Musings Revisited!!
This is the neo con tactic I don’t like. Actually, I don't like any of them, but this is one of the most offensive. I don’t like dissent being equated to being unpatriotic, whatever that is. I am not a zealot patriot. I don’t have a flag shirt, shorts, socks, hat or sticker. I don’t even have a “support our troops” magnet for my car because I became just a tad sickened by the fact that none of the money went to the troops or their families from the sale of those magnets. The money went to some guy who came up with the idea. Fine. Good idea. But to make money on the troops who are sacrificing everything and getting their salaries, their medical coverage, their safety net upon return home cut by this congress – boy, that to me stinks of anti-American sentiment.
It appears to me that when the “other side” is losing their grip on certain issues, the attack on character begins. Let’s look at the warrantless wiretapping. I have to smile when I write that because I know that once something has been in the news for a standard of time, even when it hasn’t been resolved or dealt with or acknowledged as a mistake or a problem, those on the “other side” start screaming about staying current and “old news”. Anyway, we recently found out that surveillance was being done 7 months prior to 9/11.
Hmmm.
Kind of blows that whole “post 9/11 era” mantra out of the water.
Then there is the scathing attack by bush regarding the NYT article about financial records being searched. “In times of war” this is a breach of security, irresponsible, aiding and abetting, blah blah blah.
And of course unpatriotic.
But let’s look at this for a moment.
Within the past week or two, there has been a lot written and reported about China’s clamping down on the media. They cannot report public health issues – such as SARS and bird flu – and they cannot make the public immediately aware of disasters – such as a riot, devastating storm damage, explosions – without government approval.
Why has this been so heavily reported?
Because we don’t like the idea.
Not at all.
We proudly exalt our amendments and within those amendments certain rights that every citizen is entitled to. We have the right to free speech. We have the right to congregate (albeit now under bushco down the street around the corner and behind a chain link fence if you should be protesting against anything for which they are for), we have all these wonderful rights.
But somehow, to me, all this has a certain cacophony. Kind of like someone singing flat.
Why is it wrong for the NYT to report on something that is happening that is clearly a breach of power? Who, exactly, is supposed to filter our information? The government? Well, if this is what some want, then I will ask them the same question in three years, when we have a democratic president and congress, and I will expect to hear the same thing. I will expect that this is a principal they hold dear ALWAYS, not just when bush jr. is in power. That’s the thing they are not seeing right now. With all this power that has been handed over to this incompetent fool, the next incompetent fool from the “other side” will have the same power. I cannot stand this holier than thou disinfectant that is sprayed in our face on a daily basis. I am classified by the “other side’ as godless, anti-American and a baby killer. Huh.
Yet they balk and feign deep distress when they are called names that are equally erroneous.
Who should be monitoring, filtering, “blacking out” the sensitive material from the “classified” documents? Those who know better than us? Those that sent us into a war that has claimed 2500 service people for whom they support and pray and send chain emails? Those that get rich while the thousands of service people who come home ripped to shreds find that they do not have all the benefits that they were told they had? The people that will not EVER allow the US to be energy independent because their hands are too far down the pants of those that supply the oil? The same people that with a nod and wink funnel our tax dollars into the hands of their buddies and themselves while people choose between putting gas in the car and groceries? The same people that bat down yet again an increase to minimum wage and agree whole-heartedly in a pay raise for themselves? The same people that demonize the immigrants coming into this country but use these people to care for their kids, their gardens, their cars, their home repairs?
These people?
We should trust these people?
This government is so locked down, so shrouded in secrecy that it would be easier to walk into the US Mint. The problem is, when things are kept from the light of day they have a tendency to deteriorate, to become rancid and eventually stink.
This administration and all its players stink.
There is not one word that comes out of bush, rumsfilled, chaney, rice and the rest of them that I believe.
There is the constant reference to the brave men fighting for our freedom. What a lot of regurgitated nonsense! Sure the men and women, the troops of our country are brave. There is not ONE American, regardless of what those on “the other side” say, that do not back the troops.
