Author: shirlstars

remember these scenes really well and we wonder why it is they don’t seem to be able to be replicated today.  They were important then.  They are important now.

If we had a media that would actually cover it, maybe it would encourage more to stand up and hit the streets.  Or maybe it was just the draft then that isn’t here now.  Or maybe I just don’t have any idea why.

I miss John Lennon:

It is my greatest desire and intent that someday soon we will Give peace a chance.

Love and hugs to you all.

 Observations from the Starry Places

Ed Note:  The last time I posted this there were some who noted they were very tired of the peace-maker feel good diaries. . .so if by chance you are one of those, don’t read any further.

[Originally posted Tue Jul 11th, 2006 at 04:35:36 PM EST, when we were in the early days of the very same “dust up” that is occurring now. . . nothing much has changed, it seems.  I wonder why that is?]

I am blessed or cursed (perspective specific) by an ability, no, more than that, a need to view things from all sides, or as many sides as I possibly am able to. (A quirk or attribute that often drives friends and acquaintances crazy about me).  So most often I usually view and assess things that I might have little agreement with as having some possible value.  Doesn’t mean I like them particularly, but that I allow for the views expressed that seem in great opposition to the views I hold.  I usually can see what someone is getting at or coming from even though I dislike their choice of presentation or the concept all together.

As human beings, we are pretty interesting.  We are so often driven by our emotions and unreasonable expectations of others especially over words, thoughts and deeds that we find offensive personally.  And we are such accomplished beings that we are very well able to and most often do, hide the real reasons behind our responses to things from even ourselves.  We feel justified and righteous in “our” presentation of “our” view of things.  But behind it all is what?

One of the favorite things that humans do and do exceptionally well is hold on to hurts, insults and painful experiences.  Why, we can even hold onto them to our very graves, and with a somewhat triumphant feeling of “we showed them.”  We are great clutchers of such things.  Living our lives with clenched fists!

For a while now it seems plenty of us on blogs have been participating heavily in all manner of confrontation with each other.  We like confrontation, although we say we don’t.  We like it a lot.  First of all it gives us an excuse to blow off steam about all the things in our lives that are less than harmonious.  Even though the discussion at hand has nothing to do with those disharmonys of a personal nature, it still is a wonderful excuse, and we don’t hesitate to use it.  

The next thing is that loud yelling and attacking responses to each other gets the old blood pumping and makes us feel ALIVE!  It is exhilarating!  And we get to righteously pump up our egos in the belief that our views and our ways are the right ones.  Next, we get noticed and you know that old adage of it not mattering if we get noticed for good behavior or bad behavior as long as we get noticed.  Most of us in our daily lives don’t get noticed very often.

The detached view from the stars is this:

Holding on to old hurts, pains and insults, real or imagined, is detrimental only to the person holding on to them.  It destroys your spirit and does damage to your soul, let alone the effects it has on your psychological health. Letting go of those things is an act of forgiveness.  If you feel the need to do something about those old hurts, etc., then find something positive do do about them and then let them go.  You choose to get over it or not.  That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen or that it didn’t cause great pain, suffering and difficulties in your life.  It means that you have grown up, have allowed yourself a bigger and more positive understanding of life.  It means you are willing to move on from it and LIVE your life instead of letting life happen to you.  You are defined by your NOW not your past.  Get out of victim hood, it really doesn’t serve any of us. Which choose you?

Don’t take anything personally.  Nothing here is personal.  I don’t care if it is the most vile, contemptuous, name calling, finger pointing, nasty, untrue insult you have ever heard.  Don’t take it personally.  Consider the source.  Consider the possible desperate, illogical reasons that may be motivating the source.  Don’t take it personally and don’t take it as having any weight whatsoever in the scheme of things.  It doesn’t.  It only has the amount of power and weight that YOU give to it.

I speak of these things with some measure of authority, because during my long years here I have been just as engaged in such reactionary behavior as anyone else.  I’ve been it, done it, played it, and now have the absolutely worthless T shirt to prove it.

What about forgiveness?  Forgiveness of self and others.  Followed closely by the law of Allowance.  Allow others to be who it is that they are, regardless of how much you may dislike them or hold them in disgust.  Forgive yourself first and foremost for all the real and imagined actions, reactions, and less than loving deeds you have offered forth.  You are worthy of forgiveness and you are forgiven by all.  You are probably the last one to forgive you.  Forgive everyone else, past, present, future of their less than loving deeds and actions.  That does not mean you are in agreement with them.  That does not mean you condone their ways.  That means that you allow that is just who they are and how far or how little they have progressed through this lifetime.  One or two reasoned responses is enough to state your case.  After that, you are in it for some purpose other than discussion.

For those of you that have thoughts or concerns or ideas to the contrary, I am not speaking of anything here in a religious frame.  This is not the religious or dogmatic version of forgiveness.  It is the mental health version of it.  This is the common sense version of it.

Forgive and Allow

Some of you here are very good at this.  It is hoped that more will follow your example.  Anyone that wishes to live a more empowered and meaningful life can learn.  It is a choice.

The object, in my view, of these discussion places is to read and discuss.  Not to agree with everyone else and not to hurl insults or hurtful invectives at each other.  But we really have to ALLOW others to disagree with us.   Beyond a certain reasoned point continually attempting to change their minds is probably the most senseless waste of time there is.  JMHO

I love you all and I wish for more love and allowing in each of your lives.

Hugs
Shirl

I don’t know how many of you watch Charlie Rose on his PBS show, but if you missed last night’s show you missed a lot.

His guest was John Burns, NYT Iraq reporter (on the ground for 4 1/2 years). He is often a short segment guest that Charlie checks in with live from Iraq about the latest happenings on the ground in Baghdad and other areas. John is particularly credible, articulate and talks to as many of the different factions that are involved there that he is able, including top US Military, Iraqi Government insiders, our troops, Iraqi troops, Sunni, Shiite, local citizens, et al.  His reports are always sobering and informative far beyond anything we are hearing elsewhere in the media.

