We stand at a point in time when the Old Ways that deserve respect, honor and preservation are in disarray. Many generations have passed without us paying the attention required to preserve culture that arose from ways that work. Even now these ancient ways contain seeds of truth and practicality that we need at this time. Many of the really old ways have passed silently into time, without documentation, practice or the recognition they deserve. The current worship of the new is a reaction to feelings of loss that are often sub-conscious. The most evident trend toward recovery of these lost ways is the fascination with antiques and retro anything.
The point of time that we inhabit is a fulcrum between past and future. This fulcrum rests on shifting sand for many of us. The victim culture, spawned by psychobabble in the seventies, reached adolescence through constant media attention of daytime television in the eighties and nineties, now flourishes through the overuse of anti-depressants, psychoactive chemicals prescribed for children and young adults, and the rampant number of folks who cannot "feel normal" without one crutch or another. Culture, which formerly made allowances for human tragedy and actual human needs, allowing humans to grow and gain strength from the knowledge of previous generations has been eradicated. Finding our way to health, happiness, even finding a way home is now dictated by commercial interests rather than the individual, shaman, grandmother or tribal elders.
As we pass the torch to the next generations, we need to show them through our actions that there is something here worth being our best for. The planet deserves respect and compassion. Her people, no less so, need to become a focus of our attention. Not their "earning potential", not their "gross national product", not the "natural resources" that lie under their feet, in their pocketbook or over their heads. In these times, there are myriad ways to get grounded, affirm what matters and humanize our culture. I would hazard a guess that there are nearly as many ways to relocate our fulcrum to stable ground as people to traverse them. What has worked for me will most assuredly not be your path, but the realizations that have come to me because I was looking for them, and the routes that helped me find ways out of dangerous belief systems may shed light on a path that has significance for you as well.
Getting out in nature really helped me to understand what is possible, and important in this world. Seeing the profusion of life, the endless accommodation, the abiding harmony between each element, lack of malice (even in carnivores during the stalking and killing of their prey) and the endless expressions of perfection led me to see this as a possibility for human-beings as well. I jokingly tell people that the best evidence for extra-terrestrial life having made contact with humans (and interbreeding with us) is our utter inability to live as all other animals on the planet do. We need to start with the basics, creating no waste, cycling energy and nutrients rather than hoarding them. Taking our place in the web of life, instead of hacking off the threads that support our fellow inhabitants. The lofty arc of the Eagle and the skittering about of the mouse are the shorthand that allow us to remember what is truly important. Appreciation of this deep ecology has the power to change us from exploiters to co-inhabitants. We just need to slow down and pay attention.
Understanding food policies, technologies and systems that make our way of life possible has helped me to see the fallacy of "feeding the world"(through the green revolution), "higher" standards of living that supposedly come from mechanized agri-business, and the myth of increased leisure perpetrated by technocrats. Every calorie that fires our metabolism has to come from somewhere. Knowing where your calories come from might surprise you. It did me! Realizing the morally bankrupt approach that we have taken to Tobacco, Wheat, Corn, Beans, Squash, Sugar, Wheat, Meat, Milk and Eggs as well as a host of other "commodities" has changed the way that I eat and in turn has changed who I am in significant ways. A hopeful trend in this respect has been the tremendous rise of the Farm Markets, subscription farms, and the buy local movements, which honor the fact that science and technology can never find a substitute for Home-grown Tomatoes. Backyard Chickens, Victory Gardens, and Food Co-ops offer some of the surest ways to find a path to sustainability that I have found. Each of these small changes in lifestyle will teach us volumes about how to care for people and the earth, respect natures cycles, and discover a path toward a future that we can be proud of and that matters.
Looking at our housing choices and commercial buildings has taught me a great deal about our estrangement from the earth, her people, and the communities that we destroy in the pursuit of the almighty dollar. More importantly, it has shown a way to a sustainable future as well. It seems that everyone wants the perfect view. Regardless of where the sun rises and sets in relation to the house or where the cold winter winds come from. If you drive through the countryside, look at old buildings compared to newer ones. The greatest number of passive solar homes (having most of their windows facing South) were built in the early nineteen thirties. Have we forgotten that when we need the heat of the sun it is winter and in our hemisphere, that means that the sun is low in the Southern sky? Massive East, or West-facing windows assure our addiction to summer cooling as well. When a lifestyle based on what matters is achieved, one finds that there is much more need for a small window with a nice view over the kitchen sink. My grandmother knew this, her grandmother knew it as well. When did we forget this basic human need? What we love most about Frank Lloyd Wright was his ability to blur the lines between inside and out. To invite nature into the home and blend human lives with their environment. This urge, rather than being new, is universal and has been with humans since the dawn of time. This urge can be the impetus needed to rebirth a culture of nature-loving people who respect one another and the planet.
Even our relationship to water can offer clues to who we once were are and who we have become. A dear friend of mine only drinks Fiji Water. Another only drinks Perrier. My protestations have, thus far, remained unheeded. Back in the seventies, I told people that one day, water would come in single serving bottles and cost more than soda-pop. For this, I was ridiculed, labeled crazy, and scoffed at. Now, at a theater where I work, they charge four dollars per 16.9 oz. I recently purchased a caffeine and sugar laced beverage for $3 per two liters! (four times as much liquid for 25% less cost!) Is it any wonder that our bodies, in fact, are mostly water, yet we cannot grasp where our water comes from, it's quality, true cost or value? Long ago I became obsessed with trying to find clean water to drink that would not exacerbate certain health problems that I had been experiencing. City water was definitely out, because of the Chlorine. The last thing my body needed was to be sterilized by the residual chlorination process that would take place by imbibing the essential fluid.
