Happy New Year!

Here's to the year with all its sorrows, joys and triumphs too
Here's to the new one that closely follows, captured fires anew
We'll drink and toast to one another, we'll sit aside for a while
We'll laugh within each other's arms and give a sweet soul-smile
~ DJY 12/31/2009

Joe's Latest Dispatch

Because of these dissolute times in the land of the free, home of the brave, it is quite difficult to find a sensible and unbought social commentator. Not impossible, though. Mr. Joe Bageant has my vote as the last, best hope for awakening the sleepy American hobbits from their TV - induced stupor and rousing them to save themselves (and others) at the very last possible second. Go Joe! Click on over and be sure and read it all. The Devil and Mr. Obama

Oh, and, kill your TV, folks...It isn't entertainment, it's mind entrainment. To the benefit of the money monkey mafia, and no one else. Certainly not to our benefit.

The Economy Is So Bad....

The economy is so bad that I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.

It's so bad, I ordered a burger at McDonalds and the kid behind the counter asked, "Can you afford fries with that?"

The economy is so bad that CEO's are now playing miniature golf.

The economy is so bad if the bank returns your check marked "Insufficient Funds," you call them and ask if they meant you or them.

The economy is so bad Hot Wheels and Matchbox stocks are trading higher than GM.

The economy is so bad Obama met with three small businesses to discuss the Stimulus Package: GE, Pfizer, and Citigroup.

The economy is so bad parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children's names.

The economy is so bad Dick Cheney took his stockbroker hunting.

The economy is so bad Motel Six won't leave the light on anymore.

The economy is so bad the Mafia is laying off judges.

The economy is so bad Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen.
~~~

A Tree With Lights

Today the weather here is rather serious, it demands our full attention. The temperature is hovering around 17 degrees Fahrenheit, we have 6+ inches of new snow on the ground and it is falling fast. It looks like a Dr. Pepper snow shovelin' - "shovel at 10, 2 and 4" kind of day. The excited young weatherman on the TV says temps will keep going down and wind speed and snow totals will keep going up over the coming couple of days. No school and no unnecessary driving propels us deep within, our homes if not our souls.

I spent some quality time this morning next to our Christmas tree, a fresh-smelling, "you-cut" cedar-ey thing (can't remember the exact kind) decked within an inch of toppling over with many-colored lights and sparkly glass globes. It sits in the corner of our living room like a martyred saint, like a young-tree Bodhisattva of peace, kindness, forgiveness, goodwill to all mankind and deep illuminations. It is a symbol of the Tree of Life, redeemed and reclaimed by The Numinous, with it's fruits no longer forbidden, Christ's life having healed the rift.

One of my all time favorite books (which I haven''t read in 20 years - memo to self, re-read it!) is Annie Dillard's Pilgrim At Tinker Creek. If you've never read it, get yourself a copy on the double. It is a wise and wonderful set of musings on nature, God and the examined life. She describes her experience of a tree with lights:

When the doctor took her bandages off and led her into the garden, the girl who was no longer blind saw "the tree with the lights in it." It was for this tree I searched through the peach orchards of summer, in the forests of fall and down winter and spring for years. Then one day I was walking along Tinker Creek thinking of nothing at all and I saw the tree with the lights in it. I saw the backyard cedar where the mourning doves roost charged and transfigured, each cell buzzing with flame. I stood on the grass with the lights in it, grass that was wholly fire, utterly focused and utterly dreamed. It was less like seeing than like being for the first time seen, knocked breathless by a powerful glance. The lights of the fire abated, but I'm still spending the power. Gradually the lights went out in the cedar, the colors died, the cells unflamed and disappeared. I was still ringing. I had my whole life been a bell, and never knew it until at that moment I was lifted and struck. I have since only rarely seen the tree with the lights in it. The vision comes and goes, mostly goes, but I live for it, for the moment when the mountains open and a new light roars in spate through the crack, and the mountains slam.
--Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (1974).

Happy holidays from The Rosemary Tree. Peace.

~ Deborah

North Lincoln Art Crawl December 4, 2009

Heart of Gold Jewelers & Gallery: Gold heart by Charles W. Yost, bead earrings by Ginger Lippold, wood craving by Jay Schmidt

On Friday, December 4th, Heart of Gold Jewelers, Against the Wall Gallery, Elder Gallery at Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lux Center for the Arts, Salt Creek Potters Workshop, Mo Java Café, and The Lichen will kick off North Lincoln Art Crawl.

North Lincoln Art Crawl organizer and Lux staff member, Carlos Guerrero said, "There are many exciting things happening in the art scene in north Lincoln. People don’t typically think of this area of town as being an art hot spot, but it’s quickly becoming one."

Gallery maps will be provided at each of the galleries.

~~~

Michael Moore's Open Letter to President Obama

An Open Letter to President Obama from Michael Moore
Monday, November 30th, 2009

Dear President Obama,

Do you really want to be the new "war president"? If you go to West Point tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you could do -- destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what they've always heard is true -- that all politicians are alike. I simply can't believe you're about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn't so.

It is not your job to do what the generals tell you to do. We are a civilian-run government. WE tell the Joint Chiefs what to do, not the other way around. That's the way General Washington insisted it must be. That's what President Truman told General MacArthur when MacArthur wanted to invade China. "You're fired!," said Truman, and that was that. And you should have fired Gen. McChrystal when he went to the press to preempt you, telling the press what YOU had to do. Let me be blunt: We love our kids in the armed services, but we f*#&in' hate these generals, from Westmoreland in Vietnam to, yes, even Colin Powell for lying to the UN with his made-up drawings of WMD (he has since sought redemption).

So now you feel backed into a corner. 30 years ago this past Thursday (Thanksgiving) the Soviet generals had a cool idea -- "Let's invade Afghanistan!" Well, that turned out to be the final nail in the USSR coffin.
There's a reason they don't call Afghanistan the "Garden State" (though they probably should, seeing how the corrupt President Karzai, whom we back, has his brother in the heroin trade raising poppies). Afghanistan's nickname is the "Graveyard of Empires." If you don't believe it, give the British a call. I'd have you call Genghis Khan but I lost his number. I do have Gorbachev's number though. It's + 41 22 789 1662. I'm sure he could give you an earful about the historic blunder you're about to commit.

With our economic collapse still in full swing and our precious young men and women being sacrificed on the altar of arrogance and greed, the breakdown of this great civilization we call America will head, full throttle, into oblivion if you become the "war president." Empires never think the end is near, until the end is here. Empires think that more evil will force the heathens to toe the line -- and yet it never works. The heathens usually tear them to shreds.
Choose carefully, President Obama. You of all people know that it doesn't have to be this way. You still have a few hours to listen to your heart, and your own clear thinking. You know that nothing good can come from sending more troops halfway around the world to a place neither you nor they understand, to achieve an objective that neither you nor they understand, in a country that does not want us there. You can feel it in your bones.

I know you know that there are LESS than a hundred al-Qaeda left in Afghanistan! A hundred thousand troops trying to crush a hundred guys living in caves? Are you serious? Have you drunk Bush's Kool-Aid? I refuse to believe it.