John Burns

Last Night Charlie had John Burns in his NY studio for the hour.  It was a very sobering hour during which Mr Burns laid out the complexities and difficulties of what the current situation is.

I can hardly give you any scholarly analysis of the content.  Suffice it to say that we are exactly where we all think we are. . .in S**t up to our eyeballs with no satisfactory, doable, or good solution available.

I highly recommend that you educate yourselves by going to Charlie Rose and viewing the program on google video.

There is no sense of feel good about this situation no matter what “we” do this makes the “rock and the hard place” look like a 5 star hotel.  You all surely know that I am against all war ever for any reason.  And to know what many of us have known from the beginning,
that we should never have gone into Iraq, is no comfort what-so-ever.

John Burns explains in detail who the players are, what their goals and incentives are and emphasizes what any person with any knowledge of this area has known for a long time:  This conflict between the religious/tribal factions has been going on for 1300 years and all involved are intent upon continuing it until “their side” wins or is totally wiped out.

On partition, he says it is not at all workable.  Even if we could stabilize 3 sovereign provinces or areas, there is still Baghdad which is more secular and filled with people of all 3 influences plus Christians and other persuasions.  And all in all, it is his opinion (and mine) that Blood/tribal bonds are stronger than national or country bonds.

This very complex situation (of our making) is a no win for anyone.  On the surge… it is his thought that it might and that is a very highly doubtful might, bring a very short term calming down, but it is not sustainable and it will not last.  These waring factions have been biding their time over 1300 years (with plenty of waring and battles intermixed over the centuries). . .do we really think they will mind taking a few months or years off to build larger support from their followers, gather more financial and military support from whomever, in effect re-group?

On the other hand, he says the “real” Iraqi people, especially those in Baghdad and nearby areas, are very glad the American troops are there and that they got rid of Saddam. The extremists on all sides want us out of there. The Syrian, Saudi, Jordanian, Iranian interests will flow into Iraq to protect their own sectarian interest as soon as we leave.  Blood is thicker than Nationalism. . .remember?  They are ALL related to each other.

Even the British finally understood it back in the 20’s or 30’s. . .we cannot win or solve anything here and it is depressing beyond all comprehension that the lives of our young troops and millions of innocent Iraqi’s are the cost of this murderous game.

Go view the video of last night’s show.  You will be more informed about actuality on the ground than you ever wanted to be.

Frankly, I don’t even know how to have an opinion about what to do about Iraq. . .our Idiot In Chief has brought down the region, just as those wise people who tried to warn about this have said all along.  I can no longer even envision a “solution.”

A little pause in the shopping and holiday frenzy. . .

You know those days when you don’t think you or what you do in your life matters very much?  Maybe you might wish to re-think that.

Here’s some help from Osho Zen:

You are not accidental. Existence needs you. Without you something will be missing in existence and nobody can replace it. That’s what gives you dignity, that the whole existence will miss you. The stars and sun and moon, the trees and birds and earth – everything in the universe will feel a small place is vacant which cannot be filled by anybody except you.

This gives you a tremendous joy, a fulfillment that you are related to existence, and existence cares for you. Once you are clean and clear, you can see tremendous love falling on you from all dimensions.

Commentary:

A naked figure sits on the lotus leaf of perfection, gazing at the beauty of the night sky. She knows that “home” is not a physical place in the outside world, but an inner quality of relaxation and acceptance. The stars, the rocks, the trees, the flowers, fish and birds – all are our brothers and sisters in this dance of life. We human beings tend to forget this, as we pursue our own private agendas and believe we must fight to get what we need. But ultimately, our sense of separateness is just an illusion, manufactured by the narrow preoccupations of the mind.

Now is the time to look at whether you are allowing yourself to receive the extraordinary gift of feeling “at “home” wherever you are. If you are, be sure to take time to savor it so it can deepen and remain with you. If on the other hand you’ve been feeling like the world is out to get you, it’s time to take a break. Go outside tonight and look at the stars.

Copyright © 2006 Osho International Foundation

Osho Zen

It is easy to see why it is I see you as so special!

Blessings and hugs
Shirl

Remember me?

I was the self-described, far Left Wing, bleeding heart, radical, socialist Liberal progressive.

A strange thing has happened to me.  I have become “grown-up” in my political views and understandings.  I find that I am more moderate than I would ever have expected, or maybe it is “reality based.”  I am still apparently on the far reaches of the Left on social issues than most, but I am down right conservative or moderate on most issues. . .please take “moderate or conservative” in their true definitions and not the Far Right’s misapplied and ridiculous meanings.

What am I talking about?  Well, let’s look at war.  I am not for war ever.  Peace is never won through war.  I am not against defending ourselves when defense is called for, but I will never be FOR war.  I am very much a conservative when it comes to how we spend the Tax Dollars and balancing budgets.  We need lots of oversight where money and spending is concerned.  OTH I am very much for a distribution of Taxes in a more equitable way.  For instance, 5% of what a poor person has as income is far more painful for them to pay than the small percentages the ubber wealthy pay.  However, I am for economic leveling of the playing field in a responsible way.  More incentives, more helping hand policies, but no Handouts for able bodies; give them help up with a living wage and opportunities for training so they can really support themselves and their families.  I am for EVERYONE having a place to live, not be dumped out onto the streets.  No one can really live on the streets and in homeless shelters.  Where people need help we should help them, but that does not mean unending handouts.  There are some really reasonable ways this can be done. Also, END EARMARKS FOREVER.  We can do better than throwing $47.8 Billion dollars away on mostly nonsense “vote buying.”  There are thousands of inventive, creative ways we can help communities, earmarks is not the way.

Here’s my most radical “moderate” view:  Take politics out of doing the people’s business.  There are NO Republican issues and NO Democrat’s issues, there are only the People’s issues. Democracies are supposed to reflect the majority’s views.  Yes that means that some on the outlying edges of any particular issue will be disappointed.  Which means I will, for the most part, be wanting more on social issues than will be agreed upon by the majority.  We change by taking one step at a time. It has traditionally been painfully slow to make changes in people’s thinking, but if we don’t take the steps, always heading in the direction of progress, we will never get there.  I think it will come much more quickly now that we are able to implement change.   The atmosphere of the planet and the people everywhere is changing, we should be willing to be the leaders in that change.

