Livin' In The Foodchain

Fun With Numbers

2006-07-11T19:46:00.000-05:00

Our president, I've been given to understand, isn't crazy about reading.

Unfortunately, many Americans share his lack of passion for the written word. And many of those who do read ... well, let's just say I have a theory, the USA is possibly the only country in the world where as the population reads, the national IQ level plummets.

Perhaps I'm being overly harsh.

But then again, maybe not. Having been a bookseller for the past eight years, working in practically the only bookstore in town, a town with a population of almost 300,000, I feel I have my finger on the pulse of the reading public in my fair city. I'm priveleged to witness just what goes into the minds of the average red state American. Romance novels mostly, followed by a pretty substantial amount of mysteries, sci-fi and children's books.

Nationwide in our stores the current number 1 fiction best seller is Janet Evanovitch's latest and the number 1 non-fiction slot belongs to Ann Coulter. That tells me that reading habits here are probably not that far out of line with what most Americans are reading.

I think it was H.L. Mencken who said, "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the average American." Or something like that.

I ran across a great book today, a children's book called "How Much is a Million" by David M. Schwartz.

I think every American ought to read it. It only takes a few minutes but I found it very helpful in understanding just how big the numbers are that we're dealing with in our economy today.

Too often, numbers are just numbers .. we hear about millions and billions and even trillions of dollars being spent but the numbers are too abstract. Most of us don't have a frame of reference for understanding just how big these numbers are.

How much bigger than a million is a billion? And how much bigger than a billion is a trillon?

This is what I learned in Schwartz's book.

If one were to count to a million it would take about 23 days. That's a lot of counting. A million is a very big number.

But get this, to count to a billion it would take 95 years. That's a substantially larger number so when we hear that we're spending 450,000,000,000 for this year's war budget that means if one were to count this number off it would take 42,750 years. That's a shitload of dough.

I read the other day that our current debt level, taking everything into consideration .. personal debt, state, local, federal and unfunded liabilities, Social Security and Medicare, for example .. the overall debt level is almost 90,000,000,000,000 bucks. That 90 TRILLION, folks.

Well, you ask, how long would it take to count to a trillion?

Mr. Schwartz tells us it would take almost 200,000 YEARS to count to a trillion. Do the math, that means that if one were to count to 90 trillion it would take 18,000,000 YEARS.

Now maybe you'll understand why I don't get too excited when I hear the media and the economists tell us how great our economy is.

Mr. Bush needs to read Mr. Schwartz's book.

But then again, why bother. Only one number means anything to presidents and that's the number 4 or possibly 8, the length of time they get to spend in office running up these Titanic sized debts.

Longing

2006-07-07T14:30:00.000-05:00

I long to be free.

Given the choice to determine when and where in history I would like to have lived had not my soul been entrapped in this era, I've chosen the North American continent in the year 500 BEC, (before European Conquest).

I can only surmise what life may have been like then through books I've read.

Every era has its trials and tribulations, to be sure. It's tempting to romanticize the past, ignoring the hardships and foibles of human nature, and ascribing to it a pristine virtue no longer existant in our day.

I long for things I've never even remotely known, things completely alien to 21st century experience.

I imagine a state of nature of overwhelming abundance. Texts written by the first Europeans who settled here testify to that effect. Fish so plentiful that they could be scooped up in baskets, flocks of birds whose passage overhead darkened the skies for days, pure rivers and oceans teemed with life and forests so thick in some places they were near impassable.

All my life I've lived in an artificial environment. I'm sitting before a computer, listening to digital information processed to sound like live music, climate controlled by air compressed and cooled by machinery and chemicals, light emanates from a piece of glass overhead, made possible by my connection to the grid. As I go about my day I walk on concrete and asphalt which conveniently lead me to places where I can deposit my hard earned income credits into the eager hands of those who require those credits to maintain the artificiality that defines and necessitates my enslavement in American culture, which is rapidly becoming world culture.

The irony of ironies is that we who have come to rely so heavily on the artificial accept the artificial as 'natural.' We can no longer imagine life any other way.

And because we can no longer imagine life any other way we casually accept the banalities of culture as well as its exploitative and destructive character as the best of all possible worlds without deep reflection, without extrapolating the consequences, vaguely aware that disaster looms but assuaging those disturbing intrusions on our consciousness by surrendering more and more to the seemingly inevitable. The sense of defeat and hopelessness are endemic and pervasive, encouraged heartily by forces we can barely conceptualize.

Being neither a psychologist nor a philosopher nor a cultural scientist I can only glean from the works of others why this must be so.

What's most perplexing to me is how we can so easily believe the superficial non-explanation of the why of things. Where is our innate curiosity? Or is that just another contradiction .. how can a lack of something be innate?

The most over-hyped concept in America today is the delusional idea of 'freedom and liberty.' I'm free to go with the flow. I'm free to accept the reigning paradigm of our death culture. I'm free to participate and 'prosper' or to rebel and face ignominy and ridicule.

Whatever man may have faced in North America in the year 500 BEC, I doubt that he had to think through what 'freedom' meant. To be free wasn't a concept, he just was. He didn't have to work for wages for the right to exist on this planet. He understood his place in nature and shared bountifully in its gifts and acted responsibly in its maintenence. His life was sustainable, he lived in cooperation with his surroundings, not conflict.

And this is fact, not romantic fantasy. This was before Christianity and the idea that man is top of the foodchain and given divine right to subdue nature to his own profitable ends.

I can only imagine real freedom and this morning I long for it. I'm sick to death of our never ending war mentality. I hate traffic and telephone poles and strip malls and concrete and asphalt and Walmart and cell phones and SUV's with their banal 'Support Our Troops' stickers. I hate having to understand freedom vicariously, through the experience of a long dead, barely imaginable culture, exterminated by those who lusted for the uncivil progress of civilization.

I empathize with the caged animal.

I feel his anxiety as he paces to and fro.

I long to set him free.

Freedom.

It's more than just a word.

Celebrating The 4th

2006-07-02T20:29:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I feel like Rip Van Winkle. That I went to sleep one day and woke up in the Twilight Zone.

Does that ever happen to you?

Today is July 2nd, the last Sunday before the 4th.

Today I tuned in to TBN, the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Jesus' lifeline to a dying planet.

I should have known I was in for a treat when I saw a stage covered in flags and a whole bunch of white people dressed in flag shirts, white pants, white shoes and white gloves marching to 'The Stars and Stripes Forever.'

Being a religious ceremony as well as an orgy of nationalistic patriotic celebration the four major branches of the service were more than adequately represented.

All these white people were singing songs, "You're a Grand Ol Flag, Yankee Doodle, America the Beautiful, the National Anthem." It was quite the production and it wasn't done on the cheap. During one of the many songs I thought was the grand finale, a group dressed up as WW2 soldiers carrying the flag ran on stage and settled into the famous Iwo Jima Pose and stayed almost completely motionless for the length of a couple of songs. It was really very impressive.

Interspersed with all this flag waving and America Worship the moderator, decked out in red, white and blue like all the others, went into a long speech on the Constitution and how America was founded by Christians and how The Good Lord has given a special blessing to this country and how important it is to return to being "One Nation Under God."

I couldn't help recall past July 4th celebrations when I was filled with joy and pride as I imbibed the glory which is America. The land of the free, the home of the brave.

But that was before the 'day that changed everything.' Even before Video Game War 1 and the knowledge of Daisy Cutters and Bunker Busters and Depleted Uranium. That was before my education in unvarnished American history where I learned about Death Squads, Assassinations, Regime Change, Genocide, Ecocide, the Horrors of Chattel Slavery (sure, I knew some of these things existed but they hadn't really entered my consciousness with any force), this was before I was brutalized with the images of hideously deformed Iraqi DU babies and torture scenes from Abu Ghraib. This was before The Project For a New American Century and Neocons and Neoliberalism and Patriot Acts and Homeland Security and Gitmo.
In other words, these were the days I attended Fundamentalist Christian Churches and Voted Republican.

The overblown pastiche of Patriotic Propaganda displayed today felt like something obscene. An extravagant display of unthinking emotion that epitomizes what I view as the last gasp of an America in desperate need of feeling good about itself. USA and God and Flags and Songs all choreographed as if to say, "All is Well in America and God still Shines His Light on our Proud and Peculiar Land."

Rather than fireworks and picnics and weenie roasts, this particular July 4th maybe it would be better to step back and reflect on where we've been and how we've arrived at this particular point in history. Maybe black bunting and riderless horses alongside a caisson of flag draped coffins would be more in order. Maybe a time of Soul Searching would be more appropriate.

Maybe it's time to Sober Up.

Can America still be a Great Nation? Are we capable of True Repentance? Maybe one day but right now we're not even close. We still Believe. America is Great because it is Good. And if you disagree you'll probably be labeled Commie, Liberal Scum. You'll feel the Wrath of the Ann Coulter lead Red State Hordes. Ms. Coulter, the Face of American Conservatism, the Blond leading the Blind. The divide in this country is deep and it is dark. As dark as our bloody history.

What am I talking about you ask. America is the Light Shining on the Hill, we're Spreading Goodness across the Globe.

I have two questions for our nation. Where is our Thirst for Justice? Where is our Thirst for Truth?

America, in my view is storing up a Huge Karmic Debt for itself. Wherever we go, we go in Guns A Blazing. We leave Death and Destruction and Poverty and Broken Dreams. How do we love thee O World, let me count the ways. Native American Genocide, Chattel Slavery, Manifest Destiny resulting in the theft of lands from Mexico in the Mexican-American War, the occupation and theft of Hawaii, the Spanish-American War with the brutal Subjugation of the Phillipines, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, the ovethrow of the democratically elected leader of Iran in the 50's and the support of the brutal Shah, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Chile, Panama, Haiti, Kosovo, Gulf War 1, 12 years of deadly sanctions, and the never to be ended War on Liberty, I mean Terror.

Sadly, we're probably no worse than any other Empire in history but we're certainly no better either. We're not the first to rally around the flag and to Praise God for his generous Blessing.

But we claim to be so much more. We're the good guys in the White Hats. We have a Vision For the World. But our Vision so often is a third world country's Nightmare.

Maybe it's time not only to Sober Up but also to Grow Up. Let's be adults and seriously confront the problems that plague our land. Let's remove the blinders and take a deep, hard look at who we really are. Do we have the Courage? Do we have the Will?

We better. Because the alternative is too horrible to contemplate.

I wish you a soberly, reflective July 4th.

May God have Reasons to Bless America.

A Great Read

2006-06-27T10:35:00.000-05:00

I read lots and lots and lots of books. I read history, theology, science, literary fiction (and even the occasional schlock fiction) current events, social criticism, politics, philosophy and just about anything else that promises to shed light on the human condition.

Every once in a great while a book comes along which avoids stereotype and genre classification and is just a great read.

I'm referring to Gregory David Roberts' "Shantaram."

Apparently, Mr. Roberts has lived a very unique and experience filled life. "Shantaram" is his autobiographic fictional account of those events.

Roberts, in real life, is an Australian .. a political activist in his early years who became addicted to heroin which destroyed his family life and lead to several armed robberies, landing him in prison, sentenced to 19 years.

He escaped over the wall in broad daylight and took flight to Bombay, India. He 'went native,' learned the language and lived for a while in the slums where he founded a free clinic for the poor. He earned his livelihood by working as a counterfeiter, smuggler, gunrunner, and street soldier for a branch of the Bombay mafia. Not exactly what one would consider a role model.

But that's what's so compelling about Roberts' story.

Despite the character flaws and the antisocial behavior, Roberts' story reveals a depth of character that many would want to emulate. His ability to see through human flaws by gaining an understanding of his own gives his characters a depth that transcends the superficial. His love for Bombay and the Indian people is revealed on just about every page of this long, 933 page novel.

Here's what some of the reviewers said of this work:

Pat Conroy; "If someone asked me what the book was about, I would have to say everything, everything in the world. Gregory David Roberts does for Bombay what Lawrence Durrell did for Alexandria, what Melville did for the South Seas, and what Thoreau did for Walden Pond. He makes it an eternal player in the literature of the world."

Moses Isegawa: "Shantaram has provided me with the richest reading experience to date and I don't expect anybody to unseat its all-around performance for a long time. It is seductive, powerful, complex, and blessed with a perfect voice. Like a voodoo ghost snatcher, Gregory David Roberts has captured the spirits of Henri Charriere, Robinson Mistry, Tom Wolfe, and Mario Vargas Llosa, fused them with his own unique magic, and built the most gripping monument in print. The land of the god Ganesh has unchained the elephant, and with the monster running amok, I tremble for the brave soul dreaming of writing a novel about India. Gregory David Roberts is a suitable giant, a dazzling guru, and a genius in full."

Jonathan Carroll: "Anyone who walks away from 'Shantaram' untouched is either heartless or dead or both. I haven't had such a wonderful time in years. 'Shantarum' is quite simply the '1001 Arabian Nights' of the new century. Anyone who loves to read has been looking for this book all their reading life."

I couldn't agree more.

In an age when schlock rules, Roberts' book deserves wide promotion. Unfortunately it's the 'crank em out' authors who get all the exposure and media coverage.

Do yourself a favor. Read 'Shantaram.' I think you'll find it time well spent.

Happy Thoughts

2006-06-25T12:40:00.000-05:00

Once again it is Sunday

Once again the airwaves are full of Sunday preaching.

