my brother and his intelligent musings on war:

Bush's efforts to make his rhetoric jive with Reagan's created a continuity in American foreign policy between the Cold War and the post-Cold War that should not exist. The "Evil Empire" and "Axis of Evil" have combined to form the "Revolving Door of Evil," whereby America installs a government and then treats it like a jar of mayonnaise: "Keep contained after opening. Best if deposed in 20 years."

appropriate for a day like today. what strikes me as particularly great about the whole standing for peace thing is that it is:
(a) a swattie response to an international day of activism that is well-reasoned and intellectual and self-satisfied and so, so swattie (other skools organized walkouts, but as one fella in my poetry class revealed to me, we value education too highly)
(b) a swattie response to an international day of activism that is inspired by the pope -- you know, the catholic one? in rome?
(c) a swattie response to an international day of activism that is inspired by the pope in rome and set on today of all days cuz today is Ash Wednesday.
(d) activism that is inherently inactive. but in a good way. i mean, at least they're not blocking traffic (except for that one guy in my poetry class who left early to go into philly for that purpose)

i found the contrast between observant catholics walking around today with ash-crosses on their foreheads and people wearing the Stand for Peace t-shirts really interesting. i didn't notice anyone of color in either category. but as i only had one class today and it was small, i didn't get too much exposure to the range that was out there. in poetry class, the boys wearing the shirts decided that if we all as a class "consensed" that we were against the war and stood together for a minute, they could sit the rest of the time. so we did: stood, then sat again. that was my contribution to this worthy cause.

(note: i do not [entirely] mean to be ironic and caustic. that's almost as bad as being cynical, which is what people used to call me. i swear i'm not. i really am anti-war and pro-people doing whatever they feel they need to or what will make them feel useful/engaged. this is just my natural edge and if it offends you, you should realize i don't mean it and i probably love you and by me, anything you do is right.)