"Beware The Ides of March" Shakespear, Julius Ceasar

So we are told Osama bin Laden has a nuclear weapon he intends to use on America and he intends to do so sometime between now and the end of 2005.  Osama, a scholar and genious has a penchant for the written word and a fondness for William Shakespear.  He isn't fond of Britain, however.  Nor is he fond of America.  It is my guess that bin Laden will send a message to the Lion, "We will break your spirit and kill your baby lamb."  The lion is England and England's baby lamb is America.

So we wonder when this will occur.  March.  March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb; I just hope it won't be for the last time.

Queen George

Voltaire said, "Love truth, but pardon error."

Our president has declared that the American people, through our vote, have sent him a mandate for another four years.  I choose to believe that not all who voted for him were stupid as they are accused of being and therefore conclude that he recieved a pardon, not a mandate.  Yet Bush is truly an Elizabethan in his techniques.  Like Queen Elizabeth I he sets out to create divisions and fuel each other's disdain for one another while forcing all sides to come to him for resolution.  Nobody was quite as good at it as was Queen Elizabeth...until George came along.  They share the philosophy of divide ut regnes (divide in order to rule). 

Bush proves Barry Goldwater's assertion is correct: "A government that is big enough to give you all you want, is big enough to take it all away."  So through our huge expenditures for war, and padding of defense funds, truly  Bush has succeeded in taking it all away for generations to come.  Some shout, "Four more years!"  The others cry out, "Four more generations!"

A Taste For The Kill  

When the films of our marines were finally seen in our homeland of America by those who hadn't gone to foreign websites for their news, Americans expressed their disgust and even spout out verbage of hate for the one soldier they say shot an unarmed Iraqi man who was already wounded.  What our citizens did not know is that while this troop was working its way up to Fallujah to relieve the troop who was engaged there, they did come under fire and when the soldier's friend went to move the freshly dead body of the insurgent, he was blown up and another soldier along with him.  The body was booby trapped. 

I'd like to share with you what has been shared with me from a few fellows who didn't quite do so well when they returned home from Viet Nam.  To a soldier engaged in war, its a kill or be killed programming.  As long as they are shooting at some percieved enemy (real or imagined) and are making those kills, they can rejoice.  Quite simply it means they killed a man and live because of it.  In times of war, they live and return to us because they have killed.  Hopefully they will return home soon.

They have been deprived of the nurturing  they grew up with, sent in to do a job like encryptionist, but ended up shooting others, picking up body parts and putting them in body bags, then tagged the bags.  They are promised daily that the job they came to do will happen.  Every day they believe it will happen.  Instead of dwelling on the fact that only killing is going on, they join in willingly  to kill.  Of course...war affects each individual quite differently so this isn't a cut out for every one of them.

Show mercy, America--to our soldiers.  We made them what they are.

Painful message to my brothers and sisters.

Some of my sisters and brothers in the Lord have put me in a rock and a hard place, so first, I'd like to take a moment to explain how some who oppose the right to choose are compassionate helpers who work at Christian abortion counseling centers.  They help to restore the women back to a place where God can heal them.  This is truly a great thing in my opinion.  So I whole heartedly am proud of these sisters and brothers.

There are, however, brothers and sisters who haven't taken the time to understand the message of our Lord Jesus.  These are also the ones who say everyone must go through Jesus or they will go to hell without realizing the Jews were given laws for their salvation and the Islamics were given their directives for their salvation, something Christians cannot claim.  We were merely grafted in between these two olive branches, the half brothers--seeds of Abraham.  We were given as Gentiles the uncommon salvation through the messiah who is Jesus.  Jesus extended his arm of grace to us and called us to love our enemies, extend mercy without partiality, and forgave every sin with one exception--the blaspheming of the Holy Spirit. 

This is important to what I have to say to my brothers and sisters who are in error because it brings me great pain to have to correct them.  But since we are in the same family, I'm obligated to do so.  You see, God gave humans something quite special; he gave us free will, the ability to choose to come to him of our own free will, not to come to him because some law said we had to.  God waits for us to choose the path we will take.  On every path we will encounter sin (the formidable teacher), suffering and pain, amongst other things kind and unkind.  When we are humbled, in pain, suffering from our sins and we call out to God, he says, "I'm here."  We then choose to cry out our reality and invite our healing.  God sends his most Holy Spirit to comfort and teach us.  None of this can happen if we are enslaved by laws regarding a forced morality.  Morality isn't something we are to legislate.  In fact when someone showed Jesus a coin with Ceasar's picture, he looked at it with disgust and declared as he tossed it back to the gentleman, "Render unto Ceasar what is Ceasars.