Once again one of the most popular, Joel Osteen, facing his mammoth congregation and more mammoth teevee audience, proclaims the power of positive thinking.

The gist of the message today (and every Sunday ad infinitum) is that the source of all our ills, the reason we can't be happy, well adjusted individuals is because of our Gosh darned stinkin' thinkin.'

He told the story of how is sister lives next to a railroad track. Every night, just as she's drifting off into blissful rest, a monster of a train comes by rattling the woodwork and jolting her out of her slumbers. Because of the deletorius effects of this nightly assault she decided to train her mind to ignore this inconvenient reality.

After two or three weeks of consciously willing her mind to shut down, she was finally successful. No more disruption. No more intrusion. Mental mastery. Blissful rest.

Mr. Osteen's ministry is devoted to turning lemons into lemonade through the power of positive thinking. Let no negative thought enter your mind. Start the day with a smile. Don't let daily hassles and irritations upset your sensitive sensibilities.

Good advice when taken in moderation. But as a panacea Mr. Osteen's sunny cheerfulness is destined for failure because his approach fails to address root causes.

As the camera pans his congregation one gets the sense that most are moderately to highly affluent. Just a guess but many are probably captains of industry and influential business leaders. Many of the rank and file are most likely consumed by the daily stresses and frustrations of making a living in the Houston rat race.

And because of the consistency of Mr. Osteen's message .. your life is messed up because you don't think right ... one is left with the conclusion that all of life's problems, like that pesky, noisy train will just go away once one learns to ignore reality and just think happy thoughts.

No doubt, Mr. Osteen's congregation faces real problems. Failed marriages, conflicts with co-workers, a sense of futility brought on by a feeling of helplessness as world events become more and more mystifying ... fear and insecurity, potential job loss in our outsourcing economy, fear of losing all that one has accumulated through hard work by the insidious effects of a threatened inflation. These and many more are symptoms, not causes of our malaise.

Joel Osteen doesn't address root causes, just as our schools and media system refuse to address root causes. The best we can come up with is 'the enemy,' the devil, the Muslims, the 'fill in the blank' are conspiring to steal our joy. Rather than confront these enemies, identify them and learn the source of their anger and enmity we are told instead to 'let no negative thought enter our minds, don't worry be happy.

Above all, it is implied, don't investigate.

And why would that be?

Because, obviously, investigation may lead to disturbing answers. What if, upon investigation, we were to find that most all of our and even the world's ills are rooted in our political/economic policies? What if we were to find that our system, predicated on limitless expansion, unrestrained corporate profits, mass production and mindless consumerism is directly responsible for our sense of alienation from all that is real and truly good? What if we were to begin thinking about the effects of cradle to grave advertising campaigns and how they may be moulding us, creating a false reality where nothing is more important than fulfilling our patriotic duty to 'shop til we drop?'

What if, upon further investigation, we were to find that our prosperity, our highly idealized American Dream requires that countless millions in Third World countries subsidize our booming economy through sweat shop labor and 'free trade' policies that, in effect, confiscate their resource wealth and domestic food production capabilities ... all enforced by a strong armed, US backed local ruling elite bought and paid for to insure their cooperation in their own enslavement?

What if our 'liberal media' was to seriously challenge and critically analyze our root assumptions? What if our journalists were investigators into the afore mentioned root causes and not just the mouthpieces of 'official sources?' What if politics were absent from the debate over global warming and the environment?

What if?

Would we change?

Or are we content with the status quo? Are we content with the social destruction taking place before our eyes as the few get richer, the middle shrinks and the ranks of the poor continually swell?

Would it be better in the long run if we follow Mr. Osteen's advice and blot out every negative thought from our minds and convince ourselves that by thinking happy thoughts we will indeed be happy?

I would suggest that instead of a constant diet of positive thinking, Mr. Osteen would better serve his congregation by every once in a while investigating that 'broad road that leads to destruction' .. you know, that wide avenue that Jesus tells us most of us are on.

Maybe we've reached the point where our global problems are insurmountable. Maybe the coma that most of us are in is a blessing in disguise, maybe the illness is terminal and there is no hope ... delusion being the only treatment.

I don't think we're at that point yet but we'd better wake up soon. All indicators tend to reveal that time is short. Something dreadful perhaps this way comes.

And that's not a very happy thought.

Letter To My Sister

2006-05-23T11:51:00.000-05:00

Hola hermana,

Thanks for your email. Sometimes I do get depressed when I realize how few people I have in my life and how it got this way, then I get a note from my big sis and realize I'm not totally alone in this world.

I woke up this morning thinking about a line from Shakespeare, "The world is a comedy to those that feel and a tragedy to those that think." When I first read those lines many years ago, I thought he had it ass backwards but when those words popped into my head this morning I realized he was dead on.

If one word could be used to describe the complexity of a human being, the one word that would describe me is 'truthseeker.'

From my earliest years, I guess because I've always been a reader, I've understood that something wasn't quite right with what I was officially being told and taught. This gut feel, based on scraps of information gleaned over the years only intensified as I read more and more. I wanted to know why.

At first I thought the answers could be found in the church. As you know, I went full bore into it, wide eyed and trusting ... well, not completely, but enough to believe that all life's answers were there to be discovered. Going into it full bore I tried to conform to the church's view but I kept finding these nagging inconsistencies. Participation with a group of dedicated Jesus people satisfied for a long time my need for family, I guess. I suppose that's why I stayed with it as long as I did. And while there, I gave it my all .. I was willing to believe wholeheartedly in the 'inerrancy of scripture' and how I must use it to guide every area of my life.

But the things I read in the bible didn't match the facts 'on the ground.' One thing that always bothered me was why the church was so fractured. Why so many differing beliefs and why, if Jesus and the Holy Spirit were in fact in charge, did so many disagree (sometimes violently) on different matters of church doctrine. After all, Paul, the premier apostle prayed for unity and that all be of one mind. Because these words were written in the bible I thought it was possible. Not only possible but inevitable. Didn't Jesus say that anything you ask in my name would be done? It seemed to me that if anyone carried any weight in his prayers, it should be Paul.

Believing unity to be possible and inevitable, being the reader that I am, I took on a study of why different groups within the church believed as they did. I wanted to understand the reason for the division and hoped that in my small way, I could contribute to the eventual unity of the faith.

I studied all the 'isms.' Calvinism, Preterism, Dominionism, Catholicism, Dispensationalism, Fundamentalism, Universalism, Atheism .. and more.

What I found was that each and every ism based their conclusions, with much conviction and many references, on the bible...even atheism. Each separate group could argue it's case persuasively using the 'bible alone.' Of course, in order to do this they had to pick and choose which scriptures supported their views and ignore the many that may contradict.

Thus began a more in depth examination of the bible. How was it possible for so many competing viewpoints, each held with such unswaying conviction? And why did I believe that it was the 'Word of God,' from God's lips to man's ear? I won't go into all the details but I studied it out and came to the realization that I believed the bible was God's Word because that's what I had always been told. I accepted it like I accepted everything else having to do with Christianity ... on faith, not necessarily on fact.

Cutting to the chase this is my current position on the bible lest you think me a complete heretic. I believe all truth ( 'all' meaning all necessary for understanding man's condition) is in the bible but not all the bible is true. Man's clumsy pawprints are all over it and the truth contained within it is truly 'a great treasure hidden in a field.' A 'pearl of great price,' if you will.

How does one separate the wheat from the chaff?

By understanding the character of God. His perfection, the depth of his love. My criteria for determining whether or not something in the bible is 'true' is how it accords with the idea of perfect love working out a perfect solution to an imperfect world and a flawed people. That's why Universalism appealed to me so much. It was internally consistent and logical from a spiritual perspective. Universalism is the ism that believes that a perfect God will have a perfect result, that all creation will ultimately conform to the character of God, not unwillingly but by freewill choice. Love will indeed conquer death. And it doesn't matter if you're Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Atheist or anything else .. the plan is perfect and will not be thwarted.

That gets me around to the reason why I left the church.

The church teaches unending hell and eternal torment. Even the gentlest and most loving groups I've been acquainted with hold this abhorrent doctrine. When I tried to show them a better way, through scripture, I was told my view could not be spoken about in the church. 'We love you bro, but we think you'd be happier in another fellowship.' Trouble is, there is no other Christian fellowship other than those that believe the lie of eternal hell. 'A little leaven leavens the whole lump.' There are congregations that believe as I do, they're just few and far between and I haven't found one here.

It was there and then that the realization hit me full force that the search for truth was a lonely pursuit. But not without its rewards.

Whether for good or ill, along with being a truthseeker I'm also a loner. That's an indelible part of my character. I didn't plan it this way, as far as I can tell, it's just a foundational part of who I am. I prefer solitude and contemplation. My greatest joy is the finding of another piece of this puzzle called life. But I don't always like what I find, I guess that's the downside of wanting to know 'why.'

One thing I came to understand was that in the church's search for the eternal they seem to have forgotten about the here and now. Being freed from church dogma, I became more interested in how things are not just in the 'pie in the sky when you die' philosophy of the church.

My latest efforts have been concentrated on understanding politics and economics. The whole left v right thing.

What I've found confirms a lot of what I believe the bible is all about. The bible talks about 'good and evil,' heaven and hell, right and wrong. Politically these things get conflated into 'liberal and conservative,' 'right and left' ... with the overwhelming conviction in America that 'right' = 'good' and 'left' = evil. Watch the news and you'll be convinced that 'liberal' is a dirty word and that 'left' is positively satanic.

I've reached the conclusion that the exact opposite is true. And this matters ... a lot.

The subject is complex and I could go into all the reasons how I've arrived at my conclusion but that would be too lengthy and you're probably asleep already.

In a nutshell.

At it's most ideal the left is socialist, believing that the poor should receive a more fair distribution of its goods and resources, that those who create the wealth should particpate more fully in its benefits. This is anathema to the ultra rich, those who rule and dictate policy. The conservative right has always feared the leveling influence of the masses and have structured our government in such a way that the upper crust will always be in control. They own the government, the courts, the media and the church. All powerful institutions capable of maintaining its control through highly effective propaganda. Billions of dollars have been spent on think tanks and PR firms in order to manufacture your consent for their policies. This bodes extremely well for the elite class but it's disastrous for the poor and disenfranchised.

Here's something you've probably heard many times in your life .."Two things we don't talk about here, politics and religion.' Now why would that be? Why would the two most important subjects be considered off limits? I believe it's because talking leads to discussion, discussion leads to investigation, investigation leads to facts and facts bring light. The one thing Jesus says the world hates .. light .. because it exposes its deeds as evil.

Ok, in answering your question. Why do these things matter? Why do things happening in other countries matter? Why not just live day to day and take things as they come? Because .. as long as we think this way, as a herd, the closer our world comes to extinction. Grave problems face the world right now .. many scientists believe we're in the midst of the world's sixth great extinction. The first one caused by man. Species are disappearing at 120,000 times the natural rate. The big fish in the oceans are 90% depleted. The environment is a wreck. Globalism ...predatory, corporate capitalism, the unending lust for wealth... has made slaves of the world's indigenous populations, kept in hopeless poverty while our country lives off their resources. Globalism as a fiscal policy is turning our 'land of the free' into a police state. Forty percent of Americans believe that the NSA's monitoring of billions of its phone calls is a good thing. Meanwhile, the disparity between the world's richest percentile and the world's poorest is growing at an exponential rate. Unending war, scarcity of resources, and evironmental destruction are inevitable by products of the way we do things.

At its most extreme the political right has no heart. It's all about money .. which Jesus said the love of was the root of all evil. I believe him.

Because it has no heart, the right has counterfeited one through its hijacking of the American fundamentalist church ..the wackiest and goofiest, albeit most dangerous element of the faith. Jesus said that Satan masquerades as an angel of light. He says that the deception will be so great that if possible, it would fool even the very elect.

Study what's really going on in Iraq. If you have a heart, the injustice of it all will break it. We've destroyed their infrastructure, brutalized and impoverished their people and set them at each other's throats ... all so the US can establish a dominating presence there in order to gain control of the last of the remaining oil. The peak oil problem is very real and will result in catastrophic changes in the way we live. The sad thing is, it didn't have to be this way. Intelligent answers are available to most of the world's most distressing problems but these viewpoints never get aired in our corporate controlled, news for profit, government worshipping media. The answers to the world's problems, I believe, are best articulated by the political left, the view that's constantly suppressed. If the American people had a heart and a brain they'd be outraged.

The book of Revelation is all about the overthrow of the status quo. It's about the end of all the injustice and man's inhumanity to man. Were Jesus alive today, I believe he would be a hardcore, radical, leftist revolutionary. The exact opposite of how the fatcat, comfort loving American church views him. American Christians believe GWB stands on Christian principle. What a joke. The real joke is that the church is so deluded that it can believe black is white and good is evil.

I'm not really depressed. I've just had my eyes opened to the reality of the world, and that is a depressing situation. I believe our country is on a crash course with it's destiny. 'As you sow, so shall you reap ..' Truer words were never spoken. I'm not looking forward to cataclysmic change but I really believe that change is inevitable. It is written. It's our fate to live on the cusp of monumental upheaval. It will be messy, ugly, and painful .. but here's where I have hope. IF we don't wipe ourselves out, perhaps the human race will learn something about living in harmony with the earth, that today's way of doing things is unsustainable and can only lead to disaster. Perhaps on the other side of whatever imminently awaits us, a wisdom will be gained. At least in the short term, til the greed and lusts of the human heart take over once again and the cycle reverts.

