Here we seek a rest in the shade, some cool water and a little kindness. This blog is dedicated to peace, truth, justice and a post- industrial, post-petroleum illumined world in spite of all odds against it. I very much like the line about the ancient knight (see poem below) "His helmet now shall make a hive for bees" It is reminiscent of "beating swords into ploughshares" a sentiment I heartily approve of. Thank you for visiting ~ I hope you return!
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.
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
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.
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
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.
~~
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?
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.
Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the full light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you choose, what you think, and what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny - the light that guides your way. - Heraclitus photo credit: toxicbrain
Senator Ben Nelson has decided to hold some "health care town hall meetings" back on the North Forty, that is, in the State of Nebraska which has elected him lo these many years to the U.S. Senate. He has decided that the very best time to get the concerned citizens out there is on short notice, with little publicity, on work days in the middle of the afternoon. (That ought to get them out...) In spite of this stellar approach, the meeting I attended at Madonna Rehabilitation Center in Lincoln yesterday had a crowd estimated to be around 1,000 people.
You can check out the usual suspects (Lincoln Journal Star, Omaha World Herald) for factual coverage. I don't dare direct readership to them (read link to them) for fear of reprisal. (They are AP affiliates and the AP is very touchy about who directs readers to them. I know, it makes no sense, but there it is. Bloggers have to watch who they link to nowadays.) What I wish to relay concerns the tenor the the anti-reform crowd, which was overbearing, loud, pissed-off, rude and intimidating. BTW I am pro-single payer health care. I think the French, British and Canadians have it figured out.
The contacts I had with two of the anti-reformers left something to be desired in both their comportment and their manners. The most derisive and rude to me personally was a man some 20 to 30 years my junior, 4 inches taller and very strongly built and heavyset, who tried to engage me in debate and then intentionally twisted what I said and used mockery as his defense.
I disengaged quietly and politely and wondered to myself how his mama managed to raise such an "upstanding Christian" son. The quality of other anti-reform commenters in the meeting was similar in stridency and aggressiveness.
As far as Senator Nelson goes, he seemed the quintessential appeaser, willing to make nice with anyone of any persuasion in order to maintain his position. He did handle himself well, and I do not doubt his feelings of concern for the people of the state of Nebraska. However, I question whether he has ever had or will ever have the kind of courage it takes to oppose the powerful key holders of his golden handcuffs, his big donors in the insurance racket. That is what is is, a big fat racket, and just as all trading on Wall Street these days is insider trading, and all get-rich at someones expense schemes turn out to be Ponzi schemes, so all insurance turns out to be a confidence game, and we are the rubes, we're the suckers, and getting Mom or Junior or Auntie or Dad to the doctors in their extreme hour of need means nothing to these bloodsucking fiends, the lords of health insurance.
Nothing.
The for-profit health care industry is running our government and until we get election reform and lobbying(influence peddling)out of Washington we will only get an anemic version of what this country needs.
photo credit:zentrainer I am having a full schedule today, involving several meetings, working tonight and a local health care reform town hall meeting with Senator Ben Nelson (D) of Nebraska. I will blog my impressions tomorrow. I go with a "Single-Payer Is the Only Way For True Reform" sign in my hot little hand. I sure hope things stay civil. Knowing my fellow Nebraskans, I think they shall, but keep your rosary in hand - the times are truly weird. Hopeful we can show the rest of the country how to agree to disagree. I bet I'll see some friends with a right/libertarian bent carrying signs to "keep the gubmint out of health care". Misguided as they are, they are good folks whom I like, not a demonized subhuman.
Sen. Nelson still has time to make the right decision. He can stand with over 76 percent of Americans who want the choice of a public health insurance option or stand with the insurance interests who have contributed over $2 million to his campaigns. We had a great progressive turnout at yesterday's town hall in Omaha. But we can't stop now. We need to keep the pressure on until Sen. Nelson gets the message: real health care reform must include a public health insurance option.