NOT ONE.
It’s the bs about fighting for our freedom that makes me sick.
Freedom ain’t free!
Oh for God’s sake! Shut up! Just shut up! These ridiculous one-liners are as tired and as old as they are in action movies. Give it a rest. It has been proven over and over and over again that we were not being threatened by Iraq. There was no connection. They switched reasons in midstream going from WMD to spreading democracy – literally overnight the mission changed. The kids fighting in Iraq are not fighting for our freedom. Our freedom has never been in jeopardy. It’s the same red scare tactic they did with communism. You cannot destroy an idea. That’s what we humans cannot seem to grasp. No matter how much you torture, demonize, maim, destroy, you cannot get rid of the spirit that lives in each of us. No matter how much bushco would like everyone to buy into this black and white, good and evil picture he has painted, it does not exist. What exists are people. People that ultimately want to live as all humans should live.
Free.
Free to be with whomever they choose to be with.
Free to have a child or not.
Free to practice whatever religion or philosophy they want.
Free access to clean water, quality education and basic food.
The war of terror is the guise in which everything is allowed.
Discrimination based on race, religion, culture, class, sexual orientation hairstyle, hair length, clothing. The list is endless.
National security? What a ruse! It’s like some lame b movie with all this bad behavior, scams, and political maneuvering under the all encompassing heading of National Security. We have become the land of the paranoid. With all this blathering on about securing our borders, congress is working on a super highway from Mexico to Canada. A ten lane highway right across America. LOL. Yeah! Build that fence, buddy, better yet, hire you some day laborers and build a wall. In the meantime, the vans driven by coyotes will take the expressway.
We are the most entertained, under informed people on the planet. We have no idea what the truth is because we are never given the truth. We are given versions of incidents based on partisanship. I listen to Democracy Now and Connect the Dots and NPR and Dahr Jamail because I believe that I am getting more fact than opinion. I am not completely naïve in thinking that the water is not tainted. I know that the news I listen to is coming from a liberal perspective, but it appeals to me because that is what I am. I know Moveon.org and Common Dreams are progressive and pitch to me as a progressive. Duh. I get that. But it all came to fruition when I was watching the entire debacle of the Los Angeles dispute over the urban farm. Every mainstream station insisted on referring to it as a “garden”.
A garden.
How innocuous! A little garden with daisies, daffodils maybe a pond with some frogs and water plants.
How very quaint. Dime a freakin’ dozen.
But only on the progressive stations did they refer to it as the largest urban farm in the country, run by over 300 farmers.
Not so much a dime anymore.
This is what I am talking about. It is the constant presentation of information that minimizes, belittles, denigrates, dismisses fact. It was not a GARDEN it was a FARM. It was supplying food to hundreds of people. Oh, but a warehouse is so much more necessary.
Exhale.
It is no wonder our country is so polarized. I have to say, I am tired of living here. I am tired of the redness of this place. I want to be around people that care about the environment, about the dependents in this world MORE than money. There’s this constant undercurrent of ugliness that comes from standing on top of the hill and looking down upon those below. They’re lazy. They use all the resources. They don’t learn the language. They care more about a spotted owl. They they they.
I am tired of feeling like it’s crazy to want to have clean air, water and land. I am pissed off because my very athletic son is now an asthmatic because we live close to power plants. There are proven clusters of asthma incidents in this area yet people blindly carry on.
He has asthma? Wow! Is that recent?
Yes.
Just like that? Is he allergic?
It’s funny how the first thing out of people’s mouths has something to do with nature – the ragweed, pollen, etc.
No. He’s not allergic. He’s an athlete that spends a lot of time outside. Unfortunately we live less than twenty miles from the most polluted city in America, in the most polluted state in America and there are power plants who’s EPA regulations have been loosened because, golly, it’s so darned cumbersome having to pay attention to emissions for crying out loud, they got a break! And now they can send all their filth and toxic crap into the air for my son and my family to breathe. So, actually, he might be allergic. To pollution.