No matter how much I would like to have my way on many things, what I know is that dealing with others, in any relationship of any kind, requires compromise.  By that I mean “reasonable” compromise, and I am aware that many of us will disagree on what “reasonable” means.  Some things cannot be compromised on because they are so inherently the “right way” to go, ie. . .civil liberties, equality in opportunities, adherence to the constitution, etc.  It was a long and difficult process for me to learn the art of compromise.  It came during my over 20 years of active participation in Unions as an Advocate and local, state and regional Union officer for Postal Workers.  It was tough, but I learned.  Being right about any particular issue does not necessarily mean that you cannot or will not compromise, depending upon what the compromise is.

Those of us who have lived for 12 years with the outrages we have felt at how “OUR business” has been run by the politicians in Congress and the Senate often feel this is a time of “pay back” and retribution.  That is not a mature, reasoned and productive thought process.  (And I am absolutely for accountability for everyone in every office everywhere) There has to be some listening on both sides, some reasonable compromises that will allow supposedly mature, thoughtful lawmakers to work together instead of constantly fighting with each other.  Attempting to divide this nation through slimy, deceitful, partisan bickering is the worst possible way to bring about a consensus on anything.  We have many, one could say a majority, in this country who want this juvenile behavior to stop.  We should honor that.  

None of this means that we should not go forward with the issues we feel are vitally important.  This does not mean we should not call bullshit wherever we see it or hear it.  We must be vigilant!  But it is quite important that our elected representatives do so with a moderate tone of reconciliation and the importance of doing the People’s Business.  I would like to hear the new  majority remind their fellow congress persons and senators that the people have a right to expect them to work out the issues THEY (the people) feel are of importance to them.

If we act just like the Republicans have acted these past 12 years, then we are no better than they have been and the American People will hand us our hats in 2 years time.

I feel we must hold ALL of the representatives of the people accountable.  And I sure as heck don’t care what party they are in.  Those of us who have held and do hold strong political views that align us with one party or another really need to stop and take a breath and realize that the VAST MAJORITY of our fellow citizens do not consider themselves easily described by one party or the other.  Most Americans see themselves as INDEPENDENT from party affiliation.  There are no “Democrats for Reagan” there are no Republicans for Barak Obama (or fill in your favorite), there are only Americans that want you to do the best things for ALL of the Americans.  People will support the candidate that can best present their views to them. . .people are NOT members of political parties, and that is the vast majority of people.  People are hungry for representatives that will listen to them and then will actually represent them.

So, as we enjoy our feelings of elation over finally being able to speak, or at least our representatives have an opportunity to speak and offer oversight, I hope we will consider that we are a part of an amazing Republic that offers us the chance to experience a real democracy.  That means compromise on my part, and on many other’s part.  We need to stop yelling at each other and engage in reasoned conversations.  We need to support and honor the 1st amendment right of free speech that we so often rage about.  That means differing views do not mean that the person we disagree with is an idiot, or not entitled to offer their opinion.  It is a discussion, not a yelling match that will move us in the direction we most wish to go.

These are just my post-election thoughts.  You may find them totally out of sync with your own views, and I honor that.  There are many ways we can find an acceptable common ground on many issues. . .if we work at it.

Hugs
Shirl

“The music of Joe Hill was a uniting force that captured the spirit of the radical Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) labor movement.

Modern students of music history have identified Hill as one the most influential protest artists in American history, an influence that can be heard in the work of songwriters as diverse as Woody Guthrie and John Lennon.”  By Mary Killebrew

Who Was Joe Hill?

Writer of Protest songs, Union Activist, Martyr for “the Cause?”

A lot of words have been written about Joe Hill.  Some of them are true, some of them are myth, some of them are lies and some of them I doubt we will ever know.

He was born Joel Emmanuel Hagglund, in 1879 in Gavle, Sweden.  They didn’t have much and they had even less when his father died shortly after Joel’s 8th birthday.  The six surviving children in the family (two had died from illness) were sent out to work to support the family.  He began his working life in the town rope factory and then as he grew a bit moved on to shoveling coal on a steam engine for a construction company.  By the time he was 12 he had contracted a type of tuberculosis that affected his joints and skin..  He underwent several skin operations and also was treated with massive doses of X-rays to control the disease.

After his mother passed away in 1902, Joel and his brother Paul decided to try their luck in America and landed in New York City in October of 1902.  They arrived here with nothing and were soon greatly disillusioned to find that the “easy wealth” stories that abounded about America were highly exaggerated at best.  He started his working life in the USA cleaning spitoons in a dive of a bar in the worst section of New York for a few pennies a day in wages.  He soon saw that this work was not going to see him through and left New York for the Mid-West.  Where he wandered and what he did during the next 8 years is not known.  Somewhere along his travels he must have run into some sort of trouble or reason to change his name because sometime between 1906 and 1910, he became Joseph Hillstrom.

As he wandered across America doing all manner of low-paying and labor intensive jobs, he met thousands of immigrants just like himself, stuggling to get by as he was and it had quite an impact on him.  By the time he was 30 years old he had a pretty hard and cynical view of this new land he had adopted as his home.  He felt they were a vast sea of poor captive families at the feet of the small handful of very wealthy and powerful individuals.

“In 1910, as he apparently worked for a period of time on the docks of San Pedro, California, Hillstrom was exposed to the heated rhetoric of a small band of determined labor activists who claimed they had a new vision for the future, and a new method for knocking the mighty off their high horse. The group called themselves the Industrial Workers of the World–and were known by the nickname of “Wobblies.”

The Wobblies were part of an era of social, economic and political uncertainty in the United States and the world. The I.W.W. was a more radical extention of movements challenging the existing order, including Socialists, Progressives and Populists.

