SlackTide

Intentionally Misleading

"Well, if you're really interested in global warming and climate change, then it seems like to me that we ought to promote technologies to advance the development of safe nuclear power. It's a renewable source of energy, and at the same time has no emissions to it." George W. Bush to Juan Williams on Monday, Jan. 29, 2007.

I suppose if you don't count nuclear waste as an emission and that mining uranium is somehow renewable.  I have an idea to solve global warming: lets build a bunch of miniature suns to cook billions of gallons of water, release all the hot steam into a 'cooling' climate and send the waste hot water into the river.  All this at about 4-6% efficiency, what a good deal.  Whatever.

Only for his ruin

Only for his ruin
does renown come to the fool.
It ravages his bright fortune
& rips his head apart.

He would want unwarranted status,
preeminence among monks,
authority among monasteries,
homage from lay families.

Dhammapada, 5

Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce

Joseph, his tribal name, Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt (Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain), died Sept. 21, 1904, at the age of about 60(story). While sitting before the fire in his lodge, he fell over on his face and was gone. The doctor on duty listed the cause of death as "a broken heart."

Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.

www.colvilletribes.com

BushCo not Welcome in NYC

The Gig is up; Why are we still here?

Speaking for myself, politics is part of my nature so I'm naturally drawn to explore it. However, there are many other, larger, more powerful aspects of my nature as well and if others are like me any we can recognize being fully tired of 'all things military'. Three long years is enough; 3,000 only that much more so. Yes I am a dreamer which some will want to ridicule as naive, but I will only answer with Vision. That is what visionaries do, they look into the future. In this case, the dreamer in me sees a future well beyond what many will take to time to explore. Like it or not, in the final analysis humanity Will come together and recognize it's unfathomable Sameness. Sometimes I just get a little impatient with the process.

Current affairs is a perfect example of this. It seems to me that for all real purposes, The Gig is Up. So why then do we have to wait until November to make it 'official', much less until January 21 to be able to actually take some action and Do something about it?? It feels like we're riding a bike in the shallow end of the pool when we could be parasailing off the top of El Capitan. But just for the record, I'm not much of a John Kerry fan - Bush and his radical militia are just so . . . well, what's a good word to use here?

Today we have a collective debt to pay that is coming due very soon. It comes in the form of a genuine rebuilding and support of Iraq and it's citizens, and for Their Own Sake. We need to get our capitalist finger out of the eye of reconstruction. I have a three step plan for Iraq: 1.) Get all US military and capital interests out and hand over all oversight to the UN or France while supplying any and all financial resources necessary. 2.) Get our proverbial Dick out of the sand, a.k.a. develop and implement a national energy policy based on sustainability and renewable resources and be a leader for the world in these technologies. 3.) Do some actual reconstruction and aid work such as providing water supply, food distribution, building schools, etc. Basically it all boils down to 'Fess up and Pay up for our Insanity and Failure Policy'. When we're done there we could then turn to face Black Americans and Native Indians, but we'll start one at a time.

Certainly we have a long way to go, but times they are a changin'. A good thing too, and the quicker the better because the race that seems to be developing (to me) is one between the wisdom cultures coming together and reclaiming the steering wheel of spaceship earth before the radical christian/ Isreali nuclear apocalypse and rapture. Depending on the scale you like to go by, we may be entering the home stretch. June 8 will be the Venus Transit and marks the beginning of the last cycle in the Mayan calendar.

The Venus Transit of June 8, 2004 is clearly the astronomical event of the year. But it may be much, much more than that. The Venus Transit has always preceded great breakthroughs in human consciousness and played a very significant role in the Mayan Calendar. It is also a turning point in the Vedic tradition. According to the Indian avatar of enlightenment, Sri Kalki Bhagavan, the Venus Transit of 2004 will be the actual starting point of the Golden Age, a process that will come to an conclusion at the next Venus Transit in 2012.

The importance of this event is that is represents the birthing of a Global Unity process. This is certainly not anything new, maybe more accurately a rebirth of something very old. Nonetheless, now is the time and our universe is colluding to support our effort. It is up to us and we are increasingly in need of it, just look at the media. ~sal

The SHIFT is upon us... Get ready for the down load!

p.s. I came across this most beautiful Death card today from Gaian Tarot.

Daily Buddhist Wisdom

Mind cannot see itself-
Subject and object cannot be dual;
Therefore, to see the mind
You must look and probe with the eye of wisdom.

When probed and examined analytically
With such analytic investigation
The mind is like the wick of a lamp
Illumined only through its own radiance.

Smirking Chimps going Cold Turkey

Q: You spent 12 years in the Marines. When were you sent to Iraq?

A: I went to Kuwait around Jan. 17. I was in Iraq from the get-go. And I was involved in the initial invasion.

Q: What does the public need to know about your experiences as a Marine?

Atrocities in Iraq: 'I killed innocent people for our government'

As important as this above article is in all it has to say and the picture it paints of what is really happening in Iraq, I will add this column by Kurt Vonnegut. If you only read one article this month, make it this one. ~sal

BushCo's so called national security policy.

