By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
I was sitting at my computer mid-morning, wearing three-layers, attempting warmth on a 10-degree day. More snow is due by Monday here in Missouri, and there was snow this week in Washington, D.C. as well. Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, author of The Greatest Hoax: How The Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future, scooped up a handful and tossed a snowball onto the Senate floor to ‘disprove’ reports that this is, overall, one of the warmest winters on record. Consider it theatrics of the mendacious kind. Inhofe will go down in history as a belligerent curmudgeon, if that kindly. I consider him a danger to global security.
Perhaps he should listen to the nation’s hands-down favorite Today Show weather man, Al Roker, who named the extreme temps this week due to climate change. Roker is about as mundane as a corn dog and a coke, so perhaps Inhofe should think twice about trying to twist the rubes’ tails with stunts, now that Willie Soon has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Soon, an aerospace engineer, climate truther advocate and part-time employee at the Smithsonian, has long been quoted on the right as an ‘expert’ on the topic of climate. He’s one of 58 such experts promoted by The Heartland Institute, the most influential of the climate truther think-tanks, frequently referenced on FOX News.
The Daily Beast vetted the 58 and found that only three have credentials that would entitle them to an informed opinion, noting that Greenpeace had recently discovered that Willie Soon is employed by the Charles G. Koch Foundation and other fossil-fuel advocates, to issue “deliverables”: scientific papers refuting climate change. The Beast also notes that one of the three actual atmospheric scientists took 40 percent of his funding from the industry, while the truther movement itself is entirely funded by big oil, resulting in “an avalanche of bullshit.”
Since not a single Republican validates global warming, I think we can assume that across the board, their bread is well buttered by petroleum. We should also be aware — as in loudly declarative and obnoxiously so, if required — that as a party they are LYING to the nation, for profit and on purpose. Isn’t that obvious enough now, to catch everyone’s attention? Isn’t that enough to begin to question their motives on who and what they represent? The question: Do they represent us, or only themselves?
Jon Stewart, feeling the pressure of exit count-down, has gone at FOX with real passion the last few days. His most recent hit was a challenge between FOX and The Daily Show in a ‘lie-off.’ He proved his point with an amazing little snip called “50 Fox News Lies in Six Seconds,” just a glimpse of what he’s spent much of his career exposing in recent years. And because these things are synchronous, this comes at a time when one of the more (strange but true) ‘moderate’ of the FOX commentators, bully-boy and ego-case Bill O’Reilly, has come under fire for embellishing the truth.
I suppose if O’Reilly hadn’t expressed so much faux-outrage about Brian Williams inserting himself into historical events, the spotlight wouldn’t have swung back so quickly to catch him up. As it is, however, no less than four previous statements of O’Reilly’s have come under scrutiny by those who were there. Despite what Bill has said, he did not see nuns shot in the head in San Salvador; protests in Buenos Aires, where he was reporting, were neither a ‘war zone’ during the Falklands war nor particularly dangerous; he was not outside the door of George de Mohrenschildt, friend of Lee Harvey Oswald, when he committed suicide; and he and his crew were never “attacked by protesters” during the Rodney King Los Angeles riots in 1992.
Should O’Reilly represent a rational world-view or any level of respected journalism, we could expect this kind of fiction to create a shit-storm, similar to Williams’s helicopter tale. Nothing on the right side of the spectrum requires supporting fact, however, so no surprise, ratings for The Factor have jumped in these last couple of days. Everybody wants to hear Bill’s bluster, belligerent in the manner of Limbaugh and every bit as much a shock-jock and provocateur. Everyone, it seems, wants to watch O’Reilly lie.
O’Reilly’s No Spin Zone — as accurately descriptive of his show as FOX News is fair and balanced — has won some viewers but has it won any respect? And does anyone actually care? The FOX brand stands behind O’Reilly as an entertainer, not a reporter. The nation should be able to examine that stance, compounded by the examples of outright lying and skewed reporting that Stewart offered, and determine that not very much presented on this news [sic] show is anything other than extremist propaganda.
Indeed, nobody is calling for O’Reilly’s head on a plate. They KNOW he’s outrageous and his rhetoric is slanted. They KNOW FOX News isn’t objective reporting. Most of us can say with certainty that very little FOX News has to say is more than right-wing clap-trap, designed to ensnare a morbidly paranoid right-wing base, but they still have a place at the table, they still show up for White House briefings, and we tolerate them in the name of “bipartisanship” or some such nonsense. Why can’t we connect those dots to condemn obvious flim-flam?
