What Kind of Society Do Americans Want?

By Lawrence Davidson, To the Point Analysis | News Analysis

"Health care in the U.S. has deteriorated in the first decade of the 21^st century. That was also reflected in a 2005 study by the World Health Organization that ranked the United States (supposedly the richest of nations) as 141^st in government spendingon health. Perhaps not unrelated, the U.S. ranks number 1 in the world when it comes toanxiety disorders.

"In terms of social conscience, the U.S. is still quite a primitive place. And this primitiveness is sustained by a philosophy of selfishness. Among other things, that prevailing philosophy is making an ever greater number of us unhealthy. Is this acceptable to most Americans? Is this the kind of society they want? The political practice since 1981 seems to answer, yes."

For the entire article, please go here: http://truth-out.org/news/item/9090-what-kind-of-society-do-americans-want

My Wish For Us All For 2012

My wish for each of us in 2012 is happiness -- an increasingly authentic, evolving, deepening happiness rooted in growing consciousness of compassion, love, beauty, joy, truth, caring, and our connection with all beings and all that is. My wish is also that we grow in our awareness of suffering - the suffering within ourselves and that of other beings - and that through this growing awareness we experience our courage, our circle of caring, and our capacity for compassion expand. I am aware that many of us as conservatives, as progressives, as human beings have grown disillusioned with President Obama, with there being no sense of any emerging Reagan or perceived wisdom in any potential leader of the Founding Fathers. Yet, perhaps in all this we are each being asked to become the leaders we have been waiting for. In the midst of national and global violence, poverty, and environmental destruction, I see more and more that our true enemies are not people, but rather are to be found in ideologies, hatred, and ignorance. May we each grow in the antidote to these poisons. May we grow in consciousness of the beauty of our true nature. This is my wish for us all in 2012. ♥

Long Ties to Koch Brothers Key to Cain's Campaign

It continues to be true that, in choosing to inform ourselves, there is an imperative to follow the money:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/16/1027000/-Koch-raising-Cain?via=search
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/extensive-ties-powerful-koch-group-boost-cain-14746710

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Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain has cast himself as the outsider, the pizza magnate with real-world experience who will bring fresh ideas to the nation's capital. But Cain's economic ideas, support and organization have close ties to two billionaire brothers who bankroll right-leaning causes through their group Americans for Prosperity. ~ Ryan J. Foley

Don't Think of a Pig: Why "Corporate Greed" Is the Wrong Frame

By Frances Moore Lappé and Anthony Lappé

As the Occupy Wall Street enters its fourth week, the meta-narrative around the rapidly spreading movement is beginning to take shape. From CNN to Fox News to many protestors themselves, one central slogan is sticking: corporate greed.

During an inspiring visit to Zoccutti Park, we saw abundant posters with slogans like "Another Mother Against Corporate Greed" to "Corporate Greed is the Vampire."

OWS has historic potential. It's already succeeding in raising questions typically buried by the mainstream media. We want it to gain power fast, but much will depend on how its core message gets framed. As linguist George Lakoff argued in his seminal book Don't Think of an Elephant, "frames" have enormous power.

Unfortunately, smashing "corporate greed" is not only limiting, but we fear it's bound to fail. The "we are virtuous, you are evil" message is admittedly, a great way to get people fired up. But does it get us where we need to go?

Recall, by contrast, the Civil Rights movement. Dr. King didn't rail against the racists; he demanded the end to laws that allowed racists to damage people. Going to great lengths not to demonize foes, he called on Americans to live up to our own ideals.

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frances-moore-lappe/wall-street-greed-_b_1007164.html

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So let's call the crisis what it is: the rise of privately held government.
It's happened in part because for decades Americans have been told, and too many got swept up in the fairy tale, that we have to turn over our fate to a force that works on its own without us: the market. It's "magic," Ronald Reagan assured us, is all we need.
Once we buy that notion, we're done for, for wealth accrues to wealth to wealth until we end up with a society that a 2005 Citigroup report famously dubbed a "Plutonomy," in which the top 1 percent control more wealth than the bottom 90 percent. And an America where inequality is now greater than in Pakistan or Egypt, according to the World Bank. ~ Frances Moore Lappé

10 Myths That Keep Us From Creating The World We Want

by Frances Moore Lappe

From "Diet for a Small Planet" exactly 40 years ago, it dawned on me that humans are actively creating the scarcity we say we are trying to escape. Whoa! Why would our bright species do such a thing? Researching my new book, "EcoMind, Changing the Way We Think to Create the World We Want" (Nation Books), I discovered that it is the power of ideas. I learned that neuroscientists are increasingly finding that while most of us think that "seeing is believing," that, no, for human beings "believing is seeing." Our core ideas about how the world works determine, literally, what we can see and what we can't. From this groundbreaking science, I argue that some of our most common assumptions are perversely aligned with nature, including human nature. They block us from seeing possibilities emerging all around us--the solutions in front of our noses. Here are 10 of those ideas and ways that an eco-mind--one that thinks in connectedness and continuous change--might rethink them. I welcome your response.

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frances-moore-lappe/world-myths_b_974239.html

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Myth #1: Renewable energy would take too long. Our economy is hurting now and we can't afford to wait.

Truth: ...Today, 95% of Costa Rica's electricity comes from renewable sources, and Germany is set to reach nearly 40% of its electricity from renewable in a decade. Then visualize what's still untapped: The sun's energy reaching earth over just five days is greater than all proven reserves of oil, coal, and natural gas.

