Well…Here is a list of entertainment for regular royals, and people who are bought into corporate culture: professional sports; Polo; royal watching; high fashion; expensive concert tickets of corporate entertainers; shopping for the mirage of freedom (aka the instructions of certain politicians after 9-11).
Now…Here is a list of entertainment options for people seeking peace and justice: local sports (or, even better yet, non competitive games); family watching; sustainable fashion; local music; making your own music; and shopping in a spirit of fair trade and sustainability.
Duchess Susanna writes: As someone who values freedom and liberty, I am particularly upset to think that Will and Kate – who are from another country – entered our country without the choice/threat of a full body scanner or an aggressive pat-down by the TSA. I would like to hear more about what kind of measures that they had to endure to travel to The United States, versus what American citizens have to endure when leaving or entering their own country.
On the other hand, I do not wish anyone to have to endure the danger of a dose of radiation administered by a low-level security worker, or a pat-down which is practically sexual abuse. So, I would rather ask that none of us have to endure those bad TSA choices, rather than actually wishing the bad things on Duchess Catherine. Still, that dilemma is part of the problem with politics. If the media and government propagandize certain people to seem like nice, sweet, heroes, then it is hard to wish those people ill, even while their indulgence comes at your expense. Continue reading Prince William and Duchess Catherine: How the other half live…→
Duke Augustus: The corporate media have been in an absolute tizzy over every stitch of clothing the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been wearing while blithely passing along all their military boosterism. They have even exposed Kate Middleton’s preferred choice of undergarments.
Now we are going to be inundated with more information about Kate & Will’s unmentionables then we would ever want to know. As Prince William and Duchess Catherine fly into the United States today, they will meet up with this country’s first line of defense, the TSA.
And we are not just talking a cancer-causing full body scan here. Remember Prince William is not only a foreign national, he is a member of a foreign military. The military he belongs to has a history of violent attacks upon US citizens and fomenting insurrection within the Unites States. In addition, Prince William has just spent the last week trolling along the US border, and boasting of his country’s military exploits.
Prince William is a TSA profiler’s dream. If he, and his entourage, don’t get pulled off the customs line for a full body search, then the whole Homeland Security Department should be fired.
Duchess Susanna writes: Throughout the ages, beautiful women — queens, princesses, and duchesses — have been used to cover up the ugly side of militarism and nationalism. Couldn’t resist merging two of the photos from the current tour:
The Royal Luggage: A photo merge reveals the true meaning of a princess
Note: Found the photos of Canadian soldiers handling royal luggage at a Canadian newspaper, National Post: here.
“Today, economic power has been captured by a small minority. But it has acquired this power only by accumulating the productive power of others. Their capital is simply the accumulated labour of a millions of working people, in a monetized form. It is this productive power that is the real capital, and it is this power that latently resides in every worker …” — Samabayaniti/The Co-operative Principles, 1928.
Duke Augustus: I like to remember that the 4th of July is a celebration of Independence, not of war. It is the celebration of activists coming together to speak out against human rights violations and crying “Enough! We will not take any more.” IN that vein, one of our greatest Americans,Frederick Douglass spoke on July 5, 1852:
What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?
Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly more shrinkingly, nor with greater distrust of my ability, than I do this day. A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech. The task before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper performance. I know that apologies of this sort are generally considered flat and unmeaning. I trust, however, that mine will not be so considered. Should I seem at ease, my appearance would much misrepresent me. The little experience I have had in addressing public meetings, in country schoolhouses, avails me nothing on the present occasion.
The papers and placards say, that I am to deliver a 4th [of] July oration. This certainly sounds large, and out of the common way, for it is true that I have often had the privilege to speak in this beautiful Hall, and to address many who now honor me with their presence. But neither their familiar faces, nor the perfect gage I think I have of Corinthian Hall, seems to free me from embarrassment.
The fact is, ladies and gentlemen, the distance between this platform and the slave plantation, from which I escaped, is considerable—and the difficulties to be overcome in getting from the latter to the former, are by no means slight. That I am here to-day is, to me, a matter of astonishment as well as of gratitude. You will not, therefore, be surprised, if in what I have to say. I evince no elaborate preparation, nor grace my speech with any high sounding exordium. With little experience and with less learning, I have been able to throw my thoughts hastily and imperfectly together; and trusting to your patient and generous indulgence, I will proceed to lay them before you. Continue reading Frederick Douglass speaks on the 4th of July→
Duchess Susanna writes: Did you see the rude headlines? What a waste of time. “Pippa wears see-through dress to Wimbledon”. Hope you did not get fooled. It was a black, crochet dress, that looked like something my Grandmother might have knit and/or worn.
I have been contemplating why everyone cares so much about what Pippa Middleton and Duchess Catherine wear. I guess it can be fun and sociable to dress like other women. Though, don’t we all have other women in our lives to emulate?
Fashion is such an important part of our selves and our cultural identity. I am more excited about fashion choices that can protect the earth, create justice, and celebrate peace and nonviolence. Instead of $1,300 leather purses, like the fancy one Duchess Catherine has been wearing, I prefer bags made from cloth or straw. (And, straw is “in” this season, too.)
Well…Here is a list of entertainment for regular royals, and people who are bought into corporate culture: professional sports; Polo; royal watching; high fashion; expensive concert tickets of corporate entertainers; shopping for the mirage of freedom (aka the instructions of certain politicians after 9-11).
Duke Augustus: The corporate media have been in an absolute tizzy over every stitch of clothing the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been wearing while blithely passing along all their military boosterism. They have even exposed Kate Middleton’s preferred choice of undergarments.