We should be very, very clear about this kind of statement when we hear it, and be quick to respond. Taking our sweet time has given the right the opportunity to move the football so far to the right that we’re all whistling Dixie. Every time we hear something that serves no one but the privileged, we should sing it to the heavens, tweeting and blogging, talking with friends and acquaintances, making it plain that with plans like these for the average citizen, right OR left, the conservatives “just aren’t that into you.”
Here’s more counter-intuitive flim-flam. The Republicans still want to privatize your Social Security, but don’t want oversight into the fraudulent banking that put the world on the edge of fiscal plummet. Sounds to me like they’re pushing the old folks to the edge of the herd while shoring up the one-tenth of one percent to which they all aspire. The question for your neighbor: “So you’re willing to allow your retirement funds to be gambled on the stock market?”
Every one of the Pub presidential wannabes have declared that they would void the Affordable Care Act without having a replacement. What’s being said, ultimately, is that showing up at hospital emergency rooms is good enough for the indigent, the uninsured, and the helpless, who would only thrive under preventative care, costing more to keep alive than they’re worth. And didn’t God say he helps those who help themselves? (Actually that was Aesop, not the Bible, although three-quarters of those polled thought it came straight out of the Good Book. It’s been cited as a favorite quote of pick-pockets.)
Can we see how well this serves plutocracy? An underemployed nation, no longer expecting benefits, quickly becomes grateful for what it can get. Witness Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, the (deliberate) decline of the union movement and the rise of Right To Work legislation across the nation. From the point of view of the business class, workers should be grateful to have a job at all, let alone health care. Isn’t that what Republicans are actually saying? And isn’t that reminiscent of the default ‘death panel’ that Palin was sure the godless liberals wanted to foist upon her? The question for the neighbors: “Are you sure you can trust the insurance companies to cover you? Not to increase your rates? Are you sure you’ll keep your health care coverage if you change your job?”
Here’s a case in point. As I write this, the U.S. House of Representatives is preparing to punt on funding Homeland Security — their very own and very personal hedge against all things that go bump in the night — rather than allow Obama to go forward with his immigration plan. The message couldn’t BE any clearer! Are you of Latino heritage, citizen? The right-wing faction of the American political process is at war with your race. They are never going to allow you equality, so it’s in your best interests to not only ignore them, but to begin taking every opportunity to declare your independence from austerity and manipulation.
In Chicago this week, sitting-mayor Rahm Emanuel was forced into an election run-off — the first ever for a Chicago mayoral candidate — with Chuy Garcia, a Mexican-American immigrant who has come up through the populist ranks. A Democrat, Emanuel has always been controversial, not a politician to engender affection, and this time, in a city infamous for crony capitalism and corruption, his elitist connections and big money did not prevail. Garcia’s win against Emanuel’s thirty-million-dollar war chest can be rightly called extraordinary. The neighborhoods connected the dots in the Windy City, got out the vote, and shook the foundations of outworn tradition. Garcia faces a steep climb now, and deserves whatever support we can offer his campaign.
This is exactly the way it’s going to have to look all over this nation before we can say we understood the message of this new century, putting to rest the echoes of inequity reminiscent of the last one, and a radical religious streak that hasn’t been equaled since Cotton Mather pounded a pulpit. Before we can beat back the nameless fears that assail us, geld those who play us against one another, or put an end to the constant manipulation we’re exposed to, we’re going to have to recognize the face of radicalism when we see it.
ISIS is, on all accounts, a hybrid of the various terrorist movements of the last few decades, constructed from the DNA of every perceived outrage in the Mid-east, enhanced with the techno-talent of a hopeless generation, and fashioned over the bones of the unjustly dead. I agree with Obama that it should not get any props for being a legitimate part of Islam, or even a title used for an esteemed enemy. Each outrageous act of brutality is a plea for attention and legitimacy, like those of L’il Kim in North Korea, only infinitely worse because they don’t actually want response from the U.S. except in ordnance and warfare. They are a rogue end-times cult, marketing nihilism like snake oil medicine, bent on hastening the end of the world. Sound like anyone we know?