The I.W.W. had come to life in Chicago just a few years before Hillstrom’s introduction to the cause. The Wobbly founders were fed-up with marginal, inconsistent success in the nation’s labor movement, and offered a dream for the total transformation of the American economic system, predicated on every man, woman and child joining “One Big Union” to take profits away from the wealthy and place them in the hands of the people who did the actual work.

Hillstrom embraced the ideology of the I.W.W., and soon joined the union and began to recruit members and support fellow Wobblies wherever conflict might surface. In late 1910 he wrote a letter to the I.W.W. newspaper, Industrial Worker, identifying himself as a member of the Portland, Oregon I.W.W. local. The letter denounced the tactics of local police in attacking Wobblies and other workers in the area. In the first documented use of a name that would eventually become known around the world, the letter was signed “Joe Hill.”

By January, 1911 Hill was on the border between California and Mexico, ready to join a brigade of Wobblies determined to aid the forces fighting for the overthrow of the Mexican government. As the revolution wore on south of the border, Hill was reportedly in the border town of Tijuana. Denouncing the role of capitalists in opposing the peasant uprising, Hill urged other Americans to join the fray.

Even with the occasional letter or postcard sending a time stamp on his whereabouts, Hill’s years with the Wobblies are shrouded in contradictory reports, legends and tall tales. Years later he would be reported on the front lines of virtually every major job action involving the I.W.W. between 1909 and 1912. Legend would often have Hill fighting for the Wobblies in a dozen different locations at the same time.

One thing is certain. If Hill was not on the lines in person, he was there in the form of song.”  From a PBS Biography found HERE

Joe, as he was now known, had a lifelong love of music and had taught himself to play the piano, guitar and violin.  He began crafting a stream of songs with the hope of firing up the poorest workers in America.  The songs extolled the virtues of the workers and decried the bosses and scabs.  It didn’t take long for his songs to become an important part of the I.W,W.’s Little Red Songbook.

“Hill almost certainly had brushes with the law during this time. Virtually nothing exists on paper to document what, if any, crimes were committed under his name. Wobblies report that Hill was severely beaten by police in Fresno during a labor disturbance. Hill himself would acknowledge doing thirty days in the local San Pedro jail on a trumped-up charge of vagrancy, which he claimed was a masquerade for powerful interests trying to silence him during a longshoreman’s strike. Years later the San Pedro police would paint a different picture when they reported that Hill was actually the prime suspect in the armed robbery of a streetcar, but could not be prosecuted because the assailant wore a mask and could not be positively identified.

Of all the uncertainties surrounding the life of Joe Hill, one of the most perplexing is his decision in 1913 to travel to Utah.

In 1913 Utah had been a state for less than twenty years. Institutions in the state were uneasy in light of the lingering suspicions that existed among some federal authorities to the powerful role of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Better known to non-members as “Mormons,” the church had struggled with federal authority for nearly fifty years over the controversial practice of plural marriage by members. It had been a pitched battle that was not fully settled until 1904, when church leadership issued a strict order prohibiting members from engaging in plural marriage.

Utah had modestly active mining and smelting industries, controlled largely by non-Mormon owners. Church leaders, however, had voiced strong anti-union sentiments throughout recent attempts to organize sectors of the labor force. When it came to the role of the Industrial Workers of the World in Utah, religious differences melted away. Social, economic, political and religious forces voiced opposition to the actions and aims of the Wobblies, and vowed to fight the radicals at every turn.

Some acquaintances claim Joe Hill was merely trying to get through Utah to travel to I.W.W. headquarters in Chicago and meet with Wobbly leader “Big Bill” Haywood to plan a more active role in the Wobblies’ national efforts. Regardless of his intent, Hill arrived in Salt Lake City during the summer of 1913.

He would never leave the state alive.”  
PBS Biography

Snip. . .

“On the night of January 10, 1914 two men entered the small grocery store operated by John Morrison near downtown Salt Lake City shortly before 10:00 p.m. Morrison and his son, Arling, were sweeping up and preparing to close the store for the night. At the back of the store, Morrison’s younger son, Merlin, waited for the lights to be turned out so the family could go home.
murder image
Re-enactment of the Morrison shooting

Two gunmen dashed into the store wearing hats and handkerchiefs pulled up to cover their faces. One spotted John Morrison behind the counter, shouted something, and began firing a handgun at the storeowner. Almost immediately, Arling grabbed the family’s revolver and fired at the intruders. In response the masked gunman leveled his weapon at Arling Morrison and fired at least two shots. The invading gunmen then fled the store.

Young Merlin Morrison was the first on the scene. His brother was already dead from multiple gunshot wounds. His father groaned nearby. John Morrison would cling to life for a few minutes, but would die before medical attention could be arranged.

Merlin told police who arrived at the scene that he had been able to glimpse portions of the shootout from the back of the store. He provided vague descriptions of the two men, reported that Arling had shot back, and stated that the lead gunman has clearly shouted “We’ve got you now!” before firing at John Morrison. Police checked the cash register and found the day’s receipts in place in the till.

The police knew John Morrison. He had been a member of the police force for a brief period before turning to what he hoped would be the more bucolic life of grocery store owner. Morrison had complained on several occasions that his time on the force had made him too many enemies who carried a grudge. He feared he would be the victim of a payback when criminals were released from jail. Additionally, police knew that Morrison had already had at least one shootout with armed bandits at his store, seriously wounding one invader in the process. It was Morrision’s old service revolver that his son, Arling, had pulled from the produce bin when the shooting started.

The police quickly reached some preliminary conclusions, and passed them on to reporters who had gathered at the scene from Salt Lake City’s three major daily newspapers. First, they announced that the attack was indeed a payback by someone who knew and disliked Morrison. They pointed to the full cash register as proof that it was not a robbery attempt. They also cited Merlin Morrison’s version of the gunman’s words as proof that the bandits knew Morrison before the attack. The second conclusion reached by police was that Arling Morrison’s single gunshot had found its mark. Although there was no bullet retrieved or blood in the store, apart from the Morrison’s, police said eyewitnesses were convinced that one of the gunmen leaving the store was acting injured. Police also reported that drops of blood were found in the snow approximately one block from the Morrison store.

