Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Sermon: The Guardian of the Garden
Delivered to First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh in
the Undercroft Gallery (with wireless headworn mic), on June 30, 2013
On
nights when it's my turn to get Henry ready for bed, after bedtime
snack and toothbrushing, we read two books in his bedroom and turn
out the light and maybe a prayer, and then I sing to him. Our
standard default is “This Little Light of Mine” which I've been
singing to him since he was an infant. But sometimes he asks for
something new. And when “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” and “Hot
Crossed Buns” didn't cut it, I offered him one of my own that I'd
been working on called “Ode to Glen Eden.” The chorus and
closing goes a bit like this:
♪♫“This is a beautiful garden, it has a dangerous guardian (x2).
We're
going to melt that guardian down some time, we're gonna press our
flames to that heart of ice (x2).
That
heart of ice, (x3)
is
my size....”♫♪
H: Dad I really like that song. What's the beautiful garden? (That was the easy question.)
J: Well son, the beautiful garden is the Earth, the only place where we can actually live, and we're so lucky that it provides us with food and wood and everything that people and animals need to live.
H: Tell me about the guardian Dad. (Of course I had no clue how to articulate this to Henry without going into adult details, so I punted a bit.)
J: Well, the guardian watches over the Earth to make sure and keep it safe, but it's not always friendly, especially when people are not good to the Earth.
He's getting to the stage of inquisitiveness now where he keeps drilling down with “Why?” followed by “Why?” followed by more “Why?” and... I don't recall how it ended up.
I really do find the Earth as a source of reverence – I learned that while preparing for my first time preaching here at First Unitarian – Winter Solstice 2011. How amazing is this Earth in all the idiosyncracies that somehow exist so it can support life like us.
And how very dangerous is the Guardian that protects it? Freewill creates its own karmic vehicle when we choose something harmful. And at the moment, collectively, we are choosing an abundance of things either harmful or potentially so – in our reading, Wendell Berry mentioned fossil fuels. The list continues: nuclear weapons; GMO foods and other genetic experiments; polluted air, water, and soil, imprudent use of medicines leading to more virulent drug-resistant pathogens that could one day bring us a pandemic. It's difficult to even imagine, but any of these things could potentially bring the end of the homo sapien species. And at the same time, there is very little likelihood that any of those could end life on Earth as a whole. The Earth would go on living, and perhaps vibrantly again without the avaricious hubris of competitive humanity plundering Earth's land, animals and people for industrial profits. The guardian would use humanity's selfishness and ignorance to end humanity's selfishness and ignorance.
This is my pastoral message then to what Emerson called “the Oversoul” or as I see it, the collective soul of humanity – underneath our day to day perceptions is a common sense of dread, that humanity is living so recklessly beyond its balance that it may crash. Recently, Rolling Stone Magazine published an article entitled “Global Warming's Terrifying New Math.” A brief summary: credible climate scientists have estimated that humanity can only pump out 565 more gigatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere before Earth's temperature will raise 2 degrees Celsius, a point at which ecosystems – and humanity – would experience devastating effects. And unfortunately, just with the presently-known fossil-fuel reserves, we are capable of adding 2800 gigatons of carbon dioxide – five times that amount! The biggest problem – cutting back would cut into the fossil-fuel industry's profits, and they have no plans to stop. I wonder if this is humanity's way of doing the guardian's work, judging itself as unfit for the garden it's been offered. [pause] The answer to that question I do not know....
Prior to coming to Pittsburgh, I was a hospital chaplain, and met many people who were dying. I worked to comfort them, along with their families, and help them arrive at reconciliation, closure, and sometimes acceptance. It's a strange feeling to be with somebody soon to be breathing their last, a natural future experience we will all share. What's strangest is if/when they come to tranquility, understanding that “everything's going to be all right” and that means that they're going to be on the other side of the impenetrable existential barrier known as “dying.”
For the collective human existence, however, the timeframe need not be limited to 100-odd years. Humanity could expire in a year, in 100 years, or 20 million years.
On a rational level, we could say that “Species die off all the time. The fossil record indicates that prior to human intervention, up to 100 species went extinct every year. And now since the fruits of human activity have taken hold, scientists estimate an extinction rate of 27,000 species per year. Actually of all the species the Earth has ever seen since it first gave birth to life, 99.9% of them have gone extinct, most before humanity even entered the picture.” But of those that did go extinct, many of them lasted a million or more years. Humanity's known history is a fraction of that – perhaps humanity is practicing, “Live fast, die young?”
In case we do come to an early “live fast, die young” demise, I want to affirm that even then, it will be okay. It has to. After we're gone, the struggles will be over, along with the exhilaration and joy. And then there will be rest. But here's the rub.... What happens when one lives fast and recklessly, and doesn't die young? Humanity has been rough on itself and rough on its host planet. I can personally attest that being rough on my knees in high school sports, and on my shoulders in college – these things have brought injuries, making some activities painful. When I was high jumping at 18 and trashing my left knee, 45 years old seemed a long way away. Joel 45 would send Joel 18 a message, were that possible. In a similar way, Humanity 2100 will probably not have “died young” by then, and would ask us to prevent the injuries presently being created through these present generations' ways of living.
And
I'm not ready for humanity to buy the farm just yet, or even to go on
causing itself such long term harms. To put this clearly, I'll quote
Wendell Berry, “Do unto those downstream as you would have those
upstream do unto you.” I interpret this “downstream” to mean
later in time, where “upstream” means earlier in time.
What are we to do? Humanity seems somewhere between directionless, and directed toward this quarter's financial statements. I believe a small portion of humanity are developing a clear understanding of what is happening in a systemic sense. I believe that we would do well to continue communicating with each other, and with the rest of humanity, to counter the stories of those seemingly hell-bent on creating an early end, or perhaps only hell-bent on gaining power, money, and influence at any cost. Our stories and our perspectives are our light, and in their telling, the darkness within us, among us, and between us is diminished.
What are we to do? Humanity seems somewhere between directionless, and directed toward this quarter's financial statements. I believe a small portion of humanity are developing a clear understanding of what is happening in a systemic sense. I believe that we would do well to continue communicating with each other, and with the rest of humanity, to counter the stories of those seemingly hell-bent on creating an early end, or perhaps only hell-bent on gaining power, money, and influence at any cost. Our stories and our perspectives are our light, and in their telling, the darkness within us, among us, and between us is diminished.
(Include
if appropriate energy: I'd like to go out on a limb and take a break
and invite you all to tell stories to each other for a minute –
without words. I was thinking maybe we could stand up and walk around
and do this, but it's a bit too crowded to do that without
introducing real chaos, so just from your chairs, I invite you to
connect wordlessly – using your eyes, your faces, and your body
language – to communicate with those around you, that for matters
to you, for which words do not suffice. If you find this too
intense, or you'd rather not participate, please feel free to just
close your eyes and take a break. After several moments, I have
these bells to ring. My family used to have these on the doors of
our house that rang each time we exited or entered [wait 5 breaths,
ring bells]. May we find ourselves in a new place and a new sense of
purpose through this new connection to each other.)
I propose that humanity does not know its true purpose. Because “true” is monocultural thinking in that it focuses on a single objective, assuming some prior nugget of truth was somewhere buried. Humanity must wait to discover its purpose amidst all its other activities? No. Humanity is ready to evolve from adolescence, no longer wanting to live recklessly on some Amish rumspringa – a period of hard-partying the Amish teens do as part of discernment of their values, then choosing whether to return back to their own culture. Rather, humanity entering into its adult phase aches to determine itself – not in a “mightiest-most-influential-voices-get-the-megaphone” kind of way, but through the speaking and hearing of all voices.
Unitarian Universalist values set an excellent model for this process. Democratic processes will be critical. A goal of world community is seriously important for coming together around a common human determination. A lack of respect for the interdependent web is how we got here, and something we as UUs say we want to change. Human worth and dignity – including humans now living, along with those whose legacy we carry and wish to respect, and those further on in the timestream who call to us for a good world in which to safely raise healthy children. Equity in relations is important as well. Our quest for spiritual growth, and our responsible search for truth and meaning calls us to then respond with our findings, and with our whole being.
