On this Day of Remembrance, two songs by Eric Bogle about the First World War, lest we forget...

And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda (YouTube)

The Green Fields of France (YouTube) (performed by the Dropkick Murphys; video is historic photos)

And now some concerns for the servicemembers and veterans alive today, from Democracy Now! Because a 'thank you' means more when it's backed up by decent support and care:

Study: Over 2,200 US Veterans Died in 2008 Due to Lack of Health Insurance

Sexual Assaults, Inadequate Healthcare Among Spate of Issues Facing Women Servicemembers

And my usual barrage of quotes for the day:

Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official...
~Theodore Roosevelt

The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without.
~Dwight D. Eisenhower

War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.
~John F. Kennedy

It doesn't require any particular bravery to stand on the floor of the Senate and urge our boys in Vietnam to fight harder, and if this war mushrooms into a major conflict and a hundred thousand young Americans are killed, it won't be U.S. Senators who die. It will be American soldiers who are too young to qualify for the Senate.
~George McGovern

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Well, after the jumping-up-and-down stuff last night, this morning brought to light the realities we will face in the coming year and coming term.
This morning on Demacracy Now! Amy Goodman's guest (whose name I didn't catch, and the transcript isn't up yet) said, "Barack Obama's victory is a victory over racism in this country. But it is not a victory for the left. Progressives in this country must keep fighting." Or something to that effect.
And it's so true.

I am hopeful, but I am also determined. I want this election to be a sign not only of the changing face of American political power, but also of increased and consistent activity on the part of citizens to shape their world. I want people to think about what they are voting for - and what they are enshrining into their state constitutions. (The returns from states with anti-gay marriage and anti-gay adoption measures just depress me, then infuriate me. The returns on the "personhood" and feticide propositions give me a smill measure of hope, although too many such laws are already on the books and damaging women's rights and health.) I want people to get out in their neighborhoods and learn how their local politics affect what happens to them, to find common ground with one another so that discrimination of any sort can be stamped out as we come to know one another as human beings. I want people to go back to the candidates they supported, or to the candidates they opposed, and tell these people what they think.

I want people to get out and take part in their democracy even after this morning's hangovers fade. This is not the win. This is not the magic fix. This is, as Barack said, a chance to work for the change we want.

Let's get to it.

I watched this on Democracy Now! when it aired and it was chilling.

Democracy Now! | Is Posse Comitatus Dead? US Troops on US Streets:

Is Posse Comitatus Dead? US Troops on US Streets

In a barely noticed development, a US Army unit is now training for domestic operations under the control of US Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command. An initial news report in the Army Times newspaper last month noted that in addition to emergency response the force “may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control.”

Right Livelihood Award: 2008 - Amy Goodman:

"...for developing an innovative model of truly independent political journalism that brings to millions of people the alternative voices that are often excluded by mainstream media."

From the website:

The Right Livelihood Award was established in 1980 to honour and support those "offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today".

It has become widely known as the 'Alternative Nobel Prize' and there are now 133 Laureates from 57 countries.

Presented annually in Stockholm at a ceremony in the Swedish Parliament, the Right Livelihood Award is usually shared by four Recipients.

Thank goodness for the internet, how else would anyone ever hear anything but the Corporate Media Party Line?

via matociquala, pecunium writes Repression in Everyday Life with more info, including the Freedom Cage at the DNC and the Permibus Seizure.

MPR: The LoopHole: Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman arrested at RNC protest:

Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman arrested at RNC protest

More on the RNC raids - Feministing:

More on the RNC raids

Free Press Calls for Charges to Be Dropped Against Amy Goodman, Independent Journalists | Free Press:

Today Free Press, the national, nonpartisan media reform group, called on St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and local law enforcement officials to drop all charges against all journalists arrested while covering protests outside the Republican National Convention. Those arrested Monday include Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and two producers from her show, as well as a photographer from the Associated Press. Other independent journalists have been pepper-sprayed and even held at gunpoint during "pre-emptive" raids aimed at disrupting protesters. This follows the arrest of an ABC News producer at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Theuptake :: Summary:

Live Videos: Police and Protesters at RNC

Just in case some people might be interested in what's happening outside of the Palin Family Soap Opera. Yes, we've seen the live results of Abstinence Only Education, and we have plenty of evidence that Sarah is just as corrupt as everybody else. Now perhaps we could discuss police behavior at both conventions, but especially this "pre-emptive" crap.

