Here and Now

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

“All war is a symptom of man’s failure as a thinking animal.”
— John Steinbeck

Disquieting things happened this week, things that make you go “hmmmm!” Appropriate, I suppose, for a tense and chaotic period ending with a solar eclipse, super-moon and the equinox, all stacked on one another. Sounds like celestial fireworks to me, punctuating a sea change of some sort, although we may not have more than a glimpse of it.

Of the political arenas bubbling with possibility, some are vast. In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu and his Lukid party came so close to losing the race for re-election that the incumbent Prime Minister found it necessary to show too much of his hand, particularly the race card he’d stashed up his sleeve. Charging Arab-Israelis with a threatening blitz of Obama-inspired left-wing partisanship, he called upon the right-wing — particularly its hard-liners and settlers — to get out the vote, sweetening the pot by pledging to refuse a two-state solution. When the cards got counted, Netanyahu had won the game.

Now comfortably re-elected, he’s tried to walk back that statement, but the bad blood between the administration and Bibi has already stained the relationship, and will continue to strain the bond between Americans and Israel. Up to this point, the public had accepted that the Israelis were making an attempt to come to some international resolution of the “Palestinian problem,” so while questioning appropriate action and the level of brutality aimed at democratically elected, if hostile Hamas, they have given Israelis a lot of leeway in addressing their security issues.

With a long history of cutting Israel slack, the public has given them a pass on aggressive behavior in the territories (as explained last week, taken not in defense against attack, but in occupation as blatant as those of the Western democracies Israel chooses to emulate) and shielded them from United Nations censure. Now, with Bibi having come clean about his intention regarding the peace process itself, he may find he has fewer allies than he thinks. His policies of apartheid have rankled in recent years, but much was overlooked in Israel’s lethargic pretense of finding a peaceful solution. No more.

As quoted in a McClatchy piece: “The average American should be concerned not just because our ally’s leader came all the way to Congress to give the president the finger,” said Khaled Elgindy, former adviser to Palestinian peace negotiators and a fellow at the Brookings Institution, “but they’re thumbing their nose at the international consensus on how to resolve this conflict.”

Skittish as a March hare, FOX News made much ado of Obama’s not calling Bibi to congratulate him, although Secretary Kerry already had. Obama did call late this week, with news that the U.S. will be reassessing its Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The international desire for a workable two-state solution will not be surrendered easily, and perhaps Netanyahu’s lip service won’t be tolerated either.

Even if America finds some way forward with Bibi, the UN may be playing a larger role anyway, given that Europe appears to be similarly miffed with Israel and the settlers’ sanctioned push into contested areas. It’s apparent to all players that an already conservative government has just shifted sharply to the right. For many of us, such news comes with the increased throb of war drums not far off in the distance. Listen to what retired legislator, fire-breather (and secular Jew) Barney Frank has to say about this situation. He’s concerned that Bibi’s stance will contribute to  anti-semitism, on the rise in Europe.

Meanwhile, as the world waits to see if Obama can corral congress-critters into anything other than a Mexican stand-off, the vote on Iran sanctions has been put off until April, giving Kerry more time to dicker with a supremely cautious Iran. No one is actually expecting a deal, with Jerusalem apparently as tightly polarized as the U.S. and many of the others watching. With extraordinary and largely unnoted hypocrisy, while Israel’s nuclear weapons cannot (by decades-old presidential agreement) be spoken of in less than hazy euphemism, Iran’s possible acquisition of same must be bellowed into the night as world-ending and demon-inspired, something to scare the children.

There are other things I’d like to mention today, like Diane Feinstein’s going after the quiet insertion of an anti-choice clause in John Cornyn’s human trafficking bill, telling him that (all but one) Dem women would be opposing it — again and again — because “This isn’t your reproductive rights. And by ‘your,’ I mean men.” I’m not always in DiFi’s camp, but she’s got my respect on this issue. The bill has been voted down several times now, Dems holding the line against 60 votes.

Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell is stalling the confirmation vote of Attorney General candidate Loretta Lynch until the trafficking bill is passed. This activity is called ‘holding hostage’ in some camps, although a Republican senator from Illinois said this week that “refusal to pass an anti-human trafficking bill with anti-abortion language was akin to refusing to abolish slavery in the 19th century.” In the eye of the beholder, I guess.

Wait! Was that an admission that slavery wasn’t only a Bible-approved, kindly conceived and benign financial arrangement? Oh hell, probably just a bad metaphor. I find it difficult to give a pass to people who are so tone deaf to these issues that they approve an anti-abortion rider that would require victims of sex trafficking to ‘prove rape’ in order to acquire abortion funding.

As for highly respected Loretta Lynch, she’s waited more than 4 months now, with the Pubs delaying the process at every turn, even though they have truly heinous things to say about retiring Eric Holder. (DO open and read this stunningly embarrassing statement by Missouri’s Lieutenant Governor, to get a sense of just how dark this mid-section of America presents itself. This statement reflects a cynical manipulation of bias, and if truly his own opinion, a remarkable lack of intelligence.) Even Rudy Giuliani has called for Lynch’s confirmation, identifying her as a stellar candidate.

This week the Republicans offered up their own budget, capable, they say, of paying off the debt within ten years, something a leading Dem has called ‘budget quackery’ and even one of their own calls ‘hooey.’ It would be good to discuss all that’s at stake in this dreadful echo of Paul Ryan’s past offering, but since it IS so preposterous — austerity for the poor, good (make that great) times for the one percent — you won’t have trouble finding detailed rants wherever your reading pleasure takes you.