I know I said earlier that the democratic process will be important, however I believe that it may take considerable time for humanity to really come together for a determined unified purpose. Especially difficult for some reason is getting cooperation of those who have privilege to choose less privilege and convenience in a world like the one Wendell Berry speaks of.
And I'm white, straight-appearing, male-appearing – I come from white monoculture, so I want to see THIS democratic process expedited (impatience with process is part of the white monoculture I grew up in and am accustomed to). I would like to prime the pump regarding our present purpose. Because I hear the voices of 2100 calling me; I think you might hear them as well. I propose that we choose for our present purpose the creation of a safe, healthy, and harmonious world for the people of the 22nd century, composed of safe, healthy, harmonious local communities. And I propose that we come together and have fun while we do it.
I say that because I also hear the voices of 2013 calling to me. People suffering from great emotional and social distance with even their nearest neighbors; and more to the point, people suffering from lack of the basic necessities of life, even. Because when injury comes to humanity at large, the brunt of the injury tends to accumulate upon the least fortunate and most oppressed among us. I hear them saying that there is so much struggle over who gets how big a slice of pie that we're actually making less pie. I hear those voices say we should be focusing on just making sure that everybody gets an adequate slice at this Garden Family Picnic (side-note not mentioned: family picnics are much less enjoyable when monetized – can you imagine bartering with family over baked beans, chocolate chip bars or corn on the cob?)
I propose that humanity does not know its true purpose. Because “true” is monocultural thinking in that it focuses on a single objective, assuming some prior nugget of truth was somewhere buried. Humanity must wait to discover its purpose amidst all its other activities? No. Humanity is ready to evolve from adolescence, no longer wanting to live recklessly on some Amish rumspringa – a period of hard-partying the Amish teens do as part of discernment of their values, then choosing whether to return back to their own culture. Rather, humanity entering into its adult phase aches to determine itself – not in a “mightiest-most-influential-voices-get-the-megaphone” kind of way, but through the speaking and hearing of all voices.
Unitarian Universalist values set an excellent model for this process. Democratic processes will be critical. A goal of world community is seriously important for coming together around a common human determination. A lack of respect for the interdependent web is how we got here, and something we as UUs say we want to change. Human worth and dignity – including humans now living, along with those whose legacy we carry and wish to respect, and those further on in the timestream who call to us for a good world in which to safely raise healthy children. Equity in relations is important as well. Our quest for spiritual growth, and our responsible search for truth and meaning calls us to then respond with our findings, and with our whole being.
I know I said earlier that the democratic process will be important, however I believe that it may take considerable time for humanity to really come together for a determined unified purpose. Especially difficult for some reason is getting cooperation of those who have privilege to choose less privilege and convenience in a world like the one Wendell Berry speaks of.
And I'm white, straight-appearing, male-appearing – I come from white monoculture, so I want to see THIS democratic process expedited (impatience with process is part of the white monoculture I grew up in and am accustomed to). I would like to prime the pump regarding our present purpose. Because I hear the voices of 2100 calling me; I think you might hear them as well. I propose that we choose for our present purpose the creation of a safe, healthy, and harmonious world for the people of the 22nd century, composed of safe, healthy, harmonious local communities. And I propose that we come together and have fun while we do it.
I say that because I also hear the voices of 2013 calling to me. People suffering from great emotional and social distance with even their nearest neighbors; and more to the point, people suffering from lack of the basic necessities of life, even. Because when injury comes to humanity at large, the brunt of the injury tends to accumulate upon the least fortunate and most oppressed among us. I hear them saying that there is so much struggle over who gets how big a slice of pie that we're actually making less pie. I hear those voices say we should be focusing on just making sure that everybody gets an adequate slice at this Garden Family Picnic (side-note not mentioned: family picnics are much less enjoyable when monetized – can you imagine bartering with family over baked beans, chocolate chip bars or corn on the cob?)
The
way to a harmonized 22nd
century is to harmonize the 21st,
here and now. May we commit to finding the courage to risk joy. May
we find our flame to melt
the ice of each human heart
we meet. And may we allow for the flames of our friends to work
their magic on our own ices within. In this way – one by one –
we will
melt the heart of the guardian.
Labels: 0th UU principle, 7th UU principle, classism, Community, indifferent corporations, pastoral care, pastoral connection, sermons
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Reproductive Justice and other Frameworks
This method of understanding different frameworks was from La'Tasha Mayes of New Voices Pittsburgh: Women of Color for Reproductive Choice, also here on Facebook. She presented to our congregation at the most recent Sunday morning forum, and opened us up!
Since the picture I took is a little fuzzy, here are the contents of the chart:
From a quick review of this chart, I think many of the terms ought to be fairly clear with a little reflection or conversation with others. However, a few that I think could require a little learning curve (for someone like myself) may include:
Human Rights: UN Universal Declaration. Pittsburgh Human Rights Network.
Movement-Building: The Gamaliel network is one example. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is another. There is more than one way to build power, and a good start is leaders who are themselves organized, and can organize masses of people, masses of money, or both.
Systemic Oppression: Here's a static definition from pcc.edu:
Self-Help:
Since the picture I took is a little fuzzy, here are the contents of the chart:
FRAMEWORKS
|
|||
Reproductive Rights
|
Reproductive Health
|
Reproductive Justice
|
|
Mode of Delivery
|
Legal Systems
|
Healthcare
Delivery
|
Movement-Building
|
Issues
|
Abortion;
Contraception; Informed Consent; Privacy
|
Access to full
range of reproductive health services; low/no-cost, and
culturally-competent care; comprehensive sex education;
contraception; pre-natal/pregnancy care; abortion services;
cancer prevention; health insurance
|
RR + RH +
Human Rights; systemic oppression; self-help; intersectionality
|
Key Players
|
Lawyers,
judges, policymakers, elected officials, advocacy groups
|
Healthcare
providers, medical professionals, community and public health
educators, researchers
|
Community
organizers, Women of Color, marginalized groups, social justice
organizations, Allies
|
From a quick review of this chart, I think many of the terms ought to be fairly clear with a little reflection or conversation with others. However, a few that I think could require a little learning curve (for someone like myself) may include:
Human Rights: UN Universal Declaration. Pittsburgh Human Rights Network.
Movement-Building: The Gamaliel network is one example. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is another. There is more than one way to build power, and a good start is leaders who are themselves organized, and can organize masses of people, masses of money, or both.
Systemic Oppression: Here's a static definition from pcc.edu:
Institutional Oppression is the systematic mistreatment of people within a social identity group, supported and enforced by the society and its institutions, solely based on the person’s membership in the social identity group.
Institutional Oppression occurs when established laws, customs, and practices systematically reflect and produce inequities based on one’s membership in targeted social identity groups. If oppressive consequences accrue to institutional laws, customs, or practices, the institution is oppressive whether or not the individuals maintaining those practices have oppressive intentions.
Institutional Oppression creates a system of invisible barriers limiting people based on their membership in unfavored social identity groups. The barriers are only invisible to those “seemingly” unaffected by it.
The practice of institutionalized oppression is based on the belief in inherent superiority or inferiority. Institutionalized oppression is a matter of result regardless of intent.And here's a dynamic definition of systemic oppression.
Self-Help:
Central to several key women of color organizations has been the self-help model. Using a process of dialogue and active listening as a way of demystifying the health problems communities faced, the self-help model assumes that collectively participants can thread through the difficult problems — including racism, poverty, low self-esteem and stress — and use their intelligence to find meaningful solutions. This approach is central to sparking self- healing as well as social action.
Intersectionality: My understanding of this is that pretty much every one of us fits into some categories of privilege and some categories of oppression. Sometimes, the intersection can be seen as a multiplier (as in being female and a person of color), and sometimes a mitigator (as in being female and white, or female and able-bodied, etc. Noting the link just above from the WWHATSUP training on white supremacy, "arguing hierarchies of oppressions is not helpful."
