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“Silence is betrayal” - “Support our Troops”

“Each day the war goes on the hatred increases …in the hearts of those of humanitarian instinct. The Americans are forcing even their friends into becoming their enemies. It is curious that the Americans, who calculate so carefully on the possibilities of military victory, do not realize that in the process they are incurring deep psychological and political defeat. The image of America will never again be the image of revolution, freedom, and democracy, but the image of violence and militarism

I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin…we must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”

The above quotes refer not to Iraq but Vietnam. Also, they are not my words. They are those of the late MLK. We owe it to ourselves to get a little objectivity and clarity and see our present as we touch the past.

Take a few minutes to read this amazing speech.

Or even better take a few minutes to HEAR this speech by downloading an mp3.

Where she held me in her arms one time and said, “Forget me not.”

In the Buddhist tradition one of the most popular symbols is the 1000 arm buddha. Just like when a westerner walks into a church and sees the cross, when one walks into a temple they may see the 1000 arm buddha. I think the symbolism of it is very profound especially when it was described to me by Thich Nhat Hanh.

“In Vietnam, when you go on a journey, you see only Buddhist temples, and every time you go into a Buddhist temple you can see the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. Avalokiteshvara is a person with many, many arms, maybe a hundred, a thousand arms. It may create a strange impression, when you go into a Buddhist temple and see someone sitting with a hundred or a thousand arms. You may wonder why should somebody need so many arms? I will tell you. This person has a lot of love, and the energy of love in her is very great. And that energy needs to be shown in action. When we love, we have to do something, …Therefore, in order to do something, we need to act, and two arms are not enough. We need more than two arms. Look at your mommy. She has two arms. But sometimes she has so many things to do, she wishes she had five or six arms. So many things to look after: the housework is one thing, her child who is crying, her child who needs her, her husband, her family, her father, her mother, her friends, and society, which is asking for her attention as well, the people who are suffering in the world. Your mother has love in her heart, and she wants to do many things in order to express her love, but she has only two arms, and therefore she wishes she had more arms. In her there is a bodhisattva, an awakened being who loves and who wants to do so many things to help the world to suffer less.

Therefore you understand now why the bodhisattva has so many arms, and if you will come close you will see other things too. You will realize that in each hand of this bodhisattva there is something. Look carefully, and you will see that in each hand there is an eye in the palm. Look carefully, every hand of the bodhisattva has an eye in it. Why does it have an eye? Because, when you do something, when you act, you need to do it very carefully, to be sure that what you do makes the other person happy, and doesn’t make the other person suffer. You want to make somebody happy. You really have the good heart, the good will, to do that. You really have love and want to do that. But if you are not careful enough, not mindful enough when you do it, you might make that other person suffer. Therefore, to love is to understand, and the eye in your hand is to be able to look and to understand.”

What are you tryin’ to overpower me with, the doctrine or the gun?

This is a very funny story. Sad circumstances. But very funny. You remember the phrase “bring a knife to a gun fight” or “a battle of wits with an unarmed man”. Both apply. This guy in Florida tried to hold up a GUN STORE with a BOXCUTTER. He wanted to steal a gun to rescue Terry Schiavo. Yes, he needed a gun to KILL anyone who got in his way of SAVING her life. Guess who had a gun and prevented the robbery. Uhmmm Derrr. The owner of the gun store! LMAO! I can just imagine the owner being like…”Dude, are you serious?” Anyway it epitomizes the circus that the government and media have created under republican leadership by Tom Delay and and Family Research Council.

What a shame to play with people lives for political gain. Especially when its a FACT that if Terry Schiavo was poor and lving in Texas she would have been dead years ago. In 1999, Governor G.W. Bush (”I want to err on the side of life”…Compassionate conservative etc.) signed a law that gave the HOSPITALS the right to pull the plug on a patient if the patient had no money or insurance. True. Check it for yourself

New polls show two things.
1.Nearly 80 percent of people disagree with government’s involvement in these matters.
2. Bush’s approval rating slipping from 49 to 43 percent.

So now you will see two things. Mark my word.
1. Serious back pedaling from W.
2. Increased threats from “terrorists”, N. Korea, Iran, etc. Divert the publics attention to Safety and National Security. Daddy will keep you safe.

Oh yeah that article that started this whole rant is pasted below.

Man Tries to Steal Gun to ‘Rescue Schiavo’

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: March 25, 2005

Filed at 7:00 a.m. ET

SEMINOLE, Fla. (AP) — A man was arrested after trying to steal a weapon from a gun shop so he could “take some action and rescue Terri Schiavo,'’ authorities said.

Michael W. Mitchell, of Rockford, Ill., entered Randall’s Firearms Inc. in Seminole just before 6 p.m. Thursday with a box cutter and tried to steal a gun, said Marianne Pasha, a spokeswoman for the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.

