05/15 - International Conscientious Objectors Day
~~ Conscientious Objectors Crew, Mt. Hood NF
Heh, it's so funny to see that there's an International Conscientious Objectors Day. While looking for public domain photos to use I even discovered a couple of monuments to C.O.s and one in particular to "The Right Not To Kill" or similar verbiage. I'm willing to wager that those countries with conscription in place, especially if they are engaged in armed conflicts, are less than enthusiastic about this holiday. I recall that the US, while feeling forced to allow C.O.s by the "freedom of religion" clause in the Bill of Rights did its best to make it as difficult as possible for anybody to qualify. For example, the refusal to kill had to be based on a religious teaching and religions had to involve a belief in god, disqualifying Buddhists, let alone anybody simply relying upon "ethics" or "Morals". It wasn't until the very late sixties or early seventies that the courts ruled that Buddhism was too a religion within the meaning of the law. With both parties being gung-ho for a war with China by 2027, we should soon see how they feel about such things now.
It's also the birthday of Madeleine Albright former secretary of War, Mayhem and Regime Change, aka Secretary of State whose famous motto was:
"If we have to use force, it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation. We stand tall and we see further than other countries into the future...."
Riiiiiiiiight.
On this day in history:
1252 -- Pope Innocent IV authorized the torture of heretics. Ironic name, I think
1618 -- Johannes Kepler confirmed third law of planetary motion
1648 -- The Treaty of Westphalia was executed
1793 -- Diego Marin Aguilera flew a glider for about 360 meters
1811 -- Paraguay declared its independence
1836 -- Francis Baily saw "Baily's beads"
1850 -- The Bloody Island massacre of Pomo Indians by the US Cavalry.
1869 -- Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed the National Woman Suffrage Association.
1905 -- Las Vegas was founded
1911 -- The Supremes declared Standard Oil to be an "unreasonable" monopoly and ordered it broken up
1940 -- The first McDonald's opened in San Berdoo
1941 -- The first flight of the first British jet aircraft.
1942 -- The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was created
1943 -- Joseph Stalin dissolved the Comintern
1948 -- The officially recognized start of the 1948 Arab - Israeli War.
1957 -- Britain tested its first H-Bomb.
1958 -- Sputnik 3.
1960 -- Sputnik 4.
1963 -- The launch of the final Mercury mission
1969 -- People's Park's Bloody Thursday, the cops murdered James Rector & wounded many others with 00 buckshot.
1970 -- Nixon named Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington the first female US Army generals
1970 -- Cops murdered Philip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green & wounded 12 others at Jackson State
1972 -- Arthur Bremer shot and paralyzed Alabama Governor George Wallace during his Presidential Campaign
1974 -- The Ma'alot massacre by the DFLP
1988 -- The Soviet army began withdrawing from Afghanistan, handing it over to various US supported terrorist groups
1991 -- Edith Cresson became the first female premier of France
1997 -- The US acknowledged the existence of the Secret War in Laos
2008 -- California legalized same-sex marriage
Some people who were born on this day:
A sense of humor is the ability to understand a joke - and that the joke is oneself
~~ Clifton Fadiman
1567 -- Claudio Monteverdi, musician, singer, composer & priest
1689 -- Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, playwright and author
1759 -- Maria Theresia von Paradis, pianist and composer
1856 -- L. Frank Baum, novelist
1857 -- Williamina Fleming, astronomer
1859 -- Pierre Curie, physicist
1890 -- Katherine Anne Porter, writer
1898 -- Arletty,
1900 -- Ida Rhodes, mathematician and programmer
1903 -- Maria Reiche, mathematician & archaaeologist instrumental in preserving the Nazca Lines
1904 -- Clifton Fadiman, author, editor, critic, radio and TV personality
1905 -- Abraham Zapruder, shot the Zapruder film
1915 -- Paul Samuelson, economist
1918 -- Eddy Arnold, singer, guitarist, actor and songwriter
1923 -- Richard Avedon, photographer
1935 -- Utah Phillips, singer, poet, songwriter, storyteller and guitarist
1936 -- Anna Maria Alberghetti, singer and actor
1937 -- Madeleine Albright, deluded politician, proponent of starvation sanctions, etc.
1937 -- Karin Krog, singer
1937 -- Trini Lopez, singer and actor
1938 -- Nancy Garden, author, wrote Annie on my Mnd
1942 -- Lois Johnson, country-western singer
1942 -- K. T. Oslin, ditto
1943 -- Freddie Perren, songwriter, producer, arranger, etc. (I will Survive)
1948 -- Brian Eno, singer, songwriter, keyboardist, producer
1953 -- Mike Oldfield, guitarist, singer and songwriter
1955 -- Lia Vissi, Cypriot singer, composer, and songwriter
1974 – Ahmet Zappa, musician and writer
1989 – Susan Soonkyu Lee, singer and entertainer
1990 – Lee Jong-hyun, guitarist
Some people who died on this day:
chaos: it has no plural.
