Posted by Bunny.
Great news! We have a new blurb available for your viewing pleasure. Actually, there's two, since I forgot to announce the previous one. The first is called From Swords into Plowshares, and today's is called Kicking the Apartheid Habit. You can find both in our episodes archive.
Happy holidays!
~B.
Posted by Pinky.
The precise moment of the 2007 winter solstice will be late tonight, at 10:08 p.m. (California Desert time). If you live in Hawaii it'll be at 8:08 p.m. And if you're on the East Coast (U.S.) it'll be 1:08 a.m. tomorrow morning (Saturday, December 22). From then on we'll be zooming towards Spring! Till then, keep warm! ~p.
Posted by Pinky.
Wow. Here is the story as it was forwarded to us by our friend (thanks Bok-dong!):
Descendants of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse break away from US
Washington (AFP) — The Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the United States, leaders said Wednesday.
"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us," long-time Indian rights activist Russell Means told a handful of reporters and a delegation from the Bolivian embassy, gathered in a church in a run-down neighborhood of Washington for a news conference.
A delegation of Lakota leaders delivered a message to the State Department on Monday, announcing they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties they signed with the federal government of the United States, some of them more than 150 years old.
They also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African and Venezuelan embassies, and will continue on their diplomatic mission and take it overseas in the coming weeks and months, they told the news conference.
Lakota country includes parts of the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming. The new country would issue its own passports and driving licences, and living there would be tax-free — provided residents renounce their US citizenship, Means said.
The treaties signed with the United States are merely "worthless words on worthless paper," the Lakota freedom activists say on their website.
The treaties have been "repeatedly violated in order to steal our culture, our land and our ability to maintain our way of life," the reborn freedom movement says.
Withdrawing from the treaties was entirely legal, Means said. "This is according to the laws of the United States, specifically article six of the constitution," which states that treaties are the supreme law of the land, he said."
It is also within the laws on treaties passed at the Vienna Convention and put into effect by the US and the rest of the international community in 1980. We are legally within our rights to be free and independent," said Means.
The Lakota relaunched their journey to freedom in 1974, when they drafted a declaration of continuing independence — an overt play on the title of the United States' Declaration of Independence from England.
Thirty-three years have elapsed since then because "it takes critical mass to combat colonialism and we wanted to make sure that all our ducks were in a row," Means said.
One duck moved into place in September, when the United Nations adopted a non-binding declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples — despite opposition from the United States, which said it clashed with its own laws."
We have 33 treaties with the United States that they have not lived by. They continue to take our land, our water, our children," Phyllis Young, who helped organize the first international conference on indigenous rights in Geneva in 1977, told the news conference.
The US "annexation" of native American land has resulted in once proud tribes such as the Lakota becoming mere "facsimiles of white people," said Means.
Oppression at the hands of the US government has taken its toll on the Lakota, whose men have one of the shortest life expectancies — less than 44 years — in the world.Lakota teen suicides are 150 percent above the norm for the United States; infant mortality is five times higher than the US average; and unemployment is rife, according to the Lakota freedom movement's website."
Our people want to live, not just survive or crawl and be mascots," said Young."
We are not trying to embarrass the United States. We are here to continue the struggle for our children and grandchildren," she said, predicting that the battle would not be won in her lifetime.
We'll definitely be watching these developments closely! Take care, pinky
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Posted by Bunny: The website is at http://www.lakotafreedom.com/ Be sure to read the Declaration of Continuing Independence while you're there.
Posted by Bunny.
We received an e-mail today saying that Pinky has been named the '2007 Cat of the Year' by the Western Association of Deserts. I have no idea what kind of organization this is, but congratulations to Pinky anyway - I know for a fact there’s lots of cats in deserts so it's probably pretty hard to win something like this. ~B.
Posted by Pinky.
Everyone needs to consider the implications of this article. It's about H.R. 1955, 'The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007'.
http://www.indypendent.org/2007/11/19/homegrown-terrorism/
~p.