Your potential decision to expand the war (while saying that you're doing it so you can "end the war") will do more to set your legacy in stone than any of the great things you've said and done in your first year. One more throwing a bone from you to the Republicans and the coalition of the hopeful and the hopeless may be gone -- and this nation will be back in the hands of the haters quicker than you can shout "tea bag!"

Choose carefully, Mr. President. Your corporate backers are going to abandon you as soon as it is clear you are a one-term president and that the nation will be safely back in the hands of the usual idiots who do their bidding. That could be Wednesday morning.

We the people still love you. We the people still have a sliver of hope. But we the people can't take it anymore. We can't take your caving in, over and over, when we elected you by a big, wide margin of millions to get in there and get the job done. What part of "landslide victory" don't you understand?

Don't be deceived into thinking that sending a few more troops into Afghanistan will make a difference, or earn you the respect of the haters. They will not stop until this country is torn asunder and every last dollar is extracted from the poor and soon-to-be poor. You could send a million troops over there and the crazy Right still wouldn't be happy. You would still be the victim of their incessant venom on hate radio and television because no matter what you do, you can't change the one thing about yourself that sends them over the edge.
The haters were not the ones who elected you, and they can't be won over by abandoning the rest of us.

President Obama, it's time to come home. Ask your neighbors in Chicago and the parents of the young men and women doing the fighting and dying if they want more billions and more troops sent to Afghanistan. Do you think they will say, "No, we don't need health care, we don't need jobs, we don't need homes. You go on ahead, Mr. President, and send our wealth and our sons and daughters overseas, 'cause we don't need them, either."

What would Martin Luther King, Jr. do? What would your grandmother do? Not send more poor people to kill other poor people who pose no threat to them, that's what they'd do. Not spend billions and trillions to wage war while American children are sleeping on the streets and standing in bread lines.
All of us that voted and prayed for you and cried the night of your victory have endured an Orwellian hell of eight years of crimes committed in our name: torture, rendition, suspension of the bill of rights, invading nations who had not attacked us, blowing up neighborhoods that Saddam "might" be in (but never was), slaughtering wedding parties in Afghanistan. We watched as hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were slaughtered and tens of thousands of our brave young men and women were killed, maimed, or endured mental anguish -- the full terror of which we scarcely know.

When we elected you we didn't expect miracles. We didn't even expect much change. But we expected some. We thought you would stop the madness. Stop the killing. Stop the insane idea that men with guns can reorganize a nation that doesn't even function as a nation and never, ever has.

Stop, stop, stop! For the sake of the lives of young Americans and Afghan civilians, stop. For the sake of your presidency, hope, and the future of our nation, stop. For God's sake, stop.

Tonight we still have hope.

Tomorrow, we shall see. The ball is in your court. You DON'T have to do this. You can be a profile in courage. You can be your mother's son.

We're counting on you.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. There's still time to have your voice heard. Call the White House at 202-456-1111 or email the President.

Bageant: The Politicization of Class Wars, aka "Let Them Eat Twinkies"

Another sign of the times...
Joe says, regarding letters that rolled in about his "Shoot the fat guys" post

QUOTE Another email depicting the dollar's decline came in yesterday, from a world traveler named Arnie, who was shopping in Rome last September. Arnie has always carried American dollars as fallback currency. But in Rome he was informed by a pretty dark haired clerk that, "I'm sorry, but we do not accept the American dollar anymore."
"She told me," writes Arnie, "about the types of coin they would accept, including the Albanian lek. Now I now know that the axis of the world has shifted. Not having any leks in my wallet, I paid her in euros. I wonder how much sausage gravy you can buy with 20 leks?" UNQUOTE

Shoot the fat guys, hang the smokers

(This is a long letter, with an even longer reply, but this reader has several excellent points, including the politicization of smoking and over-eating. -- Joe Bageant.)

QUOTE I think many Americans voted for Obama because in their minds he represented the promise of a more compassionate America. They forgot, or chose to forget, that the promise was a political promise. Which is to say it was all either just smoke, or unfulfillable by even the best intended mortal in such a heavily armed high stakes whorehouse. Some of the best among us have thrown in the towel, lost all faith in the political process. Frankly, in my 63 years as an American I've never seen more hearts broken nor more bitter people created by a single event. And that includes the Vietnam War. UNQUOTE

Pope approves new archbishop for beleaguered Archdiocese of Mosul

Pope approves new archbishop for beleaguered Archdiocese of Mosul

Rocket Powered

The rallying call-and-answer cry at Lincoln Northeast High "the Rockets" at baseball, football and basketball games goes like this: ROCKET!!! POWER!!! ROCKET!!! POWER!!!

Two out of our three now grown-up children shared LNE classes with a certain big Winnebago kid who loved to play baseball...

And as LNE's golden son Joba wins his first World Series, a heartfelt CONGRATULATIONS! On so many levels, this is a huge victory for a family touched by hard times, as so many LNE families are.

ROCKET!!!

POWER!!!!!

Harlan and Joba Chamberlain hug after Yankees win.

Remember, Remember, the Fifth of November

Today is the day that a British man tried to bring down a corrupt and abusive British governmet by blowing up parliament. It is a day to remember that governments are instituted by the people, for the people, and not for the banks (like Goldman Sachs) or corporate pirates that pillage the government and the people. So, today, tomorrow, and for the rest of your lives, remember the Fifth of November.

A closer look at the religious laws of the time from the BBC and also at the oppression of Catholics in Protestant England, circumstances that all led up to the Jesuits' decision to attempt revolution.





Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder treason and plot,
I know of no reason
Why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

Monkeywrench The Machine With La Vida Loca

Another winner from the irrepressible Joe Bageant. And another reminder from me to tune in(to the green subculture and tribal resurgence), turn on (to the spiritual and your Higher Power) and drop out (of the rat race). I also plead with you to stop using the word consumer to refer to people. Use citizen, person or worker instead. The word consumer has a lot of negative baggage, and it is the result of a concerted ad campaign of dark intent and dubious integrity. It is demeaning. (BBC's The Century of the Self argues -- quite successfully -- that we have all been brainwashed to see ourselves as consumers first. It documents how capitalists and politicians in the US and in Great Brittan used psychological warfare to turn the masses in the US and UK from seeing themselves as workers to seeing themselves as buying machines. Freud, his daughter Anna and his diabolical nephew Edward Bernays -- who according to the documentary founded the profession of public relations -- are the villains in this evolving story.)

"But you won't hear anyone complaining. America doesn't like whiners. A whiner or a cynic is about the worst thing you can be in the land of gunpoint optimism. Foreigners often remark on the upbeat American personality. I assure them that our American corpocracy has its ways of pistol whipping or sedating its human assets into the appropriate level of cheeriness."

