The day after

(image placeholder)Yesterday was what some people around the world call “Buy Nothing Day”. Some of these people are activists, culture jammers, ethical and informed consumers (for lack of a better word). CNN apparently doesn’t share this view. They had a headline yesterday that said :
“Shopper?” “Consumer?” try “Patriot” “Hero”

I felt a turning in the pit of my belly as I watched a news channel, albeit a corporate one, actually encourage people to go out and shop. The rationale?

It went something like this

- Don’t think of it as buying an Xbox 360 for your child, think of it as doing your duty “boots on the ground” to keep the “American economy healthy”.

It is frustrating to me that we would encourage our citizens in this country to go out and spend when we know that nearly everyone is in debt, and our country itself is mired in the deepest debt in world history.

Why don’t our leaders in our government and the Fifth Estate have the balls to say,

“This Holiday season remember our troops abroad and send a care package (or body armor)”
“The victims of Katrina will be losing federal temporary housing assistance within the next few weeks, please remember them in this season of giving”
“This holiday season buy American”
“Buy Local”

Because as long as we have that Xbox 360 we’ll forget that there are those with “boots on the ground” making real sacrifices for their country. And we can feel good about it too, because this shopping season, we are all fucking heroes.

WHY!?

When will our media and our government give US the answers we seek. All we want to know is “why” we do the things we do, why we repeat the same patterns whether they work or not.
Why do we only get the questions the corporate media asks, or the answers to the questions asked by their hand picked “town hall” meetings?


They don’t have answers we would be satisfied with. They don’t have answers with honesty, integrity, and reason. That is why the 40% of America who doesn’t vote out of dissatisfaction with the system, or a feeling that they won’t be accurately represented, that they themselves won’t see a greater standard of living than they have today. It is hard to believe that our elected officials even have this in mind when preparing for their next vote or signature.

So for those of you that don’t vote, next time when the opportunity to cast a ballot arises, stand with your disenfranchised brethren and do your American duty to stand up and say something when there is injustice.

Stand in solidarity outside of all the poll booths, with the flag waving, holding a 10’ tall sign that says “Neither one is good enough for America”

Namaste
A new day comes brothers and sisters, leave the old world behind you

More on the New Right

More on the New Right

I think the people who should be most upset about the “Right” are the ones who have been hijacked: the Christians and the Republicans. Jefferson, Lincoln, Eisenhower and Jesus would all be pretty upset today if they looked at how their legacies have been used as a marketing scheme so that unscrupulous people can pursue money and power. Jesus warned us of self-righteousness and worshipping false idols, such as money and power. Jefferson said to build a wall between Church and State and he had some choice words for Federalists. Eisenhower spoke vehemently against the military industrial complex saying that we had to be very careful now that America had a standing army it would be easy for fascists to take advantage of.  

Jesus said that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to heaven. And now the Church and those who champion its cause are some of the richest in the world. Big houses, big churches, big cars, and still the poor struggle to survive.

Anyhow I just wanted to throw some new thoughts in the mix since the architects of Aardvarkia brought it up on their 11-23 show.

I think it would be cool to have a section on the forums where we could list books, movies, and other media that we think other varks would enjoy.

But since we don’t have that, I’m gonna throw a few things on here. So here is a list of books that gave me great insight and helped me to see the world in a new light:

We the People - Thom Hartmann
     Every American should read it. He also wrote “Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight” and “the Prophet’s Way”

Ishmael – By Daniel Quinn
     It’s about the story of our culture, and how it’s time for a new story. It is followed by “My Ishmael” and “The Story of B”. He has written several other books but Ishmael is where it all began.

A Language Older Than words – Derrick Jensen
WOW. Awesome read. Jensen teaches writing, and everything he does is great. He’ll scare the shite out of you with “Welcome to the Machine” it’s about surveillance society.

The Celestine Prophecy – James Redfield

I am also working to put together a compilation of videos that I have found on the net that help to reframe the debate and tell a bigger story.

I heartily suggest you read any and all of these if you have a hard time reconciling the culture you are sold, and the world you believe in.

Hhhhwaaat?!

I think there are those who are ready for the dawning of a new age. And I think we should be connected no matter where we are. And so I have to suggest a few places to check out.

www.couchsurfing.com
www.skype.com

Give the Anarchy X podcast a listen and if you like it subscribe thru iTunes and vote for it on www.podcastalley.com  
These guys put on a great show, it’s just a keeping it real conversation.