The next morning, Salt Lake City’s newspapers announced the search for two gunmen who had killed a father and son in a wanton “act of revenge.”   PBS Biography

Now things start to get murky.  At about 11:30pm that same night, Joe Hill showed up at Dr Frank McHugh’s home clutching his chest.  The good Dr. examined him, noting the bullet had passed clear through him without hitting any vital organs, then cleaned and dressed the wound.  He had Joe rest on a bed until it could be arranged for a friend to drive him home.  Apparently during the exam, a holstered gun dropped from Hill’s clothing.  During the drive home, Dr. McHugh’s friend had been asked to stop at a vacant field where Hill, it seems, tossed the gun.

When the good Dr. McHugh read about the murders at the nearby store in Murray, Utah (Salt Lake suburb) the next morning, he called the police department and reported his treatment of Joe Hill’s wounds.

“Murray police units rushed to the Eselius house, stormed up the stairs, and kicked in the door on Joe Hill’s room. Finding him in bed, the police ordered Hill at gunpoint not to move. When he made a reaching motion across the bed, an officer fired. The bullet passed through Hill’s hand, shattering bones. Hill had not been reaching for a weapon, as suspected, but was instead reaching for his pants.

Police did not know they had arrested a significant figure in a radical labor movement. Newspaper coverage of the arrest demonstrated no interest in Joseph Hillstrom’s association with the Industrial Workers of the World. In fact, there was no public connection of the murder suspect to the Wobblies until the eve of his trial. Only then was it noted in local papers that Hillstrom was, in fact, Joe Hill, a radical who had something of a following due to his songs and poetry.

Pleading poverty, Hill acted as his own attorney during a preliminary hearing. Hill offered little resistence as the prosecution produced a dozen witnesses who testified to the circumstantial case against Hill. The prosecution had discarded all of the early police theories about motive for the crimes. Rather than argue revenge against Morrison, the prosecution decided to forego motive almost entirely. Instead they spoke in vague terms of a robbery gone bad. Hill was bound over for trial, held without bail, and informed that the state would seek the death penalty against him.

For his trial, Hill accepted the offer of two young Salt Lake City attorneys to represent him free of charge. Long before a public defenders office existed to provide legal representation for the poor, young attorneys often volunteered to defend the poor in high-profile cases in the hopes of advancing their careers. In the case of Joseph Hillstrom, the defendant and his attorneys soon turned into courtroom combatants.

Midway through the prosecution’s case, Hill dramatically announced he was firing his attorneys because of his belief that they were, in fact, partners with the District Attorney in railroading him for a crime he did not commit. Judge Morris Ritchie refused to excuse the two young attorneys, allowing Hill to take a more active role in his defense. The split was never reconciled, and Hill virtually refused to have anything to do with the trial.

The prosecution’s case boiled down to a series of witnesses, including Merlin Morrison, who testified that Hill bore varying degrees of similarity to one of the gunmen seen entering the Morrison store on January 10, 1914. At least one witness identified the scars on Hill’s face as similar to scars on one of the gunment. In addition, the testimony of Dr. McHugh challenged the jury to conclude that Hill’s gunshot wound was more than mere coincidence.

Throughout the trial, it had been assumed that Hill would take the stand in his own defense, describe the circumstances of his gunshot wound, and perhaps even name the woman he claimed was the reason for his injury. Even the prosecution stated that Hill had to seize the opportunity afforded in the trial to prove his innocence.

In the face of all the expectations, Hill refused to testify.

Some speculated that his was the action of a man of honor who would not dare harm the reputation of a reportedly married woman caught in an embarrassing tryst that led to the shooting. Others speculated that Hill was advised by I.W.W. legal advisors not to testify. The prosecution said Hill did not testify because his alibi would not hold up under scrutiny. The defense attorneys only knew that Hill wouldn’t talk in court.

Rather than open the door to acquittal, the move sealed Hill’s fate. The jury deliberated only a few hours before returning a guilty verdict. Under Utah law Hill was given the option of either being shot to death, or hung at the gallows for his crime.

“I’ll take the shooting,” Hill told the judge. “I’ve been shot a couple times before, and I think I can take it.”

With the death sentence, Hill was transferred to the Utah State Penitentiary to await execution.”  
PBS Biography

Immediately the I.W.W. president, “Big Bill” Haywood and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn began a nationwide tour speaking at rallies and laying the claim that “Big Business” was to balme for Joe Hill’s conviction.  They called on fellow workers to send letters to the judge, the police, the news papers demanding a release of Jo Hill.  Hundreds of letters and telegrams and petitions showed up on the desks of Utah’s Govenor, William Spry and President Woodrow Wilson.

When the Swedish ambassador telegraphed Wilson with his conviction that Hill had not received a fair trial, the President asked Spry to delay the execution pending a full review of the case. Seething at the unusual presidential intervention, Spry offered Hill and the ambassador opportunities to produce any compelling evidence that might change the guilty verdict. The ambassador had nothing to offer, and Hill refused to speak. In one message Hill maintained that he had been denied a fair trial, and that in a fair trial he would not have been proven guilty. He maintained that it was not his duty to prove his innocence.

Despite the calls for additional presidential intervention, including a heartfelt pleading from Helen Keller, Wilson was reluctant to do more than he already had. It was only when the convention of the American Federation of Labor telegraphed a demand for action that Wilson, facing a re-election campaign in 1916, again sought to convince Governor Spry to delay the execution. This time Spry, a Republican, adamantly refused to listen to Wilson, a Democrat.

In one of his last messages from his death row cell, Joe Hill sent a telegram to fellow Wobbly “Big Bill” Haywood. The message would emerge as a rallying cry for workers and protestors for generations to come:

“Don’t waste time mourning. Organize!”

