Peace - an end

Peace is a word
Of the sea and the wind.
Peace is a bird who sings
As you smile.
Peace is the love
Of a foe as a friend;
Peace is the love you bring
To a child

Searching for me
You look everywhere,
Except beside you.
Searching for you
You look everywhere,
But not inside you.

Peace is a stream
From the heart of a man;
Peace is a man,
whose breadth
Is the dawn.
Peace is a dawn
On a day without end;
Peace is the end, like death
Of the war.

words by Pete Sinfield from a song by King Crimson

Dawning of the Age of Aquarius

In mid February a rare astrological concentration brings together a number of planets together with the North Node - denoting higher purpose - in Aquarius that energizes and inspires the possibility for transcendental breakthrough in some perhaps seemingly intransigent situations.



We measure our global sense of both space (latitude and longitude) and time (universal time - UT or GMT) from the prime meridian located at Greenwich, England. So we can perceive the collective influence of this momentous astrological event by looking at the alignment from this globally ‘centered’ perspective.



When we do something extraordinary the exquisite emerges.



At dawn on 14th February the day dedicated to St Valentine, the patron saint of Love, the Moon in Libra enters the seventh house of relationships. And Jupiter and Mars are aligned in Aquarius in the twelfth house of spiritual transformation.



Forty years ago, the intuitive words of a song called Aquarius, brought the dawning of the new age into our collective awareness:



When the Moon is in the seventh house

and Jupiter aligns with Mars.

Then love will rule the planets

and peace will steer the stars



At dawn on 14th February the Cosmos actually embodies this perfect alignment to support our collective manifestation of love and peace and the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.

Dominos

I saw naked children

running on the beach

joyously soaking in the sun

oblivious to the seemingly important.

Left with only the now

we become aware of the moment.

Clearly seeing the present

life reveals its miracle

neatly arranged dominos

all ready to fall.

Raising Consciousness

I have an innate anxiety built into my brain.

It happens whenever I'm on line somewhere and the time comes for a person ahead of me to pay for their goods or services and one of them has a hard time with English. I start getting nervous for the struggling speaker, knowing the frustration they must feel. Mostly I fear for the reaction of the English-speaking party, who in my experience is generally frustrated or even angry at the barrier presented. I've seen this drama unfold many times before in my life, but didn't quite fully grasp its meaning till today at the Post Office when the same premise emerged yet no conflict occurred.

It struck me that the presumption of English is a terribly destructive force in society, much like the presumption of heterosexuality: we build our entire understanding of the world upon its foundation and rarely question its fairness or applicability. Somehow this presumption justifies our anger. Should it? It seemed to me so lovely to see both parties today earnestly working through the divide to help one another. Why can't we just err on the side of empathy?

It reminded me of Richard Dawkins' exercise of showing maps of the world to students from opposing hemispheres where the orientation of north and south are reversed. He termed it "raising consciousness".

Always feels good to have it done.


For more, visit Rants, Raves and Rethoughts

Come, come, whoever you are.
Wonderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.
It doesn't matter.
Ours is not a caravan of despair.
Come, even if you have broken your vow
a thousand times
Come, yet again, come, come.

Rumi

The National Security Agency

We're listening to every word,

we're reading every e-mail,

we know who you are,

we know where you live.

The Tsunami of Greed

Recently, Mr Pat Cox, former Irish President of The European Parliament, scholar and politician, diagnosed the root cause of the economic recession here in Ireland as being the tsunami of greed that had enveloped the mythical and legendary green isle. The land of mythical leprecauns had become the land of the mythical Celtic Tiger. Most Irish people swallowed whole this myth of inevitable progess and increasing wealth. With greed and selfishness the core values, there seemed to be no hindering the onward flight of the legendary Tiger. However, some few perspicacious souls like Eddie Hobbs (financial adviser) and David McWilliams (economist and journalist)saw through the myth and saw that the Celtic Tiger was but an inflated toy made of rather brittle plastic. Now the economic bubble has burst and the Tiger is a deflated, sad and lifeless mess.

