And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of
every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die.
The Temptation of Adam and
Expulsion from the Garden of Eden
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Sistine Chapel
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
The Original Sin
The Problems Of Peace
The enemy is fear
the enemy is hate
the enemy is ignorance
the enemy is intolerance
the enemy is violence
the enemy is war
"War is a cowardly escape
from the problems of peace"
...Thomas Mann...
Another country
President Obama has decided on a settlement between the Navajo and Hopi Indians during his first year in office. Imagine that. I wonder when the last time a sitting president could make that claim. Marijuana production is definitely on the rise around here. The Mexican Cartels are moving their operations to the US. It’s especially apparent in California. This doesn’t surprise me much. It’s common practice for US businesses to set-up shop closer to their market. The border community between the U.S and Mexico is becoming another country. They even have a name for it: El Tercer Pais. Literally ‘the third country’. It’s a place where people go about their business without much regard for what legislatures decide on either side. Meanwhile, smugglers are using cranes to lift cars, filled with marijuana, over that scary fence we built ..reinforcing the notion of how adaptable humans can be. If you build it, they will climb it. I wonder when we’re going to end this crazy charade that has transferred so much wealth to the drug cartels that, pretty soon ..they’re going to declare sovereignty over El Tercer Pais ..and defend its borders with more than just a wall.
War
Strident pronouncements from the
pulpit of state
proclaiming superiority,
demanding loyalty,
stirring the shimmering
caldron of fear,
a tsunami of emotions
assaulting the senses.
War grinds on
poking desperate holes in
the fabric of reason.
Humans stand astride
the abyss of the damned
and plunge without reluctance
into the chaos of their own making.
War shreds humanity
under the staggering weight
of bountiful corpses
left bloodless,
discharged from the living
in a torrent of metal and fire.
Cycles of endless violence and
retribution,
falling upon the sharpened spikes
of hatred
ignorance
fear.
War glorifies pointless death
upon the altar of
the unrelenting darkness
I mourn for all the pointless death,
for the gravestones piled high upon
the beleaguered hearts of all the mothers
who have wept over the ashes
of their vanquished children.
Wars’ hollow victories
give succor to the void
and offer the promise
of future grief upon the bones of
fractured peace.
I mourn for needless suffering,
for the compendium of horrors,
for the blood and sinews of the
armies of victims who
fall to the earth so thoroughly broken.
War is carnage
unredeemed by the rhetoric of
shallow righteousness or
the politics of punishment and retribution.
I long for a time when peace is
no longer a sentiment
reserved for the prophets,
not just a word used on
special occasions,
not simply a sweet turn of phrase
laced within the rhetoric of
the politics of deception,
but a way of being
within the substance of humanity.
pulpit of state
proclaiming superiority,
demanding loyalty,
stirring the shimmering
caldron of fear,
a tsunami of emotions
assaulting the senses.
War grinds on
poking desperate holes in
the fabric of reason.
Humans stand astride
the abyss of the damned
and plunge without reluctance
into the chaos of their own making.
War shreds humanity
under the staggering weight
of bountiful corpses
left bloodless,
discharged from the living
in a torrent of metal and fire.
Cycles of endless violence and
retribution,
falling upon the sharpened spikes
of hatred
ignorance
fear.
War glorifies pointless death
upon the altar of
the unrelenting darkness
I mourn for all the pointless death,
for the gravestones piled high upon
the beleaguered hearts of all the mothers
who have wept over the ashes
of their vanquished children.
Wars’ hollow victories
give succor to the void
and offer the promise
of future grief upon the bones of
fractured peace.
I mourn for needless suffering,
for the compendium of horrors,
for the blood and sinews of the
armies of victims who
fall to the earth so thoroughly broken.
War is carnage
unredeemed by the rhetoric of
shallow righteousness or
the politics of punishment and retribution.
I long for a time when peace is
no longer a sentiment
reserved for the prophets,
not just a word used on
special occasions,
not simply a sweet turn of phrase
laced within the rhetoric of
the politics of deception,
but a way of being
within the substance of humanity.
Regarding the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle - UAV
The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is now a standard component in the arsenal of warfare used by United States military forces. They have been used extensively in Iraq to “pacify” the insurgents without risking the lives of U.S. troops; this was especially case in Sadr City. Currently, UAVs are being used in both Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan.
These highly technical devices require a complex infrastructure involving satellites and GPS and communications channels able to handle staggering amounts of information Images from a drone can be relayed instantly to a laptop with the ground unit, a command center located miles away, and to imagery analysts thousands of miles away. They are products of the technological age.
Currently there are over 1200 UAVs within the staggering U.S. military arsenal (in one estimation the US military budget – 607 billion dollars – represents forty-one percent of the world total and higher than the combined expenditures of the remaining nine countries in the top ten). These devices can deliver lethal weapons of mass destruction to targets from instructions sent from a laptop half a world away. The command and control procedures for these weapons have been compared to playing video games.