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Posted by Bunny: Read this article from The Nation to see how this is affecting U.S. college campuses. ]
Posted by Bunny.
New Pinky Show Radio episode! It's called "Fear, Aggression, & Empire: an interview with Dr. Stephen Soldz".
New t-shirt design! Pinky & the big PINKY SHOW.
Zines (real paper!) are finally in our support area.
Don't like shopping? Check out our Winter Solstice fundraiser! 10 shirts in a box and a big discount. We really need your support to keep going!
Thank you.
~B.
Posted by Pinky.
Here's an excerpt from a short article on Norman Solomon by Steve Duin:
"The culture has diluted people's resolve, their outrage. The mass-market culture has left us numb. And lack of feeling translates into lack of action. [This is] the freezing of love into small spaces." There is no end to our love for our children or claustrophobic circle of friends. "We say, 'Don't mess with my loved ones, but screw the people across the street or around the world.' Unfortunately, we define our loved ones rather narrowly." - Norman Solomon
~p.
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Posted by Bunny: This relates to some of the points I was trying to make near the end of our Matrix conversation.
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Posted by Pinky: Yeah, I thought of you when I saw this. Thanks for mentioning.
Posted by Pinky.
I just came across this wonderful quote in a sports magazine I found near the highway:
Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.
- Vince Lombardi
Simple quote, innumerable implications. Especially if we think of our daily routines as practice.
~p.
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Posted by Kim: But don’t you ever get the idea that we don't know what we are practicing for?
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Posted by Bunny: I think most of us are so busy that we can't afford to try to achieve anything. Especially anything 'big'.
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Posted by Pinky: Do you think people ever shy away from trying to achieve something simply because it sounds too wonderful?
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Posted by Bunny: I think it happens all the time.
Hmm!
The 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: The growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy. - Alex Carey
~B.
Posted by Bunny.
Today we are opening a new area at the Pinky Show website. Since we lack imagination, we are tentatively just calling it 'the Conversations area'. The idea is simple but we are very excited about it - basically we're going to use this area to archive (in text form) some of the conversations that we've had with others, or even conversations we've had amongst ourselves, that have been important to our learning.
We're kicking off the new area with an interview Pinky did with psychotherapist Shirin Shokouhi on the subject of violence. She talks about violence at the interpersonal level but also between nations. It is very eye-opening. I hope people will take some time to consider what Ms. Shokouhi has to say. Especially since at this very moment our leaders are trying to create a new war, this time with Iran.
We will be adding more conversations on a regular basis.
~B.
Posted by Bunny.
Mimi & Kim have set up an account with MissionFish, the organization that allows non-profit organizations like ourselves to do fundraising through eBay. The program is called eBay Giving Works and it's a very creative program that's already helped thousands of non-profits raise millions of dollars. It works by:
1) Allowing non-profit organizations a way to sell donated stuff on eBay and use the proceeds to fund their projects.
2) Providing a way for people to sell their unwanted or excess stuff on eBay, and donating the proceeds to The Pinky Show.
Pretty neat. We're hoping that people will give it a try. To find out more about the The Pinky Show at eBay Giving Works, please follow this link:
[ nope ]
(click on the 'How It Works' tab for more general information).
Thank you,
Bunny
Posted by Bunny.
I just posted our newest video, How To Solve Illegal Immigration. Although this is the first video that has Daisy in it, we've actually known Daisy for a long time. The video can be watched by clicking here.
In other news, we will be opening a brand new area on our website soon. It's really good, to me this new area will be just as important as our video archive in the long run. Pinky told me to announce it but I like secrets.
~B.
Posted by Bunny.
Some people have asked for Pinky Show banners or buttons for their website, blog, MySpace page, etc. I finally got around to making some tonight. The file is small (124kb, zipped); it contains 9 different graphics of various sizes in it. Download the kit by clicking here. I hope you like them.
~B.
Posted by Bunny.
