Journal

full moon
march 18, 2003 ~ 4:02 p.m.

Winona LaDuke came to campus last Friday, and I got to have lunch with her, which was really cool. I wish I had thought of a good question to ask her, though. She's really one of the most promising liberal people in this country. She really ought to run for president, but she said Nader's running again in 2004 and she's not going to be his running mate this time.

She also gave an incredible speech (as always) which was mostly about the war, but also the environment and social issues. She listed the qualities that the Catholic church requires for a "just war" and explained how this war doesn't have any of them: a just cause (danger without question), the harm must not outweigh the benefits, waged by a legitimate authority acting on behalf of the people, the right intent (no ulterior motive such as economic benefits), and it must be the last resort.

She also mentioned the president's poem, which I had not heard yet, amazingly:

"Make the Pie Higher" by George W. Bush (compiled by the Washington Post's Richard Thompson)

I think we all agree, the past is over.
This is still a dangerous world.
It's a world of madmen and uncertainty
and potential mental losses.
Rarely is the question asked
Is our children learning?
Will the highways of the internet become more few?
How many hands have I shaked?
They misunderestimate me.
I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity.
I know that the human being and the fish can coexist.
Families is where our nation finds hope, where our
wings take dream.
Put food on your family!
Knock down the tollbooth!
Vulcanize society!
Make the pie higher! Make the pie higher!

Some quotes I wrote down from LaDuke's speech:

"If you have a zero tolerance policy on terrorism, you shouldn't finance them."

"The United States cannot stand on its moral high ground and pretend it was not the first purveyor of biological warfare." (after mentioning the smallpox blankets)

"I am a patriot, but I am not a patriot to a flag, I am a patriot to a land."

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