Alliance For a New Humanity

There are so many incredible things happening in the world to bring about the shift in values, belief systems, healing, transformation, and consciousness which so many across the planet know is needed and are working to bring about. This is but one more website which deeply speaks to my values, hopes, passions, and profound caring, which I truly believe is the core of what most humans share. This is what Alliance For a New Humanity shares about these times, their mission, and the planetary change that is needed and happening:

Our mission is to connect people, who, through personal and social transformation, aim to build a just, peaceful, and sustainable world, reflecting the unity of all humanity.

CONNECT
We are people from all regions of the world and all walks of life who are joined by a common vision; to strengthen and sustain an actively compassionate humanity. Our movement is open to anyone who believes that creating a better world is possible – a world where all beings are valued equally, where the Earth is revered and protected and where the awesome potential of humanity can unite to bring about true peace and harmony. Are you inspired by this vision? We call upon all people who are tired of passively waiting for things to change – to join us and Be The Change!

COMMUNICATE
We live in a time of great insecurity where humanity is faced with many grave threats. From climate change to political instability, from species extinction to poverty and warfare, it seems humanity is in great crisis. But crisis means not only danger, but also opportunity. Humanity is at a crossroads; our future depends on how we deal with four trends, each enmeshed and interconnected with the others: do we choose war or nonviolence, poverty or equity, environmental degradation or sustainability, discrimination or human rights? The choice is ours. These problems are all interrelated, but so are the solutions!

INSPIRE
We envision a future illuminated by the truth of unity, a future where any boundary can be taken down because it only has to first come down in our hearts. This vision is a cause for celebration because many millions of people are following it already; soon this alliance of people working for a new humanity will guide a great evolutionary leap for all and provide the basis for sustainable solutions to humanity's greatest threats.

SUPPORT
Our pledge to you is that we will help to support all those initiatives worldwide that are really making a difference. Through our website, our newsletter and our Human Forums, we will provide the space for real change to happen, for people to come together to make a difference, and to share their passion about creating a better world for all beings.

http://www.anhglobal.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

Peace,

Molly

The Shift Movie

Special thanks to my friends who have shared with me about this new documentary film, which is still in process of being completed. Please go here to view the trailer for The Shift: A Movie Being Made By a Movement: http://www.theshiftmovie.com/

This review of The Shift is taken from the Tree Hugger website at http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/08/the_shift_movie.php:
It seems there’s no shortage of environmental movies coming out these days, either chronicling the dire situation we find ourselves in, or mapping out things we can do about it. We’ve seen Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth winning an Oscar, we’ve read Olivia’s rave review of Leonardo Dicaprio’s new 11th Hour documentary, and of course Who Killed the Electric Car? continues to kick up debate, controversy and conspiracy theories wherever it is viewed. Is there room, then, for one more? The makers of The Shift certainly think so, and they are asking for your help to get it made... Essentially, like Paul Hawken’s recent book Blessed Unrest, The Shift proposes the notion that we are living through the birth of the largest political movement in human history, which seems a pretty easy argument to accept from where we are standing. Whether you accept the film's secondary argument, that this movement is part of a necessary evolution of humankind, will depend on your personal philosophical biases. Either way, the makers of the movie make a passionate, compelling, and ultiamtely hopeful case for engaging in change: “A massive worldwide phenomenon is in progress, offering seeds of great hope for the future. Millions of individuals, organizations and corporations around the world are waking up and embracing a new outlook with an emphasis on their responsibility to contribute positively to our collective future. We are in the middle of the biggest social transformation in human history, The SHIFT. At this critical point, it is imperative we make the masses aware of this global movement quickly. This evolutionary phenomenon is broader and deeper than the most visible SHIFT, the environmental movement. It involves our very understanding of who we are as human beings, and our responsibility to the world and to life itself.”... The trailer for the movie already features an impressive list of activists, political leaders and thinkers, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Al Gore. Unfortunately, there is one hitch, the film is not yet finished. Anyone wanting to donate to the project can do so via this link.::The Shift Movie.

This review was taken from the Daily Green website at http://www.greendaily.com/2008/02/03/the-shift-a-movie-and-a-movement/:
The Shift, a documentary film about what the filmmakers refer to as "the biggest social transformation in human history" and a "shift in our collective consciousness" is gaining press, not only for its empowering, enlightening message, but for its unique format.The film's message seems to be the recent initiatives by celebrities and world leaders to acknowledge our world's problems and make significant moves to alleviate global strife - be it economic, environmental, social, or otherwise. While the film is not entirely based on environmental awareness, these issues do play a large part of the overall message of combining our collective energies to create a global movement. The film's trailer appears above, and you can sign up on the website to receive the newsletter for updates on the project. At the film's end, the viewer is prompted to "finish the film" by donating, sharing, and participating in the movement (though how exactly one should do so isn't explicitly stated). Though the project is a work in progress - some parts of the website are unfinished, and the mission statement comes across as extremely conceptual for a movement that is encouraging people to take real action - it will be interesting to see how the project progresses and where it ultimately leads.

