Below the Radar
Saturday, December 27, 2003
THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE
On Christmas Day, 1914, in the first year of World War I, German, British, and French soldiers disobeyed
their superiors and fraternized with "the enemy" along two-thirds of the Western Front. German troops held Christmas trees up out of the trenches with signs, "Merry Christmas."
"You no shoot, we no shoot." Thousands of troops streamed across a no-man's land strewn with rotting corpses.
They sang Christmas carols, exchanged photographs of loved ones back home, shared rations, played football,
even roasted some pigs. Soldiers embraced men they had been trying to kill a few short hours before. They agreed
to warn each other if the top brass forced them to fire their weapons, and to aim high.
A shudder ran through the high command on either side. Here was disaster in the making: soldiers declaring
their brotherhood with each other and refusing to fight. Generals on both sides declared this spontaneous peacemaking to be treasonous and subject to court martial. By March, 1915 the fraternization movement had been eradicated and the killing
machine put back in full operation. By the time of the armistice in 1918, fifteen million would be slaughtered.
Not many people have heard the story of the Christmas Truce. Military leaders have not gone out of their way to publicize it. On Christmas Day, 1988, a story in the Boston Globe mentioned that a local FM radio host played "Christmas in the Trenches," a ballad about the Christmas Truce, several times and was startled by the effect. The song became the most
requested recording during the holidays in Boston on several FM stations. "Even more startling than the number of requests I get is the reaction to the ballad afterward by callers who hadn't heard it before," said the radiohost. "They telephone me deeply moved, sometimes in tears, asking, `What the hell did I just hear?'"
I think I know why the callers were in tears. The Christmas Truce story goes against most of what we have been taught about people. It gives us a glimpse of the world as we wish it could be and says, "This really happened once." It reminds us of those thoughts we keep hidden away, out of range of the TV and newspaper stories that tell us how trivial and mean human life is.
It is like hearing that our deepest wishes really are true: the world really could be different.
Excerpted from David G. Stratman, We CAN
Change the World: The Real
Meaning of Everyday Life (New Democracy
Books, 1991). Available for
$3.00 from
New Democracy Books, P.O. Box 427, Boston,
MA 02130.
Christmas in the Trenches
words & music by John McCutcheon
Inspired by a back-stage conversation with an old woman in Birmingham, AL, this song tells a story that is not only true, but well-known throughout Europe.
My name is Francis Tolliver, I come from
Liverpool,
Two years ago the war was waiting for me after
school.
To Belgium and to Flanders to Germany to here
I fought for King and country I love dear.
'Twas Christmas in the trenches where the frost so
bitter hung,
The frozen fields of France were still, no
Christmas song was sung,
Our families back in England were toasting us that
day,
Their brave and glorious lads so far away.
I was lying with my messmate on the cold and rocky
ground
When across the lines of battle came a most
peculiar sound
Says I, "Now listen up, me boys!" each soldier
strained to hear
As one young German voice sang out so clear.
"He's singing bloody well, you know!" my partner
says to me
Soon one by one each German voice joined in in
harmony
The cannons rested silent, the gas clouds rolled
no more
As Christmas brought us respite from the war.
As soon as they were finished and a reverent pause
was spent
"God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" struck up some lads
from Kent
The next they sang was "Stille Nacht," "Tis
'Silent Night'," says I
And in two tongues one song filled up that sky.
"There's someone coming towards us!" the front
line sentry cried
All sights were fixed on one lone figure coming
from their side
His truce flag, like a Christmas star, shone on
that plain so bright
As he bravely strode unarmed into the night.
Soon one by one on either side walked into No
Man's land
With neither gun nor bayonet we met there hand to
hand
We shared some secret brandy and we wished each
other well
And in a flare-lit soccer game we gave 'em hell.
We traded chocolates, cigarettes, and photographs
from home
These sons and fathers far away from families of
their own
Young Sanders played his squeeze box and they had
a violin
This curious and unlikely band of men.
Soon daylight stole upon us and France was France
once more
With sad farewells we each began to settle back to
war
But the question haunted every heart that lived
that wondrous night
"Whose family have I fixed within my sights?"
'Twas Christmas in the trenches, where the frost
so bitter hung
The frozen fields of France were warmed as songs
of peace were sung
For the walls they'd kept between us to exact the
work of war
Had been crumbled and were gone for evermore.
My name is Francis Tolliver, in Liverpool I dwell
Each Christmas come since World War I I've learned
its lessons well
That the ones who call the shots won't be among
the dead and lame
And on each end of the rifle we're the same.