So my dear well meaning but mistaken brothers and sisters, I submit to you that by saying we must follow a moral form of legislated governing, we are stripping people of the gift God gave us, the gift of free will; and therefore, are denying that the Holy Spirit is able to save us from our demise.  This my family is denying the power of the Holy Spirit to meet the individual heart where it has gone, where it is at.  I'd like to throttle you all as you accuse Arlen Spector of being pro-murder and pro-abortion.  That is a lie! Stop lying this moment, repent of this sin.  There was no such bill ever that said proabortion or promurder.  Arlen is supporting the woman's individual rights to make a choice, something none of us should have to do since God guaranteed it.  Arlen feels the government shouldn't enforce private moral issues for individuals, that that is an intimate matter between they and whomever they believe in.  He is prochoice not pro anything else that goes on with that.  I ask you brothers and sisters, do you accept the salvation Christ offered to you?  If you say yes, then you murdered Christ.  Fear not, he is more than capable of forgiving you and he has. 

Now to the rabbi of the rabbi's you said, "Arlen Spector has stolen the civil rights of the unborn.  The unborn have been cheated out of their civil rights by Arlen Spector."  You sir, are in error.  In order to have civil rights, you must first be born and then secondly, you must be living.

I'm so sorry for having to scold you all, but believers are commanded to educate other believers who could be approaching the irreversable effects of error.   Do not deny the power of the Holy Spirit, accept the gift of free will that our creator teaches us through.  Selah--Amen.

Oddball conversations with my friends.

Louise had tint on her hair and I showed her the comment Thomas Jefferson made which appeared a few blogs down.  "Great quote," she said "He was a prick, though." I asked her why she said that and she responded,"Let me search my gray matter. It'll come to me."  A few moments passed and asked her again."Something about a Black woman."

"You sure you don't mean Benjamin Franklin?"

"No but he was probably evil too."

"George Washington?"

"He was evil."

I felt so silly having this conversation with her, tint cap on her head and all, but I reminded her,"You know, our founding fathers were seen as terrorists, insurgents of their day."

"By whom," she asked with an indignant clucking of her tongue.

"By the English, Louise."

"Impossible!  They invaded us!"

"Yeah, just like we invaded Iraq."  Our eyes met and grew large because we had hit on an irony.  We had only meant to engage in our typical beauty shop conversation but the truth hit us at the same time.  In retrospect, it was funny, but true none the less.

Friday, we were talking about women's rights because I joined N O W.  Sabrina, the client of mine with a tint cap on her head said, "We need to bring freedom to the women of Iraq."

Her sister said, "They need to bring themselves freedom, we had to here."

"You ladies see on all our news shows how women are rarely at the demonstrations and battles?"  They shook their heads in unison.  "Why do you suppose that is?"  There was a little bit of weak speculation and they both agreed that neither had the answer.  They assumed the men had not been taught to respect their women. So I pointed out another possibility.  "They rely on their women.  They keep them hidden by the soldiers and foreign media because to expose their women means they too would be in danger.  If we attacked and killed their women instead of them, there would be no more Islamic message.  The women are the breeders of their message and like drone bees, they protect their queens, the mothers of the living."

They agreed but I got this awful sinking feeling in the pit of my tummy.  I'm not willing to kill the women to end the war.  The idea seemed so sinister to me. I'm a mom too. <sigh>  That's all for now.

Now Magazine ran a John Sayles Article--Check it out.

John Sayles If Christians can steal the GOP, lefties can move in on the Dems BY John Sayles

Politicians are only as good as we force them to be forget the post-election excre ment on how the Democratic party needs to reach out to fundamentalist voters and find a "moral position'' people can identify with. What? Let's become less tolerant? More homophobic, more racist? How's this for a moral position? Thou shalt not lie, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not kill. It's always popular politics to attack liars, thieves and murderers (and even better if you're not one yourself).