Alliance For a New Humanity also has the movie trailer on their website: http://www.anhglobal.org/index.php?Itemid=49&id=142&option=com_content&task=view. This website and the film share obvious values, intentions, goals, which I also share: "The Alliance recognizes at the core of its vision the unity of all life, and a wholehearted adherence to the noblest aspirations of humankind, as proclaimed in all spiritual and humanist traditions that call for compassion and the celebration of life. The values and principles of the emerging movement for a new humanity, and of the Alliance, which is trying to serve it, are based upon the support of policies, causes and actions that favor respect for life, human dignity, freedom, ecological sustainability and peace... The basic tenet of the Alliance is a consciousness based on the inseparability of all life, i.e., that everything is connected and that therefore our well being is the well-being of everyone. This consciousness we believe cannot be just passive, otherwise it would remain irrelevant, it has to be expressed for the benefit of all through service that improves life for all mankind." http://www.anhglobal.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=32

Peace & blessings,

Molly

Howard Zinn: The US Is In Need of a Rebellion & Other Interviews

Interviews With "National Treasure" Howard Zinn

I found this to be a powerful interview with Howard Zinn, the author, American historian, social critic and activist, about how the Iraq war damaged attitudes towards the US and why the US "empire" is close to collapse: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/09/09-0

This is also a wonderful video interview with Howard Zinn:

http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/videos.html?id=867911317

Four other recent radio interviews found on Howard Zinn's website:

"Here and Now" (WBUR Boston)

August 5, 2008
Historian and social activist Howard Zinn is out with a new graphic-style book, A People's History of American Empire. We speak to Zinn about his experiences as a young soldier in World War II and about today's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://www.here-now.org/shows/2008/08/20080805_5.asp

Rob Kall Radio Show (WNJC Philadelphia)

August 20, 2008
Howard Zinn is a national treasure whose approach to history should be taught in every school in America. If you don't know his work, be sure to tune in or download the interview later. http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=8723

Uprising Radio

August 22, 2008
Howard Zinn on Obama, McCain, and the State of American Politics

http://uprisingradio.org/home/?p=3020

Free Speech Radio News

August 22, 2008
As Democratic convention protestors put the finishing touches on their protest plans, debate over the relevance of the protests exists among the left. Pacifica's Verna Avery Brown spoke with historian Howard Zinn and Labor Activist Bill Fletcher about protest tactics on her show What's At Stake. Professor Zinn encourages protest at the Democratic Convention.

http://www.fsrn.org/content/election-unspun-aug-22-dnc-protest-preview/3103

And and a forthcoming radio appearance: October 28: Howard Zinn lecturing on "Democracy Coming to the USA?" on David Barsamian's "Alternative Radio"

http://howardzinn.org/default/

Peace,

Molly

“Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people,can transform the world.”

~ Howard Zinn

Important Facts To Know and Share About John McCain

It was difficult for me to watch tonight's debate and see John McCain tell blatant lies repeatedly. It was also difficult to watch what sometimes appears to me as too much restraint on the part of Barack Obama. Then again, this kind of mindfulness, integrity, maturity, and restraint is but one of many important qualities that I look for in a leader and certainly in a presidential candidate. I also did not agree with all of Obama's stated positions, but am hopeful that progressive pressure welling up from an increasingly informed, inspired, empowered citizenry will push a shift in President Obama toward truly implementing policies across a wide spectrum which are rooted in the highest values and the greatest good for all -- for all Americans and for all life on Earth. But Obama isn't yet our President and I am about to send another financial contribution to him. Because McCain voted 90% of the time with Bush, it is simply incomprehensible that we Americans will not vote to demand change. And because I am so aware of what is at stake, including a planet which cannot endure more of the same, I am moved tonight to shed light on and take a stand for truth and publish some new facts on McCain + reprint much of a post that I did on 5/13/08 on "Looking Deeper into John McCain". Being informed is so important!

McCain Keating Five:

"One Crook Went To Prison, The Other Is Running For President" - http://mccainkeatingfive.com/

Five Videos:

1. The Real McCain 2: Watch as McCain's YouTube problem became his nightmare in the video that received over 4 million views. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c
2. Less Jobs. More Wars: What is this 'Iraq war' charge on my bill? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh-T2iGkLJY
3. John McCain vs. John McCain: Tell McCain to get off the Double Talk Express. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioy90nF2anI
4. McCain's Spiritual Guide: The video that caused McCain to renounce Rev. Rod Parsley's bigoted endorsement. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXZbIGJrDkg
5. Why Won't McCain Sign the GI Bill? Presenting the most blatant hypocrisy of the McCain campaign. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK_9sI7hzAc

This is from my post of 5/13/08, but still very relevant:

In listening to Mr. McCain and doing a lot of research about this candidate, I have learned a great deal that I had been previously ignorant about. For me, it is not helpful to just look at labels - right/left, conservative/progressive, etc. - for those can distract from facts. And what is concerning for me about John McCain are very specific facts related to issues -- such as his votes for torture, his being last of the Congressional list regarding the environment, his views on war/occupation as reflected in his comments on being in Iraq for 100 years and singing about bombing Iran, his votes and open endorsement of the failed - and often criminal - policies of the Bush administration, and - very importantly - his close alignment with the corporate powers that have stolen the American government from we the people. I also had no idea that the Children's Defense Fund rated Mr. McCain as the "worst senator in Congress for children".