My city water comes from Lake Michigan, thirty miles away, requiring massive electric pumps to raise it out of the lake and over the Niagra Escarpment. Since I first researched it, contaminants that had not been developed yet have made their way into that source anyway, so unless you want a micro-dose of everything from heart medication, birth controll pills and Viagra to psychoactive drugs, anti psychotic drugs and a variety of other pills, City Water here is not for you anyway. Studying the various ways that we use to "clean" water was an education in and of itself. Filtration, distillation and reverse osmosis all have extreme costs associated with them. In the end, I had to resort to finding natural artesian springs, and hoping for the best when it came to farm chemicals and other pollutants. I would make a monthly sojourn to one of several sources nearby, fill several dozen glass jugs, and use that water for cooking and drinking. My health slowly began to improve.
We all rely on Earth, Air, Fire, Water & Spirit. This is elementary. I have taken the bold step, some say it is crazy, to expect my life-support system to be clean, abundant, and protected. In this period of time, perhaps it is unreasonable to expect these things as a birthright. My desire is that in the future, rather than seeming to be ridiculous, these things again become normal. Our gifts from the Great Spirit have been defiled to the point of not being recognizable to the "primitive" cultures who once enjoyed them in a non-threatening way. In modern times we have forgotten that one person's freedom ends where another person's nose begins. My needs need never impinge on another's right to be happy, healthy or well-cared for. As we enter the new year, please put to bed the useless tools of oppression. We can no longer be distracted by the fallout of hatred, misogyny, misunderstanding, misplaced trust in the "powers that be", fallacies such as "boys will be boys" or the endless toil of "keeping up with the Jones' ". Use this time to re-kindle the spark of humanity that makes us social animals. Find out what really matters for yourself. Don't let me (or anyone else) make up your mind for you. Research whatever interests you, look hard and don't take anyone's word for anything. Get the facts, even though some may be hard to find or scare you to death! In the midst of all of this, don't sell yourself short, live your life as if it matters, because it truly does. Let the deep and abiding love that is evidenced by Creator through nature be mirrored in your life through actions and daily rituals that affirm life, rather than blindly tearing at the web of life on Earth. Remember, a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. Don't cop out, all life depends on your participation in the greater scheme of things.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
Great Holiday Party Ideas
This year, thanks to the hard work or many, I found a great deal of information about old ways and new age traditions that brought smiles, wry grins and insight into the meaning and value of the season. We have all known the traditional family gathering, either by participating in it or through the endlessly marketed idea of it. The image of the overly drunk uncle, or the extremely manipulative mother-in-law are stock in trade for our modern vision of the Holy Days. Just knowing that there is a better way has liberated my ideas about what the giving season can be. Rather than what it is, I am finally internalizing the fact that it can be what we make it.
Researching Saturnalia, I found guidance on the number of people to invite. The Ancient Romans believed that between three and nine guests were optimum. In my experience, this would have improved many of the gatherings that tended to be less intimate, less enjoyable and too stressful to host or attend. The discipline required to pare down a guest list seems far too difficult for most, but when practiced, it yields valuable dividends for the host as well as their guests. Some of the activities practiced during Saturnalia survive in modern times, but those that might have offended the puritanical among us have receded into hedonistic enclaves. The topsy-turvey time of year is still honored in many subtle ways and I will leave it to the interested student of history to seek this incredible information for themselves.
Several modern approaches to the season have inspired me this year as well. The idea of a Chili Dump seems the most interesting. Rather than a traditional potluck, each family brings a chili that their family might have for supper. All the chilies are dumped into a large communal pot and the chili dump melds the flavor of all the samples brought by the different families. So simple. I have also been enamored by the rise of fondue during the New Year's Celebration. Dipping in as it were to one another's lives, sharing the communal dipping sauces and the mirroring of the many tiny tidbits we consume has for the many bits of each others lives that are shared in the intimate setting, around pots filled with warm savory and sweet sauces, heated by open flame. Just the thing for a long winter's night.
Whatever your traditions, however you celebrate the winter solstice and the associated holy days, remember, it is about people, not the gifts, not the perfect meal, or the accumulation of greatness and wealth. Just being together eith those you love can have transformative power.
Enjoy it. Be yourself, and use this time of frolic and enjoyment to find out who you would like to become in the new year. You may be surprised by what you find! Remember, traditions are created by what works. If your traditions are not working for you, research what others have found in their culture, and put that to use for a change, you just might love it!
Researching Saturnalia, I found guidance on the number of people to invite. The Ancient Romans believed that between three and nine guests were optimum. In my experience, this would have improved many of the gatherings that tended to be less intimate, less enjoyable and too stressful to host or attend. The discipline required to pare down a guest list seems far too difficult for most, but when practiced, it yields valuable dividends for the host as well as their guests. Some of the activities practiced during Saturnalia survive in modern times, but those that might have offended the puritanical among us have receded into hedonistic enclaves. The topsy-turvey time of year is still honored in many subtle ways and I will leave it to the interested student of history to seek this incredible information for themselves.