But you can't oppose a mess of a war by claiming you would have made less of a mess of it. And you can't tell the truth about the Middle East without mentioning our policy with Israel and years of support for repressive regimes in the Muslim states.

Segregation was presented as a moral position until we got it out of the legal codes. Now it's just a by-product of the alleged free market system.

Worried about abortion rights? You should be. But if the anti-abortion crusaders are willing to lie down in the middle of highways, chain themselves to fences, picket abortion clinics, shouldn't people on the other side of the issue be prepared to do the same? It isn't comfortable. It isn't fun. But if you believe, you believe.

What if the right to have an abortion were on the ballot in those so-called red states? Or a bill to charge doctors who perform abortions with murder? Always the chance that you might lose, but it certainly would be a motivating factor to get off your butt and pull the lever.

Pretty much half of the people who voted don't want to go where George Bush and his gang want to take us. This is not a bunch of cranks and sore losers. It's important to remember that any inch we give up through cynicism, apathy or mere laziness is an inch that will be twice as hard to win back.

Know your enemy. People who take away your liberties, the services you've fought and paid for, your standard of living, your public lands and utilities, have stolen from you just as blatantly as if they came into your house and robbed you with a gun. The bribery and extortion they've used to do this is only "legal'' because they've been able to get away with it. Television and radio networks that conspire with them to do this are your enemies as well. Buy nothing that can profit them (preferably in an organized boycott), and let the world know about it.

If you're a "content provider," try not to work for them. Corporations that control politicians who sell us out, who rape America and the rest of the world and give nothing back, need to be identified, their methods revealed, boycotted, publicly hounded.

The people who voted for Bush are familiar with direct mail. How about some campaigns sending them the news, with names and numbers of their civic leaders who are robbing them? Class war should have an economic face, not just a "cultural'' one.

Ask yourself what you might be doing to accommodate or encourage the current system, how you or your business may be helping the IMFs and WTOs ravage American and foreign workers. Then stop doing it.

Complacency and distance do not help. Why are gay people marching in San Francisco? Instead, they should go en masse and meet people in those states that want to ostracize them (and where many of them actually come from) and see if anything human can happen.

If you are lucky enough to have money to invest and choose to use or protect it in that way, ask not only how much your money is earning but who else is profiting by the use of it. This is not "political correctness'' (a term that even in the late 60s I only heard used by reactionaries), but just trying not to feed the people who are fucking you over.

If you don't know how to change a tire, you shouldn't own a car. If you don't know how to inform yourself, you shouldn't expect to live in a democracy. The hard message of our recent movie, Silver City, is that we all have to be detectives to know what is going on in the world. That means searching rather than just receiving. It means weighing evidence. It means critical thought.

Yes, this is exactly what the Republican party relies on its constituents not to do, and why the bulk of those constituents will be powerless to avoid the economic beating the Bush deficit is going to lay on them. Information is power only if it is used. Pressure – constant and massive pressure – has to be put on the commercial news media, however embedded they may be, to make sure the muggings perpetrated by those in power are public ones.

It can't be relegated to books or movies produced three years after it's too late. The power of the Web will be used as a weapon by friend and foe. Some of its success as a tool for change will be theability to invade other people's space, to leave the chat rooms filled with like-minded people and go visiting.

Civil disobedience is effective when it is well aimed and has staying power. If you don't trust the military or what the regime in power is sending it to do, don't join it, and do what you can to help other people not have to join it. If you think you're getting screwed, make a stink about it. If you think somebody else is getting screwed and can think of a way to help, do it.

Let's say John Kerry had gone to the working people in the red states and promised them that if they voted for him he'd guarantee them $4,000 a year in extra income and services. Would you have any respect for a person who would give up a deeply held principle (on abortion or any other issue) for $4,000?

Politicians are only as good as we force them to be. The religious right took over the Republicans. Why don't the progressives take over the Democratic party and make a real fight of this thing? If that leads to more regionalism and divisiveness, so be it. You either think these things are worth fighting for or you don't.

Bring it on.

NOW | NOV 11 - 17, 2004 | VOL. 24 NO. 11

The Forum on PBS radio

Letter to KQED Radio--The Forum:

 

       Good morning!