Here are a few of many resources that can shed significant light on this candidate:
The Buying of the President 2008 - John McCain: http://www.buyingofthepresident.org/index.php/the_candidates/john_mccain/
Excellent Article in The Nation: http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20080324&s=dreyfuss
McCain's Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/81342/
McCain Laughs, Sings "Bomb Iran": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAzBxFaio1I
McCain Votes Against Torture Ban: http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/20080214_mccain_votes_against_torture_ban/
McCain Draws Criticism For Torture Vote: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/17/7110/
The Other Side of the McCain Lobbyist Scandal: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/05/7492/ McCain Under Fire Over Environment Record: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/27/7934/
The American Tragedy of John McCain: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040607J.shtml
Going Against Campaign Finance Reform: http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/24/the-john-mccain-campaign-finance-concern-troll-quote-award-goes-to/
CLICK HERE to view Senator John McCain's record on veteran's benefits
Reflections & facts from someone who previously had been a big fan of John McCain: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/what-john-mccain-told-me_b_100183.html
For information on all presidential candidates from the Center For Public Integrity, please go here: http://www.buyingofthepresident.org/index.php/the_candidates/

Here is a list of "10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don't)":
1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.
2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."
3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.
4. McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."
5. The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.
6. He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.
7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."
8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.
9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult."
10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.
For the full article, please go here: http://truth-about-mccain.blogspot.com/2008/04/move-ons-ten-things-to-know-about.html

While the corporate media is often busy focusing on a plethora of distractions, minutia, gossip, lies, and what whites want, and all the while stirring up and preying on fears and prejudices, many of the deeper issues affecting us all are not coming to light for far too many Americans. How many who can vote know Mr. McCain's stand on torture, his overwhelming ties with corporate interests, his bottom of the barrel score card on children and the environment, his votes in opposition to veterans needs, his aligning with Bush 90% of the time, his ties to lobbists and Karl Rove & Co., the Keating Five!, his pro-war/occupation stand which utterly mirrors that of Bush & Co., etc., etc.? The corporate media certainly works overtime to ensure our remaining distracted and in the dark. How many Americans - out of a combination of ignorance and apathy - will not even choose to vote? Yet - what is the true definition of patriotism? Thomas Jefferson, Bill Moyers, and many other visionaries have affirmed that democracy cannot exist without an informed citizenry. So perhaps part of what is asked of each of us in these times is that we assume increasing responsibility to inform ourselves, to shine our own light upon critical issues, and then to help one another know what is truly happening which impacts, not only the welfare of a few, but ultimately the welfare of us all.

I hope you will consider sharing some or all of this post or these resources with others. In my opinion, these are times in which voices who speak the truth are so urgently needed. As Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, "A time comes when silence is betrayal." Tag, you're it...

Peace & blessings ~ Molly


"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary

depends upon his not understanding it." ~ Upton Sinclair

Important Christian Website For All

May this information inspire us all, regardless of whatever path we may be on, to take the high road and to reach out to encourage others along the way to join us... Peace & blessings ~ Molly

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Matthew 25 Network*

"I tell you the truth, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me." ~ Matthew 25:40

"Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are all of the same body." ~ Ephesians 4:25

Christians across the country are answering the Gospel call to care for our neighbor, especially the most vulnerable, in a thousand constructive ways.

We are building hospitals and clinics, feeding the hungry, conserving energy, caring for AIDS orphans, working to free sex slaves, mentoring children, encouraging racial reconciliation, and so much more. But again and again people on the front lines realize that one bad policy can undo a hundred good initiatives.

That is why it is so important to pay attention to our nation’s policies and priorities, and to get involved in the political process to elect the leaders whose decisions affect our nation and our world.

Mission Statement

The Matthew 25 Network is a community of Christians – Catholic, Protestant, Pentecostal, and Evangelical – inspired by the Gospel mandate to put our faith into action to care for our neighbor, especially the most vulnerable.

The election of our public officials, and the politics they stand for, are a reflection of our core values. We believe that those elected to public office carry an important trust, as their decisions have a profound impact on our nation and our world.

We believe that people of faith should actively participate in the political process as an important avenue for social change. We are called by our faith to engage in the world as it is, while we seek after and hope for God’s Kingdom.

Therefore, while no elected official will be without flaw, we come together as individuals to support candidates for public office who share the values of the Matthew 25 Network: promoting life with dignity, caring for the least of these, strengthening and supporting families, stewardship of God’s Creation, working for peace and justice at home and abroad, and promoting the common good.

For more, please go here: http://www.matthew25.org/about.htm

Put Away Falsehood

You've heard the rumors.

