The grassroots activism surrounding the Downing Street Memo has recently begun to percolate up through the corporate media into newspapers and television. Although the story isn’t garnering front page or top-of-the-hour coverage, I am beginning to feel an imminent tidal change in the zeitgeist: finally, America is getting a clue. Perhaps the constant barrage of infotainment isn’t numbing the masses like it used to.

Welcome to my new domain. Enjoy and contribute.

The following is an email I wrote to my colleagues last week. The corporate media has yet to address the memo in a manner befitting its importance.

Dear Friends,

You are receiving this email because I respect you and want to let you know about a very important matter. Several weeks ago a British memo was leaked to the London Times. This document, now widely known as the “Downing Street Memo”, was comprised of the minutes of a meeting between Britain’s Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and his advisors in the summer of 2002. I have attached this document in PDF format for your perusal. The text details the coordination between the US and UK for a war in Iraq that had not at that point been approved by our Congress. The following is a paragraph from the memo, with an interesting part bolded:

C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime’s record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action.

Today the Governor of the State of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, visited my place of work amidst a protest consisting of teachers, nurses, and other union activists who are upset about his proposals. I made a video clip of the protest with my digital camera and have attached it to this entry.

Whenever I try to analyze a situation or a perception, I inevitably return to my initial assumptions and question why things are considered right or wrong, or how subject and object are differentiated. After consideration, it becomes apparent that all qualifications and symbologies are relative; we ascribe meaning independently, and it is impossible to correlate two experiences.

I’m watching a fish in my aquarium picking up rocks with his mouth, swimming a few inches away, and then depositing the pebble. He is making a space for himself, defining the dimensions of his habitat. You may ask, “How does this relate to anything?” The same way everything relates to everything. Pick any subject, and I’ll tell you how it connects to that fish. “What about cosmology?”, you may offer. I was reading a fascinating summary of a new theory about the nature of our reality, how it may have come into existence, and what may become of the universe we inhabit.

A NYTimes essay about a newly drafted logarithmic map of our entire known cosmology reminded me about a paradox of our existence. Each of us is insignificant in terms of magnitude, yet significant in terms of position as the center of our personal universe. The essayist writes:

Yesterday I stood in line to get good seats for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and it was completely worth the wait. Tremendous vistas lend timeless grandeur to every scene, and I could feel my mind’s eye recognize the land that Tolkien described and I traveled to in my imagination in the final chapter of the tale of the Ring. Minas Tirith stands strong like the bones of mountains, while Minas Morgul and the Vale glow with sickness and insane despair.

Last night I watched Whale Rider on DVD and I really loved it. It was adapted from a novel about a Maori girl named Paikea in New Zealand whose tribal community is disintegrating due to the encroachment of modern society and the lack of leadership from her harsh grandfather who is a chief without a male heir. Interweaving traditional Maori art and culture, breathtaking views of the New Zealand coast, and a mystical story about grabbing your destiny and never letting go, Whale Rider is a meaningful and beautiful film that deserves viewing.

My friend has a page of Free Gift Ideas for the 2003 Holidays that are oriented for those of us who are sickened by the rampant commercialism of the season. There are many opportunities for creative recycling this time of year: for example, re-use last year’s gift bags and remember to save packaging for next year, and make ornaments out of dead lightbulbs by painting them and attaching a hanger. Try to remember that the most important gift is your love.