You had Susan Jacoby on today and of course I was listening.  Then again I always listen when I take a smoke break at work.

I am perplexed as to why Gay Marriage is such an issue.  Last statistics I got was that one in four marriages ended up in divorce.  Why isn't the Gay voice (a powerful voice) helping us to address the real issues?  Why are they buying into the carrot of a heterosexual concept being dangled in front of them when they could be helping us all see to it that some important issues are addressed?

Issue: Benefits denied to people who file taxes jointly and share all assets.
Story: Kathy, a stylist renting a space in my salon has a horrid but all too common story to share.  At the age of fifteen she, a practicing Catholic got married to a Catholic man.  Eventually they had two children.  A year after their second child came he took off never to be heard from again.  He had taken all records of their marriage and accounts with him.  She never could locate him.  By the time she reached the age of twenty another man moved in with her, a veteran of the Viet Nam war.  They had a son together, filed taxes together, and shared their assets.  When he was diagnosed with Hep C and got hurt on a job, he was unable to work.  His little Vet's check helped, barely.  The supporting of them fell on her job as a hairdresser.  He was hoping to live long enough to collect his pension from the job he had worked at but that didn't happen.  He died this year.  Kathy, now fifty-six years old, hasn't got help from his pension or his Vet benefit.  In fact, she has no benefits and owes five years of back taxes.  Her son is an adult but she supports the grandchild because as life goes...the son has been injured too.  Where did his father's benefits go?  Why don't they help her?  Is she supposed to die in poverty too?

Problem: We keep skirting around the issues of Civil Partnering which should be allowed.  The subject of Gay marriage is intentionally keeping us from seeing that not only gay folks, but heterosexual folks are denied the right to benefits earned by their partners.  Who keeps all the money put into pension plans???

Instead of turning this into a moral issues from a federal platform, let us please consider the fiduciary responsibilities due to those who share assets and pay joint taxes.
Seeking to redefine marriage as something that produces anything other than a husband and wife steals attention from others who produce jointly.
Thank you.
Chelle Stockman of Vallejo, Ca.  707-655-7073

“I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country.”    — Thomas Jefferson 1812

Next move folks: Find out all the American Corporations and how much they paid in taxes.  Move for a flat tax on net earnings with corporations allowed to deduct wages and benefits paid as long as those benefits are paid to 70% or more.  The flat tax should be no more than 3% for us all on our net earnings.  No deductions for any of us--period.  All corporations manufacturing outside this country will have to pay a 9% tax to sell it back to us, meanwhile small businesses should once again begin setting themselves up to provide goods we currently buy from abroad.  That means we won't have anymore dollar stores and will pay more for our goods.

We must take our credit spending down to almost nothing and start clearing our debts.  If that means you have to file bankruptcy, shore up your homes and vehicles then file.  Buy as little insurance you can and halt your urges to make money off of lawsuits. Let's see if we can't cut our debts in half by four years.  Let us not spend what we do not have.  Pay cash, money orders or checks as often as possible.  Don't invest in the fleeting and indeterminable stock market.  Pull out.  The market is good at the moment so sell out.  If you are healthy, cancel your unneccessary insurance policies, because; the insurance companies are gambling that you won't need the services and you are betting against yourselves that you will.  This will shake up our administration.

Why a national sales tax won't work: large corporations won't have to pay any tax unless they buy their raw materials here and they don't currently do so.

Now, write your representatives from the smallest to the largest administration.  Good luck.  Keep me posted.  I'm with you and have already started.

Bush's words to us about the Iraqi people in 9-20-01

Bush says the regular font while my comments will be bold.

We are not deceived by their pretenses to piety. No, sir, but your followers are deceived by yours. We have seen their kind before. Every time you look in the mirror. They are the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century.And you are their benefactor.  By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions -- by abandoning every value except the will to power -- they follow in the path of fascism, and Nazism, and totalitarianism. Bush, you really should step away from the mirror for awhile. And they will follow that path all the way, to where it ends:  in history's unmarked grave of discarded lies. (Applause.)  Yes sir, your rats will follow you their pied piper.  Trouble is, you all take the rest of us with you, mon capitan.