Eleanor Arnason's Blog, page 79

More News

We seem to be settling down for long struggles in Wisconsin and Libya. The Ohio legislature passed an ugly anti-labor law, which pretty much ends collective bargaining for Ohio public employee unions. The fight will continue. There is recall in Ohio.

On the plus sign, we are apparently not going to get another winter storm this coming week.

Patrick is sick with something that sounds like strep throat, but tested negative at the doctor's office. None the less, he is miserable, dozing on the living room couch at the moment, with intermittent coughing and throat clearing.

I am coming down with something, probably whatever he has. I plan to take the day easy, get final revisions done for two stories and maybe begin to read the entire Lydia Duluth series to make sure it is consistent.

There's a good chance I won't make Marscon this weekend. This cold -- or whatever -- should not be spread around.

Another Photo

Update

I don't know if it's the late winter blahs, or getting worn out by waiting to see what happens in North Africa and Wisconsin and with a friend's hospital tests. But I am out of energy, feeling achy and run down.

And I am tired beyond belief of watching the Republicans in action, attacking workers' rights and women's rights and gay rights and minority rights and the planet.

I should feel good, because people are fighting back, and politicians in the US -- Republican governors and the president -- seem to backing away from their most retrograde positions. (Would Obama have abandoned DOMA, if there were no massive labor demonstrations? He's got to be nice to at least part of his support.)

Gaddafi is fighting to the end, but what else can he do? His foreign assets have been frozen and his family is not welcome anywhere, except maybe Venezuela.

I suppose the cheerful way to look at this is -- things are happening, people are protesting in Africa and the Middle East and America and Europe. The right wing cannot win, because the planet is against them. The resources that capitalism needs -- raw materials, new markets, new sources of labor and a clean environment to dump waste in -- are mostly gone. There are no more externalities. There are only predators going around and around within a narrowing circle, biting and chewing what is left within their reach.

But they can do a lot of harm before they are done circling. And the stars wait for us. We could rebuild this planet and then go up and out. Why our we wasting so much on the tail end of an era?

NASA!

What's happening outside the space station? A space shuttle has docked. Five days ago, the space shuttle Discovery was launched to the International Space Station, carrying six crew members and the large Leonardo Multi Purpose Logistics Module. Three days ago, as pictured above, the docked shuttle was prepared to be unloaded by the space stations Dextre robot and Canadarm2. The above expansive photo captures much more, however, including Japan's Kibo Experiment Module on the lower right, Earth across the top of the frame, and a seemingly starless backdrop of space in the distance. During the next week, the shuttle and ISS crews are scheduled to permanently attach Leonardo as well as fix and upgrade parts of the ISS. After 38 previous voyages, this is expected to be the last space mission for the Space Shuttle Discovery.

Liberate

Per Al Jazeera, "Twitter user @rutevera posted this to Twitpic:"

Weather Report

We had another snow storm Sunday and Monday. 10 to 17 inches in the metro area. As a result, we have new heaps on plowed snow. The enormous snow mountain in the St. Paul Sears parking lot is even bigger than before. Everything today was fresh and clean and white under a bright, sunny sky.

I got my taxes done, then went to the rally in support of Wisconsin workers at the Minnesota State Capitol. Patrick works as a policy advocate and spends a lot of time at the Capitol. He says he has never seen a large demonstration in the rotunda. It filled the first floor and the two levels of balconies above the above the first floor. Not packed like the Wisconsin State Capitol, but full. Cops in Police Federation shirts stood at the entrance, thanking everyone for coming. There were union banners hanging from the balconies and lots of union jackets. Teamsters, Steel Workers, SEIU, AFSCME, you name it.

Badger Behavior

Since Wisconsin is the badget state, I looked up the Wikipedia entry on badgers:

Badgers can be fierce animals and will protect themselves and their young at all costs. Badgers are capable of fighting off much larger animals such as wolves and bears. Honey badgers in Africa have been known to fend off multiple lions, hyenas and other dangerous top tier carnivores. The many venomous snakes in Africa are also consumed with ease by the ferocious African Honey Badger...

In 2007 suggestions that British forces released man-eating badgers near Basra, Iraq, to kill terrorists were refuted.

Soldiarity Demonstrations in Malta

Courtesy of Al Jazeera, doing a wonderful job of reporting, as usual.
In part Al Jazeera's excellence is due to the people who phone in or twitter reports on the ground, which tells us that people on the ground think of Al Jazeera first, when they want to get information out.

Look at the sign held by the man to the left.

Libya

Domonstrations in Libya. The second largest city is now in the control of the demonstrators, and three important tribes have come out in support of the demonstrations and against the government's violent response.

Another wonderful poster from Egypt -- in English with th...

Another wonderful poster from Egypt -- in English with the international peace sign, which originated with the nuclear disarmament movement in England in the 1950s.