It saddens me that we have an air quality section of the morning news with the weather and this time of year it is rarely good. The time of year when all the kids, all those fresh pink lungs are outside playing games, swimming, at the beach, in the rivers, in the parks inhaling the foulest air around.
And I’m the radical activist.
Give me a break.
The Christians have this thing about how in the bible it says the earth will burn up and we will all have this wonderful Eden like place….I cannot fathom this line of thinking. I look at the beauty of every single tree. The amazing intricacies of all the variations of flowers and plants and grass. God is so present in nature to me. He is present in animals. He is present in children. He gave us this amazing place and we are trashing it for a buck. How embarrassing. Seriously.
How embarrassing that we were given dominion over all of THIS and we have been such incredibly abysmal stewards.
I had the opportunity to go on KPFT 90.1 on Monday on the Go Vegan Texas show with Janice Blue to plug our circus demo. It was incredibly generous of her to give us a two hour spot and initially, I have to say I was petrified at the thought. But, man! Whattahigh! Now I understand the endorphin rush my sister is always talking about when she works out. I finally got a taste of it being on the radio. I loved it! PETA and SHARK and Melissa from ISWA were either present or on the phone, along with Janice and Rhea. What a dynamic group of people. I literally hovered home, six inches off the ground. Talking about something that matters that much to me for that length of time was awesome. The only thing I would have liked would be to have people from the “other side” to express their point of view. I want to ask them serious questions. Maybe that’s why they decline. Because how can you justify or explain away your very own words? When you look on the Circus News website, the industry site, and it talks about torture as a legitimate part of training, how can you possibly come on and say….it’s strictly reward based. What a load of nonsense. Don't go to the circus. It is flagrant torture for entertainment. Period. Animals don't do those things because they want to, they do it because they don't want to be beaten with metal bars, fiberglass rods, chains, whips, electocuted, bullhooked. It's as simple as that. I would no show too, I were them.
I have come to find that many people would rather drift, unengaged. I talked to my friend Lori about this when we were moving on Sunday. There are three kinds of people. The kind that go to the river, toss their tube into the water along with their cleverly rigged device that drags their 40’s keeping them ice cold, and they drift downstream. Legs dangling, arms lazily tipping the water, their head lolling in near nap. Then there are those that go to the river and survey. They look and see how they can divert it to make power for some blossoming city, how they can develop the land along the edge and make vacation homes, condos, and rentals. And a crapload of money. Rarely do they go in. Then there are those that get in and engage. They row past in their kayak or canoe, observing and appreciating the flowers, the fauna, the brilliance of all that is about them. The swirling water. The smooth and jagged rocks. The ferns. The fungus. The calls of the wild birds. The rustling of the brush. They fully engage in their surroundings. I like to drift. That’s really relaxing sometimes, and we all need down time. There is never a time that I am looking around me thinking about how I can make nature into something that makes me rich. But mostly I want to be fully engaged. I want to know where my food is coming from and if anything had to suffer to get it to me. I want to know where my clothes are made and if anyone had to suffer to make them for me. I want to recycle and I want to throw as little away as possible. I ultimately want to be aware of every single thing I do to ensure that I am treading as lightly on this earth as possible. I want to be engaged. I understand others who would prefer not to be, but I will be gently pressuring them to be aware. It’s important. You need to know that the people in charge of making things, making decisions, don’t always, in fact they rarely, have your best interests at heart. In a perfect world, maybe. But we all know how very imperfect this world and its inhabitants are.
I have to say it warms my heart to hear about a billionaire giving away money to charity. It is such a boost of positive energy to this world. To our country. We are so desperate for that. And with all the press that he got, others are following suit, which is even better.
And finally, it was stated yesterday that due to the Korean rocket launches the price of oil has skyrocketed and gasoline prices will again soar.
Ok.
I have one question.
Can someone please, please tell me exactly what local, regional, national or global event will NOT have an effect on the price of oil?
I saw a butterfly today cross a major intersection near my home.
