Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Angry Post
I'm feeling even more angry than usual at the current state of affairs in this country, so I'm going to blow off some steam. You're welcome to skip the steam, of course, but you might find some food for thought.
Americans born in the second half of the 20th century are a trying group of people. Americans have always been arrogant SOBs, a quality we inherited from our European conqueror forebears, and we also tend to be very focused inward. Don't bother us with global issues unless it's just one black and white enemy.
All humans are wired to be self-deceptive, and Americans have this quality ironed out to a T. We live in a big country, we (theoretically) have all we need here, so why worry about the rest of the world, right? Except of course if we're told we have a black-and-white enemy that we must attack.
To be fair, this really only applies to about half of all Americans, and even those, once you scratch below their lazy, ignorant surface to explain the big picture, sometimes actually start to get it. The current polls suggest that it took a while but the half of us that saw our country going to hell in a hand basket have grown to almost three-quarters.
Nevertheless, I used to give my fellow Americans the benefit of the doubt. There are a lot of good people in this country. But I've come to accept that there are also a lot of ignorant followers who just blindly follow authority as if they never grew up beyond age three. They chant U-S-A as if there is no other country on earth. Ironically, most of the other countries on earth look at our Charters of Freedom and, until recently, when the current power mongers took it on themselves to start destroying them, saw them as a beacon of hope. We are a nation of immigrants for a reason. Europeans put up with "ugly Americans," because they knew that our arrogance was simply a byproduct of being brought up in the greatest democracy the world has known. And many Americans who traveled often traveled to the homes of their immigrant forebears, which both humbled them and opened their eyes to the bigger world.
So it isn't all their fault. The drive of our economy to create bigger and bigger corporations and institutions, the drive of humans to create bureaucracy (it is a great way to keep one's job), continually cycles us through robber baron eras, and robber barons find it very convenient to have a compliant consumer-driven population. So we are incentivized to watch TV and TV ads, and to watch 24-hour news programs that contain virtually no news. (For a taste of this, one need only watch the periodic segment on The Daily Show called, "Slow News Day.") We are whipped into a frenzy to support sports where the players and owners make more in one season than most of us make in a lifetime. Tracking Hollywood box office every weekend has become a hobby for people, they actually bet on it like it was the stock market.
But the fact remains: We have a choice. We can be like the one-quarter to one-third of Americans who are willing to roll over because they would rather fill their mind with the bubble gum of pop culture and use the excuse that one person can't do anything anyway, so let the Hitlers and Stalins and Nixons and Kissingers and Cheneys and Rumsfelds of the world have their way. (If you think this group is not analogous, you DO need a history lesson) We can immerse ourselves in pop culture, following the daily lives of Paris Hilton, the Olsen twins, and American Idol. We can turn BO betting into a hobby, we can sit in our La-Z-Boys with our chips and soda pop and watch baseball or football all weekend.
OR we can go outside and work in the garden. We can turn on real news programs or actually READ a decent Sunday newspaper. We can read some good fiction and non-fiction books that teach us both facts and literary lessons. We can get on the web and find alternative news so that we can learn what's really happening in the war, and what Constitutional abuses the government has been up to this week. We can talk to our friends about the outrage we feel at how our country has been hijacked. We can march in anti-war protests and we can write to our Congressional delegation.
If you think I'm just full of it, that pop culture is the be-all and end-all, then this blog isn't for you. But if you're too blind or too ignorant or too brainwashed to see how our founder's legacy is being destroyed, then you deserve to be at the wrong end of an economy and Constitution that are being destroyed. The problem is, the rest of us don't. Which means, simply put, the framers did not create this land for you. You may leave.
U-S-A is a PARTICIPATORY Democracy. The citizen sovereigns RUN this country and we have a RESPONSIBILITY to stand up for it when those in power become power drunk and start to drive our country off a cliff. These people in Washington are our SERVANTS. They work for us, they do our bidding to ensure that OUR country is run the way WE want it run. But right now they've made too many of us believe we work for them.
It's time for us to grab the wheel and the keys and stomp on the brakes. IT'S OUR JOB. We do not sit back and wait for them to sober up on their own (they're power drunks, they won't), we do not sit back and ignore it all and hope it will go away (it will, but then so will we, probably dead of starvation due to the depression that is likely to set in due to almost 10 TRILLION dollars of debt), we do not deny and deceive ourselves that things are actually much better than they are. And most of all, we do not allow these paternalistic bastards think they know what's best for us, let alone give them an excuse to act like our daddies.