And here again, Tumblr is a great resource for providing a conversation on a crowd-sourced definition.
Allies: My understanding of an ally is somebody who is outside of an oppressed social identity group, and who stands with others who are bearing the brunt of that oppression -- because often people in privileged categories are more likely to hear folks from their same categories, rather than writing somebody "different" off as "just acting on their own self-interest." This can be in the form of a group of men who speak up for women or third-gender folks. This can be a white person who marches with people of color. This can be an able-bodied person, or a cisgender person, or a heterosexual person, or anybody who could be identified as outside of certain oppressed social groups, who is there to work together with people within those groups, and use their voice as an amplifier. Note with intersectionality, it is possible for ally-ship to be multi-directional or reciprocal, so working together helps us all.
It's important to note that speaking up for somebody is NOT the same as speaking FOR somebody. It's pretty much always best to speak from one's own experience, and be clear about when you're speaking from your understanding of another's experience. In other words, it's important to work on self-differentiation. And note that being an ally is most effective when it's in collaboration and conversation, on common ground, in community and accountability, with people you are allying with.
And finally, an ally is somebody who comprehends deep-down that the privilege they've been (arbitrarily) afforded is less valuable than the right-relationship of common ground, and willing to do the hard work of dismantling the privilege/oppression paradigms, thereby turning that which each of us inherently *deserves* into RIGHTS.
Back to the importance of the presentation itself, and what I see as a clear call to work for the larger vision of holistic justice: I believe that when women and girls of color (all colors actually -- from 2B1505 to F5F1E9 to 4D7BD1) achieve/receive/perceive equity and justice, we will ALL be free in an age where we each can be our authentic selves. ALL justice is connected, and the human rights (or lack thereof) in this area is a clear indicator of the condition of justice at present.
pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel
Labels: 1st UU principle, 2nd UU principle, anti-oppression, classism, Community, education, equal rights, oppression, sexuality, universal health care, women, Women's Rights
Friday, June 15, 2012
Quick note on HFT
1. That the people who have the power to put this kind of money toward whatever they want would put it toward something so morally vacuous and selfish when there are humans with real needs. The blind eye turned away from this opportunity cost is like a brickbat to my moral head. 2. That people who have the mathematical ability to do Fast Fourier Transforms and other mathematical formulae to model and interpret the patterns of economic growth down to the millisecond minutia, and develop ever-faster computer systems for processing and networks for conveying this data for the purposes of greed. Our smartest people should be doing something else, like modeling a secure centrally-planned economy that models our current economy, and takes into account the production and distribution of every necessary widget and piece of food needed to sustain us. And can work to eliminate all of the unnecessary waste while still providing the same things to everybody. And perhaps when everybody feels secure we'll be able to stop overproducing and overbuying. 3. That our governments would allow automated trading like this which siphons out the incremental gains from real traders who can't afford to do something like this. Instead they should devise a system of laws that works justly, but they've been bought. 4. That the resources for this cabling and computers, and for its installation have been taken from the Earth.
Labels: Capitalism, classism, economics, interconnected web, Math, restorative justice, slashdot
Monday, January 16, 2012
Hauser's Law
Labels: classism, economics, globalism, USA
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Re: The final push in Oakland
Dear Mary Jane,
I imagine this Janice Hahn may be a good candidate, however I will not be helping Organizing for America now or in 2012.
I am entirely disenfranchised with the right/centrist agenda Barack Obama has been pursuing. His policies have amounted to making "Change We Can Believe In" the saddest hollow promise I've ever heard in my 42 years.
Specifically, his budgetary policies continue to serve the wealthy corporate investors in a fashion similar to George W Bush including offering to trade away social security; he is continuing to invest our military in wars upon wars rather than pursue more peaceable solutions; his administration flip-flops on the drug war, muddying the legal waters while continuing to harass moral and innocent people in medical need, using taxpayer dollars as if they are criminals; and he has done astonishingly little to support renewable energy, compared to subsidies for fossil fuels and nuclear.
Therefore, his name attached to your request does not inspire me to help you unless he truly becomes "The Change I Thought I Was Believing In." Please send him this message--I voted for him in 2008, but he and any Democratic candidates he supports have squandered my good faith, and lost my support for 2012.
,
With peace and real hope,
Joel
"You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes
the existing model obsolete."
-Buckminster Fuller (Architect and Geometrist)
I imagine this Janice Hahn may be a good candidate, however I will not be helping Organizing for America now or in 2012.
I am entirely disenfranchised with the right/centrist agenda Barack Obama has been pursuing. His policies have amounted to making "Change We Can Believe In" the saddest hollow promise I've ever heard in my 42 years.
Specifically, his budgetary policies continue to serve the wealthy corporate investors in a fashion similar to George W Bush including offering to trade away social security; he is continuing to invest our military in wars upon wars rather than pursue more peaceable solutions; his administration flip-flops on the drug war, muddying the legal waters while continuing to harass moral and innocent people in medical need, using taxpayer dollars as if they are criminals; and he has done astonishingly little to support renewable energy, compared to subsidies for fossil fuels and nuclear.
Therefore, his name attached to your request does not inspire me to help you unless he truly becomes "The Change I Thought I Was Believing In." Please send him this message--I voted for him in 2008, but he and any Democratic candidates he supports have squandered my good faith, and lost my support for 2012.
,
With peace and real hope,
Joel
"You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes
the existing model obsolete."
-Buckminster Fuller (Architect and Geometrist)
On 9 July 2011 15:09, Mary Jane Stevenson, CA.BarackObama.com <info@barackobama.com> wrote:
Vote for Disappointment Joel --
For the past several weeks, OFA California volunteers have been making calls and knocking on doors to help send Janice Hahn to Congress. And all of that work comes down to this, the final three days.
On Monday and Tuesday, it's all about getting out the vote. Will you join us in Oakland to help with the final push?
Here are the details:
What: Get out the vote for Janice Hahn
Where: 1714 Telegraph Avenue
Oakland, CA 94612
When: Tuesday, July 12th
10:00 am
Janice is the Democratic nominee in the 36th Congressional District's special election. She'll fight to create good jobs, support clean energy, and protect Medicare -- but only if we do our part to help her win.
RSVP to help out in Oakland on Tuesday:
http://my.barackobama.com/Calls-for-Janice-Hahn
Thanks,
Mary Jane
Mary Jane Stevenson
California State Director
Organizing for America
Labels: changing the prison paradigm, classism, drug war, peace, politics, renewable energy, USA, war and peace
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Scrap of cardboard for a pillow
Labels: classism, homelessness
Friday, February 25, 2011
our treatment of the poor continues to put the whip to christ's back
Labels: astrophysics, Christianity, christology, classism, homelessness, politics
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
FDR's Second Bill of Rights
I support this.
Video here.
Text from here:
How I wish the US had pursued these with all its might. I wish it still would.
pax hominibus,agape to all,joel
Video here.
Text from here:
It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known. We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people—whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth—is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights—among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty.
As our nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial economy expanded—these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.
We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.” People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.
In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.
Among these are:
- The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;
- The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
- The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;
- The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;
- The right of every family to a decent home;
- The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
- The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
- The right to a good education.
All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.
For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.
How I wish the US had pursued these with all its might. I wish it still would.
pax hominibus,agape to all,joel
Labels: anti-oppression, classism, economics, education, equal rights, freedom versus freedom, homelessness, personal bookmarks, politics, sacred texts, theological sources, universal health care, USA
Thursday, March 11, 2010
National Alliance to End Homelessness
.
I just had a very enlightening talk with the director of Episcopal Community Services here in San Francisco. He blessed me with a lot of knowledge about (among many other things) how their organization works, and some suggestions of what it would take for other groups to start up. He also gave me a brief tour.