"Barack Obama is not a Christian." "Barack Obama supports infanticide." "Barack Obama was sworn in on the Koran." You might have heard them from friends, family, neighbors, others at your church. You might have gotten them in your email inbox. You might have heard them on your local Christian radio station, or seen them in your town's newspaper. You know they're not true, but you've never been quite sure enough to speak up.

This website is for you.

Scripture tells us, even when we disagree, to “clothe [our]selves with humility toward one another” (1 Pet. 5:5) and to “put away falsehood” (Eph. 4:25). This page is our best attempt to respond to the distortions and misleading information being circulated within our community about Senator Obama. We're providing it as a resource for you to answer people who are spreading falsehood - because when Christians spread falsehood, the world sees us and our witness is weakened.

We need to seek the higher ground - honest, open discussion about where the candidates stand and what they believe, no matter who we support politically.

If you would like to be alerted when there is new information posted on this page, please sign up here.

The Falsehoods:

You've heard the falsehoods... now learn the facts!

"Sen. Obama supports infanticide."

"Sen. Obama supports partial-birth abortion."

"Sen. Obama is an abortion 'extremist' who will do nothing to counter the number of abortions in this country."

"Sen. Obama will raise your taxes."

"Sen. Obama supports a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq."

"Sen. Obama supports gay marriage."

"Sen. Obama supports unrestricted free-trade."

"Sen. Obama was sworn in on the Koran."

"Sen. Obama is a Muslim and went to a Madrassa."

"Sen. Obama stated, 'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.'"

For more information, please go here: http://www.matthew25.org/paf/index.htm

*I credit Thom Hartmann - a Christian whose actions demonstrate the true loving and compassionate nature of Christianity - with great appreciation for sharing this important website.

For the Next 7 Generations: A Documentary Film in Process

Warmest Greetings

In the midst of so many challenges facing us here on our Earth Mother, I find it helps me to maintain a more balanced, inspired, and hopeful perspective each and every time I encounter the incredible diversity of powerful and caring individual and collective actions which are being taken by wise and courageous people worldwide. One such amazing group of people are the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers. I love the Grandmothers and have their framed photographs up in both my home and at work.

The Council of Grandmother's website is: http://www.grandmotherscouncil.com/.

I had the honor of meeting Agnes Baker Pilgrim, the oldest living member of the Siletz Indian Tribe here in the Oregon and the chairwoman of the Council, two years ago at a Natural Way event, which was sponsored by Earth & Spirit Council. It was an amazing night! And it was at this event that I first was able to also preview a trailer for the documentary film being made about the Grandmothers and their work in the world called For the Next 7 Generations.

For the Next 7 Generations is well on its way to becoming a full-length documentary for initial theatrical release. The movie tells the story of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers from around the globe - the Arctic Circle, North, Central and South America, Asia and Africa - who have come together because they were told in prophecy that their ancestral ways of prayer, peace-making and healing are vitally needed in the world today.

They were also told that they must speak in one united voice to awaken the people of the world to the catastrophic consequences we face if we don’t change the way we relate to each other and our Mother Earth. Accomplished shamans and medicine women, their prayers create a powerful vision of a sacred way of life in which we can all participate.

We began filming the Grandmothers in 2004 as they met for the first time at the Menla Mountain Retreat in Phoenicia, New York. While there, they discovered they had a common mission and formed a global alliance to carry it out. As the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, they planned to gather every six months at the homeplace of one of their members, to work their communal magic.

Our cameras have accompanied them, as they’ve become a strong presence on the world stage. We were with them in Pojoaque, New Mexico, current home of Mayan Grandmother Flordemayo; in the Brazilian Rainforest where Grandmothers Clara Shinobu Iura and Maria Alice Campos Freire live; in the mountaintop village of Huautla de Jimenez, Mexico, home of Julieta Casimiro; and in the Black Hills of South Dakota to gather with Lakota Grandmothers Rita and Beatrice Long Visitor Holy Dance.

In October, 2006, we filmed them in Dharamsala, India, the second home of our Tibetan Grandmother, Tsering Dolma Gyaltong, where they were welcomed and embraced in an extraordinary meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Wherever the Grandmothers go, they nurture people and open their hearts. For the Next 7 Generations: the Grandmothers Speak will bring the Grandmothers to the places in the world where they can’t be in person. Their presence on screen is as alive and powerful and authentic as they are. Being with them on film, we don’t just hear their prayers and watch their ceremonies ... we experience them. The Grandmothers transport us into their spiritual realm. From there, we can see, not how bad the world has become, but how beautiful it can be if we find the will to make it so. The Grandmothers will light the way...

For the documentary website, please go here: http://www.forthenext7generations.com/.

Please go here to view the trailer: http://www.forthenext7generations.com/view_media.html

For other videos, please go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKGXpK8LXR4 or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URoujimXIyI

All My Relations ~

Molly


“When we can heal ourselves, we also heal our ancestors, our grandmothers, our grandfathers and our children. When we heal ourselves, we heal Mother Earth.”
- Rita Pitka Blumenstein

Yup’ik Great Grandmother

Veterans Occupy National Archives Building

Inspired Greetings

Please go here for the September 23, 2008 moving account and video of veterans taking action in the name of justice and defending the Constitution of the United States: http://www.veteransforpeace.org/. What an important demonstration that a soldier does not have to bare arms or participate in violence toward others to take a courageous stand in protection of our country. Talk about integrity, truth, courage...