UAVs are not simply a technological breakthrough; they represent a new concept in the very idea of warfare. The death and destruction that is the obvious outcome of war can be sanitized, for the carnage that is unleashed by these robotic killing machines can be viewed dispassionately from great distances on LCD monitors. Those who produce mayhem and death can accomplish this through keystrokes and are “spared” the unwholesome prospect of seeing the results of their labor – the blood and bones and shattered skulls and viscera, the stench of death and the anguish of mothers over the death of their children. These technicians, who take their orders from the military strategists who project military power, can go home from a day of work without having to come to grips with the stark reality of what they do. The act of destroying life and creating suffering without feeling any emotional or ethical repercussions is, in my mind, the essence of evil.
Warfare of this nature foretells an ominous trend in the future prospects for mankind. War made easier and less costly for those who possess the economic power to devise and produce such weapons will make the prospect for a peaceful world even more remote than it currently is.
These highly technical devices require a complex infrastructure involving satellites and GPS and communications channels able to handle staggering amounts of information Images from a drone can be relayed instantly to a laptop with the ground unit, a command center located miles away, and to imagery analysts thousands of miles away. They are products of the technological age.
Currently there are over 1200 UAVs within the staggering U.S. military arsenal (in one estimation the US military budget – 607 billion dollars – represents forty-one percent of the world total and higher than the combined expenditures of the remaining nine countries in the top ten). These devices can deliver lethal weapons of mass destruction to targets from instructions sent from a laptop half a world away. The command and control procedures for these weapons have been compared to playing video games.
UAVs are not simply a technological breakthrough; they represent a new concept in the very idea of warfare. The death and destruction that is the obvious outcome of war can be sanitized, for the carnage that is unleashed by these robotic killing machines can be viewed dispassionately from great distances on LCD monitors. Those who produce mayhem and death can accomplish this through keystrokes and are “spared” the unwholesome prospect of seeing the results of their labor – the blood and bones and shattered skulls and viscera, the stench of death and the anguish of mothers over the death of their children. These technicians, who take their orders from the military strategists who project military power, can go home from a day of work without having to come to grips with the stark reality of what they do. The act of destroying life and creating suffering without feeling any emotional or ethical repercussions is, in my mind, the essence of evil.
Warfare of this nature foretells an ominous trend in the future prospects for mankind. War made easier and less costly for those who possess the economic power to devise and produce such weapons will make the prospect for a peaceful world even more remote than it currently is.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
The Orion Nebula
In 1967, Greek physicist Paul Santorini, a Manhattan Project scientist, publicly stated that a 1947 Greek government investigation that he headed into the European Ghost rockets of 1946 quickly concluded that they were not missiles. Santorini claimed the investigation was then quashed by military officials from the U.S., who knew them to be extraterrestrial, because there was no defense against the advanced technology and they feared widespread panic should the results become public.
A 1948 Top Secret USAF Europe document states that Swedish Air Intelligence informed them that at least some of their investigators into the ghost rockets and flying saucers concluded they had extraterrestrial origins: "...Flying saucers have been reported by so many sources and from such a variety of places that we are convinced that they cannot be disregarded and must be explained on some basis which is perhaps slightly beyond the scope of our present intelligence thinking. When officers of this Directorate recently visited the Swedish Air Intelligence Service... their answer was that some reliable and fully technically qualified people have reached the conclusion that 'these phenomena are obviously the result of a high technical skill which cannot be credited to any presently known culture on earth.' They are therefore assuming that these objects originate from some previously unknown or unidentified technology, possibly outside the earth."
In 1948, the USAF's Project Sign wrote a Top Secret Estimate of the Situation, concluding that the ETH (extraterrestrial hypothesis) was the most likely explanation for the most perplexing unexplained cases. The study was ordered destroyed by USAF chief of staff General Hoyt Vandenberg, citing lack of proof. Knowledge of the existence of the Estimate has come from insiders who said they read a surviving copy, including later USAF Project Blue Book head Edward J. Ruppelt and astronomer and USAF consultant Dr. J. Allen Hynek.
West Germany, in conjunction with other European countries, conducted a secret study from 1951 to 1954, also concluding that UFOs were extraterrestrial. This study was revealed by German rocketry pioneer Hermann Oberth, who headed the study and who also made many public statements supporting the ETH in succeeding years. At the study's conclusion in 1954, Oberth declared, "These objects (UFOs) are conceived and directed by intelligent beings of a very high order. They do not originate in our solar system, perhaps not in our galaxy." Soon afterwards, in an article in The American Weekly, October 24, 1954, Oberth wrote "It is my thesis that flying saucers are real and that they are space ships from another solar system. I think that they possibly are manned by intelligent observers who are members of a race that may have been investigating our earth for centuries..."