During the course of our conversation, he mentioned the National Alliance to End Homelessness, so I want to make sure to add that to my bookmarks, and share it here as well. To be clear, I support ending homelessness, and think its an absolute travesty that there is such an economic disparity in this country/world that there are people who own buildings (through bank foreclosures, etc) which sit empty, but don't even know that they own those buildings, and there are others who literally sleep on the sidewalk. It's a further travesty that creating homes for ALL of the people who are homeless in the US would cost less than $100 billion, which is about as much as the US government spends on war every two months.
I could go on about my thoughts, but I have other work to do today.
pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel
I just had a very enlightening talk with the director of Episcopal Community Services here in San Francisco. He blessed me with a lot of knowledge about (among many other things) how their organization works, and some suggestions of what it would take for other groups to start up. He also gave me a brief tour.
During the course of our conversation, he mentioned the National Alliance to End Homelessness, so I want to make sure to add that to my bookmarks, and share it here as well. To be clear, I support ending homelessness, and think its an absolute travesty that there is such an economic disparity in this country/world that there are people who own buildings (through bank foreclosures, etc) which sit empty, but don't even know that they own those buildings, and there are others who literally sleep on the sidewalk. It's a further travesty that creating homes for ALL of the people who are homeless in the US would cost less than $100 billion, which is about as much as the US government spends on war every two months.
I could go on about my thoughts, but I have other work to do today.
pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel
Labels: classism, homelessness, personal bookmarks, USA
Thursday, October 22, 2009
US Debt Clock
.
Check out this link, and you can see how much the US owes and has in assets, both in the government and held privately. There's a lot more I'd like to see this page become, as it doesn't tell the whole story yet. I'm going to also put a link to this on the column at the left.
There's a lot of interpretation that can be done just from this data, but I'm not going to do that right now. There are a few important numbers to look at however.
1. Note the Gross Domestic Product (upper right), and compare to the US Budget Deficit (YTD, upper-left) and the interest on Debt (upper left, a little lower). When the interest on debt grows too large, it is a drain on the economy, in that it cuts into the government's ability to pay for other programs. Who do we owe all that principal and interest to?
2. The largest (by a factor of 30!) number on the page is Currency and Credit Derivates ($589.232284 trillion at 1:30 on Oct 22). This is the fabricated money partially responsible for the big trouble we are in. I am surprised to see that it is going down, and wonder what that actually means. Is somebody actually trying to regulate this, or is this currency being pulled off the market.
3. In many of these numbers, it's not simply the numbers that are important to watch, but the rate of change of the numbers, and the rate of change of that change (the acceleration).
pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel
Check out this link, and you can see how much the US owes and has in assets, both in the government and held privately. There's a lot more I'd like to see this page become, as it doesn't tell the whole story yet. I'm going to also put a link to this on the column at the left.
There's a lot of interpretation that can be done just from this data, but I'm not going to do that right now. There are a few important numbers to look at however.
1. Note the Gross Domestic Product (upper right), and compare to the US Budget Deficit (YTD, upper-left) and the interest on Debt (upper left, a little lower). When the interest on debt grows too large, it is a drain on the economy, in that it cuts into the government's ability to pay for other programs. Who do we owe all that principal and interest to?
2. The largest (by a factor of 30!) number on the page is Currency and Credit Derivates ($589.232284 trillion at 1:30 on Oct 22). This is the fabricated money partially responsible for the big trouble we are in. I am surprised to see that it is going down, and wonder what that actually means. Is somebody actually trying to regulate this, or is this currency being pulled off the market.
3. In many of these numbers, it's not simply the numbers that are important to watch, but the rate of change of the numbers, and the rate of change of that change (the acceleration).
pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel
Labels: Capitalism, classism, economics, globalism, indifferent corporations, oppression, personal bookmarks, politics, theological sources, USA
Monday, October 12, 2009
25 Principles for Just Immigration Reform
.
I know I haven't said all that much on immigration reform, but that doesn't mean I haven't been thinking on it, and I just came across an article with a long list of principles that should be satisfied by meaningful immigration reform. I agree with these.
Three key points:
1. The US has created a system where undocumented immigrants have no legal recourse, and businesses that hire them can treat them very unfairly without fear of recrimination.
2. US policies of interference in other countries (Including the drug war in Mexico and Columbia, School of the Americas harming the countries of Central America, and a variety of unfair lending practices that leave developing nations in the lurch) leave those countries economically destitute, forcing their workforce to other countries (including the US) to find work. Those practices need to end, so that our country is not exploiting the labor of other countries. We need to explore ways of real cooperation.
3. Incarcerating undocumented immigrants and putting them to work in prison at sub-minimum wage? Highly unethical, yet this treatment seems par for the course for those incarcerated in US prisons.
chant/prayer/mantra: May we all recognize our common humanity, beyond any thoughts to human-created national boundaries.
pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel
I know I haven't said all that much on immigration reform, but that doesn't mean I haven't been thinking on it, and I just came across an article with a long list of principles that should be satisfied by meaningful immigration reform. I agree with these.
Three key points:
1. The US has created a system where undocumented immigrants have no legal recourse, and businesses that hire them can treat them very unfairly without fear of recrimination.
2. US policies of interference in other countries (Including the drug war in Mexico and Columbia, School of the Americas harming the countries of Central America, and a variety of unfair lending practices that leave developing nations in the lurch) leave those countries economically destitute, forcing their workforce to other countries (including the US) to find work. Those practices need to end, so that our country is not exploiting the labor of other countries. We need to explore ways of real cooperation.
3. Incarcerating undocumented immigrants and putting them to work in prison at sub-minimum wage? Highly unethical, yet this treatment seems par for the course for those incarcerated in US prisons.
chant/prayer/mantra: May we all recognize our common humanity, beyond any thoughts to human-created national boundaries.
pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel
Labels: anti-oppression, Capitalism, changing the prison paradigm, classism, equal rights, globalism, immigration reform, racism, USA
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Socializing the Good Samaritan
.
Today, I rode my bike to church to get there early, and my sweetie came later in the car, just in time for the 11:30 service, then we drove out to eat for brunch and went home, leaving my bike locked up at the church. This afternoon, I installed the old Yakima bike rack on top of our new car finally, so I could go retrieve the bike. It probably would've been easier to just walk down there and ride back, but we needed to get the bike rack onto the car eventually. All the previous information is prologue to my main point.
When I got to the church, I saw a man across the street, looking rough, and after two hours wrestling with my bike rack when I should've been working on homework, I didn't feel in the mood to talk to him. But then as I was taking the front tire off my bike and getting my bike on top of the car, he approached me, speaking weakly, with a towel in one hand and a spray bottle and squeegie in the other, asking if he could wash my windshield for some money. I had actually gunked up part of the roof while installing the rack, so I gave him $2 and asked him for the towel and sprayer so I could do it. I don't need the "satisfaction" of watching somebody else clean it for me. Anyway, I asked him his name and what was going on. He said his name was Lester Ray, and that he was going around trying to do people's windshields to get $14, because he was in the hospital yesterday (he still had the plasticy bracelet) and was diagnosed with pneumonia. In order to get the meds, he had to put together a $14 copay, so today he was out walking around (with unmedicated pneumonia) trying to scare up that small sum of money. The two bucks I had given him was all the cash I had in my pocket and I gave him the 50 cents in change I had as well.
After I got into the car, I thought about the fact that I could've taken him to a cash machine and drawn out $20. But we're not exactly rich. Then again, if I had invited him into the car to ride down to the cash machine, he would've seen: a new car, a bike on top, an ipod shuffle attached to the radio, a new baby car seat, and several other things that indicate that we were an order or two of magnitude more well-to-do than him. In the short term, I would've felt better getting him that money anyway, but I didn't. In the long term, there is something more that needs to be done.
You judge a nation by how it treats its poor.
If somebody in need calls to neighbors for help and most of them pass him/her by, then the one who actually is charitable is the one that pays (financially and economically, though they may gain in other ways), and they bear that burden alone. I will call these charitable people the suckers, because they're bearing the burden of . All of the other people who turn the other way, or make sure to stay entirely outside of the neighborhood of those who call for help are trying not to pay and try avoid bearing as much as possible of the burden of helping their neighbor. I will call these Ayn Rand-devoted people shruggers, because they are indeed shrugging off the burden that the suckers consider as needing to be picked up, and would shrug at the cost of allowing any stranger with pneumonia die, because it's "not their problem."
