1. Harvest something - Dandelions and chives that's it so far, but mint and rhubarb soon.
3. Preserve something - I canned chicken and beef stock from bones I'd been saving in the freezer (I'm keeping a tally on the pantry building page). 
5. Prep something - I've been saving newspaper and finding burlap sacks at the coffee roaster to snuff out grass and plan new gardens at our new place.

Cook something New - Nothing new this week, just lots of old standards and using up things we have on hand so as not to have too much excess when it comes time to move.

Manage your reserves - I started a 2008 pantry building tally to keep track of what I have on hand, and I always label and date jars when I'm done canning.

Work on local food systems - I shared some worm compost water with a neighbor, for their strawberry patch.  That's about it, I'm not doing well on this Independence Days Challenge.

Reduced Waste - Saving the newspapers for mulch means no recycling necessary.

Learned a Skill - Does learning the intricacies of real estate and mortgage processing/procedures count?

PS: It does look like all is good for us on this house deal, as long as the appraisal comes in like we're expecting.  Posts may be a little light and because of the move I don't know that I'm going to do as well as I'd planned on this independence days challenge.

Here we have another example of greed winning over culture. The artist as investor for a decade and then the government/developer comes in and sweeps them up and ushers in a “viable” landscape for the public of New Jersey. The artist pioneered this stagnant, toxic and post industrial enclave located on their shores. Only to witness the government and its guiding developers at work stripping it bare of all the history, recent and past, that brought this area to life. The next chapter is being written through the actions of knocking down old world mills and erecting generic high rise buildings that will rationalize the funds used to build the PATH train station. Why can’t New Jersey make a little preserve for the arts that put Jersey City in the minds of New Yorkers and New Jersey residences alike? Look at all the money and work they do for the sports industry. Is art any different? I feel this is another example of the artist in the post industrial landscape of cities. The artist does the best public relations for an area and then the developers thank them for the free services by wiping out their very existence- right down to the buildings.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/15/nyregion/15towns.html?ex=1368590400&en=ecd94dc4458b406a&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

The causes are many, and all of the various groups who take an issue as their own are right. Education reform, political reform, global economic reform, water rights, global climate change, nuclear energy, weaponry reform, "third world" development, fundamental religions, capitalism as a distribution - or accumulation of wealth. Basic human kindness, and meeting the very basic needs of life, including touch and comfort. All of these and many many more are necessary and anyone who does any intentional work in these areas deserves appreciation and support.

And this issue of water is not high in our public consciousness yet. If what M. Barlow has to say is true it soon will be.

Audio Link Here...

This is an inspiration to me. While wanting to be adept at all phases of photography, what is most important to me is the ability to speak, to communicate, to make a difference thru the images I make. Or, to say it differently, to use my photography to communicate what I see and what I have to say.

As a goal: I would like to be in the consideration for one of these grants.

Typically, I see a fun story and click it, read it and move on. The problem is, there are not that many fun stories out there, most of the stuff that is posted is utterly boring and cannot really be of genuine interest. These posts typically get 2000+ diggs, and upwards of 200 comments.

I want to write and tell the losers to stop commenting, to just stop writing mindless drivel, (stop posting it would be even better) but I'ld be cast as a troll. I just wonder who are these people that spend hours of their lives reading dumb posts, commenting on things which are utterly useless and pointless. It's not even funny most of it. It's just:

"Wow"

"Amazing"

"Linux rules"

"Windows sucks"

"Fuck you asshole"

"Nazi"

You get the drift.

One of the first things I noticed during the concert was the desk in front of the entrance promoting various LGBT and leftist causes.  At first I thought this was just because I was in Berkeley, but as I looked for our seats to listen to the concert, I noticed that a large proportion of the audience were lesbian women.  I asked Lisa about it and she told me that Indigo Girls were strong activists in gay and lesbian causes.  When the concert started, I really enjoyed the music and the two women that made up the group.  They talked to the audience and asked for requests for songs, they brought up on stage a student to play accordion to one of their songs, and everyone had a wonderful time.  I really liked the songs.    It was the first time I heard songs like "Closer to Fine" and "Galileo" and they were catchy and fun folksy songs.

After the concert Lisa lent me her CD "All That We Let In", which I instantly liked.  The cover was by Jaime Hernandez, one of my favorite cartoonists who did the 1980s alternative comic book "Love and Rockets".    I liked every song on the CD, and my favorites were "Free In You", "Perfect World" and "All That We Let In".    I liked the joy in the Indigo Girls singing, the crisp harmonies, and the catchiness of the songs.  The lyrics have a strong social consciousness, but it's not in-your-face. 