Peace,

Molly

Veterans Day Event With Michael Meade and Veterans of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

Please note that this is the first notice I am doing about the next veterans event. Please spread the word about this event, please come, please support our veterans. And for both those in this local area and those who are not, please visit the Mosaic website: http://www.mosaicvoices.org/. Thank you. Many blessings ~ Molly

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A Welcome Home Ceremony
November 11th, 2008 ~ 6 PM
First Unitarian Church
1011 SW 12th Ave Portland, OR

~ Everyone Welcome ~

Join veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and their families in a Veterans Day gathering that brings together veterans and the community to help heal the distance between the warriors and those they protect and bridge the gaps between war and peace, trauma and renewal, pain and understanding. This event involves a community conversation that moves beyond the politics and goes deeper than the rhetoric of war; it requires courage and is too-often avoided. It begins with tragedy and loss, the aftermath of any war, and requires the language of poetry and story as well as the dignity of ceremony.

Join author Michael Meade, veterans, and their families for an evening of poetry, stories, and cogent commentary on the realities of war and the difficulties found upon return. Healing only happens where and when the burdens of war can be shared by the greater community. A public gathering allows citizens to become compassionate witnesses to the stories of war and the need for conscious and genuine acts of witnessing and welcoming. As one of the veterans put it in a poem: "Can we create a village as strong as a war?"

A Welcome Home Ceremony and Voices of Veterans will draw upon intensive work with veterans that begins in a five day retreat that focuses upon healing from the effects of combat and dealing with the post-traumatic stresses that follow exposure to modern warfare. The retreat will be facilitated by author Michael Meade, a Vietnam era veteran, noted mythologist, author, and storyteller, along with experts in the field of trauma recovery.

The suffering and sacrifice of veterans must be acknowledged at a genuine human level just as quality medical treatments must reflect the nature of physical wounds. A genuine rite of return for veterans involves an open and compassionate community that fully acknowledges the courage and the wounds of those who return from battle as well as fully grieves those whose lives ended in the unforgiving fields of war. Excerpted from Michael Meade's introduction to the new book of poems by veterans and their families: Voices of Vets, A Bridge Back to the World.

Make a Donation

Read Poems from Participating Veterans

Order Voices of Vets Book

Important Websites For Voters

My partner just informed me of a website which he heard about this morning on Thom Hartmann's national radio program. It's called Can I Vote? This website "is maintained by the National Association of Secretaries of State, the nation's oldest, nonpartisan professional association for public officials... Our members are the chief state election officials in 39 states. This nonpartisan website was created by state election officials to help eligible voters..." This is especially important and empowering to know about now after the very frightening sabotage of the American vote in both of the last two presidential elections, not to mention other elections, too. Please go here for more information: http://www.canivote.org/.

One additional website where you can "Check Your Registration and Polling Place... Don't take a chance on losing your vote in November" is Voters Unite: http://www.votersunite.org/info/RegInfo.asp.

Please also consider sharing this with others. Thank you! Together, we can make a difference! :-)

Peace,

Molly

Ravi Batra: Critical Reading For These Economic Times

Warmest Greetings

Recently I heard Thom Hartmann (http://www.thomhartmann.com/) say that reading Ravi Batra is critical to anyone who wishes to be "economically literate". And it is through Thom Hartmann's interviews that I first became acquainted with Dr. Ravi Batra. I was so moved in listening to this man that I checked out his website (http://www.ravibatra.com/) and soon plan to read his most recent book, which my partner Ken is now reading. I am deeply humbled by how little I knew and deeply grateful for how much I am learning now.

What is happening today is not a surprise to many. Ravi Batra, among others, has been predicting the collapse of our economy as we've known it for some time. And unlike George Bush's speech tonight, which shed no light on the facts of what is truly going on and what led America to this precipice, Dr. Batra speaks in depth and with great knowledge and wisdom about the economy and more. His predictions have also been well documented as having a high degree of accuracy over the past several decades. This is truly a brilliant man. And a man with integrity, courage, caring, and uncompromising values. Another world is coming...

About Dr. Batra:
Dr. Ravi Batra, a professor of economics at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, is the author of five international best sellers. He was the chairperson of his department from 1977 to 1980. In October 1978, because of dozens of publications in top journals such as the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, Econometrica, Journal of Economic Theory, Review of Economic Studies, among others, Batra was ranked third in a group of “superstar economists,” selected from all the American and Canadian universities by an article in the learned journal, Economic Enquiry. In 1990, the Italian prime minister awarded him a Medal of the Italian Senate for writing a book that correctly predicted the downfall of Soviet communism, fifteen years before it happened.