Our national economic boom was a myth based upon a vastly over-priced housing market. The basic economic law of supply and demand brought the whole rotten mess collapsing down. Now we have an oversupply of houses and apartments and what has come to be termed "ghost housing estates" in many rural areas around the country. Bankers lent too much money to builders who in turn cannot sell the houses at vastly over-inflated prices. Added to this, we have been dealt the second blow of the international economic crisis.

However, this short post will not attempt too much analysis of the economic situation as its writer is poorly equipped to do so. However, it would seem to all and sundry that what has caused both our national crisis and indeed the international one has been nothing short of naked greed and selfishness. The world needs leaders at this moment in time. Barak Obama, the US President, is one such towering leader with principles and ideals. He is standing up to all those who have been sucked into headless and heartless capitalism. He is to be praised for capping the earnings of CEOs at $250,000. We need to follow his leadership here in Ireland. We need such leaders in the world today. Mr Obama can walk the walk as well as talking the talk.

"Disposable" plastic

"Disposable" plastic........

is trash that lasts forever.

The Magnificent Deception

...it's as worth to watch as John Zerzan's SURPLUS, Thomas Toivonen's DEAD SOCIETY, Peter Joseph's ZEITGEIST and ADDENDUM, etc... here's ThinkFree.ca and DivergentFilms' limited edition version of The Magnificent Deception, Rob Menard's newest video on the concepts of Freedom, Law, and Commerce, and how they relate to Persons, Humans, and Freesouls-On-Land. This is the preview version of the Sequel to Bursting Bubbles of Government Deception.

good matter for thinking!

The Girl Effect

GIRL

(click)

Your children

Don't cry for me.....

.....I'm already dead.


........The Simpsons........

Anti*dis*damn*capitalism

Gay marriage

If those gays want to get married,

I think we should let 'em,

they have the right

to be as miserable as the rest of us.

(hee hee)

Man of Peace

Be kind whenever possible.

It is always possible.


.....His Holiness The Dalai Lama.....

"If wishes were horses,

beggars would ride."

Soylent Green

Soylent Green......is people!

Hamas seizes food,medicine,and blankets

In Jerusalem hamas takes away supplies meant for people in Gaza, the hamas organization said they were taking the supplies because they may get to people not supportive of their terrorist organization, way to go shitheads you discovered another way for the world to hate you, i didn't think it was possible but you found a way. So how is this supposed to help your global image, and the people of Gaza's view of your organization, i mean come on we closed Guantanamo bay, can you wait at least a month before you piss us off again. Stop this inhumanity hamas and don't be such douche bags to people who don't support terrorism.

Big Brother

Big Brother...

...is watching you

Zeitgeist

When the power of love

overcomes the love of power

the world will know peace

.....Sri Chinmoy Ghose.....

patriot parasites

The paradox behavior of those trying to sell us the "Trickle Down Theory"
is how it turned into the "Suck It Up Parasite."

Money used to be building blocks now it is sand.
The foundation to build on is supportive credit for participation.

Getting healthy (and active) is the job that relates effort to contribution.
Filling forms is automatic credit to reverse tax needs
by integrated interviewing to practice understanding agreement.

Representation could be the evaluation exercise that qualifies advertising intent.
Supportive attitudes encourage, but discouragement makes victimizers critical.

We have become critical consumers (slaves) other than appreciative tribute givers (entitled patriots.)

I Like Ike

In the councils of government,
we must guard against the acquisition
of unwarranted influence, whether sought
or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.
The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced
power exists and will persist. We must never let the
weight of this combination endanger our liberties or
democratic processes. We should take nothing for
granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable
citizenry can compel the proper meshing
of the huge industrial and military
machinery of defense with our
peaceful methods and goals,
so that
security
and liberty
may prosper
together.
Dwight D. Eisenhower's Farewell Address to the Nation, 01.17.61

Baptism of Christ

Aert de Gelder (1645-1727)

Guernica

Post Guernica now!
plaster it on all the walls,
on freeway billboards, schools,
work spaces, churches, and restrooms.
it moves the bowels in a most agreeable manner,
the smell of shit brings one down to earth again.

Guernica by Pablo Picasso

all about choices

Same new paper
the other side
of the page...