Quite improbably, from that nearly-bereft-of-Irish-culture midwestern vortex, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA, comes The Killigans. I've been a huge fan since I stumbled across them utterly by accident earlier this summer at a now defunct local bar/concert venue under the downtown viaduct. By any standard you choose, those guys rock. And for someone whose musical cultural preferences lie in ancient Tommy Makem recordings, Boston pubs and Galway stages, it's a cool drink of water in a desert of pop culture, mass-mind drivel. Unabashedly Catholic without rubbing your face in it, to boot.
They are self described as "Working class folk punk, not your typical bar band, for fans of dropkick murphys, The Street Dogs, Gogol Bordello, flogging molly, the pogues, social distortion, the scotch greens, bad religion, NOFX, and the Swingin Utters"
Can't wait to hear their new CD, scheduled for release this fall.
For some reason this debate puts me in mind of the Titanic. Buckle your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night.
If it's going to become the new Dark Ages, I vote to be an Irish monk. They kept the flame of civilization alive throughout the wreckage of the Roman Empire. ~~~
~ Located in Studioville, 2634 North 48th Street, Lincoln Nebraska
~ Open Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays 10 A.M. to 5 P.M. Thursdays Noon to 8 P.M. Closed Sunday. There's plenty of parking behind the store!
Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host -by the Divine Power of God -cast into hell, satan and all the evil spirits, who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
I have enjoyed the few shopping trips I have taken to the nearest Whole Foods market, 55 miles up the road in Omaha, Nebraska and I have appreciated the rise of the company from one health-centered store in Austin, Texas. I have even enjoyed some of the writings of the CEO, John Mackey over the years. The story of his embrace of veganism is nothing short of inspiring. But, oh, Johnny, what on earth has happened to you? Now it's a free country, or reasonable facsimile thereof, and Mr. Mackey can think and say what he wishes, but his recent editorial in the Wall Street Journal brought me up short.
He states:
"Many promoters of health-care reform believe that people have an intrinsic ethical right to health care—to equal access to doctors, medicines and hospitals. While all of us empathize with those who are sick, how can we say that all people have more of an intrinsic right to health care than they have to food or shelter?"
If you read the entire editorial you'll find a chilling case of blaming the victim, blaming the poor for not making better "lifestyle choices" and for not eating a diet which is "a diet consisting of foods that are plant-based, nutrient dense and low-fat" i.e. a diet purchased from Mackey at Whole Foods. How dare people think that not only do they owe society, but society owes them? Even feudal lords took care of their serfs, providing shelter, protection and food in exchange for work and loyalty, however the feudal lords had a sense of noblesse oblige which today's lords of capitalism apparently lack. Does Mackey think that soup kitchens, food pantries, food stamps, homeless shleters and Medicaid are bad ideas - does he think the very corporal works of mercy are bad ideas? (For the non-Catholics reading this, the corporal works of mercy are as follows -
To feed the hungry; To give drink to the thirsty; To clothe the naked; To shelter the shelterless; To visit the sick; To ransom the captive; To bury the dead.
From Catholic Encyclopedia:The Divine command is set forth in the most stringent terms by Christ, and the failure to comply with it is visited with the supreme penalty of eternal damnation (Matthew 25:41): "Then he shall say to them also that shall be on his left hand: Depart from me, you cursed, in everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took me not in; naked, and you covered me not; sick and in prison, and you did not visit me"...
The audacity of the I've-got-mine nouveau riche such as Mackey, who have aped the attitude of that horrid film, The Secret, is chilling. If you are poor, according to this mindset, it's your own damn fault, and why are you sooo negative, you icky poor person? Mr. Mackey has uttered his "let them eat cake" speech; now let the boycotts fall where they may.
I will stick to my local CSA's, Farmer's Markets, Co-Op and local grocers from here on out.
How have we arrived so soon at the 40th anniversary of Woodstock? How has old man Chronos hoodwinked old man Kairos into letting us develop spare tires, grey hair, wrinkly skin and fading eyesight?