During the height of the flying saucer "flap" of July 1952, including highly publicized radar/visual and jet intercepts over Washington, D.C., the FBI was informed by the Air Force Directorate of Intelligence that they thought the "flying saucers" were either "optical illusions or atmospheric phenomena" but then added that, "some Military officials are seriously considering the possibility of interplanetary ships."
The CIA started their own internal scientific review the following day. Some CIA scientists were also seriously considering the ETH. An early memo from August was very skeptical, but also added, "...as long as a series of reports remains 'unexplainable' (interplanetary aspects and alien origin not being thoroughly excluded from consideration) caution requires that intelligence continue coverage of the subject." A report from later that month was similarly skeptical but nevertheless concluded "...sightings of UFOs reported at Los Alamos and Oak Ridge, at a time when the background radiation count had risen inexplicably. Here we run out of even 'blue yonder' explanations that might be tenable, and we still are left with numbers of incredible reports from credible observers." A December 1952 memo from the Assistant CIA Director of Scientific Intelligence (O/SI) was much more urgent: "...the reports of incidents convince us that there is something going on that must have immediate attention. Sightings of unexplained objects at great altitudes and traveling at highs speeds in the vicinity of U.S. defense installation are of such nature that they are not attributable to natural phenomena or known types of aerial vehicles." Some of the memos also made it clear that CIA interest in the subject was not to be made public, partly in fear of possible public panic.
The CIA organized the January 1953 Robertson Panel of scientists to debunk the data collected by the Air Force's Project Blue Book. This included an engineering analysis of UFO maneuvers by Blue Book (including a motion picture film analysis by Naval scientists) that had concluded UFOs were under intelligent control and likely extraterrestrial.
Extraterrestrial "believers" within Project Blue Book included Major Dewey Fournet, in charge of the engineering analysis of UFO motion, who later became a board member on the civilian UFO organization NICAP. Blue Book director Edward J. Ruppelt privately commented on other firm "pro-UFO" members in the USAF investigations, including some Pentagon generals, such as Charles P. Cabell, USAF Chief of Air Intelligence, who angry at the inaction and debunkery of Project Grudge, dissolved it in 1951, established Project Blue Book in its place, and made Ruppelt director. In 1953, Cabell became deputy director of the CIA. Another defector from the official Air Force party line was consultant Dr. J. Allen Hynek, who started out as a staunch skeptic. After 20 years of investigation, he changed positions and generally supported the ETH. He became the most publicly known UFO advocate scientist in the 1970s and 1980s.
The first CIA Director, Vice Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, stated in a signed statement to Congress, also reported in the New York Times, February 28, 1960, "It is time for the truth to be brought out... Behind the scenes high-ranking Air Force officers are soberly concerned about the UFOs. However, through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe the unknown flying objects are nonsense... I urge immediate Congressional action to reduce the dangers from secrecy about unidentified flying objects." In 1962, in his letter of resignation from NICAP, he told director Donald Keyhoe, "I know the UFOs are not U.S. or Soviet devices. All we can do now is wait for some actions by the UFOs."
Although the 1968 Condon Report came to a negative conclusion (written by Condon), it is known that many members of the study strongly disagreed with Condon's methods and biases. Most quit the project in disgust or were fired for insubordination. A few became ETH supporters. Perhaps the best known example is Dr. David Saunders, who in his 1968 book UFOs? Yes lambasted Condon for extreme bias and ignoring or misrepresenting critical evidence. Saunders wrote, "It is clear... that the sightings have been going on for too long to explain in terms of straightforward terrestrial intelligence. It's in this sense that ETI (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) stands as the 'least implausible' explanation of 'real UFOs'."
In 1999, the private French COMETA report (written primarily by military defense analysts) stated the conclusion regarding UFO phenomena, that a "single hypothesis sufficiently takes into account the facts and, for the most part, only calls for present-day science. It is the hypothesis of extraterrestrial visitors." The report noted issues with formulating the extraterrestrial hypothesis, likening its study to the study of meteorites, but concluded that although it was far from the best scientific hypothesis, "strong presumptions exist in its favour". The report also concludes that the studies it presents "demonstrate the almost certain physical reality of completely unknown flying objects with remarkable flight performances and noiselessness, apparently operated by intelligent [beings] … Secret craft definitely of early origins (drones, stealth aircraft, etc.) can only explain a minority of cases. If we go back far enough in time, we clearly perceive the limits of this explanation."