©1984 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)
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What's all this "progress" REALLY costing??
'Just some of the costs of global warming' that we are not being told about by the corporate media, according to an article in the Winter 2004 issue of the YES! A Journal of Positive Futures. Over time I will post excerpt from this publication that I think every American would benefit from reading.
If, as Thomas Jefferson believed "Information is the currency of democracy" then many of us are certainly being short changed by the current corporate media. If we are to reclaim democracy for our people and those who come after us, we need the currency with which to facilitate democracy and extend it to the millions in this country and the billions around the world who
long for true democracy rather the phony democracy the people currently in power want to pass off as democracy. To check out YES! go to www.yesmagazing.org
Now for the excerpt article titled 'Global Warming Costs Mount' by Krista Camenzind on page 8 of the Winter 2004 issue.
This September was the hottest September worldwide since accurate recordkeeping began in 1880, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA). The spike in temperature concided with the release of a study by the World Health Orgainzation and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine(LSHTM) that concludes approximately 160,000 people die every year from the side effects of global warming, and the numbers could almost double
by 2025.
The majority of global warming victims come for the Third World, where the proliferation of tropical diseases such as malaria and the rise in malnutrition due to crop losses claim thousands of lives every year. And as Professor Andrew Haines of LSHTMexplained, "These diseases mainly affect younger age groups, so that the total burden of disease due to climate
change appears to be borne mainly by children in developing countries." The 15,000 heat-related deaths this past summer in France demonstrate that the First World is not immune from the deadly effects of climate change.
As the intensity and frequency of droughts, floods, hurricanes, and windstorms increase with global warming, so do insurance losses. Forty years ago, an average of 16 large weather-related disasters occurred annually around the world. Today, the average is 72. The cost to insurers for weather-related events has risen from $7billion to $90 billion. In the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Allstate insurance dispensed $500 million more in claims than it had ever collected from all types of insurance in Florida. Andrew drove seven other insurance companies to bankruptcy. As mega-catastrophies begin occuring every 25 years instead of every 100 years, insured losses will grow by another 900 percent, according to the United Nations intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Faced with the prospect of losses on this scale, the insurance industry has been among the loudest voices urging political leaders to take the issue of climate change seriously. (end of article)
"A better world is possible, together we are creating it." Meada Benjamin, Global Exchange
I find that a good way to end one year and begin another is to do an inventory of what I have accomplished this year and what I want to accomplish next year. I like to do some values clarification work at this time of year. It is interesting to find many of my values are changing as I become more informed about what is really going on in the world today. Happy New Year to anyone who reads this post. May the new year bring you many new blessings and may each of us join together to create a better world for everyone. Gerriiana
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Again and again and again.
The following is an excerpt from an article by Texas own Molly Ivins in the November/December 2003 issue of Mother Jones magazine titled The Uncompassionate Conservative. The article points out just a few of George W's uncompassionate actions as the leader of this country.
Speaking of funding shortfalls created by the Bush administration Molly says "Take any area--environment, labor,education,taxes, health--and go to websites of public-interest groups in that field. You will find page after
page of minor adjustments, quiet repeals, no-big-deal new policies, all of them cruel, destructive, and harmful. A silent change in regulations, an executive order, a funding cutoff. No headlines.To read the complete article go to www.motherjones.com and while you are there this is a good publication to support if it is within your budget. Also signup for their newsletter and action alerts.
Another good article in this months Mother Jones is "Death By a Thousand Cuts" by Stephanie Mencimer. One quote from this article: "..throughout the past three years, the president has pursued an agenda of limiting government assistance for lower-income Americans-through a combination of massive tax cuts, frozen appropriations, and wholesale restructuring of the way programs are financed.
The policies haven't been the stuff of headlines--largely because the administration has worked hard to avoid the kind of negative publicity that plagued Gingrich and Ronald Reagan when they attempted to slash social spending."
For some good news and a place to help preserve the environment for ourselves and for future generations check out the Union of Concerned Scientists. www.ucsusa.org then go to Top Victories for 2003. We are winning some battles and will win more as we enlist more and more people in the fight to preserve our environment, our ecosystems, the safely of our
food and water supply and our democracy. Lots of good information and be sure to join their action alerts.
On Sunday December 7, 2003 attendees at 2,666 house parties across this great nation viewed the documentary UNCOVERED:THE WHOLE TRUTH ABOUT THE IRAQ WAR. THE STORY OF HOW THE TRUTH BECAME THE FIRSTAMERICAN CASUALTY IN IRAQ.