Here on our shores we have a radical religious movement wedded to a self-serving political party buoyed and supported by a for-profit corporate body that has turned this nation into a zombie eating its own brain. Bigotry and repression are not just tolerated in this mix but promoted. Black kids are seen as the enemy, gay persons must be turned ‘normal’ and women must not be allowed sexual freedom. To those who currently hold the good of the nation in their hands, government, medicine, education must all be leveraged for profit, quietly cutting the legs out from beneath America’s roots in democratic socialism.
And face it, those mindlessly pursuing profit are oblivious to the bottom line of this God-given mission: to kill off every progressive plan, liberal thought and public give-away until the Second Coming, which will arrive on the heels of a fiery conflagration in Israel. (And just so you know, it was a devious plot by noxious Hollywood liberals that American Sniper — the heroic story of a warrior living and dying by the scope of his rifle and his patriotic American values — did not win a deserved Oscar for Best Picture.) Yes, here in America we have some radicals of our own.
ISIS kills those who oppose it in as loud and dramatic a fashion as it can muster. Can we admit that the politics of this nation is slowly and quietly strangling its own, pushing policies that make us weaker and dumber? Meanwhile, the world awaits a rational American partner to rebuild and renew the planet. The question: who’s the radical, again? Who are the haters? Who are the lovers?
Now, take a deep breath. It’s a relief to face things clearly, and since we still have a good deal of illusion about what military-might can do for us in this country, we DO need to look very carefully. On the plus side, it’s not all bad news, here in the purge of darkness and Shift of Era. In fact, there have been a couple of big things to celebrate this week, things that give us the hope necessary to keep on keeping on.
The FCC has voted to support net neutrality, so remarkable a change in philosophy going foreword that long-time observers are stunned at the turn-around. This decision is akin to civil rights legislation, creating a level of equality upon which we can continue to build. Also, the XL Pipeline legislation was vetoed in the Oval Office — only the third veto of Obama’s presidency — but be aware, the pipeline itself is still in play, while the Republican proposal to approve it has been disposed of.
For American readers, there is activism needed to shore up these fragile successes. Our attention is still needed to make our desires known about these important breakthroughs. There is more to do. Next, the FCC needs to hear from us about the possible merger of Comcast and Time-Warner, in what we used to call ‘monopoly.’ Consumers Union will deliver your comments, here.
The Pipeline is still under consideration, and we need to continue advocating against it. For their part, the Republicans will try for a veto override next week, and we need to stay on top of that. Nine Senate Democrats and 28 House Democrats approved this legislation; check to make sure none of them were yours, or if they were, contact them with your view on this defeated legislation. Here’s the list from Daily Kos:
These are the 28 House Democrats who voted with Republicans last time: Terri Sewell (AL-07), Jim Costa (CA-16), Gwen Graham (FL-02), Patrick Murphy (FL-18), Sanford Bishop (GA-02), David Scott (GA-13), David Loebsack (IA-02), Dan Lipinski (IL-03), Cheri Bustos (IL-17), Cedric Richmond (LA-02), Tim Walz (MN-01), Colin Peterson (MN-07), Rick Nolan (MN-08), Brad Ashford (NE-02), Donald Norcross (NJ-01), Albio Sires (NJ-08), Sean Maloney (NY-18), Kurt Schrader (OR-05), Bob Brady (PA-01), Mike Doyle (PA-14), Jim Clyburn (SC-06), Jim Cooper (TN-05), Al Green (TX-09), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Henry Cuellar (TX-28), Gene Green (TX-29), Marc Veasey (TX-33) and Filemon Vela (TX-34)
These are the nine Senate Democrats and independents who voted with Republicans last time: Michael Bennet (CO), Tom Carper (DE), Joe Donnelly (IN), Claire McCaskill (MO), Jon Tester (MT), Heidi Heitkamp (ND), Bob Casey (PA), Tom Mark Warner (VA), Joe Manchin (WV)
Contact your legislator here by scrolling down to Elected Official and picking your poison.
Rather than become overwhelmed by all that needs doing, let’s remember that the dregs must rise from the bottom before the glass can fill with clear water. It may feel as though we’ve talked and talked and yelled and yelled, argued and objected and made ourselves a target at family dinners and city meetings. It may feel as though we’re worn down to a nubbin, speaking truth to power as we might, but — oh, my dears — we’ve only just begun.
