Medea Benjamin and Ann Wright, International Criminals

Once upon a time, I used to cite the FBI's National Crime Information Center database as slightly more reliable than the private police-intelligence databases traded around by the likes of the Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit and the MAGIC (Multi-Agency Group Intelligence Conference) program. No longer. On Thursday, Oct. 4, former Army Col. and State Department Ambassador Ann Wright, along with Code Pink organizer Medea Benjamin, were stopped at the Canadian border by Canadian officials, and turned back on the grounds that they were on the NCIC "international criminals" database. This is far more ominous than "do not fly" lists. Independent investigations carried out since the incident, according to Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! program, would suggest that the FBI now sees any individual committing civil disobedience on a nationally-prominent issue to be an "international criminal," unable to travel to any country using the NCIC database. This is beyond outrageous. We are now living in the lockdown state, friends.

Hats Off to Radiohead, Death to RIAA

I don't care what a damn jury had to say about it, the Recording Industry Association of America is a despicable organization for filing suits like these. File-sharing will prevail, and the RIAA will die before the decade is out. Meanwhile, more musicians may be forced by necessity to go the direction Radiohead is headed, offering downloads of its new album for whatever price the public wants to pay. I'd love to get the LP+CD hard copy, but what with exchange rates, $81 is just too painful for a deluxe In Rainbows.

James Woolsey, Al-Jazeera, Pinon Canyon, and more

Oct. 4 was one of those everything at once days. Producers from Al-Jazeera called at 6 a.m., wanting input for a "50 years after Sputnik" story. The results are below.

Meanwhile, former CIA Director James Woolsey was in town to speak at Colorado College and The Broadmoor on his new "going green" mission. While his intentions may be good, the man still works for Booz Allen Hamilton and such questionable organizations as Committee on the Present Danger and Project for a New American Century. Protesters were on hand at Shove Chapel to pass out these excellent "playing card" flyers designed by Eric Verlo. What was impressive is that the audience was happy to see the protests, and most of the protesters went into the speech (without being hassled by security), and let Woolsey make his points without shouting him down. No one was tasered. This is how freedom of speech was supposed to work. Woolsey made the predictable points about "tipping points" in climate change, but I kept thinking how the Oct. 2 finding on North Pole polar ice seems to indicate we already passed the tipping point.

Elsewhere on the CC campus, the Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition, which is challenging the US Army's desire to add several million acres to Fort Carson in southern Colorado, had an organizing meeting with a standing-room turnout, comprised mostly of students. Maybe CC is awakening from its slumber after all!

And speaking of standing room, we had a board meeting of First Steps Spirituality Center down the street, where Rev. Leanne Hadley and Fred Michel recounted their trip to the ESCAP conference in Florence, where their session on integrating spirituality with psychosocial models of child development got standing-room only crowds. Even the agnostic/atheist rationalists in the group were praising Leanne for developing models of spirituality to present at a scientific conference. This woman is not only amazing, her work is going to be cited for decades to come.

If all days were this overwhelming, I'd fall over.

Inside Story- Space exploration- 04 Oct 07- Part 1

This is the first part of the Al-Jazeera story on "50 Years After Sputnik" that I appeared on October 4. Part 2 is below.

Inside Story- Space exploration- 04 Oct 07- Part 2

Magnetic E Street Fields

Of course, I agree wholeheartedly with Entertainment Weekly that Bruce's Magic is his best since Born in the USA or maybe The River. But why hasn't any reviewer thus far

mentioned a new source of inspiration for The E Street Band - namely, Magnetic Fields from the 69 Love Songs period? Don't believe me? Listen to the opening riffs of "Your Own Worst Enemy" or "Girls In Their Summer Clothes." Almost spooky. Of course, Bruce Springsteen and Stephin Merritt both follow the Phil Spector wall-of-sound style, though hopefully without harming Hollywood starlets. But what should be an unpleasant mashup works as well as a Reese's commercial - "Hey, you got Merritt in my Springsteen!" "Hey, you got Springsteen in my Meritt!" Yum.

Sister Barbara Says Goodbye

Close to 100 people came to John Bourbonais' house Oct. 1 to say goodbye to Sister Barbara Huber, who is heading to El Paso for health reasons. (That's John B. introducing Barbara for a "this is your life" presentation.) Barbara has been a staple in the Colorado Springs peace community since the 1970s, and I've worked with her on all kinds of campaigns since 1990. She's been instrumental in Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission, Active for Justice, and Pax Christi. Others hope to carry on important projects she initiated, like the Aug. 6 Sisters Witness Against War, but no one will ever be able to take her place.