When that burden is spread out across the economy -- when governments levy taxes and put it into programs that create a safety net for all -- it is because the suckers are finally being listened to, and are able to make the shruggers stop shrugging (or shirking). Then, instead of the 5% most charitable people needing to privately pay for 100% of the needs of the needy, we have 100% of the people each paying for 5% of the needs of the needy, whether they believe there is a need or not.
When there is a Katrina survivor in front of you with one missing eye and a mottled leg just let free from the hospital to "go home" to the streets, you better believe there is a need! When there's a man with a decimated personal infrastructure (homeless and/or jobless) needing to acquire a squeegie and a rag to scare up $14 to pay for pneumonia medicine, you better believe there is a need!
To those who argue that providing health care and an economic safety net is just offering hand-outs to lazy people, I have to ask -- HAVE YOU LOOKED AT THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY? There are lots of hard-working and honest people who could use this help. They lost their jobs because of decisions made by bankers and by business owners (mistakes on the part of those who control the means of production), and most of them desperately want to work, if not only for a sense of self-worth, also to put food on the table.
But there are a ton of volunteer jobs out there that need to be done, ranging from picking up litter to planting trees, to tutoring youth to use software, to working for social justice. If those people who were out of work right now could have: 1) Health care, and 2) Enough assistance to cover basic housing and food, they would be able to devote much of their time toward necessary unmonetized volunteer work, and some of their time toward finding a job that pays.
In the meantime, there are many in our communities who are financially devastated. That is not a position in which you can expect somebody to pull themselves up. It's like expecting somebody with a totalled car to get driving. But those of us with cars that do run, I say it's our moral obligation to give them a lift to town and at least get them a bike of their own.
And as a nation, it's our moral obligation to be economically strong and efficient, so that its easier for us to take better care of the poor, and in fact, to provide a better commonwealth of services for everyone. Part of that means having everybody employed. People running around working hard to find jobs (that's exhausting work!) are not doing much for the economy. But if they're actively working (even at volunteer work), they're helping us in real ways that might not be reflected in the GDP or other standard economical measures. But if we're all scrounging around for privatized jobs in a shrinking market, that's a death spiral. Our moral obligation is to NOT go there. Are the local, state, and federal governments up for that? Or is there a way that our churches can start to step in and provide welfare?
I'm hesitant to go there though, because then the churches that are the best at providing welfare end up being conglomerate suckers, and those churches that focus on serving their own interests and shrug will be conglomerate shruggers (and they may weather the financial storm better, but maybe not the spiritual storm). Then again, maybe the truth will out itself, and people will start leaving the prosperity gospel churches in droves as the masks come off. Then again, I'm only 40 years old, and still trying to figure out human nature in this kind of context. But I think we can dodge the question, just by applying brute force toward green jobs, public works, and other economy-spurring employment for people that will make sure that the physical, material labor that needs to happen actually does take place.
lyrics:
chant/prayer/mantra: health to us all, especially lester ray.
pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel
Today, I rode my bike to church to get there early, and my sweetie came later in the car, just in time for the 11:30 service, then we drove out to eat for brunch and went home, leaving my bike locked up at the church. This afternoon, I installed the old Yakima bike rack on top of our new car finally, so I could go retrieve the bike. It probably would've been easier to just walk down there and ride back, but we needed to get the bike rack onto the car eventually. All the previous information is prologue to my main point.
When I got to the church, I saw a man across the street, looking rough, and after two hours wrestling with my bike rack when I should've been working on homework, I didn't feel in the mood to talk to him. But then as I was taking the front tire off my bike and getting my bike on top of the car, he approached me, speaking weakly, with a towel in one hand and a spray bottle and squeegie in the other, asking if he could wash my windshield for some money. I had actually gunked up part of the roof while installing the rack, so I gave him $2 and asked him for the towel and sprayer so I could do it. I don't need the "satisfaction" of watching somebody else clean it for me. Anyway, I asked him his name and what was going on. He said his name was Lester Ray, and that he was going around trying to do people's windshields to get $14, because he was in the hospital yesterday (he still had the plasticy bracelet) and was diagnosed with pneumonia. In order to get the meds, he had to put together a $14 copay, so today he was out walking around (with unmedicated pneumonia) trying to scare up that small sum of money. The two bucks I had given him was all the cash I had in my pocket and I gave him the 50 cents in change I had as well.
After I got into the car, I thought about the fact that I could've taken him to a cash machine and drawn out $20. But we're not exactly rich. Then again, if I had invited him into the car to ride down to the cash machine, he would've seen: a new car, a bike on top, an ipod shuffle attached to the radio, a new baby car seat, and several other things that indicate that we were an order or two of magnitude more well-to-do than him. In the short term, I would've felt better getting him that money anyway, but I didn't. In the long term, there is something more that needs to be done.
You judge a nation by how it treats its poor.
If somebody in need calls to neighbors for help and most of them pass him/her by, then the one who actually is charitable is the one that pays (financially and economically, though they may gain in other ways), and they bear that burden alone. I will call these charitable people the suckers, because they're bearing the burden of . All of the other people who turn the other way, or make sure to stay entirely outside of the neighborhood of those who call for help are trying not to pay and try avoid bearing as much as possible of the burden of helping their neighbor. I will call these Ayn Rand-devoted people shruggers, because they are indeed shrugging off the burden that the suckers consider as needing to be picked up, and would shrug at the cost of allowing any stranger with pneumonia die, because it's "not their problem."
When that burden is spread out across the economy -- when governments levy taxes and put it into programs that create a safety net for all -- it is because the suckers are finally being listened to, and are able to make the shruggers stop shrugging (or shirking). Then, instead of the 5% most charitable people needing to privately pay for 100% of the needs of the needy, we have 100% of the people each paying for 5% of the needs of the needy, whether they believe there is a need or not.
When there is a Katrina survivor in front of you with one missing eye and a mottled leg just let free from the hospital to "go home" to the streets, you better believe there is a need! When there's a man with a decimated personal infrastructure (homeless and/or jobless) needing to acquire a squeegie and a rag to scare up $14 to pay for pneumonia medicine, you better believe there is a need!
To those who argue that providing health care and an economic safety net is just offering hand-outs to lazy people, I have to ask -- HAVE YOU LOOKED AT THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY? There are lots of hard-working and honest people who could use this help. They lost their jobs because of decisions made by bankers and by business owners (mistakes on the part of those who control the means of production), and most of them desperately want to work, if not only for a sense of self-worth, also to put food on the table.
But there are a ton of volunteer jobs out there that need to be done, ranging from picking up litter to planting trees, to tutoring youth to use software, to working for social justice. If those people who were out of work right now could have: 1) Health care, and 2) Enough assistance to cover basic housing and food, they would be able to devote much of their time toward necessary unmonetized volunteer work, and some of their time toward finding a job that pays.
In the meantime, there are many in our communities who are financially devastated. That is not a position in which you can expect somebody to pull themselves up. It's like expecting somebody with a totalled car to get driving. But those of us with cars that do run, I say it's our moral obligation to give them a lift to town and at least get them a bike of their own.
And as a nation, it's our moral obligation to be economically strong and efficient, so that its easier for us to take better care of the poor, and in fact, to provide a better commonwealth of services for everyone. Part of that means having everybody employed. People running around working hard to find jobs (that's exhausting work!) are not doing much for the economy. But if they're actively working (even at volunteer work), they're helping us in real ways that might not be reflected in the GDP or other standard economical measures. But if we're all scrounging around for privatized jobs in a shrinking market, that's a death spiral. Our moral obligation is to NOT go there. Are the local, state, and federal governments up for that? Or is there a way that our churches can start to step in and provide welfare?