Our Produce-or-Die Culture Is Killing Us -- And We're Idiotically Grinning and Bearing It by Joe Bageant

Happy Halloween! The Catholic Perspective

Hat tip to FishEaters, with gratitude ~

31 October and 1 and 2 November are called, colloquially (not officially), "Hallowtide" or the "Days of the Dead" because on these days we pray for or remember those who've left this world. The days of the dead center around All Saints' Day (also known as All Hallows') on November 1, when we celebrate all the Saints in Heaven. On the day after All Hallows', we remember the saved souls who are in Purgatory being cleansed of the temporal effects of their sins before they can enter Heaven. The day that comes before All Hallows', though, is one on which we unofficially remember the damned and the reality of Hell. The schema, then, for the Days of the Dead looks like this:
31 October:
Hallowe'en:
unofficially recalls the souls of the damned. Practices center around the reality of Hell and how to avoid it.
1 November:
All Saints':
set aside to officially honor the Church Triumphant. Practices center around recalling our great Saints, including those whose names are unknown to us and, so, are not canonized
2 November:
All Souls':
set aside officially to pray for the Church Suffering (the souls in Purgatory). Practices center around praying for the souls in Purgatory, especially our loved ones

The earliest form of All Saints' (or "All Hallows'") was first celebrated in the 300s, but originally took place on 13 May, as it still does in some Eastern Churches. The Feast first commemorated only the martyrs, but came to include all of the Saints by 741. It was transferred to 1 November in 844 when Pope Gregory III consecrated a chapel in St. Peter's Basilica to All Saints (so much for the theory that the day was fixed on 1 November because of a bunch of Irish pagans had harvest festivals at that time). All Souls' has its origins in A.D. 1048 when the Bishop of Cluny decreed that the Benedictines of Cluny pray for the souls in Purgatory on this day. The practice spread until Pope Sylvester II recommended it for the entire Latin Church. The Vigil of, or evening before, All Hallows' ("Hallows' Eve," or "Hallowe'en") came, in Irish popular piety, to be a day of remembering the dead who are neither in Purgatory or Heaven, but are damned, and these customs spread to many parts of the world.

Thus we have the popular focus of Hallowe'en as the reality of Hell, hence its scary character and focus on evil and how to avoid it, the sad fate of the souls of the damned, etc. How, or even whether, to celebrate Hallowe'en is a controversial topic in traditional circles. One hears too often that "Hallowe'en is a pagan holiday" -- an impossibility because "Hallowe'en," as said, means "All Hallows' Evening" which is as Catholic a holiday as one can get. Some say that the holiday actually stems from Samhain, a pagan Celtic celebration, or is Satanic, but this isn't true, either, any more than Christmas "stems from" the Druids' Yule, though popular customs that predated the Church may be involved in our celebrations.

~~

From the Irish come the carved Jack-o-lanterns, which were originally carved turnips. The legend surrounding the Jack-o-Lantern is this:

There once was an old drunken trickster named Jack, a man known so much for his miserly ways that he was known as "Stingy Jack," He loved making mischief on everyone -- even his own family, even the Devil himself! One day, he tricked Satan into climbing up an apple tree -- but then carved Crosses on the trunk so the Devil couldn't get back down. He bargained with the Evil One, saying he would remove the Crosses only if the Devil would promise not to take his soul to Hell; to this, the Devil agreed.

After Jack died, after many years filled with vice, he went up to the Pearly Gates -- but was told by St. Peter that he was too miserable a creature to see the Face of Almighty God. But when he went to the Gates of Hell, he was reminded that he couldn't enter there, either! So, he was doomed to spend his eternity roaming the earth. The only good thing that happened to him was that the Devil threw him an ember from the burning pits to light his way, an ember he carried inside a hollowed-out, carved turnip.

~~

From the English Catholics we get begging from door to door, the earlier and more pure form of "trick-or-treating." Children would go about begging their neighbors for a "Soul Cake," for which they would say a prayer for those neighbors' dead. Instead of knocking on a door and saying the threatening,

"Trick-or-treat" (or the ugly "Trick-or-treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat"), children would say either:

A Soul Cake, a Soul Cake, have mercy on all Christian souls for a soul cake!
or
Soul, soul, an apple or two, If you haven't an apple, a pear will do, One for Peter, two for Paul, Three for the Man Who made us all.

While Soul Cakes were originally a type of shortbread, it is said that a clever medieval cook wanted to make Soul Cakes designed to remind people of eternity, so she cut a hole in the middle of round cakes before frying them, thereby inventing donuts! Fresh plain cake donuts would be a nice food to eat on this day.
Cake Doughnuts (makes 20)

2 quarts canola oil 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1/4 cup sour cream

1 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp coarse salt

1 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1 packet active dry yeast or 0.6 ounces cake yeast

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons nonfat buttermilk

1 extra-large whole egg 2 extra-large egg yolks

1 tsp pure vanilla extract 1 1/4 cups nonmelting or confectioners' sugar

1. Heat oil in a low-sided six-quart saucepan over medium-high heat until a deep-frying thermometer registers 375°. Lightly dust a baking pan with all-purpose flour, and line a second one with paper towels; set both aside. 2. Meanwhile, place sour cream in a heat-proof bowl or top of a double boiler; set over a pan of simmering water. Heat until warm to the touch. Remove from heat; set aside. 3. In a large bowl, sift together all-purpose flour, cake flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Make a large well; place yeast in center. Pour warm sour cream over yeast, and let sit 1 minute. 4. Place buttermilk, whole egg, egg yolks, and vanilla in a medium bowl; whisk to combine. Pour egg mixture over sour cream. Using a wooden spoon, gradually draw flour mixture into egg mixture, stirring until smooth before drawing in more flour. Continue until all flour mixture has been incorporated; dough will be very sticky. 5. Sift a heavy coat of flour onto a clean work surface.

Turn out dough. Sift another heavy layer of flour over dough. Using your hands, pat dough until it is 1/2 inch thick. Using a 2 3/4-inch doughnut cutter, cut out doughnuts as close together as possible, dipping the cutter in flour before each cut. Transfer doughnuts to floured pan, and let rest 10 minutes, but not more. 6. Carefully transfer four doughnuts to hot oil. Cook until golden, about 2 minutes. Turn over; continue cooking until evenly browned on both sides, about 2 minutes more. Using a slotted spoon, transfer doughnuts to lined pan. Repeat with remaining doughnuts. 7. Gather remaining dough scraps into a ball. Let rest 10 minutes; pat into a 1/2-inch-thick rectangle. Cut, let rest 10 minutes, and cook. 8. When cool enough to handle, sift nonmelting sugar over tops; serve immediately. (Recipe from Martha Stewart).

Other customary foods for All Hallows' Eve include cider, nuts, popcorn, and apples -- best eaten around a bonfire or fireplace!Another Hallowe'en custom is the old Celtic "bobbing for apples." To do this, fill a large tub two thirds full with water and float apples in it. Children take turns trying to pick up one of the floating apples using only their mouths (hands are not allowed and must be held or tied behind the back!) -- very tricky to do! The first to do so wins a prize (some say he will be the first one to marry someday). You can make the game more fun by carving an initial into the bottom of each apple, letting that initial indicate the name of the person each apple-bobber will marry, and/or using different colored apples with different assigned meanings or prizes. (You can play a dry version of this game by tying the stems of the apples to strings and suspending them. If you do this, carve any initials at the tops of the apples.