Their only interest is in themselves and their powerful, wealthy friends. They don't give a flying fart in a doughnut hole for us. They are the daddies that run off with the cute young thing as soon their wives become a little older and worn out from bearing children. They are the daddies force us into therapy because they turned out to be a--holes.
Bush was convicted for DUI in graduate school. He may be a dry drunk now, but he's doing a fine job demonstrating how our country is trapped in a car being driven right off the cliff by a codependent. IT IS OUR JOB to stop this.
Americans born in the second half of the 20th century are a trying group of people. Americans have always been arrogant SOBs, a quality we inherited from our European conqueror forebears, and we also tend to be very focused inward. Don't bother us with global issues unless it's just one black and white enemy.
All humans are wired to be self-deceptive, and Americans have this quality ironed out to a T. We live in a big country, we (theoretically) have all we need here, so why worry about the rest of the world, right? Except of course if we're told we have a black-and-white enemy that we must attack.
To be fair, this really only applies to about half of all Americans, and even those, once you scratch below their lazy, ignorant surface to explain the big picture, sometimes actually start to get it. The current polls suggest that it took a while but the half of us that saw our country going to hell in a hand basket have grown to almost three-quarters.
Nevertheless, I used to give my fellow Americans the benefit of the doubt. There are a lot of good people in this country. But I've come to accept that there are also a lot of ignorant followers who just blindly follow authority as if they never grew up beyond age three. They chant U-S-A as if there is no other country on earth. Ironically, most of the other countries on earth look at our Charters of Freedom and, until recently, when the current power mongers took it on themselves to start destroying them, saw them as a beacon of hope. We are a nation of immigrants for a reason. Europeans put up with "ugly Americans," because they knew that our arrogance was simply a byproduct of being brought up in the greatest democracy the world has known. And many Americans who traveled often traveled to the homes of their immigrant forebears, which both humbled them and opened their eyes to the bigger world.
So it isn't all their fault. The drive of our economy to create bigger and bigger corporations and institutions, the drive of humans to create bureaucracy (it is a great way to keep one's job), continually cycles us through robber baron eras, and robber barons find it very convenient to have a compliant consumer-driven population. So we are incentivized to watch TV and TV ads, and to watch 24-hour news programs that contain virtually no news. (For a taste of this, one need only watch the periodic segment on The Daily Show called, "Slow News Day.") We are whipped into a frenzy to support sports where the players and owners make more in one season than most of us make in a lifetime. Tracking Hollywood box office every weekend has become a hobby for people, they actually bet on it like it was the stock market.
But the fact remains: We have a choice. We can be like the one-quarter to one-third of Americans who are willing to roll over because they would rather fill their mind with the bubble gum of pop culture and use the excuse that one person can't do anything anyway, so let the Hitlers and Stalins and Nixons and Kissingers and Cheneys and Rumsfelds of the world have their way. (If you think this group is not analogous, you DO need a history lesson) We can immerse ourselves in pop culture, following the daily lives of Paris Hilton, the Olsen twins, and American Idol. We can turn BO betting into a hobby, we can sit in our La-Z-Boys with our chips and soda pop and watch baseball or football all weekend.
OR we can go outside and work in the garden. We can turn on real news programs or actually READ a decent Sunday newspaper. We can read some good fiction and non-fiction books that teach us both facts and literary lessons. We can get on the web and find alternative news so that we can learn what's really happening in the war, and what Constitutional abuses the government has been up to this week. We can talk to our friends about the outrage we feel at how our country has been hijacked. We can march in anti-war protests and we can write to our Congressional delegation.
If you think I'm just full of it, that pop culture is the be-all and end-all, then this blog isn't for you. But if you're too blind or too ignorant or too brainwashed to see how our founder's legacy is being destroyed, then you deserve to be at the wrong end of an economy and Constitution that are being destroyed. The problem is, the rest of us don't. Which means, simply put, the framers did not create this land for you. You may leave.
U-S-A is a PARTICIPATORY Democracy. The citizen sovereigns RUN this country and we have a RESPONSIBILITY to stand up for it when those in power become power drunk and start to drive our country off a cliff. These people in Washington are our SERVANTS. They work for us, they do our bidding to ensure that OUR country is run the way WE want it run. But right now they've made too many of us believe we work for them.
It's time for us to grab the wheel and the keys and stomp on the brakes. IT'S OUR JOB. We do not sit back and wait for them to sober up on their own (they're power drunks, they won't), we do not sit back and ignore it all and hope it will go away (it will, but then so will we, probably dead of starvation due to the depression that is likely to set in due to almost 10 TRILLION dollars of debt), we do not deny and deceive ourselves that things are actually much better than they are. And most of all, we do not allow these paternalistic bastards think they know what's best for us, let alone give them an excuse to act like our daddies.
