So Bush's State of the Union is this Tuesday...

...and I'm looking forward to participating in the San Diego installment of the nationwide protest that's been organized by The World Can't Wait:

"At 9:00 PM EST, just as Bush starts to speak, everywhere we will BRING THE NOISE. In a cacophony of sound, we will drown out his address with music: from drums to violins, from hip hop and classical; and with noise: banging pots and ringing church bells, sound car horns and lifting our voices."

For more info, including the exact location of city-by-city protests, go here.

Left-leaning excitement in Bolivia...

For Bolivian Majority, a New Promise
By Monte Reel
The Washington Post
Monday 23 January 2006

La Paz, Bolivia - The streets of this colonial city erupted in song and fireworks Sunday to celebrate the inauguration of Evo Morales, Bolivia's first Indian president, who promised to begin reversing centuries of social injustice, insulate the country from U.S. influence and reclaim natural resources that he says have been exploited by international capitalism.

Morales, 46, broke into tears before addressing Bolivia's Congress and the presidents of many neighboring South American countries, a gathering that illustrated the region's ongoing political shift toward socialism. The former coca grower likened his historic rise to power in Bolivia, where people of Indian descent make up more than 60 percent of the population, to the end of apartheid in South Africa.

"This morning I was very happy to see my brothers and sisters singing in the historical Plaza Murillo and Plaza San Francisco," said Morales, referring to the celebrations attended by thousands of indigenous citizens in the city's main squares. "Forty or 50 years ago, we didn't even have the right to enter the Plaza San Francisco or the Plaza Murillo."

Morales won the election riding a wave of discontent against the elites who have traditionally ruled the country. Massive protests have become a regular part of Bolivian life in recent years, helping to oust two presidents since 2003. But the atmosphere of celebration in the streets that lasted deep into the night was a reflection of the widespread support Morales enjoys upon entering office. An opinion poll released this weekend by the Bolivian firm Apoyo said that support for Morales stands at 74 percent, an unprecedented level in the country's recent history.

Check out last week's This Modern World...

Happy Birthday, Dr. King...

...and thank you for your dedication to peace, to justice, to brotherhood:

"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."

"The good neighbor looks beyond the external accidents and discerns those inner qualities that make all men human and, therefore, brothers."

"Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love."

So I'm a bit late on Damian Marley's new album...

...as it came out way back in September 2005. But I'm enjoying the hell out of it nonetheless. Great beats and some poignant, political lyrics. From the title track, Welcome to Jamrock (Jamrock being Jamaica):

dem suit no fit me
to win election dem trick we
den dem don't do no-ting at all

come on, let's face it
a ghetto education's basic
an most of the youths them waste it

an when dem waste it
dat's when dem take de guns, replace it
den dem don't stand a chance at all...


Here's a nice review of Damian Marley's new album from some random high school newspaper's music reviewer.

Sorry to keep posting other people's material...

...I don't have a lot of new business-related stuff to write about right now. I'm in the process of making the Wavelength site leaner and less expensive, and I'll be sharing details shortly. In the meantime, the plagiarism continues...

I've already mentioned The Sun as one of my go-to magazines, and the latest issue is a sweet one - interesting interview with Tom Hayden, some great poems and short stories, and a funny piece by a frequent contributor who goes by the name Sparrow. Sparrow talks about the 2004 presidential election, and notes that 40% of eligible voters didn't go to the polls. Wondering who these non-voters are, Sparrow suggests that the group includes:

Fishermen lost at sea.
Scientists working twenty-four hours a day to cure AIDS.
Pimps and others too cool to vote.
The extremely absent-minded.
People who decided to have "one little drink" on the way to the polls and ended up getting completely loaded.
People who are waiting for drive-through voting.
Pyschics who already know who will win.

Howard Zinn goes off on war...

...in the January 2006 issue of The Progressive. I find this snippet very inspiring:

Should we begin to think, even before this shameful war is over, about ending our addiction to massive violence and instead using the enormous wealth of our country for human needs? That is, should we begin to speak about ending war - not just this war or that war, but war itself? Perhaps the time has come to bring an end to war, and turn the human race onto a path of health and healing.

A group of internationally known figures, celebrated both for their talent and their dedication to human rights (Gino Strada, Paul Farmer, Kurt Vonnegut, Nadine Gordimer, Eduardo Galeano, and others), will soon launch a worldwide campaign to enlist tens of millions of people in a movement for the renunciation of war, hoping to reach the point where governments, facing popular resistance, will find it difficult or impossible to wage war.

You've got to love Kurt Vonnegut, still going strong - he's 83! Anyway, Zinn's whole essay is worth reading: you can check it here.

I haven't yet talked about gay marriage...

...but as you might suspect, I think all adults should be able to get married, to any other adult they want. Larry David shares this sentiment, as he notes in a great op-ed the New York Times ran on New Year's Day. Nonetheless, Larry's a bit hesitant to go see the gay cowboy movie, Brokeback Mountain:

Who's to say I won't become enamored with the whole gay business? Let's face it, there is some appeal there. I know I've always gotten along great with men. I never once paced in my room rehearsing what to say before asking a guy if he wanted to go to the movies. And I generally don't pay for men, which of course is their most appealing attribute.

And gay guys always seem like they're having a great time. At the Christmas party I went to, they were the only ones who sang. Boy that looked like fun. I would love to sing, but this weighty, self-conscious heterosexuality I'm saddled with won't permit it.

Another celebrity who caught my eye recently is David Letterman. He just had Bill O'Reilly on his show and went after the right wing pundit with a passion. In addition to bombing O'Reilly with personal zingers like "I have the feeling that about 60 percent of what you say is crap," Letterman was adamant in defending Cindy Sheehan and also made no bones about wondering what the hell we're doing in Iraq. You can see snippets of this interview here (though the link might not work after a few days).