Of course, all of this sort of thing is a parlor game and should never be taken seriously or cross the line into divination!)....and tell scary stories! If you want the perfect poems to relate to your children on this day, see Little Orphant Annie, The Raven, The Stolen Child, and the Wreck of the Hesperus. And here are those poems and some stories for you to download in Microsoft Word .doc format:
Little Orphant Annie by James Whitcomb Riley (2 pages)The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe (3 pages)The Stolen Child by William Butler Yeats (2 pages)The Wreck of the Hesperus by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow (3 pages)The Monkey's Paw, by W. W. Jacobs (11 pages)The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson (5 pages)The Tell Tale Heart, by Edgar Allan Poe (4 pages)The Cask of Amontillado, by Edgar Allan Poe (7 pages)The Masque of the Red Death, by Edgar Allan Poe (5 pages)The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving (22 pages)

After teaching your children about the frightening realities of Hell and the fate of the damned, reassure them by telling them that the Evil One has already been conquered! Satan has no real power over those who are in Christ, and mocking him and his minions is a way of demonstrating this; teach your children how to call on the power of Christ and His Church to protect themselves from their snares. Warn them that magic (the art of performing actions beyond the power of man with the aid of powers other than the Divine) is real, that there is no such thing as "white magic," that playing with the occult -- whether by divination, necromancy, the casting of spells, playing with Ouija boards, etc. -- is an invitation to demons to respond, and that it is from demons that magic gets any power it has. Remember St. Michael to them, teach them about the power of sacramentals and prayers that ward off evil when piously used (the Sign of the Cross, Holy Water, blessed salt, the Crucifix, the St. Benedict Medal, St. Anthony's Brief, etc.), teach them to call on the Holy Name of Jesus when they are afraid, etc.

~~

A 2012 Manifesto

I just read this great post at my favorite collection of assorted Peak Oil-aware cowboys, Birkenstock wearing mamas, military and ex-military, financial geeks, EMT's and gardening gurus, LATOC. The writer has given blanket permission for it to be reproduced in its entirety, so have at it. If you like it, spread it far and wide. The only point I gently take issue with is the last one, as one commenter put it: "Many find great comfort and meaning within traditional religions. I think that if such a person does, and if the religion doesn't encourage that person to act in ways that run counter to the welfare of others (i.e., they take the "golden rule" in whatever form it shows up for them seriously), then that would be fulfilling #10. Some people feel ready to move beyond traditional religions, and some don't see a need to, for them. This is to be expected and, again, as long as the religion isn't used as a weapon of coercion, respected." I would point out that a traditional religion, such as my Byzantine Catholicism, if fully followed, will lead one to The Creator.

Enjoy and let me know what you think.

DJY
THE 2012 MANIFESTO
HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE COMING TRANSITION
The crisis we are now experiencing is just a prelude to the major Transition in global consciousness that will occur during the 2012 period. In order to make the shift, the corrupt, hierarchical systems which do not serve the needs of Humanity must collapse. This will create fear and hardship for many, but for those who prepare for the paradigm shift to a new matrix of consciousness and being, the transition will be viewed as a mere inconvenience necessary for the rebalancing of Earth's and Humanity's energies. Here are the top 10 ways that you can prepare:

1 - Recognize that The United States of America is an Empire in decline. Most empires do not go to bed willingly. History shows us that the USA gets very belligerent when the economy goes south or other nations refuse to do what it tells them to. New alliances are forming that intend to counter US Hegemony. The Dollar is about to be rejected as the global currency. Unjustified and irrational wars have brought the USA to bankruptcy. The deficit is out of control. We are at the mercy of foreign energy sources. The global community is fed up with Bully USA and is about to pull the plug on many fronts. Expect the US Government to lash out in a last-ditch attempt to salvage Empire.

2 - Study and familiarize yourself with the concept of Peak Oil and its ramifications on our economic and social systems. In an era of energy scarcity, endless economic growth is not possible. The days of Milk and Honey are over. Value of Fiat paper currency (e.g. US Dollar/USD) is predicated on continual economic growth fueled by cheap energy. Peak Oil will ensure that the USD, globalism, the US economy, and all systems dependent on finance capital will collapse. This shedding process is already underway. Realize that the Good Ol Days are over and that materialism is a thing of the past.

3 - Unplug from the Mainstream Media (MSM) propaganda stream. Television, commercial radio, daily newspapers, and most of what you read on corporate-sponsored websites is disinformation and propaganda whose only purpose is to control and manipulate public consciousness in order to stifle development of human consciousness and true democracy. Kill your Television. Read, listen, watch and support local, independent, alternative and grass-roots media. Start your own blog, low power FM radio station, public access TV show, or 'zine to share the truth as you know it to be.

4 - Understand that Corporations (the Dark Forces) control our government and politicians (CorpGov). Voting is a charade to make you believe that you have a democratic choice. Democrats and Republicans serve the same elite puppetmasters and are no different from one another, no matter how genuine their rhetoric sounds. If you don't believe that Corporations are in control, then ignore that the Congress and the White House bailed out corrupt Banksters to the tune of TRILLIONS while they put on a dog-and-pony show about how much a public healthcare system will cost! The Federal Reserve will never be audited to expose the rampant corruption. The voting systems are rigged to ensure the Elites get the results they want. If you choose to engage in the voting game, only vote for Third Party and Independent candidates. Corporate-backed politicians must be flushed from the system permanently.

5 - Economically detach from The System. Know that the Finance/banking, Insurance, and Real Estate (FIRE) economy is all about sucking money from your pocket and transferring it to wealthy Elites. It is essentially legalized theft of your labor and the wealth that such labor creates. Try to operate in a cash-only fashion, under the table and out of the banks. Barter for goods and services. Consider joining or starting a local currency (LETS) system. Take your money out of the big corporate banks and place it with your local non-profit community/employee Credit Union. If you are concerned about the long-term viability of the USD and the negative effects of inflation, consider buying a home with productive farmland, machinery & tools, or other tangible goods that hold and can create value. You should also consider adding gold and silver to the mix.

6 - Learn to grow, harvest and store food. Modern just-in-time (JIT) delivery systems allow for only several days worth of food on store shelves. How long will that food last during a (manufactured?) disaster or economic collapse. Energy descent will make food via supermarkets harder to come by. Build your soil and grow your own healthy, organic fruits and vegetables. Establish a chicken coop and harvest the eggs, meat, feathers and manure. Goats are great for brush-clearing, milk and cheese. Rabbits re-produce quickly. Ponds can be stocked with fish. Learn about Permaculture and how it can make your homestead more productive with less work.

7 - Get off The Grid. Make your own energy. Capture, store and purify water. Without clean water we cannot survive. Municipal water systems are at the mercy of evaporating budgets, aging infrastructure, energy requirements, diversion by source communities/states, and tampering. Harvest rainwater from rooftops and in ponds, drill wells, establish storage tanks high up for gravity feed, install plumbing and filtration systems to ensure the water of life keeps flowing when the power goes out. Put a hot water solar system in place. Learn to purify water with a solar oven. Similarly, become energy independent. Install solar PV panels and a DC battery system, install a wood stove for heat, store fuel and have a generator in place for when the grid goes down.

