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Page 3 of 3 “No Child…” victim January 16, 2005 George, Sharon & the gang: Thanks for the nice holiday greeting. Always good to hear from you! It must be winter, because I’m reading The New York Times and to my surprise was an article and photos of a student at Walter Reed School, my old school! Of course, it’s about No Child Left Behind. Don’t know if you’ve seen it, but the enclosed tells enough. Also enclosed is my subscription for Substance and what else. Life as a pensioner keeps on moving. Again, this time of year I have been fortunate to have been able to do a part in another opera, Fidelio, Beethoven’s only opera. Although this Opera was written in 1805 at least one critic has said it is as current as today. Meaning the setting of the opera is a prison with abused inmates. My little part is of a guard who at one point pushes with moving force and swinging night stick at an inmate as well as point a pistol at the head of another character. The continuing reason for my doing opera is my love for the music. My casting cast as a guard in a prison has me standing mid-stage most of Act II near the 74-piece orchestra pit and surrounded by some of the world’s best opera singers doing their things… as if just for my pleasure. Next month will make 25 complete years as a volunteer at the Shedd Aquarium, still feeding the fish under water and things. Sounds great. Then I read this article about how the Bushies are even disrupting “my” school as well as lives worldwide. I have the article and can mail it to you if you like. Hope all goes well for each and all of you!!! Bob Grist, Retired Chicago public school teacher Chicago’s already paid $1 billion plus for Iraq war January 23, 2005 Your readers — and their students and their parents — should find this interesting. The site below gives an up-to-the-second tally of what the war and occupation of Iraq are costing us. You can look for the country, or your own city. For example, the $1,572,116,500 dollars spent from Chicago, Illinois by 3:00 p. m. on Saturday, January 22 would have paid for 14,155 new housing units in the city, enough to house the homeless. Or it could have paid for all the school repairs and construction which are being cut back as we watch. http://www. costof war.com/ Marilyn Katz, Chicago Helen Keller —socialist v. war January 1, 2005 Substance: At this time, your readers might be interested in some material from Helen Keller’s life. As you know, she was a socialist and a foe of imperialist war. At a time when the major media is celebrating the anniversary of one of the most lurid propagandists of capitalism while touting an imperialist war, we need to be reminded that our own history is not as simplistic as they are trying to make it. Your readers might also find it interesting to check out “Forgotten History”, the website from which I got the following. Earl Silbar Truman College Adjunct Faculty Here is an example of her work, from the Forgotten History website: Forgotten History - Friday, December 24, 2004 “Little known facts and overlooked history” Strike Against War by Helen Keller Speech at Carnegie Hall, New York City, January 5, 1916, under the auspices of the Women’s Peace Party and the Labor Forum To begin with, I have a word to say to my good friends, the editors, and others who are moved to pity me. Some people are grieved because they imagine I am in the hands of unscrupulous persons who lead me astray and persuade me to espouse unpopular causes and make me the mouthpiece of their propaganda. Now, let it be understood once and for all that I do not want their pity; I would not change places with one of them. I know what I am talking about. My sources of information are as good and reliable as anybody else’s. I have papers and magazines from England, France, Germany and Austria that I can read myself. Not all the editors I have met can do that. Quite a number of them have to take their French and German second hand. No, I will not disparage the editors. They are an overworked, misunderstood class. Let them remember, though, that if I cannot see the fire at the end of their cigarettes, neither can they thread a needle in the dark. All I ask, gentlemen, is a fair field and no favor. I have entered the fight against preparedness and against the economic system under which we live. It is to be a fight to the finish, and I ask no quarter. The future of the world rests in the hands of America. The future of America rests on the backs of 80,000,000 working men and women and their children. We are facing a grave crisis in our national life. The few who profit from the labor of the masses want to organize the workers into an army which will protect the interests of the capitalists. You are urged to add to the heavy burdens you already bear the burden of a larger army and many additional warships. It is in your power to refuse to carry the artillery and the dread-noughts and to shake off some of the burdens, too, such as limousines, steam yachts and country estates. You do not neet to make a great noise about it. With the silence and dignity of creators you can end wars and the system of selfishness and exploitation that causes wars. All you need to do to bring about this stupendous revolution is to straighten up and fold your arms. We are not preparing to defend our country. Even if we were as helpless as Congressman Gardner says we are, we have no enemies foolhardy enough to attempt to invade the United States. The talk about attack from Germany and Japan is absurd. Germany has its hands full and will be busy with its own affairs for some generations after the European war is over. With full control of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, the allies failed to land enough men to defeat the Turks at Gallipoli; and then they failed again to land an army at Salonica in time to check the Bulgarian invasion of Serbia. The conquest of America by water is a nightmare confined exclusively to ignorant persons and members of the Navy League. Yet, everywhere, we hear fear advanced as argument for armament. It reminds me of a fable I read. A certain man found a horseshoe. His neighbor began to weep and wail because, as he justly pointed out, the man who found the horseshoe might someday find a horse. Having found the shoe, he might shoe him. The neighbor’s child might some day go so near the horse’s hells as to be kicked, and die. Undoubtedly the two families would quarrel and fight, and several valuable lives would be lost through the finding of the horseshoe. You know the last war we had we quite accidentally picked up some islands in the Pacific Ocean which may some day be the cause of a quarrel between ourselves and Japan. I’d rather drop those islands right now and forget about them than go to war to keep them. Wouldn’t you? Congress is not preparing to defend the people of the United States. It is planning to protect the capital of American speculators and investors in Mexico, South America, China, and the Philippine Islands. Incidentally this preparation will benefit the manufacturers of munitions and war machines. Until recently there were uses in the United States for the money taken from the workers. But American labor is exploited almost to the limit now, and our national resources have all been appropriated. Still the profits keep piling up new capital. Our flourishing industry in implements of murder is filling the vaults of New York’s banks with gold. And a dollar that is not being used to make a slave of some human being is not fulfilling its purpose in the capitalistic scheme. That dollar must be invested in South America, Mexico, China, or the Philippines. It was no accident that the Navy League came into prominence the same time that the National City Bank of New York established a branch in Buenos Aires. It is not a mere coincidence that six business associates of J.P. Morgan are officials of defense leagues. And chance did not dictate that Mayor Mitchel should appoint to his Committee of Safety a thousand men that represent a fifth of the wealth of the United States. These men want their foreign investments protected. Every modern war has had its root in exploitation. The Civil War was fought to decide whether to slaveholders of the South or the capitalists of the North should exploit the West. The Spanish-American War decided that the United States should exploit Cuba and the Philippines. The South African War decided that the British should exploit the diamond mines. The Russo-Japanese War decided that Japan should exploit Korea. The present war is to decide who shall exploit the Balkans, Turkey, Persia, Egypt, India, China, Africa. And we are whetting our sword to scare the victors into sharing the spoils with us. Now, the workers are not interested in the spoils; they will not get any of them anyway. Questions...Comments..Email us at: denis@ gophercentral.com |
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