Open Letter to that 53% Guy

by Max Udargo

Hello,

I briefly visited the “We are the 53%” website, but I first saw your face on a liberal blog. Your picture is quite popular on liberal blogs. I think it’s because of the expression on your face. I don’t know if you meant to look pugnacious or if we’re just projecting that on you, but I think that’s what gets our attention.

In the picture, you’re holding up a sheet of paper that says:

I am a former Marine.

I work two jobs.

I don’t have health insurance.

I worked 60-70 hours a week for 8 years to pay my way through college.

I haven’t had 4 consecutive days off in over 4 years.

But I don’t blame Wall Street.

Suck it up you whiners.

I am the 53%.

God bless the USA!

I wanted to respond to you as a liberal. Because, although I think you’ve made yourself clear and I think I understand you, you don’t seem to understand me at all. I hope you will read this and understand me better, and maybe understand the Occupy Wall Street movement better.

More: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/12/1025555/-Open-Letter-to-that-53-Guy

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"The commitment we’ve made to the working class since the 1940s is something that we should both support and be willing to fight for, whether we are liberal or conservative. We should both be willing to fight for the American Dream. And we should agree that anybody trying to steal that dream from us is to be resisted, not defended." ~ Max Udargo

Some thoughts on joy and sorrow...

When I had not begun to open to the grief in my own heart, when emotions - especially strong ones - scared me to death, I was incapable of sitting with yours. I have a lot of empathy today for what it is to live without having made friends with and embraced my own broken heart. As we grow older, it is my experience and belief that the cost of not being on a heart path only increases, showing up in illness, addictions, depression, broken relationships, etc. because our relationship with ourselves is broken. Many of us grew up in families who did not teach and support us in striving to be wholly who we are. And we certainly live in a grief phobic culture, one which tells us that something is wrong if we are in grief and we need to just have a drink, go shopping, turn on the TV, have sex, caretake someone else, get religion, exercise, work, or any host of other activities - some of which can be healthy - but which can also often take us outside of ourselves in the form of distracting us from that which most needs attending. I'm just so grateful to have been on a path for many years now of making friends with my own grief. And no longer being afraid of yours. Joy and sorrow are intertwined and both equally as necessary to being Alive...

Kahlil Gibran says it beautifully here: http://www.katsandogz.com/onjoy.html

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In the Aftermath of 9-11...

I have been learning to be more courageous, to look more deeply, to discern, to expand my circle of caring, to be more humble & more conscious. I am filled with greater gratitude for each day & greater consciousness of it's gifts. I am passionate about cultivating & nurturing love within myself such that the ripples I send out into this beautiful world will increasingly be kind, compassionate, loving. I hold my loved ones in my heart with even greater tenderness. How has 9-11 changed you? ♥

Bolivia Set to Pass Historic 'Law of Mother Earth' Which Will Grant Nature Equal Rights to Humans

by Keph Senett

With the cooperation of politicians and grassroots organizations, Bolivia is set to pass the Law of Mother Earth which will grant nature the same rights and protections as humans. The piece of legislation, called la Ley de Derechos de la Madre Tierra, is intended to encourage a radical shift in conservation attitudes and actions, to enforce new control measures on industry, and to reduce environmental destruction.

The law redefines natural resources as blessings and confers the same rights to nature as to human beings, including: the right to life and to exist; the right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration; the right to pure water and clean air; the right to balance; the right not to be polluted; and the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically altered. Perhaps the most controversial point is the right "to not be affected by mega-infrastructure and development projects that affect the balance of ecosystems and the local inhabitant communities".

In late 2005 Bolivia elected its first indigenous president, Evo Morales. Morales is an outspoken champion for environmental protection, petitioning for substantive change within his country and at the United Nations. Bolivia, one of South America's poorest countries, has long had to contend with the consequences of destructive industrial practices and climate change, but despite the best efforts of Morales and members of his administration, their concerns have largely been ignored at the UN.

More: http://www.pvpulse.com/en/news/world-news/bolivia-set-to-pass-historic-law-of-mother-earth-which-will-grant-nature-equal-rights-to-humans#.TmKtp_8Rnty.facebook

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Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca: "Our grandparents taught us that we belong to a big family of plants and animals. We believe that everything in the planet forms part of a big family. We indigenous people can contribute to solving the energy, climate, food and financial crises with our values." May we all follow this wisdom!

Hafiz: Wise Men Keep Talking About

WISE MEN KEEP TALKING ABOUT

Time is the shop

Where everyone works hard

To build enough love

To break the

Shackle.

Wise men keep talking about

Wanting to meet Her.

Women sometimes pronounce the word God

A little differently:

They can use more feeling and skill

With the heart-lute.

All the world's movements,

Apparent chaos, and suffering I now know happen

In the Splendid Unison:

Our tambourines are striking

The same thigh.

Hafiz stands

At a juncture in this poem.

There are a thousand new wheels I could craft

On a wagon

And place you in -

Lead you to a glimpse of the culture

And seasons in another dimension.

Yet again God

Will have to drop you back at the shop

Where you still have work

With

Love.

~ Hafiz ~


(The Gift -- versions of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky)


Web version: www.panhala.net/Archive/Wise_Men_Keep_Talking.html