i don’t know what to say about the fact that our country is about to go to war other than that i am very, very sad. there are a million good, intellectual, rational arguments for why this is a bad idea, but for me, the human toll, the loss of life and the brutality of war is what frightens and saddens me. i don’t like to think that violence is ever a good strategy, but i could be convinced otherwise. the thing that makes me really angry is that it doesn’t seem like the president or his administration even once considered the human cost of a war. he didn’t acknowledge the implications of war, to us soldiers, to iraqi soldiers, to iraqi civillians, to us citizens in the wake of terrorist retaliation. it seemed like he never even gave peace a chance. i can live with someone saying, “i hear what you have to say, but i disagree”, but to be ignored entirely is a slap in the face. i don’t know what to say. when our country goes to war, “no war” doesn’t mean a whole lot. i guess all i want is peace. i want the war to be over as soon as possible. i want the us out of the middle east as soon as possible. i want my fellow americans to have the backbone to say, “yes, i support our troops, but i think the administration is wrong about this. let’s get it over with as soon as possible and see if we can repair the damage”. i don’t want unilateralism. what could be more beutiful than the idea of a world of neighbors. that we can resolve things peacefully, that we can live together, that there are more important things in life than living in fear, in worrying about preemption. please don’t make a world where we can’t live our lives with any meaning. i’m not asking this of the government because they aren’t listening. i’m asking this of my neighbors, of my community, of my family. in our own lives, in our own conflict, this isn’t the way we resolve things. we don’t go down the street and attack our neighbors – not because they don’t deserve it – but because we realize such barbarism isn’t worth it. for all the kids – we’re about to go on tour – what do you tell kids who are already politicized? of course they don’t support the war. all i can think of is that we need to appreciate what we have. we need to appreciate our family, our friends, our passions because there are people who don’t have that privilege and soon, we might not either. in a world where life might not be worth living maybe the best protest we can voice is to make our lives mean somehting. to treat each other as individuals, as humans, as brothers and sisters, in the way that governments and nations can’t. to make beauty and passion, to build things, to hold things together. i don’t know what else i can do.

interesting analysis on the iraq war from a former us diplomat

I just feel we’re entering a new sort of ugly phase where America attempts to be a unilateral power. But we do not realize that the United States was the chief beneficiary of an international system that found alternatives to violence — the idea that the United Nations provided hope for peaceful resolution. We have just told [the world] that that’s not longer operative, and that violence is the last, best resort. And I’m afraid we’ll be victims of that violence far more than we are the beneficiaries of that violence.

well said. this interview is pretty amazing. it really articulates the reasons why a war with iraq is a bad idea and does so from the standpoint of someone who seems to genuinely believe in america’s best interests and have an understanding of the international implications of the administration’s foreign policy decisions.

the article is available at http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/03/19/_kiesling/index.html

interesting analysis on the iraq war from a former us diplomat

I just feel we’re entering a new sort of ugly phase where America attempts to be a unilateral power. But we do not realize that the United States was the chief beneficiary of an international system that found alternatives to violence — the idea that the United Nations provided hope for peaceful resolution. We have just told [the world] that that’s not longer operative, and that violence is the last, best resort. And I’m afraid we’ll be victims of that violence far more than we are the beneficiaries of that violence.

well said. this interview is pretty amazing. it really articulates the reasons why a war with iraq is a bad idea and does so from the standpoint of someone who seems to genuinely believe in america’s best interests and have an understanding of the international implications of the administration’s foreign policy decisions.

the article is available at http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/03/19/_kiesling/index.html

a frightening personal metaphor for global affairs

a poem based on a true event that happened to me tonight:

on the evening that my country went to war, a kid kicked me in the leg as he rode past me on his bike. “why’d you kick me in the leg?” i yelled at him. “you were in the way,” he yelled back.

dissent tickets

people have cautioned me against unfairly stereoyyping columbus police

contact info for representitives for boiiling springs
Todd Russell Platts (202) 225-5836
Rick Santorum (202) 224-6324
Arlen Spector (202) 224-4254

Dixie Chicks Slammed For Bush Gibe

from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/03/14/entertainment/main544077.shtml

The Dixie Chicks are drawing criticism from country music fans for remarks singer Natalie Maines made about President George W. Bush during a recent performance in London.

Maines told the audience earlier this week, “Just so you know, we’re ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.”

Angry phone calls flooded Nashville radio station WKDF-FM on Thursday, some demanding a boycott of the Texas trio’s music.

The group released a statement saying they’ve been overseas for several weeks and “the anti-American sentiment that has unfolded here is astounding. While we support our troops, there is nothing more frightening than the notion of going to war with Iraq and the prospect of all the innocent lives that will be lost.”

In a separate statement Thursday, Maines said, “I feel the president is ignoring the opinion of many in the U.S. and alienating the rest of the world. My comments were made in frustration, and one of the privileges of being an American is you are free to voice your own point of view.”

The Dixie Chicks will kick off a U.S. tour in support of their multiplatinum album “Home” on May 1 in Greenville, South Carolina. The group’s hits include “Wide Open Spaces,” “Ready to Run” and “Landslide.”

power click in xemacs
a “power click” is holding down the shift button while clicking. shift-clicking the middle button in speedbar will cause the file to be opened in a new frame

reading list for defiance, ohio bookmarks
my band, defiance, ohio, is making bookmarks to give away on tour. mikeal is doing the design and most of the work, and a few of us are submitting lists of books we’ve read to be printed on the bookmarks. here’s my list. it’s not like my favorite books of all time, but these are the books i’ve read in the last 6 months (the lifetime of defiance, ohio) that i’ve really liked and would recommend:

Box Office Poison by Alex Robinson (ISBN: 1891830198)
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (ISBN: 0312421273)
Mysteries of Pittsburch by Michael Chabon (ISBN: 0060972122)
If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino (ISBN: 0156439611)
The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman (ISBN: 0345413350)
Please Don’t Kill the Freshman by Zoe Trope (ISBN: 1892061139)

making your pages show up on search engines

http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/99/31/index1a.html?tw=e-business