From Cold Desert
From Jesus’ General
I really don’t understand how the market can be up when everyone’s at Bohemian Grove.
And here is an article from the Guardian about the War on Children:
It’s weird, the things that make you feel better in the south of Lebanon, but seven dead instead of 40 gave me a sense of relief.
…
Then another child was pulled from under the rubble, and another followed, and then another. You go a little crazy when you see little body after little body coming up out of the ground. I looked around me and all I could see in the house was the detritus of their short lives – big plastic bags filled with clothes, milk cans, plastic toys and a baby carriage.…
As we walked, jumping from one boulder to the other, Ali said: “My father and mother went with my other brothers and sisters to another town. They said they will come and get me when the bombs stop.”
In the scorching sunshine above, Israeli jets were flying, their sound mixed with that of the drones. Suddenly a thud came from the hills and Ali froze. “They are going to bomb again!” He started to cry. “Why are the Israelis hitting us? Do they hate us? My cousin Mahmoud called me on the phone and he told me that the nuclear bombs are really big. Are they as big as these rockets?” It’s hard to convey quite how shocked, perhaps quite literally shell-shocked – this little boy was. He was almost delusional.
From Pivot Legal Society:
Province moves to evict 13 more low-income peopleVancouver –Vancouver Coastal Health has issued an order to tenants of the Powell Rooms lodging house at 556 Powell Street stating that the building would be closed today, Wednesday, July 26, 2006 at 5:00 p.m due to health reasons. Coastal Health has made no provision for relocating the 13 people that live at the Powell Rooms, including one terminally ill individual.The order, issued a week ago by Dr. F.J. Blatherwick of Vancouver Coastal Health, lists four reasons for the hotel closure: (1) lack of hot water, (2) pest infestations, (3) non-functioning washrooms and (4) garbage accumulating in a City of Vancouver lane.David Eby, a lawyer with Pivot Legal Society, learned of the order on Monday and visited the lodging house on Tuesday with a team of volunteer trades-people and community members. The repairs to the hot water tank were completed within minutes, and all the toilets were found to be in working order. A removal service has been contracted to remove garbage from the back lane. No evidence was found of mice, cockroaches or bedbugs, although a pest control service has also been engaged to conduct a full inspection.
“Its fairly shocking that the Coastal Health Authority, responsible for ensuring the health and well-being of the community, would rather force people onto the street than ensure some very basic repairs are done,” said Eby. “It would have been a simple matter for Dr. Blatherwick to order the steps we’ve taken today to be done, and any health hazards be cleaned up.”
The City of Vancouver also has the power under City bylaws to order repairs and maintenance to Downtown Eastside lodging houses and hotels. However, although the Powell Rooms building was inspected regularly by the City, there have been no City Standards of Maintenance Orders for the lodging house since November of 2001.
“It boils down to community volunteers doing the job of Coastal Health and the City because, for some reason, they would rather close hotels than ensure that they are livable,” said Eby. “If the government won’t do its job and protect low-income people from losing their homes, what will happen to the Olympic commitment to prevent homelessness?”
The pending closure of the Powell Rooms (25 units) and the ongoing closure of the Lucky Lodge (48 units total) by the City and the Province follows the dramatic closures of the Burns Block hotel (18 units) and the Pender Hotel (36 units) in March, 2006. These rooms, together with rooms lost due to rent increases brings the total of low-income units lost or under imminent threat to 375 for the first seven months of 2006.
——————————————————-
Further Comment: David Eby (778) 865-7997 – Pivot Legal Society
Dr. F.J. Blatherwick (604)675-3804 – Vancouver Coastal Health
——————————————————-
The 2010 Inner-City Inclusivity Commitment to protect low-income housing and ensure that people are not made homeless was part of the Vancouver Bid Book, the formal application to host the Olympic Games.
To read the Inclusivity Commitment Statement, click here
About Pivot Legal Society
Pivot’s mandate is to take a strategic approach to social change, using the law to address the root causes that undermine the quality of life of those most on the margins. We believe that everyone, regardless of income, benefits from a healthy and inclusive community where values such opportunity, respect and equality are strongly rooted in the law.
Remember all those dopey hippie sayings like, “If war is the answer, what was the question” and “Make love, not war” and “what if they gave a war and nobody came?” Well those hippies are all growed up now and, thanks to the changes in draft eligibility, possibly on their way to Afghanistan or Iraq right now.
Critical ammunitions shortages have made the US uncharacteristically cautious about spending their precious ordnance, so we at the raincoaster blog have a suggestion. A radical suggestion. One which integrates the hippie Free Love aesthetic with the Imperialist invasive one. One which could change the very nature of war.
We suggest the deployment and use of the tampon gun.
From BoingBoing:
Tampon gun
TamponCrafts has published a HOWTO for building a paintball-style gun for firing tampons:Inspired by marshmallow shooters, this air-powered tampon gun turns your feminine hygiene products into high-flying projectiles. Have a shootout between rival tampon brands, or use it as a fun alternative to paintball. The tampon shooter has a range of 10 to 20 feet depending on your ammo and lung capacity. The matching bandolier lets you carry a full “clip” (i.e., box) of 20 tampons, so you’ll never be caught short in the heat of battle.
I defy any army to be able to continue fighting under a barrage of fluffy, white tampons. Although, given the dioxin component in the bleach used, it could well violate chemical weapons sanctions. Something to think about…
“A time comes when silence is betrayal. Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak out with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak.” -MLK
found on the Freeway Blogger.
raincoaster 