Guns in Town

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Saturday January 15, 2011 · 3:21 PM PST

2011/01/15 · 15:21

It's a lesson from western movies: when there are guns in town, they will be used. Civilization is pretty much defined as a place where law and custom rule, not where the streets are ruled by guns.

Guns on the street aren't acceptable in a civilized town. It's the citizens who enforce this really with the weight of their commitment, but it is the law that backs it up.

So what does that say about us right now?

Captain Future

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Wednesday October 27, 2010 · 3:26 PM PDT

2010/10/27 · 15:26

It's the last week before the elections. It's the moment when potential voters are most focused. It's the time to nail down organizing for GOTV and get it started, especially in early voting states.

It's the time for action. And if you need a few words to keep you going, I suggest these: Guard the Change.

Because when you strip away the side issues, that's what this election is about.

Captain Future

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Saturday October 09, 2010 · 3:28 AM PDT

2010/10/09 · 03:28

"How terribly strange to be seventy," sang Simon and Garfunkel in 1968, when they were 27 (Simon will turn 69 on the 13th of this month, and Garfunkel in November) and John Lennon was 28. It's hard to imagine John Lennon at 70. But that's what he would be today--October 9-- had he not been shot and killed in 1980, a couple of months past his 40th birthday.

Captain Future

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Sunday August 01, 2010 · 6:57 PM PDT

2010/08/01 · 18:57

The 1980s were thehottest decade on record for planet Earth. Until the 1990s.

The 1990s were the hottest decade on record.

Until the 2000s.

The 2000s are the hottest decade on record.

This year is hotter.

2010 is on pace to be thehottest year on record--and last week was the hottest week on record.

Captain Future

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Wednesday July 07, 2010 · 7:47 PM PDT

2010/07/07 · 19:47

Hey, GOPer Gulf Coast governors: where are the National Guard troops President Obama authorized you to call up to help clean up and protect the Gulf? In this emergency that you blame the federal government for not addressing, what are you doing besides political showboating?

Captain Future

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Sunday June 06, 2010 · 4:43 AM PDT

2010/06/06 · 04:43

June 6 is an important date in the history of Robert F. Kennedy, for two reasons. I will emphasize the first: June 6, 1966.

Partly for his support of independence movements in Africa as U.S. Attorney-General, and partly because of President John F. Kennedy’s opposition to South Africa’s racist policies, Robert F. Kennedy—then junior Senator from New York—was invited to speak at the annual Day of Affirmation held by the National Union of South African Students,an organization dedicated to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The story of that trip, the message of that speech, and the other significance of this date, after the jump.

Captain Future

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Sunday April 25, 2010 · 4:12 PM PDT

2010/04/25 · 16:12

Besides the apparent political silence versus the two million shouting voices forty years ago, this Earth Day has some significant differences from the first. For example, there is 40% less sea ice in the world, and much of what remains is melting. There are 8.5 million square miles more that must deal with a tropical climate; half of Australia and much of the American Southwest are in permanent drought. River water has shrunk by a volume equivalent to the Mississippi. Glaciers worldwide are shrinking, and some are virtually gone.

It is a different planet, that Bill McKibben calls "Eaarth." This diary is about his new book, and its limitations, and about another book or two that compensate, or help to complete the picture. A picture of the future for the first Eaarth Day.

Captain Future

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Saturday April 10, 2010 · 6:01 PM PDT

2010/04/10 · 18:01

This weekend's Climate Crisis reading is Paul Krugman in the New York Times Magazine writing on "the economics of lessening climate change." It's a long article, helpfullysummarized at Climate Progress with additional links.

This diary is a more detailed follow-up toLaughingPlanet's diary the other day.

Captain Future

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Saturday February 20, 2010 · 6:03 PM PST

2010/02/20 · 18:03

About ten days ago, the White House helda celebration of music integral to the Civil Rights struggles of the 60s. I recorded the PBS broadcast but haven't gotten around to watching it yet. But I'm pretty sure that among the songs by Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, etc., those assembled did not sit around holding hands and singing "Kumbaya."

But they could have. Because we did that, sitting-in, marching, demonstrating for Civil Rights. That was one of the songs that held us together. Now it's a common cliche of scorn and disdain, on the left these days even more than the right. It deserves better.

Captain Future

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Thursday January 28, 2010 · 4:20 AM PST

2010/01/28 · 04:20

I heard Howard Zinn speak only twice: many years ago, when he spoke against the Vietnam War to a small beleagured group of students, and more recently, when he filled the Humboldt State University gym.

He's best known now of course as the author of A People's History of the United States. A few years ago, Deborah Mokma who edits and publishesSentient Times in Oregon, published a quote from Zinn I found intriguing. But when I checked with her, she didn't know where it was from--it was sent along to her without attribution.

So I looked through Zinn's books in the library until I found it, and the paragraphs that followed were just as profound. Now that I've heard about Zinn's death, I thought this expanded quote (from his 1994 book, You Can't Be Neutral On A Moving Train, Beacon Press, p.208) is a fitting epitaph, or at least a wonderful legacy. It follows after the jump.

Captain Future

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Tuesday December 29, 2009 · 6:01 PM PST

2009/12/29 · 18:01

Ten years ago, I speculated on what this first decade of the 21st centuryought to be called. The choice wasn't obvious, and the alternatives weren't very appealing. I used this conundrum as a way to talk about purpose: would this be the decade of zeros--the postmodern, consumer society, corporate dominated nothingness-- or the decade of the Oughts--when we assumed responsibility for what we ought to do, our responsibility for the future?

So how did that work out?

Captain Future

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Monday December 07, 2009 · 5:02 AM PST

2009/12/07 · 05:02

The whole world is watching. Because the whole civilized world is at stake.The Copenhagen climate meetings begin with excitement and dread, and a strong message that 56 newspapers around the world deliver in concert.

Fifty-six newspapers are printing the same editorial in 45 countries, in 20 languages. The newspapers include 20 in western and eastern Europe, 11 in Africa, two in China, an Arab language newspaper, a newspaper in Israel. They include the Guardian in the UK, Le Monde in Paris, the Star in Toronto, and the Miami Herald--the only English language paper in the U.S.

For a summary of the editorial and a couple of other stories relating to Copenhagen today, please follow.

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Guns in Town

Guard the Change

John Lennon at 70

How Hot Is It?

Why Won't GOPer Gulf Govs Deploy the National Guard?

Ripples of Hope: RFK in Capetown June 6, 1966

Eaarth Day

Krugman on climate economics, another view

Kumbaya

To Be Hopeful in Bad Times: Howard Zinn Tribute Quote

This Nameless Decade

56 Newspapers, One Editorial, One World to Save