Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Endangered Safari
Good morning all… I am once again snowed-in, will be for many days unless help arrives.
Mickey, thanks for the P.S. link on the front page. The WSW article should be sent to friends who are members of the dominant political parties - or should I say, “Party” singular.
I am finding the protests this week-end depressing. I hope I am wrong, but I think that there will be very little, if any, support for the real victims, the Iraqi civilians. Most antiwar protests these days are really “Support the Troops” celebrations. The question that is so often discussed here is how can one be against the war and still support any part of the war machine - the weapons dealers, the Commander-in-chief, the troops, etc. I have more respect for those who support the war and the troops than for those who are self-deceptive and claim to be opposed to war but also support the troops. Nobody can have it both ways. Self-deception is a major pathology in the usa.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 03/17 at 10:02 AMHello Expendables...from snowy, icy Astoria. Hi RMJ. I added a P.P.S. on the front page and figured you’d have a home remedy for something like a stye in the eyelid (at least I think that’s what it is).
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 03/17 at 10:04 AMAh, sounds like a staph infection of a hair follicle or sebacious gland. The only REAL remedy is time, but while waiting for nature to take its course, increase vitamin C and also Vitamin A, apply tea bags to the site, and fresh aloe might help.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 03/17 at 10:32 AMThanks, RMJ. Would you suggest regular black tea, green tea, or herbal tea?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 03/17 at 10:36 AMRegular, black, or green are all good. Not any herbal, except rose hips tea. It should be taken internally. The most important thing is the vitamin A. Taking increased doses of vit A for a short period of time is good. Overdosing and doing harm takes a longer period of time. Do you have a juicer? Can you make carrot juice?
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 03/17 at 10:48 AMI knew you’d have some great advice, RMJ. Thanks. Yes, I have a juicer and I’m heading out now to the health food store to get more tea and vitamin A. Thanks again. (We’ll talk about the protests later, okay?)
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 03/17 at 10:51 AMVitamin A and also vitamin D are sort of orphan nutrients. Many people who think about vitamin C often ignore A and D. Recent data shows that the recommended dosage for D has been too low. I think that those who live in the north and do not get a lot of sunshine, should take vitamin D. It is now thought that it can prevent colon cancer sometimes, and it also is necessary to strengthen bones. It is unique and functions like a hormone. I also think that people should not cover all exposed skin all the time with sun screens. That prevents the production of D in the body. Mickey, you hit on one of my favorite topics here. Also, just want to add that some vitamins need to be taken with a “fat” or oil in order to be absorbed. I sometimes also take turmeric. When my daughter was young, I used to make carrot juice for her. She didn’t like the way it tastes. I thought that it was great and still make it once in a while when I have time.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 03/17 at 11:16 AMHi Mickey
we use fresh chickweed as a compress for pink eye, which Chalazion looks a bit like. The chickweed draws out the infection and cools the inflamation. Its a spring herb though, and it will be a while before it shows up in your part of the world. We just chew it up and plaster it on till it gets hot and replace it with more as needed. It really helps.
My friend says he has used a half inch slice of potato as a compress and that it works as well. He also says prevention is worth a pound of cure. Grandpa used to say, “have you been looking at grandmas’ panties again?”We have peace demonstrations happening all over the country this weekend. The town closest to us is also running its annual military training exercise. A ten day affair where 800 military personel will drive around in tanks, carry fake rifles and search for other soldiers ‘playing’ the part of insurgents. The article really stresses the fun aspects of this....like the ‘insurgents’ dont have to shave, and, its ‘fun to play at being bad’. This is a mock drill to prepare for social break down, or failed state syndrom. Search and rescue and humanitarian response .....blah blah blah.
Boy scouts on steroids having fun playing war. It really is discouraging....I think its a pysops exercise in public mind control...Am i just being paranoid again?Posted by frances on from british columbia 03/17 at 11:50 AMMy apologies if my former post(#8)seems flippant.
