Mejia's Road from Ar Ramadi: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejia. Those are listed in alphabetic order, please note. Kendrick may have summed it up best when he noted he was ranking one higher than the other in his vote only because he had to, "But, honestly, they're both equally good." Sylvia picked up on that same thread noting, "Because I'm forced to choose I'm going with Camilo but if I was voting tomorrow, it might be Aidan. These are two different books with different strengths." Rachel wrote, "It's easy to place Key's book higher than these two because his came out in February and I've read it and re-read it. It seems like Mejia's book came out and as soon as I finished reading, Delgado's book was out." Delgado and Mejia both served in Iraq. Both attempted to be granted CO status by the US military. Delgado was successful in that and Mejia was not which goes to the need not for a new policy but for the US military to be forced to follow their own written policy. Delgado is an avid reader and his joy in telling the story comes through even the book's darkest moments. Zach feels that this is "only the first of many books from Delgado and that he'll soon be using his experiences to write in the sci-fi or fantasy genre. If you think about that and picture the success he will most likely have, that would mean thirty years from now, a popular author's first book would be his explaining how he turned against an illegal war and that's pretty radical." To make that point isn't to detract from Mejia or Key's books. But Delgado's strength is his story telling ability and a precise use of words and phrases. There are many times in the book where he, the author, is an observer of himself that led both of us to wonder whether he could produce a sci-fi book on doubles? It's a joy to read for the writing alone. Camilo Mejia's book is a joy to read for his ability to convey the struggle he went through. Mejia writes of events as if they are still fresh and being processed. It's a raw book that provides shocks the author reads as if he is still living with. There is no wall between him and the reader. His anguish over what he saw and what he experienced grabs you and, if you're not outraged that the likes of The Nation will not call him -- in their disgusting summer article allegedly telling the story of the Iraqi people -- a "war resister" or a "CO" but only a "deserter," then, apparently like the authors and editors of that bad article, you haven't read the book. The US military violated their own rules with regards to Mejia who was not a US citizen and whose contract had expired. As a non-citizen, he could not be 'stop-lossed' or extended. It goes to the desire to suck-up to the powerful that The Nation can't grasp reality and calls him a "deserter." You get the feeling Koo-Koo Katrina would have recommended Tina Turner and Ike go into couples counseling instead of Tina standing up for herself and ending an abusive relationship. Who do the rules apply for? Mejia's book demonstrates that the rules apply only to those not in power and that when you fight back and stand up to an abusive system, the response from institutions is lies, distortions and condemnation. Never forget The Nation magazine is published by The Nation Institute which says a great deal about that ever disgusting and cowardly periodical. Both men are members of Iraq Veterans Against the War and Mejia is chair so we'll take a moment to swipe this from the "Iraq snapshot"s:


Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:

In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan

March 13th through 16th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation.
[Click here for Third's discussion of Delgado's book and here for their discussion of Meija's book.]

6) American Freedom Campaign's Naomi Wolf published The End of America: Letters of Warning to a Young Patriot. We worded it that (awkward) way to get in a link for an organization that we both support. If this book made it onto a ballot, it was always their first choice which may indicate that some members have not yet picked it up. Wolf examines the historical steps necessary to turn a free state into a fascist one and applies that to the current state of the United States. It's not a feel-good read. It is a brave and powerful book the sort that Koo-Koo Katrina would condemn, no doubt, as she did some making observations in her really bad Washington Post column that found her inventing a quote to hammer the great Julian Bond with. When Koo-Koo has to create quotes, a fact she left out of her Nation reposting of that hideous column, it goes to her state of mind and considering the magazine's appalling modern day record on race, it's incumbent upon us -- one African-American woman, one White woman -- to note how easy it was for Koo-Koo Katrina to find African-Americans, such as the great Harry Belafonte, to focus on when it was time to slam but how, despite her laughable claim of "I Live In Harlem!", when it's time to churn out her pedestrian musings -- whether on such soft topics as voting, birthday parties for her daughter, American Idol or what have you -- it's pretty much an All White World from Koo-Koo's desk. (Mike coined "Koo-Koo Katrina" and we think it says it all.) Wolf didn't shy from reality, she didn't run from it. She didn't bore us with a post on American Idol that would have been embarrassing if it had appeared in Tiger Beat but was appalling coming from an editor and publisher of a weekly, allegedly political magazine. Wolf wrote a powerful book and demonstrated how strong women can be. When we look back on this decade and think of how much chirpy-crap about "Things aren't that bad" has been put out, we are dismayed to grasp how many women have disgraced themselves. So this book was personally exciting to us because a female name came out with a hard hitting book that demonstrated we don't have to look only to the female attorneys -- Marjorie Cohn, Heidi Boghosian, Dalia Hashad, Nancy Chang and others -- for strength. In a discussion of the book for the round-robin, Gina noted the book's power and wondered why so many other women were so eager to come off weak and/or trivial and C.I. responded, "Well, Wolf's been exploring the 'good' and the 'bad' labels society pins on women her entire career. If she was the least bit nervous about how this book was received, she's got the grounding and knowledge to grasp (a) it doesn't matter and (b) women will get torn apart regardless." Which really goes to the one word we'd used to describe this book: fearless. The book was noted in a TV commentary by Ava and C.I., but Jim tells us it will be a book discussion this month at The Third Estate Sunday Review. If you haven't already picked up the book, there's another reason to. (This is also the highest ranking book on the list that hasn't been the focus of a book discussion at Third yet.) You will not be disappointed.