Joe Hill was shot to death by a firing squad on the morning of November 19, 1915.  
PBS Biography

The speculation continues to this day whether Joe was rightly convicted of a murder he was guilty of, or whether seeing the opportunity to become a martyr for the cause that would rally thousands of workers to the union, he chose to let it be that he would forever be remembered.  

While motives are debatable, it is a fact that in death Joe Hill became recognized as a martyr for his cause. The songs he had crafted for the I.W.W. took on greater significance with his execution, and were invoked with a strangely near-religious sentiment in labor strikes and protest settings. Those who shared his views would invoke his name as evidence that conspiracies existed among the powerful elite of the nation, and that a good man had fallen at the hands of Big Business and its government partners.

With the resurgence of union activity in the years after World War One, the name of Joe Hill would be invoked in dozens of labor struggles throughout the nation. His songs were sung as a tribute to the man who had urged the world not to mourn, but to organize. Soon poems and songs of tribute to Joe Hill started to circulate among the groups determined to redesign the workplace and society. One of the most enduring was penned in 1925 by the poet Alfred Hayes:

    I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
    Alive as you and me.
    Says I, “But Joe you’re ten years dead,”
    “I never died,” says he.

The revolution Hill yearned for did not materialize in the nation he adopted back in 1902. Yet the work, words, life and death of Joe Hill remain in the public eye ninety-one years after his execution. In one sense, proving Alfred Hayes a prophet through his poetry.

Joe Hill is still talked about in Union circles today.  In those circles the belief is strongly held that he was a martyr for the greater cause, for the Union and its members. I guess only Joe really knows whether he was innocent or guilty.

Sometimes, this earth place is so incredibly beautiful it is just overwhelming to the senses and feelings. The physical visual beauty of it is too much to encompass, too much to contain, too much to refrain from throwing your body down on the cool damp grasses and feel as if your are melting into it, becoming an even more close elemental part of it than is already known and felt.

 
It is the home and source of this physical being we occupy. The earth speaks to us in the winds, in the rush of waters, in the rain, in the warmth of the sun, in the buzz of insects, in the songs of birds, in the call from the animal life still active and present in many places. It speaks to us in the deep silence of a velvet darkness illumined by a full moon’s brightness. It speaks to us in too many ways to innumerate without forgetting some. Some of us, sometimes, remember to listen. Some of us, sometimes hear the voices of our mother earth and are drawn deep into her heart of amazing love and see the wonderment of her beauty beyond what mere eyes can encompass.

Come, take a “walking stick” journey with me. Oh, yes, it is the same thing as flying in the starscape, it is a soaring of Spirit that is, after all, what flight really is.

Lush ankle high grasses are on either side of the wandering pathway, interspersed with clumps, groups and gatherings of dancing wildflowers dressed in splendid colors, inviting your attention with deliciously wonderful aromas not quite identifiable, but most certainly irresistible. In front of our field of vision, there are stands of majestic pines shaking out their boughs as if preening for our visit. The sun overhead is playing tag with puffy clumps of white billowing clouds. The sky holds forth the blueness that sky was meant to be, a richness of blue that stretches from horizon upward in such soaring magnificence it demands we stop and look upward, upward, into the vastness of the blueness of blue. As we stand, head tilted back as far as possible while still able to maintain our balance, it becomes a great desire to lie down in the damp tall grass and simply gaze upward at the dance of clouds and sky and sun. Is it moments, hours or eternity that passes while we lie there immersed in sky? It is really of no concern or matter. It is a participation that feeds our soul and spirit to a degree seldom found in our day to day, hour to hour experiences.

When we rise up from the earth to continue our journey, it ripples an almost memory of rising up the first time into body here on earth. It is perfected within the analogy. Rising up. Continuing our journey.

Walking through the shaded stands of trees fills the senses with the scent of pine, the smells of damp earth, the gentle touch of pine needles that reach out to brush our skin. Touching trees. Trees touching. How can we not reach out our hand and trace the patterns and ridges in the bark on the tall, sturdy trunks of these magnificent creatures we call trees. How can I not open my arms wide and encircle the one in front of me with a loving hug and feel the love returned. How can I not lean my head against it, ear pressed closely to hear the life force of tree? I must. I do.

The scene changes constantly as we journey. From thick stands of trees to lush meadows and ponds alive with water lilies, frogs and skaters and buzzing insect life darting here and there. The royally adorned Dragon Flies hover and show forth their glorious colors of shimmering blues, turquoise and greens. They are breathtaking in their beauty. Here and there a small fish breaks the smooth surface of the pond and sends the ripples out in larger and larger rings. Again the analogy is not lost on us.

A grandly colored butterfly lites on the head of my walking stick and spreads its wings out sumptuously, inviting a closeup view of its obvious beauty. When I connect to this lovely creature’s energies, it says simply, “See what I have become. Aren’t I grand! I never really was the Caterpillar, I was always the Butterfly I have become! What will you become, dear human? I can’t wait to see you spread your wings and show your colors one day!” There is no stopping the gentle tears that well up within my eyes. The analogies are everywhere if we will choose to see them.

My heart is deeply touched to remember more clearly the why of things, the choices that lead to the spreading of wings, the donning of colors so spectacular that our hearts are caught in our throats at the sheer undeniable beauty of it all. With acknowledgment, butterfly flutters her wings gently and then takes off in flight, dipping and turning and in absolute joy of BEing.

To our right as we come away from the meadow and pond, there is in the near distance an outcropping of amazing rock structure. It seems to demand we come forth to climb upon it, explore it, touch it, see it closely with our hearts as well as our eyes. . . we move in the direction it calls to us from. We are lured in by its great energy and strength, we journey towards it.

Rest now for a moment and breathe in all that is here to encourage you onwards. We will finish this journey in the next installment.

Breathe, slowly and deeply, and those of you who have the ability to imagine (you all do, you know) imagine that your breath, your breathing, this clean crisp and sparkling air comes in through your back. . .all along your spinal column. . .it is easy, it is calming, it is more air in your air no matter how deep a breath you take. Try it. . .and enjoy.