Collage by C.L.DeMedeiros

Bob Dobbs

Conspiracy theory?.......

....it's not a theory.

I told you so

Photo by C.L.DeMedeiros

The Changing Winds

I stood in the post office today and couldn't help but notice the change.

You'd think with people being told daily of the looming depression and the multiplying dangers overseas, they would at least be gloomy if not downright testy. They're being told that their retirements are in jepoardy, that their jobs are likely to be slashed, that income is stagnant and credit frozen, that their sons, daughters, husbands and wives may be shipped off to Afghanistan as soon as they get home from Iraq.

Yet in spite of all that, the joy was infectious at the post office as everyone celebrated an adorable 3-month old child sitting in a carriage wondering what all the fuss was about (and growing up in a politically colorblind world).

Permit this writer of empiricism the lyrics of postulation...

I, too, have been unable to grab hold of depression. Try as I might, there's just too much potential being articulated day in and day out. The headlines are grim, but they are always overcome by the can-do spirit of our government now, which daily seems to have a new shoe to throw at the problem. There's something inspiring and uplifting about that.

I keep thinking about this historic campaign built on community and it strikes me too that for the first time in my life, people are genuinely proud of one another. They have a stake in this President, in this future we've all now invested in, and they are bound to each other like never before. Unlike the Bush years, where the citizen (and her or his rights) was the subject of scoffing, we are reminded not of a White House, but of a People's House; not of the government, but of our government.

Who knows?

I may be reading far too much into the nice California weather today.

I listened intently to a disgruntled professor from Yale today on the radio stirring up worry that these modern tools of communication were actually serving to drive us farther apart. I couldn't help but muse that someone must've said that about the telephone too.

This is one of those times in history that we'll tell future generations about. The seeds of nostalgia are being planted excitedly and I'm rushing to change my Facebook status accordingly...

For more, visit Rants, Raves and Rethoughts

Obstruction of Justice

A glimpse into the GOP playbook:

They can cram down a stimulus package without Republican support, but if that happens, then when, as we believe, in six months or so, when the American people say, 'Wait a minute, we're not better off. In fact, we're worse off than we were six months ago. Who is responsible for this and what can be done to fix it?' Republicans then are going to be in a position to say, 'We didn't have the input in this and that's why it didn't work.' - Sen. John Kyl (R - Arizona)

Get the game?

I'm never one to jump into partisan politics and as a general rule of thumb, the Democrats can be just as dumb as the Republicans when it comes to governing. We forget that the GOP wasn't alone in its acquiescence to much of the destruction wrought by the Bush years.

But the No Vote on the stimulus in the House does highlight what appears to be a strategy of sorts: the "I Told You So". While politically smart (if they win, they can wag their fingers, if they lose, no one will likely remember), it's also cowardly and they should be called out on it.

The Democrats (perhaps just President Obama) have shown a great deal of political courage in accepting concessions, parring down excess and controversy and extending a genuine hand of compromise. Should that hand get continually slapped by the GOP, the public will notice, weary as it is of bickering and ineptitude. This new age of responsibility might boomerang back around and whip the GOP where the sun don't shine...


For more, visit Rants, Raves and Rethoughts

Dr. Johnson

Patriotism

is the last refuge

of a scoundrel

........Samuel Johnson........

Change

Okay so how can Islamic people claim to want change but still punish people so brutally, take for instance, today Islamic militants chop off a theif's hand, he stole only 300$ dollars of fishing nets from a businesswomen, and on november 1st 2008 they stoned a 13 year old for adultery even through she was raped by 3 men. The group that did this atrocity is called al-Shabab and it is the
the group that controls Somalia. Come on people stop this almost "never ending spree of death and violence and hate" if you know your Offspring music you can name this song just post a comment if you know it sorry im kind of hyper. I think some people need to go over there and stop this fucking insanity come on we can't just sit around with our heads up our asses. In u.s. news john coleman left his marching band after he received a 6 month suspension after he nodded and waved at President Obama,come on people just because he broke a idiotic regulation
about breaking parade decorum whatever the hell that means. latters