I'm hesitant to go there though, because then the churches that are the best at providing welfare end up being conglomerate suckers, and those churches that focus on serving their own interests and shrug will be conglomerate shruggers (and they may weather the financial storm better, but maybe not the spiritual storm). Then again, maybe the truth will out itself, and people will start leaving the prosperity gospel churches in droves as the masks come off. Then again, I'm only 40 years old, and still trying to figure out human nature in this kind of context. But I think we can dodge the question, just by applying brute force toward green jobs, public works, and other economy-spurring employment for people that will make sure that the physical, material labor that needs to happen actually does take place.
lyrics:
"So when you see your neighbor carryin' somethin',
Help him with his load,
And don't go mistaking Paradise
For that home across the road."
From The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest, by Bob Dylan
chant/prayer/mantra: health to us all, especially lester ray.
pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel
Labels: anti-oppression, Capitalism, classism, economics, our mission, politics, universal health care, USA
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Rolling Stone Article on the Truth Behind the Bank Bailouts
OMG, this article by Matt Taibbi just pushes me over the edge. I've been following all this stuff since I first heard of credit default swaps a couple years ago, but this article presents all the grisly details.
Here's two quotes that kind of sum up the situation (though they are not a summary of the article itself by any means) :
"...on the linear spectrum of capitalism to socialism, where exactly are we now? Is there a dictionary word that even describes what we are now? It would be funny, if it weren't such a nightmare."
"'Actually, come to think of it, why are we even giving taxpayer money to you people? Why are we not throwing your ass in jail instead?' But before you even finish saying that, they're rolling their eyes, because You Don't Get It. These people were never about anything except turning money into money, in order to get more money; valueswise they're on par with crack addicts...."
Either we can kiss the US capitalist system goodbye, or all the common people will be wage slaves working (if they are lucky) for those who are now in the process of outright stealing trillions from the US treasury and the Federal Reserve through a non-transparent process.
It makes me think of Henry Potter, when I hear about the big banks getting access to the TARP loans and other loans, and all the regional and small banks that were much more judicious about their lending practices have not gotten any money yet? Shame on the federal reserve and the US treasury, and everyone who let it get this bad.
lyrics: "We feed the cats to the rats, and the rats to the cats, and get the cat skins for nothing!"
lyrics: "We feed the cats to the rats, and the rats to the cats, and get the cat skins for nothing!"
From How to Skin a Cat, by Husker Du
colors: Black and Red. Mostly red. Not sure whether blood red, or red ink. Or blood used as red ink.
mood: Nervous.
chant/prayer/mantra: For a return to humanity's wholeness, and not this separateness.
pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel
colors: Black and Red. Mostly red. Not sure whether blood red, or red ink. Or blood used as red ink.
mood: Nervous.
chant/prayer/mantra: For a return to humanity's wholeness, and not this separateness.
pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel
Labels: classism, economics, freedom versus freedom, indifferent corporations, oppression, theological sources, USA
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
On Wealth vs. Poverty
.
.
.
..
The last year has shown us more about the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor than I can remember.
Here are a few things people have to say:
In this interview, Jared Diamond explains how the societies that do best are those where the well-being of the common people and the well-being of the rulers are tied together. In simplified terms, in the Netherlands, where everybody -- both rich and poor -- live below sea level, the rich ruling class made sure to have really good dikes. In New Orleans, where the ruling rich people live up on the hill, and the poor neighborhoods are flood risks, they sat around for 10 years without really upgrading the dikes.
From the comments, awesome quote #1: "Retention of power is the primary motivation of power." [Joel adds: it may be the case that it is, but is very much not the case that it should be.]
Awesome quote #2: "As far as the uber rich goes, until someone gives me a reason why I should care about people who don’t give a damn if people have food on their table, I’ll always be on the side that says ‘Fuck them’." [I would use non-expletives here, and would say that the reason to care about them is that they're humans. Horribly misguided and masked from the horrors, but human nonetheless. How far should we go in caring? That is another question entirely, partially answered by the quote below.]
Super-amazing quote #3:
pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel
.
.
..
The last year has shown us more about the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor than I can remember.
Here are a few things people have to say:
In this interview, Jared Diamond explains how the societies that do best are those where the well-being of the common people and the well-being of the rulers are tied together. In simplified terms, in the Netherlands, where everybody -- both rich and poor -- live below sea level, the rich ruling class made sure to have really good dikes. In New Orleans, where the ruling rich people live up on the hill, and the poor neighborhoods are flood risks, they sat around for 10 years without really upgrading the dikes.
From the comments, awesome quote #1: "Retention of power is the primary motivation of power." [Joel adds: it may be the case that it is, but is very much not the case that it should be.]
Awesome quote #2: "As far as the uber rich goes, until someone gives me a reason why I should care about people who don’t give a damn if people have food on their table, I’ll always be on the side that says ‘Fuck them’." [I would use non-expletives here, and would say that the reason to care about them is that they're humans. Horribly misguided and masked from the horrors, but human nonetheless. How far should we go in caring? That is another question entirely, partially answered by the quote below.]
Super-amazing quote #3:
"Somehow it’s always reasonable to hurt the poor as a way to make them shape up. Tougher bankruptcy laws, welfare reform, it’s all good social engineering.I'm with the equality now camp. I have a feeling that unfettered free-market capitalism will not give us that. Unfettered free-market capitalism gets us rich inheritees with diamond-encrusted dashboards, while other people are waking up on Christmas morning next to their shopping carts.But if you talk about hurting the rich to make them reform, it’s terrible. Taking money away from a guy with plenty more to spare is worse then taking money away from a person with none left.
You know, in the Aztec Empire, if you were a peasant convicted of public drunkenness, they’d shave your head to show people you’re an ass. If you were a noble convicted of public drunkenness, they’d just kill you, because they thought that people who were accorded great power and respect should behave themselves in a way befitting their station.
Here in America we’ve hit the point where the rich deserve to be rich because they are rich. They don’t have to be useful or polite or interesting or classy."
pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel
Labels: anti-oppression, art, Capitalism, classism
Monday, March 23, 2009
Immigrants being held in privately run detention facilities
Our country puts people in prison to work for pennies on the dollar. It helps the privately run prisons turn a profit. Please view this map, and article attached to it for more information.
I'm glad this issue is getting coverage by the New York Times.
Here's a quote from the article: "....an industry that detains half a million people a year, up from a few thousand just 15 years ago. The system operates without the rules that protect criminal suspects, and has grown up with little oversight, often in the backyards of communities desperate for any source of money and work."
pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel
I'm glad this issue is getting coverage by the New York Times.
Here's a quote from the article: "....an industry that detains half a million people a year, up from a few thousand just 15 years ago. The system operates without the rules that protect criminal suspects, and has grown up with little oversight, often in the backyards of communities desperate for any source of money and work."
pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel
Labels: changing the prison paradigm, classism, racism, USA
Stunning and Abstract Dream for Justice
.
pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel
What follows are my notes from the wee hours this morning.
I just woke up at 4:00 a.m. after hitting the sack with restless sleep, and had the most stunning anti racist, anti classist justice dream.
The dream seemed to be set at the Great Dane brewpub, during its grand opening, and also a few years later. In addition to the beer and restaurant, it was an avant garde speakeasy/burlesque playhouse, as if back in the 1920's. The play starred an African American man and an African American MTF transsexual in love, and it didn't go over well with everybody in the audience. As part of the avant garde show, that people were walking by, shaking their heads, including white gay men who were holding hands, because the show had a mixed black couple in love. I recall the crew joking afterwards, about a socially conservative woman so incensed by the material that the pulled out her hair pin and threw it. They said, "I've never seen blood run more quickly." (I'm not sure, was this referring to her withdrawing the pin so quickly and throwing it at the performers that she cut herself, or that she drew blood with the pin?)