For those of us who happily mutated at the sound of our very first Beatles song, who transformed through meditation and pot and peyote buds and dancing and free stores and organics, it's a very short moment in time since that weekend. I was 15 years old and living in Oregon at the time, so although I was present at the very first Oregon Country Fair (which started as a Renaissance Faire BTW), used to have a room mate named Lila who was a founding Earth Mother of The Rainbow Family, although my friend Jimmy Hissop (a gentle soul with a shiny brown mop of curls who wore old coveralls over tie dye) drove a milk truck for Ken Kesey's Springfield Creamery all through his senior year in high school, although I'd seen the Grateful Dead 3 times before my 18th birthday, despite all that I did not make it all the way across the continent for Woodstock, except in spirit.
Here are a few little snippets of thought on Woodstock, 40 years on. Peace, my brothers and sisters.
O God, who broughtst me from the rest of last night Unto the joyous light of this day, Be Thou bringing me from the new light of this day Unto the guiding light of eternity. Oh! from the new light of this day Unto the guiding light of eternity.
- Traditional Scottish Prayer from The Carmina Gadelica
One of the feedburners has asked for an author's description of the blog, so here it is. And please tell your friends about our little corner of the Web. Thank You!
The Rosemary Tree is a Melkite (Byzantine Rite Catholic) blog which examines eclectic subject matter including politics, finance, peak oil/climate change, film and music in the light of a Catholic worldview. Unlike some "religous blogs", however, we write for a broad audience, not only for those who think like us. Comment is invited and welcomed. Associate bloggers ExRanger and Stanford Espedal give different facets to this little gem.
At The Rosemary Tree we strive for a rest in the shade, some cool water and a little civility, if not chivalry. This blog is dedicated to Our Lord Jesus Christ, Mother Mary, Saint Joseph, Saint Patrick, Saint Deborah and the glorious St. Bridget of Kildare. People who visit should feel as though they've had a moment of respite from the chaos of modern life. I very much like the line in the poem on my right-hand sidebar about the ancient knight - "His helmet now shall make a hive for bees;" It's reminiscent of " beating swords into ploughshares" a sentiment I also heartily approve of.
Charlie, Toni and I went to see Julie & Julia this past weekend. What a delight! Being lovers of great food, cooking and Juno-esque women, it was right up our alley. Definitely our favorite film of the summer!
When we first encounter uber-actress Meryl Streep's Julia Child, what strikes me is how very happy Julia is. She’s married to American diplomat Paul Child (and it seems a true marriage, where they both subtly light up in each other's presence - played by Stanley Tucci) and living in Paris, a city that she loves wildly. Meryl Streep’s portrayal is brilliant, and come Oscar time she'll be the one to beat. There’s a touch of a Julia-over-the-top stereotype ala SNL skits inserted into the role, but it’s not overdone. You leave the theater wishing you had know the real Julia, and had been able to make it to a dinner party at her home.
Through the alternating scenes between Julia’s lush France and Julie’s Queens, New York, (where Julie and her husband live over a pizzeria not unlike the Greek pizzeria across the street the year I lived in Phillie's Kensington neighborhood in 1977). Streep steals the show as she cheerfully shows up her male counterparts at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school and interacts with her husband and girlfriends in a way that’s touching and quite un-Hollywood. The couple shows real love, the kind without the usual Hollywood snake oil. It’s a reminder that love doesn’t have to exist between people who look like Brangelina, but more often occurs with people like the zaftig, towering Julia and the shorter and bald Paul.
Julia’s world gets credit for providing a space where a large woman can be happy, living without the pain of being self-deprecating or even at all physically self-consciousness. The sight of a plumpish, large woman (Julia was 6'2") who was very content in her own skin was medicine for this particular Amazon's soul (I stand a paltry 5'11", which towered me over my classmates in the 50's and 60's.)
In one adorable scene, she and her sister Dorothy, an Entwife of a woman with a Aunt-Pat attitude, stand in front of a mirror, putting the finishing touches on their party clothes. Julie, hugging Dorothy and speaking to the mirror says, “Not too bad, huh?” She pauses. “But not too good either,” she adds, and the two laugh wildly. I LOVE it. BTW, did anyone else see a nod in Elizabeth and Dennis Kucinich's direction with the portrayal of Dorothy's lover? Cute! Streep's Julia is truly a brick house!