7) Susan Faludi's The Terror Dream was the subject of a book discussion. There was a complaint on this book in the ballots: Lynda says, "I just wasn't ready for the last page. This book could have had 100 more pages and still held my interest. I think it's one of the books that captures the decade and does so while the decade is in progress meaning as much as I enjoy it, it'll be of even more value when the decade's over and historians and social critics attempt to make sense of this time." Brandon's ballot consisted of only one book and he wrote, "There were other books I enjoyed but, for me, 2007 can be boiled down to The Terror Dream. It captures the sickness in our society, how it took root and how we all suffer from it. It's political, sociological and journalistic. Credit to Ava and C.I.'s weekly work for the last three years. Otherwise, I would have dismissed this book without ever picking it up. While everyone was tagging this or that as 'big issues,' they regularly pointed out that the way we attempt to subjugate and control in our society is a 'big issue.' I agree with Rebecca that their review of Jericho especially could act as an intro to Faludi's amazing book." The Terror Dream traces the governmental and societal response to 9-11 and how it relegated women to the margins which required not only ignoring them but beefing up the so-so and questionable 'contributions' from White men. A must-read and one of our personal favorites of the year as well as one of Dona's who says, "I don't think it could have been published and well received earlier in the decade and I'm not sure how many are ready to hear these truths now. Anyone interested in reality will clutch onto this book tightly." [Click here for the discussion of this book at Third.]

8) Howard Zinn's A Power Governments Cannot Suppress among the most vocal supporters of this book were Miguel and Elaine who each wrote several paragraphs praising it on their ballots. The book is a collection of essays Professor Zinn wrote for The Progressive this decade and if the book has a short-coming it's only that it was published too soon to include his "Are We Politicians or Citizens?" which carries every point in this collection to its natural conclusion. Though not included, because it was written when the essays were being selected, it explains the collection, and Zinn's work. Anyone who hasn't yet picked up the book should start with that essay which will determine how you respond the collection. If you too believe that governments should not be institutions intended to deliver orders but the representation of the people, that they should exist to serve and not suppress, then this collection will speak to you as Zinn explores modern and historical warfare, modern and historic resitance, the costs of speaking out as well as the benefits and what makes for heroism in a society. Miguel and Elaine both called it, in their ballots, "a heroic work." When we called them, they were both amused they'd used the same phrase but, as Miguel asked, "What else would you call it?"

9) Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace. Edited by Maxine Hong Kingston. This 2006 book made last year's list. Many noting it on their ballots this year wrote that they'd only read it after that list. Betty ranked it number one on her list. When we phoned her, she sited another reason it may have been on people's minds: Bill Moyers interviewed Hong Kingston about the book for the Memorial Day weekend. Betty explained, "I don't remember it getting any TV attention prior to that. After I saw the broadcast, I pulled it back off my shelves and re-read it. I'm sure all the books that make the list are worth reading, and I'm looking forward to finding out what else made the list, but as someone who is always reading a book, both to model reading for my children and for my own enjoyment, I'd rank 2007 as a pretty disappointing year for publishing. One of the benefits of that is allowing us to rediscover books we enjoyed or pick up books we'd missed. This is a huge volume and you really have to read it more than once to really appreciate it. It's one of those books that benefits from you living with it and not a quick read." The book features contributions from many who participated in Maxine Hong Kingston's writing workshops on war and peace and demonstrates how, if we use our own voices and tell our own truths, we all have something worth sharing.

10) Stephanie Coontz' The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap. Again, C.I. suggested in a roundtable for the gina & krista round-robin and it spoke to enough members to make the top ten. Coontz examines the realities of the American family as opposed to the cultural myths and Lewis wrote, "The key for me was these two sentences on page 277: 'But very few people can sustain values at a personal level when they are continually contradicted at work, at the store, in the government, and on television. To call their failure to do so a family crisis is much like calling pneumonia a breathing crisis'." Goldie and Marlene read the book together and responded to different aspects. For Goldie, "It summed up how we are advertised to constantly and the ads aren't just coming on TV or radio or in magazines or online, it's coming from the government and they're selling something other than reality." Her mother Marlene said, "I read it and just thought of all the feelings of 'we've done it' that I had in the 90s. It seemed like the problems were identified and we'd wised up, especially post Hill-Thomas [Anita Hill's 1991 Senate testimony about Clarence Thomas sexual harassment of her], and now we were ready to roll up our sleeves and build on this knowledge. I honestly feel like the last seven years have been non-stop attempts to destroy that knowledge base and erase it. And, for me, it showed how fragile 'gains' are and can be. Which is why my three votes were for this, Faludi's book and Wolf's book. Take this knowledge base Coontz documented for all of us in 1992 and read Faludi for the response we got from our 'leaders' this decade and then read Wolf to realize just how much work is required to strip us our freedoms."
















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