We're living in the Matrix. Virtually everything we believe to be true is a lie. It seems incredible and paranoid that that could be so, but it's true. At least, that's what this truthseeker believes. But you know what? I'm glad it's a lie. I'm glad that 'the way things are' are a lie. I'm glad that the way things are aren't the way they're meant to be.

Camus said, "In this world there are victims and executioners. It's the thinking person's duty to never side with the executioners."

We, as a nation, side with the executioners. Damn scary when you think about it. One of our early presidents, Jefferson, I think, said .."I tremble for our country when I realize God is just."

Food for thought.

More later.

G

Back From the Books

2006-05-18T22:17:00.000-05:00

As you can see from the date of my last post ... well, it's been a while.

So much depressing stuff going on, I decided I didn't like this century much anymore so I decided to do a little time traveling.

I wanted a clearer understanding of how we got to where we are. Hoping the past might provide some insight I began an American history reading project.

This thing took on a life of its own.

I figured I'd start with Pre-Colonial times. Simple enough, eh? Let me tell you, it's not that simple. Everything is connected to everything else so there's no clear cut beginnings. Start to read about the founding of the colonies and you realize you need a little background. After all, there were some major players on this continent, each with their own unique set of circumstances. You can't really understand American history unless you have at least a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish, French and British history as well. And then there's that little matter of the indigenous population and their plight.

Starting with Alan Taylor's "American Colonies; The Settlement of North America," (excellent) I soon had, literally, 30 books going. From Prescott's "History of the Conquest of Mexico" I was also reading books in a multitude of categories; pre-colonial, colonial, the American Revolution, bios of Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, "The Age of Federalism," Civil War stuff ... Goodwin's "Team of Rivals," a bio of Grant, McPherson's "Battle Cry of Freedom, Potter's "Impending Crisis" ... bios of Jefferson Davis and Nathan Bedford Forest.

Of course, with the interconnectedness of everything I couldn't leave out Britain .. so I added "The Rise and Fall of the British Empire" to the mix as well as Churchill's "History of the English Speaking Peoples." Britain has always been entangled with France so I needed to know about Napoleon and I read the gut wrenching account of his ill advised foray into Russia , Zamoyski's "Moscow 1812; Napoleon's Fatal March." Which got me interested in Russia and a trio of books, Massie's "Nicholas and Alexandra," and "Peter the Great, His Life and World" along with a cultural history of Russia, "Natasha's Dance."

These books catapulted me into a need to know about the Great War and its causes. Massie's "Dreadnought" was a great introduction and Churchill's, "The World Crisis 1911-1918" provided an insider's view. And since the seeds of one war are contained in the treaties of the last one, these books lead me ever onward to books about WWII .. Kennedy's "Freedom From Fear" about the Depression and America's involvement in WWII and Shirer's, "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," along with Werth's, "Russia at War; 1941-1945."

You get the picture.

The foodchain has been soaking up some history.

These books are great at giving one the 'official view' of America's illustrous past.

But in order to be fair and balanced, one has to look at the not so popular view of America. The likes of which are found in Howard Zinn's "People's History of the United States" and the multiple works of Noam Chomsky, Michael Parenti, Naomi Klein and William Blum ... to name but a few.

It's been quite the project, 30 books or so done and 30 or so more in progress. I'll probably be at this for a while. It's been time well spent. I still don't like this century too much but at least now I have a better understanding of why.

It's The People

2005-09-06T17:10:00.000-05:00

So often we identify ourselves by our history, by our myths, by the illusions perpetuated by 'TV reality.'

We view our nation from the lenses of corporate media. From Fox, to MSNBC, to CNN, to CBS, ABC, NBC, etc.

History as it will be written will be greatly influenced by the perspectives of those who cover tragedies such as New Orleans.

Eventually, the hard heartedness of those with the means will be transformed into something resembling a 'failure of planning' .. no blame, after all the event itself overwhelmed our capabilities.

At least, that will become the official history.

If we've learned nothing else from this event, we've learned that beauracracy is woefully inadequate, perhaps even intentionally, to deal with indescrible catyclysms of this sort.

I'll leave it to future revelation to determine whether this was a planned genocide, whether the mass relocation of the poorest of New Orleanians was a coldly calculated ploy designed to clean out the 'undesirables' so that those who will profit from the disaster will no longer be confronted with the spectre of a population, almost 70%, below the poverty level.

How else can one justify the refusal of the 'powers that be' to accept the multiple offers of aid, aid which would have alleviated the horrors experienced by those entrapped in the Superdome and Convention Center?

No, the lesson to be learned here is that unless you are white and well connected, preferably a stalwart benefactor of the current administration, your chances of survival immediately following such a tragedy as Katrina are virtually nil.

Even so, DESPITE the neglect and delayed response of those entrusted to maintain order and establish order, the American people have responded with a generosity and outpouring perhaps unprecedented in American history.

The average American, despite stereotypical portrayal as a hedonistic, selfish individual has stepped up beyond the call of duty to provide for the needs of those left homeless and destitute by the ravages of Katrina.

Americans ... that mindless consumer of mass commercialism has eschewed the stereotype and stepped up in a BIG WAY to provide for those 'left behind' ... those who have nothing left other than perhaps a perverted understanding that somehow they will be spared even though events seem determined to conspire against them.

It's the everyday, 'boots on the ground' American who will ultimately decide the fate of the displaced. It's you and I, Americans, those still hanging on to the idea of the 'American Dream' who will determine the fate of those displaced by the horrors of Katrina.

Don't count on the government. Even though they have displayed their strength by deploying 50,000 + military and National Guard ... AFTER the initial crisis ... this point should not be minimized by those who interpret these events ... AFTER countless numbers have died due to neglect, the fact remains .. today's overwhelming response, AFTER most have been evacuated, may display nothing other than 'damage control.' A calculated response designed to protect the reputations of those who could care less .. truth be known.

Politics ...

However .. and I can't emphathise this point enough, it's the PEOPLE of the United States of America ... it's those who, many in poverty themselves, who have reached out and offered their assistance to those left in the lurch by the uncaring elite who make up our national government. It's IN SPITE of those who are recognized as the governmental caregivers who will guarantee the survival of those most destitute.

It's the core .. the people of the US who have the heart to intevene in a crisis such as this.

We will ALL have the opportunity to contribute to the ameliorization of this disaster.

And I have confidence that we will ... the Spirit of America remains, regardless the fact that its government could evidently care less.

It's the people who will care for the people.

It's the people who will do everything in their power to keep this from being an ummentionable tragedy.

It's the people who make this nation great.

Certainly not the mini-minds who supposedly represent us.

It's the people.

Don't count on Bush, count on your neighbor.

Therein lies salvation in the hard times to come.

God bless the hearts of the American people.

God bless those who really care.

The people of the USA.

The 100 Billion Dollar Question

2005-09-05T14:42:00.000-05:00

Just trying to wrap my mind around the catastrophe unfolding in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast.

The scale of the disaster is just too big, the consequences too appalling to contemplate.

Today, only 10,000 remain in a city whose population was around a half million, the remainder scattered to the 4 winds, 1200 of them here in my hometown.

A unique, vibrant, albeit poor city is no more ... at least for the indefinite future.

An estimated 100 billion in structural and economic damage. 100 BILLION, and that may prove to be a conservative estimate.

If you haven't read my previous post, a reprint of Stratfor.com's "New Orleans; A Geopolitical Prize," I urge you to do so. In it you will discover why New Orleans is VITAL to America and the world's economy. It's loss cannot fail to have enormous economic implications.

I've scoured the internet for more analysis of this type. I haven't been able to find much. Instead, I read that according to Washington's top economic advisors the economic impact is expected to be 'minimal.'

Is this a reasoned response or carefully calculated propaganda designed to forestall any panic that may result should the true implications become widespread?

I don't know at this point.

But it doesn't take a genius to understand that the loss of the US's largest port, the world's 5th largest, will reverberate around the world manyfold.

So far the press and the blogs have concentrated upon the failure of the 'system' to react responsibly to the plight of those stranded in the fetid muck of New Orleans. The economic focus has been on rising gas prices and the loss of production suffered by the oil industry. These are important issues and worthy of much discussion.

My fear, however, is that the devastation caused by Katrina may well be the tipping point, the ultimate exposer of all the vulnerabilities inherent in our debt ridden economy.

My fear is that the myth of American prosperity is about to be exposed for the illusion that it is.

Billions upon billions of dollars wasted in Iraq and now this.

Where will the billions needed to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast come from? It's not like we have a huge treasure chest waiting to be tapped. This money will have to be manufactured. More debt added to the trillions already owed. Just exactly how deep is this well that we seem to be able to tap at will? Billions upon billions of dollars printed and added to the glut of dollars already in existance. How will that contribute to inflation, the hidden tax that drains more and more wealth from the public at large?

Whatever the economic impact turns out to be, I can assure you it won't be 'minimal.' It doesn't take a Harvard educated whiz kid to figure that much out.

I concur with the stratfor article. New Orleans exists as a city because it must. Its strategic economic importance is too evident.

So it will be rebuilt ... eventually. Reconstruction is not expected to be able to begin until perhaps the summer of 2006.

What will the US look like by then? How will the loss of America's largest port impact the lives of the rest of us?

This appears to be the 100 billion dollar question.

What's At Stake

2005-09-03T13:45:00.000-05:00

New Orleans: A Geopolitical Prize
www.stratfor.com

By George Friedman

September 01, 2005 22 30 GMT -- The American political system was founded in Philadelphia, but the American nation was built on the vast farmlands that stretch from the Alleghenies to the Rockies. That farmland produced the wealth that funded American industrialization: It permitted the formation of a class of small landholders who, amazingly, could produce more than they could consume. They could sell their excess crops in the east and in Europe and save that money, which eventually became the founding capital of American industry.

But it was not the extraordinary land nor the farmers and ranchers who alone set the process in motion. Rather, it was geography -- the extraordinary system of rivers that flowed through the Midwest and allowed them to ship their surplus to the rest of the world. All of the rivers flowed into one -- the Mississippi -- and the Mississippi flowed to the ports in and around one city: New Orleans. It was in New Orleans that the barges from upstream were unloaded and their cargos stored, sold and reloaded on ocean-going vessels. Until last Sunday, New Orleans was, in many ways, the pivot of the American economy.

For that reason, the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815 was a key moment in American history. Even though the battle occurred after the War of 1812 was over, had the British taken New Orleans, we suspect they wouldn't have given it back. Without New Orleans, the entire Louisiana Purchase would have been valueless to the United States. Or, to state it more precisely, the British would control the region because, at the end of the day, the value of the Purchase was the land and the rivers - which all converged on the Mississippi and the ultimate port of New Orleans. The hero of the battle was Andrew Jackson, and when he became president, his obsession with Texas had much to do with keeping the Mexicans away from New Orleans.

During the Cold War, a macabre topic of discussion among bored graduate students who studied such things was this: If the Soviets could destroy one city with a large nuclear device, which would it be? The usual answers were Washington or New York. For me, the answer was simple: New Orleans. If the Mississippi River was shut to traffic, then the foundations of the economy would be shattered. The industrial minerals needed in the factories wouldn't come in, and the agricultural wealth wouldn't flow out. Alternative routes really weren't available. The Germans knew it too: A U-boat campaign occurred near the mouth of the Mississippi during World War II. Both the Germans and Stratfor have stood with Andy Jackson: New Orleans was the prize.

Last Sunday, nature took out New Orleans almost as surely as a nuclear strike. Hurricane Katrina's geopolitical effect was not, in many ways, distinguishable from a mushroom cloud. The key exit from North America was closed. The petrochemical industry, which has become an added value to the region since Jackson's days, was at risk. The navigability of the Mississippi south of New Orleans was a question mark. New Orleans as a city and as a port complex had ceased to exist, and it was not clear that it could recover.

The ports of South Louisiana and New Orleans, which run north and south of the city, are as important today as at any point during the history of the republic. On its own merit, the Port of South Louisiana is the largest port in the United States by tonnage and the fifth-largest in the world. It exports more than 52 million tons a year, of which more than half are agricultural products -- corn, soybeans and so on. A larger proportion of U.S. agriculture flows out of the port. Almost as much cargo, nearly 57 million tons, comes in through the port -- including not only crude oil, but chemicals and fertilizers, coal, concrete and so on.

A simple way to think about the New Orleans port complex is that it is where the bulk commodities of agriculture go out to the world and the bulk commodities of industrialism come in. The commodity chain of the global food industry starts here, as does that of American industrialism. If these facilities are gone, more than the price of goods shifts: The very physical structure of the global economy would have to be reshaped. Consider the impact to the U.S. auto industry if steel doesn't come up the river, or the effect on global food supplies if U.S. corn and soybeans don't get to the markets.

The problem is that there are no good shipping alternatives. River transport is cheap, and most of the commodities we are discussing have low value-to-weight ratios. The U.S. transport system was built on the assumption that these commodities would travel to and from New Orleans by barge, where they would be loaded on ships or offloaded. Apart from port capacity elsewhere in the United States, there aren't enough trucks or rail cars to handle the long-distance hauling of these enormous quantities -- assuming for the moment that the economics could be managed, which they can't be.