Another new entry for our Do-It-Yourself area. It's a description, more or less, of the process we go through to make Pinky Show episodes. Maybe not interesting to most people, but for what its worth, here it is.
Also, Pinky is back from her short trip to Seattle, Washington. She did some interviews and took lots of photographs, which will appear in upcoming episodes. For our travel present she brought back a book, it came in a plastic bag from the UW bookstore, cool. The title is Where the Lightning Strikes: The Lives of American Indian Sacred Places. She forgot to peel off the price sticker, it was discounted to $1.99.
~B.
Posted by Pinky.
We're going to use this month to try to get a new content area for our website figured out and up and running. It'll be quiet here in the diary area for a little while but it'll be worth it. Be careful for cars and see you after Halloween! =^.^=
~p.
Posted by Bunny.
While Pinky is away I am servicing her computer, which is near death. I also reorganized our work space. It is more roomy now. Pinky is a pack-rat. If I don't throw things away while she is gone we will have this stuff forever.
Posted by Kim.
This is my second entry. The others are still sick but getting better. Now they are eating soup.
Yesterday the United Nations finally passed the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. All around the world so many indigenous people have been treated so badly, not just now but throughout history (colonization). So I hope this turns out to be a step in the right direction. It took the UN over 20 years to create, discuss, and pass this declaration. In the final vote yesterday almost everybody (143 nations) voted for indigenous rights, only 4 countries voted against. The four countries who voted against were the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
I guess it makes sense that four of the most 'developed' settler societies on the planet voted against the Declaration. They are just trying to keep more power for themselves by denying power to the people whose land they built their countries on. But to me it seems dishonest to talk about how it is our duty to spread freedom around the world (for example, President Bush's televised speech to the nation yesterday) and at the same time do everything we can to block freedom for indigenous people 'at home'. The main problem the U.S. has with the Declaration is that the document recognizes the right of indigenous people to have self-determination and also control over their own land and resources. So basically the Declaration makes it harder for corporations and the U.S. government to keep on exploiting Native Lands for profits. That's why the U.S. voted against it.
After we heard the news last night Bunny reminded us that the U.S. also voted against a UN treaty on biological diversity. The issue of biodiversity is closely connected to indigenous rights. The main 'problem' the U.S. government had with that treaty was that it called for a "fair and equitable" portion of the benefits resulting from the use of Native Lands by commercial enterprises to be given back to indigenous people. So apparently a fair amount is too much. Maybe the U.S. government might have signed it if the treaty had called for an unfair share of benefits, or maybe no share at all. That would have made their corporate friends very happy, and even more rich. But anyway, the U.S. refuses to sign that one.
So lonely - more info here.
Since this is a diary entry I don't mind saying my opinon. My opinion is that I would like the U.S. to choose a way to go.
1) One choice is that we can keep talking about freedom, but then we should try to make the world more free.
2) Another choice is that we can squash all people and animals with less power if it's good for rich people's profits, but then we should stop talking about spreading freedom.
Just choose one already. The way we say one thing and do another is making me angry.
Okay, I'm done. Writing is not easy. I won't be making fun of Pinky's or Bunny's writing any more.
~Kim
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Posted by Pinky: Nice report Kim! You should write more diary entries!
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Posted by Kim: No thank you very much.
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Posted by Bunny: The UN's passing of the new measure was front-page news at OneWorld, CommonDreams, Democracy Now!, and so on. On the other hand, I couldn't even find the story in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and most of the other major U.S. newspapers I checked. Which leads me to conclude that either 1) the U.N. is no longer relevant; 2) indigenous peoples are simply not worth thinking about; 3) the editors at these newspapers are smart enough to not bite the hands that feed them; or 4) any combination of the above.
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Posted by Mimi: Our nation's priorities are upside-down.
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Posted by Bunny: I think they're right-side-up for an upside-down nation.
