Friends don't let friends retire sobre!

This is Chris Merrick

This is Chris Merrick on retirement!

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Dear John Huppenthal,

I want to thank you for the racist actions you pulled against the Mexican people in your state of Arizona. Had it not been for your actions, I would have never contacted Bill Bigelow, author of “Rethinking Columbus,” one of the books you banned. Had I not contacted Bill Bigelow, I would have never found out about the book, “Pedagogy of the Oppressed,” by Paolo Freire. Bill told me that you really hate the work of this Brazilian author because in order for there to be oppressed, there must be oppressors, and what does that make you, right?

This is one of the most fantastic works on revolutionary thought I have ever read. Here are a few quotes that I’ve really enjoyed, and I’m only half way through this book:

“For the oppressors, “human beings” refers only to themselves; other people are “things.” For the oppressors, there exists only one right: their right to live in peace, over against the right, not always even recognized, but simply conceded, of the oppressed to survival. And they make this concession only because the existence of the oppressed is necessary to their own existence.” Pg. 57-58.

“The oppressor consciousness tends to transform everything surrounding it into an object of its domination. The earth, property, production, the creations of people, people themselves, time—everything is reduced to the status of objects at its disposal.” Pg. 58

“For the oppressors, what is worthwhile is to have more—always more—even at the cost of the oppressed having less or having nothing. For them, to be is to have and to be the class of the “haves.” Pg. 58

“Precisely because they are “ungrateful” and “envious,” the oppressed are regarded as potential enemies who must be watched.” Pg. 60 [I like this quote because it makes me think of the constant state of surveillance of the oppressed such as in parking lots, malls, facebook, gas stations, street corners, highways, etc.]

[About the student teacher relationship.] “Worse yet, it turns [students] into “containers,” into “receptacles” to be “filled” by the teacher. The more completely she fills the receptacles, the better a teacher she is. The more meekly the receptacles permit themselves to be filled, the better students they are.” Pg. 72. [This makes me think of teaching students to pass standardized tests, and not to be human beings. I have seen such things referred to in many books I’ve read about Indian education and education in general where it is stated that schools pump out employees, not human beings.]

Paolo talks more about what the teacher student relationship should look like, where all are teachers and all students are teachers, basically speaking. Paolo states it is more important to dialogue rather than to teach a parrot to repeat words to you, meaning IMO rather than to teach children to pass tests.

I’m not finished with the book yet, but I’m telling you, this is one of the most engaging and fascinating reads.

Again, thank you,

Eugene Johnson

Mlwaukie, Oregon

Equation or Inequality

Imagine that the U.S. was what is considered to be a third world nation. Imagine Madagascar is a super power with thousands of nuclear weapons and has been enacting global control through economics and military might throughout the world to create wealth for itself. Basically, imagine the Madagascar as the U.S. and the U.S. as a third world nation.

How would citizens of the U.S. act if Madagascar started using its economic and military might to try to steal resources from the U.S.? How would you feel as individuals? How would the government react?

Imagine Madagascar is sending some of its most sophisticated military war ships to do military exercises off the coast of the U.S. Imagine that Madagascar's Canadian allies are murdering scientists that might bring about the possibility of weaponry Madagascar doesn't want the U.S. to have. Imagine that through economics, other governmental coercions, etc., that Madagascar was trying all it could to get the U.S., a considerably weaker nation, to go to war with it so Madagascar could then steal the resources it wants by force.

...

Iran has oil. The U.S. has wanted war with Iran to get its oil since at least Bush 2. The U.S. is doing military exercises involving its massive war ships off of the coast of Iran. The U.S. is trying to coerce military action out of Iran so it can have an excuse to slaughter its people and steal its oil.

Iran is trying to build nuclear power plants, possibly with the help of General Electric. It was said just a few years ago that Iran was AT LEAST 10 years away from creating the materials in order to build a nuclear bomb, let alone to have a delivery device to shoot it off anywhere. Israel's Mossad is known to have been connected to at least one of the assassinations of 2 nuclear scientists recently in Iran. What is there to stop the U.S. from slaughtering the Iranian people and stealing their resources?

Iran has allied itself with two key nations the U.S. will need support from in order to steal Iranian resources for the corporations that own the U.S. government; China and Venezuela. China is a vast military and economic powerhouse that it is alleged can destroy the U.S. economy by dumping the U.S. debt it has been coerced into owning. Venezuela supplies about one fifth of the U.S. oil. The U.S. economy is on the verge of collapse so how is another trillion dollar war gonna help anything.