Health reform that is. In case you missed it, like I did, last week, here it is. Rachael Maddow exposes "fake" protesters at health care Town Hall meetings. You go, girl. Expose the brownshirts.
I had an e-mail tonight from Kiva, the micro loan organization telling me that I had a credit from some of my loans being repaid. So in less than 10 min I had reloaned it to a woman in Peru that is running a small bookstore. This is my seventh loan and so far i have had a repayment rate of 100%! Two of the loans are totally repaid, the other three are 83%, 58% and 26% repaid. Not bad for a 100 dollar investment on my part. This is such an easy way to help people that I hope I can encourage people to give it a try. Kiva link, http://www.kiva.org/
As I prepare to go to a noon holy day Mass for the Feast Day of the Holy Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ, I am doing a little personal reflecting on the day. I have always loved this day in the Church cycle. Back when I was a Protestant seminarian, I was ordained to the ministry (Holy Order of MANS/Christ the Saviour Brotherhood)on August 6th, 1976 by the Rt. Rev. Philip McCaffrey. It was a great day for me, one of the best of my life, along with my wedding day, the day my three children were born and the day our granddaughter was born. That is not dimmed by the fact that I was then not an Eastern Catholic, that day I was dedicating myself to the lifelong service of Christ, the Holy Trinity and the Blessed Lady.
Somewhere along the way I read the script on the icon of Blessed Deborah, which reads thus (From Judges 4:6 ) "Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw nigh toward Mount Tabor." Some biblical scholars claim the the very name "Deborah" is a rendition of the word meaning "one who is of Tabor." I am very happy to claim the Transfiguration as my special day on the calendar of the life of Our Lord! This is the showing forth of His true divine nature to the disciples, and a prefiguring of their own following of Jesus, ending eventually in sainthood and theosis. What a happy day! The Feast of Light, the feast of shining forth, the feast of sudden and radical illumination!
DJY
~~~
Matthew 17:1-7 - After six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain apart. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Eli'jah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is well that we are here; if you wish, I will make three booths here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Eli'jah." He was still speaking, when lo, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces, and were filled with awe. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Rise, and have no fear." And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, "Tell no one the vision, until the Son of man is raised from the dead." (RSV)
The excellent economic guidepost blog The Distributist Review's John Médaille has a sparkling new post up on Pope Benedict and business, asking, in the immortal words of Tina Turner, "what's love got to do with it?". Trust me, the harmonic convergence of Popes, Ms. Turner and Distributist economic and social theory make for a fascinating contemplation. This little nugget from the most recent Encyclical (which I must read in full) alone makes it worthwhile, although many more await: Intelligence and love are not in separate compartments: love is rich in intelligence and intelligence is full of love.
QUOTE Now comes Pope Benedict XVI with a new social encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, which exceeds all the other social encyclicals by insisting that a proper economics is based not only on the natural virtue of justice, but on the super-natural virtue of love! Justice is, of course, a part of love; you cannot be said to love someone and treat him unjustly. But no other encyclical has gone as far in asserting the primacy of love as a practical consideration of economics and social life. But Benedict goes even further: He insists on a principle of gratuitousness in business, on the idea of pure gift. At this point, many reasonable observers could conclude that the Pope is indulging a pure utopian fantasy, suitable perhaps for a world of angelic figures, but disastrous in a world of fallen men. UNQUOTE - John Médaille
QUOTE Alongside profit-oriented private enterprise and the various types of public enterprise, there must be room for commercial entities based on mutualist principles and pursuing social ends to take root and express themselves. It is from their reciprocal encounter in the marketplace that one may expect hybrid forms of commercial behaviour to emerge, and hence an attentiveness to ways of civilizing the economy. Charity in truth, in this case, requires that shape and structure be given to those types of economic initiative which, without rejecting profit, aim at a higher goal than the mere logic of the exchange of equivalents, of profit as an end in itself.(38)UNQUOTE - Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate (Love in Truth)
I found an old friend in my inbox recently, and only just now got around to reading the most recent Cassandra Chronicles, written by contrarian economist David L. Smith. In my former career incarnation, when I had my financial advisory practice, David's work helped me a great deal to "boil down" the sea of worldwide economic and political information and disinformation to get at the kernel of truth which would best benefit and protect my mostly working folk and/or from-blue-collar clientele.