Anyway, the playhouse had this awesome back room / green room, that was totally arted up, and I had the job of working on the crew for renovating it a year or so after the play had come and gone, and there was this balcony area on the second level with slats along ropes, that was like the kids' bridges at play-yards, but it was super-dangerous because it had no railing, and slanted downward from the wall, and would send people falling. When I brought this condition up to mgmt, they said that "Why, it seems like you weren't paying attention back when we wrote the play and showed it. You've got to wear shoes with better traction." In my dream, I had been on way too intoxicated during the months of the opening and performances, to remember the details very clearly at all.
And later, I was also waiting tables, as a server.* The servers at the restaurants were actually justice ministers. Wow. There was so much from the play that I had forgotten in the dream. I remember Sheila and Eric were in the dream. Agness and David and Bil were in the dream. And our dog Maggie was part of the play, but she was a show poodle, not a Jack Russell Terrier.
Also, when I was working on the renovation crew some time later (with the scary slat-bridge on the second floor, and other awkward stuff, with nails laying around and drywall bits, as from construction), I recall that the *other side* of the business had a constnat XM-type radio stream going, and we had just somebody flipping old tapes on a tape deck (a tapedeck that didn't even flip the tape), so we had to manually change it every 45 minutes.
Overall, the dream had a very lucid quality to it, so I had to get it down before it faded.
*I still have dreams that I'm waiting tables, probably at least once a month. I hate them, because when I wake up in the morning, it's like I've been working for eight hours, in a really stressful environment. I haven't waited tables since 1997, and am still having these dreams twelve years later.
pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel
Labels: anti-oppression, classism, dream recollection, LGBT, racism
Friday, February 6, 2009
Michael Phelps caught smoking from a bong
So uber-champion of swimming Michael Phelps had a picture of him smoking from a bong end up in a newspaper. And now lots of his sponsors are dropping his contract, including Kellogg's and Subway -- corporations which enjoy business from people who smoke marijuana. Perhaps they and the other folks trying to slap his wrist really are doing it because he should be a role model for kids, perhaps they're doing it because they don't want to be associated with marijuana because of family-goodness perceptions they want to keep alive.
There is a lot I would add to this discussion, but apparently, there are many professional journalists saying pretty much the same thing. Note a few of the headlines of the Related Blogs section from the page linked above (I will add my comments in []'s):
The simple way of saying this is that the context is being presented as if Michael Phelps spending some of his downtime in an altered state of consciousness cannot be allowed as a part of our worldview. For Christ's sake -- and I do mean that literally -- shaman and spiritual guides have been smoking and snorting herbs and such for thousands of years. When can we get real about drug policy, and get real about having a system of laws based on a deep and grounded ethical morality, and put people (and the planet) before ideologies?
pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel
There is a lot I would add to this discussion, but apparently, there are many professional journalists saying pretty much the same thing. Note a few of the headlines of the Related Blogs section from the page linked above (I will add my comments in []'s):
- "Why Are We Condemning Michael Phelps' Pot Use? Add decorated Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps to the growing list of successful Americans who happens to indulge in marijuana during his down time." [Or: they will be otherwise successful until they get found out.]
- "If Kellogg's Dumps Phelps, We Dump Kellogg's Tens of millions of Americans think that the public condemnation of Phelps is a farce. We're sick and tired of the public outings, and forced apologies and recantations, which perpetuate this shameless hypocrisy."
- " Michael Phelps, Hypocrisy, and American Drug Policy Today, public figures justify past drug use as "youthful indiscretions" and the matter is dropped. But the reality of drug arrests creates a justified perception economic and racial bias." [Let's face it, the drug laws are in place -- and unevenly enforced-- as a method of social control, to keep (groups of) people who are different, either in skin color, culture, or lifestyle choices on the defensive.]
- " Marijuana Blues: If All Americans Had Phelps' Press Experience, The Drug War Would Be Over Imagine how the economy would grind to (even more of!) a halt if we tried to arrest and incarcerate all of the people who had ever smoked pot." [Well, the privatized prison economy (complete with its sub-minimum-wage SLAVE labor) would continue to grow, until we can't find the tax money to pay for a dead-end prison system that destroys the lives of not only inmates, but also the guards/employees, and the towns they are in. Wackenhut is not hurting for earnings, however.]
- " Quit Crying Double-Standard Over Phelps America gives its marketable, talented and wealthy weed-smokers the Santonio Holmes treatment. We forgive and quickly forget." [This writer, Jason Whitlock, and I agree on my bracketed statement above: 'America's war on drugs is a scam to lock up poor people, a prop to advance political careers and an easy way for corrupt police and politicians to funnel millions of untraceable dollars into their own pockets.']
- " Petition to Boycott Kellogg's for Treatment of Michael Phelps Kellogg's has decided to end their relationship with Phelps after a photo of him surfaced doing exactly what most Kellogg's customers do right before enjoying a bowl of Rice Krispies with an Eggo on top." [LOL. But seriously, if there is an organized boycott of Kellogg's by all those who stand against our nation's drug policy and the continued insistence that the context of marijuana be one of criminality, it would be interesting to watch how deeply their margins are affected.]
- " Michael Phelps In Good Company According to a 2002 Time/CNN poll, 47% of Americans have smoked marijuana. Here's a list of famous users and advocates of the plant." [Includes Laura Bush, Donna Shalala, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sarah Palin, George Soros! President Barack Obama, President Bill Clinton, President James Madison, President John Kennedy, President Thomas Jefferson, President Andrew Jackson, President Franklin Pierce, Future California governor Brad Pitt (come on, if Reagan and Schwarzenegger can do it...), William F. Buckley, Jr, Jennifer Aniston, Utilitarian ethicist Jon Stuart Mill... Seriously, where have our values come to if we are willing to continue to use legislation and law enforcement to subjugate the lifestyles of large parts of our population?]
- " Excuses, Excuses: The Real Problem With Michael Phelps I flashed back to 2004 when Phelps was arrested for a DUI. He was 19, fresh off Athens and the magazine where I worked was honoring him for being a role model for young people." [Um... drinking and driving -- that IS a bad thing for which there should be negative repercussions, and which our society should find ways to make more difficult, and more unnecessary (more designated drivers, more taxis, better mass-transit...)]
- " Bong Hits for Phelps: No Apology Needed Phelps struck another blow to the myth that marijuana smokers are lazy. Successful and honorable people who have smoked some pot are all around us, from President Obama to Mayor Bloomberg." [True. When you start having more and more successful people stepping up being "exceptions to the rule," eventually it becomes clear that the rule is unsubstantiated.]
The simple way of saying this is that the context is being presented as if Michael Phelps spending some of his downtime in an altered state of consciousness cannot be allowed as a part of our worldview. For Christ's sake -- and I do mean that literally -- shaman and spiritual guides have been smoking and snorting herbs and such for thousands of years. When can we get real about drug policy, and get real about having a system of laws based on a deep and grounded ethical morality, and put people (and the planet) before ideologies?
pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel
Labels: anti-oppression, changing the prison paradigm, classism, drug war, equal rights, freedom versus freedom, personal religion, politics, theological sources
Friday, September 19, 2008
Christian Egalitarianism
.
...
...is acceptable to me.
Makes reference to
"There is [now no distinction] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male [a]and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." from Galatians 3:28. That and Romans 8:18-25 are about all the Paul I can take, however. Too toxic. Paul gets two points for two good pericope samples. Although this one kind of has a yonic invasive quality to it, it might be difficult to deal with for some folks who've been through certain Christian damage events, or who simply don't appreciate the violation of being hoovered into a giant wicker basket.
lyrics: Eddie Izzard, talking about the Stoics, on "Circle".
colors: blue, orange, and yellow, for an angel education picture i drew earlier today.
mood: metatronic, bionic, embryonic
chant/prayer/mantra: be. do. have (only a little). enjoy.
pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel
...
...is acceptable to me.