One more time, dearhearts, into the breach. The stars have moved us closer to awareness, our circumstances opening opportunity from moment to moment, and we must use what’s at hand to lift ourselves and others into something other than disabling, nihilistic end-times rhetoric. We owe one another activism in service to healing the planet and her wounds. We owe one another the loving attention that is at the heart of decent leadership and common good. The least we can do is ask the questions, tell the truth and expect the best of, and for, one another.
If you need to hear someone speak truth to power this week, go here to listen to California fire-breather Barbara Boxer give the Pubs a piece of her mind over the Homeland Security smack-down. She makes their actual intent very clear, and if your neighbor still isn’t listening, send this YouTube. They may hear something that sounds — oh so very — familiar. Do not underestimate the shifting currents that can make us suddenly visible to ourselves, the energies of change that urge us to remain teachable.
Let me put it another way. Nothing we — any of us — ever did entirely for our own good, with thought to no other, served the world around us or improved life on the planet. Is that who we want to be, who we want to elect and what we want to become? Impoverished in plenty? Heartless in power? Culturally mindless and spiritually hopeless?
No? I didn’t think so. A Course in Miracles tells us that the goal is not to achieve a perfect world, but to heal our perception enough to experience the one we’re in as a ‘happy dream.’ That’s the work. One more time, then, find the good; bless the righteous; act to counter, without judgment, the unkind and selfish; and serve the Light.
Wow Judith! As always, you are so eloquent and informative! As I read your column this morning, I got this image of you – as a female cyberspace “Paul Revere” riding swiftly and purposefully throughout the land, shouting out the call to our citizenry. I have been watching Kevin Spacey’s “House of Cards” which illustrates so well, the self-serving greed, lies and blatant disregard for the public, by our elected officials. More than a parody, it actually portrays what goes on in our government…how the lust for money and power by politicians… determines EVERYTHING!
You are showing us the REALITY of this script…the players, their connections and the impact their decsions have on our lives. Thank you for being so bold and fearless in your column and in the pursuit of the truth. Thank you for serving the light!
Jude: This outing of the republican party’s fraud is as clear and convincing as any as i’ve ever seen. Your moving beyond that to place the republicans in an even broader (and more plainly malicious) context of infamy is all the motivation anybody needs for continued vigilance and activism. Then, finally a summary to keep us humble and grounded. A truly great piece today, Jude. Thank you.
Judith, thank you for layin’ it down so it stays down. You are a major contributor to my happy dream as you strengthen my resolve as an activist. Bless your righteous service of the light.
Saw the “Lie-off” Daily show episode, was funny as always! (Wouldn’t it be a day when all folk let down their amped up defensive energy and understand that they don’t have to be right all the time, they are fallible beings, and it’s when we conciously and collectively decide to be cool to each other that we perhaps have opportunity to enjoy this trip together?).. yeah, I’m crazy. Also, climate always changes, that’s a fact (look out any old window over the course of time). What some cats can’t do is associate themselves with global dynamics, and themselves being instrumental. All I can say about that is to check oneself (for bugs) as well as possible..
Holy fuckin’ shit! Net neutrality?!? I thought it was a pipe dream… of course, just to be pessi-realistic, there’s always conglomerated money and the judicial system… (..but holy shit? did petitioning work??)
I feel like I’m either on the verge of an exxxxtremely slow epic breakdown, or breakthrough??? Either way man, in the immortal words of Freddie Mercury, “..and we’ll keep on fighting ’til the end.” Kinda cheesy but, fuck, it’s a classic feel good!
Love you Jude, and All at PW,
Jere
Here is one of those Political Correct Moments where I KNOW what I Am SUPPOSED TO DO but I won’t.
No I am not so sure that you are right – ERIC – Judith. Yes Eric (Judith) You MAY be wrong. I DONT KNOW> but something seems off here! This world is an impressively adjustable place and I don’t see why it is so FUCKING fragile all – of – a – sudden??? !
If we can kill it so easily how did it survive WWII? Why was Valdez such a fucking catastrophe while everything seemed to adjust naturally? I remember that the break in the Gulf was going to KILL the ocean yet here we are. Is it really as drastic as it seems or are we just fucking hysterical? I don’t like following hysterical minds. they are always irrational – WHICH ARE YOU?
Don’t like me now? Shoot me. I am rational – at least! Life on this planet is far more resilient that the prevailing minds on this site seem to think. Yes I said it. Now delete my account if YOU want to.
Wow! Sent my head a-spinnin’ there! Fucking brilliant. Although, I felt a little uncomfortable with the pitch and key. I would have to isolate my backings and hesitations for either Jude or Eric.. or anyone, in order to allow myself to understand their perspectives’.