Several modern approaches to the season have inspired me this year as well. The idea of a Chili Dump seems the most interesting. Rather than a traditional potluck, each family brings a chili that their family might have for supper. All the chilies are dumped into a large communal pot and the chili dump melds the flavor of all the samples brought by the different families. So simple. I have also been enamored by the rise of fondue during the New Year's Celebration. Dipping in as it were to one another's lives, sharing the communal dipping sauces and the mirroring of the many tiny tidbits we consume has for the many bits of each others lives that are shared in the intimate setting, around pots filled with warm savory and sweet sauces, heated by open flame. Just the thing for a long winter's night.
Whatever your traditions, however you celebrate the winter solstice and the associated holy days, remember, it is about people, not the gifts, not the perfect meal, or the accumulation of greatness and wealth. Just being together eith those you love can have transformative power.
Enjoy it. Be yourself, and use this time of frolic and enjoyment to find out who you would like to become in the new year. You may be surprised by what you find! Remember, traditions are created by what works. If your traditions are not working for you, research what others have found in their culture, and put that to use for a change, you just might love it!
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Climate Destabilization-Not Global Warming
We got our call from Texas on Christmas this past week.
Houston was 31 F, here in Green Bay, Wisconsin we were at 39 degrees. In the hours leading up to the phone call, the news was reporting nearly two feet of snow in Texas, but here, in the hours before the phone call, many hundreds of miles North, we had received two inches of rain. The topsy-turvey world was participating in Saturnalia right along with her human inhabitants! I have studied Meteorology since childhood back in the sixties. Normally, we were taught that High and Low pressure cells were relatively small, compared to today where we have had a few in the past few years that cover the entire continent. We also learned that cells of relatively low pressure were almost always interspersed with cells of relatively high pressure. This is not the case anymore. Recently there have been more and more ridges of pressure that align several low pressure cells in groups, but no highs to speak of.
Wacky yes, unpredicted, no. Climate destabilization was the name for the effect, even before Ronnie Reagan gort into office. The term Global Warming was used successfully to obscure reality. It sounds good to me too, but the truth is more troubling. The Climate has changed. What we are experiencing is aberrant. The question now is how do you plan for and adapt to constant change? Hotter, drier, wetter, colder, windier, etc. we will all face this together and it is past time to decide together what we are going to do about it. Like the alcoholic in denial, we get mad, point fingers, act like there is no problem, but the facts keep staring us in the face. Luckily, one of the things in our corner is all life's ability to adapt. Let us hope evolution will aid us in our change, but also let us get the words right in spite of the the global media interests that want us to remain uneducated consumers with an insatiable apetite for business as usual.
Houston was 31 F, here in Green Bay, Wisconsin we were at 39 degrees. In the hours leading up to the phone call, the news was reporting nearly two feet of snow in Texas, but here, in the hours before the phone call, many hundreds of miles North, we had received two inches of rain. The topsy-turvey world was participating in Saturnalia right along with her human inhabitants! I have studied Meteorology since childhood back in the sixties. Normally, we were taught that High and Low pressure cells were relatively small, compared to today where we have had a few in the past few years that cover the entire continent. We also learned that cells of relatively low pressure were almost always interspersed with cells of relatively high pressure. This is not the case anymore. Recently there have been more and more ridges of pressure that align several low pressure cells in groups, but no highs to speak of.
Wacky yes, unpredicted, no. Climate destabilization was the name for the effect, even before Ronnie Reagan gort into office. The term Global Warming was used successfully to obscure reality. It sounds good to me too, but the truth is more troubling. The Climate has changed. What we are experiencing is aberrant. The question now is how do you plan for and adapt to constant change? Hotter, drier, wetter, colder, windier, etc. we will all face this together and it is past time to decide together what we are going to do about it. Like the alcoholic in denial, we get mad, point fingers, act like there is no problem, but the facts keep staring us in the face. Luckily, one of the things in our corner is all life's ability to adapt. Let us hope evolution will aid us in our change, but also let us get the words right in spite of the the global media interests that want us to remain uneducated consumers with an insatiable apetite for business as usual.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Lowest Crime Rate in Forty Years
All "traditional" types of crime are on the wane. Things we think of when the word crime is mentioned, murder, rape, assault, theft and property crimes have not been this low since the sixties. I don't think that we can attribute this to the fact that all the criminals have been jailed. Quite the contrary, people who have perpetrated crimes against me have never even been arrested. Oddly enough, the crimes that I have been victimized by have subjected me to ridicule from police, disbelief, or at least they have given the police a good laugh. Questioning victims as if they were perpetrators makes one wonder if cops just get off on dealing with "bad guys", or if they just get so used to dealing with criminals, that it makes them treat everyone with disdain. If we look to a larger picture, it only makes sense that as people learn to survive on less, and the economic outlook for so many continues a downward slide, there would be higher levels of desperation and propensity to steal and rob. Not so, I guess, we see crime rates falling in all areas, and for all crimes according to the FBI.
The petty sorts of crimes that hurt just one victim at a time have been replaced by crimes that hurt us all. Corporate outlaws who absorb billions in tax money and continue to make bad business decisions top my list of evil deed doers, but we seem to be at a loss for what to do with these bad boys. Law enforcement has been trained to look for footprints in the snow, leading away from crime scenes, finger prints and physical evidence that ties perpetrators to crime scenes. Now, there is even the ability to "search" the net for traces of illicit activity. Even though we have sophisticated ways of finding ordinary criminals, there is a definite lag between what is actually taking place and our response to it. If a company can be classified as "too big to fail", they can lay off thousands, pay their figurehead leader millions, and take our tax money with impunity. This double standard allows the rich to undermine our democracy in a most unsettling way. In response to these heinous crimes, it seems that some police agencies have redoubled their efforts to prosecute people who have engaged in victimless crime, growing marijuana, or God forbid, smoking it. It is confusing to see the attention we pay to trivia, while letting gross abuse of power and theft on a grand scale pass unnoticed. Profiling Muslims has become "defensible", but corporate outlaws are overlooked because we all "want to be like them", rich.
