Duplicated aforementioned letters at Staples, then sent off the copies to sister Betty and brother Frank. Went to Scrabble at Barb's and, as ever, had a good time. Julie should be back from Florida at the end of the month, so yesterday was probably the end of having Leslie substitute for her. We enjoyed having Les there; wish we could have a group of five.
Doctor's appointment in the morning. BP is still up, so she increased the medication. I was horrified to discover I weight 151--that's 26 pounds over my lowest--must, must, must get that off before I put back all 74.
Stopped at the LETCO board meeting to distribute copies of Santa Barbara Minute flyers. Have a few left which I'll post here and there around town.
Tackled one of the drawers in my desk; will continue.
WIDER: AntiWar.Com has a startling piece on America's Weapons Monopoly by Frida Berrigan. Here's a quote:
"(The press)...invariably speaks of 'the global arms trade.' Let’s consider that label for a moment, word by word:
•It is global, since there are few places on the planet that lie beyond the reach of the weapons industry.
•Arms sounds so old-fashioned and anodyne when what we’re talking about is advanced technology designed to kill and maim.
•And trade suggests a give and take among many parties when, if we’re looking at the figures for that "trade" in a clear-eyed way, there is really just one seller and so many buyers."
She means, of course, the U.S. as the seller, the rest of the world as buyers and she provides chapter and verse to illuminate the actual situation. When I saw her name, I thought Ms. Berrigan might be related to the Berrigan brothers, who so courageously protested the Vietnam war. She is. She's the daughter of Philip, who died a few years ago, and niece of Daniel, still living and still a peace activist. This is one of those "reject the Newspeak" articles that shines a light on the way we accept death and destruction (for others only, of course) when it's clothed in euphemism. I'm going to watch for more articles by Ms. Berrigan.