t r u t h o u t || George W. Bush, the Frightened Man

t r u t h o u t || George W. Bush, the Frightened Man: "They are not protecting us against terrorism; they are protecting themselves against democracy."

iraqi_hospital_7apr2003

iraqi_hospital_7apr2003
Originally uploaded by hettingr.

I was reading Raed's blog, and pulled this photo from it. His family is my window on Iraq, although I do check other blogs as well.

This picture says it all. It's the price that's paid for our so-called "prosperity" here in this country.

'Historic agreement'

'Historic agreement':

A letter to the editor of the Courier-Journal

"Your March 9 coverage of the historic agreement between Yum Brands/Taco Bell and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) was thorough, but emphasis is needed on the 'teeth' of this agreement.

The key significance of this agreement is that the farm workers, through the CIW, have won the status of monitor and enforcer of labor standards for any tomato grower that sells to Taco Bell. All of Taco Bell's 10 million to 11 million pounds of tomato purchases in Florida are now transparent for the coalition. The books are open, the growers identified. CIW and Yum have become the enforcers. That is the stunning, beating heart of this groundbreaking agreement.

And since any grower who supplies Taco Bell also supplies others in the restaurant and grocery industry, the impact on labor relations is likely to be generalized to all tomato-harvesting activities of those growers.

Meanwhile, Yum pledged to work with CIW to persuade the other big growers to pass through the penny-per-pound income increase to farm workers and to enforce a strict labor code that explicitly prohibits 'involuntary servitude' or modern-day slavery, a condition that has afflicted thousands of farm workers in recent years.

Unlike fast-food tomatoes harvested green and gassed to ripen, this agreement is as sweet and homegrown as a vine-ripened tomato.

STEPHEN BARTLETT

Louisville 40206

Thank you, Stephen. Thank you, Yum. Thank you, CIW!

Cantus Sanctus: The Mystery of Gregorian Chant

Cantus Sanctus: The Mystery of Gregorian Chant: "Chant heard day in and day out, then, would not have become boring or tedious because the four different styles of chant would require the use of four different modes of thought. Also, many chants contain a mixture of word-music relationships, and some are performed in cantor/response style, which offers further variety. Perhaps the different styles of chant correspond to different areas of the brain, so that the change from one style to another stimulates a different brain function. The result is that chant continues to be refreshing, even stimulating, to the listener"

Ward Accent and rhythm

Ward Accent and rhythm
Originally uploaded by hettingr.

Ward Accent and rhythm

Ward Accent and rhythm
Originally uploaded by hettingr.

Ward Puer Natus

Ward Puer Natus
Originally uploaded by hettingr.

Ps 22 Palm Sunday English

Ps 22 Palm Sunday English
Originally uploaded by hettingr.

Chant at St. Joe

Palm Sunday is a beautiful day to be in Gregorian mode. Opening the mass with "Hosanna to the Son of David," is very direct. At both St. Joe and St. Aloysius, I taught the chant before mass as a call and response between cantor and assembly. It should be really effective if we use the same one year after year.

The best part, for me, was singing the responsorial psalm. I went to the ambo this time, because the choir is now ok with leading Gospel acclamation without me. I sang the antiphon from Today's Missal, and for the verses, I adapted the Gregorian melody of Deus, Deus Meus respice to the English texts. Wow. What an incredible experience that is!!!

I'll post those notes here, just so they don't get lost, and perhaps someday I'll look at it seriously and transcribe it to decent notation.

We sang "All Glory, Laud and Honor" for entrance, Pater, si non potest at Prep of Gifts, and for Communion: "Were You There" and "Jesus, Remember Me." Sending was organ instrumental: "O Sacred Head Surrounded." Father Tuon led us in "Jesus, Remember Me" as we knelt during the Passion, as well.

Today we also had our new worship aid booklet with the regular chant mass parts that we sing and the two psalms we usually use for communion.

I don't get any complaints about what we're doing. We DO get compliments, and Fr. Bill says St. Joe is glad to have us as.

OK.

t r u t h o u t - Tom Engelhardt | Are We in World War IV?

t r u t h o u t - Tom Engelhardt | Are We in World War IV?:



Here's a good article that calls us back to the original problem: we totally miscalled our "response" to 9/11. People picked up flags and started waving them around, and our Government picked some wars to fight. Remember? "Kick Ass." And only stupid "liberals" thought we were doing the wrong thing. Had we responded to the attacks as if they were want they were, a small, but effective, demonstration of unrest from a small group, enforceable by law, what a different world we'd be in now.

"As the Bush administration and its neocon allies called for a global response that rose to the level of apocalyptic battle, small groups of legal types and liberals called for a response keyed to those 19 men and the dangerous but modest-sized organization behind them. They claimed 'terrorism' was a method of asymmetric warfare, not an enemy; that our actual enemy, while determined, fanatical, and murderous was not the equivalent of a state and that what was at stake was not 'war' at all; so they called, in one fashion or another, for internationally cooperative police work to bring the criminals and murderers to justice and to dismantle their organization or organizations. This approach was instantly and roundly dismissed - trashed, you might say - by the administration and its various acolytes and has now largely fled the national mind."