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Posted by Pinky: Bunny, I hope you don't mind, but I was just going through some of our old notes and I found this thing that you wrote before. I'm glad I saved it because now I get to post it here:
"Why are all these people calling on the mainstream media to offer 'quality programming'? To present 'balanced' news reporting? Do they not understand what dominant culture is there for? If you're waiting for your drug dealer to help you kick your addiction, good luck with that." - Bunny
I think that pretty much summarizes what we're discussing here.
Posted by Kim.
Everybody here is sick. Sick like dogs, ha ha.
I think I (Kim) don't get sick because I eat vitamins everyday. Anyway since I am the only one here that is not sick, I'm making a diary entry. So here it is.
News report from Russia:
The Russian military has successfully tested what it described as the world's most powerful non-nuclear air-delivered bomb, Russia's state television reported Tuesday... Channel One television said the new weapon, nicknamed the "dad of all bombs" is four times more powerful than the U.S. "mother of all bombs."
Like its U.S. predecessor, first tested in 2003, the Russian bomb is a "thermobaric" weapon that explodes in an intense fireball combined with a devastating blast. It explodes in a terrifying nuclear bomb-like mushroom cloud and wreaks destruction through a massive shock wave created by the air burst and high temperature.
"The tests have shown that the new air-delivered ordnance is comparable to a nuclear weapon in its efficiency and capability," said Col.-Gen. Alexander Rukshin, a deputy chief of the Russian military's General Staff. "Unlike a nuclear weapon, the bomb doesn't hurt the environment," he added.
Another part of the report mentioned how Russia now has extra money to spend nowadays, on developing new bombs and other war stuff. One reason is because the price of oil has shot up since the U.S. invaded Iraq. Russia is a major producer of oil. Sometimes I see things on TV about how bad the Russian economy is and how so many people in Russia are suffering, but at least now they have super powerful eco-friendly bombs.
Here is a very 'exciting' picture of the bomb exploding.
Very impressive. I bet you the U.S. bomb guys are feeling very ashamed of their bomb-smallness now.
This is the end of my entry. Thank you. Kim.
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Posted by Kim: You could get a job at Lockheed Martin with ideas like those. ]
A response from the U.S.:
WASHINGTON, September 13 (RIA Novosti) - The U.S. has a 14-ton super bomb more destructive than the vacuum bomb just tested by Russia, a U.S. general said Wednesday.
The statement was made by retired Lt. General McInerney, chairman of the Iran Policy Committee, and former Assistant Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force.
McInerney said the U.S. has "a new massive ordnance penetrator that's 30,000 pounds, that really penetrates ... Ahmadinejad has nothing in Iran that we can't penetrate."
He also said the new Russian bomb was not a "penetrator."
"Forty-eight hours duration, hitting 2500 aimed points to take out their [Iranian] nuclear facilities, their air defense facilities, their air force, their navy, their Shahab-3 retaliatory missiles, and finally their command and control. And then let the Iranian people take their country back," the general said describing the campaign, adding it would be "easy."
I wish I was making this up, but unfortunately this is a real news story. ~Kim.
Posted by Pinky.
About a week ago we finished making a zine (a 'zine' is basically a self-published mini-book) for our friends over at Radical Education (Ljubljana, Slovenia). They printed a bunch of them and took them to the Istanbul Bienale, where it was then handed out to people interested in radical education from all over the world. Pretty cool.
The idea we had at the time was that we'd then translate some of mini-stories in the zine into videos and then post them in our episode archive, kind of like what we had done for the globalization comics series. But after making one of the stories into a video format, we decided that we liked the content better in its original zine format. The different parts of the zine just worked better when they were kept all together as a whole, with one story immediately following another. So we're just posting the zine as a pdf file (kind of like a downloadable 'digital book') in our episode archive. It's not a video, but we were planning to post other non-video materials in the future anyway so I guess it's not a big deal.
We'll get back to posting more video-type episodes as soon as we're done with our current episode in development, a medium-length video (about 15 minutes) about illegal immigration. Till then, I hope you enjoy the little book.
Take care,
pinky