Dr. Batra has been written up in major newspapers and magazines, such as the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Time, Newsweek, the U.S. News and World Report, and appeared on all major networks including CBS, NBC, CNN, ABC, CNBC, among others. Batra’s latest book is: The New Golden Age: The Coming Revolution against Political Corruption and Economic Chaos.

For an excellent and valuable interview which Thom Hartmann just had with Ravi Batra on September 19, 2008, please go here: http://airamerica.com/content/thom-and-economist-ravi-batra.

Best wishes to all through these challenging times.

May we all remember beauty and to care for one another and ourselves.

We are all connected.

Peace & blessings,

Molly

"If we begin to get in touch with whatever we feel with some kind of kindness, our protective shells will melt, and we'll find that more areas of our lives are workable."
Pema Chodron from her book When Things Fall Apart

Battle Plan II: Powerful Article by Naomi Wolf

The Battle Plan II: Sarah "Evita" Palin, the Muse of the Coming Police State

by Naomi Wolf

Please understand what you are looking at when you look at Sarah "Evita" Palin. You are looking at the designated muse of the coming American police state.

You have to understand how things work in a closing society in order to understand "Palin Power." A gang or cabal seizes power, usually with an affable, weak figurehead at the fore. Then they will hold elections -- but they will make sure that the election will be corrupted and that the next affable, weak figurehead is entirely in their control. Remember, Russia has Presidents; Russia holds elections. Dictators and gangs of thugs all over the world hold elections. It means nothing. When a cabal has seized power you can have elections and even presidents, but you have freedom.

I realized early on with horror what I was seeing in Governor Palin: the continuation of the Rove-Cheney cabal, but this time without restraints. I heard her echo Bush 2000 soundbites ("the heart of America is on display") and realized Bush's speechwriters were writing her -- not McCain's -- speeches. I heard her tell George Bush's lies -- not McCain's -- to the American people, linking 9/11 to Iraq. I heard her make fun of Barack Obama for wanting to prevent the torture of prisoners -- this is Rove-Cheney's enthusiastic S and M, not McCain's, who, though he shamefully colluded in the 2006 Military Tribunals Act, is also a former prisoner of war and wrote an eloquent Newsweek piece in 2005 opposing torture. I saw that she was even styled by the same skillful stylist (neutral lipstick, matte makeup, dark colors) who turned Katharine Harris from a mall rat into a stateswoman and who styles all the women in the Bush orbit --but who does not bother to style Cindy McCain.

Then I saw and heard more. Palin is embracing lawlessness in defying Alaskan Legislature subpoenas --this is what Rove-Cheney, and not McCain, believe in doing. She uses mafia tactics against critics, like the police commissioner who was railroaded for opposing handguns in Alaskan battered women's shelters -- Rove's style, not McCain's. I realized what I was seeing.

For more, please go here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/the-battle-plan-ii-sarah_b_128393.html

Personal Perspectives On Wolves and Women

On Wild Woman,

Wounds and Wolves, and Beauty and Blessing

As soon as I heard that she endorsed aerial shooting of wolves, I knew. I did not need to read articles like this one: http://www.salon.com/env/feature/2008/09/08/sarah_palin_wolves/ to understand, to discern, to know. I did not need to read all the facts which have emerged regarding Sarah Palin's history or her current stand on other issues.

It was similar to when I learned of John McCain's vote for torture(http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/17/7110/) or when I heard McCain sing "Bomb Iran" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-zoPgv_nYg). I knew then, too. And perhaps I knew even more deeply that Sarah Palin, like John McCain, is a deeply wounded human being because of the wounds which I have faced, healed, transformed within myself. I know what it is like to live with a broken heart, a heart weighed down with unacknowledged, unresolved, unhealed trauma, loss, shame, rage, grief, and fear. I know what it is like to be instinct injured, to see through distorted eyes, and to cause harm to myself and others. And through this knowing, I can understand how it is that Sarah Palin can live in such a Wild Place and yet endorse the killing of wolves and the plundering of the environment. I can clearly see the paradoxes, the contradictions, the hypocrisy, and the vulnerability thinly veiled behind the "values" and the tough exterior she presents and the stated and not stated positions she represents within herself and in our nation and the world.

Because of my work of healing, awakening, and gradually becoming more conscious, I can recognize more easily today both the deep injuries and wounds and the authentic strength, beauty, and sacredness in others. I can sense when a heart is open or when it is closed down because I know what it is like to live with both myself. This journey of opening my heart ever more deeply is on-going and will continue throughout this lifetime and beyond...

As a result of my own journey, it didn't take much for me to recognize the wounds, the injured instincts, the compromised truths, the arrogance shielding shame, the lack of substance hiding behind the surface veneer in both Sarah Palin and John McCain. In Sarah Palin I could see the paradox of a woman who comes from such wondrous Wild Land and yet who has surrendered her own Wild Nature to the forces that would have her tame, restrained, under control, and UNwild. And I know how dangerous a woman is who is cut off from her deeper knowing and her true instincts and power. I can recognize a captive woman. For I have been there myself.