Upon review thats how it reads to me. I know the sane response to feeling discouraged is to encourage another. And yet, in regards to WAR and all it stands for and the Social Situation and media response I am feeling very defeated. The problems are so wide spread, its not any one issue but the whole damned system of thought and interaction that needs healing. And where does one indivual start to work on that? Except to turn within and work back to the balance of zero, the center point. Building up the internal strength which is neccessary to project the joy and compassion and kindness this world needs.
Is this enough? Enough of an effort toward peace? I am thinking that for me it just might be all I am capable of contributing. I am thinking the energy generated by ‘raging against the war machine’ is in itself so negative that it might cancel out the goodness of the intention. Then I start to get lost in the vastness of the collective conscious experience.
I love the protesting kitty animation, thanks for sharing, Mickey and all.Posted by frances on from british columbia 03/17 at 01:20 PMHi frances....you make good suggestions there. Cynthia McKinney just said in her speech at the Washington protest that the Democratic Congress is complicit in the war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 03/17 at 01:32 PMGood luck with the stye in your eye, Mickey-- up til now, I thought those were just a song lyric or a myth or something… still on fence about checking out the riff raff protest, just a few blocks away tomorrow… but why the heck is that Emergency Conference against War on March 31 and April 1 in Ann Arbor, Michigan? There’s no way at all that I’ll make it out to that one!
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 03/17 at 03:03 PMI have more respect for those who support the war and the troops than for those who are self-deceptive and claim to be opposed to war but also support the troops. Nobody can have it both ways. Self-deception is a major pathology in the usa.” (RMJ)
Ditto. When I wonder if being so is too callous, I ask myself if I’d join the invasion myself, even if I was dirt poor, and if I did whether I would expect others to support and help me in the cause - and it becomes clear I wouldn’t, just as you wouldn’t murder someone for money.
Heck, even STEALING from someone - if you really needed food for your family - is better than killing someone.
Posted by J Chien on from Vancouver, BC 03/17 at 05:38 PMHello again, RMJ. Hello Frances and James. And welcome, J Chien. You’ve made quite a debut with your comment. Bravo.
Americans are so quick to make the distinction between the mission and the humans carrying it out but have ZERO sympathy for the troops of most other nations. The U.S. military, for its part, is merciless and draws no such distinction.
Btw, my eye feels better after several hot water compresses, a black tea compress, some Vitamin A, and a carrot juice. I even think it looks better...but I don’t wanna get too cocky. The body is tricky...especially when we are under stress.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 03/17 at 05:43 PMWhy am I not surprised the anti-war [sic] protests are taking place at the weekend? Are people too busy checking their stock portfolios on Monday (the actual anniversary of the start of the invasion of Iraq) to raise their pasty-flabby fists against the current business party’s shoddy job of empire maintenance?
***
There is a chapter in Billions and Billions, Carl Sagan’s last book, entitled “Monday Night Hunters”. In it, there’s a chart with the names of Basketball, (American) Football, and Baseball teams together with a list of totem groups from the !Kung people of the Kalahari . . .
Ant Bears, Elephants, Giraffes, Impalas, Jackals, Rhinos, Steenboks, Wildcats, Ants, Lice, Scropions, Tortoises, Bitter Melons, Long Roots, Medicine Roots, Carrying Yokes, Cutters, Big Talkers, Cold Ones, Diarrheas, Dirty Fighters, Fighters, Owners, Penises, Short Feet
Sagan traces a connection between the human hunting instinct---a hardwired “zest for the chase” inherited from thousands of years of hunter-gatherer existence---and team sports as a residual “outlet for the modern hunter, decked out in his overalls or jeans or three-piece suit.” He says:
It’s hard to imagine an American sports team named the Diarrheas (’Gimme a “D”...’). Or--my personal favorite, a group of men with no self-esteem problems--the Big Talkers. And one in which the players are called the Owners would probably cause some consternation in the front office
Posted by Keir on from the hague 03/17 at 09:20 PMthanks for the welcome Mickey
I dont know if you were intentionally trying to make me see the subtlety between seeing people as fighters vs. people, well you probably were, but in reading what you wrote I did feel that it is complex. I dont think the subtlety really applies that much to the problem as I see it, since a large part of the conflict comes from Americans simply not knowing a lot of things, what their govt do, etc., but I did think of the diary at My Left Wing and why people support it.
