We Are the Leaders We Have Been Waiting For

I recently saw Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author Chris Hedges speak for a third time here in Portland. There are those rare investigative journalists in America who go far beneath the surface of things to expose hard, hard realities which take a great deal of courage to look at. Among those is the truth of how similar the political parties in America are. Yes, there are some differences. And it is also true that these differences do not impact the larger picture with desperately needed positive change. While Romney is so plastic and so dangerous, Obama is, in Chris' words, mediocre. And I will add also dangerous. Obama passed more legislation curtailing decent and whistleblowers than any president. He has stood against critically needed changes addressing climate change. And much more. Obama is aligned with Big Money, which has taken over our democracy. While there do exist some differences, neither party's leadership is working to address the changes needed to save us all. And as Chris Hedges and Bill McKibben and others speak of, if global warming is not addressed Now, it is game over. In Chris' latest book, "Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt", he writes, "Currently greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are at 390 parts per million and climbing, with most climate scientists warning that the level must remain below 350 ppm to sustain life as we know it. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that the measurement could reach 541 to 970 ppm by 2100. At that point, huge parts of the planet, beset with overpopulation, droughts, soil erosion, freak storms, massive crop failures, and rising sea levels, will be unfit for human existence. And yet we retreat into fantasy. The US Senate, in the summer of 2010, refused to take a vote on a watered-down and largely ineffectual climate bill. The House, in April 2011, voted 184 to 240 against legislation asserting that global warming was real." While we know that Romney is not going to save us, neither is Obama. We are the leaders we have been waiting for. Recently Chris Hedges joined Rev. Daniel Berrigan, age 92, and others in being arrested for acts of civil disobedience. They know that we are the leaders we have been waiting for. May more and more of us be inspired by their courage and deep, deep caring for us all.

The Journey 

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice --
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do --
determined to save
the only life you could save. 

~ Mary Oliver ~

(Dream Work)

 http://www.panhala.net/Archive/The_Journey.html

ADDICTION IN AMERICA

This is from my notes from a training I recently attended: In America, $10 million is spent an hour on alcohol; double that for pills. America contains 5% of the world's population, but consumes 25% of the world's resources. America also consumes over 50% of the world's illegal drugs, 60% of the world's prescription drugs, 95% of hydrocodone and 71% of oxycodone. We are a country in a world of pain. For all our wealth, we live in a land where there are extraordinary disparities and distortions, addictions and abuse, aggression and violence, and disconnection from one another and within our own hearts. My deep prayer is for healing and awakening. ♥

WHAT IS NEEDED

I appreciate all sharing which emerges from looking deeply, following the money, moving beyond polarities into larger pictures, expanding beyond one's comfort zone, exposing shadows and illuminating beauty and bravery, having the capacity and commitment to not believe everything one thinks, putting principals before personalities, discerning which resources have integrity and are to be trusted and which are not, and having the courage to know the facts and follow the truth wherever it may lead. In our country, which tops all other developed nations in toxic propaganda, truthtelling is desperately needed. Tag, we are all it!

 "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth is revolutionary." ~ George Orwell

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