The Caring Community and the Dialectic of Violence

The United States has had so many catastrophes in so very short a time that we have begun to think constantly in catastrophic terms. Most recent disaster is the shooting of an unarmed US Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords (D. AZ) a Federal Judge, and a little girl and other bystanders at a public appearance in Tucson AZ yesterday.

Ms. Giffords’s father Spencer, 75, wept when asked by the New York Post if his daughter had any enemies. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘The whole Tea Party’ – the Right wing of the Republican Party."

Palin put rifle cross hairs over Gifford's district together with words encouraging supporters to "reload" and "take aim" at Democrats. That's incendiary language that should be condemned. McCain has used very similar incendiary language but did not reference it to specific Democrats (to my knowledge) as did Palin. Come out and condemn her for it and do it loudly. She deserves that and more. - Reddit user jray7

The local sheriff had some words of potent wisdom that the wise would do well to heed in no uncertain terms:

Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, speaking about Arizona:"When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And, unfortunately, Arizona I think has become sort of the capital. We have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry. It's not unusual for all public officials to get threats constantly, myself included. And that's the sad thing of what's going on in America. Pretty soon, we're not going to be able to find reasonable, decent people who are willing to subject themselves to serve in public office." He later added: "Let me just say one thing, because people tend to poo-poo this business about all the vitriol that we hear inflaming the American public by people who make a living off of doing that. That may be free speech. But it's not without consequences."

Yes, we have the right to free speech. But the right to free speech has never included the right to shout fire in a crowded theater, and yet many of these so-called constitutionalists claim it has.

Here's a tweet from filmmaker Michael Moore from yesterday that asks a succinct question:

If a Detroit Muslim put a map on the web w/crosshairs on 20 pols, then 1 of them got shot, where would he b sitting right now? Just asking.

What does a caring community do when a psychotic responds to the verbally violent urgings of a powerful leader? Does it do anything beyond the obvious isolation and imprisonment of the violent psychotic? Or does it seek to remake and retool the larger community into a place where

public meetings can take place unmolested, where vigorous debate never means malice of harm intended and where verbal threats of violence are taken seriously and those who speak them reined in? Or does the community cease to care and let itself be overwhelmed by those whose dark intent is to suggest mayhem until an unhinged and unstable follower commits it?

What are Some Examples of Actionable Abusive or Insulting Language?

1. Verbal threats; 2. Humiliating statements; 3. Racial or sexual slurs; and 4. Scandalous statements. We have seen all of these in public political life in the recent past.

It is high time our politicians cooled the rhetoric to a civil and polite level.

Deborah J. Yost

9 January 2011

Lincoln, NE

I'm Back!

< Galway Bay

After a much-needed half year hiatus from blogging, I am back with the blogging-as-spiritual-practice-meme and I'm ready to go. One thing that I wish for and hope for is more readers and more input from the readers I have, so don't be shy ~ express yourself. I do need to moderate comments before I publish, however, a few jerks and spammers made that necessary. So if you don't see it up, just wait a half day or so and return, it should be there by then.

Themes for this season are Celtic and Native American art and spirituality, towards unity through peace and peace through unity.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Namaste ~

Deborah (also known in some circles as annieokra)

below: Cross at Saint Kevin's in Glendalough, County Wicklow

The Abominations of Greed and Hubris

From The Daily Beast comes a horrific compilation of photos of damage done to nature, sea and humanity by the BP oil catastrophe. You need to to see this. We must get off the junk, and we must do it now. We cannot poison our world.