Indigo Girls consists of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers, two high school friends.  A look in Wikipedia shows that they were a part of the Atlanta, Georgia college rock scene of the 1980s that included such bands as the B-52s and REM.   They started producing CDs in the 1980s, starting with the CD "Indigo Girls" and they were nominated for Best New Artist in the grammies, losing out to Milli Vanilli.   Amy and Emily wrote most of their songs separately, and my wife tells me they have a sort of Lennon/McCartney type dynamic in their songs.  One songwriter tends to write edgier songs while the other writes more optimistic songs.  i'm not sure which one writes which, but like John and Paul, Amy and Emily's songs really work well together, complimenting each others strengths.

A month ago my wife purchased the Indigo Girls latest CD, Despite Our Differences.  It's an edgier collection of songs,  with lyrics that mine some of the same stories of economic misery that Bruce Springsteen and John Cougar Mellancamp mine in their populist songs.  In "They Won't Have Me" Amy Ray sings,

"They won't have me, but I love this place. 
The rural life is broken, the farmlands gone to chaff.
My hands are idle, my mind needs rest,
the toil of the decent and the sleep of the best.
I sit in diners with  the old men.
they talk of work cause it's all they ever did.
They gave their hearts to Jesus and got serious
They gave up their drinking and worked for this-nothing."

In my ears, I sense a sadness at the lives of people left out of the economic benefits of the Bush years.  Amy and Emily have instilled the sense of social concern that make up their entire career.  In the back of their CD sleeve, they have a list of groups whose goals they support:  the Carter Center (www.cartercenter.org), Women's Action for New Directions (www.wand.org), WITNESS (www.witness.org), Honor the Earth (www.honorearth.org), Native Wind (www.nativewind.org), the National Biodiesel Board (www.biodiesel.org), the National Youth Advocacy Coalition (www.nyacyouth.org), the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Foundation (www.thetaskforce.org), and Indymedia (www.indymedia.org). 

My last time seeing Indigo Girls was in the Mountain Winery in Saratoga, California a few years ago.  A nice folk group called Girlyman opened for them and it was a nice afternoon in the lawn listening to good music.   The Indigo Girls weren't as intimate in their banter with the crowd as the concert that I saw in Berkeley, but it was an energetic and entertaining show nonetheless.  I see Indigo Girls in the same spirit of music and activism as Woodie Guthrie and Pete Seeger in the 1940s, and Bob Dylan, and Peter, Paul and Mary in the 1960s, and Bruce Springsteen, Public Enemy and John Cougar Mellencamp in the 1980s and 1990s.  It's good company to be in.  Music may not be able to change the world but it can change attitudes and cause people to think.  Indigo Girls is doing its part to change people's attitudes for a better world.

Plant a flower on  the Pigs of God  site to show your support for the ending of the cruel Taiwanese Pigs of God contest.

More info here on this cruel practice.

Show your support!

"NEWARK — A group of New Jersey peace activists sued President Bush on Tuesday, claiming he violated the Constitution by going to war with Iraq without congressional authority and seeking to prevent a similar move against Iran."

Appended below are four (in a series of five) links to poignant videos from the excellent Guardian series A Week in Gaza, detailing the impact of the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Ghetto on ordinary people. On this 60th anniversary of the Nakba, these heart-rending portraits of Gazans is particularly timely and offers a window into life in Gaza.

As Ali Abunimah, currently in Sydney, has said, Nakba Denial not only exists, but unlike Holocaust Denial, still has some mainstream intellectual acceptance. The ongoing plight of the indigenous Palestinians after 60 years deserves our attention and support now more than ever. For our part in Australia, there is a strong campaign to have the Australian Parliament acknowledge the Nakba -- please consider lending your support if you are in Australia.

1. The blockade and the smugglers (4.55)
Israel's fuel blockade has ground Gaza's infrastructure to a halt. In response, smuggling gangs bring fuel in from Egypt through underground tunnels

2. 'Who'll look after my little ones when I'm gone?' (4.06)
In the second of five films, multimedia reporter Clancy Chassay hears from Karima, a 34-year-old mother of five, critically ill with Hodgkin's lymphoma, an aggressive but treatable form of cancer. Like all but immediate emergency patients, she has been refused permission to cross into Israel to receive vital treatment. Her doctors in Gaza say that without this treatment she will die.