I shuddered.
This is the neo con tactic I don’t like. Actually, I don't like any of them, but this is one of the most offensive. I don’t like dissent being equated to being unpatriotic, whatever that is. I am not a zealot patriot. I don’t have a flag shirt, shorts, socks, hat or sticker. I don’t even have a “support our troops” magnet for my car because I became just a tad sickened by the fact that none of the money went to the troops or their families from the sale of those magnets. The money went to some guy who came up with the idea. Fine. Good idea. But to make money on the troops who are sacrificing everything and getting their salaries, their medical coverage, their safety net upon return home cut by this congress – boy, that to me stinks of anti-American sentiment.
It appears to me that when the “other side” is losing their grip on certain issues, the attack on character begins. Let’s look at the warrantless wiretapping. I have to smile when I write that because I know that once something has been in the news for a standard of time, even when it hasn’t been resolved or dealt with or acknowledged as a mistake or a problem, those on the “other side” start screaming about staying current and “old news”. Anyway, we recently found out that surveillance was being done 7 months prior to 9/11.
Hmmm.
Kind of blows that whole “post 9/11 era” mantra out of the water.
Then there is the scathing attack by bush regarding the NYT article about financial records being searched. “In times of war” this is a breach of security, irresponsible, aiding and abetting, blah blah blah.
And of course unpatriotic.
But let’s look at this for a moment.
Within the past week or two, there has been a lot written and reported about China’s clamping down on the media. They cannot report public health issues – such as SARS and bird flu – and they cannot make the public immediately aware of disasters – such as a riot, devastating storm damage, explosions – without government approval.
Why has this been so heavily reported?
Because we don’t like the idea.
Not at all.
We proudly exalt our amendments and within those amendments certain rights that every citizen is entitled to. We have the right to free speech. We have the right to congregate (albeit now under bushco down the street around the corner and behind a chain link fence if you should be protesting against anything for which they are for), we have all these wonderful rights.
But somehow, to me, all this has a certain cacophony. Kind of like someone singing flat.
Why is it wrong for the NYT to report on something that is happening that is clearly a breach of power? Who, exactly, is supposed to filter our information? The government? Well, if this is what some want, then I will ask them the same question in three years, when we have a democratic president and congress, and I will expect to hear the same thing. I will expect that this is a principal they hold dear ALWAYS, not just when bush jr. is in power. That’s the thing they are not seeing right now. With all this power that has been handed over to this incompetent fool, the next incompetent fool from the “other side” will have the same power. I cannot stand this holier than thou disinfectant that is sprayed in our face on a daily basis. I am classified by the “other side’ as godless, anti-American and a baby killer. Huh.
Yet they balk and feign deep distress when they are called names that are equally erroneous.
Who should be monitoring, filtering, “blacking out” the sensitive material from the “classified” documents? Those who know better than us? Those that sent us into a war that has claimed 2500 service people for whom they support and pray and send chain emails? Those that get rich while the thousands of service people who come home ripped to shreds find that they do not have all the benefits that they were told they had? The people that will not EVER allow the US to be energy independent because their hands are too far down the pants of those that supply the oil? The same people that with a nod and wink funnel our tax dollars into the hands of their buddies and themselves while people choose between putting gas in the car and groceries? The same people that bat down yet again an increase to minimum wage and agree whole-heartedly in a pay raise for themselves? The same people that demonize the immigrants coming into this country but use these people to care for their kids, their gardens, their cars, their home repairs?
These people?
We should trust these people?
This government is so locked down, so shrouded in secrecy that it would be easier to walk into the US Mint. The problem is, when things are kept from the light of day they have a tendency to deteriorate, to become rancid and eventually stink.
This administration and all its players stink.
There is not one word that comes out of bush, rumsfilled, chaney, rice and the rest of them that I believe.
There is the constant reference to the brave men fighting for our freedom. What a lot of regurgitated nonsense! Sure the men and women, the troops of our country are brave. There is not ONE American, regardless of what those on “the other side” say, that do not back the troops.