The focus in the media has been on the oil industry in Louisiana and Mississippi. This is not a trivial question, but in a certain sense, it is dwarfed by the shipping issue. First, Louisiana is the source of about 15 percent of U.S.-produced petroleum, much of it from the Gulf. The local refineries are critical to American infrastructure. Were all of these facilities to be lost, the effect on the price of oil worldwide would be extraordinarily painful. If the river itself became unnavigable or if the ports are no longer functioning, however, the impact to the wider economy would be significantly more severe. In a sense, there is more flexibility in oil than in the physical transport of these other commodities.

There is clearly good news as information comes in. By all accounts, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, which services supertankers in the Gulf, is intact. Port Fourchon, which is the center of extraction operations in the Gulf, has sustained damage but is recoverable. The status of the oil platforms is unclear and it is not known what the underwater systems look like, but on the surface, the damage - though not trivial -- is manageable.

The news on the river is also far better than would have been expected on Sunday. The river has not changed its course. No major levees containing the river have burst. The Mississippi apparently has not silted up to such an extent that massive dredging would be required to render it navigable. Even the port facilities, although apparently damaged in many places and destroyed in few, are still there. The river, as transport corridor, has not been lost.

What has been lost is the city of New Orleans and many of the residential suburban areas around it. The population has fled, leaving behind a relatively small number of people in desperate straits. Some are dead, others are dying, and the magnitude of the situation dwarfs the resources required to ameliorate their condition. But it is not the population that is trapped in New Orleans that is of geopolitical significance: It is the population that has left and has nowhere to return to.

The oil fields, pipelines and ports required a skilled workforce in order to operate. That workforce requires homes. They require stores to buy food and other supplies. Hospitals and doctors. Schools for their children. In other words, in order to operate the facilities critical to the United States, you need a workforce to do it -- and that workforce is gone. Unlike in other disasters, that workforce cannot return to the region because they have no place to live. New Orleans is gone, and the metropolitan area surrounding New Orleans is either gone or so badly damaged that it will not be inhabitable for a long time.

It is possible to jury-rig around this problem for a short time. But the fact is that those who have left the area have gone to live with relatives and friends. Those who had the ability to leave also had networks of relationships and resources to manage their exile. But those resources are not infinite -- and as it becomes apparent that these people will not be returning to New Orleans any time soon, they will be enrolling their children in new schools, finding new jobs, finding new accommodations. If they have any insurance money coming, they will collect it. If they have none, then -- whatever emotional connections they may have to their home -- their economic connection to it has been severed. In a very short time, these people will be making decisions that will start to reshape population and workforce patterns in the region.

A city is a complex and ongoing process - one that requires physical infrastructure to support the people who live in it and people to operate that physical infrastructure. We don't simply mean power plants or sewage treatment facilities, although they are critical. Someone has to be able to sell a bottle of milk or a new shirt. Someone has to be able to repair a car or do surgery. And the people who do those things, along with the infrastructure that supports them, are gone -- and they are not coming back anytime soon.

It is in this sense, then, that it seems almost as if a nuclear weapon went off in New Orleans. The people mostly have fled rather than died, but they are gone. Not all of the facilities are destroyed, but most are. It appears to us that New Orleans and its environs have passed the point of recoverability. The area can recover, to be sure, but only with the commitment of massive resources from outside -- and those resources would always be at risk to another Katrina.

The displacement of population is the crisis that New Orleans faces. It is also a national crisis, because the largest port in the United States cannot function without a city around it. The physical and business processes of a port cannot occur in a ghost town, and right now, that is what New Orleans is. It is not about the facilities, and it is not about the oil. It is about the loss of a city's population and the paralysis of the largest port in the United States.

Let's go back to the beginning. The United States historically has depended on the Mississippi and its tributaries for transport. Barges navigate the river. Ships go on the ocean. The barges must offload to the ships and vice versa. There must be a facility to empower this exchange. It is also the facility where goods are stored in transit. Without this port, the river can't be used. Protecting that port has been, from the time of the Louisiana Purchase, a fundamental national security issue for the United States.

Katrina has taken out the port -- not by destroying the facilities, but by rendering the area uninhabited and potentially uninhabitable. That means that even if the Mississippi remains navigable, the absence of a port near the mouth of the river makes the Mississippi enormously less useful than it was. For these reasons, the United States has lost not only its biggest port complex, but also the utility of its river transport system -- the foundation of the entire American transport system. There are some substitutes, but none with sufficient capacity to solve the problem.

It follows from this that the port will have to be revived and, one would assume, the city as well. The ports around New Orleans are located as far north as they can be and still be accessed by ocean-going vessels. The need for ships to be able to pass each other in the waterways, which narrow to the north, adds to the problem. Besides, the Highway 190 bridge in Baton Rouge blocks the river going north. New Orleans is where it is for a reason: The United States needs a city right there.

New Orleans is not optional for the United States' commercial infrastructure. It is a terrible place for a city to be located, but exactly the place where a city must exist. With that as a given, a city will return there because the alternatives are too devastating. The harvest is coming, and that means that the port will have to be opened soon. As in Iraq, premiums will be paid to people prepared to endure the hardships of working in New Orleans. But in the end, the city will return because it has to.

Geopolitics is the stuff of permanent geographical realities and the way they interact with political life. Geopolitics created New Orleans. Geopolitics caused American presidents to obsess over its safety. And geopolitics will force the city's resurrection, even if it is in the worst imaginable place.

Katrina

2005-09-01T22:30:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the future.

Yes, it's been a bit quiet around here as of late, mainly because the foodchain has been absorbing world events and has felt that its view hasn't had anything neither original nor of value to add to the public discourse.

The world is going to hell in a handbasket.

That much is obvious.

But until now, reality hasn't really hit home with the American public.

We've cocooned ourselves to the point that we feel invulnerable, as if the madness that passes for common, everyday life is something out there .... beyond our concern.

We've collectively nodded our heads in agreement with the powers that be, those who assure us that all is well, that our economy is robust, that life is still somehow good here in the USofA.

Never mind that we're sinking in a sea of debt. Never mind that Iraq has become the 21st century's Viet Nam, never mind that the gap between the have's and have nots is growing at an incredible pace. You can buy a gas guzzling SUV for the same price that employees pay.

That's where the rubber meets the road.

We're drowning in our illusions of perceived wealth.

Katrina says 'fuck your illusions.' This is the real world.

Katrina, in many ways has exposed our vulnerabilites.

We're a nation whose very day to day existance is predicated on the premise that energy will always be cheap and abundant.

We're a nation who has sold its soul to the promises of an ever brighter technological future.

I'll leave it to Jim Kunstler over at Clusterfuck Nation to connect all the dots. He offers a very sobering view of our immediate future, a future threatened by the lack of essential resources. I suspect that one day soon he will offer some very sobering thoughts on where we are in light of the Katrina debacle.

A city of a half million people has been brought to its knees by the forces of nature.

Read today's article in the NY Times about the plight of those poor bastards stuck without food, water, sanitation and air conditioning in New Orelean's Superdome. It will break your heart.

30,000 people on the brink of disaster. Suicide and rape. Overflowing toilets and insufferable heat. A people on the brink of total despair.

It rends the heart.

It's easy to look upon those poor souls and praise the God we supposedly believe in that its not us suffering these dire circumstances.

But my initial impressions are that NO is a wake up call to the American public.

Our dependence on cheap energy and our vulnerablity to its inevitable decline promises that NO will be the opening salvo in a war pitting nature against this cancer we call 'civilization.'

Welcome to the future indeed.

Imagine our distress when the pumps run dry. And run dry they will, it's inevitable. Rising demand and limited supply is a forgone conclusion.

How will we react?

New Orleans is a precursor of what faces the American public. Total breakdown of infrastructure, unable to be maintained due to the stranglehold we'll experience as depletion becomes more and more a fact of life.

All our great cities are in peril.

What happens when the foodchain breaks down? What happens when we can no longer sustain 'just in time' inventory levels? What happens when gas hits 100.00 a gallon? Those days are coming.

Katrina is the tip of the iceberg.

Watch and learn.

Protect yourself.

Gaza Withdrawal, Who Pays? The American Taxpayer, Who Else?

2005-08-15T17:53:00.000-05:00

ABC News covered the Gaza withdrawal this evening, but no word about this.

U.S. Taxpayer Footing Israel’s Gaza Withdrawal Bill
from Aljazeera.com

In addition to the U.S. annual $3 billion aid to Israel, Tel Aviv has asked Washington to “pay” it some $2.2 billion for the withdrawal of settlers currently residing in the occupied Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip.

The bill for the withdrawal from Gaza is expected to be paid by the American taxpayer.

To be more precise, the American taxpayer will be paying out from their own pockets something in the tune of $227,000 per Jewish settler. Unless a last minute hitch scuppers the agreement, it’s a deal that is signed, sealed and very soon to be delivered.

But this isn’t something new, simply because in Washington - whatever
Israel wants, Israel gets.

Shouldn’t the American people protest at funding Israel’s withdrawal?

First, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon unilaterally decided to withdraw from Gaza – a move that was in following of President Bush’s "peace plan", which Sharon has ignored from the very beginning.

Where is it written that the head of a foreign government can decide to do something unilaterally and automatically send the bill to the American taxpayers?

For Americans, they will gain no benefits at all from the withdrawal.

Furthermore, an advisor to Sharon said in an Israeli newspaper interview that the withdrawal from Gaza is not part of any peace plan. It is just an excuse to put off serious peace negotiations.

Some 8,000 settlers from Gaza will be removed, four small settlements in the West Bank will also be shut and that's it. As Sharon's adviser admitted, there won't be any serious negotiations with the Palestinians until they "turn into Finns."

Any president would view Sharon's actions as unacceptable and his casual expectation that someone other than the Israeli government’s treasury would foot the bill should be seen as a personal insult.

But when it comes to Israel, President George Bush just like Congress goes “blind”.

Even with all the problems the U.S. is facing, with all the continuing
rising deficit, all the debts accumulated Washington has gifted Israel with more than $90 billion in recent decades and continues to gift it till today.

If the U.S. government agrees to “aiding” Israel in handing it money to
withdraw from Gaza, the American taxpayers will be spending about $227,000 per Jewish settler.

That's a pretty mighty hefty moving bill!

Where is it written in the U.S. Constitution that Congress can tax the
American people and hand the money out as a gift to foreign countries?

Following the Camp David peace treaty, Israel was paid by the Americans some $4 billion to get out of Egyptian territory it had no business occupying in the first place.

And as part of that deal, Egypt had also been paid an annual $2 billion for having signed the agreement.

The only way huge amounts of money being paid out to Israel would be brought to an end if the U.S. adopts the following policy: "We think, Israel, it is in your interests to make peace with your Arab neighbors.

That's your decision, however; if you would prefer to remain at war, that's OK with us, because either way – peace or war – we aren't going to pay for it".

Reality Check

2005-08-15T16:51:00.000-05:00

Seems there was a time not too long ago when I had a vague idea of some things I wanted to say.

Things that I'd observed and things I'd thought about ... things that if enough people thought about just a little might make a teensy bit of difference somewhere, somehow for the better.

As if ... duh.

You want to be clever, witty, a little rude perhaps, erudite, and hopefully .. coherent.

But really, what can one say that hasn't been said better a 1000 times before in today's blogosphere?

I cruise the information highway daily and discover real talent and real insight, though the search must be meticulous and unrelenting. Diamonds are rare, dirt abounds.

I fear my malaise stems from the realization that the evil bastards have won.

The internet will become a glitzier marketplace, full of sound and wonders but no conscience. The mainstream media will continue to lull us into a deeper and deeper sleep. The political hacks will trumpet 'values and morals' until the day they've completely gutted this nation of any real wealth or genuine morality.

And the war will rage on and on and on.

Because you see, what ails us in our consumption gone wild, profit uber alles, entertainment addicted, video pacified, hyper-marketplace of orgiastic self gratification, cannot be healed without great pain. Americans have never experienced first hand the effects of all out modern day war within our own boundaries. Sure, lurking somewhere deep in our memory banks are high school history versions of the American Revolution and the Civil War. We've seen the movies and read the books (at least a few have). But we haven't experienced, as a nation, anything near what we've inflicted to a horrific degree on the third world nations who've been forced to experience our peculiar way of liberating them from the evildoers.

And since we don't have any idea first hand what it's like to be occupied and liberated, we see our attempts to pacify others as a good thing. We suffer the delusion that America always uses its power for the good of the world, that our way of life is the only good way and that others are literally dying to have what we have for themselves.

Truth be known we really don't care that much about what it's like to be 'shocked and awed.' We don't care that much about anyone named Abdul being eviscerated by DU enriched weapons while the rest of his family becomes collateral damage statistics that no one seems interested in keeping anyway.

I say 'no one' but that's not true.

There are millions of Americans who hate what they see our country becoming and are working hard to bring some semblance of perspective to the minds of the media medicated.

The internet has great potential .. but the tube is the Almighty God of perception management. And the bad guys own the tube. Visual messages are powerful and damn near inescapable. Over and over and over and over again we are bombarded with the messages that consumption is good, Wal Mart is our pal, the corporations are building a better world through innovative technology, non English speaking foreigners with Arabic or other unpronounceable names are evil, Fox News is fair and balanced, liberals are anti-American, pharmaceutical poisons are good, marijuana evil. Hate homos and abortionists .. love the flag, love the god who blesses the wealthy of this great land .. venerate the powerful, abhor the homeless ...