8 - Learn traditional skills and healing practices. Wood working/turning, spinning, weaving, soap making, leather crafts, knitting, sewing, blacksmithing, metal working, herbal medicine, CPR, locksmithing, gun smithing, hunting, fishing, trapping, archery, animal husbandry, horse-shoeing, natural building, instrument making, coppicing, etc. Work with the local resources you have at hand rather than imported materials. Start a local guild of artisans and craftspeople to share knowledge and barter crafts.

9 - Build local community. Get to know your next-door neighbors and the locals. Attend or organize community celebrations and events. Create a phone tree for emergencies. Start a local tool/equipment exchange or barter system. Form a Neighborhood Watch, seed savers' exchange, or manufacturing cooperative. Volunteer to help the needy. Support your local farmer and shop at local, independent businesses to keep your money circulating in the local economy.

10 - Develop a personal spiritual practice. This does not mean religion! Religion is dogma that is used to politically and economically enslave humankind. Conversely, spirituality allows the individual to directly connect to Source (God/Goddess, Higher Self, the Universe, whatever you wish to call it) without an intermediate or middleman (Church, priests, dogma, institutions) getting in the way to control you. Spiritual practices include: meditation, yoga, Kaballah, shamanism, indigenous/Earth-based spiritual traditions, Tantra, ceremonial magick, prayer, etc. Pick the path that works for YOU and stick with it to develop the essential spiritual skills that you will depend on to navigate the Transition.Remember, LOVE is the key to our collective success.Visit A NEW MATRIX online at http://anewmatrix.blogspot.com to learn more

[You are encouraged to reproduce this and share it with everyone in your local community.]
~~~

Into the Winter ...

As Fall flows gently down the stream of life, day by day sauntering into eternity, we see the approaching of old man Winter. His frosty freezes and ice daggers demand introspection, rest and slower movement. They call for renewed long conversations with friends and family, earlier bedtimes and clothing which muffles us into walking textile samplers.

The headlines scream Swine Flu and War and Murder Most Foul, but the scarlet maples, burgundy Burning Bushes, brown Oaks and Yellow Ashes hint, mention, insinuate ~ better get your long johns out. Lay in the cocoa and popcorn supplies. Get some new woolly gloves.

Here comes Winter.

Just A Ride

The material world certainly is "just a ride" like a weekend carnival show which will soon be gone, tents folded and old popcorn bags blowing in the dust.
So only do what you'll remember well on your deathbed, and love life and people with all your might.

Dylan Ratigan Is Right

MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan is a rare cool voice of common sense in a corporate-owned media circus. Listen to him: he's right.

"This is the very essence of the banking industry........to make us all, whether we be nations or individuals, slaves to debt."
The International 2009

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Deidre's Passions

The documentry ‘Deirdre’s Passions’ is a short film which tells the story of the Galway author Deirdre Manifold , one-time girlfriend of Irish poet, Patrick Kavanagh. The film was screened at the "Way Out West" segment of the Galway Film Fleadh.

Deirdres Passions from DCTV on Vimeo.

The Snake in the Next Cubicle

A decade in financial services, now behind me, left me wondering if there were anything but snakes and foxes in the industry. It seems as though they all had contracted, were bout to come down with, or were dying from some sort of contagious but never-talked about greed based disease.


Here is a good take on the recent financial meltdown from futurist oracle Jonathan Zap. It's a bit long but well worth the time. Click on over and read it all. Foxes and Reptiles: Psychopathy and the Financial Meltdown of 2008/2009.
~~~

Saturday Dance Party

everybody dance! Move it, move it...

Enough With Left Vs. Right, Already

Chicago’s Cardinal George says both liberals and conservatives focus too much on bishops, not enough on Christ. He has my attention.



QUOTE Both liberals and conservatives, George says, focus far too much on the bishops – how much power they have, and the ways in which they exercise it – and not nearly enough on Christ.
Instead, George argues for what he calls “simply Catholicism,” meaning a clear sense of Catholic identity that’s nevertheless open to the world. As examples, he points to Mother Teresa, the origins of the Catholic Worker movement, and the Community of Sant’Egidio – all, he says, share a “simply Catholic” concern for prayer and serving the poor. UNQUOTE

Highway Shrines

When I was a breezy wild teenager I took a summer road trip to Canada with my guitar-playing boyfriend. We hitch-hiked around the back roads of Quebec, New Brunswick and Ontario, all the while playing chords from Leonard Cohen songs, and I was left with a lifelong love for and fascination with little highway shrines.

Fast forward to my husband's and my 25th anniversary five years ago, when we travelled Ireland in a rental car (Irish steering wheel on "wrong" side, driving on "wrong" side of road!)on a pilgrimage/vacation that included St. Kevin's monastery at Glendalough and St. Brighid's Abbey at Kildare, and anumbe rof lovely highway shrines. So, happy Feast of Saint Francis, and may every day be for you a highway shrine on the long road back to Heaven.

"Everything Is OK"

Fantastic. I cannot express how good this video is. I congratulate these men on the way they have chosen to get that message out there. In the United States, you would have been tazed within 5 minutes of trying to hug the cops. You'd have watched them shove a gun in your face and wrestle you to the ground.

Beneath thy compassion we take refuge, O Theotokos; despise not our supplications in time of trouble, but deliver us from dangers, O only pure and blessed one.

Philippine Man Loses His Life Saving Others

Nothing living should ever be treated with contempt. Whatever it is that lives, a man, a tree, or a bird, should be touched gently, because the time is short. Civilization is another word for respect for life.
~ Elizabeth Goudge (1900 - 1984)

Creator, Saviour, Life-Giver. The Trinity. Father, Son and Holy Ghost ~ once again, the Holy Trinity shows its Saviour aspect in the person of one Muelmar Magallanes, a very brave young man, only 18 years old, who saved more than 30 people before perishing saving the last ones, a mother and infant.

God bless his soul, and forgive him all his sins, and bring him to a place of refreshment and light, where there is no pain, suffering nor sorrow, but Life everlasting.

From The Age (AU)
QUOTE Standing next to his coffin, Mr Magallanes' parents paid tribute to their son.
"He always had a good heart," said his father, Samuel.
"We had already been saved. But he decided to go back one last time for the girl."
His mother, Maria Luz, wept as she described her son as incredibly brave.
"He saved so many people, but ended up not being able to save himself." UNQUOTE

Permaculture and You

So far my only notable experiment in permaculture has been a spouse-sabotaged disaster: I planted Jerusalem Artichokes, which came back and were fruitful and multiplied over several years, but my dear husband thought looked "ratty". They eventually fell prey to his prejudice against their appearance, to my deep sorrow and frustration. I was tempted to split the sheets over it. To me they look like lovely tall sunflowers, but hey, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? We do have a tiny pear tree and a wee baby plum tree in the backyard, which have survived several Nebraska winters and should be about ready top fruit next year, if they survive this winter which Farmer's Almanac is predicting shall be unusually cold.

Here's a really good read on perhaps the most important thing any of us can do to help ourselves, our neighbors and the earth.