ALSO
I discovered very quickly that criticism is a form of optimism, and that when you are silent about the shortcomings of your society, you're very pessimistic about that society. And it's only when you speak truthfully about it that you show your faith in that society.
~~ Carlos Fuentes
1461 -- Domenico Veneziano, painter
1886 -- Emily Dickinson, poet
1974 -- Paul Gonsalves, saxophonist
1989 -- Johnny Green, songwriter, composer, conductor, pianist, and arranger. "Body & soul"
2003 -- June Carter Cash, guitarist, singer and songwriter
2007 -- Jerry Falwell, prominent christofascist bigot and hatemonger
2008 – Will Elder, illustrator and cartoonist
2012 – Carlos Fuentes, novelist and essayist
Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:
Nakba Day
International Conscientious Objectors Day
Today's Tunes
Claudio Monteverdi
Maria Theresia von Paradis, pianist and composer
Eddy Arnold
Utah Phillips
Anna Maria Alberghetti
Karin Krog
Trini Lopez
K. T. Oslin
Freddie Perren wrote stuff like
Brian Eno
Mike Oldfield
Lia Vissi
Ahmet Zappa
Paul Gonsalves
Johnny Green
June Carter Cash
Bonus: Tubular Bells
Bonus: other
Ok, it's an open thread, so it's up to you folks now. So what's on your mind?
Cross posted from http://caucus99percent.com
Comments
Good morning EL and all
The fellow that taught me to sail was drafted during the Vietnam fiasco.
He was from the Philippines, a good teacher and a fun strummer/singer.
He wore the Red Cross, would not carry a gun, didn't believe in killing.
Got killed over there anyway. Sad.
It was, thanks to him, that which steered me toward becoming a sailor.
The US war machine is unjust.
Thanks for the OT!
Good morning QMS, thanks for reading. Vietnam, a
Dulles-Eisenhower production that did nobody any good. We lost a lot of good people, and a ton more came back damaged, physically, mentally, or both and/or afflicted with the time-bomb of agent orange. Sorry you lost a teacher and a friend.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Good morning...
Here's an update on the Thai election yesterday...
US Proxies Win Thai 2023 General Elections - Thai-Chinese Relations at Risk, Instability Looms…
- US interference in Thailand’s media & information space, education system, and political system has reached critical mass, allowing US-sponsored opposition parties to sweep elections;
- so-called “pro-democracy” parties are led by corrupt billionaires including a convicted criminal and fugitive behind the worst human rights abuses in Thailand’s history;
- the US-backed opposition is openly anti-China, has called for canceling arms deals, infrastructure projects (including the high-speed railway), and rolling back ties with Beijing in favor of pivoting to the West;
- The West offers no alternatives to China’s tangible contributions to Thai and regional development as well as economic prosperity. Instead, the US offers increased involvement in regional affairs and “military cooperation” which equates to antagonizing China, the region’s most important economic player;
- the US is involved heavily in transforming Asia into a united front against China in the same self-destructive way it has transformed Europe into an anti-Russian block, serving US interests at the expense of the European people’s best interests;
- Thailand has suffered cycles of political instability similar to this before and prevailed, and could possibly prevail again. Efforts across multipolar institutions and blocs to aid nations like Thailand in uprooting US interference could help spare Thailand and the region from otherwise inevitable instability and violence;
Meanwhile in Turkey's election...
Turkey’s election likely heading to run-off; Erdogan has the edge
Neither the president nor top opposition candidate Kilicdaroglu cleared the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a second round on May 28.
Erdogan’s vote share dropped just under the 50 percent threshold needed to win with nearly all the votes counted while the opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who was projected by opinion polls to win, managed to garner 45 percent of the ballots.
So US gains Thailand but loses Turkey. What an evil empire we are. I conscientiously object!
Thanks for the all the music and the OT!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good morning LO. Too bad about Thailand, and
keep your fingers crossed for Turkey, it ain't over yet. Thanks for reading (and listening).
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I rarrely object to your musical selections
I am so tired of watching the turkish elections live and all the other nonsense happening here in Germany, Ukraine and in Europe, I just could collapse like all the other empires ... so I am not an empress anymore, just to make that clear. I am someone with a broken heart.
Have a good day, all, I am depressed and am a "Wutbürger" mow. That is a citizen with a lot of furious feelings in his belly.
I blame all the cell phones, and I blame all evil doers who make money out of weapons sales. May they rott in hell.
We have nice weather over here in the northern part of Germany. That is at least something positive.
Good morning mimi, thanks for reading and listening.
Try not to get too depressed, it isn't good for you and don't let that fury in your belly upset your digestion or give you ulcers. We need to make the best of what we've got because we don't get a "do over". Glad you have nice weather - our's is ok at the moment too.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Speaking of Conscientious Objectors how would this individual
be treated in today's state of affairs?
A Russian apologist no doubt!
At a minimum, with cries of "Traitor" thrown in,
though I think that I recall that some were back then too. The US public has a huge segment that just loves a waar.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Isn't that a pity?
I wonder if the Orange Satan will follow them?
My constant worry is that we might, n/t
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Oops wrong thread.