Yeah, the evil bastards have won. But what price will victory extort?

The rest of the world HATES us. And that can't be good long term, nor short term for that matter.
---------------------------
Everyone's mother once told them, 'If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all.'

Maybe there's wisdom in that advice.

Maybe it's better to just ride off into the sunset and accept defeat gracefully.

Accept the inevitable and face our day of reckoning as adults. But in the meantime, using our powers of persuasion and our mental capabilities for the greater good. Mentally build a better tomorrow and who knows? It just may come to pass. Life post-apocalypse may contain the seeds to a wiser future.

Some of the hardiest of us may live to find out.

Blogging, Three Months In

2005-08-02T16:46:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I've posted a few things.

Relevant articles, methinks, on American democracy, media matters, political Christianity, etc.

But what does it accomplish?

I blog, therefore I am.

An apt description of today's quest for meaning.

Blogging allows one to express oneself .. to surf the info world and try to bring some of it home to roost, where hopefully, it may do some good.

But who are we kidding, really?

Blogs open up an alternative universe. One wherein a different truth resides.

In the world of realpolitick the status quo prevails. I fear that it shall always be that way. The forces aligned against us are just too great.

Who has the money to counter the billions spent to shape current reality?

No one.

We can rant and rave and talk sense and truth .. but ultimately, who gives a flip? What type of person concerns himself with the lunatic fringe? What can one possibly gain from such a stance?

Sanity, perhaps.

A sense of purpose, a sense that one day, just maybe, the truth will out.

That all will be swept up in a tide of understanding and that peace will reign on this war torn planet of ours.

But I don't believe it, not even for a minute.

I have NO faith in the collective wisdom of modern man.

As my favorite songster states,

"It's dog eat dog, and it's cat and mouse,
you know that it's close your eyes and you roll the dice and you shut your filthy mouth,
and it's dog eat dog,
it's time to push and shove, because everybody's hungry,
and there just isn't quite enough.

That's right I'm talkin about the good life, in the foodchain, love among the ruins,
I guess that you finally come to accept that its just nothing you can do about it,
It's kinda like carving the turkey, kinda like mowing the lawn, everything gets to this, certain to mention, winds up on a customer's plate and then gone."

And this,

"Just because we're hypnotized that don't mean that we can't dance."

I recently watched Alex Jones' "911; Road To Tyranny"

Many will write Jones off as a paranoid delusioniac but if just a fraction of what's reported in this video is true, we are 'knee deep in the hoopla' as Mott the Hoople once sang.

Hypnotized dancers. Damn if that ain't us.

Life goes on per usual in this once great land of ours and we pretend that all is well. The talking heads tell us the economy is robust. Truth is, we're bankrupt and getting deeper every day. Even the blindest of us realize this intuitively, though we prefer to believe the opposite. The myth of American ingenuity. Bears sit out the 'boom' while bulls fatten their accounts.

The whiz kids on Wall Street figure out how to turn shit into gold. If that ain't alchemy, nothing is.

Maybe Darwin was right. It all comes down to 'survival of the fittest.'

How sad that would be for us if this were true. The strong profitting at the expense of the weak.
It sure seems to play out that way in 'real life.'

But I don't buy it.

If I learned anything from biblical Christianity as represented by Jesus Christ, it's that it's the 'poor and the weak' that shall ultimately prevail.

It has to be.

Numbers are overwhelmingly on our side.

Which takes me back to one of Jones' hypotheses. That the few, the elite, realize the mismatch and are using all the forces at their disposal to minimize the potential of the masses.

Here's raw truth.

The few control the many.

Whenever the many stand up and demand a fair share, the few use every weapon in their arsenal to crush the many. That's why 'liberal' has become such a dirty word. That's why ideologies like 'socialism' have been so demonized.

In order for the 'few' to maintain its power over the 'many' it must succeed in its quest to make the needs of the 'few' seem much more 'American' than the needs of the 'many.'

Hence, the wealthy right's use of its greatest tool, the media, to create the illusion that to stand up for the weak is an assault on 'liberty.'

Clever.

And Highly Effective.

We have been sold the idea that might = right.

And we've bought into it hook, line and sinker.

I don't hate wealth. Just how it's distributed. Every last one of us, living on this planet deserves their fair share. But there's no concept of 'fair' in today's economies. The elite accept their advantage as 'God given.' And that advantage must be defended at all costs. The 'few' must maintain its hegemony over the 'many.'

That's the 'system' and the way it's always worked throughout history.

The 'few' espouse great belief in the transcendent. The power of the Almighty.

Yet they lack the faith to see that what's provided is adequate for all.

So they hoard and scheme.

And their hoarding creates the injustices and inequalites that are so prevalent in our modern world.

It's always been that way.

Does that mean it will always be that way?

I vote no.

I vote for 'liberty and justice for all.'

Even the hated 'terrorists.'

They deserve their fair share too.

Perhaps, in this view, there's a tiny seed that can grow into a great oak. The idea that the Earth abounds with plenty. The idea that the 'Creator' saw fit to provide enough so that even the least of us can be satisfied.

That's what I believe.

The task before us now is to wade through the myths of 'lack' and to come to the realization that there's plenty for all.

How we distribute this wealth is what our politics should be based upon.

Not the hoarding, 'me, me, me' rationalization that exists today.

We need to wake up to the fact that this world is all that we can know. We need to realize its potentials and strive to make these potentials 'reality.'

At least, that's how I see it.

A Month Without The Tube

2005-08-01T17:06:00.000-05:00

On July 1, the cable TV that I had had access to for 7+ years was cut off.

Prior to July 1, cable was included in my rent. I used it mainly to monitor the mainstream press... Fox News, MSNBC .. O'Reilly, Hannity, Matthews, et al.

No longer being included in my rent, I was faced with the decision to either 'feed the beast' through a new cable hookup .. at 40 bucks per month, or to do without.

I chose to do without.

I can't remember a time in my life without TV. It's such a part of American life that to be without it is almost to be un-American. It's what shapes our values and our worldviews. It's the window whereby we view the world.

The world portrayed by American television is a world wherein American values dominate. Our media constantly upholds the idea that America is exceptional in all that it does. Our wars are just wars, designed to further 'peace, democracy and human rights.'

To hold opinions counter to the myth of American exceptionalism is to be 'anti-American' and 'unpatriotic.'

Living without television and relying solely upon the Internet for news and views allows one to experience a very different reality. The beauty of the Internet is that anyone with a voice is able to express their view. Anyone with an opinion is able to express it.

Granted, many of these voices are biased and stilted towards a particular view.

Wide reading allows one to determine fact from fiction.

Still, all commentary on our complex society demands that we weigh carefully the information presented, that we use common sense and our inborn sense of what's good and right and truthful in order to divide fact from fantasy. This is a difficult task but one that is mandatory if we hope to be informed citizens, capable of being effective in a participatory democracy.

I went almost a month without TV. But a powerful force looms upon the horizon.

This force melts all resolve.

This force is so all-powerful that it's capable of overcoming the strongest resistance. This force demands the attention of every red-blooded American male and many of its women.

This is revelation.

This is 21st century truth.

ONE force is capable of perverting the best of the best laid plans.

And I shamelessly succumb to its power.

What is this great force?

NFL football.

Yes, I, your humble correspondent am incapable of envisioning a world without the NFL. Regardless of how shamelessly it presents itself.

So I'm back on the feeding tube.

But this time, it's the 'free TV' perspective.

All I have is ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, TBN and a smattering of local access channels.

All that I can get from an amplified antenna.

I find TBN to be the most entertaining of them all.

Joyce Meyer, Jessie Duplantis, Rod Parsley, Bishop Jakes, Benny Hinn, John Hagee, Creflo Dollar ... these are the voices that instruct red state America, and through them, the forces that shape our nation.

Pretty scary.

No wonder we opt for the escapist view.

The NFL.

Are you ready for some football?

I am.

Hypothetical Musings

2005-07-26T21:20:00.000-05:00

I framed a letter yesterday that contained a 'what if' scenario.

What if GW all of a sudden started believing his religion? The one that says 'love does no harm to its neighbor.'

What if he were to have a complete spiritual overhaul and speak unadulterated truth to the nation? What if he were to acknowledge the growing list of questions raised by the 911 truth movement? What if he were to fess up about the government's deceptions and prevarications which were instrumental in plunging us headlong into a never ending war on terror? What if this transformation lead to attempts to seek peaceful solutions to the mess the world finds itself in now?

More than likely he'd only have one shot. And once he was through, the media and pundits would go into full bore damage control in their attempts to assure us that what we had heard wasn't what we heard.

But would it make a difference and would the American people respond? And in what way? Would we examine our on failings and take steps to address them?

This is all hypothetical, of course, and as such, it's an exercise in questioning what we believe about what we 'believe' more than anything else.

First and foremost, is this type of spiritual overhaul even possible? Most evangelical Christians would automatically answer with an unequivocal and resounding 'yes.'

We've all known people who have made drastic turnarounds in their behavior, usually due to some type of spiritual influence. People who have acknowledged the damage they've done to others throughout their lifetimes and sincerely desired to make amends. Whatever the cost to themselves personally.

Is there a god actively working in the hearts of men, slowly refining and perfecting their character? Is this god accessible through words written in a book? Do these words have power?

Thinking along these lines was what made me frame my hypothetical situation. And I used GW because so many believe he's the 'real deal.' Plus, being the 'most powerful man in the world,' should he radically change, his change would gather lots of attention.

What I was seeking was a 'tipping point.' The point where enough people would wake up to the dangers confronting our nation enough to sacrifice their luxury of being apathetic and begin to seek understanding in order to do their part to turn the tide of history that appears to be threatening all that we say we love about our land. It would take something drastic.

One thing I'm NOT saying is that the answer lies in some type of simplistic, hyper-literalizing, fundamentalist, believe or burn, pseudo Christianity. It more than likely doesn't have anything to do with church Christianity at all. Maybe not even with Christianity at all.

Much of what is good that is attributed to Jesus in the bible is a wisdom common to all cultures throughout all time. The best of Native American culture and their respect for the land and the life giving Spirit, the wisdom from the east, from Lao Tzu to Gandhi. The quest for wisdom and the desire to live life responsibly and sustainably has been a common pursuit and yearning of all thinking peoples of all time.

Which takes me back to my former question. Is there a god 'out there' working through the hearts of us 'down here?' Does this god direct history and the lives of individuals? Would the high thoughts attributed to this god be able to penetrate the hearts of state figures who pay lip service to this power but deny it with their actions? Is this power capable of turning the hardest of hearts and the darkest of spirits to the light? If so, then what?

At one time I was sure I knew the answer to these questions. Today I am not as certain. My thinking about what god is has broadened ... things aren't as 'black and white' to me as they once were.

At one time I believed 'all things are possible with God.' That's what the book says. But I don't see enough examples to convince me any longer that this is absolute truth. Maybe all things are possible for 'man' .. if we react correctly to the Universal Mind that creates all ... our own minds being a part of the Universal Mind. But I remain unsure.

But I know a scenario that would go a long way towards convincing me.

A hypothetical scenario.

Blog Bytes, News and Tidbits

2005-07-25T16:20:00.000-05:00

From Urban Survival

Labor Self Destructing

Labor has failed to expose the "Big Lie" of "free trade" for what it really is - which has 2% to do with free trade and 98% with encouraging corporations to play labor rate differentials in order to fatten their "profits" while failing to realize that in doing so, they have rotted the core of American enterprise and thrown away any pretense of moral leadership by the U.S. Money first, people last. Forget self sufficiency and economy of scale - this is the world of big box stores and slave labor camps in the third world. But, mind you it's a profitable concept before the system implodes.

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CAFTA Is Bad For Your Health link

Just days ago, the Codex Alimentarius Commission in Rome approved a regulatory framework that would eventually phase out over-the-counter sale of vitamins, minerals, herbs, and other food-based nutritional aids. This ruling would nullify the Dietary Supplement, Health and Education Act of 1994, which was enacted after the federal Food and Drug Administration threatened to ban vitamins and other non-drug supplements. To enforce the terms of that ban, armed FDA agents conducted a highly publicized raid on the office of "vitamin doctor" Jonathan Wright, trashing his office, seizing records, and harassing his patients.

It is estimated that roughly half of the money spent by Americans on health care is invested in non-medical dietary supplements. Outraged over the FDA’s totalitarian ambitions and thuggish tactics, millions of Americans supported the 1994 legislation. Undaunted, proponents of totalitarian medicine – and their allies in politically connected pharmaceutical companies – simply appealed to a "higher" venue, the Codex Commission. Established by the UN in 1961, the Commission "establishes guidelines to harmonize trade in food," explains one European account of the recent decision.

Prior to creation of the World Trade Organization a decade ago (with the valuable help of Republican leaders Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole), the Codex Commission was an utterly toothless institution, providing a sinecure for bureaucratic place-holders and abetting the slaughter of innocent trees to generate paper cluttered with worthless pronouncements. But with the WTO in place, the Commission now has the means to enforce its rulings. Through the targeted use of trade sanctions, the WTO has the means to compel nations to obey its rulings; on several occasions, the Bush administration has meekly obeyed the global trade body’s edicts. Thus the Codex Commission has made it known that it expects all nations to "harmonize" their regulations governing dietary supplements with its new regulatory framework.