The Progressive Pull

"Perhaps the Book of Life, in the end, is the book one has lived. If one has lived nothing, one is not in the Book of Life. I have always wanted to write about everything. That does not mean to write a book that covers everything -- which would be impossible, but a book in which everything can go. A book with a little of everything that creates itself out of nothing. That has its own life. A faithful book. I no longer look at it as a "book."
~ Thomas Merton, July 17, 1956

The Dawn of Medicine, Plus or Minus a Couple Million Years

We Need A Progressive Voice in the General Election

Progressives must not underestimate their own political importance in this country. It is progressives who led the fight against slavery, against child labor, against exploitation of women and for union rights. All these gains are being eroded by the complete corporate domination of both parties. A Nader candidacy will be an opportunity for progressives and others to reject the parties of Wall Street and build a Main Street movement.

Historically, dating back to Jefferson, one or another of the major parties has advocated for Main Street against Wall Street. That is, until the last thirty years. Without a third party challenge by Nader, corporations will continue to dominate and the two parties will continue to allow corporations to erode America’s standard of living and civic culture.

And historically is has been third parties who have challenged the two major parties to improve and adopt the platforms of the minor parties. If the following description – taken from the Populist Party platform of 1892 – doesn’t describe American politics today, nothing does:

"Corruption dominates the ballot-box, the Legislatures, the Congress and touches even the ermine of the bench. The fruits of the toil of millions are boldly stolen to build up colossal fortunes for a few, unprecedented in the history of mankind; and the possessors of these, in turn, despise the Republic and endanger liberty."

I would therefore urge progressives who have written recently on these pages to think more broadly about what a Nader candidacy can achieve. Nader’s candidacy is based on the urgent need to press for issues that progressives have championed for over a century in this country and that will never get a hearing in the increasingly negative and narrow-gauge campaign being run by Kerry and Bush.

The re-write I would do here is to put Dennis Kucinich in place of Nader. But this also would be my dream ticket, these two in any order.

Let's End the Two-Party Duopoly

Both Howard Dean and Dennis Kucinich, like Nader, know that our two major parties have effectively colluded to dramatically narrow voter options. But there's nothing in American political culture that mandates the present system. It's an artifact of self-protection. As so many citizens understand, America needs a democracy reconstruction project.

What's in a Name? EPA Proposes to Call Sewage Sludge "Compost"

"Religion is the way you conduct yourself towards others."
~ Prophet Muhammad

If you're still with me, yes this was a bit of a headlines dump today, sometimes that is necessary (for me). Anyway, please note the new search feature 'Go Fishing' just below the calendar to the right. Thanks, ~sal

Gay Passions of Christ

Is it too much 'conspiracy theorizing' to wonder if the timing of the gay marriage debate and the release of Mel Gibson's version of "The Passion of Christ" is simply coincidental? It is interesting the level of comments both have received in the past 48 hours.
Issue strikes chord locally
San Francisco Mayor Newsom Calls Bush Reaction Shameful

I don't see all the fuss. I understand the Christian far-right want to constitutionalize thier version of Morality, that aspect is not difficult. But as to why it's so damnable to allow fellow citizens the ability to declare their personal relationship for legal and financial matters, I simply do not understand - other than as an act of pure politics.

As for Mel's little movie, I have heard nothing but negative press and these for various reasons. Mostly it seems to be a money making affair and platform for a guilty sinner to express his personal version of History. Such is the priveledge of the rich and famous I suppose. More fanning of the cultural warfare Ring of Fire, on both accounts. ~sal

Primary Dilemma

Primary Dilemma

Indeed. Though I call myself a Kucinich fan from day one, I have enjoyed following the primaries. Dean's campaign was intriguing and still promises more change for American politics and society. Kerry is utterly uninteresting to me and in many ways more of the same, though a definite improvement over the current head Moron in the White House, but then again, so would be Kermit or Mickey. John Edwards continues to show strong and gain more attention which I think is healthy for the process and he may well pull off an upset.

Nader entering the race is getting more bad press than the Washington Post puts out every day. However I am not so quick to brush him off. Granted the possiblity of his garnering votes and risking Moron II is real, but I think it's also important to keep some issues on the table. Nader will bring topics to the front which will be left out by others, so for the mere aspect of debates and a more open primary it's good to have him around. I hope he bails out at the last minute to not cause problems. But who knows what happens between here and there, things could shift again.

Today's move by the Moron calling for a Constitutional amendment banning any form of gay marriage is silly at best and raw politics at worst. It is sure to fail when it gets down to it, needing to be ratified by 2/3 congress and 3/4 the states - it's a high bar. Anyway, I feel the Moron is going down hard next fall. I'm also confident he will turn up Mr. Osama just in time for election benefit. If things seem to be going not so good, I wouldn't be surprised by a timely 'terrorist' attack. Just watch, you never know how a trapped animal will react. ~sal

Oiling up the draft machine?

" If you can forget both clamor and silence, you will surely understand the simultaneous realization of the absolute and the relative.
-Lin-ch'uan