Jean-Jacques Velasco, the head of the official French UFO investigation SEPRA, wrote a book in 2005 saying that 14% of the 5800 cases studied by SEPRA were utterly inexplicable and extraterrestrial in origin. Yves Sillard, the head of the new official French UFO investigation GEIPAN and former head of the French space agency CNES, echoes Velasco's comments and adds the U.S. is guilty of covering up this information. Again, this isn't the official public posture of SEPRA, CNES, or the French government. (CNES recently placed their 5800 case files on the Internet starting March 2007.)
Physicist Bernard Haisch on his "ufoskeptic" website presents a number of counterarguments to those of Hynek. Haisch argues he is convinced something is going on and that modern theories of physics and cosmology might support extraterrestrial or even interdimensional origins for UFOs.
In a 1969 report to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the late American physicist James E. McDonald summarized his reasons for not dismissing the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis:
"Present evidence surely does not amount to incontrovertible proof of the extraterrestrial hypothesis. What I find scientifically dismaying is that, while a large body of UFO evidence now seems to point in no other direction than the extraterrestrial hypothesis, the profoundly important implications of that possibility are going unconsidered by the scientific community because this entire problem has been imputed to be little more than a nonsense matter unworthy of serious scientific attention."
The Universe is a big place...
...the mathematical possibility that other
intelligent space faring life forms exist is
0.9999999999999999999infinity......1=100%
...I think we are not alone.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Short, Sharp, Shock
This video is a re-creation, from the movie "Signs", of an event that occurred in Brazil, January 1996. Click the links below for the story.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Proper Task
Art is the proper task of life
...Friedrich Nietzsche...
Girl With A Pearl Earring
Johannes Vermeer
1665
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Rocky Mountain High
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
(cbsnews.com)
Yesterday, in Breckenridge Colorado, 72 percent of voters in early returns voted to make up to 1 ounce of marijuana legal for adults over 21. The measure is largely symbolic — pot possession is still against state law — but supporters said they wanted to send a message to local law enforcement to stop busting small-time pot smokers.
"We believe this a signal to the state of Colorado and the nation as a whole," said Sean McAllister, a Breckenridge lawyer who pushed the decriminalization measure. McAllister said the vote shows people want to skip medical marijuana and legalize pot for everyone. They're saying, We've seen this drug war, and it has failed.
A few other cities, including Seattle and Oakland, have laws that make marijuana possession a low priority for police. A dozen states, including Colorado, have decriminalized possession of small amounts but still issue fines. Denver approved a similar decriminalization in 2005. (usatoday.com)
Last September the Alaska Supreme Court upheld a previous ruling that allows adults aged 21 and older to use and possess up to four ounces of marijuana in the privacy of their homes, and not just for medical use.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has called for an open debate on legalizing and taxing marijuana. A recent Field Poll showed that 56 percent of Californians support taxing and regulating marijuana as a way to address the state's fiscal crisis.
James P. Gray, a retired Orange County Superior Court judge, applauded Schwarzenegger's openness. "Once people allow themselves to discuss the issue of treating marijuana like alcohol, the result is pre-ordained. Today marijuana is fully available for anyone that wants it, expressly including our children, so why not regulate and control it, and tax it as well? That will reduce the violence in its distribution, and bring in needed revenue for government," Gray, now a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, told the Huffington Post.
Re:design (of) lobby
Health care reform isn't half the problem that lobbying reform is!
Lobbying is the most parasitic behavior we could pay for / approve of.
Isn't it responsible for the economic misuse of values?
Corporate interests have proven to be the death of public options / freedoms.
We can prove that this has become a revolt and declare citizen's arrest against revolting practices, in law, in medicine, in deceptive journalism / advertising, etc.
Honest representatives feel knowing better (than what is) is the only hope / investment.
Money is the monarch that must be replaced with three branches of economy that support healthy balance and education by removing penalizing debt from a more enlightened credit.
Let the production (for profit) interests remain the gamblers on a separated track as they become as obsolete as The Fed.
Please let the Service Era and Information Age evolve from The Indus-trial Revolution to a non-profit family of philanthropists by forming a National Trust from the figuring of those who believe there is a deficit.
The money? is lost? by creating? a debt/credit? for the future? to pay??? Fertilizer!!
Lobbying is the most parasitic behavior we could pay for / approve of.
Isn't it responsible for the economic misuse of values?
Corporate interests have proven to be the death of public options / freedoms.
We can prove that this has become a revolt and declare citizen's arrest against revolting practices, in law, in medicine, in deceptive journalism / advertising, etc.
Honest representatives feel knowing better (than what is) is the only hope / investment.
Money is the monarch that must be replaced with three branches of economy that support healthy balance and education by removing penalizing debt from a more enlightened credit.
Let the production (for profit) interests remain the gamblers on a separated track as they become as obsolete as The Fed.
Please let the Service Era and Information Age evolve from The Indus-trial Revolution to a non-profit family of philanthropists by forming a National Trust from the figuring of those who believe there is a deficit.