Until next time,
Be at one with your mother earth
Hugs and Loves
Shirl

The making of a Conspiracy Theorist

Is it Nature or Nurture, environment experience or a psychological disorder, a predisposition or misfiring of brain synapses?  Yep, it is probably all of these or some combination of them and more.

Some folks like to consider me one of those CT’s.  I personally don’t consider myself such, but when you hold thoughts and potentials outside of the mainstream people feel the need to discredit you in some way, or place a label on you.  How dare you not go along with what everyone else feels is the absolute!  So I have a lot of fun pretending to don and wear a tinfoil hat with antenna properly adjusted.  It’s okay for others to make fun of me or discredit me, or label me, I really don’t mind.  We need more laughter here.

So how did I get to this place outside of the mainstream?  Gosh, it just had to be, didn’t it?  I started early.  As a very small child I found out that adults lie.  Adults lied to me all of the time.  I almost always found out about the lies, usually sooner than later.  Adults always told me it was for my own good that they lied to me.  It never was, really.  So I concluded that adults did not think I was very smart, or smart enough to know what was good for me.  Yet, I had some very strong sense that the truth was always better no matter how bad it sounded or seemed at the moment. I still tend to question everything.  Nothing personal, I just do.

I also have always had a strong proclivity to believing ANYTHING is possible.  Most normally that limitless possibility thinking is very positive and focused on optimistic outcomes of the highest order.  However, it also spills over in all those lies we live in every day and the possible agenda behind those lies.  It is not something I focus on a lot, but I presume the possibility.  Sometimes after accumulating more information and more experience the possibles become probables. I keep the options open.  Too many try to pull the wool over my eyes too often for me not to.  But I still expect the best outcomes available, and even better than those that seem available.

When I became thoroughly convinced I could not believe my government, ever, was when I was in the Army in 1965.  The lies about Viet Nam were more than enough.  However, I was stationed at White Sands Missile Range, a top secret base of weapons and spy equipment technology testing.  I had no reason to know or see the things that people kept insisting that I look at and oooh and awe over with them.  My job did not require it, but people of all ranks just could not stop themselves from showing me this stuff.  So much for taking seriously the security concerns of “eyes only” and “cryptic” classifications, let alone “top secret.”  No one of any rank seemed concerned about their casual displaying of such information.  This is not a blanket statement about all secret information handled and processed in and by the military in all installations everywhere.  This is just my experience in my job at White Sands.

The planes, missiles, spy equipment toys I saw there were phantasmagorical.  Unbelievable at that time.  So when our Government showed them to all via the news media, 20, 30 or 40 years later as THE LATEST AND GREATEST, NEWEST STUFF OUT THERE. . .I laughed.   So it wasn’t so new and hot technology to me when it was unveiled all those years later.  My thoughts about this have always been if this is what they are displaying as the newest and latest, what do they really have that they are already using and not telling us about?  I’m just the curious type.

And when we do uncover or the government reveals to us some “secret” or lie that they have been telling us for however long, or continues to keep secrets that should not be secrets at all, their reasoning is it is/was for our own good, and we just couldn’t handle the truth.  Gosh!  that sounds just so much like what I heard at 3 years old, doesn’t it?

I relate to those who have been thoroughly trounced and discredited in their life and times, yet proved to have been more right than loony.  People like Galileo, Newton, Columbus, Einstein, De Vinci and many, many others.  They were big dreamers who held possibilities and later proved possibilities to be probabilities, probabilities to be fair certainties.  No I surely don’t put myself in their class or level of brain power or accomplishment.  But I sure do understand their limitless potential thinking.

So here’s the deal these days.  I am skeptical of it all until or unless I have enough information to push me to either the yea or nay column.  Sure, I am still sometimes hoodwinked, but not often.  And yes I remember distinctly that all lies usually have some elements of truth in them, that’s what makes them believable to those who choose to believe them.  I seem to be extraordinarily good at detecting lies and liars, not surprising having been surrounded by them all of my life.

I take everything I hear, see and read with a grain of salt, but still option to hold things in limitless possibility, especially if they are optimistic and for the real common good of all.

I feel certain that things, despite the horrendous mess our world seems to be in at the moment, will turn out in the very best possible way. Regardless of what we may have to go through to get there. Maybe we can’t even see how that is possible, but I believe it is possible and that it will come to pass.

There is no expectation that others should or would believe as I do.  But maybe enough of us will that things will change and change dramatically for the better.  Thanks for listening and please feel free to offer your opinions whether confirmation of my “craziness” or something else.  I don’t mind.  Really I don’t.

What about you?  Are you a strict logic absolutist?  A mostly logical nonconspirist?  A bit of a disbeliever but not willing to go too far outside the lines when you color?  Or a wild dreamer as I am?  Or something Else?  Just curious and interested if you care to share.

Here’s to a far better world than the one we are seeing now,
Hugs
Shirl

The Israeli invasion of Lebanon was planned between top Israeli officials and members of the Bush administration.
by Wayne Madsen

July 24, 2006
Wayne Madsen Report

The Israeli invasion of Lebanon was planned between top Israeli officials and members of the Bush administration. On June 17 and 18, former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Likud Knesset member Natan Sharansky met with Vice President Dick Cheney at the American Enterprise Institute conference in Beaver Creek, Colorado. There, the impending Israeli invasions of both Gaza and Lebanon were discussed. After receiving Cheney’s full backing for the invasion of Gaza and Lebanon, Netanyahu flew back to Israel and participated in a special “Ex-Prime Ministers” meeting, in which he conveyed the Bush administration’s support for the carrying out of the “Clean Break” policy — the trashing of all past Middle East peace accords, including Oslo. Present at the meeting, in addition to Netanyahu, were current Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and former Prime Ministers Ehud Barak and Shimon Peres. Former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir is very old and suffers from dementia and Ariel Sharon remains in a coma after a series of strokes.