From oftwominds.com by Noah Cicero

QUOTE This is why Permaculture is a revolution. It is people working together to bring back agriculture to the normal people. The group dynamic has been lost during three hundred years of industry and capitalism. But we can regain it. We can regain a sense of unity, of control over our lives.
There is an alternative resource, it is YOU! YOU are the alternative resource that can produce your own food. And if all YOU, view yourself as a person that can produce YOUR food, and create YOUR own world. Then you have a collection of YOUs, which make a group. Which make a TEAM. And what do you have then? UNITY.
The problem isn't Peak Oil or inflation or The Republicans or The Democrats or the big oil companies or Saudi Arabia. The problem is that YOU think you can't do it. YOU think you can't do it because all your life people have been telling you to listen to the television for answers, to listen to politicians for answers, to listen to advertising for what to buy and where to go. YOU can tell yourself what to do.
Get out there. Stop constantly reading Peak Oil articles being paranoid, stop being angry about oil companies or Republicans. YOU don't need them. Take control of the situation. Google your city and the word permaculture or grow or garden. Find those people, join them if you know how to garden, learn from them if you don't. Figure out what grows best and can be preserved through the winter. Stop planting stupid ornamental trees and grow some fruit trees in your yard. Instead of letting your kids play video games all day. Get their asses up and have them help you work on the garden. UNQUOTE

Good advice.

LINKS

Lincoln Green Scene

Community Crops

Transition U.S.

Prayer and Fasting

You might have noticed posts being a bit fewer lately. I am paring back some on constant immersion in the news, praying and doing a bit of fasting. Too much information, as they say, and little constructive to be done about it save, reduce, re-use, recycle, go green and pray a lot. Go to Divine Liturgy as often as possible (or if you are not Catholic, attend you faith's intercessory prayer services and other worship services), go to confession and love your family. It's time to get back to the basics. I haven't given up the news utterly, just trying to not be a news junkie all the time. So overwhelming. Constant news is like wading hip-deep in pig manure. I mean, Paul Craig Roberts is right, but all I can do about it is live my life. The jackels and whores of Wall Street and the control-freak porkos of D.C., both right and left, cannot/will not be changed. They're a lost cause IMHO.

Turn off the TV. Turn on some music everyone in the room can hear, not just you in your earbuds. Grow some tomatoes and peppers and okra. Make something pretty for someone.

~~

Today's Feast Day is the Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham, also known as Virgin By The Sea, reminding us all that England was once a Catholic country.

QUOTE Our Lady of Walsingham is known as "The Virgin by the Sea." The medieval ballad told that she helps mariners in distress. The Anglican pilgrim hostel displays the name Stella Maris, Star of the Sea. This is one of Mary's more ancient titles. Walsingham, just a few miles from the Norfolk coast, is a sanctuary of prayer and healing, a metaphor of salvation from storm and shipwreck, offering calm waters and safe harbor to all in trouble. UNQUOTE

Stella Maris, pray for us.

~~~

Health and Welfare Blog

Here's an interesting read for you, and an ever more interesting blog, Hartke Is Online which I just swerved into. With categories that read:

Become the Best Friend of a Local Farmer
Big Government is the Problem
Catholic Spirituality
Funny Stuff
Get Well Naturally–Blow Off Pharma Drugs
Heroes of Sustainable Agriculture
Successful Homemaking
Uncategorized
Whole and Natural Foods

I am intrigued. Any site that has Catholic Spirituality next to Funny Stuff followed by Blow Off Pharma Drugs has my attention tuit suite.
~~~

What Does Burning Man Mean?

I have never been to Burning Man, but based on my experiences at powwows, Renaissance Faires, Irish Festivals and even a few rock concerts, I'm willing to hazard a guess about what it means: I think it may be the careful experimental feeling-out, shaping, test-driving, trying out of a new way to do human society.

The three or four thousand year old model of imperialism, genocides, wars and unsustainable resource gobbling is losing its luster, even for those in its vanguard. Whistleblowers from the very top levels of military, government, intelligence and corporate boardrooms are increasing in number every year. More and more people are shredding their credit cards, putting in a vegetable garden, reducing, reusing and recycling, eliminating or radically shortening their commute, getting off the TV drug and rediscovering spirituality.

Why not bring Burning Man into the plaza of every town and city in America? Let art, spirituality and freedom heal us.

Be sure to click over and read it all.
From Huffington Post by Jay Michelson
QUOTE In the transcendence of ordinary distinctions, peak experiences such as those encouraged at Burning Man give a glimpse of the ultimate, the infinite. It may seem absurd to suggest that Burning Man is a mystical event. But then, if it's just a big party, why is there a temple in the middle of it? UNQUOTE
~~~

Hey, You Have A Body & It Wants To Move

I am slicing and dicing my way through a long to-do list before I head for work so, perversely perhaps, I thought maybe folks would like to shake their moneymaker a bit instead of just reading.

Stand up.

Step. Away. From. The. Keyboard.

Everybody dance now!!

Avoiding Slave-Made Products Checklist

Most consumers in the world market would not choose to purchase goods known to be produced by exploited children or forced (slave) laborers ­ at any price. This is a huge problem.

Please click on over to The Distributist Review and download the PDF to take with you when you go shopping. More reasons to Buy Local.

~~~

Five Things Cities Can Learn From Burning Man

One of my bucket list goals is to someday go to Burning Man. Here's a nice vid from TIME magazine online about this year's unique festival in the desert, with its flowering counterculture and its amazing art, and the burning of the 40 foot tall guy...complete with fireworks...drums...and love.

Oh Freedom

Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.

~ Robert A. Heinlein

***

"The real power in America is held by a fast-emerging new Oligarchy of pimps and preachers who see no need for Democracy or fairness or even trees, except maybe the ones in their own yards, and they don't mind admitting it. They worship money and power and death. " - Hunter S. Thompson

***

The real question is this: When are we going to rise up against our government and the criminal cartel that owns it? - Joe Bageant

***

You can read the most recent Bageant rant here. Great stuff.

The Rising

The Rising
by Bruce Springsteen

Can't see nothin' in front of me
Can't see nothin' coming up behind
I make my way through this darkness
I can't feel nothing but this chain that binds me
Lost track of how far I've gone
How far I've gone, how high I've climbed
On my back's a sixty pound stone
On my shoulder a half mile of line

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

Left the house this morning
Bells ringing filled the air
Wearin' the cross of my calling
On wheels of fire I come rollin' down here

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

Li,li, li,li,li,li, li,li,li

There's spirits above and behind me
Faces gone black, eyes burnin' bright
May their precious blood bind me
Lord, as I stand before your fiery light

Li,li, li,li,li,li, li,li,li

I see you Mary in the garden
In the garden of a thousand sighs
There's holy pictures of our children
Dancin' in a sky filled with light
May I feel your arms around me
May I feel your blood mix with mine
A dream of life comes to me
Like a catfish dancin' on the end of my line

Sky of blackness and sorrow ( a dream of life)
Sky of love, sky of tears (a dream of life)
Sky of glory and sadness ( a dream of life)
Sky of mercy, sky of fear ( a dream of life)
Sky of memory and shadow ( a dream of life)
Your burnin' wind fills my arms tonight
Sky of longing and emptiness (a dream of life)
Sky of fullness, sky of blessed life

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

Li,li, li,li,li,li, li,li,li

View from the sticks: Alan Watts on Fear and Existence

ExRanger has posted a video of Alan Watts speaking of life, fear and existence. Fine stuff. Check it out.
View from the sticks: Alan Watts on Fear and Existence

I would like to include this one too, Compassion, with the Dalai Lama, Mohammed Ali and Thomas Merton.