Back in the seventies, there was a pay disparity between the top CEOs and the average workers of 44-1. This meant that it would take working stiffs an average of forty-four years to earn as much as the top person in their company would make in one year. This was basically a person's entire working career, to equal one person's pay for a single year! The reasoning behind this was that top earners were smarter, better educated, under more stress, and responsible for bigger decisions that would make or break their corporation. Even though forty-four times smarter sounds impossible, forty-four times as educated sounds illogical, forty-four times more stress seems improbable and forty-four times more responsible ignores the fact that "average"workers are the ones that actually make products or provide services for which the company is needed in the first place.
Today, this pay disparity has climbed to 360-1. This means that what the average wage earner makes in a year is made in less than a single day by top "wage" earners. To equal the pay of a CEO today, a "family" of workers would require eight generations of toil to "earn" the equivalent of a single year of effort by these super-humanly smart, ultra-educated, incredibly stressed out, and uniquely responsible individuals who are "top dogs" in the largest companies the world has ever seen. Even as their corporations crumble, it is said that they deserve their unreasonable compensation. At some point, will we see through this charade? How long will we allow this insanity to continue? Is screwing a billion people okay if we only steal a penny from each person? How about a dime? A dollar? What if we force them into bankruptcy? Will we ever classify wage slavery as slavery and outlaw it? Why do we continue to look the other way? How can we support a system of all men being created equal but yet reimburse some as if they are 360 people? In this age of technological advances, we must develop our awareness, our culture, and our laws to keep pace with the lightning speed of injustice.
Letting those who have led us down a path toward inequality, have a say in resolving the problems they have created, is like letting a fox into the hen house. This is commonly the way our government deals with important issues. In Wisconsin, when "public utilities" got caught stealing 64 million dollars from residential rate payers, the utilities themselves got to decide how to spend the court ordered forfeiture. Letting insurance companies, drug companies, hospitals and health care providers tell us what they want in a "health care bill" guarantees that their interests get priority while the general public continues to get fleeced. Similarly, when the banks and some insurance companies had gotten into trouble, playing the odds with borrowed money, we gave their terrible managers a get out of jail free card. Many were able to leave their crippled companies with severance packages that exceed the lifetime earnings of 90% of all Americans. I think that bad managers should be punished. Perhaps, if they had to bear responsibility for their stupidity, lack of judgment, larcenous ways, illegal gambling with money that belongs to others, or misrepresentation that only benefits themselves, their illegal and immoral actions would cease. Lying, cheating and stealing are bad, no matter who has done them. People who are worth billions should not be exempt from laws that govern the rest of us. As happy as I am that the crime rate has plummeted, I think that we need to look for injustice wherever it occurs.
The petty sorts of crimes that hurt just one victim at a time have been replaced by crimes that hurt us all. Corporate outlaws who absorb billions in tax money and continue to make bad business decisions top my list of evil deed doers, but we seem to be at a loss for what to do with these bad boys. Law enforcement has been trained to look for footprints in the snow, leading away from crime scenes, finger prints and physical evidence that ties perpetrators to crime scenes. Now, there is even the ability to "search" the net for traces of illicit activity. Even though we have sophisticated ways of finding ordinary criminals, there is a definite lag between what is actually taking place and our response to it. If a company can be classified as "too big to fail", they can lay off thousands, pay their figurehead leader millions, and take our tax money with impunity. This double standard allows the rich to undermine our democracy in a most unsettling way. In response to these heinous crimes, it seems that some police agencies have redoubled their efforts to prosecute people who have engaged in victimless crime, growing marijuana, or God forbid, smoking it. It is confusing to see the attention we pay to trivia, while letting gross abuse of power and theft on a grand scale pass unnoticed. Profiling Muslims has become "defensible", but corporate outlaws are overlooked because we all "want to be like them", rich.
Back in the seventies, there was a pay disparity between the top CEOs and the average workers of 44-1. This meant that it would take working stiffs an average of forty-four years to earn as much as the top person in their company would make in one year. This was basically a person's entire working career, to equal one person's pay for a single year! The reasoning behind this was that top earners were smarter, better educated, under more stress, and responsible for bigger decisions that would make or break their corporation. Even though forty-four times smarter sounds impossible, forty-four times as educated sounds illogical, forty-four times more stress seems improbable and forty-four times more responsible ignores the fact that "average"workers are the ones that actually make products or provide services for which the company is needed in the first place.
Today, this pay disparity has climbed to 360-1. This means that what the average wage earner makes in a year is made in less than a single day by top "wage" earners. To equal the pay of a CEO today, a "family" of workers would require eight generations of toil to "earn" the equivalent of a single year of effort by these super-humanly smart, ultra-educated, incredibly stressed out, and uniquely responsible individuals who are "top dogs" in the largest companies the world has ever seen. Even as their corporations crumble, it is said that they deserve their unreasonable compensation. At some point, will we see through this charade? How long will we allow this insanity to continue? Is screwing a billion people okay if we only steal a penny from each person? How about a dime? A dollar? What if we force them into bankruptcy? Will we ever classify wage slavery as slavery and outlaw it? Why do we continue to look the other way? How can we support a system of all men being created equal but yet reimburse some as if they are 360 people? In this age of technological advances, we must develop our awareness, our culture, and our laws to keep pace with the lightning speed of injustice.