3. Meet the Bakrs ... a middle-class family from Gaza (4.11)
Multimedia reporter Clancy Chassay talks to the Bakrs about life under the Israeli blockade, juggling jobs, school runs and clinical depression

4. 'They say they have the right to shoot at us and kill us' (3.12)
In the fourth of five films from Gaza, multimedia reporter Clancy Chassay meets Samir who lost his brother and two footballing friends during Israeli rocket and shell attacks on their playing fields.

See also:

• Siege Hits Palestinians Before They Are Born By Mohammed Omer
• Nakba at 60 by George Bisharat
• There is no alternative to the right of return - Statement, National Committee to Commemorate the Nakba at 60, 15 May 2008

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.551310&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26] from www.youtube.com posted with vodpod

Liberty is campaigning to block government proposals to extend the length of time someone can be held without charge from 28 days to 42. There is absolutely NO EVIDENCE to support this dangerous and counter-productive measure. They're just trying to look tough. The crucial vote will be taking place in the coming weeks, please support the campaign! I am a weeny bit biased, so don't just take my word for it - visit www.chargeorrelease.com and see for yourself.

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.551306&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26] from www.youtube.com posted with vodpod

Having just said I will be posting on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, here I am on Thursday morning failing to write about East London. The reason is Bloggers Unite for Human Rights. You probably know about the amazing work that Amnesty does abroad, but if I can't zoom in on the East End for this one, I can at least look at human rights in the UK, because - like charity - they begin at home. Liberty is probably the organisation that does the most on this in the UK and they rock pretty hard.

So what are your rights? Here's a list of them as they stand in the Human Rights Act 1998:

Which one would you be happy to give up?

About 6 months ago I started working at a human rights charity. It was a completely new area for me. I have since come to realise two very important things:

1. We are lucky to live in the country that we do. Once a nation's human rights framework has been dismantled or compromised, there is no protection. There's no way to complain, there's no way to make a change, you cannot hold anyone to account. I know the total shambles that is parliamentary politics at the moment doesn't provide a great deal of comfort, but it really is better than the alternative. Not that we can rest easy - I urge you to watch Taking Liberties if you get the chance. It's pretty damn scary
2. Human rights only work if everyone has them. If you are happy to see somebody imprisoned without trial, then you are forfeiting your own protection. If you are, like me, educated, white, and middle-class, it's unlikely that They will be coming for you anytime soon. But use your imagination, and try to understand what it would mean for someone to be arrested and held without charge and with no explanation.

It is vital that we safeguard these principles, even if it means standing up for the rights of people that we despise. That is a tough pill to swallow, I know. But we mustn't arm our government, our future governments, with weapons that could one day be turned on us.

Scientology has repeatedly accused Anonymous of hate crimes, vandalism, hacking, and sending death threats, but Clearwater police have found no reason to take action against members of the group or its peaceful protests.

LINK: St. Petersburg Times: Clearwater council right to leave Scientology protests alone.

The article does not, however, mention the ominous "Anonymous members are not welcome here" signs in local business windows. Brings up lovely memories of segregation, doesn't it:

The 60th annual Armed Forces Festival in Bremerton is this weekend. The theme of this years event, "Saluting Those Who Serve." But only if you agree with our message. The lapel pin patriots of the Bremerton Area Chamber of Commerce, decided that one group of veterans who have served their country, must not march in the parade.

Who are these rebel veterans and how dare they bring a message of peace to Norm Dicks parade of war mongering? They would be Veterans For Peace. The key word being...veterans. The scary word being...peace.

The Bremerton Chamber only wants to salute veterans who think a certain way. The Bremerton Chamber has an agenda to push all this week and peace, sure as hell is not on it.

See you on Saturday!

This is in keeping with a new desire to not have incriminating information about me easily found by people that don't know more than my name (prospective employers for example). Its also because I don't want people finding out who I am easily using only a google search.

One thing that I have never put on the internet is my phone number. Its there in my facebook account, but they have fairly decent security, and I wanted it there for my friends. Its actually more restricted access there, than if it was in the White Pages.

Now, its well known that I am a queer rights activist. Its not something I hide. I am involved in the CCU, and will probably get involved with Good Process and/or Gender Agenda soonish. All of those organisations have excellent reputations, and so I can be proud to count myself a member of them, if I choose to join.

During a routine google search of my name on Tuesday evening I noticed an odd listing... it was 3rd... right after my Facebook 'This profile is restricted!' result, and my employers directory listing for me.