This is where CAFTA comes into the picture. Like the NAFTA agreement and the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), CAFTA contains a provision called the "Sanitary Phytosanitary Measures Agreement," which would require all signatory nations to "harmonize" their domestic food safety standards to those issued by the Codex Commission. John C. Hammell of International Advocates for Health Freedom points out that the "safety standards" imposed by the Commission in essence treat vitamins as potentially dangerous drugs, imposing "Maximum Safe Permitted Levels" of potency that would make them practically useless.

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How Internet Freedom
Got The Federal Ax
And Why Corporate News Censored the Story
By Elliot D. Cohen Ph.D

The days are now numbered for surfing an uncensored, open-access Internet, using your favorite search engine to search a bottomless cyber-sea of information in the grandest democratic forum ever conceived by humankind. Instead you can look forward to Googling about on a walled-off, carefully selected corpus of government propaganda and sanitized information "safe" for public consumption. Indoctrinated and sealed off from the outer world, you will inhabit a matrix where every ounce of creative, independent thinking that challenges government policies and values will be squelched. Just a wild conspiracy theory, you say? No longer can this be rationally maintained.

Federal government--from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to the White House--and corporate mainstream media have worked cooperatively to quietly block open access to cyberspace. Seizing its infrastructure, corporate mainstream media have censored and covered up its logistical moves"including lobbies in Congress and the FCC, the filing of suits in state and federal courts, and quid pro quo with the highest government officials--to commandeer, monopolize, and turn the Internet into an extension of itself. From Fox News to CNN, there has been dead silence as the greatest bastion of democracy in history is being torn down and resurrected in its own image. Now, as the corporate newsrooms remain mum, it has gotten the green light from the highest federal court in the land. Read More

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From the current issue of Harper's

"Estimated total number of tons by which American adults are overweight; 1,180,000
Total weight, in tons, of the population of the Los Angeles metropolitan area; 883,000

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I continue to be impressed by the analysis of Jack Whelan at After The Future

Feeding the Beast. "Anything goes" is the mantra of Liberalism. It's really what we mean when we talk about "freedom" in the modern sense. The Liberal spirit is the spirit of bursting traditional restraints and reveling in limitless horizons. And it manifests first and foremost in the spirit that over the last 500 years has driven capital, science, and technological advance. And the spirit of Liberalism always saw itself as in a pitched battle with the forces of reaction--the church and the old landed aristocracy, who were always scheming for ways to bring back the old order.

The Liberal spirit was always the spirit of rationality as contrasted with superstition--of progress and growth as contrasted with the stagnant, authoritarian ancien regime. Progress was driven by technological innovation, by a new class or meritocrats, so many ambitious Ben Franklins who sought to do well for themselves while contributing to scientific and technological progress. It was the spirit of a nouveau regime that was very, very impressive in the results that it produced. It's at the heart of what we call Yankee ingenuity.

It's for this reason that the political right in this country doesn't have a problem with giving these three dynamos--capital, science, and technological advance--unrestrained license to do as they please so long as they produce wealth. "That's what makes America great," it reasons. "It's our tradition. It's what makes us Americans." And most Americans nod in agreement when such sentiments are expressed.

The political right has no problem with the unrestrained pursuit of profit, which in moral language is called Greed. And it gets into a major snit when anyone suggests that some restraints be put on that impulse. "That interferes with the mystic powers of the free market," they argue. "You can't interfere with the freemarket; everyone knows that. It's un-American. To do so is communistic. And everyone knows that communists are atheists, so therefore any program to control freemarkets must be atheistic."

So it strikes me as richly ironic that many of the people who see the freemarket as the most sacred of American ideals are also the ones who are most upset about how America has lost its soul and has become morally corrupted. If 'anything goes' is the mantra of the economic sphere, why shouldn't it also be the mantra of the cultural sphere? If it's ok for the freemarket to operate according to the anything-goes, if-it-makes-money-do-it logic of greed, why shouldn't people in their private lives operate according to the anything-goes, if-it-feels-good-do-it principle of lust. Why is it ok for a traditional vice in one part of our lives but not another?

Consumer capitalism and cultural decadence go hand in hand. We're not talking about capitalism in the sense of independent self-reliant farmers and small business people here. We're talking about how large concentrations of capital and power corrupt. When economic of political institutions become so large and powerful, as they have become over the last 150 years, they function as voracious behemoths that exist outside of human control. This beast has to be fed, we tell ourselves, or the whole thing falls apart, and we'll all be hunters and gatherers again. So we find ourselves serving its needs rather than making it serve ours. Making the beast serve our needs is called interfering with the free market, and that is sacrilege.

There is in my mind one defining difference between the kind of Republicans who are running the country now and the ragtag coalition of people who call themselves progressives (some of whom are Democrats).The Republicans celebrate the beast and will do anything it wants; the progressives seek to tame it to make it serve real human needs. The former, like primitives propitiating a wrathful deity, say "Feed it, do as it commands, and it will not harm us." That craven sentiment is in my view at the root of our cultural and social decadence. It renders us passive and spiritually inert. It is the bargain slaves make in submitting to their masters: "If I surrender my freedom to him, he won't kill me. I will serve him, and he will keep me safe."

For me this is the most important meaning of the last election. A majority of Americans, frightened by terrorists abroad and the moral confusion posed by homosexuals at home, decided to submit to the Big Daddy party which tells them what they wanted to hear--that everything is going to be all right, that Daddy is in control, and that he will take care of the bad guys.

Well the Republicans are not in control, they don't really understand what is going on, and there is every indication that they are going to make things much, much worse. Everything they do is about feeding the beast rather than taming it. We've given them another four years, and the beast will just get bigger and stronger and harder to deal with during that time.

In any event this is the choice that is put before Americans: Rule or be ruled. Submit to the beast or tame it. Trying to understand what taming it means will be at the center of what I write about here in the weeks to come. *************************************************

My Letter to Jack Whelan

I agree with your hypothesis that the "old is over and the future paradigm is not yet."

Something different is coming .. what, we don't know yet. It could be horribly destructive or socially liberating. More than likely it will be a combination of the two.

I'm a bit of a flake so I consider all the views that interest me. I read the New Agey type of stuff, not giving lots of credence to it but accepting its premise that the possibility of a new awakening might be forthcoming.

In one of your posts you talk about it being winter and that seeds are scattered. We don't know yet what will issue forth from those seeds.

I remain optimistic about our future but conversely, I'm deeply concerned about where current policy will ultimately lead us.

A new vision is critical.

What will be the tipping point?

What if .. what if GWB's profession of faith is genuine? What if a mustard seed of faith has been planted in his heart and that it's germinating there even now as we speak?

I got to thinking about this last night and tried to imagine how that would play itself out.

What if, say, during a State of the Union address, GW was to all of a sudden, ignore the teleprompters and begin to speak from the heart?

What if the seed growing inside him, his daily bible readings, his profession turned out to be real?

I don't know about you, but I've had these moments of conviction where I realized that how I was living my life was not living up to my ideals.

Is it possible that GW could have that type of moment?

And if he did, what would be its ramifications?

Would he have his 'Howard Beale' moment and speak truth to power?

I've considered the condition of the world and have concluded that nothing short of divine intervention is capable of 'righting the course.'

What form would that take?

Does it mean a one on one type of revelation, ultimately tipping the scales, or could one who holds the fate of the free world in his hands profoundly affect how we see and react to our world?

Granted, this is a pipe dream, it's not realpolitick.

But what if it was?

Is God capable of shaping world events or is he a disinterested bystander?

Try as I might, I can't hate GWB. Even though I hate everything he represents. I hate his policies and I agree with you that he's instrumental in destroying the safeguards that protect the common man from 'Big Money.'

But does he answer to a higher power? And will the faith that he professes bear fruit in his political life?

How can one read daily the words of Jesus (as Bush professes to do) and not be convicted by their deeper meaning?

It's a long shot and highly unlikely yet nevertheless it's not outside the realm of possibility.

Maybe we should focus our prayers in that direction.

That is, if we believe in the efficacy of prayer.

I believe it's time to own up to what we profess. God is either moved by our pleas or he isn't.
He's either capable of responding to the heartfelt needs of his followers or he isn't.

I don't expect God to come down and 'rapture' us out of our condition. After all, 'as you sow, so shall you reap.'

I believe America has a lot of reaping to do. We have 'sowed a wind' and shall 'reap a whirlwind.'

And rightly so.

But there's such a thing as grace and therein lies our hope.

G

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More From Mr. Whelan

2005-07-23T19:08:00.000-05:00

What is Morality For? I've been struggling to put my finger on why I find the morality of the fundamentalists and dogmatists so offensive. And the main thing I come up with, and it's implied in what I've written about it in the last several months, is that it is counterfeit morality. This is not to say that the people who practice this counterfeit morality are not sincere. Sincerity has very little to do with genuine moral behavior.

The young fanatic Maoists in the cultural Revolution were quite sincere in believing they were doing the right thing for their country. The same is true for the devotion that is at the bottom of Islamic terrorism. All those who died in Jonestown were quite sincere in their belief that Jim Jones was their savior. There is a kind of sincere idealism that leads lots of people into behavior that propagandists tell them is moral, but which is profoundly immoral and destructive. And I see the idealism that is often characteristic of the people who are attracted to mainstream fundamentalism and dogmatism, insofar as it is belief in someone else's propaganda, as having a similar alienating and destructive effect in the soul.

Counterfeit morality is all about appearing good and being approved by the group, whoever that group might be. It's about feeling good about oneself as reflected in the social mirror. A genuine morality is about becoming good--deeply, genuinely good. Not just going through the motions--but being there. You can't just decide to be good, but you can decide to undertake the task by which one grows in goodness. And that is always a task that begins in humility and ends in love.

Such an undertaking, therefore, never has any room for self-righteousness or the sanctimonious condemnation of others who behave in ways that we don't approve. A counterfeit morality comes from the desire to believe that we are better than we are. In order to feel better about ouselves we need to have people upon whom we can look down. When we see people we care about acting in a self-destructive way, we feel dismay, not self-righteous. There's a difference when we love the wrongdoer, isn't there? Or there should be. There is an inverse relationship between real love and the sanctimony that is all about social approval and disapproval. Real love always trumps whatever tendencies we have to sanctimony, and we all have them.

This is the essence of Phariseeism and of the whited-sepulcher syndrome that comes with it. ("...for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones..." Matthew 23:27 ) And one the the most telling characteristics of whited sepulcher syndrome is resentment and hatred toward those who do not conform to the moral standards that one sets for himself. The psychological reason for this is well understood. We project onto others the unsavory parts of ourselves we refuse to acknowledge. We see in others what we cannot bear to see in ourselves. And we hate it.

That's why the path to a genuine morality begins in humility; it begins with owning our projections, with recognizing how deluded we are about our own goodness, and in recognizing that however moral we may appear to others, it is nothing but whited-sepulcher syndrome if there hasn't been a resurrection of the dead, rotting corpse inside. And when that corpse comes back to life, his attitude is more like that of the Father toward his prodigal son than that of the attitude of his brother. The Father, who is the image of deep, radiant goodness, longs for everyone to be good as he is good. And the point of the story is that the younger son is closer to becoming truly good because at least he recognizes how far from goodness he is, whereas the older son thinks he's already arrived. I would not say that the younger son is a better man than the older at the end of the story, but he has a better chance of becoming a truly good man because he has come to see himself more realistically.

What is this thing rotting inside the whited sepulcher? I think of it as the fallen image. We were all created in the image and likeness of God. It's in that that our dignity as human beings lies. But the image is like a mirror that has been shattered and must be restored. It's a heap of bones that must be reassembled and called back to life. And this is what in Christian language we mean by the difference between the natural man and the regenerate man. The natural man is well understood, and he operates according to laws and principles which the Darwinians and Nietzscheans have explained accurately and well. For them there is no image of God, shattered or whole, in the soul.

But the regenerate man or woman is the natural man "plus." And the "plus" is the thing that makes all the difference. It's this small subtle thing that starts growing in the soul, something the size of a mustard seed, but which as it grows has this tendency to turn things upside down or inside out. It is in this sense that we become Logos bearers. We grow the Logos, or image or reflection of the Logos, in the soul soil within. This growth is not something that happens overnight. It is a slow process. It's not something that we can will, although it requires our effort. As a gardener does not provide the life force that makes his flowers grow, he must nevertheless work diligently to drain and prepare the soil, and when the seeds germinate to keep his plot free of weeds and to nourish it with fertilizer and water. He must be vigilant to chase away the pests that would infect and destroy his plants.

Most of us are lazy gardeners when it comes to the care we must give for the growing of this new man or woman inside. I know I am. It's all the more difficult if we don't understand the nature of the task. But I have been privileged to meet a few people in whom this growth within advanced to a degree that I know I shall never attain. And to be with them is to bask in the radiance of the true, deep goodness. So the same is true for us if we are to have any success in restoring the shattered image within.

Borrowed from After The Future

Mixed Nuts

2005-07-23T14:56:00.000-05:00

This comes from Jack Whelan at After the Future.
I do a lot of blog surfing and this is by far one of the best ones out there imo. Thoughtful, solution based analysis, something sorely needed at this particular time in world history.