So it struck me when I heard that Sarah Palin "is an enthusiastic hunter who has proposed legislation and cash incentives to encourage aerial wolf gunning" (http://www.slate.com/id/2199140/). When I heard this, what I felt was this deep pain in my heart. And, without knowing her, I knew her just the same. I knew that Sarah Palin, like the man who chose her to be his running mate, was a deeply wounded human being. I knew that this woman was not a healthy woman. And an unhealthy woman is not able to be an advocate for other women, for children, for the planet. Again, I know this not just in my mind or in the logical ways of knowing, but rather in my deepest being because this has been my personal experience. I understand when a heart is open, strong, and healthy and when it is not.

I am deeply respectful of the many paths which can lead to greater consciousness and a greater opening of one's heart and connection to one's soul. As Matthew Fox states, there is one River but many wells. For me, and several years into my healing journey, wolves began to appear. They were emerging in my clothing and jewelry, in the photographs and paintings on my walls, in figures and sculptures around my home. I went to Wolf Haven outside Olympia, Washington and howled with real wolves. I did not initially know why it was that I was drawn to wolves. And I did not need to know. I surrendered into the deep mystery of what I was drawn to.

Then I finally purchased the book a friend had been recommending to me for a year -- Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. And I couldn't put it down. I actually read it back to back. Twice. I drank it in. Deeply. I was given a deeper understanding of what in many ways cannot be described in words. That is the magic, the mystery, the power, and the soulfulness behind the great storytellers and what it is that they bring forward from the depths of timelessness and beyond. Through this process, I was forever and profoundly changed.

While there is much that is circulating that is of importance regarding the issues, character, and judgment of all those who are running for the highest offices in this country, for me it is important to not leave off my own small contributions to the on-going conversations. And in doing so, it comes to me strongly at this time to share the powerful voice, courage, wisdom, beauty, heart and soul of one of my mentors, Clarissa Pinkola Estes. Not many have spoken more clearly about wounds and wolves, beauty and blessing, and the Wild Woman who has embraced her injuries and awakened to her true power and her true knowing.

I will always be eternally grateful to Clarissa Pinkola Estes and Women Who Run With the Wolves. I leave you with this glimpse of what has personally held such meaning for me and what has been so helpful in a deeply soulful way on my journey in this lifetime...


Wildlife and Wild Woman are both endangered.

Over time, we have seen the feminine instinctive nature looted, driven back, and overbuilt. For long periods it has been mismanaged like the wildlife and the wildlands. For several thousand years, as soon and as often as we turn our backs, it is relegated to the poorest land in the psyche. The spiritual lands of Wild Woman have, throughout history, been plundered or burnt, dens bulldozed, and natural cycles forced into unnatural rhythms to please others.

It is not by accident that the pristine wilderness of our planet disappears as the understanding of our own inner wild nature fades. It is not so difficult to comprehend why old forests and old women are viewed as not very important resources. It is not such a mystery. It is not so coincidental that wolves and coyotes, bears and wildish women have similar reputations. They all share related instinctual archetypes, and as such, both are erroneously reputed to be ingracious, wholly and innately dangerous, and ravenous...

The studies of wolves Canis lupus and Canis rufus are like the history of women, regarding both their spiritedness and their travails.

Healthy wolves and healthy women share certain psychic characteristics: keen sensing, playful spirit, and a heightened capacity for devotion. Wolves and women are relational by nature, inquiring, possessed of great endurance and strength. They are deeply intuitive, intensely concerned with their young, their mate and their pack. They are experienced in adapting to constantly changing circumstances; they are fiercely stalwart and very brave.

Yet both have been hounded, harassed, and falsely imputed to be devouring and devious, overly aggressive, of less value than those who are their detractors. They have been targets of those who would clean up the wilds as well as the wildish environs of the psyche, extincting the instinctual, and leaving no trace of it behind. The predation of wolves and women by those who misunderstand them is strikingly similar...

When we lose touch with the instinctive psyche, we live in a semi-destroyed state and images and powers that are natural to the feminine are not allowed full development... A woman's issues of soul cannot be treated by carving her into a more acceptable form as defined by an unconscious culture...

The wild nature has a vast integrity to it. It means to establish territory, to find one's pack, to be in one's body with certainty and pride regardless of the body's gifts and limitations, to speak and act in one's behalf, to be aware, alert, to draw on the innate feminine powers of intuition and sensing, to come into one's cycles, to find what one belongs to, to rise with dignity, to retain as much consciousness as we can...

From the viewpoint of archetypal psychology as well as the storytelling tradition, Wild Woman is the female soul. Yet, she is more; she is the source of the feminine. She is all that is of instinct, of the worlds both seen and hidden -- she is the basis. We receive from her a glowing cell which contains all the instincts and knowing needed for our lives...

She is the Life/Death/Life force, she is the incubator. She is intuition, she is far-seer, she is deep listener, she is loyal heart.

She is the one who thunders after injustice.

She leaves footprints wherever there is one woman who is fertile soil.