If one nation has nuclear weapons, why can't another have them? If you are abusing your next door neighbor and stealing the produce they are growing, and you have a large store of weapons you let them know you have, you are not going to want them to get weapons that could be equal to yours or any weapons they could use to fight back. That is unequal. That is not an equation but an inequality. There is no equality between nations because weaker nations that the stronger nations want to exploit must be kept weaker so the stronger ones can rape them at will. Nations will only take getting fucked so long until they fight back one way or the other (Algiers and Vietnam come to mind). The U.S. and what has been described as the, "U.S. pitbull in the Middle East," Israel want that oil. They don't care about the nukes. The nukes are a political issue to distract the world from what is a blatant land and resources grab attempt by the U.S. No one asks why, if the U.S., Israel, and other nations can have nukes, why not Iran? It's about oil. It's about greed. It's about the U.S. being on the verge of economic collapse and like when Rome invaded Dania to steal their gold, the U.S. has invaded Iraq and Afghanistan and wants to invade Iran to get at that oil.

A Novel Idea

Studying algebra and having just listened to "Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science," by Lawrence M. Krauss, I realized that something I have been thinking a lot about since I found out about nukes. I've wondered if it is possible some scientist could find a way to neutralize radiation. I didn't think it was possible, but the more I learn, the more I believe that there is a possibility. Having this in mind, here is my novel idea:

What if a team or individual scientist found a way to neutralize radiation, meaning in bombs, nuclear waste, etc.? Here are a few things about this idea that I do not believe I could put into an interesting novel not having the knowledge of the many factors that would make this a great story:

1) Was or what if the government was watching this team? It is doubtful the government would support such a thing, can you guess why? To have the ability to have their nukes neutralized would put them at a disadvantage on the world control stage. Then what?

2) Would the story have them being watched or would it be a surprise to the government?

3) What would the government do? Would they stop them? Kill them? Destroy the evidence? It is doubtful in my mind that the government would support such a thing unless they could use it as a weapon. Let's imagine they can't. I cannot honestly imagine the government supporting such a thing.

4) What agencies would be engaged in stopping them? Knowing a lot about the humanity behind the agencies that would hunt for these folks and what they would do with them, what would their stories be?

5) How would this team react knowing that they are not considered great heroes by the U.S. government? What would they do? Could their developed technology neutralize nukes and waste from a distance? How does it work? Could they use this technology to defend themselves?

I think this is a great novel idea. If anyone knows anyone out there who can make a believable story out of this idea, pass it on. If you can, use it. It is just something that has been playing around in my head.

Birthday Goodies

A flower arrangement made for me by my wife, Shusli, for my birthday yesterday. She is so sweet!

After a wonderful dinner at Hoda's on 34th and Belmont, where Shusli surprised me by having invited our friend, Chuck, we stopped at a candy store called Fizz, on 34th, just off of Belmont. I found these crazy sodas, and chuck bought them for me. Ghadaffi, Bacon, and Cock sodas! HILARIOUS!

The Militarization of Indian Country

Winona Laduke along with Sean Cruz have written a new book called "The Militarization of Indian Country."

Tune in to Tillicum Wawa: Voices of the People as we interview Sean Cruz in the studio and POSSIBLY (no confirmation as of Wednesday morning) Winona Laduke on the phone. We will discuss their book and what the militarization of Indian country is all about.

Tillicum Wawa is Shusli Baseler-Johnson, Eugene Johnson, and Redwillow. Much of the time the show is visited by Louis Sowa as well. Tillicum Wawa airs every Thursday from 6-7pm on KBOO Community Radio 90.7fm and can be found on the web at kboo.fm.

12 Annual Wacipi Powwow

The 12th annual Wacipi Powwow will be held at the PCC Sylvania Campus on Saturday, January 21st in the Health Technologies Building. Doors open at noon.

Haven't Been Here in a While

I haven't written on this thing in a long time. I've been creating posts for our show, Tillicum Wawa: Voices of the People, and that has been about it. The intention there had been to get photos on posts to e-mail out. Interesting stuff, huh.

We live in our own house now.

I have quit smoking and am on day four of that. Lungs hurt bad yesterday. Jones kinda strong but my will is much stronger.

Shusli has cut back on her hours which is good for her.

I'm learning algebra from "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Algebra."

That's enough for now. Just trying to get restarted in writing.

Human Trafficking

Is there human trafficking here in Portland? Yes! And if we ignore this problem, it will not go away.

Please listen to Tillicum Wawa: Voices of the People, for an interview with Jeri Williams, a Native American activist against human trafficking. Jeri will tell us her inspiring story of survival and talk about her involvement with the Northwest Coalition Against Trafficking Conference being held in Portland.

So tune in to Tillicum Wawa on Thursday, Jan 12, from 6-7pm, to KBOO, 90.7fm or kboo.fm to hear about this important issue.