Paul Harvey Tells It like It Is. Here's an excerpt from his commentary on June 23:

We didn't come this far because we're made of sugar candy. Once upon a time, we elbowed our way onto and across this continent by giving smallpox-infected blankets to Native Americans. That was biological warfare. And we used every other weapon we could get our hands on to grab this land from whomever.

And we grew prosperous. And yes, we greased the skids with the sweat of slaves. So it goes with most great nation-states, which--feeling guilty about their savage pasts--eventually civilize themselves out of business and wind up invaded and ultimately dominated by the lean, hungry up-and-coming who are not made of sugar candy.

It's true, and it's refreshing for someone like Harvey to articulate the mentality that is at the heart of the right wing of this country. Who's more American than Paul Harvey? But this is the American wolf without his sheep disguise. It's eat or be eaten. No attempt to sugarcoat it, because, well, real Americans aren't made of sugar candy, con sarn it. In my opinion this is essentially where neocons like Charles Krauthammer are coming from, but he wouldn't be so straightforward in saying it--he sugarcoats it. His columns are about putting the wolf back in its sheep disguise with talk of spreading democracy and freedom.

But if this grabbing is what has made us Americans great, we're no better than anyone else. I accept the argument that this is the way of the world, but Americans were supposed to be about creating something new, something unseen before. But if this is all we are, we're not about something new; this is just the same old, same old. We're not great; we're quite ordinary. We are, as Harvey suggests, just a very temporary king of the hill waiting to be knocked off by the next young buck. It is all so tediously predictable.

Look this wolf in the eyes and ask yourself if this is the America that you believe in. It's the one that people running things these days believe in. Harvey reinforces the point I made earlier this week. If this is really who we are, we are no better than all the dime-a-dozen warmongers who have lived throughout history. The idea that America was supposed to be better than that has been made a mockery by the right wing minority of this country. And the rest of us have let it because our fear has made us stupid.

America was supposed to be better than that. We aspired to be a light shining on a hill, but we've become just another tin-pot empire. If that's your idea of greatness, you don't understand what America stands for at all.

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Seems you can't swing a dead cat around the blogosphere these days without hitting a 'bird flu' link. The possiblity of an avian flu pandemic appears to be on the minds of a lot of people these days and they're quite concerned.

Should I be? Should you be?

I dunno, but here's a few links.

Effective Measure
Flu Wiki

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One of the more mind boggling things going on these days is the crop circle phenomenon.
What boggles is the incredible perfection of the designs. There's a lot of geometry that goes into the making of some of these things and if you were to draw them on paper you'd need to start with several underlying shapes, layering them until you get to the finished design, then erase all the superfluous lines. How do you do that in a field of wheat?

Suzanne Taylor at The Conversation.org has provided pictures of some of the best of 2005 so far. You can see them along with some of her commentary here.

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Here's a must see DVD.

"What The Bleep Do We Know?"

This movie/documentary will literally 'blow your mind.'

It's all about quantum physics and how we perceive the world through our consciousness. It poses some serious questions about what exactly is reality. I had been exposed to many of these ideas before but never in such a comprehensive, entertaining way. This film will challenge your perceptions and cause you to think deeply about how you see the world.

One of the subjects covered in the film shows how each emotion that we experience has a corresponding chemical generated in the brain called 'peptides.' These peptides are released into our bloodstream seeking receptors to link up with at the cellular level. These chemicals corresponding to anger, love, lust, rage, etc. are every bit as potent as heroin or any other addictive substance. By reacting in certain ways to certain situations we change our 'neuro-net' and literally become addicted to our emotions.

Change your thinking, change your life. This film provides scientific evidence for the possibility of life altering change.

Don't miss it.

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Part Four, Living the Carefree Life

2005-07-21T21:46:00.000-05:00

I left Port Arthur by bus, destination, Strawn, Tx. ... a small Texas town of approx. 500 ... equidistant from Ft Worth, Tx and Abilene .. about 76 miles, each direction.

I hit town with my new backpack having no clue what to expect. My brother in law had told me that I would be picked up by the fellow who would be employing us to haul hay for him.

Around three in the afternoon, a middle aged man approached me and asked my name. I told him and he said, "Let's go."

He took me to his house and introduced me to his wife. He showed me to my room and said that my brother-in-law should show up sometime in the next couple of days.

This was my introduction to West Texas hospitality.

And it was pretty good.

My host owned the only grocery store in town as well as two 18 wheelers that my bro in law and I were to use to bring back loads of hay from around Carlsbad, New Mexico and sell to the farmers/ranchers in the Strawn vicinity.

I was somewhat taken aback by the laid back, casual, easy-going trust that my presence engendered in my hosts. Not long after being settled into my room, my hosts took off to parts unknown for personal business and left me alone in their home.

It was a slice of small town Americana that I had never encountered before.

But I appreciated the dynamics of it and did what I could to 'settle in.'

The rain which greeted me in Strawn soon turned to all-out West Texas unabated cyclonic fury. For the first time I began to understand how fragile life on this planet is as I was accosted by violent storm, wind and tornado.

Welcome to West Texas, I guess.

My hosts returned the next morning and took me with them as we surveyed the damage of the previous night's storm.

Roofs ripped off, houses decimated, trees uprooted .. I was impressed by the sheer power of it all. The indiscrimination that nature reserves to itself as it casually upends the lives of the many who thought their existance was profitable and comfortable.

Thankfully, the sun was out, birds were singing and I was ready to see what this next stage of my life was about to reveal.

My brother in law, Beaudine .. an Okie from Muskogee, if there ever was one .. showed up a couple of days after my arrival.

By now, I was ready to do whatever it was that we were going to do.

And what we were going to do was this... we were going to take our host's 18 wheeler into Carlsbad, NM and purchase hay .. we were going to bring this hay back to Strawn and sell it to the farmers and ranchers of the surrounding area.

Sounded like fun to me.

And it was .. but a lot of work as well. Dispensing a truckload of hay is hard work. The bales weighed anywhere from 50 to 75 lbs. and there were a whole bunch of them in each load. Our job was to unload the hay in barns owned by ranchers who used the hay to feed their large herds of cows.

Needless to say, this wasn't like selling stereos.

It was hard work.

But satisfying labor nonetheless.

This was my introduction to the carefree, day to day, live it as it comes lifestyle.

And I loved it.

We'd drive to Carlsbad, load up with hay, sell it and unload it and repeat the process. There was barely enough time for a shower before we headed out again. We were on the road constantly and enjoying the trucker's life. We ate greasy burgers at truckstops and reveled in the seeming freedom of it all. For someone as structured as I had been, this was heady stuff.

Nothing tastes as good as a cold beer after a hot day's work.

And Strawn had two cafes, one across the street from the other and each attempted to outdo the other in its offerings.

Beaudine and I were the grateful recipients of their largesse.

Life had settled into an easy albeit, sweaty routine.

And after each trip there was always cash. Not a lot, to be sure, but enough to make for a fun, almost carefree summer.

This was the first time in my life that I had ever abandoned myself to such reckless dependence on 'luck.' And it couldn't have been much better.

Our hosts kept us well fed, provided shelter and seemed genuinely appreciative of the work that we were doing on their behalf.

But, there was a downside that threatened our cozy arrangement.

Every foray introduced technical problems that threatened our security.

We were constantly besieged with breakdowns to our transportation that seemed intent on destroying the easy life that hauling hay in W. Tex was providing for us.

One time, as we were southbound through southern New Mexico, on the JAL highway, my brother in law glanced in his rearview mirror and a look of consternation made me ask, "What's the problem?" He said, "Well, it's probably nothing but it looks like the brakes are on fire."

Excuse me, but anything having to do with fire and a load of hay seemed like big probs to me.

We pulled over, doused the fire, and continued on our way .. meanwhile we had other problems brewing. Seems the thermostat was giving us fits and we had to deal with a constantly overheating radiator.

This was just one trip .. every trip out presented us with a host of problems. I jokingly stated that we should name our venture the "SBW Trucking Company." SBW standing for spit and bailing wire as it seemed that that was all that was holding us together.

Beaudine had an affinity for hard liquor. Seems he really loved the spell that Jack Daniels put upon him. This was a cause for concern, to be sure.

I had never driven an 18 wheeler, but, one night, as my bro in law suffered the incapacitations of inebreiation, I found it necessary to step up and take on the duties of driving the truck and getting us to our destination in southern NM.

By the grace of God, we made it.

But, this was to be our last trip.

When we returned to W. Tx we found virtually no market for our product. Seems the barns were full. All of a sudden, we had to find other markets for our hay. And it wasn't that easy.

So we did what we had to do, eventually selling at a loss.

Our carefree days were numbered.

It was time to take stock of the situation and I, never one to overstate the immediate, decided to call it quits.

I asked my bro in law to return me to San Antonio and he said OK.

Now, I was back in the adopted hometown, looking for a way to maintain my existance.

What follows impacted my life beyond comprehension.

I'll tell you about it next time.

2005-07-17T11:47:00.000-05:00

Rainy Morning

Pottermania

2005-07-16T20:16:00.000-05:00

I work for a major bookselling corporation.

Harry Potter hit our world today in a big way.

Midnight parties, 100's if not 1000's of people lining up for the opportunity to be the first to get the new Harry novel.

I could be cynical.

Ok, I am cynical.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the mass hysteria.

It made the day fly by.

But then I think about the 'mass mind.'

Millions of kids chomping at the bit to get to the latest Rowling offering.

10.8 million was the initial printing.

That's a buncha books.

All these kids, experiencing the same thing. All reading the same books. All drawing the same conclusions.

Is this mass hypnosis?

Damn if I know.

But 10.8 million kids all experiencing the same 'reality' at one time. It has to make you think. Are kids being cloned?

Are they all being conditioned to think exactly the same way? Today it's Harry .. what will it be tomorrow?

Let your imagination run wild.

I've heard there's one more book in the series. One more shot at bookselling nirvana.

If today's sales are any indication, the next one will bust the already busted charts big time.

What do you do for an encore?

Hey, I've got an idea.

Perhaps Rowling could team up with Lahaye/Jenkins and write the ultimate apocalyptic novel. By that time, the world will be ripe for it.

Think about it, Harry is revealed as the Anti-Christ (which should fuel the Lahaye/Jenkins fires) ... all the little clones raised up on Harry will follow him to the end. An end that Lahaye/Jenkins longs for so fervently.

The fundy will be happy, Harry exposed as the evil corruptor of Christianity that they percieve him to be, the witch/warlock contingent will be happy to stick one to the Christians.

It's a match made in bookselling heaven.

The more I think of it, the more I think it has to be.

Harry, Left Behind ...

Sweet music to fundy ears.

The perfect ending for our 'moral majority' fundy Apocalypse Now crowd.

I can't wait to see how long this line will be.

Bookselling history in the making.

It will be grand.

the Saga; Part the Third: Prelude to the Cult Years

2005-07-13T23:41:00.000-05:00

So I'm on my trek of discovery.

My home is the road,

My possessions .. what I can carry in a backpack.

I left Tyler, Tx. and since I was so close to Arlington, Tx., I decided to visit my only begotten.

I spent 3 days there, graced with the hospitality of dear ex #1. We talked for hours and I bonded with her kids by her second marriage. I spent what I felt was meaningful time with my son who was in his early 20's by now.

A good time was had by all.

But the road was calling me. I was feeling somewhat "Kerouackian" by now. I needed to see what was out there, what this whole thing called 'life' was all about.

My son reluctantly dropped me off on the outskirts of town one bright, sunny morning. I don't think he was too pleased that dear old dad was a vagabond. But what could I do? I was impelled by a higher calling. I had 4 dollars in my pocket, my son generously gave me what he had on him .. ten bucks and said he thought I was crazy to take off with so little. My response .. God will provide.

My immediate destination was Port Arthur, Tx. where my brother lived. I hadn't seen him in years and I felt this was the time to re-establish connections.

But fate intervened.

My modus operandi at the time was to just start walking. I wouldn't stick out my thumb and ask for assistance but if someone offered a ride, I was willing to accept. I was open to whatever God wanted from me .. I would take what was offered.

About three hours into it, a car pulled over and the driver asked where I was headed. I told him. He asked if I'd mind considering a detour. He had been driving non-stop from Californina headed for Corpus Christi for a business thing. He told me that he would give me 100 dollars if I would drive the rest of the way while he slept.

Manna from heaven was my thinking.

Why not? I have no particular destination. I'm on a trek. I'll let God decide where I go.

So, at this point, rather circuitously, I had begun in San Antonio, made it to Tyler and from there to Arlington and now I would be going to my more or less 'home town.'

I had a sister there.

She was a falling down drunk who needed some guidance. Maybe God decided her big bro was the one to provide what she needed at this time.

I was willing. Plus, the 100 bucks seemed like a fortune by now.

I stayed with my sister in CC for about 2 weeks.

It was strange and wonderfully weird.

I met all her biker buddies and her spaced out boyfriend. During this time, even her ex-husband showed up .. and he invited me to spend the summer with him in W.Tex, hauling hay. I told him I would think about it.

Believe it or not, I had some very interesting in depth spiritual conversations with some very off the wall types. For instance, one guy .. a biker, took off stoned, riding on the back of his friend's Harley. Something happened and this guy, wearing nothing but a thin pair of shorts, ended up sliding on his ass and suffering major road rash burns on his posterior.We had some interesting conversations during his recovery.