I see, and share, your distaste for an armagideon perspective, though, I would share my thoughts regarding fair vocalization of probability vs. possibility. Some shit can be measured (in an albeit incomplete way).
Hey man.., sure, the Cosmos will continue to spin with or without humanity. We have choices…
I Love you Cowboyiam, and all the cats at PW, and the Universe…
(I wouldn’t kick you out of bed for leavin’ crumbs!)
Jere
Spoke too soon, snow came this morning and hasn’t stopped since. Watching the weather channel is much more exciting these days! So is looking out the window.
Thank you Gwen, Len and Deborah for your kind comments and enthusiasm. It’s in community that we find comfort. and encouragement in common cause. Thanks for waving at me today, and for your activism.
Goodness, Jere, I agree — you’re crazy-wise and wonderful. Besides, you make me laugh — what could be better than that?!
Yes, climate is always up and down, and some of the channeling suggests that it’s making a shift toward an overall tropical zone, somewhere down the road. But even if the ultimate problem resolves itself naturally, we are responsible for fouling the sea and loading the Earth with chemicals that are antithesis to all that’s green and growing. Just the uptick in asthma in the last decade should tell us that we’re killing ourselves, and we’re only now beginning to see the kind of biological challenges that changing the temp by a degree or two will provide.
We are — seems to me — always a day late and a dollar short on Creation, running to shore up what we’ve spoiled. I’m affirming the day when we … as you say … are consciously and collectively cool to each other; and to the collective environment we share. Thanks for you comments, kiddo — love you back!
When you post to this column, cowboyiam, you’re addressing me: Jude. Eric and I don’t collaborate on what I choose to write about, and if you’ve read me from time to time, you’ll know that I’m interested in your opinion, not your agreement. You’re always free to express yourself honestly, although we do ask, here at Planet Waves, that posts remain respectful. If you disagree with my understanding of these issues, then we should have a respectful dialogue about them.
On the other hand, I’m not making shit up when I say we have climate issues that are dangerous to the quality of life on the planet, issues of consumerism and plutocracy that threaten them as well.
Humankind is ingenious and I know that even the most cynical climate watchers are trusting technology to make things right and perhaps it will be so — perhaps not. But when esteemed scientists make it clear that we’re pushing toward our point of no return in sustaining that thin veneer of climate that can support human life, it’s worth our collective attention. I have no fear that the world will end or that life will disappear from planet Terra — humanity? We shall see.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/scientists-human-activity-has-pushed-earth-beyond-four-of-nine-planetary-boundaries/2015/01/15/f52b61b6-9b5e-11e4-a7ee-526210d665b4_story.html
As to the Valdez spill, it has permanently damaged the area and twenty-five years later, much of what was lost wlll never recover. Neither will the pristine majesty of Prince William Sound. Once oil is spilled like this, it begins a chain of unending consequences, most of them simply tragic to the life at risk. Let’s also note that financial damages to locals are still due … yet to be paid.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/23/opinion/holleman-exxon-valdez-anniversary/
And in the gulf, we’ve found out where all that oil went, now, resting in a thick layer on the gulf floor killing the ecosystem. I haven’t eaten seafood from this general area since the spill and I don’t intend to. Ever.
http://www.salon.com/2015/01/30/millions_of_gallons_of_bp_oil_found_resting_on_the_gulf_floor/
Open the links I’ve included if you’re interested. Even if, as I mentioned above in response to Jere, climate change is natural to the history of the planet, I believe how we use her resources and pollute her contributes to both the quality and longevity of life here, for us all. That’s my position and I’m sticking to it. Feel free to disagree, but let’s not make it a shoot-out, cowboy. Just not warranted, in my opinion.
Last but not least, Jere … and cowboy … and anyone else reading this, if you’ve found Armageddon the focus of this piece, you need to read it again. Respectfully, Armageddon is in the mind of the beholder — and if I thought it was actual or inevitable, I’d be running with my hair on fire, not attempting to get my Democratic Senator to change her vote on net neutrality or urging you to help knock down monopolies.
Here’s a link with John Oliver and Bill Nye the Science Guy — just for fun:
http://ecowatch.com/2014/11/10/john-oliver-bill-nye-climate-change-debate/
Jude, I am sorry. Drinking and texting can be as dangerous as drinking and driving sometimes. I apologize for the tone of my remarks – I was out of line.