Its said (and I can't screen shot it cos it shows too much of my personal information)

CANBERRA SEEKS INDITEMENT OF HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVIST
Sapphire Rose {her real phone number!!!} No Email [CAAH Activist] Ryan {mylastname} {my real phone number!!!} {someone elses email} [CAAH Activist]

I clicked through and found one of the CCU press releases in a CAAH archive of press releases. I emailed the address listed next to my name and told them that I wanted it removed immediately.
I have a few issues with this:
1. My phone number is not for wide publication. Including it as a contact in a press release does not constitute consent to have it published. That would be like a newspaper publishing my phone number without consulting me first. Its understood that 'more info' contacts are for the media to contact, not to include in publication.
2. I am not a CAAH activist. I don't want to be associated with CAAH, because they have been called 'The Queer wing of the DSP', the DSP being a shady socialist organisation that I despise.
3. The CCU is not an ACT branch of CAAH. Our press releases shouldn't be published in an archive of CAAH's materials.
4. What the fuck is up with that title? I don't even know what it MEANS. I suppose that they don't mean INDITEMENT, but probably INDICTMENT. Even so, as far as I know there's no indictment of homosexual activists going on here in Canberra, and certainly it has nothing to do with the press release we sent out.

Now, if it had simply been taken down, I would have just posted a little rant, and gotten over it. I may have not even bothered posting a rant, I don't exactly have a shortage of things to rant about at the moment. (Like the bank freezing my accounts on Monday. That was fun fun fun.)

However, my name and phone number stayed up there for two days. Its still there as I type this. In spite of me contacting them for its removal *the same day* that they posted it, they told me that they had no access to their website, and couldn't take it down. I asked them to contact their ISP, and have the ISP take it down. They refused, saying that it would take too long before the ISP would act.
I eventually had to threaten to call the ISP myself, and have their entire site taken down, before they emailed me back saying it would be down by the end of the day.

Ha, I just got an email from them saying that its down. I went and Googled myself again, and its just the URL has changed. I click on the link they emailed me to prove its down, and it gives a 404 error.
I Google my name, and click the link, and its still there, at a different URL.

The moral of this story is... if you publish someones personal information, there is always a way to get it down, you might just have to you know, make the effort. Don't expect them to roll over and let it be up there indefinitely while you fart arse around.

And now for a disclaimer: I am a member of the CCU, I am not THE CCU. I have personal issues with CAAH, and the DSP and the overlap in DSP and CAAH membership. I think that socialists are a pain in the arse, and hold back social change movements. These are all my personal opinions. If I wanted to damage the relationship between CAAH and the CCU I would have sent this rant to the CCU email list, not published it on my personal blog.
SO if you feel the need to say I am being 'divisive' and holding back the movement, and reminding me that CAAH and the CCU are working for the same goal, please STFU.

we're reading the irresistible revolution in the class i'm teaching at SPU right now, and one of the things shane claiborne tries to do at the simple way is reframe "charity" in the context of community so that it's personal and relational instead of distant and fragmented. in his own words:

We wrestle to free ourselves from macrocharity and distant acts of charity that serve to legitimize apathetic lifestyles of good intentions but rob us of the gift of community... writing a check makes us feel good and can fool us into thinking that we have loved the poor.

shane says that one of the greatest tragedies of the church is not that we don't care for the poor, but that we don't even know the poor. and so instead of giving and serving because we are compelled by a sense of community, we end up donating from a safe distance to ultimately make ourselves feel better. i'm certainly guilty of this. it's so easy to just go online and enter my credit card number so i don't have to think about the personal cost. this is the great tragedy of globalization: while the world is shrinking in one sense due to technology, the gap between the rich and the poor is growing and we are insulated by the distance.

this is why more and more i am convinced that any desire to be a globally-minded advocate for the marginalized must go hand in hand with a sense of local advocacy that helps us to connect the dots between the privileged and the oppressed. otherwise, our most benevolent acts of macrocharity will always be distant, no matter how hard we try to convince ourselves that we are living generously. when we write a check to world vision with one hand and shop in affluent suburbs with the other, we are disconnecting our sense of justice from our own comfort and consumerism. it's inconsistent, hypocritical, and unsustainable because it's about charity and not justice.

so what's the solution? i really don't know, but we're starting small. our community group is in its third year of trying to figure this out, and while we're taking baby steps, i think we're making progress. last month we started a community garden for friends and neighbors and will be donating to the local food bank along with sharing space with east african immigrants in the neighborhood who don't have room to garden. last week we picked up street garbage in the colman/judkins neighborhood with yannick, our friendly local french-speaking teenager from congo who dresses like 50 cent and is looking for transitional housing. and when i attend rainier vista's multicultural committee meeting that requires five translators just to get started, the world feels a little smaller to me.

and while i wouldn't say that i've moved beyond charity and into a sense of justice that grows out of community just yet, i'm slightly closer now than i was a year ago. and two years ago. and three...