The money? is lost? by creating? a debt/credit? for the future? to pay??? Fertilizer!!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Society of Love II
This is what happens when I think.
If you can read it, have a good time trying to comprehend it.
notice my hand and arm at the bottom, it reads
"Lover"
We should all be lovers,
for the sake of humanity.
Permanent War Economy
Military expenditure in market exchange rate dollar terms.
--------------------------2006------------------------------
Rank--------Country-----------Spending($b.)--------%GDP
------World Total------------------1,158.0--------------2.41
1----United States-------------------985.7-------------12.99
2----United Kingdom-----------------59.2---------------2.49
3----France----------------------------53.1---------------2.38
4----China-----------------------------49.5---------------1.88
5----Japan-----------------------------43.7---------------1.00
6----Germany------------------------37.0---------------1.28
7----Russia---------------------------34.7---------------3.54
8----Italy------------------------------33.9---------------1.61
9----Saudi Arabia--------------------29.0---------------8.32
10---India-----------------------------24.2---------------2.00
11---South Korea--------------------21.9---------------2.47
12---Canada--------------------------14.6---------------1.10
13---Australia-----------------------13.8---------------1.83
14---Brazil----------------------------13.4---------------1.26
15---Spain----------------------------12.3---------------1.00
globalissues.org
Monday, November 2, 2009
Mr. Natural
Mr. Natural sez,
use the right tool for the job.
When asked,
what is the meaning of life?
he responded,
"it don't mean shit."
R. Crumb
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Saturday, October 31, 2009
The Myth of the Supremacy of the Individual
The industrial Revolution spawned the organized production of things that provided material improvement to the state of human existence and the possibility of making profit and generating wealth within a monetary-based system of human commerce. This new reality ultimately transformed the very nature of human relationship and, therefore, human society. It was around these industries that large urban centers became the hubs of commerce.
Once the infrastructure was created to efficiently enhance production, mass production soon became a reality. Those early entrepreneurs who were able to finance nascent industries amassed huge fortunes. It was this kind of wealth that translated into enormous power and influence.
The mass production of commodities that substantially improved individual lives required the expenditure of massive amounts of energy and natural resources, generally at the expense of the natural environment. Since these industries were so lucrative for the few, it necessarily helped create a tiered class system in which wealth accumulated in the hands of a very few, and initiated the creation of laws specifically designed to protect this wealth and insure the codification of rules to facilitate further production.
Pre-industrial societies were generally structured around agrarian communities where the commons was the center of human interaction. Within such communities, the necessity for cooperative effort was clearly understood. Without this elemental acceptance of shared existence, community life would cease and human civilization fracture.
The industrial revolution changed all of this; because, the focus was shifted from the community to the individual. The nature of work itself was transformed. Where labor was once understood to be a means to achieve obvious communal goals such as providing the essential ingredients for sustaining life, it soon became a commodity to be exploited by the corporate class as the primary means of production of things.
Once labor saving devices became available to the many through mass production, communal activity for the common good seemed less necessary and the attention moved away from community and towards the individual. In the present era the individual has become supreme and the primary concern of each person is now one of achieving personal happiness and fulfillment even at the expense of the greater good. Achieving personal happiness is generally understood as being synonymous with the accumulation of material goods. Competition for these goods has created a social environment that is often described as “dog eat dog.”
We have seen what this transformation has wrought. In modern industrial societies, making profit is the essential motivation for human activity. This conception has worked its way into every aspect of human life including, care of the sick, the elderly and the dying, education, recreation, entertainment, food production, etc. Maximizing profits has become the mantra of daily living. For this reason, the natural environment is currently in a perilous condition. For this reason hunger and starvation is running rampant where the problem is not one of producing enough food for everyone but the accessibility of sufficient nutrition. For this reason, the war industries and their desire for profit has spread the use of weapons of mass destruction around the globe. For this reason, modern life for the many has become exceedingly stressful and filled with anxiety and dread regarding not only the present but the future.
The concept of the supremacy of the individual is essentially a bankrupt idea, for it necessarily leads to a serious imbalance in the distribution of wealth, an excessive and mindless exploitation of both human and natural resources at the expense of the common good and promotes the fallacy of infinite possibility within the confines of a finite world. The full realization of such an ideology would, by necessity, lead to a disastrous end for human civilization.
Once the infrastructure was created to efficiently enhance production, mass production soon became a reality. Those early entrepreneurs who were able to finance nascent industries amassed huge fortunes. It was this kind of wealth that translated into enormous power and influence.
The mass production of commodities that substantially improved individual lives required the expenditure of massive amounts of energy and natural resources, generally at the expense of the natural environment. Since these industries were so lucrative for the few, it necessarily helped create a tiered class system in which wealth accumulated in the hands of a very few, and initiated the creation of laws specifically designed to protect this wealth and insure the codification of rules to facilitate further production.