Namaste.

Nervous About Flu? You Are Not Alone.

The managers where I work (5 days a week late afternoons and evenings) have thoughtfully provided a wee bottle of alcohol-based hand gel for every cubicle. We've been enjoined to not share headsets and routers, and have been told that individual boxes of Kleenex are on their way. Makes me a bit nervous since this is the very same management team who didn't even keep soap in the washroom dispensers or alcohol gel in the break room through last winter's cold and flu season. If they're worried it says something.

On the other hand, a lack of swine flu immunization shots has led to some very creative thinking on the part of the public. Take your pick, European berries or duck liver extract. I personally am opting for 8 hours of sleep and a gram of vitamin C every day.

Here's a brief compendium of flu related "old wives's tales" advice, none of which should be construed as actual medical advice but rather as possibly helpful folklore. Pass the orange juice, please. Have fun!

Natural remedies are all the rage as flu fears increase
Flu cures range from a mysterious concoction called "swamp tea," to the exotic, duck liver, to plain old vitamin D. Do they work?
By Nancy Lofholm - The Denver Post

Four Thieves Vinegar

Vitamin D

Chartreuse



Disclaimer: The information in this post and on this website is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. None of the products mentioned in this post or on this website are intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. The information in this post is not intended to provide personal medical advice, which should be obtained from a medical professional. This information is made available with the understanding that the author and publisher are not providing medical, psychological, or nutritional counseling services on this site. The information on this Web site does not cover all possible uses, actions, precautions, side effects, and interactions. Liability for individual actions or omissions based upon the contents of this site is expressly disclaimed. This information has not been evaluated or approved by the U.S. FDA.

Kansas City Irish Festival

Hello TRT readers! I'm baaack! We spent the Labor Day weekend in Kansas City camped out at the Hyatt with about 80,000 of our best friends. If you haven't ever been to a KC Irish Fest, next year please walk, bike, drive, fly - do whatever it takes to get there.


It is three days of beer, kilts, Irish music (on 3 outdoor and 2 indoor stages no less)from uber-traditional to punk pub, bagpipes, little kids dressed like fairies and the wee folk, meat pies, haggis, funnel cakes, history, geneology, comedy and more. Can't think of a better way to get all tired out.

Pogey is a a pub rock band from Nova Scotia, and about half their songs were rock/sea chanties. Nova Scotia Farewell, Drunken Sailor etc. They were tons of fun and rocked pretty hard. Our other favorite bands there were Vishten (also from eastern Canada). click http://www.vishten.net/ and you can hear them. We bought one of their CD's. And… Cara (we also bought their CD) is from Germany but that doesn’t stop them from making great Irish music! http://www.cara-music.com/english/
and...Hothouse Flowers who utterly rocked. On a sadder note, our condolences to the band, who lost two friends at sea off the west coast of Eire while they were stateside at the festival. The song they sang in Irish Gaelic in memory of their drowned friends moved us to tears. Memory eternal. + + +
~~~
With five stages there is absolutely no way you can hear all the music, so sorry if I left people out.
~~~~

The Good Red Road

I swerved into this (below) on the morning Internet read -

Backstory: My grandfather Emil Lindley came from Nez Perce/Yakama stock, his parents orphaned by Europeans and raised "white" in mission schools, with little or no awareness of their people's history (in part due to a sense of shame at his Native blood from the prevalent racism of the late 1800's early 1900's Pacific Northwest) we have had little or no knowledge of their life. But I know from what glimmers I have (an ancient photograph of a Native family, tipis and a cooking fire marked "Lindley Relatives", an executor of an ancestor's estate named Leon Cloud Rainwater, an aged photo of an ancestor of dusky hue named Mary Turtle; an anecdotal story or two) that my German/Scotch/Irish/Welsh ancestors loved and wed some Native peoples. The inter-generational trauma of erasing the "Indian" from the Indigenous peoples, and also from the "half-breeds" such as my Grandfather, Mom and Aunties and Uncles. Mom was made to be ashamed of her dark skin and her Native heritage, a fact which has brought me sorrow since I first understood it as a young girl.

How to heal this sick culture? How to undo the devastation of the tribal ways? In them may lie our healing.

QUOTE Observing a prisoner exchange between the Iroquois and the French in upper New York in 1699, Cadwallader Colden is blunt: “ notwithstanding the French Commissioners took all the Pains possible to carry Home the French, that were Prisoners with the Five Nations, and they had full Liberty from the Indians, few of them could be persuaded to return. “Nor, he has to admit, is this merely a reflection on the quality of French colonial life, “for the English had as much Difficulty” in persuading their redeemed to come home, despite what Colden would claim were the obvious superiority of English ways:

No Arguments, no Intreaties, nor Tears of their Friends and Relations, could persuade many of them to leave their new Indian Friends and Acquaintance; several of them that were by the Caressings of their Relations persuaded to come Home, in a little Time grew tired of our Manner of living, and run away again to the Indians, and ended their Days with them. On the other Hand, Indian Children have been carefully educated among the English, cloathed and taught, yet, I think, there is not one Instance, that any of these, after they had Liberty to go among their own People, and were come to Age, would remain with the English, but returned to their own Nations, and became as fond of the Indian Manner of Life as those that knew nothing of a civilized Manner of Living. And, he concludes, what he says of this particular prisoner exchange “has been found true on many other Occasions.”

Benjamin Franklin was even more pointed: When an Indian child is raised in white civilization, he remarks, the civilizing somehow does not stick, and at the first opportunity he will go back to his red relations, from whence there is no hope whatever of redeeming him. But when white persons of either sex have been taken prisoners young by the Indians, and have lived a while among them, tho’ ransomed by their Friends, and treated with all imaginable tenderness to prevail with them to stay among the English, yet in a Short time they become disgusted with our manner of life, and the care and pains that are necessary to support it, and take the first good Opportunity of escaping again into the Woods, from whence there is no reclaiming them.

There was always the great woods, and the life to be lived within it was, Crevecoeur admits, “singularly captivating,” perhaps even superior to that so boasted of by the transplanted Europeans. For, as many knew to their rueful amazement, “thousands of Europeans are 'Indians', and we have no examples of even one of those aborigines having from choice become 'Europeans!' ” UNQUOTE



Frederick Turner: Beyond Geography: The Western Spirit Against the Wilderness (1980)
John Zerzan: Against Civilization - Readings and Reflections (1999)

Farmer's Almanac Says It's Going to get COLD

Makes sense to me: I can't remember the last time I needed a blanket on my bed the last 2 weeks of August. It's global climate change, kiddos, and not necessarily always warmer. From GRIT Magazine.