I have also included a link to David's blog on The Village Green, my assortment of links to places on the web that I like.
Mr. Smith is one of the few I've encountered whose politics matches my own:
QUOTE You may wonder what my political principles are. Some of my subscribers are convinced I am a liberal, others are persuaded I am a conservative, others think I am a moderate. I think of myself as an independent “fair witness,” to borrow Robert Heinlein’s term. Basically I do not believe any political philosophy has a corner on the truth, nor is any approach optimal for all occasions. Consequently, I am inclined to support objectively whatever works, given the times and the circumstances, to further the universal aspirations for peace, prosperity, order, human rights, and the survival of the human species. I am also inclined to expose hypocrisy, mendacity and injustice from whatever political quadrant it comes. Like Tiger Woods, I aspire to play “straight up the middle.” UNQUOTE -David. L. Smith
Good stuff from Olbermann. The only way that we are going to save the United States from these tick-like corporations and the parasitic bankers including the Federal Reserve and the war mongers is if we oppose them. Government has been taken over by these weasels like the Men In Black character Edgar was taken over by a "Bug"(in the 1997 film, a "bug" was an evil alien). They're "Bugs" wearing Edgar suits.
Unfortunately they have been very successful at separating us into fearful camps both right and left. This is the genius of the control freaks. What they fear most is a well informed and active population. This health care fight combined with the theft of our economy by the banking elite could bring us together. Each and every one of these elite corporations investors and owners must be exposed for agendas that harm the American people. We are seeing the truth behind their actions and will not accept it!
“Corporations are not people and do not have unalienable Rights.” - Brian Laverty
The bread you store up belongs to the hungry; the cloak that lies in your chest belongs to the naked; the gold you have hidden in the ground belongs to the poor.
I am a 57-year old wife, mother and grandmother who currently works as a beadworker, web mistress for my husband's jewelry store/art gallery and CASA volunteer. In my life I have been a seminarian, Protestant minister, professional cook, payroll clerk, hospital orderly, columnist, cook/gardener for a commune in San Francisco in the 1970's and 80's, opthalmalogy paraprofesional, financial advisor (now retired. I held Series 6, 63 and 65 securities licenses, and insurance lines of life, annuities and variable contacts)and was a small business owner from 2003 to 2008 (Calm Eagle Family Financials LLC). Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Eastern Rite and Traditional (Latin Rite)Catholicism, ancient Irish, Buddhist and Native American spiritualities all inform my worldview and spirituality. You will find a kindred spirit here if you value the wisdom of the Holy Spirit and of Mother Earth in equal measure, for they are each other's right and left hands.
~~~Namaste, and peace be with you.
Also known as the herb of grace, and rue, rosemary has deep associations with penance, resurrection, nativity and joy. This blog is dedicated to the spirit of peace, joy and life triumphant. Legend has it that during the flight to Egypt,the Virgin Mary draped her blue cloak over a white flowering rosemary bush to dry. The blooms have been blue ever since to represent Mary’s blue cloak.
Rosemary is known as the "herb of remembrance." It is said that rosemary will grow particularly well in gardens tended by strong-willed women.
The Old Knight
His golden locks time to silver turned; O time too swift, O swiftness never ceasing; His youth 'gainst time and age hath ever spurned, But spurned in vain; youth waneth by increasing; Beauty, strength, youth, are flowers but fading seen; Duty, faith, love are roots, and ever green. His helmet now shall make a hive for bees; And, lovers' sonnets turned to holy psalms, A man-at-arms must now serve on his knees, And feed on prayers, which are age's alms; But though from court to cottage he depart, His saint is sure of his unspotted heart. And when he saddest sits in homely cell, He'll teach his swains this carol for a song; "Blest be the hearts that wish my sovereign well, Curst be the souls that think her any wrong." Goddess, allow this aged man his right, To be your beadsman now, that was your knight. ~ by George Peele