Pre-industrial societies were generally structured around agrarian communities where the commons was the center of human interaction. Within such communities, the necessity for cooperative effort was clearly understood. Without this elemental acceptance of shared existence, community life would cease and human civilization fracture.
The industrial revolution changed all of this; because, the focus was shifted from the community to the individual. The nature of work itself was transformed. Where labor was once understood to be a means to achieve obvious communal goals such as providing the essential ingredients for sustaining life, it soon became a commodity to be exploited by the corporate class as the primary means of production of things.
Once labor saving devices became available to the many through mass production, communal activity for the common good seemed less necessary and the attention moved away from community and towards the individual. In the present era the individual has become supreme and the primary concern of each person is now one of achieving personal happiness and fulfillment even at the expense of the greater good. Achieving personal happiness is generally understood as being synonymous with the accumulation of material goods. Competition for these goods has created a social environment that is often described as “dog eat dog.”
We have seen what this transformation has wrought. In modern industrial societies, making profit is the essential motivation for human activity. This conception has worked its way into every aspect of human life including, care of the sick, the elderly and the dying, education, recreation, entertainment, food production, etc. Maximizing profits has become the mantra of daily living. For this reason, the natural environment is currently in a perilous condition. For this reason hunger and starvation is running rampant where the problem is not one of producing enough food for everyone but the accessibility of sufficient nutrition. For this reason, the war industries and their desire for profit has spread the use of weapons of mass destruction around the globe. For this reason, modern life for the many has become exceedingly stressful and filled with anxiety and dread regarding not only the present but the future.
The concept of the supremacy of the individual is essentially a bankrupt idea, for it necessarily leads to a serious imbalance in the distribution of wealth, an excessive and mindless exploitation of both human and natural resources at the expense of the common good and promotes the fallacy of infinite possibility within the confines of a finite world. The full realization of such an ideology would, by necessity, lead to a disastrous end for human civilization.
The Power of Fear
I think it would be safe to make the generalization that within the vast majority of sovereign nations in the world, it is the powerful that rule. This holds true regardless of the political philosophy that is espoused and practiced i.e. whether it be democratic, socialist, communist etc. The source of this power is essentially economic in nature. Furthermore, the ruling class is represented by a small minority of any given population by virtue of the wealth that it holds and maintains.
In order for the powerful minority, usually operating within and through government, to exert control of the lives of everyone else, it has a number of tools at its disposal. The most obvious of these is provided by access to sheer and brutish military might and the security bureaucracy and apparatus through which sophisticated methods can be deployed. Another means is through the so-called rule of law, where the laws are often crafted by those most likely to gain by their enforcement. During times of social harmony, the population at large may not be aware of this kind of power. Whenever social stability is at risk from within the State, however, the full force of coercive power is usually put into play, usually in the name of law and order and preserving the peace. There are numerous examples of this reality from around the world.
Within the United States, an excellent representation of this is the state of martial law, deployment of the National Guard and citizen curfews imposed during the massive rioting and looting that occurred following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. That rioting represented the frustration and despair felt by the essentially powerless black minority in the United States. The chaos it engendered was seen as a substantial threat to the established order and, therefore, could not be tolerated. At such times the real nature of power becomes evident. The crass use of power in this way may be effective in the short term but can have long term consequences.
A far more desirable method for the control of the general population is through the use of fear. This fear can take many forms and have many guises. The most widely used method is to play upon the fear of being physically threatened from forces within or external to a society. Another is to exploit the fear of losing one’s livelihood or social standing, of becoming homeless or destitute. In order for the ruling class to continue to impose its will, it must create the impression that it always acts with the public interest as its primary motivation and that any concerns the people may have do not come as a direct result of its own policies.
Within an atmosphere of fear, the cohesion within the society breaks down and individuals are distracted from recognizing the real nature of their problems and the solutions available to them. The distrust that is the inevitable by-product of fear is an impediment to the social harmony that is a prerequisite to effective community action. Fear essentially undermines rational thought and, as a result, thwarts real human progress.
In order for the powerful minority, usually operating within and through government, to exert control of the lives of everyone else, it has a number of tools at its disposal. The most obvious of these is provided by access to sheer and brutish military might and the security bureaucracy and apparatus through which sophisticated methods can be deployed. Another means is through the so-called rule of law, where the laws are often crafted by those most likely to gain by their enforcement. During times of social harmony, the population at large may not be aware of this kind of power. Whenever social stability is at risk from within the State, however, the full force of coercive power is usually put into play, usually in the name of law and order and preserving the peace. There are numerous examples of this reality from around the world.
