INTERESTING TIMES

I didn't hear about these women until today. Perhaps you've already heard. Pussy Riot a Russian punk rock band who performed an anti-Putin song in the "main cathedral" of the Orthodox Church. Now they have been held in "pre-trial detention" for months. It is expected that they will serve years of jail time for the offense, which was, in a word, a sacrilege.

I don't know about you, but if someone did this in my sacred space, I would be offended. I don't mean that Russia's powers that be (government and church in cahoots) should be able to imprison people for years over this sort of behavior. I think not. I personally relish hearing the words Pussy Riot in the news, and am glad that women there feel powerful enough to do this. Putin's continuing reign is a far greater blasphemy than the most raucous of punk rock in a cathedral.

In spite of my sympathies for their causes, I would be totally pissed if somebody made this kind of noise in my sacred place. Blast that crap at the river? Get OUT. I understand anger, and suppression, and the need to eliminate Putin. And I understand the outrage against their methods. Too bad the punishment is so out of proportion with the offense.



Here's the NPR story: http://www.theworld.org/2012/06/anti-putin-punk-rockers-pussy-riot-to-stay-in-jail-await-trial/

It may be no surprise to you to hear that the protests that shut down the recount of votes in Florida 9 years ago were orchestrated (and manned) by the Republican party. Rachel Maddow just had a segment in which she illustrated this point by naming the front 9 protesters. Rather than being a spontaneous citizen protest, it was a collection of Republican staffers from all around who went to Florida to stop votes from being counted. It appears that MSNBC won't let me embed the segment. No wonder, they're another corporation with much to lose.

In another segment Rachel reports that the belligerent mobs currently obstructing town hall meetings on healthcare reform are also thanks to Republican/corporate organizing. It just figures. Anytime somebody is completely unreasonable and determined to shut down all conversation, it is my humble opinion that they should simply be excluded from the discussion. Because we need some of the good part of democracy there days; open discourse and compromise, instead of shouting matches and abuse.

I remain impressed with the quality of Rachel's reporting, though she doesn't admit how many of us would like to see government get smaller and spend less. Her humor when she disagrees is mocking, and she does not always recognize the legitimate argments against her own positions. She is not free of bias. But at least her bias includes a hairy eyeball toward corporations and government. I'm glad she's keeping an eye on them.

There's a link to her show on the left column of this blog, if you feel inclined to peek.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Protests-on-Wall-Street---what-the-news-media-isnt-showing-you

It's good to see that Americans have not become as apathetic as they want us to think we are. Check it out! People are actually out there making noise, on Wall Street!

Nice short (under 4 minutes) presentation here showing the protesters who turned out for the occasion of the interview of both Obama and McCain at Saddleback Church....where and in which O and M proved yet again that they are two sides of the same uni-party coin... and the protesters outside were ignored and downplayed by the media. But here, thanks to the internet, it a little bit of footage with a ragin' song so you can see and judge for yourself what kinds of people are on the streets these days with a message for those in power. There were the code pink people, the peaceniks, the supporters of freedom for Palestine.... all kinds of people with something to say.