Phil Donahue's Movie "Body of War" Premieres in SF on 4/15/08

Today there was plenty of activism in the streets of San Francisco, as the Olympic torch made its way down a different route from what was publicly announced. Crafty!

Now for a different item about local activism: Two weeks ago I heard Phil Donahue interviewed on KPFA/Pacifica radio about his new move, "Body of War." He was so good. So well spoken. And so highly critical of the war machine as well as the media machine that is not truly questioning the debacle.

So I thought I'd publicize the premiere of the movie in town next week:

Join Phil Donahue for a
Special Premiere Screening of
BODY OF WAR

Tues, April 15, 7:00 PM
Embarcadero Center Cinema
One Embarcadero Center, Promenade Level, SF ( map )

+ Q&A with Phil Donahue after the screening +

RSVP: Jen Angel -- jen [at] aidandabet.org, (510) 910-5627

www.bodyofwar.com

Tomas Young, a 26-year-old veteran, was shot and paralyzed after serving 5 days in Iraq. His story is told in the critically acclaimed antiwar feature documentary Body of War, produced and directed by legendary talk show host Phil Donahue and award-winning filmmaker Ellen Spiro.

Body of War is an intimate human drama wrapped in a political documentary -- full of angst and humor and hope. As the paralyzed veteran Tomas deals with his disability, he evolves into a new person, finding his own passionate voice against the war. Body of War also captures the historic debate in the Congress in the fall of 2002 authorizing the war and celebrates those that stood up against the rush to invade.

Introverted Quaker Slacktivist

What did I do today? Drive the kids to school. Drive to work. Work. Drive home. Hang out with friends.

Look at photos online of the many nonviolent direct actions in San Francisco today aimed at stopping the US war against... no, that's not right... occupying Iraq? Well, kind of. Let's just call it a war within Iraq.

There was a die-in outside Sen. Dianne Feinstein's office. A group dressed as Abu Ghraib prisoners occupied the intersection nearby, dressed in hoods and orange jumpsuits.

Multimedia message by via e-mail Wednesday Mar 19th, 2008 1:15 PM
From Indybay
© 2000–2008 San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center.

An aged Daniel Ellsberg was arrested at the die-in. And is this what "safety" at home means?

One of the die-in arrestees
by Liz Highleyman Wednesday Mar 19th, 2008 6:08 PM
From Indybay: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/03/19/18486894.php
© 2000–2008 San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center.
Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere.

Oh, Lord, have mercy on us, miserable sinners.

Winter Soldier: War Comes Home

KPFA-FM and the Pacifica Radio Network are running a weekend-long show, "Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan":

From March 14th to 16th, Pacifica Radio will suspend regular programming to broadcast the historic Winter Soldier gathering in Washington, DC. Hosted by KPFA's Aimee Allison and Aaron Glantz.

Named for a similar event organized by veterans in the Vietnam War era 1971, the event includes testimonials from many veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. I listened to parts of it today on the car radio while driving to work and then to a meeting. It's disturbing and powerful stuff.

Speakers include Camilo Mejia, a conscientious objector during the current phase of the Iraq war, and now chair of IVAW. There are podcasts/audio files and transcripts available at:

www.warcomeshome.org

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So, I added the graphic about US casualties. What about Iraq's? Here's what Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize for economics, wrote recently in the Toronto Star; I found it on Common Dreams:

Out of Iraq’s total population of around 28 million, 4 million are displaced and 2 million have fled the country.
    The thousands of violent deaths have inured most Westerners to what is going on: A bomb blast that kills 25 hardly seems newsworthy anymore.
    But statistical studies of death rates before and after the invasion tell some of the grim reality. They suggest additional deaths from a low of around 450,000 in the first 40 months of the war (150,000 of them violent deaths) to 600,000.

The article was titled "The $3 Trillion War in Iraq: Only two winners have emerged from the conflict: oil companies and defence contractors." That sounds right.

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Here's the lead from Greg Palast's newest article, Eliot's mess:

While New York Governor Eliot Spitzer was... in a hotel room in Washington, just down the road, George Bush’s new Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Ben Bernanke, was secretly handing over $200 billion in a tryst with mortgage bank industry speculators.

Both acts were wanton, wicked and lewd. But there’s a BIG difference. The Governor was using his own checkbook. Bush’s man Bernanke was using ours.

It's worth reading the whole article, including especially the practice of "steering" and the impact of predatory lending on the African American community.