Letting those who have led us down a path toward inequality, have a say in resolving the problems they have created, is like letting a fox into the hen house. This is commonly the way our government deals with important issues. In Wisconsin, when "public utilities" got caught stealing 64 million dollars from residential rate payers, the utilities themselves got to decide how to spend the court ordered forfeiture. Letting insurance companies, drug companies, hospitals and health care providers tell us what they want in a "health care bill" guarantees that their interests get priority while the general public continues to get fleeced. Similarly, when the banks and some insurance companies had gotten into trouble, playing the odds with borrowed money, we gave their terrible managers a get out of jail free card. Many were able to leave their crippled companies with severance packages that exceed the lifetime earnings of 90% of all Americans. I think that bad managers should be punished. Perhaps, if they had to bear responsibility for their stupidity, lack of judgment, larcenous ways, illegal gambling with money that belongs to others, or misrepresentation that only benefits themselves, their illegal and immoral actions would cease. Lying, cheating and stealing are bad, no matter who has done them. People who are worth billions should not be exempt from laws that govern the rest of us. As happy as I am that the crime rate has plummeted, I think that we need to look for injustice wherever it occurs.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Saturnalia Wishes
This Holy Day Season, it is well to reflect on our past and renew our commitment to the future. In times past, prior to the injection of Christ into the season, (Whose Birthday, by the way, was nowhere near the solstice) these were times of great festivities, gift giving and rather than being a commercial extravaganza, it was a time of rest for business. No commercial business was allowed. A jar of preserved plums, candles or other small token was the rule for gift giving. Useful items that showed your friends that you were thinking about them were given. Re-gifting carried no stigma. (This was like, two thousand years before Seinfeld) Slaves were allowed to wear the best clothes of their masters, and slave owners were obliged to serve their charges if only for a few short days. It was the topsy-turvey time of year when children were allowed sweets, to stay up late, and to make the rules. The period of time between the seventeenth and the twenty-third of December was set aside for rest and relaxation, renewing personal ties to friends and family, letting by-gones be by-gones and Partying.
The Roman Saturnalia was timed to reward the mostly agrarian population after fall planting, and after harvest, with a grand celebration, honoring the God of Growth & Abundance. In times of old, the chance to revel and relax was no less necessary than it is today. Sadly, it seems, the push in modern times is toward making everything perfect. Norman Rockwell may not have created the unreasonable expectation of universal bliss and the perfect family but he definitely codified it in the psyche of most Americans. This in turn has led to tremendous feelings of lack, isolation, ambivalence, and for many, depression. We hear about commercial interests during this season ad infinitum, yet the things that matter most, the needs of people we care about, are glossed over or ignored. I would hazard a guess that in the days of honoring all men, the eternally giving nature of each of us was rejoiced in, and no one felt that they were "from another planet." Feeling part of a larger community, especially one that was whole and aligned with the Gods and Goddesses must have been resplendent. Military exploits were suspended, war could not be declared during this time, "normal" behavior was frowned upon, and all were able to abide by relaxed rules regarding social class, etiquette and decorum.
It seems that we have reached a time where if one has significant resources, these rules are relaxed at all times. The slaves never get to wear the master's clothes, not even for a week, and the idea of suspending our expectations never occurs to us. Week-long revelry is suspect, frowned upon, and considered a little too hedonistic. The idea of encouraging everyone to do it on a specific week seems to us to be over the top. Maybe if we could associate it with football, or perhaps basketball, it could be placed in context, but to get things right between the individual and a community, or to get things right between humans and the Gods, now that's nearly treasonous! It is at least anti-capitalist, and that is who happens to be ruling the day. The "Keep Christ in Christmas" people are to be commended, but capitalism has subverted and co-opted the holiday beyond what yard signs can undo. Unbridled greed and consumerism have taken the last vestiges of sanctity from the Christmas Story and are morphing to increase revenues by appealing to other faiths as well. I believe that it is high time that we put our attention back on the solar cycle, the ancient reality of restful reflection, and honoring friends and family in ways that do not encourage depletion of resources, frustrate the primal urge to have fun with the people we love or cause us to flit about in search of "deals" on the very things we hope will create an accord with folks we are obliged to recognize.
The perverse twists and turns of logic, the convoluted rhetoric and the ultra-hype of the Christmas Spirit today have taken on a new hue. Many would welcome the return of gifts like a candle, or preserved plums over Mp3 players, digi-cams, or Best Buy gift cards, but how do you fight the urge to "prove your love" when the daily fare in advertising is to give diamonds or a car? This is where we need to get creative. Recognize where the urge to make gifts bigger and bigger each year comes from. Realize that through re-aligning ourselves to things that are eternal and that really matter, may put us at odds with the current culture of "have more for less". Many may not understand at first. We must be willing to stand up for what is right, even if we stand alone at first. It may take years, but if one spends their holy days stressed out and exhausted, trying to be all things to all people, nothing is going to change. People who love you will get more and more disillusioned, and feel ever more isolated. Have fun, unbridled joy at visiting with friends and bring a tiny gift rather than a huge one. Your unrestrained joy may turn some heads at first, but it may change minds as well.
