A few rambles

I've been watching, as I am sure a number of us have, the turbulence in Eastern Ukraine.  This has, of course, been bubbling noticeably since the onset of the Ukrainian revolution.  From DC comes the usual blustering and braying by Kerry where Russia is concerned. Kerry is preparing to enter negotiations with his Russian counterpart.  That's a strange way to enter any delicate negotiations.  The DC position is that the unrest is generated by outside agitators and related types from Russia.  It would be interesting to see the proof.  Fact is, as we all know,  all big bureaucratic governments make this "outside"  contention -- and that certainly includes both our country and Russia as well.  Again, we rarely see proof.  And much can happen that is genuinely spontaneous.

A partial solution to the Eastern Ukraine situation, as I see it from my quite distant armchair, could be formal autonomous status for that region.  In the longer run there could be partition of some sort.

Around here, there are contentions that Idaho State Police are stepping up stops-and-searches of out of state vehicles -- especially from North Dakota.  The latter point led a respected TV personage in our setting to wonder, "North Dakota -- of all places?"  There is now much interaction between Idaho people and the North Dakota oil fields but it's hard to see how that would generate official suspicion -- and the State Police deny the N.D. part.  There is, however, some evidence to indicate that vehicles from Colorado and Washington State are being disproportionally stopped in both Idaho and Wyoming -- owing to the  legalization of pot by the former.  Idaho and Wyoming could, ultimately, lose some tourist trade and money if this license plate-profiling continues.

Apropos of the good interchange between Sam and myself,  Wisconsin is sending me some of my written stuff from my collection -- on organzing in general and organizing poor whites.  The organizing part of it remains universal for all time.  The poor white material is, of course, focused much on Old Dixie -- where there have been many good changes but where much indeed in that genre remains to be done.  So I'd say most of my poor white material remains pretty germane -- even in the general national sense.  I may post a few parts of that which Wisconsin is sending.

H

HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR/JOHN R SALTER JR] Mi'kmaq / 
St. Francis Abenaki / St. Regis Mohawk 
Member, National Writers Union AFL-CIO

Check out our massive social justice website
www.hunterbear.org  The site is dedicated to our
one-half Bobcat, Cloudy Gray, and to Sky Gray:
http://hunterbear.org/cloudy_gray.htm

See my piece ON BEING A MILITANT AND RADICAL
ORGANIZER -- AND AN EFFECTIVE ONE (Mississippi et al.):
http://crmvet.org/comm/hunter1.htm

See our very full COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
page -- with a great deal of practical material:
http://hunterbear.org/my_combined_community_organizing.htm

See my  new expanded/updated "Organizer's Book," 
JACKSON MISSISSIPPI -- with a new 10,000 word
introduction by me. This page lists many reviews.
And this book is also an activist's how-to manual: 
 http://hunterbear.org/jackson.htm   

The Stormy Adoption of an Indian Child [My Father]:
http://hunterbear.org/James%20and%20Salter%20and%20Dad.htm:
(Photos)