Because I am really good at memes but not at life stuff...

- medical stuff is going ok, have continued referrals, no real firm diagnosis yet but will continue with gluten-free diet until told otherwise.

- still out of shape. really really really wish the tai chi class was closer to me, or later in the day. considering yoga after work. has that worked for people I know? really? (my brother expressed interest in fencing. I could go out to the back yard and do my old college fencing workout. that would totally make me fall over.)

- I have cut back severely on my art exchange obligations for the autumn, mostly because the deadlines are all in Oct or early Nov and I have two Sept wedding weekends out of town, three classes at Rice, three portrait commissions (hm. is it still a portrait if it's of fictional characters?), and my regular meetings and meetups. Too bad more of the exchanges don't post for Epiphany or something.

- I picked up a bunch of hot patterns for costume pieces for something Steampunkish, which I will start muslins on as soon as I finish my Snape Quilt. (The Snape Quilt has to be done by the end of the month so I can ship it to its recipient, so perhaps I can get started on a jacket come the end of September.)

- I'm debating buying a Macbook Pro. Opinions? I can get a sweet educators' deal if I buy the machine and CS3.3 together. (I want Design Pro, of course.)

- DUDE WTF AM I GOING TO WEAR TO THESE WEDDINGS????
(And on the topic of what to wear, a quote from a great movie I just watched for the zillionth time:

Would you be prepared if gravity reversed itself? ... The only thing I can't figure out is how to keep the change in my pockets. I've got it - nudity!

and here, just because I LOVE THIS LINE:

We had, what, no one at the mutant hamster races. We had one entry for the Madam Curie look-alike contest, and he was disqualified later. Why do I bother?

I'm sure most of my flist knows the movie, but if you don't, get thee to a DVD store. Or my house, we can have a double feature with WarGames. And yes, before anyone asks, I'm aware of the WarGames 'sequel'.)

- I find what little I have seen of the Olympics to be completely saturated by sexism blatant and subtle, and it's actually extremely off-putting. Not even just the uniforms, although that is the most immediate symptom. I'm not really watching the games much, though, although I'm watching some of the fringe political and human rights stories engendered by them.

- I can't even be coherent on any topics of political or social import. Daily doses of Democracy Now! tend to shift me toward despair rather than hope, these days. But, everything gets a wee bit lighter when we listen to Rev. Gaddy on Air America. So I guess there's a teeny tiny bit of me that can imagine a world in which random detentions without recourse are not the norm, but rather the exception decried by the masses and punished by the courts. This country is doing nothing to ease my anxiety levels.

- Also, I really don't like the presidential candidates offered by the mainstream. I like them less and less the more they're allowed to talk, especially when they're allowed to talk to an Evangelical Christian pastor as if questions of religion were legitimate in a campaign for public office. Aaaaarrrrgh!

- You know who's cool? Cynthia McKinney. Doesn't really change my vote, unfortunately, because I'm committed to ousting the Republicans first and foremost, but it's nice to dream. And listen to someone genuinely progressive. May her voice be heard well into the next term as well.

Nobody should have to wake up to Antonin Scalia being a sociopath in their living room. Bloody government.

That is all.

It's a transcript from last week on Democracy Now. Emphasis and bracket additions mine. It's actually really awesome hearing/watching it, so click the stream.

Democracy Now! | Fmr. Presidential Candidate George McGovern on the 2008 Race and How He Helped Transform the Democratic Nominating Process:

AMY GOODMAN: [Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama] have not talked about immediate withdrawal [from Iraq].

GEORGE McGOVERN: No, they haven’t, and I wish they would. I wish—I’d like to have a time certain. I wrote a book with one of our best Middle East experts, Bill Polk, in which we called a year-and-a-half ago for a six-month withdrawal period. There’s no reason why it should take more than six months. People ask how we’re going to do it. One way to do it is to put them in trucks and head for the border. That’s how we got in there.