It was a very well done documentary. It was a factual, accurate, spinless version of events leading up to the invasion and occupation of Iraq. If you missed it this time around plans are currently being made to do more showings in January so that those who were unable to see it the first time will be able to attend. These house parties were sponsored by the grassroots peace and justice movement MoveOn and you can learn more about MoveOn and about the up coming showings of the documentary at www.moveon.org. Be sure to sign up for action updates and join this international network of online activists that is currently 2,000,000 strong. You will be able to sign up to either host or attend one of the anuary house parties on the website soon.
A couple of other things you might want to check out are www.democrat.meetup.com This site allows you to either sign up for meetings with other democrats that are already scheduled or set up a meeting place yourself. Check it out it's a good way to get involved. These would also be people who would likely be interested in viewing the Iraq documentary. You might also want to read the feature "Colorado Supreme Court Throws Out Republican Redistricting Scheme" while you are at this site.
One more thing that you want to check out. At www.deanforamerica.com you can also join in a Dean meetup.
Remember our first job it to get Bush out of the White House before he finishes his dastardly deeds and then the real work begins. "Another World is Possible and We Are Building It" Medea Benjamin, cofounder of Global Exchange www.globalexchange.org Global Exchange is an international human rights organization dedicated to promoting environmental, political and social justice. Medea is one of my sheroes and I hope she will become one of yours.
Get Angry and then Get Organized, Ms G
Quote of the Day:
"Perhaps the most basic challenge humanity faces is to awaken our capacity for collective knowing and conscious action so that we can respond successfully to the immense social and ecological difficulties that now confront us." -- Duane Elgin
Be sure and visit my friends blog is at: http://oldhippiechic.motime.com/
Sunday, December 07, 2003
Welcome to my first post on Below The Radar. Why 'Below The Radar'? Well, a couple of years ago I began reading in a number of areas that I had not previously spent a great deal of time or energy on. Some of these areas were health related as I was experiencing some strange things in my body. So, like a good 'American' I went to the doctor to find out what was going on.
After a number of tests and nearly $2000 dollars in costs I was told that I have Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) and the doctor wanted to put me on muscle relaxants. Well I had known for many years that I had RLS before I was charged $2000 and I also knew of the down sides of muscle relaxants. So, I said "no thanks" and began my own inquiry into what might possibly be going on. More on this are a later time.
What does this have to do with a political blog? Well over time I began to piece together the connection
between the health conditions that I was experiencing (and to some extend still do experience) and a lot of the things that are in our environment everyday. By environment I mean our air, our water, our soil, our food
supply, almost all of the 'stuff' in our homes, our clothes, our automobiles and any other place we spend time, like work or school. Well you get the picture we cannot even take one breathe without inhaling some toxic
substance. A lot of people will say "well there is only a minuscule amount of toxins in whatever the item is" and that is very true in many instances.
The kicker is that we integrate thousands of these toxins into our systems daily even if we live in less polluted areas. And we are doing this over many years if we live long enough. So that over time even the best systems begin to get bogged down to some degree or another. The more I read the more links I found between the increase in questionable substances and profits being made especially by big corporations. Later the links between giant corporations and the people that we have put in office to 'safeguard the common good' began to show up. Eventually I came upon the revolving door, that is, individuals who go from being CEO's of giant corporations to the highest positions in our governments agencies get questionable products
or legislation approved and then back into the corporation to reap huge profits.
One such arrangement would be CEO of Monsanto moving into the FDA, getting GM foods approved and going then back into Monsanto and reaping the profits from getting approval of Genetically Engineered Foods. At first I thought this was a few isolated incidents but the more I read the more common it is becoming. It is currently happening in virtually every area that impacts our lives from our food to our sources of information to our representatives at the local, state, and national levels of government. Anyway to make a long story short I thought since this had all been below my radar and that of many of the people that I knew I thought it must be below the radar of many other people who are also being harmed by this kind of behavior so perhaps I would start writing a newsletter to circulate some of this information to those who would like to know about it.
A friend told me about blogs and so 'Below the Radar" is now a reality. I am a novice at this type of technology so I am asking for your patience. I will share what I can of the information I have gathered over the last few years and continue to gather with the hope that"Another World Is Possible and Together
We Are Building It."
Saturday, December 06, 2003
THIS is my first post. Welcome to Below the Radar
