Wall Street Protests Pop Up Like Mushrooms Across the Nation

When I first heard of the protests planned for this fall, my heart jumped. I felt at once excitement and terror. When I was young, the protests turned ugly from time to time and the last thing one wants to think about is peaceful loving people being beaten, abused and potentially killed by the police or national Guard. We do, however, have to think about it. The wealthy in our country have enjoyed the tacit approval or outright subsidy of their operations for far too long. Our ruling class has turned a blind eye to their overwhelming support for criminals and greedy SOBs because they look much more alike than different. Heck, many of them buy their suits from the same tailors. There is an excitement in both the air and the voices of most people that talk about this long overdue revolution, the sad fact is that the executives and CEOs are adept at asking all the wrong questions and when confronting the truth, doing it obliquely enough as to lack any effective relationship with it.

These same corporados have had their boots to our neck for years, but the difference between their brutal and terror tactics and those of the police is that the death of a thousand cuts that the corporations foist upon us are from behind closed doors, or by digital communications issuing from their yachts or their private offshore islands. The tax dodges that they participate in are taking away from "invisible" people, far removed and often their tactics allow them to steal pennies from billions of folks, spreading the pain slightly. Their methods have broken through to a new level with the current economic crisis. In our case, owning three homes at the start of the real estate crash, we lost nearly $100,000 in equity within a few months. Multiply that by the millions of homeowners and you will see what we are up against. Cops may mace you, or beat you, but they do it close up, where they can see you wince.

There is a reason for us to stand in support of protesters on Wall street, the local titans of industry, or the state and county courthouses across this great nation. If only to let our message be heard. "No one benefits from enriching the coffers of the wealthy at the expense of the poor, the disenfranchised, the students, their teachers, the elderly or the infirm. The greatness of a nation is reflected in how they treat the least among them, not how easy they make it on the rich. Things have already turned ugly, so the violence that has been perpetrated on the true patriots, who are standing for what they believe in, has been documented and shared by those who seek the truth of events unfolding across America. This powder keg that is the other 98% of the population has been awakened to the fact that we do have a voice, by joining in with local protests across the nation, perhaps our elected officials will get the message. We may not pay for their multi-million dollar campaigns, like their wealthy friends do, but we vote and if need be, we will hold our leaders' feet tot he fire. We are demanding change. We voted for it and got nothing but rhetoric and obfuscation.

Wishbone Ash said it best. "Time was, when there were things around to be afraid of." Now it is do or die and we must all stand together. Although it has been said thousands of times, love means letting go of fear. Do this in honor of your children, their children and the lineage that you will help long after your passing. Without this revolution, there will be no future for the vast majority other than serving the elite that could not care less about us. To them we are only units of potential production and they have become adept at getting what they want out of us for an ever diminishing cost.

First Harvest In Full Swing

The cornucopia is overflowing, abundance surrounds us and fills the larder. Simultaneously, our news programs are full of how shaky the economy is, how dangerous it is to be alive or how terrible someone else has it. My heart tells me that the rhetoric about the dire straights the super rich are in, and how quickly that will "trickle down" to us are overblown. The same suits that have skimmed off hundreds of billions of dollars for nothing more than shuffling paper are included in "talks" about how best to save their stake in the American Dream. White collar crime has never been more robust and certainly has not been more lucrative. The garden that I tend is pumping out produce that has a definite value. I invested early and consistently over time and now the rewards are flowing in. The thieves that put our economy on the ropes were siphoning off unearned income and wealth while putting nothing of value on the table.

 Banks, investors and loan officers are fond of saying that the needy company needs to put in their "pound of flesh", but their tails are so securely swaddled with our tax dollars that when they are on the brink of falling, we will rush in and save them. Nature itself is not too big to fail. If we deem any part of our economy as too big to fail, it ignores natural systems. When things grow exponentially, at a certain point, they must stop and begin to decay. Sad fact, fact nonetheless.
We share a planet, we are engaged in the exploitation of resources that come from the planet's crust. Increasingly, but sadly, not fast enough, we are utilizing both solar and wind to meet our "need" for electricity. Sustainability will demand of us as much inventiveness and creativity as met the needs of the industrial revolution. The next revolution will not look like most revolutions. Rather than destruction and mayhem, our next big shift will be to greener pastures, more agribusiness, local cooperatives and communities that are meeting their own needs rather than relying on high paid "experts" from far away. Economic power has been wielded over rural America for more than a century. Breaking the bonds that inhibit farmers from thinking for themselves, being good stewards of the land and keep them from fostering lasting positive environmental change in the nation will be hard. It may take a generation of education and complete revision of current agricultural policy. The bounty of Earth, when she is cared for, is almost beyond comprehension. It is time to begin acting like we know it. The miracles that keep us alive on Starship Earth need to be encouraged and upheld as the best model for human behavior. Give back, make no waste, store up calories during the fat times and conserve what you have earned by real work and attunement to Nature's Cycles.

The good that surrounds us and tips the balance away from chaos is not based on any intelligence or thought, but feeling. Each and every human on the planet needs to get clear about their own hearts. If anyone still needs proof that who we think we are is not who we are as much as what we feel is. We really need not distract our attention, the heart is the only hope we have for the future. That is why the Earth religions are gaining converts so quickly. Goddess is alive in our hearts and after the bad press that the male deities took over the past couple centuries, we cannot trust any man to not be infatuated by reason. Ultimately we must either choose what a wise friend of mine called Servoglobe, the penultimate Disneyesque technocrat's dream, or rediscover Gaia, the feminine and giving nature of ecology. We currently spend more on health care and get poorer outcomes than most of the rest of the world, yet next year I assure you, we will spend even more to be sicker. Just as our food sickens more and more people each year, but we will not question what we put in our mouths. Another sure bet is that there will be more soda commercials, and even worse diabetes. With the wealth of life sustaining potential all around us, the only thing that gets in the way of recreating Eden is the greed and self centered belief that we are in a competition for scant resources. Don't forget to integrate the concept of the cornucopia into your daily life, don't worry about what will come from being moved by your heart and always remember that none of this could have been bestowed upon us without love and hope borne on wings of abundance.