I don’t think I can sum up the complexities that go into the subject matter (a lot of which is emotional), except that its possible to have multifaceted approach to a problem, and for one not to follow everything they technically believe to the T and be a slave to it. (a actually more “blind” and rigid approach which would also just invite unnecessary trouble for yourself) What you might do in a given situation depends on the circumstance, and which is like a lot of things in terms of what one “feels” is right vs. the law (which cannot respond to subtleties in human behavior and interactions.) Hope that has some semblance of making sense.
I hope your eye bump goes away soon, if it hasn’t already by the time you read this.
Posted by J Chien on from Vancouver, BC 03/18 at 12:52 AMHello Expendables...from snowy, cold Astoria.
My eye looks a little better. The lid itself is less red and swollen but under my eye looks more like a black eye each day. Then again, I have deep bags under both eyes so it’s hard to tell.
Btw, I forgot to post my traditional St. Pat’s link yesterday:
http://tinyurl.com/3xvdx9Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 03/18 at 07:57 AMGood morning! I was off on a romantic interlude and thought the protest business was yesterday-oops! I’m also conflicted about the whole scene. In Li’l Beirut these days people just march around downtown on a weekend day-they’re not disrupting anything vital other than a few Sunday shoppers and many merchants don’t mind because the crowds often spend money on food and drink during what’s usually a slow business day. And the many of the cops agree with the demonstrators as do the disrupted shoppers for the most part.
Posted by 'soup on from li'l beirut 03/18 at 12:27 PMHey everyone-- I find I just can’t motivate myself crosstown to all the activism (sic) going on 2nd Ave… I’m getting ready for this:
http://bookclub.meetup.com/600/calendar/5554604/
Who knew that Dostoyevsky’s little life-affirming tale would be such a big draw for a movie night? And yes, I am making vegan banana almond cream pie. You come for the Russian literature, but you stay for the cruelty-free desserts!
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 03/18 at 12:30 PMHi everyone...from what I can tell, today’s protest in NY is not being covered by the Media? Yesterday’s was broadcast on C-span. Some of the speakers there had some good things to say… but it is just words. Action is what is needed. Even inaction would help. If everyone just sat down wherever they are and refused to go to school or work it would have an impact. I feel sort of bad for all of the people who spent money, chartered buses, traveled on icy roads and now are being ignored.
Has anyone followed the news about the bus accident with the sports team that happened a week ago? The NTSB is investigating and trying to figure out the cause. Hummmm, it seems to me that if 82 accidents occur in the same place maybe the engineers who designed the highway got it wrong. Exiting from the left on a high speed highway is a design flaw. Maybe I’m wrong. I never liked the New Jersey traffic circles either. I saw too many drivers playng chicken while driving around in circles.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 03/18 at 01:37 PMHey James sounds like a fantastic book club you have going. Wish I was there to participate in the discussion and partake of the banana almond pie.
For now I will just have be content with finding a copy of Nausea. Something to read next winter.
CBC reported on and showed film footage of the war protests from abroad, but only mentioned the canadian demos in passing, almost as an after-thought. I agree with you RMJ words are not enough. A national week long sit in would be a good start, except it would be a tremendous hardship for people. Even missing one day of income is dicey for my monthly budget. If people could also stop shopping, except for absolute essentials. I hear alot about the ‘power of the purse’ enmass temporary boycott would make a big statement.
I am glad your eye is healing Mickey.Posted by frances on from british columbia 03/18 at 03:26 PMIt’s not possible for me at this time to stop working. I CAN be choosy about what I buy and keep my money in my pocket. That’s something that would have served me well in my 20’s. I’m 39 and still paying for my 20’s.
Peace!
Posted by David on from Louisville KY 03/18 at 05:51 PMcaptcha is ‘progress’ for this posting.
Posted by sk on from 03/19 at 12:39 AM
Next entry: "Russian girls are easy" (and other things I learned on my long trip home)
Previous entry: Search Party
Copyright © 2005-2007 Mickey Z.