Their only interest is in themselves and their powerful, wealthy friends. They don't give a flying fart in a doughnut hole for us. They are the daddies that run off with the cute young thing as soon their wives become a little older and worn out from bearing children. They are the daddies force us into therapy because they turned out to be a--holes.
Bush was convicted for DUI in graduate school. He may be a dry drunk now, but he's doing a fine job demonstrating how our country is trapped in a car being driven right off the cliff by a codependent. IT IS OUR JOB to stop this.
Troops Home Fast
Code Pink is sponsoring a Hunger Strike called Troops Home Fast.
Here's a Press Release.
It fittingly begins on July 4. It is a rolling fast that continues through Sept. 21, International Peace Day. Because it is a rolling fast, you can participate as little or as much as you want. You can just fast on July 4, or you can fast all the way through, or something in between. Water or Juice Fasts are recommended.
I have some health issues, so I signed up to fast one day per week, and I'll probably do a juice fast. I do it for medical procedures more often than I'd like, so why not choose to do it this time for a good cause?
When I think about what the troops (and Iraqis) must be going through, me taking a break from eating one measly day per week does not seem like a big deal. As the site says, they've put their bodies on the line. We should show them that we are standing with them by putting our bodies on the line, too, albeit in a much smaller way.
The fast also coincides with the current debate about establishing an exit strategy. Wouldn't it be great if the fast helps encourage Congress to pin down a strategy? Just think about it for a second: Election Year. Dozens of your voters are calling in saying they are fasting until there is an exit strategy. You'd be a pretty sad excuse for a politician if you didn't pay attention to THAT. (Unfortunately we have too many of those.)
If you do participate, and you don't have a sad excuse for a Congressional Delegation, be sure to CALL or FAX to tell them you are fasting. Email is okay if it's not urgent, but if it's something you really want to make sure they know, speak to a staffer or send a Fax marked "URGENT."
And, of course, tell your friends. The more who participate, the greater the support.
Good luck! Feel free to leave comments.
It fittingly begins on July 4. It is a rolling fast that continues through Sept. 21, International Peace Day. Because it is a rolling fast, you can participate as little or as much as you want. You can just fast on July 4, or you can fast all the way through, or something in between. Water or Juice Fasts are recommended.
I have some health issues, so I signed up to fast one day per week, and I'll probably do a juice fast. I do it for medical procedures more often than I'd like, so why not choose to do it this time for a good cause?
When I think about what the troops (and Iraqis) must be going through, me taking a break from eating one measly day per week does not seem like a big deal. As the site says, they've put their bodies on the line. We should show them that we are standing with them by putting our bodies on the line, too, albeit in a much smaller way.
The fast also coincides with the current debate about establishing an exit strategy. Wouldn't it be great if the fast helps encourage Congress to pin down a strategy? Just think about it for a second: Election Year. Dozens of your voters are calling in saying they are fasting until there is an exit strategy. You'd be a pretty sad excuse for a politician if you didn't pay attention to THAT. (Unfortunately we have too many of those.)
If you do participate, and you don't have a sad excuse for a Congressional Delegation, be sure to CALL or FAX to tell them you are fasting. Email is okay if it's not urgent, but if it's something you really want to make sure they know, speak to a staffer or send a Fax marked "URGENT."
And, of course, tell your friends. The more who participate, the greater the support.
Good luck! Feel free to leave comments.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Vote Confirmed by Deputies
Music I'm listening to right now: The Twilight Singers, Powder Burns (And yes, it IS as good as Denis Leary says it is, but then I've loved Greg Dulli since the Afghan Whigs.)
It's not on the Convention website yet, but word just came across the wire that The House of Deputies has confirmed The Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori by a significant majority. Out of 216 Lay and Clerical Deputations, only 28 either voted no or were divided.
The Episcopal Church of the U.S. has its first woman Presiding Bishop.
And to think that it was only 16 years ago that our first woman Diocesan Bishop, Barbara Harris, was almost kept out of the Lambeth Conference. (The Anglican Bishop's Conference hosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury.)
We HAVE come a long way, baby.
Congratulations Bishop Schori.
It's not on the Convention website yet, but word just came across the wire that The House of Deputies has confirmed The Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori by a significant majority. Out of 216 Lay and Clerical Deputations, only 28 either voted no or were divided.
The Episcopal Church of the U.S. has its first woman Presiding Bishop.
And to think that it was only 16 years ago that our first woman Diocesan Bishop, Barbara Harris, was almost kept out of the Lambeth Conference. (The Anglican Bishop's Conference hosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury.)