Mitchell, 50, told deputies he wanted to “take some action and rescue Terri Schiavo'’ after he visited the Pinellas Park hospice where she lives, Pasha said.

The feeding tube that has kept Schiavo alive for more than a decade was removed March 18 over objections from her parents. Schiavo’s husband has said his wife would not want to be kept alive artificially.

Doctors have said she would probably die within a week or two of the tube being pulled.

Randy McKenzie, the owner of Randall’s Firearms, said Mitchell pulled out the box cutter and broke the glass on a couple of display cases.

“He told me if I wasn’t on Terri’s side then I wasn’t on God’s side, either,'’ McKenzie told The Associated Press.

McKenzie said he then pointed his own gun at Mitchell and ordered him to lie on the ground. But Mitchell fled out the store’s back door before police arrived, he said.

Mitchell was later arrested in a parking lot and was scheduled to appear in court Friday. He was being held on $125,000 bond on charges of attempted armed robbery, aggravated assault and criminal mischief, officials said.

It was not known if he had a lawyer.

Always on the outside of whatever side there was

Hey everyone I did it. I finally made it into the majority. All this time I’ve been on the outside looking in. A Loner. A minority voice. But I finally have picked the “proper”, “correct”, and mob approved position on an issue. I finished in the top 67 percent. I’m in!

“WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans broadly and strongly disapprove of the intervention by Congress in the case of Terri Schiavo and most believe lawmakers are using her case for political gain, according to an ABC News poll published on Monday. Seventy percent deemed the congressional intervention inappropriate, while 67 percent said they believe lawmakers became involved in the Schiavo case for political advantage rather than the principles involved.”

Full Text: Poll: Most Think Congress Wrong on Schiavo Case

With god on our side?

So today thousands march to be “pro life” for terry schiavo. They march to ask govermnet to intervene in two families most peronal decision. The lawmakers and the president rush to legislate and equivocate over something that should not be a political issue. Is this all a smokescreen. It seems an ironic coincidence that the nation is focused and diverted to this issue on the anniversary of the Iraq invasion. An invasion which has killed 150,000 civilians. Its an estimated amount because according to the Defense Dept. “We don’t do body counts”. 150,000 people with hopes and dreams and wives and children and smiles and tears with salt that tastes just like the salt in mine. Our Judeo-Christian Values voting people are once again hoodwinked and fooled to believe that the issue is a lady in Florida. Many march with signs and Bible Quotes that read “Thou Shalt Not Kill”. And “God is the author of life”. If they really believe that then these people should also be marching tenfold every time there is an execution in this country. Every time there is a person killed by one one of our red white and blue tax funded bombs. …But for some reason I suspect that these are not the same protestors.

The chief architecht of this new bill being voted on tomorrow is Rep. James Sensenbrenner R-Wis. He said this quote:

“As millions of Americans observe the beginning of Holy Week this Palm Sunday we are reminded that every life has purpose and none is without meaning,”

So being a studious citizen I checked his voting record to see if he really believes this. After all Faith without works is Dead. And Ye shall know them by their fruit. Here are a few of his votes.

• Voted NO on maintaining right of habeus corpus in Death Penalty Appeals. (Mar 1996)
• Voted YES on making federal death penalty appeals harder. (Feb 1995)
• Voted NO on replacing death penalty with life imprisonment. (Apr 1994)
• Voted YES on prohibiting needle exchange
• Voted YES on decreasing gun waiting period from 3 days to 1.
• Rated 30% by CURE, indicating anti-rehabilitation crime votes. (Dec 2000)
• More prisons, more enforcement, effective death penalty. (Sep 1994)

So actually he meant to say that all life has value except drug addicts, prisoners, and people who might get killed by a “hunter” with a semi-automatic at a Wal Mart.

So I checked my Bible and read:

“Whatsoever you have done to the least of thse my brethren..You have done unto me”
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”
“Vengeance is MINE saith the LORD”
“Blessed are the peacemakers”
“You pharisees strain out a gnat and swallow a camel”

And ya know I have been meditating on the words of Jesus for my whole life. They mean something to me. And I personally cannot reconcile being Pro-War, Pro Death Penalty, Anti Needle Exchange, and Pro Gun with my image of Jesus. It seems inconsistent. Let us not be afraid to see the inconsistencies in our beliefs. We all have them. I’m a vegeterian …who wears a leather jacket:-) I mean lets acknowledge these things and at least admit them as confusing. Or grey areas. Let us not be afraid to be CHALLENGED or inconvenienced by our beliefs. If your pro life…go all the way with it man and march against the death penalty and the war. Don’t let some politician (or actor blogger define your faith. If your anti war and pro peace…Why are you hating your neighbor or chucking people the bird from your car on your morning commute. I don’t know man. Its late. So I’m going to read a book to help me fall asleep.