I am going to do my part by buying a few dozen candles, perhaps some figs, or walnuts to share, and invite over a small number of friends to drink a toast to life, perhaps play a little cards, or dice, and nosh on some snick-snacks. I urge everyone to take a break from the elaborate rituals of modern Christmas, and return to something you can believe in, a well deserved break from keeping up with the Jones'. Take a break from work, at least a week, from bills, they can wait, from your senses if you prefer, but most of all from expectations, for that is the most sublime. When you come back to the life you knew before the holy days, you will see it with fresh eyes. Things you liked about yourself, and your life, you are welcome to pick up again. Those you do not, will be easier to let pass. New Year's Resolutions anyone?
It has been said: "You have to be out of your head to be in your right mind." What better time to do it than just before a long winter's night? Or during one for that matter. It is time to start realizing the dreams that have carried us through the dark oppression of Capitalism. It is time to honor or neighbor and friends. It is time to take our place in Nature's chain. Instead of continuing to suck resources from the planet, repeatedly buying gifts, no matter how useless, extravagant or inappropriate, let's get down to basics. We love one another and appreciate spending time with the folks we care about. From this foundation of love, all things will grow. Economic factors have no place in holy days. Give them no quarter and they will find their rightful place among banality and vulgarity. Blessed Saturn, thank-you for our continued wealth, our overflowing cornucopia, our fertile soils, our sustenance and the opportunity to serve the planet for another year!
The Roman Saturnalia was timed to reward the mostly agrarian population after fall planting, and after harvest, with a grand celebration, honoring the God of Growth & Abundance. In times of old, the chance to revel and relax was no less necessary than it is today. Sadly, it seems, the push in modern times is toward making everything perfect. Norman Rockwell may not have created the unreasonable expectation of universal bliss and the perfect family but he definitely codified it in the psyche of most Americans. This in turn has led to tremendous feelings of lack, isolation, ambivalence, and for many, depression. We hear about commercial interests during this season ad infinitum, yet the things that matter most, the needs of people we care about, are glossed over or ignored. I would hazard a guess that in the days of honoring all men, the eternally giving nature of each of us was rejoiced in, and no one felt that they were "from another planet." Feeling part of a larger community, especially one that was whole and aligned with the Gods and Goddesses must have been resplendent. Military exploits were suspended, war could not be declared during this time, "normal" behavior was frowned upon, and all were able to abide by relaxed rules regarding social class, etiquette and decorum.
It seems that we have reached a time where if one has significant resources, these rules are relaxed at all times. The slaves never get to wear the master's clothes, not even for a week, and the idea of suspending our expectations never occurs to us. Week-long revelry is suspect, frowned upon, and considered a little too hedonistic. The idea of encouraging everyone to do it on a specific week seems to us to be over the top. Maybe if we could associate it with football, or perhaps basketball, it could be placed in context, but to get things right between the individual and a community, or to get things right between humans and the Gods, now that's nearly treasonous! It is at least anti-capitalist, and that is who happens to be ruling the day. The "Keep Christ in Christmas" people are to be commended, but capitalism has subverted and co-opted the holiday beyond what yard signs can undo. Unbridled greed and consumerism have taken the last vestiges of sanctity from the Christmas Story and are morphing to increase revenues by appealing to other faiths as well. I believe that it is high time that we put our attention back on the solar cycle, the ancient reality of restful reflection, and honoring friends and family in ways that do not encourage depletion of resources, frustrate the primal urge to have fun with the people we love or cause us to flit about in search of "deals" on the very things we hope will create an accord with folks we are obliged to recognize.
The perverse twists and turns of logic, the convoluted rhetoric and the ultra-hype of the Christmas Spirit today have taken on a new hue. Many would welcome the return of gifts like a candle, or preserved plums over Mp3 players, digi-cams, or Best Buy gift cards, but how do you fight the urge to "prove your love" when the daily fare in advertising is to give diamonds or a car? This is where we need to get creative. Recognize where the urge to make gifts bigger and bigger each year comes from. Realize that through re-aligning ourselves to things that are eternal and that really matter, may put us at odds with the current culture of "have more for less". Many may not understand at first. We must be willing to stand up for what is right, even if we stand alone at first. It may take years, but if one spends their holy days stressed out and exhausted, trying to be all things to all people, nothing is going to change. People who love you will get more and more disillusioned, and feel ever more isolated. Have fun, unbridled joy at visiting with friends and bring a tiny gift rather than a huge one. Your unrestrained joy may turn some heads at first, but it may change minds as well.
I am going to do my part by buying a few dozen candles, perhaps some figs, or walnuts to share, and invite over a small number of friends to drink a toast to life, perhaps play a little cards, or dice, and nosh on some snick-snacks. I urge everyone to take a break from the elaborate rituals of modern Christmas, and return to something you can believe in, a well deserved break from keeping up with the Jones'. Take a break from work, at least a week, from bills, they can wait, from your senses if you prefer, but most of all from expectations, for that is the most sublime. When you come back to the life you knew before the holy days, you will see it with fresh eyes. Things you liked about yourself, and your life, you are welcome to pick up again. Those you do not, will be easier to let pass. New Year's Resolutions anyone?