I do have conflicts with you and Eric on some issues though. I don’t see how we can reach the unconditional love we aspire to if we keep believing that some people are just evil and others are Saints. Everyone has a little of both and though I may not agree with something there may be more I don’t know so I want to let everyone have the benefit of doubt – whichever way they tilt.
Wayne Dyer often said that whatever we focus on expands. Whatever we look for we will find. The big question for me is can I see what I am doing? My choices paint my world. The only way to fix my world (I think) is to work on my choices. As long as I work on others – my world is out of my control.
Feels to me like war is the enemy – not the one I choose to be at war with.
Jude can I ask – as to the pipeline, wouldn’t it be a little safer than 14 billion tanker cars loaded with toxic sludge training across the country – where we have at least ten derailments a year? Pipeline’s are safer than any other form of travel so why is this one so terrifying? I just don’t get the whole conflict.
Judith – I could use some clarification please. It’s a mind-boggle of approach I believe we get confused with at times, and I humbly use your own words as an example of it.
POST OF FEB 21:
It is incumbent upon us to work FOR something, not AGAINST something. If we are to succeed in transitioning from the old paradigm to a new one, we must — sincerely, and with all of our will — become part of the solution, not the problem.
POST OF FEB 28:
The Pipeline is still under consideration, and we need to continue advocating against it.
… act to counter
Are there situations that we must stand AGAINST something and other situations that we must stand FOR something? Possibly situations that we must stand AGAINST a thing and FOR another at the same time?
If you could please, expand thoughts on “act to counter”. Thanks.
I love the “happy dream” perspective!
Armageddon? I read it thrice! I speak of “armagideon” time. You Jude, (damned, so brazen!.. Me that is..but Never the less in Love with you), speak of reality and the shit we encounter being that which we need to deal with in public form.
I’ve gotta click on all your links and think for a bit but, thanks man. I’ll see what I can see.. Hopefully I can bring some of the back burners up to the front without creating a mess!
Thank you all, for spreading my mind so open. I appreciate that.
(I’m gonna bust out some Clash for the theme music, but feel free to go with Willi Williams.. it’s his shit after all..)
God damn man, we’ll see what happens.. I’m game!
Always Love, never bitter… and always swingin’ a rockin’ beat…..
(I guess I’m still alive ’cause I’m writin’) Jere
Oh, my dears — the layers, the layers! First, let me take my share of blame for being … ummm … me. I will admit my n. Fire trine and Leo planets tend to enthuse in grand tones; but my Capricorn ascendant leans toward the pragmatic. I, like you, am a work in progress, keeping mind-full as best I can from moment to moment. I, like you, am at work shaping my ‘happy dream’ in a world of duality that will forever be conflicted. And in terms of making that work in both worlds — the one we live in and the one we aspire toward — when we have one foot in each, the lines blur constantly.
That said, there is — seems to me — a lot of backwards logic going on at the moment, I just saw an example on pundit TV where the topic of shutdown is being discussed. Essentially, jumping from A to Z, Obama is being blamed for using his executive powers to hinder Homeland Security funding. That is, by using his power for immigrants … unpopular with the purse-holders … he is causing them to withhold needed funds and so, is responsible for the emergency itself. While immigration issues have very little to do with funding these security measures, the majority party has declared that they cannot be separated. Obama did not create the situation at hand but he — and the rest of society that finds itself held hostage within it — must now be punished.
This is akin to an immature parent saying to a toddler, with little control over its circumstance, “Don’t make me hit you!” If the parent wants to flex power and relieve frustration for having to clean up a mess it never wanted in the first place — and thinks no one will stop them — then they will strike out to blame and punish. And let’s be clear: no one EVER ‘makes us’ do anything!
There is cause and there’s effect … but prior to that, there is choice. Hitting is a choice we are required to take responsibility for, provocation be damned. The mundane world would tell us that provocation is the whole dance, here in our unsafe society; the right-wing would tell us provocation is justification for punishing any who dare aggress. Yet a world that asks us to behave consciously would point us back to responsibility and choice for each response and action.
Mandy — and anyone interested — here is how I see ‘act to counter’ in the simplest of terms: if I was in an abusive relationship, pretending everything was fine and thinking happy thoughts would not serve me or mend my circumstance, diverting myself from facing the fact that I was being badly used would not keep me from psychic or physical stress, nor would allowing myself to be terrorized or disrespected help me face my personal demons. “Standing against” allowing myself to be victimized is, then, similar energy to “standing for” being well treated — the metaphysical difference is the emotional signature brought to the intent.