Lebanon and Gaza invasions planned last month in Colorado meetings between Netanyahu, Sharansky, and Cheney.

After the AEI meeting, Sharansky, who has the ear of Bush, met with the Heritage Foundation in Washington and then attended a June 29 seminar at Philadelphia’s Main Line Haverford School sponsored by the Middle East Forum led by Daniel Pipes. Sharansky appeared with Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum who this past Thursday was beating the war drums against Syria, Iran, and “Islamo-fascism” in a fiery speech at the National Press Club attended by a cheering section composed of members of the neocon Israel Project, on whose board Santorum serves along with Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Virginia GOP Rep. Tom Davis.

Our Washington sources claim that the U.S.-supported invasions of Gaza and Lebanon and the impending attacks on Syria and Iran represent the suspected “event” predicted to take place prior to the November election in the United States and is an attempt to rally the American public around the Bush-Cheney regime during a time of wider war.

Who is WAYNE MADSEN ?
 Wayne Madsen is an investigative journalist, nationally distributed columnist, and author who has covered Washington, DC, politics, national security, and intelligence issues since 1994. He has written for The Village Voice, The Progressive, CAQ, Counterpunch, and the Intelligence Newsletter (based in Paris). Madsen is the author of Genocide and Covert Operations in Africa 1993-1999, co-author of America’s Nightmare: The Presidency of George Bush II, and the forthcoming Jaded Tasks: Big Oil, Black Ops & Brass Plates. Madsen is also the author of  The Handbook of Personal Data Protection (London: Macmillan, 1992), an acclaimed reference book on international data protection law.

Madsen is a former U.S. Naval officer who was assigned to the National Security Agency during the Reagan administration. He also has some twenty years experience in computer security and data privacy. He has also worked for the Naval Data Automation Command, Department of State, RCA Corporation, and Computer Sciences Corporation.

And some more info about the “Clean Break Policy” and what’s really going on.

Title: MADSEN: U.S./ISRAEL PLANNING FOR ATTACK ON LEBANON
Source: Wayne Madsen Report
URL Source: http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/
Published: Jul 21, 2006
Author: Wayne Madsen

July 21, 2006 — The current Israeli assault on Lebanon was stage-managed between the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and neocons in the Bush administration, according to well-connected sources in the nation’s capital. The Bush administration had prior knowledge of and supported Israel’s planned attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, the sources have revealed. In addition, there was no move by the Bush administration to warn Americans in the Occupied Palestinian Territories or Lebanon to leave the areas before the Israeli invasions. No travel warnings were issued to U.S. citizens in an attempt to mask Israeli attack plans, an action that resulted in last-minute Dunkirk-like sea evacuations of foreigners from Lebanon.

The first indication that Israel pre-planned its assault on the Palestinians came early this month when the Israelis began denying entry to the West Bank to Palestinians holding U.S. passports. The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem refused to intervene with Israel, claiming it was the decision of a sovereign nation. The denial of entry to Palestinian-Americans was a violation of the Oslo Accords and the Geneva Conventions. The United States does not officially recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Washington insiders report that the Bush administration’s coordination with Israel in the attacks on Hamas and Hezbollah involve the official adoption of the white paper, “A Clean Break: New Strategies for Securing the Realm,” as U.S. policy. The “Clean Break” document, authored in 1996 by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, and other neocon operatives, was written at the same time the program for the invasion and occupation of Iraq was drawn up by the same neocon players.

The current U.S.-Israeli strategy of bombing and invading Lebanon is a follow-up to four years of covert activities by the Pentagon, White House, and Mossad in Lebanon that involved the car bombing assassinations of top Lebanese officials in order to clear out Syrian forces from Lebanon. The assassinations of Elie Hobeika, George Hawi, and Rafik Hariri were all carried out to destabilize Lebanon and force the withdrawal of Syria from Lebanon. Syria was blamed by the Bush administration for all the car bombing assassinations in Lebanon.

Israel’s border exercise that saw the capture by Hezbollah of two Israeli soldiers on the Lebanese side of the border and the contingency plans involving the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Hamas in Israel, near the Israeli-Gazan border, provided a pre-text for the Israeli attack on Gaza and Lebanon. Similar plans have been drawn up to respond to a Syrian “capture” of Israeli troops in Lebanon near the Syrian border or from the Golan Heights. That will be used to justify a joint Israeli and American attack on Syria, with Israel entering from Lebanon and the U.S. entering from Iraq.

The carrying out of the joint Israeli-U.S. attack plan for Lebanon, Syria (and eventually, Iran) is the reason why the United States has stymied UN attempts to seek an immediate cease-fire. The intent of the Bush administration is to see a widening of the conflict. Unconfirmed UN ambassador to the UN John Bolton, appearing on Fox News, laid out the future blueprint for the joint U.S.-Israeli regionalization of the war in the Middle East when he stated, “I think that if you look at the support that Iran and Syria have given groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad that really the reckoning we need here is a reckoning, not just with the terrorist groups, but with the states that finance them.”
. . .snip. . .

Full article here

No, nothing surprises me any more, it just makes me more and more angry.

For more on Clean break you might find this site enlightening, since it has been in the planning since 1996
IRmep site

I have never been a violent person, but when it comes to BushCo, I am rethinking my position. . .grrrrrrrrrr

Update [2006-7-26 14:54:14 by shirlstars]:: I know many people find Mr Madsen without any credibility at all. My surprise is that some people assume that because his report is the subject of this diary that we ALL BLINDLY believe every word of it. We are thinking people. I offer this information for us to think about and decide on our own if any or some of it is plausable, and do further research if we wish more information. We are thinking people. Credible sources is an interesting phrase for me because I have a very difficult time finding any at all on either side of these questions. Sometimes Sy Hersch, maybe. . .but then again who else? Hmmmmmmmmmm. I hold any of the information I see or hear as possible certainly not as truth. I don’t know if we will ever see truth again from any quarter in my life time. Probably we have never seen truth in this country in anyones life time.]