One day, while walking to the store, I was propositioned by a crack-whore hooker.

This was at about 10 in the morning.

I wasn't looking for sex but I was looking to 'spread the word' should the opportunity arise.

This seemed like one of those opportunities.

I followed her through the window of the abandoned building where she was staying.

It was a bit freaky, to say the least.

But I was fearless ... I believed God arranged this encounter.

We talked for about 2 hours. Her situation was apparantly hopeless but I was convinced that the gospel had the power to change her life.

Maybe it did, maybe it didn't. I'll never know. But I tried. And after our talk I took her to the grocery store and loaded her up with food.

She was grateful and I was humbled.

Even though I was 'vagabonding' I still felt that I was rich beyond measure. To be able to share what I felt God had provided was powerful stuff.

It affirmed much of what I thought I was looking for. The ability to lend a helping hand .. that's what I wanted.

Even today, every once in a while .. I think back on that encounter and wonder if it did any good.

Let's condense things a little bit.

After two weeks, I left Corpus Christi.

I slept in a field.

I greeted each day with enthusiasm, having no idea what was going to happen next. But I was headed towards Port Arthur. I was curious to see if I would make it.

I walked.

And I walked.

And I walked some more.

Finally, as I reached Kemah, Tx. I was at the point that I felt that I could walk no more. The heat, the humidity .. a fatigue like I had never experienced before in my life was weighing heavily upon me.

I was almost to the point where I wouldn't be able to take another step. I remember thinking, 'God, if you're real, I need help now.'

I decided to ignore my 'only accept rides if they're offered' rule.

I stuck out my thumb.

Immediately .. a car pulled over.

Wow, that was quick.

The guy who picked me up was a throwback to the 'Jesus Freak, hippie days.'

He offered to take me to his house where I could get a shower and rest up before heading out again.

I met his wife and two daughters .. they treated me like family.

After a shower and meal, my host proceeded to pull out his esoteric spiritual literature. He read a passage from the pseudepigraphal 'Book of Enoch' and we were off to the races, so to speak.

I spent three weeks with these folks, sleeping in their broken down van parked in front of their apartment. We devoured his 'scriptures' .. the Pseudipigrapha, the Nag Hammadhi texts, 'the Lost Books of the Bible.' Interesting stuff.

It wasn't all kibbles and bits.

My host was convinced that I needed to be 'born again.'

He suggested fasting until I was able to speak in tongues .. thereby gaining undeniable proof that I was one of God's chosen.

I thought, 'what the heck, I'll give it a try.' I wanted desperately to have proof that I was indeed one of God's elect. If talking in tongues was what it took, and starving myself was the means, I was more than willing.

We fasted for 7 days.

I lived on water and Dentyne gum.

Visions of cheeseburgers were dancing through my brain.

But I persevered.

Earlier in the week I consented to be baptized by my host.

In the wee hours of the morning, we jumped the fence of a motel complex and I was baptized by my host in the motel swimming pool .. speakng in tongues was the all that was left to accomplish, that would 'seal the deal.'

But that was not to be.

One morning, we set out on a job that we had found .. driving Volvos off the boats and delivering them to a holding place where they would be distributed to the Volvo dealers in the Houston area.

As we left his house in the am, I said something like 'we're off to see the wizard ..' .. an innocent recitation of a song in memory,

He came unglued.

He felt I was still stuck in the dark side. This casual mentioning of the 'wizard' was enough for him to know that I was still hopelessly pagan and that no amount of fasting would bring me to the point of speaking in tongues.

We had a major falling out. My second experience of being rejected by
God's 'anointed.'

That was the day I left and continued my aborted journey towards Pt. Arthur, Tx.

Are you getting bored yet??

Ok, so I spent some quality time with my brother. Since I had decided to head west and take up hay hauling for the rest of the summer, my brother outfitted me for the experience. We went shopping and purchased all that I felt I needed for my continued journey.

I was headed west into parts unknown.

The uncertainty of it all was what was so appealing about it.

More to come.

Medical Care; The Dark Side

2005-07-10T22:23:00.000-05:00

People get sick.

Sometimes their sickness requires drug treatment and maybe even hospitalization.

While America is known for outstanding medical care, there is a dark side of the medical profession that rarely gets reported.

Until now.

If you're facing health problems that require doctor's care and/or a stay in a hospital, you owe it to yourself to be aware of the information contained in this report.

Death By Medicine
By Gary Null, PHD; Carolyn Dean, MD/ND; Martin Feldman, MD; Debora Rasio, MD; Dorothy Smith, PHD.

Cause For Real Concern

2005-07-10T21:31:00.000-05:00

There's so much shit going down in the land of Big Pharma (the pharmaceutical drug industry) that I'm not sure where to begin.

Let me preface my remarks by stating that the LAST thing the pharmaceutical industry cares about is the elimination of disease... they profit HUGELY from disease promotion (their number one reason for existance) and suffer GREATLY when inexpensive, natural cures .. time and again .. prove their effectiveness.

It doesn't take much to be convinced of the efficacy of natural cures .. vitamin supplementation, the use of minerals and micronutrients ... the evidence is overwhelming.

THE NUMBER ONE WAY TO PREVENT AND TREAT DISEASE IS TO NOURISH YOUR BODY.

It's so 'common sense' as to be damn near beyond dispute.

But Big Pharma (the world's NUMBER ONE investment business) has declared war on alternative medicine. They constantly market new, virtually untested drugs and foist them on an unsuspecting public.

And now they want to take away your access to vitamins and minerals. (Hint ... vitamins are non-patenable and therefore a huge loss of revenue for Big Pharma).

What happens if, lo and behold, we find out that NATURE provides the nutrients we need to combat 95% of ALL diseases?

I tell you what .. NATURAL CURES WILL BE OUTLAWED, or seriously curtailed.

Check this out .. I bet you didn't know that a seminar is going on as we speak whose sole purpose is to cave in to the desires of the pharmaceutical industry. Their purpose is to define worldwide standards for RDA's of vitamin use. If successful, IT WILL BE ILLEGAL to purchase vitamins such as Vitamin C in large enough doses to be able to treat yourself as you see fit.

They seek to make natural cures DANGEROUS and subject to regulation by ... guess who?... the goddamn drug manufacturers, and their shills, the AMA and the FDA.

Let me repeat .. THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY IS THE NUMBER ONE INVESTMENT INDUSTRY IN THE WORLD.

If you want to understand just what that means in our day and age read this.

Interview with Matthias Rath, MD.

Dr. Rath is a major voice in exposing the multi-trillion dollar fraud which is our modern medical system. In this article he ties Big Pharma to the 'war on terror' and shows how their interests are a major reason for why we're fighting the war in Iraq. Please, read it all.

Big Pharma's Agenda
From New Dawn Magazine

Codex Alimentarius
A daunting international agreement of which many remain unaware is the Codex Alimentarius, a set of trade standards originally established to protect consumer health and fair practices in the food trade, but also incorporating guidelines for vitamin and mineral food supplements.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission was formed as a joint effort between the United Nations and the World Health Organisation (WHO) back in 1963. Today, it consists of delegates who overwhelmingly represent large multinational pharmaceutical companies and government regulating authorities including the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) in the US, and the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in Australia.

The guidelines are now intended to control the sale of supplements and herbs and to regulate them as drugs to be manufactured solely by drug companies. In accordance with these guidelines, and at each successive Codex meeting, supplements are being slowly withdrawn from the public domain.

One of the Codex’s main goals is total harmonisation of the food and drug laws of the world’s nations to their standards. This is part of the free trade and privatisation agenda. According to Dr. Zoltan Rona, MD, a well known defender of health freedom in Canada, “the name of the game for Codex is to shift all remedies into the prescription category so they can be controlled exclusively by the medical monopoly and its bosses, the major pharmaceutical firms.”

Codex is dominated by the largest pharmaceutical companies, and it is their profit interests that will determine – without any meaningful review – the health and safety of all of us. Ultimately, the radical measures being pursued by Codex will see the outlawing worldwide of all non-prescription vitamins and health products.

The Codex guidelines, which set the recommended daily intake levels of supplements, are gradually decreasing to a point so low as to make therapeutic or prophylactic doses of supplements impossible, and technically illegal.

One vitamin supplier in Scandinavia was pursued by police for supplying vitamin C tablets that exceeded 200mg. In other words, the amount of vitamin C contained in three oranges made this supplier a criminal. Further to that, possession of one popular supplement, DHEA, in Canada now attracts the same penalties as crack cocaine. The Canadian regulator is now empowered to classify any substance as a drug, even if it is a food that has been safely consumed for millions of years. They have the power to recall or remove it from the market.

Germany and Norway have already complied fully by regulating all supplements and herbs as drugs. In a country with an age-old tradition of natural medicine, no one can freely access these products now. Vitamin C (above 200mg) is illegal, except by prescription and then only from a pharmaceutical company. But first you have to convince your doctor you need it.

The patenting of herbs and other plants is granting authority to multinationals to “safely” lock up herbs for sale and profit. This is being done in the name of “standardisation”, another requirement of Codex. Patenting effectively grants not only sole rights to make or sell a product – in this case a natural “product” – but to actually own it. The ownership of a life form by an individual or corporation.

Australia signed the Codex agreement in 1992. There has already been a Federal police raid on a couple in northern NSW, who planting a Chinese herb in their garden to use as tea.

The TGA is attempting to persuade New Zealand to “harmonise” to the same level as Australia, including the prohibition of any therapeutic claim made with respect to nutritional supplements, even where medical studies exist to support these claims. So far New Zealand has resisted, placing value on health freedom for its citizens. However, failure to “harmonise” with Codex standards will result in sanctions against governments by the World Trade Organisation.

More on "Codex" 7/5/2005

Codex Adopts International Vitamin Guidelines
Global standards for vitamin and mineral supplements were adopted by Codex yesterday, despite some last minute requests for amendments and consumer group campaigns to stall the ratification, writes Dominique Patton.

The guidelines, under discussion by Codex committee members for more than 10 years, recognize vitamin and mineral supplements as a food category, and are expected to expand markets for supplement makers.

“You can’t underestimate the impact of these guidelines. They create a global category of vitamin and mineral supplements – in many countries there is no such category in place,” said Simon Pettman, executive director of the International Alliance of Dietary Supplement Associations (IADSA).

Codex Alimentarius, established by the United Nations in 1961, establishes guidelines to harmonise trade in food and although the standards are not binding, they tend to influence less liberal markets and those without a regulatory framework in place, particularly common in supplements.

Pettman told NutraIngredients.com that more than 60 countries worldwide, including China, India, Taiwan and Mexico, are currently looking at introducing new or amended regulations for vitamin and mineral supplements.

"This means more than 50 per cent of the global population," he said.

One element of the new Codex guidelines is set to be particularly influential for the supplement industry - the basis for setting permitted levels of vitamins and minerals. Last year the committee working on the draft guidelines agreed that maximum levels should be based on risk assessment rather than RDAs (recommended dietary intake), currently used by a number of countries but resulting in significantly lower levels than those based on risk assessment.

However the natural health campaigners Alliance for Natural Health (ANH), which has released a documentary this week describing the threat posed by Codex guidelines, fears that the method for setting maximum levels currently being investigated by a FAO/WHO committee will be based on previously developed systems that it believes are scientifically flawed. These would set the levels much lower than those currently used by many consumers.

The group has commissioned independent risk assessment scientists at the Netherlands-based HAN Foundation to develop new methods for vitamins and minerals.

However John Hathcock, vice president of scientific and international affairs at the US trade association the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), said: "The risk assessment values for vitamins and minerals is always severalfold higher than reference dietary intakes. Of course the risk assessment system could be abused, like any other, but the RDAs are already very low.”

Hathcock noted that the FAO/WHO risk assessment project attempts to harmonise risk assessment methodology across nations but “specifies no numbers whatsoever”.

Hathcock also said that consumer groups claiming that the Codex guidelines would lead to restrictions on supplements were misinformed.

“There are a lot of people who don’t understand what Codex does and how far the WTO powers extend. Codex does not force any country to adopt these guidelines, and the WTO will only force a country to raise standards up to Codex, rather than down from domestic policy.”

Around 85 of the 172 members of Codex Alimentarius are in Rome this week at the body’s Commission meeting, and they were largely in favour of adoption of the guidelines, which also cover packaging, labelling and sources of vitamins and minerals.

The Commission agreed to amend the text following a request from Australia that the word ‘only’ be added to section 1.3 so that it would read: "These guidelines apply only in those jurisdictions where products defined in 2.1 are regulated as foods."

Comments submitted by China that the guidelines should take into account the dietary limitations of each country were included in the minutes but not in the text. Making such changes would have required taking the guidelines back to the committee discussions stage.

“After more than 10 years of discussion it was felt that to bring the text back to the nutrition committee, when a consensus had already been reached last year, would jeopardize the guidelines,” said David Pineda, director of regulatory affairs at IADSA.

He added that the concerns went far beyond the scope of non-binding international standards, and would be more suited to national discussions.

The US-based National Health Federation (NHF), the only consumer organisation with NGO status at Codex, claimed that the Chinese comments were substantive and therefore should have been addressed at the committee level.

FAO is expected to produce a report in a few months on its risk assessment methodology but it will be several years before this is adopted.

Source: www.nutraingredients.com