So I think of our lovely busy body congress meeting tomorrow. And I think of the prayers that will open the congressional quorum. And I think of where I can find a vegan pleather jacket and shoes. And I get out another book. Its a dictionary. And I find this somewhere after hell and hype and a little before hypodermic:

hypocrisy

n 1: an expression of agreement that is not supported by real conviction [syn: lip service] 2: insincerity by virtue of pretending to have qualities or beliefs that you do not really have

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“You lose yourself, you reappear, You suddenly find you got nothing to fear”

“There are lots of ways of being fearless. I highly recommend it. To a large extent, the key to fearlessness is the “no matter what.” Keep that in mind. It’s truly amazing what we can do by allowing the spirit and mind to flourish. Our capabilities go way beyond our understanding. Trust in that and go forward. Get past the clutter, the noise inside you that says, “I can’t, I can’t, I’m not good enough, I don’t feel like it, I’m sick, I don’t want to.” That is just like static on a radio. Just clear the channel, find good reception and you’ll be amazed by what you can do.”

All Night Long

Anyone who has lost someone knows what its like to have some seemingly insignificant thing suddenly open up a flood of memories. A song. A picture. A laugh. Tonight I was cooking dinner and I was listening to Sirius radio. I usually listen to Sirius disorder, Left of Center, (Punk Alt), Underground Garage (garage modern rock), Folktown, JamOn, or AirAmerica…But tonight I accidentally put it on the soft rock station. WOOPS! First I heard Stevie Wonder’s “I just called to say I love you”. This reminded me of when I was in college and my dad was working the night shift to put me through school. He would call me and cheer me up and he would sing that song all the time.

I regained composure and finished my salad of chick peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, alfalfa sprouts, and mozzarella…Hey Leave me alone! WTF you want I’m a vegeterian! Anyway two songs later BANG! Lionel Ritchie. A blow to the solar plexus. Down for the count. Not the slow dance commodores stuff…But the classic “ALL NIGHT LONG”. Cept this song is insane to me. It reminds me of my brother Glenn and his wife Wendy. When they first got married they had this great apartment. A kid on the way. All kinds of things going for them. They were partying with all thier other newly married friends and enjoying life. I remember my brother saying how much he loved Lionel Ritchie. I was like “Dude” “What the hell is wrong with you?” I mean this was the kid that raised me on Led Zeppelin, The Who, Rush, and Tom Petty. He constantly had his black gibson guitar around his neck and could play any song by Black Sabbath. So then he tells me he likes lionel ritchie. I was very confused. So then I found out that him and wendy have been going out dancing. And my bro thinks he’s got all these moves (He did actually…pretty good dancer) and he’s groovin arouond his apartment to All Night Long. And he knows all the parts, he’s singin “karamu, Fiesta”. Doing this disco arms wave move with his frickin suspenders on and his jazz shoes. “All night long”. Damn. Damn. DAMN! They were so happy. Two people with beautiful hearts and a world ahead of them…So alive. So happy. And now theyre gone. And nothins gonna bring em back. And the sadness will always be there. And it was drugs that stole them from me. And ya know…I was thinkin of cromwell high school. and in Mr. Hortons current events class of freshmen the other day, some of the kids seemed so angry. So hard. They had just seen the show and yet there were some that still felt that they were invincible and that nobody from Cromwell is “that bad” “We just smoke weed” “Its not like we’re gonna end up like some addict” “Its just harmeless” They also thought that Jason was “overly exaggertaed” And it makes me laugh becuase all of the things they were saying….WERE THE THINGS THAT THE JASON CHARACTER SAYS! anyway. I just hope that some kind of light bulb goes off. It was frustrating because all the other classes Sophomoress-Seniors were so open to talk. We connected. They knew the things I was talkin about. It was real to them. But this group of about 15-20 Freshman were just so hard. Or at least they put on that front. But anyway my mind is wanderin and wonderin and getting sidetracked.
I was talkin about sadness.
I was talkin about missing someone.
I was talkin about the buddha saying all life is suffering.
I was thinkin about how this suffering is our own creation.
I was thinkin about attachment.
I was thinkin about doing all things through christ who strengthens.
I was talking about missing my sister in law Wendy.
I was talkin about missing my brother Glenn.
I was talkin about lionel ritchie.

Life is good wild and sweet
Let the music play on
(Play on, play on)
Feel it in your heart
And feel it in your soul
Let the music take control
We’re going to party
Liming, fiesta, forever
Come on and sing my song!
All night long!