NOT ONE.
It’s the bs about fighting for our freedom that makes me sick.
Freedom ain’t free!
Oh for God’s sake! Shut up! Just shut up! These ridiculous one-liners are as tired and as old as they are in action movies. Give it a rest. It has been proven over and over and over again that we were not being threatened by Iraq. There was no connection. They switched reasons in midstream going from WMD to spreading democracy – literally overnight the mission changed. The kids fighting in Iraq are not fighting for our freedom. Our freedom has never been in jeopardy. It’s the same red scare tactic they did with communism. You cannot destroy an idea. That’s what we humans cannot seem to grasp. No matter how much you torture, demonize, maim, destroy, you cannot get rid of the spirit that lives in each of us. No matter how much bushco would like everyone to buy into this black and white, good and evil picture he has painted, it does not exist. What exists are people. People that ultimately want to live as all humans should live.
Free.
Free to be with whomever they choose to be with.
Free to have a child or not.
Free to practice whatever religion or philosophy they want.
Free access to clean water, quality education and basic food.
The war of terror is the guise in which everything is allowed.
Discrimination based on race, religion, culture, class, sexual orientation hairstyle, hair length, clothing. The list is endless.
National security? What a ruse! It’s like some lame b movie with all this bad behavior, scams, and political maneuvering under the all encompassing heading of National Security. We have become the land of the paranoid. With all this blathering on about securing our borders, congress is working on a super highway from Mexico to Canada. A ten lane highway right across America. LOL. Yeah! Build that fence, buddy, better yet, hire you some day laborers and build a wall. In the meantime, the vans driven by coyotes will take the expressway.
We are the most entertained, under informed people on the planet. We have no idea what the truth is because we are never given the truth. We are given versions of incidents based on partisanship. I listen to Democracy Now and Connect the Dots and NPR and Dahr Jamail because I believe that I am getting more fact than opinion. I am not completely naïve in thinking that the water is not tainted. I know that the news I listen to is coming from a liberal perspective, but it appeals to me because that is what I am. I know Moveon.org and Common Dreams are progressive and pitch to me as a progressive. Duh. I get that. But it all came to fruition when I was watching the entire debacle of the Los Angeles dispute over the urban farm. Every mainstream station insisted on referring to it as a “garden”.
A garden.
How innocuous! A little garden with daisies, daffodils maybe a pond with some frogs and water plants.
How very quaint. Dime a freakin’ dozen.
But only on the progressive stations did they refer to it as the largest urban farm in the country, run by over 300 farmers.
Not so much a dime anymore.
This is what I am talking about. It is the constant presentation of information that minimizes, belittles, denigrates, dismisses fact. It was not a GARDEN it was a FARM. It was supplying food to hundreds of people. Oh, but a warehouse is so much more necessary.
Exhale.
It is no wonder our country is so polarized. I have to say, I am tired of living here. I am tired of the redness of this place. I want to be around people that care about the environment, about the dependents in this world MORE than money. There’s this constant undercurrent of ugliness that comes from standing on top of the hill and looking down upon those below. They’re lazy. They use all the resources. They don’t learn the language. They care more about a spotted owl. They they they.
I am tired of feeling like it’s crazy to want to have clean air, water and land. I am pissed off because my very athletic son is now an asthmatic because we live close to power plants. There are proven clusters of asthma incidents in this area yet people blindly carry on.
He has asthma? Wow! Is that recent?
Yes.
Just like that? Is he allergic?
It’s funny how the first thing out of people’s mouths has something to do with nature – the ragweed, pollen, etc.
No. He’s not allergic. He’s an athlete that spends a lot of time outside. Unfortunately we live less than twenty miles from the most polluted city in America, in the most polluted state in America and there are power plants who’s EPA regulations have been loosened because, golly, it’s so darned cumbersome having to pay attention to emissions for crying out loud, they got a break! And now they can send all their filth and toxic crap into the air for my son and my family to breathe. So, actually, he might be allergic. To pollution.