The New Right

This is something I posted at Aardvarkfans.us. a fansite for the much-beloved (at least by me and several hundred others). Except its actually been spell-checked and such

Hello Aardvarks.
In the 11-18 episode the boys were talking about the following and it’s collective responsibility to do something such as protesting the Fourth Reich. I think that the powers that be have stolen the language we use and framed the debate is such a way that they own the debate now. Although I agree with protesting and do it when I can, it will not be enough in the current climate. In September 300,000 people protested the war in D.C. and although the protest was an enormous success, the Minister of Propaganda Karl "Goebbels" Rove painted it in such a way that even though the media was interested and touched upon it, it was seen to be an extension of the Cindy Sheehan phenomena. The protest was planned months before she made her way onto the national scene, but that didn't stop them from using language and the debate in such a way to discredit those who would use it as a sign that there is a certain strength among those they would label as "Left".
Now we're coming full circle.
In the same episode in the last few minutes Shian and Matt talked about how they sided with a Jeffersonian Republican ethos, which if McCain ran against Kerry they would Vote McCain. I wouldn't vote for McCain because eh is still a part of the machine and did back Bush even after Bush had smeared him in a campaign when they were vying for the primary.
Hang in there, we're coming to my point.
i have been considering for a week or so since a conversation I had with my roommate what it would be like if the Dems (or any new political power...) had their own Rove and Luntz to frame the debate and if they could take it from them it would be very powerful.  We could call ourselves the "New Right" the Takers gave the "left" moniker to their opposition long ago in France, the Conservatives here then claimed it for themselves and since have been using it within the language to subtly manipulate the minds of attention-deficit 'Mericans.
The revolution won't come riding on the coat tails of a Molotov cocktail it will come only with changed minds.

Hola!

“We do no torture.”
So Bush says.
It should read “We do not torture. Much. Unless we have to. You see it’s illegal. So we don’t do it. But if we have to it’s undocumented. Kind of like our workers. uhh… And then we do it in secret prisons…” But they can’t say that. That’d be close to the truth.

Cronyism. Corruption. Corporatism.

I was working today, bartending mostly, so I had the TV crankin’ away CNN, not Headline News, just regular CNN, and they were still talking about the Washington Post’s article about the CIA running secret prisons in Eastern Europe. It came as no shock at all that the Nobility of America’s corporate fiefdom and their puppets were running secret prisons. Was the scandal that it was worse to have secret prisons in Europe than in Saudi Arabia or Egypt? We’ve known about those for a while. Not according to Frist and his pals. The scandal is that someone leaked the information. ‘That’s odd’, I thought to myself, Shouldn’t we be questioning whether or not the supposed “allegations” were true? No, let’s find out who told the press that we were conducting “unscrupulous activities”, because truth, much like an indictment is “bad for the country”. Then again, the indictment they handed out was about the truth.

Nevermind republicans are “moral values” people, they would never cover up the truth.

A pattern is brewing, some sort of connection between the republicans and distortions of truth. Nah, that’s just “speculation”. The news can’t say things like that. They can’t take sides. Even if a “side” aligns with truth.
Before I’m even done mulling over the absurdity of their machinations, Trent Lott comes out and says something like,”well, uhh, it may have been a republican that let the information about the 4th Reich’s gulags out. Oops… A collective G.O.P. sigh was followed shortly by hundreds of phones dialing to ask Minister of Propaganda Rove, “how do we blame this on democrats?”
I don’t know if they got an answer, but a guy at the bar today had a pretty good prediction that follows precedent, “I bet you the terror alert goes up or they have some sort of ‘credible threat’ tomorrow.” So sad. So true. Tomorrow will tell.
I can’t even wrap my head around their apologist attitude surrounding torture. They admit it doesn’t work, they admit it’s illegal, but they fight for the right of it’s continued use. I have an idea, in order to stop terrorism, stop supporting fear and perhaps start to stand for liberty and justice universally. Don’t sell people chemical weapons, and then sanction the country for using them, don’t give money to both sides. That’s hypocritical. Jesus did not seem to care for hypocrites, or self-righteous people with a love of money and power, but you’d think he was their strongest champion judging by the words and deeds of those who dirty his name, as they wash themselves with it.

I guess what I’m trying to demonstrate is that every day we see more connections between the evils that we know are hurting the world and its children, human and otherwise, and yet we do little more than strain against the web. Well, as the weaves tighten I can only assume that it will become easier to see, and for those who it weighs upon the most harder to endure and more fires will burn in the streets. Today Paris. Tomorrow      ?

How much can a government mismanage taxes and favor corporations, before someone throws the tea overboard?
I have faith that we will see the web, and we will fight it, and when we look in the mirror, and when we look back on our day, we will ultimately take responsibility and demand accountability.

There are those who say that in 2012 the Earth will enter the Age of Aquarius. There are those who say the end times are here. Those who fear and demonize in the face of Judgement Day say we must repent because the end is nigh. Those who see a New Age say that through some cleansing everything will come to the surface and we will become more fully human. Some of those who say the earth will end will also say that we have finished evolving. Wouldn’t they love that, a condition that would allow them to be unaccountable to their actions? C’mon one can only be as good as his species, right?

Whether it be just another day or your last day, when that day comes, can you look your god in the face and proclaim, “We do not torture.”?

Will your god believe you any more than we do?