May 14, 2008

Contact: James T. Wigdel

415-550-5718

415-205-4708

jwigdel@usps.gov

usps.com/news

Release: SF08-053

Tenderloin Community Post Office Converting to Full Service Unit

U.S. Postal Service Civic Center Station to Offer Mailing and Shipping Services

SAN FRANCISCO — The Post Office located at 101 Hyde St. will soon sell more than P.O. Boxes and service the General Delivery community. The U.S. Postal Service announced today that it is moving forward with plans to expand service at the Civic Center Post Office to include all Postal retail services.

“The community asked us to consider upgrading the Civic Center Post Office to a ‘full fledged’ retail center and we listened,” said Winifred G. Groux, Postal Service district manager for San Francisco. “After exploring all of our options, including consolidating several offices into one, upgrading the Civic Center Post Office makes the most sense for the community and the Postal Service.”

The Postal Service is in the early stages of discussion with its Facilities group and the land lord to determine the best course of action to begin the upgrade; however no timeline has yet been established. “We want to move as quickly as possible,” Groux said.

Several factors went into the decision to upgrade the Civic Center. Among them was the Postal Enhancement and Accountability Act of 2006, which mandates the Postal Service to be profitable. The law also gives the Postal Service more flexibility in how it offers its products, such as Express and Priority Mail, so upgrading the Civic Center gives the Postal Service an opportunity to offer its products closer to the community.

“We also received a good deal of information from the community,” Groux said. In particular, Elaine Zamora, district manager of the North of Market Tenderloin Community Benefit District, provided relevant information about community growth that has and will take place in the Tenderloin area. This solidified the business decision to go forward with upgrading the Civic Center Post Office.

Get involved folks, it gets results!

The Mayor would make no comment about the possibility of a street sweep to remove the protesters from their peaceful camp, nor would he speak to the citizens' right to protest. Potter continued to reference his 10 year plan to fight homelessness, and the fact that 37 million dollars go towards programming to fight poverty. However, he said very little about the repeal or suspension of the camping ordinance which he claims is a 'a valuable tool' for police and that the violators of said ordinance are only asked to leave or are removed if the police receive a complaint. It is undeniable that this 'valuable tool' is used more often to violate human rights than upon property owner complaint.

So basically, the issues presented by the homeless protest encampment were not addressed, and no compromise nor middle ground has been reached. The opening of the additional 102 beds is obviously not enough for the 150+ homeless sleeping at city hall Monday night. When asked, Potter replied that he would not be willing to present the protesters wishes to suspend the Sit/Lie and Camping ordinances to City Council, whom have the jurisdiction to suspend or repeal said ordinances.

Another exciting day at city hall. There will probably be a promised sweep tonight, followed by a renewed protest in some form tomorrow, perhaps a relocation of the camp or a return to the city hall sidewalk... Expect more updates soon.

PCAP - Portland Coalition Against Poverty (a newly, newly forming group to organize against poverty in PDX)

Never has any movie affected me personally as much as this movie. If you've got three hours to burn and want to thwart off local news. You'll understand me perfectly when you rethink Lebanese society while watching this.

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3677437859600027297]

"This shows the city they can't stop people from trying to help the homeless," said Montanez, adding that he and other members of Orlando Food Not Bombs will continue to protest the city's rules.

"As long as the ordinance is on the books and homeless people and the working poor are demonized by the city, we'll be out there."

The 2006 ordinance restricts how many people can be fed in city parks, effectively banning any single group from holding large feedings more than twice a year. The measure was adopted in response to residents and business owners near Lake Eola, who complained that regular feedings of large numbers of people were becoming a burden on Orlando's signature park.

Last June, protesters chanted and beat drums outside the Thornton Park restaurant Graze, where Dyer had gathered with supporters to raise money for his re-election campaign. Police said the drummers violated the city's noise ordinance and arrested Montanez, Ryan Hutchinson, Bryan Jones, Brett Mason and William Vertlieb.

All were acquitted Friday.

Jacqueline Dowd, the protesters' lawyer, said that if the demonstration hadn't been outside Dyer's fundraiser, her clients never would have been arrested.

"The usual procedure when someone is making noise is to give them a ticket," she said.

"They don't get handcuffed and hauled off to 33rd Street [jail]."

City Attorney Mayanne Downs said police were responding to complaints from residents, not the mayor.

"It was a genuine disruption to the residents there. Their intent was to be disruptive," she said.

The city's ordinance is scheduled to go on trial next month in federal court. Homeless advocates have sued the city, arguing that the regulations are unconstitutional.