We HAVE come a long way, baby.
Congratulations Bishop Schori.
Music I'm listening to right now: Josh Rouse, Under Cold Blue Stars
As a cradle to grave Anglican, a certified sacristy rat, I've been following the current triennial General Convention of the Episcopal Church closely. After nine years, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold (who has been popular and successful at keeping the church together in spite of grumblings of schism) has to step down. So one of the main orders of business is electing a new Presiding Bishop.
The first step in the process is complete, now we await the resolution from the House of Deputies.
I didn't really hope my personal pick could win, but it appears she could indeed. Not only is it time for more mainstream American institutions such as the Episcopal Church of the U.S. to have women leaders, but she's dedicated to many of the same spiritual goals I feel are important to the life of the church, mission and social justice. She has her progressive cred, serving on the board of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific (one of three progressive Episcopal seminaries), but she's been a popular bishop in a very conservative diocese. Which means that she just might have what it takes to continue to hold the church together during a difficult transition time.
An interview and some biographical info:
First Female Nominee: Jefferts Schori ponders piloting the church through conflict resolution
As a cradle to grave Anglican, a certified sacristy rat, I've been following the current triennial General Convention of the Episcopal Church closely. After nine years, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold (who has been popular and successful at keeping the church together in spite of grumblings of schism) has to step down. So one of the main orders of business is electing a new Presiding Bishop.
The first step in the process is complete, now we await the resolution from the House of Deputies.
I didn't really hope my personal pick could win, but it appears she could indeed. Not only is it time for more mainstream American institutions such as the Episcopal Church of the U.S. to have women leaders, but she's dedicated to many of the same spiritual goals I feel are important to the life of the church, mission and social justice. She has her progressive cred, serving on the board of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific (one of three progressive Episcopal seminaries), but she's been a popular bishop in a very conservative diocese. Which means that she just might have what it takes to continue to hold the church together during a difficult transition time.
An interview and some biographical info:
A hibernating blog returns to life
Music I'm listening to right now: Josh Ritter, The Animal Years
When I first created this blog two years ago, I high hopes that it would be the place where I could post all my stray thoughts on pretty much everything. Unfortunately life intervened, and I became too ill to blog. But I'm on the mend now, so I'm going to attempt to start blogging again. (This, BTW, is not my first blog. I've lost track of how many I've deleted. But I do have two currently. The other one is listed with the links.)
Among the posts I'll be making are my numerous Letters to the Editor, my many pet peeves, and my interests, which include in no particular order (and are not limited to):
The Constitution
Civil Rights
The Economy
U.S. Foreign Policy
Tax Fairness
Health Care
The Global HIV/AIDS Pandemic
Africa
Indigenous Peoples
The Global Commons
The Environment
Fair Trade vs. IMF/World Bank
Politics and Policy
The Military-Industrial-Intelligence Complex
and that pesky Black Budget
Cronyism
Religion & Mythology
Several Local ND Issues
And, as you can see from the above, music
My experience ranges from Human Resources to Marketing to Manufacturing Operations Management (for a government contractor back in the days when contractors still followed the rules), and in economic development public policy. My degrees are in pre-med, marine and vertebrate zoology, and journalism, with a hearty dose of economics. I also studied for the Episcopal priesthood for three years. I also used to be a dancer, so dance and dance imagery may pop up from time to time too. And music will be a constant theme as it has kept me sane through the ups and downs of my rather unusual life. (You will hear more about that anon.)
I'm disabled retired now, but I am using this time as opportunity to pursue my desire to examine the behavioral basis for the inequities of "western" society. I refer to myself as an evolutionary anthropologist. You can see now why I refer to short attention spans, it's a hazard when you are concerned about as many issues as I am.
There is a positive side to this, however. I see big puzzles, and take all these bits of information like puzzle pieces and fit them into the big picture. I've made a lot of progress, for example, in creating a possible picture for the reasons why human cognition evolved as it did, and why we focus all our energies on war. (Which is the root of the said inequities.) So many scientists, historians, economists, archeologists, palenontologists, primatologists, and other anthropologists have found invaluable puzzle pieces. And I hope to be one of a few people with the ability to take those pieces and put them into the puzzle.
As for road trips, I love real road trips too. I don't make them as often I used to since I became disabled, but whenever I need to imagine myself anywhere but here, I envision myself out on the road, preferably travelling one the many scenic highways in North America: The Trans-Canada through the Rockies in Alberta and BC, the Needles Highway in The Black Hills, Loveland Pass, WA Rt. 2 through the Cascades, Going-to-the-Sun Road, Death Valley Highway, Oglalah to Scotts Bluff NE, the Badlands of both Dakotas, the Outer Banks, Old Rt. 66 in Missouri, and U.S. Rt. 6 from the Sagamore Bridge to Provincetown, to name a few favorites. I also Revisit Highway 61 regularly. (Both in real life and in my mind.) If ever there was a road that deserved its own music album it's Highway 61.