It has been said: "You have to be out of your head to be in your right mind." What better time to do it than just before a long winter's night? Or during one for that matter. It is time to start realizing the dreams that have carried us through the dark oppression of Capitalism. It is time to honor or neighbor and friends. It is time to take our place in Nature's chain. Instead of continuing to suck resources from the planet, repeatedly buying gifts, no matter how useless, extravagant or inappropriate, let's get down to basics. We love one another and appreciate spending time with the folks we care about. From this foundation of love, all things will grow. Economic factors have no place in holy days. Give them no quarter and they will find their rightful place among banality and vulgarity. Blessed Saturn, thank-you for our continued wealth, our overflowing cornucopia, our fertile soils, our sustenance and the opportunity to serve the planet for another year!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Republicans Stymie Universal Health Care
Today, Republicans invoked a rarely used procedural dodge to subvert Universal Health care in The United States. They forced the plan, all seven-hundred and some odd pages to be read out loud into the record. Developed by an independent congress person, this document was the best chance American Citizens had for comprehensive Health Care Reform that would protect individuals from the extractive subsidies of a "business as usual" approach to our out of control disease care system. It would have allowed every American to sign up for a medicare-like system in which the sheer number of those enrolled would drive down costs and increase access to services.
Thanks, we really need you (mostly rich, white) guys looking out for our right to no care. We need to shout from the rooftops about the continuing subsidy of large drug companies, insurance companies, and a delivery system that results in outcomes worse than Nigeria and Sierra Leone. If there were ever as reason to think that Republicans were on the ropes, this would be it! The only people afraid of universal coverage are those who are counting on the funds from ultra-wealthy lobbies to get re-elected. Good heavens, when will they learn, the most important part of their job is to represent us. The finger of the average politician, rather than being on the pulse of public will and opinion, is on the speed dial button of their largest donors!
It is criminal that the same representative that proposed the new legislation had to withdraw the proposal because of the amount of time that would be wasted reading the whole document out loud. I guess that most Republicans don't like to read. If we are to regain our place as a well-respected player on the world stage, we need to act like reasonable and compassionate people rather than thugs and poor losers. We voted the Republicans out of both the White House and Congress on purpose. They led us through a time that saw the fastest run up in inequality in the distribution of wealth that has ever occurred on the planet, and jeopardized the world economy because of the unequaled greed exhibited by a few thousand people who are making over one billion dollars per year.
Thanks, we really need you (mostly rich, white) guys looking out for our right to no care. We need to shout from the rooftops about the continuing subsidy of large drug companies, insurance companies, and a delivery system that results in outcomes worse than Nigeria and Sierra Leone. If there were ever as reason to think that Republicans were on the ropes, this would be it! The only people afraid of universal coverage are those who are counting on the funds from ultra-wealthy lobbies to get re-elected. Good heavens, when will they learn, the most important part of their job is to represent us. The finger of the average politician, rather than being on the pulse of public will and opinion, is on the speed dial button of their largest donors!
It is criminal that the same representative that proposed the new legislation had to withdraw the proposal because of the amount of time that would be wasted reading the whole document out loud. I guess that most Republicans don't like to read. If we are to regain our place as a well-respected player on the world stage, we need to act like reasonable and compassionate people rather than thugs and poor losers. We voted the Republicans out of both the White House and Congress on purpose. They led us through a time that saw the fastest run up in inequality in the distribution of wealth that has ever occurred on the planet, and jeopardized the world economy because of the unequaled greed exhibited by a few thousand people who are making over one billion dollars per year.
What Be the Rewards?
A little over two years ago, I purchased a solar panel. It is the most low tech device that I know of. Imagine a large box low and flat, like the shirt boxes that will be found under the Christmas Tree in a few days. Of course, mine is larger, (seven feet by twenty) and air tight, except for a small inlet and a small outlet. The side of the box that faces South is covered with fiberglass, relatively clear. The rest of the box is covered with insulation. People who sell more high tech devices often call this type of collector "Scorched Air" because it removes air from the house, warms it up, and brings it back into the living space. Inside the box is a bi-metal thermostat that automatically turns on the fan that blows air into the device when the temperature inside the box reaches a predetermined temperature. To keep cold air from cycling back into the house when the fan stops, two automatic dampers close when the fan is off.
Yesterday, I spent a few minutes brushing the snow off the panel and was rewarded by the soothing hum of the fan. Even though our high temp was only twelve degrees, the panel was able to bring one-hundred degree air into the house. Warmed by the sun, powered by a twenty-two watt squirrel cage fan. The entire system paid itself off in under two years. In year one, the panel provided about twenty percent of the home's heat budget. Now, due to creatively changing just a couple things, the panel is making up about forty percent of our heating needs. Rather than using unheated basement air and pressurizing the living space as I did at first, we now use air from the living space to feed the panel, increasing the efficiency and increasing the hours that the fan runs each day.
I am saving money that would otherwise be spent on energy, but this is not what makes me happiest. Knowing that with no major upkeep, this panel should last another thirty years or more makes me feel pretty good. Keeping the place comfortable without burdening the furnace feels pretty good as well. My favorite part is knowing that the sun really will come out tomorrow. During the coldest spells we get during the winter, it is usually crystal clear and the panel works all day long. In the spring and early fall, we use the extra dry and warm air to dry clothes, veggies and herbs. When it gets too hot in the house, we just unplug the entire system.