Makes reference to
"There is [now no distinction] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male [a]and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." from Galatians 3:28. That and Romans 8:18-25 are about all the Paul I can take, however. Too toxic. Paul gets two points for two good pericope samples. Although this one kind of has a yonic invasive quality to it, it might be difficult to deal with for some folks who've been through certain Christian damage events, or who simply don't appreciate the violation of being hoovered into a giant wicker basket.
lyrics: Eddie Izzard, talking about the Stoics, on "Circle".
colors: blue, orange, and yellow, for an angel education picture i drew earlier today.
mood: metatronic, bionic, embryonic
chant/prayer/mantra: be. do. have (only a little). enjoy.
pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel
Labels: anti-oppression, Book of Romans, classism, coursework, equal rights, freedom versus freedom, heaven on earth, Multitheticalism, parousia, racism, theological sources, Universalism, Women's Rights
Friday, June 24, 2005
A few moments for straight up politics...
Hi.
Today while I was driving back from a doctor's appointment (I'm doing better lately, thank you), while I was stopped at a stoplight on the corner of Washington and Mendota by Schlotschky's sandwich shop, and wheere K-Mart used to be, I looked to my left. There in the car to my left was a man probably five years younger than me, with black skin, and a shaved head, dressed in camo army fatigues.
That got me thinking. There have been a lot of American soldiers sent over to Iraq, and many of them have come back, and will carry the memory of their story from over there until they die. Most of them will pass the emotions they carry onto their wives, husbands, children, friends and loved ones.
On behalf of the good people of America, I'll submit that the Bush administration, the previous Bush administration, and their supporters have our most sincere sarcastic thanks for bringing a wrong and harmful war to this generation. It seems that every generation has a war, and many of them have been necessary; however this one was not only unnecessary and harmful to both American and Iraqi citizens, it was entered into with an atmosphere of secrecy, lies, and coercion. And thanks to trade deficits, here in America, we are going to find that China will surpass us over time as the major economic power. They have been making better decisions, have been conserving their resources, where we spend amazing amounts of money on military. Our military depends on our economy, which the Bush people seem determined to drive into the ground.
Oh, don't get me wrong, the economy may seem to be doing "well" but our country, like many others is sufffering with wider class divisions. The rich in our country are doing well. But if you're poor in the United States, and trying hard not to be, you're poor BY DESIGN. In America, we need to keep people poor, so they'll see military service as a possible way out. We need the poor so that there will be people willing to struggle at low-pay jobs so we can get our burgers, factory-made products, and other services for cheap. Did I just say "factory made products for cheap"? Sounds like China, Southeast Asia, or Central America? That's where we're heading. Meanwhile, the lion's share of your tax dollars and mine are going toward war and military expenditures, and toward benefits to corporations, with the idea that the corporate giveaways will "trickle down" to the workers. Let's play the bullsht card on that right now. Alex, I'll take bullsht economics for 800. Hmmm, I think I'll go with "What new way is the investor class taking advantage of to gain additional assets at the expense of the working poor, the working class AND the middle class AND the upper-middle class?" That's a lot of people.
On top of fucking the poor today, we are fucking almost EVERYONE in future generations. Wait, I'd like to exclude myself from that list. I am not fucking the people in the future, or the poor today. I am with the people trying to get them unfucked. Unless the United States declares bankruptcy, our great grandchildren in America are going to have little tax dollars to put toward anything except to pay off the debts incurred during the Reagan-era deficit spending fiasco. The 80's credit card bill pales in comparison to the absolute free-for-all rate the Bush Administration are borrowing at. The next 12 years, our government is going to have to run on a skeleton budget, and will be unable to provide for the citizen's welfare (I'm no civics genius, but I think providing for citizen welfare is mentioned somewhere in the declaration of independence or the constitution). In addition, there will be very little money for the U.S. governnment to actually govern people, corporations, or itself. OMG, our government needs to govern itself? Yes, it does, and that's why our forefathers designed the government to have three parts, so there'd be checks and balances. Let's review:
Executive Branch = Republicans
Legislative Branch = Republicans
Judicial Branch = Republicans
The checks and balances are gone. Our government now needs outside government. Even the fourth estate, the media, is in Republican hands, now that even PBS is being run by a Kenneth Tomlinson, who has direct connections to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Those who say the media are liberal are liars, and they are simply spinning propaganda. Believe these words, or believe theirs, and you'll know which side you fall on pretty fast.
In any case, I highly doubt that these debts can or will be paid back. Great. How can these goliath-sized problems be rectified or fixed? I think we need to start a new action-oriented thinktank.
Thanks for reading.
Joel
Today while I was driving back from a doctor's appointment (I'm doing better lately, thank you), while I was stopped at a stoplight on the corner of Washington and Mendota by Schlotschky's sandwich shop, and wheere K-Mart used to be, I looked to my left. There in the car to my left was a man probably five years younger than me, with black skin, and a shaved head, dressed in camo army fatigues.
That got me thinking. There have been a lot of American soldiers sent over to Iraq, and many of them have come back, and will carry the memory of their story from over there until they die. Most of them will pass the emotions they carry onto their wives, husbands, children, friends and loved ones.
On behalf of the good people of America, I'll submit that the Bush administration, the previous Bush administration, and their supporters have our most sincere sarcastic thanks for bringing a wrong and harmful war to this generation. It seems that every generation has a war, and many of them have been necessary; however this one was not only unnecessary and harmful to both American and Iraqi citizens, it was entered into with an atmosphere of secrecy, lies, and coercion. And thanks to trade deficits, here in America, we are going to find that China will surpass us over time as the major economic power. They have been making better decisions, have been conserving their resources, where we spend amazing amounts of money on military. Our military depends on our economy, which the Bush people seem determined to drive into the ground.
Oh, don't get me wrong, the economy may seem to be doing "well" but our country, like many others is sufffering with wider class divisions. The rich in our country are doing well. But if you're poor in the United States, and trying hard not to be, you're poor BY DESIGN. In America, we need to keep people poor, so they'll see military service as a possible way out. We need the poor so that there will be people willing to struggle at low-pay jobs so we can get our burgers, factory-made products, and other services for cheap. Did I just say "factory made products for cheap"? Sounds like China, Southeast Asia, or Central America? That's where we're heading. Meanwhile, the lion's share of your tax dollars and mine are going toward war and military expenditures, and toward benefits to corporations, with the idea that the corporate giveaways will "trickle down" to the workers. Let's play the bullsht card on that right now. Alex, I'll take bullsht economics for 800. Hmmm, I think I'll go with "What new way is the investor class taking advantage of to gain additional assets at the expense of the working poor, the working class AND the middle class AND the upper-middle class?" That's a lot of people.
On top of fucking the poor today, we are fucking almost EVERYONE in future generations. Wait, I'd like to exclude myself from that list. I am not fucking the people in the future, or the poor today. I am with the people trying to get them unfucked. Unless the United States declares bankruptcy, our great grandchildren in America are going to have little tax dollars to put toward anything except to pay off the debts incurred during the Reagan-era deficit spending fiasco. The 80's credit card bill pales in comparison to the absolute free-for-all rate the Bush Administration are borrowing at. The next 12 years, our government is going to have to run on a skeleton budget, and will be unable to provide for the citizen's welfare (I'm no civics genius, but I think providing for citizen welfare is mentioned somewhere in the declaration of independence or the constitution). In addition, there will be very little money for the U.S. governnment to actually govern people, corporations, or itself. OMG, our government needs to govern itself? Yes, it does, and that's why our forefathers designed the government to have three parts, so there'd be checks and balances. Let's review:
Executive Branch = Republicans
Legislative Branch = Republicans
Judicial Branch = Republicans
The checks and balances are gone. Our government now needs outside government. Even the fourth estate, the media, is in Republican hands, now that even PBS is being run by a Kenneth Tomlinson, who has direct connections to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Those who say the media are liberal are liars, and they are simply spinning propaganda. Believe these words, or believe theirs, and you'll know which side you fall on pretty fast.
In any case, I highly doubt that these debts can or will be paid back. Great. How can these goliath-sized problems be rectified or fixed? I think we need to start a new action-oriented thinktank.
Thanks for reading.
Joel
Labels: Capitalism, classism, economics, politics, war and peace