Within the United States, an excellent representation of this is the state of martial law, deployment of the National Guard and citizen curfews imposed during the massive rioting and looting that occurred following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. That rioting represented the frustration and despair felt by the essentially powerless black minority in the United States. The chaos it engendered was seen as a substantial threat to the established order and, therefore, could not be tolerated. At such times the real nature of power becomes evident. The crass use of power in this way may be effective in the short term but can have long term consequences.
A far more desirable method for the control of the general population is through the use of fear. This fear can take many forms and have many guises. The most widely used method is to play upon the fear of being physically threatened from forces within or external to a society. Another is to exploit the fear of losing one’s livelihood or social standing, of becoming homeless or destitute. In order for the ruling class to continue to impose its will, it must create the impression that it always acts with the public interest as its primary motivation and that any concerns the people may have do not come as a direct result of its own policies.
Within an atmosphere of fear, the cohesion within the society breaks down and individuals are distracted from recognizing the real nature of their problems and the solutions available to them. The distrust that is the inevitable by-product of fear is an impediment to the social harmony that is a prerequisite to effective community action. Fear essentially undermines rational thought and, as a result, thwarts real human progress.
One Dead Singh
The Star Trek World had its Hitler and its Caesar. Twenty-five years ago, almost to the day, my husband, my 13 year old son, two of my seven brothers and two cousins, as well as my preborn twin girls, were murdered in the anti-Sikh Delhi Pogrom of 1984. This post is about another man from another family.
On 31 October 1984, Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, was shot and killed by her Sikh bodyguards reacting to her ordering the Army to storm the Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib) in Amritsar, killing an unknown number of pilgrims gathered there in honour of the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev Ji.
There followed several days of mayhem directed against the Sikhs of India, especially in the city of Delhi. Many Sikhs were doused with fire and burned alive. these are my thoughts on one of the dead. (What follows is reprinted from The Road To Khalistan.)
Who is he? Who is this Singh? I have spend countless hours staring at this photograph asking myself questions. Whose son is he? Whose husband, whose dad, whose brother, whose uncle, cousin, friend? Is someone waiting anxiously at home for him, waiting for a footfall that will never come?
Where is he from? Does he live in Delhi or is he just visiting? Where was he born? What is his pind? When was he born? How old is he?
What is his occupation? Is he an engineer, a doctor, a professor? Or is he a taxi driver or a trucker?
What are his politics? Is he an Akali or a member of Congress? Is he a Khalistani or a Bharata Mata lover? Or is he political at all? Is he just trying to live his life and not really concerned about the niceties of the larger world.
Why is he keshdhari? Is it just habit, following family custom? Or is it deeply meaningful to him? Does he pray each day, do naam jap, love Vaheguru? Or are those just incidentals that have fallen by the wayside of his life? Where is his turban? How does he feel as it is ripped from his head and his kesh is exposed?
How does he feel as he realises the mob is coming for him, chasing him down the street or dragging him from his home or his car or from the bus? What goes on in his brain as the petrol is poured on him and set alight? What is he thinking as his body burns? Or is he beyond thought? Is he aware of the laughing jeering mob around him, enjoying watching his final agonising moments of life on this earth?
What is his last awareness as he dies alone, surrounded by merciless thugs?
Questions without answers. Whoever he is, he deserves to be remembered. I doubt he had even a death certificate, so I have made him one.
(Click to enlarge)
There is something so very final about the certificate. And, of course, I realise that all I have written is wrong and must be rewritten to reflect the truth of 25 years later...
Who was he? Who was this Singh? I have spent countless hours staring at this photograph asking myself questions. Whose son was he? Whose husband, whose dad, whose brother, whose uncle, cousin, friend? Was someone waiting anxiously at home for him, waiting for a footfall that never came?
Where was he from? Did he live in Delhi or was he just visiting? Where was he born? What was his pind? When was he born? How old was he?
What was his occupation? Was he an engineer, a doctor, a professor? Or was he a taxi driver or a trucker?
What were his politics? Was he an Akali or a member of Congress? Was he a Khalistani or a Bharata Mata lover? Or was he political at all? Was he just trying to live his life and not really concerned about the niceties of the larger world.
Why was he keshdhari? Was it just habit, following family custom? Or was it deeply meaningful to him? Did he pray each day, do naam jap, love Vaheguru? Or were those just incidentals that had fallen by the wayside of his life? Where was his turban? How did he feel as it was ripped from his head and his kesh was exposed?
How did he feel as he realised the mob was coming for him, chasing him down the street or dragging him from his home or his car or from the bus? What went on in his brain as the petrol was poured on him and set alight? What was he thinking as his body burned? Or was he beyond thought? Was he aware of the laughing jeering mob around him, enjoying watching his final agonising moments of life on this earth?
What was his last awareness as he died alone, surrounded by merciless thugs?
He was our brother and he was one single human being, one Sikh among the thousands murdered during the madness of those days in 1984.