With Wild Woman as ally, as leader, model, teacher, we see, not through two eyes, but through the eyes of intuition which is many-eyed. When we assert intuition, we are therefore like the starry night: we gaze at the world through a thousand eyes...

Howl often...

Molly

Senator Bernie Sanders: An Economy in Crisis

I subscribe to Senator Bernie Sanders' regular newsletter. The below article is one I just received today and I found it to be of great value, truth, and power. I have the utmost gratitude and respect for Senator Sanders. He is among the few in Congress who I deeply trust. It is one thing to talk spiritual values and can be quite another to walk the talk. It is, therefore, quite heartening to be witness to those in positions of power whose words and actions are authentic and truly aligned with integrity, courage, wisdom, truth, compassion, and fierce caring for all. Senator Bernie Sanders is among those who unmistakably walks his talk. And I am grateful.

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An Economy in Crisis - 09/18/2008

Amid one of the worst financial crises in American history, Senator Bernie Sanders laid out a four-part plan to cope with the collapse of financial institutions and avoid future failures of businesses “too big to fail.” First, Sanders proposed a surtax on the very wealthy to pay for bailouts of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and American International Group. “The wealthiest 400 families in America saw an increase in their wealth of $670 billion since President Bush has been in office. They have seen extraordinary benefits under Bush’s reckless economic policies. The middle class, whose standard of living has declined, should not be paying for these bailouts. Rather, we need an emergency surtax on those at the very top in order to pay for any losses the federal government suffers as a result of necessary efforts to shore up the economy,” Sanders said. Second, he called for stronger oversight of financial institutions and an end to President Bush’s deregulation policies. Third, huge businesses like Bank of America, which is swallowing up other large corporations, should be broken up so no company in the future could bring the American economy down with it. Said Sanders, “This country can no longer afford companies that are ‘too big to fail.’ Fourth, he called for an immediate economic stimulus package which would put people back to work rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and moving us to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. -- READ MORE

Issue September 18, 2008 - http://sanders.senate.gov

Winter Soldier Iraq and Afghanistan: Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupation

Heartfelt Greetings

I dedicate this post to the soldiers. I connect with them through love, prayers, support. For me, an essential part of supporting the troops is welcoming them home and attending to them. After an exceptionally powerful evening recently with Michael Meade and other veterans in which we all listened to the poetry they wrote and shared, I know even more deeply in my heart that to support the troops we must have the courage to listen and be witness to their stories, their poetry, their wounds, their courage, their need to be welcomed home in a substantive way and not simply with hollow words. May all grow in courage to support the troops, and whenever possible, to be the heart with ears that they need.

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Published on Wednesday, September 17, 2008 by Inter Press Service
Book Exposes Iraq Occupation Through US Soldiers' Eyes
"We Blew Her To Pieces"
by Dahr Jamail

MARFA, Texas - Aside from the Iraqi people, nobody knows what the U.S. military is doing in Iraq better than the soldiers themselves. A new book gives readers vivid and detailed accounts of the devastation the U.S. occupation has brought to Iraq, in the soldiers' own words.

"Winter Soldier Iraq and Afghanistan: Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupation," published by Haymarket Books Tuesday, is a gut-wrenching, historic chronicle of what the U.S. military has done to Iraq, as well as its own soldiers.

Authored by Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and journalist Aaron Glantz, the book is a reader for hearings that took place in Silver Spring, Maryland between Mar. 13-16, 2008 at the National Labour College.

"I remember one woman walking by," said Jason Washburn, a corporal in the U.S. Marines who served three tours in Iraq. "She was carrying a huge bag, and she looked like she was heading toward us, so we lit her up with the Mark 19, which is an automatic grenade launcher, and when the dust settled, we realised that the bag was full of groceries. She had been trying to bring us food and we blew her to pieces."

Washburn testified on a panel that discussed the rules of engagement in Iraq, and how lax they were, even to the point of being virtually non-existent.

"During the course of my three tours, the rules of engagement changed a lot," Washburn's testimony continues. "The higher the threat the more viciously we were permitted and expected to respond."

His emotionally charged testimony, like all of those in the book that covered panels addressing dehumanisation, civilian testimony, sexism in the military, veterans' health care, and the breakdown of the military, raised issues that were repeated again and again by other veterans.

For the full article, please go here: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/09/17-10.

Peace,

Molly

"They could have been heroes, but what they are doing here is even more heroic -- which is telling the truth," Glantz told IPS. "They didn't have to come forward. They chose to come forward."

Eve Ensler on Sarah Palin

Thank you to each of my sisters Barb, Wendy, Olivia, and Marilyn for sharing this powerful piece. There is good reason that I love and am so grateful for Eve Ensler...

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Eve Ensler, the American playwright, performer, feminist and activist best known for "The Vagina Monologues", wrote the following about Sarah Palin:

Drill, Drill, Drill

I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice.

Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.

I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.

But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.

I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity.

Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task from God."

Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not.

She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.

Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States . She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.

Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.

Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.

I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S. , but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction.

It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.

If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.

Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?

Eve Ensler

http://www.spectrumz.com/z/fair_use/2008/09_05.html