The most curious thing is that this whole system was created back in the early seventies and has been providing heat ever since. I bought the system used when trees grew up in front of the panel for a second time. The former owner installed it outside his home that was in a suburban area. When trees grew too large to let the sunshine in, he moved to a different home further out in the suburbs. Trees there grew up there too and shaded the panel again, so I bought the thirty-five year old system for about what it cost to build back in the seventies. Where I placed it, in an older neighborhood, the trees are all mature, and there is still plenty of sun, so I won't have the problems that he did.
Why do we continue to deny the fact that solar is a good way to go? Why is the focus on producing electricity, which is more difficult and expensive? I am stumped by the inability of people to see the benefit that would come from requiring similar systems on all new construction in areas that need heat in the winter.
While our elected officials talk about making progress toward energy efficiency, hoping for a seventeen percent reduction in energy use over the next two decades, or by increasing efficiency over the next generation, I have done more than twice as much with virtually no funding, in less than two months. Those who make their money on things staying the same will never get behind the changes that will require them to live on less, or to re-educate themselves. Corporados want to talk about costs, the displacement, the turmoil that they hype as the "result" of doing the right thing. My belief is that doing things wrong because they benefit business as usual is both short-sighted and irresponsible. The workers that will be displaced when we change our goal to sustainability will have to get jobs that support and enhance our planet, and her people, rather than raping it, and them. No talking heads have cogent arguments for environmental degradation. The "powers that be" are, and have always been afraid of change. We must drag them kicking and screaming into the future that we can plainly see is possible. Corporate Welfare recipients will not let go of their billions without a fight.
I hope and pray that you too will one day know the beautiful sound of "free" heat coming from the sun. This is just one tiny piece of the puzzle of how to live in harmony with the planet. There are millions of answers to the question, what can one person do to make positive change in the world. "Take your time, think a lot, why think of everything you've got, for you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not."- Cat Stevens. When we finally figure out how to mimic nature, creating no waste, living in community, with respect for all beings, we will be well on our way to solving many of the problems that plague humanity. We Believed in change. We voted for Barack. We even made him the President. Now we have to fight for him. Show the Corporate Outlaws that we mean business. Remember, The Constitution says: "One person one vote", not one dollar one vote.
Yesterday, I spent a few minutes brushing the snow off the panel and was rewarded by the soothing hum of the fan. Even though our high temp was only twelve degrees, the panel was able to bring one-hundred degree air into the house. Warmed by the sun, powered by a twenty-two watt squirrel cage fan. The entire system paid itself off in under two years. In year one, the panel provided about twenty percent of the home's heat budget. Now, due to creatively changing just a couple things, the panel is making up about forty percent of our heating needs. Rather than using unheated basement air and pressurizing the living space as I did at first, we now use air from the living space to feed the panel, increasing the efficiency and increasing the hours that the fan runs each day.
I am saving money that would otherwise be spent on energy, but this is not what makes me happiest. Knowing that with no major upkeep, this panel should last another thirty years or more makes me feel pretty good. Keeping the place comfortable without burdening the furnace feels pretty good as well. My favorite part is knowing that the sun really will come out tomorrow. During the coldest spells we get during the winter, it is usually crystal clear and the panel works all day long. In the spring and early fall, we use the extra dry and warm air to dry clothes, veggies and herbs. When it gets too hot in the house, we just unplug the entire system.
The most curious thing is that this whole system was created back in the early seventies and has been providing heat ever since. I bought the system used when trees grew up in front of the panel for a second time. The former owner installed it outside his home that was in a suburban area. When trees grew too large to let the sunshine in, he moved to a different home further out in the suburbs. Trees there grew up there too and shaded the panel again, so I bought the thirty-five year old system for about what it cost to build back in the seventies. Where I placed it, in an older neighborhood, the trees are all mature, and there is still plenty of sun, so I won't have the problems that he did.
Why do we continue to deny the fact that solar is a good way to go? Why is the focus on producing electricity, which is more difficult and expensive? I am stumped by the inability of people to see the benefit that would come from requiring similar systems on all new construction in areas that need heat in the winter.
While our elected officials talk about making progress toward energy efficiency, hoping for a seventeen percent reduction in energy use over the next two decades, or by increasing efficiency over the next generation, I have done more than twice as much with virtually no funding, in less than two months. Those who make their money on things staying the same will never get behind the changes that will require them to live on less, or to re-educate themselves. Corporados want to talk about costs, the displacement, the turmoil that they hype as the "result" of doing the right thing. My belief is that doing things wrong because they benefit business as usual is both short-sighted and irresponsible. The workers that will be displaced when we change our goal to sustainability will have to get jobs that support and enhance our planet, and her people, rather than raping it, and them. No talking heads have cogent arguments for environmental degradation. The "powers that be" are, and have always been afraid of change. We must drag them kicking and screaming into the future that we can plainly see is possible. Corporate Welfare recipients will not let go of their billions without a fight.
I hope and pray that you too will one day know the beautiful sound of "free" heat coming from the sun. This is just one tiny piece of the puzzle of how to live in harmony with the planet. There are millions of answers to the question, what can one person do to make positive change in the world. "Take your time, think a lot, why think of everything you've got, for you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not."- Cat Stevens. When we finally figure out how to mimic nature, creating no waste, living in community, with respect for all beings, we will be well on our way to solving many of the problems that plague humanity. We Believed in change. We voted for Barack. We even made him the President. Now we have to fight for him. Show the Corporate Outlaws that we mean business. Remember, The Constitution says: "One person one vote", not one dollar one vote.
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