He is our brother and he deserves justice.
One final, unanswered question: When?
On 31 October 1984, Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, was shot and killed by her Sikh bodyguards reacting to her ordering the Army to storm the Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib) in Amritsar, killing an unknown number of pilgrims gathered there in honour of the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev Ji.
There followed several days of mayhem directed against the Sikhs of India, especially in the city of Delhi. Many Sikhs were doused with fire and burned alive. these are my thoughts on one of the dead. (What follows is reprinted from The Road To Khalistan.)
Who is he? Who is this Singh? I have spend countless hours staring at this photograph asking myself questions. Whose son is he? Whose husband, whose dad, whose brother, whose uncle, cousin, friend? Is someone waiting anxiously at home for him, waiting for a footfall that will never come?
Where is he from? Does he live in Delhi or is he just visiting? Where was he born? What is his pind? When was he born? How old is he?
What is his occupation? Is he an engineer, a doctor, a professor? Or is he a taxi driver or a trucker?
What are his politics? Is he an Akali or a member of Congress? Is he a Khalistani or a Bharata Mata lover? Or is he political at all? Is he just trying to live his life and not really concerned about the niceties of the larger world.
Why is he keshdhari? Is it just habit, following family custom? Or is it deeply meaningful to him? Does he pray each day, do naam jap, love Vaheguru? Or are those just incidentals that have fallen by the wayside of his life? Where is his turban? How does he feel as it is ripped from his head and his kesh is exposed?
How does he feel as he realises the mob is coming for him, chasing him down the street or dragging him from his home or his car or from the bus? What goes on in his brain as the petrol is poured on him and set alight? What is he thinking as his body burns? Or is he beyond thought? Is he aware of the laughing jeering mob around him, enjoying watching his final agonising moments of life on this earth?
What is his last awareness as he dies alone, surrounded by merciless thugs?
Questions without answers. Whoever he is, he deserves to be remembered. I doubt he had even a death certificate, so I have made him one.
(Click to enlarge)There is something so very final about the certificate. And, of course, I realise that all I have written is wrong and must be rewritten to reflect the truth of 25 years later...
Who was he? Who was this Singh? I have spent countless hours staring at this photograph asking myself questions. Whose son was he? Whose husband, whose dad, whose brother, whose uncle, cousin, friend? Was someone waiting anxiously at home for him, waiting for a footfall that never came?
Where was he from? Did he live in Delhi or was he just visiting? Where was he born? What was his pind? When was he born? How old was he?
What was his occupation? Was he an engineer, a doctor, a professor? Or was he a taxi driver or a trucker?
What were his politics? Was he an Akali or a member of Congress? Was he a Khalistani or a Bharata Mata lover? Or was he political at all? Was he just trying to live his life and not really concerned about the niceties of the larger world.
Why was he keshdhari? Was it just habit, following family custom? Or was it deeply meaningful to him? Did he pray each day, do naam jap, love Vaheguru? Or were those just incidentals that had fallen by the wayside of his life? Where was his turban? How did he feel as it was ripped from his head and his kesh was exposed?
How did he feel as he realised the mob was coming for him, chasing him down the street or dragging him from his home or his car or from the bus? What went on in his brain as the petrol was poured on him and set alight? What was he thinking as his body burned? Or was he beyond thought? Was he aware of the laughing jeering mob around him, enjoying watching his final agonising moments of life on this earth?
What was his last awareness as he died alone, surrounded by merciless thugs?
He was our brother and he was one single human being, one Sikh among the thousands murdered during the madness of those days in 1984.
He is our brother and he deserves justice.
One final, unanswered question: When?
Thursday, October 29, 2009
The Science of Waiting
Within the long
meandering queue for services
provided by the state, reluctantly
we wait.
Life put aside
like an old dilapidated
pair of shoes,
ennui elevated to a high art,
silence secured within the
din of worried and desperate thoughts.
There is a science to waiting
that has eluded me for these many years.
meandering queue for services
provided by the state, reluctantly
we wait.
Life put aside
like an old dilapidated
pair of shoes,
ennui elevated to a high art,
silence secured within the
din of worried and desperate thoughts.
There is a science to waiting
that has eluded me for these many years.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Lifeboat
This is a photograph
taken by Apollo 8 at the moon
Enlarge the image
and experience that feeling
when they saw their precious
lifeboat
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
The Pledge of Allegiance
The Pledge of Allegiance was written in August 1892 by the socialist minister Francis Bellamy (1855-1931). It was originally published in The Youth's Companion on September 8, 1892. Bellamy had hoped that the pledge would be used by citizens in any country.
In its original form it read:
"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
Here's my version from a post I did a year ago:
"I pledge allegiance, to the Family of Man and to the Freedoms for which it stands, One World, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all."
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