If I project resentment, vulnerability, hatred, at my abuser, I lose my power to rise above the problem and lock myself into a conflict of wills. But if I deal with my own emotions first — and responsibly — before I stand up for my position, then I do not have to “punish” anyone for who or what I thought them to be, nor asses a toll for the emotional quicksand I found myself in. I can simply say, “No more, I love me … perhaps even you … too much to allow any more bullshit.”
THAT is how I see politics. We are all in this together, and as long as a minimum of harm is being done to the totality of us then I can work to understand and accept it. When it becomes harmful, then I will refuse it actively and passionately, calling it the way I see it but without HATING anyone. Who can HATE any soul on this planet without harming themself? I do not stand in resistance; I withhold my approval and stand in affirmation of less harmful alternatives.
There aren’t any Saints or Sinners on this plane, from my point of view. But there is a collection of very impressive and powerful souls here, at the moment, working out their creative juices. God’s godding, as they say. And here’s paradox, cowboy: the concept of good and evil can only keep us from unconditional love as long as we, ourselves, insist that love is conditional.
Our friend Barbara K. has talked a good deal over these last months about all the astrology that seems to have entwined itself around 11+ degrees of Aquarius, defining a potent theme — here’s that Sabian Symbol, and because of the ‘heat’ of this conversation, I’m going to include most of it:
Aquarius 12: On A Vast Staircase Stand People Of Different Types, Graduated Upward
Keynote: The necessity of recognizing differences of types and levels of development wherever human beings live and work together.
This symbol obviously refers to the ascending process of evolution of life forms and consciousness. It seems to apply especially to the fact that differences of levels exist among human beings. The ideal of equalitarianism has to be balanced by a realization that hierarchy of levels is a fact of nature. Each person should be aware of the level at which he (or she) stands, even as he strives to move toward a higher one. He should look up for inspiration and examples, while helping the human beings of the next lower level to reach up. This is the great give-and-take of evolution, and it applies to sociocultural evolution as well as to the progression of biological species.
We are not all in the same place, but what we create together we must inevitably share together. What we’ve created right this minute is problematic for many of us, and Western civilization, especially, must take responsibility for having created a good deal of pain for the rest of the world to endure. We know the stories of Atlantis — they are pertinent, here. The whole point of taking an evolutionary leap is to STOP THAT!
From my point of view, then, the ethics of this is very clear. Republican leadership has, in this decade, defined itself in intellectual terms as the business class; a for-profit, opportunistic and cynically regressive movement that has no interest in the public good but merely in ‘what the market will bear’ to line its own pockets. That is not “reaching up” to the next level of evolution.
The Pubs represent the patriarchy and the patriarchy represents the punishers and the punishers seek out the weakest to victimize. Not speaking out against that, wherever it is found, seems to me a form of acquiescence and does a disservice to those who DO NOT YET recognize this form of abuse.
The Democrats are not much better politicians, but liberals are still head and shoulders above the opposition as nuanced human beings, standard-bearers for the principals of justice, equality and common good even if they don’t live up to them. They didn’t used to be so cowardly but the propaganda machine has been active a long time.
Unfortunately, so many of us have become mistrustful of government power, unaware of political process and uninterested in anything but what lands in our own laps that it doesn’t matter which party we relate to, we are taken advantage of because we do not engage in our own good. To say that our political process and social contracts, here and across the globe, are not dangerously out of balance at this point would be to have missed the opportunity to be of service to one another, and Gaia, during a defining moment in world history.
THAT is not an Armageddon scenario — but that IS a major problem when the planet is facing an existential emergency of increasing toxic overload. I don’t see how we can look at the facts at hand … they’re readily available everywhere we look, these days … and simply presume that this is “business as usual on planet Earth.”
I also think about Edgar Cayce, as regards this topic — the Fundy Armageddon myth aligned with Cayce’s earth change information from the 20’s – 40’s, in which he did not foresee us making the shift at century’s turn. It was incumbent upon us, said he, to “be ready, at any moment, to meet thy Maker.” He said that fearlessly and lovingly, assuming we understood that was the inevitable, anyhow. Armageddon? Fear mythology. Death? A part of the life process. What we, ourselves, bring to either defines us.