Luckily I live near a wonderful scenic road, Kathryn to Fort Ransom, North Dakota. But when I really need comfort mind food, I take myself home across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge down U.S. Rt. 50 to Easton, Maryland. Not like it is today, but the way it was when I was growing up there in the 1970s. Chesapeake water will always run through these veins, even if I had to remove myself to North Dakota to find a world that resembles the world where I grew up. (Surprisingly, it does more than most would think. Although I do get teased about being the town "Southerner.")
That's enough of an intro, I think. The joy of learning about others is letting their interests reveal themselves to us over time. So I hope that applies to anyone who passes this way. Please share your links so the revealing is not a one-way street.
When I first created this blog two years ago, I high hopes that it would be the place where I could post all my stray thoughts on pretty much everything. Unfortunately life intervened, and I became too ill to blog. But I'm on the mend now, so I'm going to attempt to start blogging again. (This, BTW, is not my first blog. I've lost track of how many I've deleted. But I do have two currently. The other one is listed with the links.)
Among the posts I'll be making are my numerous Letters to the Editor, my many pet peeves, and my interests, which include in no particular order (and are not limited to):
The Constitution
Civil Rights
The Economy
U.S. Foreign Policy
Tax Fairness
Health Care
The Global HIV/AIDS Pandemic
Africa
Indigenous Peoples
The Global Commons
The Environment
Fair Trade vs. IMF/World Bank
Politics and Policy
The Military-Industrial-Intelligence Complex
and that pesky Black Budget
Cronyism
Religion & Mythology
Several Local ND Issues
And, as you can see from the above, music
My experience ranges from Human Resources to Marketing to Manufacturing Operations Management (for a government contractor back in the days when contractors still followed the rules), and in economic development public policy. My degrees are in pre-med, marine and vertebrate zoology, and journalism, with a hearty dose of economics. I also studied for the Episcopal priesthood for three years. I also used to be a dancer, so dance and dance imagery may pop up from time to time too. And music will be a constant theme as it has kept me sane through the ups and downs of my rather unusual life. (You will hear more about that anon.)
I'm disabled retired now, but I am using this time as opportunity to pursue my desire to examine the behavioral basis for the inequities of "western" society. I refer to myself as an evolutionary anthropologist. You can see now why I refer to short attention spans, it's a hazard when you are concerned about as many issues as I am.
There is a positive side to this, however. I see big puzzles, and take all these bits of information like puzzle pieces and fit them into the big picture. I've made a lot of progress, for example, in creating a possible picture for the reasons why human cognition evolved as it did, and why we focus all our energies on war. (Which is the root of the said inequities.) So many scientists, historians, economists, archeologists, palenontologists, primatologists, and other anthropologists have found invaluable puzzle pieces. And I hope to be one of a few people with the ability to take those pieces and put them into the puzzle.
As for road trips, I love real road trips too. I don't make them as often I used to since I became disabled, but whenever I need to imagine myself anywhere but here, I envision myself out on the road, preferably travelling one the many scenic highways in North America: The Trans-Canada through the Rockies in Alberta and BC, the Needles Highway in The Black Hills, Loveland Pass, WA Rt. 2 through the Cascades, Going-to-the-Sun Road, Death Valley Highway, Oglalah to Scotts Bluff NE, the Badlands of both Dakotas, the Outer Banks, Old Rt. 66 in Missouri, and U.S. Rt. 6 from the Sagamore Bridge to Provincetown, to name a few favorites. I also Revisit Highway 61 regularly. (Both in real life and in my mind.) If ever there was a road that deserved its own music album it's Highway 61.
Luckily I live near a wonderful scenic road, Kathryn to Fort Ransom, North Dakota. But when I really need comfort mind food, I take myself home across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge down U.S. Rt. 50 to Easton, Maryland. Not like it is today, but the way it was when I was growing up there in the 1970s. Chesapeake water will always run through these veins, even if I had to remove myself to North Dakota to find a world that resembles the world where I grew up. (Surprisingly, it does more than most would think. Although I do get teased about being the town "Southerner.")
That's enough of an intro, I think. The joy of learning about others is letting their interests reveal themselves to us over time. So I hope that applies to anyone who passes this way. Please share your links so the revealing is not a one-way street.