QUOTE Just when I was hoping for a mild fall and an easy, down-on-the-farm winter, the hot off the press 2010 Farmers’ Almanac shows up on my desk, heralding frigid winter weather for my part of the world. In 2010 Farmers’ Almanac Managing Editor Sandi Duncan’s words, we should expect an “ice cold sandwich” when winter finally settles in. I wonder just when it will settle in, down here in Kansas. Judging by this week’s highs, I think it might be sooner, rather than later. UNQUOTE
~~~

Pedal Power

The picture above shows the rig I have been using this summer to get groceries and haul other oversize packages that normally would be hard to transport on a bicycle. The trailer is a B.O.B ibex model that is very well built, has suspension built in and will haul 75 pounds. It also has a large, tough, waterproof bag that is included so you can haul things in rainy weather. It is very rare for me to go on any errands around town using anything other than a bicycle and having the trailer gives me more opportunities to ride and leave the car at home.

Choppers Overhead

Peter Schiff weighs in at Taki's mag on Helicopter Ben keeping his job, and what that means for all of us (aside from the vodka-valium-cafe-mocha-latte the news calls for.)

QUOTE Real ‘change we can believe in’ would be a return to our roots in the rule of law and a system of sound money–but it’s hard to stay grounded when you’re throwing money from helicopters.UNQUOTE

Added bonus: one of the best images (above, right) in the entire blogosphere since Papa Ben's Organically Developed Novus Ordo 2.0 "now with 50% Less Bugnini!" Hah!

DJY

~~~

Eulogy From Yesterday for Today

Senator Edward "Teddy" Kennedy's eulogy of his brother, Bobby from 1968.

+ Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, 1932-2009 +
+ Sen.Robert F. Kennedy 1925 -1968 +



JKF, RFK, MLK, Malcolm X, and more recently, Paul Wellstone: the deaths (murders?) of every single "inconvenient" leader effectively destroyed any chance the USA had of a normal democratic political system. In no other western nation that I'm aware of did such a series of deaths occur, with the exception of the Irish Nationalist community in Northern Ireland in the period of 1969-1995. Not the kind of company you want to keep.

RIP Teddy.

Rest in Peace, Teddy

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy died in peace with his whole family praying around him, the clan's priest said Wednesday morning.

The Parting Glass
Irish Traditional

Oh all the money that e'er I spent
I spent it in good company
And all the harm that e'er I've done
Alas, it was to none but me And all the harm that e'er I've done
Alas, it was to none but me
And all I've done for want of wit
To memory now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all

Oh all the comrades that e'er I've had
Are sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that e'er I've had
Would wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot
That I should rise and you should not
I'll gently rise and I'll softly call
Good night and joy be with you all

Today's Gospel - Mark 3:6-12

From the Douay-Rheims Bible

6 And the Pharisees going out, immediately made a consultation with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him. 7 But Jesus retired with his disciples to the sea; and a great multitude followed him from Galilee and Judea, 8 And from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and from beyond the Jordan. And they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, hearing the things which he did, came to him. 9 And he spoke to his disciples that a small ship should wait on him because of the multitude, lest they should throng him. 10 For he healed many, so that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had evils.
11 And the unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him: and they cried, saying: 12 Thou art the Son of God. And he strictly charged them that they should not make him known.

~~

Pharisees and Herodians – united for once. What binds them together? They have common interests to protect:

> They both anticipate the arrival of an earthly Davidic messiah.
> They both are against any form of leadership resulting from divine revelation.

If a true God-sent prophet had appeared, it threatened their power, the hold they had on the people and the hold they had on the religious throne of power.

The Pharisees, guardians of the Law of Moses, and the Herodians (followers of Herod, who claims to be a prince of the line of David) get together to plot the demise of the incarnate God/Man, Jesus.

Luckily, Christ is a prophet – no palace, no real possessions, nothing keeping him down. He is the one who hears the voice of God in the wilderness and obeys it, and teaches the same to those who assemble with him.

So what does Christ do? He gets on a boat, and is joined by many people outside the circle of worldly influence who accept not only him, but the theology He is a manifestation of.

Let’s examine the group: Multitude from Galilee – generally poor. Also from Judea (that is Judah) and Idumea (that is Edom) and from Tyre and Sidon (traditionally trade competitors among Judahite monarchy) strangers and pilgrims.

This is a collection of those who would have been the common folk who lived in Jerusalem and the outlying areas ever since the Babylons became part of the life of Judah. The flyover-state people: the masses whose needs are not being recognized or met – who are wounded by the traditional leadership instead of being healed – who are the poor, the immigrants, the ones who have no country to cling to and no civic advocates to speak of.

These people responded to Christ so well, that he had to escape to the open sea FOR HIS SAFETY. Christ finds himself the Lord of a people – kingship was never his aim, but it is how these foreign peoples respond. They have found one with the power of a King to heal, to teach, and most importantly, to command loyalty and undying allegiance. Tolkien reminds us in his classic fiction LOTR concerning the exiled king Aragorn that "the hands of a King are the hands of a healer" which idea has its foundation in the Gospel of Christ.

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Fast forward to today: Who are today's Pharisees and Herodians conspiring to terminate the living God? Who are today's leaders - "kings" of ruling the people? If the test of a valid ruler was that he heals his people, which among them would stand?

News Blues

I will bet I am not the only one suffering a case of the "news blues" today. Good gravy: torture, unjust wars, rampant greed on Wall Street, Obama finding he has no spine and ridiculous time-wasting in the health care reform debate. I'm taking a brief news holiday and listening to some old Dylan and some Irish music.





Chimes Of Freedom
Far between sundown's finish an' midnight's broken toll
We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing
As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds
Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing
Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight
Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight
An' for each an' ev'ry underdog soldier in the night
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

In the city's melted furnace, unexpectedly we watched
With faces hidden while the walls were tightening
As the echo of the wedding bells before the blowin' rain
Dissolved into the bells of the lightning
Tolling for the rebel, tolling for the rake
Tolling for the luckless, the abandoned an' forsaked
Tolling for the outcast, burnin' constantly at stake
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

Through the mad mystic hammering of the wild ripping hail
The sky cracked its poems in naked wonder
That the clinging of the church bells blew far into the breeze
Leaving only bells of lightning and its thunder
Striking for the gentle, striking for the kind
Striking for the guardians and protectors of the mind
An' the unpawned painter behind beyond his rightful time
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

Through the wild cathedral evening the rain unraveled tales
For the disrobed faceless forms of no position
Tolling for the tongues with no place to bring their thoughts
All down in taken-for-granted situations
Tolling for the deaf an' blind, tolling for the mute
Tolling for the mistreated, mateless mother, the mistitled prostitute
For the misdemeanor outlaw, chained an' cheated by pursuit
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

Even though a cloud's white curtain in a far-off corner flashed
An' the hypnotic splattered mist was slowly lifting
Electric light still struck like arrows, fired but for the ones
Condemned to drift or else be kept from drifting
Tolling for the searching ones, on their speechless, seeking trail
For the lonesome-hearted lovers with too personal a tale
An' for each unharmful, gentle soul misplaced inside a jail
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

Starry-eyed an' laughing as I recall when we were caught
Trapped by no track of hours for they hanged suspended
As we listened one last time an' we watched with one last look
Spellbound an' swallowed 'til the tolling ended
Tolling for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed
For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an' worse
An' for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.

- Bob Dylan, 1964