“Pipeline’s are safer than any other form of travel so why is this one so terrifying? I just don’t get the whole conflict.”
I appreciate your continuing the conversation, cowboy. The pipeline itself is simply, imho, another crony-capitalist project that adds nothing to the nation itself but plenty to the Koch’s pocketbook. Its arrogance is symptomatic of the problems we face with corporatism. The Canadian company that markets this baby has a miserable track-record of spills associated with its handiwork and the proposed XL is smack over a major aquifer serving the Midwest, making the inevitable spills even more worrisome. Much like the pending TPP trade issues, we err dangerously in allowing foreign corporations to override the public interest.
But — all that aside, and granting the dangerous problem of moving this sludge by rail — it’s the tar sands themselves that are the problem. This is the lowest level of crude, only usable when mixed with potent and dangerous chemicals that allow it to liquefy. And it is not a question of IF there will be spills, but only WHEN. Again, imho, there are so MANY things wrong with this, that it’s disturbing to me to think we are considering it at all! When a healthful, healed future depends on alternatives to fossil-based options, this simply isn’t a project in service to humanity. Open the link below to flesh out the problems, if you wish. I hope you find it worth your consideration.
http://350.org/
And cowboy, whatever we focus on expands but to deliberately ignore the dangers and pitfalls standing in our path isn’t reasonable. Wayne Dwyer has absolutely zero problem saying NO to things he feels manipulate him. He focuses on the energy of Source to keep him from falling into the intellectual trap of duality — famously choosing to interact, one on one, with compassion and grace — but I’m quite sure he, like so many others of the spiritual community, does not approve our current political dilemma as healthful or heart-full. I’m reminded, for instance, that Marianne Williamson ran for office recently. She wanted to represent a higher way forward.
Jere, please don’t hurt yourself going back to check what was said when, or ponder any of it too deeply because that only traps us both in yesterday; trust Spirit to tell you what you need to know today. Still, yesterday held some majik. Here’s my love song for you today, from ‘yesterday’ — of all those adventures, this one is my favorite, and maybe that explains a good deal, in itself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXyXDuI9p5U
Once, awhile back, I seriously considered quitting writing to swing all my energy to the ‘happy thoughts’ project, to the more passive ‘just be Love’ project. Intent DOES count for much of what happens on the planet and the power of expanded consciousness is awe-inspiring. I’ve lived the last decade “out loud” and there are days when I feel as though enough is enough, but then some beloved IDIOT (and I say that in the most non-judgmental, loving and respectful way possible) gets on television and tells blatant and dangerous lies to people who haven’t developed the skill to recognize they’re being taken for a ride, and I realize that while I still have a voice — and especially in this time of quickening — this column, this community and this message continues to be part of my bundle this time around.
We are here to look up, and reach down. Thanks for listening, dearhearts, and — as we used to say when we finished a psychic reading on hot, star-spangled nights at the Chapel in Tucson — I’ll leave that with you.
Jude today as I ponder my rant of last night I have tried to understand what set me off and finally I realized what I was reacting to. Obviously I have the right to express my opinion but the content indicates that I felt it was not allowed. You have made clear today that it is and I wondered why I assumed otherwise.
I realize today after pondering on it that I am still carrying a bag full of garbage from my initial break away from the mindset of my family. I was raised in this right wing orthodoxy that limited free thinking and assumed obedience to the party line. As an adult I slowly began to question my presumptions and eventually liberated myself from the polar right ideology. The lesson that I learned during my escape is that they don’t want to debate anything and they wont fight fair. I have found the same frustrations with the far left mindset.
I stand in the middle and watch each side spin the other. Sure there is truth in both spins but just a touch not so much and nothing approaching the reality of what motivates human beings. Both sides are disingenuous.
I am witness to the complete genius of Maya. From each side of the illusion the truth is always so clear. I am certain that we wont cross the great divide until we do it together and I know that feels impossible from here but somewhere in consciousness it will be – and the wars we participated in will seem petty.
Or maybe I am just delusional – like my family says. But thanks for giving me a hear.
Jude, I see your point of view and you always speak to a unique and valuable perspective. I respect that. I respect you.
However I think you hold such polarized views that it just continues an argument that will never end. I don’t expect to change your mind but I believe that somehow all the answers we seek are available – where we actually look for the answers together. They lay somewhere outside of the polarity realm.