June 2006

I’m getting ready to move this week. Right after Independence Day I’ll be spending a little time with family, then I’ll spend the rest of the summer at the Catholic Worker community in South Bend, Indiana.

(I am mildly excited to be moving to Chocola County.)

Cleaning out the attic has also inspired me to clean out my e-mail. I have 28 e-mails still on my “action needed” list, the earliest being an e-mail from this January from Kaihsu titled “Ken Wilber vs Herman Dooyeweerd.”

Pictured: Two more things to move–Happy Birthday Mike Leslie “rent club” poster, and a painting by John Guida.

Chart: This video of a talk by Hans Rosling features some fantastic animated data.

Not guilty: Catholic Worker Jim Dowling found not guilty in Brisbane “on June 1 on a charge of obstructing police when they arrested him last year at a public debate about civil liberties.”
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Slate has an article on the Michael Lerner religious left vs. the Jim Wallis religious left.

Plowshares: Boing Boing mentions a Plowshares action by Greg Boertje-Obed, Carl Kabat, and Michael Walli. They hammered on a silo and spread their blood about while dressed as clowns.

If I could Update my comment on Boing Boing, it would read:

. . . hammering on a missile silo is meant to be purely a symbolic act.

The interplay of symbolism and practicality is what makes these sorts of actions tricky to write about.

Tom Lewis points out that this is the third time Carl Kabat has tried to sabotage a missile while dressed as a clown.

Mike: I met Carl Kabat once, for ten seconds.

Scott: You’re doing pretty good—I met him once for ten minutes!

…

Claire: I think I met Carl Kabat once. He’s always in jail.
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Both houses of our state legislature have finally voted, with veto-proof majorities, for the legalization of over-the-counter sales of hypodermic needles in the state.

Delaware and New Jersey are the only other states where needles are so restricted.

Our governor is planning to cast a symbolic “Yes to Hepatitis!” veto, and the Globe quotes our lieutenant governor and gubernatorial candidate, Kerry Healey, as supporting this decision:

“Imagine your children not only coming upon dirty needles in the park, but standing next to a drug addict in the checkout line of CVS who is there to buy more needles,” said Healey, over the chorus of advocates standing nearby chanting, “Clean needles save lives” and “We need to make sure that this bill goes no further.”

Yes, apparently in states where needles are legal, the kids might as well be pincushions for all the dirty needles that stab them every day.
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This article notes some of what happened at the Saints Francis & Thérèse Catholic Worker community in Worcester, Massachusetts, between 1986 and 2006. It first appeared in the June/July 2006 issue of The Catholic Radical. 52 Mason St, Worcester MA 01610 – 508.753.3588 – theresecw2@gmail.com.
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