It saddens me that we have an air quality section of the morning news with the weather and this time of year it is rarely good. The time of year when all the kids, all those fresh pink lungs are outside playing games, swimming, at the beach, in the rivers, in the parks inhaling the foulest air around.
And I’m the radical activist.
Give me a break.
The Christians have this thing about how in the bible it says the earth will burn up and we will all have this wonderful Eden like place….I cannot fathom this line of thinking. I look at the beauty of every single tree. The amazing intricacies of all the variations of flowers and plants and grass. God is so present in nature to me. He is present in animals. He is present in children. He gave us this amazing place and we are trashing it for a buck. How embarrassing. Seriously.
How embarrassing that we were given dominion over all of THIS and we have been such incredibly abysmal stewards.
I had the opportunity to go on KPFT 90.1 on Monday on the Go Vegan Texas show with Janice Blue to plug our circus demo. It was incredibly generous of her to give us a two hour spot and initially, I have to say I was petrified at the thought. But, man! Whattahigh! Now I understand the endorphin rush my sister is always talking about when she works out. I finally got a taste of it being on the radio. I loved it! PETA and SHARK and Melissa from ISWA were either present or on the phone, along with Janice and Rhea. What a dynamic group of people. I literally hovered home, six inches off the ground. Talking about something that matters that much to me for that length of time was awesome. The only thing I would have liked would be to have people from the “other side” to express their point of view. I want to ask them serious questions. Maybe that’s why they decline. Because how can you justify or explain away your very own words? When you look on the Circus News website, the industry site, and it talks about torture as a legitimate part of training, how can you possibly come on and say….it’s strictly reward based. What a load of nonsense. Don't go to the circus. It is flagrant torture for entertainment. Period. Animals don't do those things because they want to, they do it because they don't want to be beaten with metal bars, fiberglass rods, chains, whips, electocuted, bullhooked. It's as simple as that. I would no show too, I were them.
I have come to find that many people would rather drift, unengaged. I talked to my friend Lori about this when we were moving on Sunday. There are three kinds of people. The kind that go to the river, toss their tube into the water along with their cleverly rigged device that drags their 40’s keeping them ice cold, and they drift downstream. Legs dangling, arms lazily tipping the water, their head lolling in near nap. Then there are those that go to the river and survey. They look and see how they can divert it to make power for some blossoming city, how they can develop the land along the edge and make vacation homes, condos, and rentals. And a crapload of money. Rarely do they go in. Then there are those that get in and engage. They row past in their kayak or canoe, observing and appreciating the flowers, the fauna, the brilliance of all that is about them. The swirling water. The smooth and jagged rocks. The ferns. The fungus. The calls of the wild birds. The rustling of the brush. They fully engage in their surroundings. I like to drift. That’s really relaxing sometimes, and we all need down time. There is never a time that I am looking around me thinking about how I can make nature into something that makes me rich. But mostly I want to be fully engaged. I want to know where my food is coming from and if anything had to suffer to get it to me. I want to know where my clothes are made and if anyone had to suffer to make them for me. I want to recycle and I want to throw as little away as possible. I ultimately want to be aware of every single thing I do to ensure that I am treading as lightly on this earth as possible. I want to be engaged. I understand others who would prefer not to be, but I will be gently pressuring them to be aware. It’s important. You need to know that the people in charge of making things, making decisions, don’t always, in fact they rarely, have your best interests at heart. In a perfect world, maybe. But we all know how very imperfect this world and its inhabitants are.
I have to say it warms my heart to hear about a billionaire giving away money to charity. It is such a boost of positive energy to this world. To our country. We are so desperate for that. And with all the press that he got, others are following suit, which is even better.
And finally, it was stated yesterday that due to the Korean rocket launches the price of oil has skyrocketed and gasoline prices will again soar.
Ok.
I have one question.
Can someone please, please tell me exactly what local, regional, national or global event will NOT have an effect on the price of oil?
I saw a butterfly today cross a major intersection near my home.
I shuddered.
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