I’d like to touch down briefly on the Clown Car Project — a run-down of those thinking of running for president — because it’s simply bizarre, and makes even our surreal political process of moment less freaky. Like Donald Trump (reported in a snip by Huffpost Hill under the title, STFU) launching an exploratory committee because, “I am the only one who can make America truly great again!” Or our old friend Rick Santorum, who has never actually STOPPED running in the minds of his followers. Open this link to get a sense of those minds, making things Boehner and McConnell do and say seem only mildly irrational. Yes, they’re out there, and if Rick decides to play, they’ll come along. (By the way, you’ll want to visit the Barney Frank link above, if you haven’t already, to hear what he thinks of a Warren presidential candidate as opposed to the inevitability of Hil.)

I read a righty blog this week and learned that Ted Cruz scaring a three-year old by telling her the world is on fire was peanuts compared to Libertards everywhere scaring Republican children with mythological climate change. And seriously, folks, when Glenn Beck warns that you should run from the Republican party because they’re not good people (read that too left of center, complicit with establishment government and mean to Ted Cruz) you have to accept the fact that the wackadoodles have permanently inhabited an alternate reality in which many of us are unwelcome. Beck has the 4th largest radio audience in the U.S., remember — some 7 million listeners — just in case you were laughing too loudly.

There are other tweaked realities out there as well, inviting us to get swallowed up like Alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole of fear and dread. I read all the time about how there’s never been anyone as brutal and callous as ISIS — as dangerous and inhumane as this radical Islamic collection of gangsters — and wonder if anyone remembers the Holocaust. The Roman Empire. Wonder if they’ve read the travails of Shin Dong-hyuk, who escaped from the North Korean gulags to tell us that MUCH worse than ISIS horrors are every-day events in L’il Kim’s empire.

I wonder if the readers of such frightening articles about the Islamic radicals know they’re being played, not just by the political parties that want to sway their opinion but by ISIS itself, which can only earn street cred as it makes a name for itself by intimidating its enemies.

So here we are, the 2012 energies newly behind, just beginning to dig through the rubble, already exhausted from the ride. One of the channels I appreciate, Patti Cota-Robles of Tucson, has been preparing for these very days and these kinds of challenges for over twenty years. She says this about these fractured times:

We will not experience another March Equinox with a Solar Eclipse until 2053. That does not even include how long it would take for a Super New Moon to be figured into this alignment.

The power and might of this unprecedented influx of Light will be greatly intensified during the Super Full Moon Lunar Eclipse on Passover which is April 4th, and the celebration of Easter which will be on April 5th. From that point on, the Light on Earth will increase exponentially through the remainder of 2015, thus paving the way for Humanity and ALL Life on Earth to be Initiated into a Higher Order of Being.

Under normal circumstances the synchronicity of the Equinox, a Solar Eclipse, and a Super New Moon occurring at the same time would be very powerful, but there is nothing normal about what is happening on Earth at this time. We are truly in uncharted waters.

Due to the monumental shifts of energy, vibration, and consciousness that have occurred over the past few years, Humanity en masse is now able to withstand higher frequencies of God’s Light than ever before. This is allowing the I AM Presence of every man, woman, and child on Earth to actually raise the frequency of vibration within our Earthly bodies the maximum we can withstand in every 24 hour period. This facet of our Ascension process is accelerating the purging taking place within each of us, so that everything that conflicts with the Harmony and Balance of God is being pushed to the surface to be transmuted back into Light. From outer appearances this process makes it look like the World has gone amuck. But that is an illusion.

This purging process is necessary in order for us to tangibly manifest the patterns of perfection for the New Earth.

Take or leave the concept of a New Earth — consider, perhaps, a renewed one — the notion that we are at that point in the purging where everything that seems impossible to deal with is visceral, challenging our good humor, overwhelming our senses and inviting surrender. But surrender to what, that’s the question.

Surely not to defeat. Not to continued warring and escalation of fear and anger. Not to unloving policies and for-profit solutions to every problem, especially when half of this nation’s children are food insecure. That’s THIS nation we’re talking about, not to mention all the rest of the world’s youngsters who are destined to die with swollen bellies due to famine, war and the fear that there ‘isn’t enough.’

If we are to take a new world into a new paradigm of understanding, if we are to re-create ourselves and our culture in a loving, tolerant manner, then we’d better begin to invest in those things that will bring it about. Yes, the personal is political, but we must start even more simply — with our thoughts, with our breath, with our decisions.

Can’t we discuss what isn’t working without insisting that those who have created it thus are ‘bad?’ Can’t we name those things that are wrong, even wrong-headed, without being afraid that we’re perpetuating negativity? Can’t we defy death by loving life? Can’t we?

Let’s begin by being mindful of the powerful vibrational use of our “I AM” declarations. We can begin by bringing the dynamics of awareness to everything we see around us: food, art, environment, conversation, politics, finance. We can begin by using our power of appreciation and gratitude to modify the energy that lean times and fear of lack provide us. We can start taking the baby steps that keep us focused on positive change, that begin to vibrate the whole of creation in a wash of new energy and determination.

Patti CR recommends using the powerful energy of the Violet Flame when thinking of those things so in need of transmutation, balance and renewal. She tells us that things we consider political — like justice and government and industry and economy — are all subject to the same transformative exercise as are the internal experiences of increased compassion, mercy and love.

To leave behind what is old, we must allow it expression, to be recognized and discarded.

Sounds like the long passage we’ve just made, doesn’t it? Here on the weekend when spring renews us, the new moon compels us and the eclipse initiates a new cycle of energy, let’s begin to reshape the world with love, right here — and right now.