Shame upon those who allowed such, beginning withourselves for not pushing harder to end the oil monopoly years ago. Shame on the government colluders and the corporate bean counters who ris e to great power on the broken backs of dead workers, wildlife and ways of life. Shame on BP, and shame on Tony Hayward, CEO of BP sold £1.4 million of his shares in his company shortly before the Gulf of Mexico oil spill caused its value to collapse. Shame.

~~~

The Green Fields of France (Willie McBride)

Memorial Day 2010

"I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."



Do you know someone who needs to talk? Help is here:
Iraq Veterans Against the War

A Month Down the Road and Worse Every Day

From Esquire. by Mark Warren

QUOTE Goodbye, oysters. Goodbye, shrimp. Goodbye, crawdads. Goodbye, pelicans. Goodbye, bayou. Goodbye, way of life.

Lord, my people must've done something bad somewhere along the way. A couple hundred years ago, my ne'er-do-well family began washing up in the marshy bottom of Louisiana, with some loose idea of making a go of it in the inhospitable swamps. And they managed to create one of the most interesting civilizations the world has ever known, built on mudbugs and zydeco and the wonderful mixing of peoples.

And now, not five years after the storm rolled in to get them, the oil rolls in, too.
One could be forgiven for thinking that God is angry at these people. (But that would be an awfully moronic thing to say, Rick Perry.) Of course, this was not an act of God. Harry Reid was right when he said it a few days ago: This was an act of greed. UNQUOTE

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/oil-spill-live-feed-not-enough-05210#ixzz0ogw4h3tz

More Than An Oil Spill

Dear reader, I am back from a brief vacation from blogging. I have been following the BP Gulf oil disaster over the past month with great interest and no small amount of fear and trembling. I mean, massive amounts of raw oil, natural gas and methane gas have been pumped into the ocean 24/7 and there isn't a damn thing anyone can do about it at over a mile down, don't let them fool you.

I have been startled to see such a disinterested response on the part of my fellow citizens, and dismayed to have sometimes encountered a spirited defense of the indefensible by people of goodwill who really should know better. But alas they have chose not to know better, and to take the "easy" route. Last laugh goes to Mother Nature, however, just who did they think they were messing with?

Yesterday's NYT has an excellent op-ed by Bob Herbert on the vapidity of America's response to this corporate-sponsored global nightmare:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/22/opinion/22herbert.html

“You can’t sleep no more; that’s how bad it is,” said John Blanchard, an oyster fisherman whose life has been upended by the monstrous oil spill fouling an enormous swath of the Gulf of Mexico. He shook his head. “My wife and I have got two kids, 2 and 7. We could lose everything we’ve been working all of our lives for.”

Good Friday

The basic message of this day, holy to all branches of Christianity, is that the good God loved us all enough to take a bullet for us, and that he forgives even deep evils. That love rules and that torture and death does not make victory. That people are not commidities but are living icons etched in flesh who are accountable to a higher power which breathes and is LOVE.

Today He who hung the earth upon the waters is hung upon the Cross. He who is King of the angels is arrayed in a crown of thorns. He who wraps the heavens in clouds is wrapped in the purple of mockery. He who in Jordan set Adam free receives blows upon His face. The Bridegroom of the Church is transfixed with nails. The Son of the Virgin is pierced with a spear. We venerate Thy Passion, O Christ. Show us also Thy glorious Resurrection. ~ Greek Orthodox Matins for Good Friday

A Clear Assessment of Our Current Condition

This article found at AlterNet provides a clear and concise assessment of our current political, economic and moral condition. NO false hopes or Pollyanna saccharine here. If you only read one political article this year this should be the one.
We Stand on the Cusp of one of Humanity's Most Dangerous Moments by Chris Hedges

QUOTE Democracy, a system ideally designed to challenge the status quo, has been corrupted and tamed to slavishly serve the status quo. We have undergone, as John Ralston Saul writes, a coup d’état in slow motion. And the coup is over. They won. We lost. The abject failure of activists to push corporate, industrialized states toward serious environmental reform, to thwart imperial adventurism or to build a humane policy toward the masses of the world’s poor stems from an inability to recognize the new realities of power. The paradigm of power has irrevocably altered and so must the paradigm of resistance alter. UNQUOTE

~~~

Host Rant

I have just returned to the restaurant business after a 34+ year absence, I am now semi-retired and part time hosting suits the ticket. WHAT an education I am getting, folks. I work for perfectly nice, normal Midwestern restaurant owners who seem to think that one is a slacker if one doesn't work manually, with psychotic waiters and customers, all day on one's feet while maintaining a perfect equilibrium and the Wa of a Buddhist monk. We'll see how I acclimate myself to the lay of the land...hopefully things will level out soon.

Great host rant here.

QUOTE Since I am working to this new exciting restaurant currently ... I am learning quite a few things and start to understand why the book "Waiter Rant" is written ....A host/hostess is a person who welcomes the customers at the door and show their tables based on a rotating order divided by the number of waiters in each section. This job is pretty much simple once getting used to the table numbers and know how to divide the sections. However, it needs high strength of self control, fairness and assertiveness. UNQUOTE

Countdown to Saint Patrick's Day

2010 Saint Patrick's Day celebrations worldwide!!

Chasing the Wind in a Phone Booth

A bout of ear infections, a new job hosting at Stauffer's, and burgeoning geekly responsibilities (blogs, FB pages, groups to administer, comments to moderate yadda yadda yadda)and another week has flown by. Feel like I am trying to sprint in a phone booth, and so I hope all my friends out there on The Internets are well, happy, have someone to love you and are doing good work.

Peace out, yo.

Here's my prayer for the day, from Ortha nan Gaidheal :

COME I THIS DAY
Come I this day to the Father
Come I this day to the Son,
Come I to the Holy Spirit powerful;
Come I this day with God,
Come I this day with Christ,
Come I with the Spirit of kindly bairn.
God, and Spirit, and Jesus,
From the crown of my head
To the soles of my feet;
Come I with my reputation,
Come I with my testimony,
Come I to Thee, Jesu -
Jesu, shelter me.

Fighting the Lenten Battles

Everyone who enters the Lenten desert consciously and who wills to more fully conform his or her self to the image of the Christos will have confronted by this third Tuesday in Lent, some of their worst inner enemies. We have repentence, penitence and remorse over our sins. The dark shadows of addictions, old wounds and scars, sins and omissions with their karmic aftermath, thought and behavior patterns which are less than exemplary - I have managed to wrestle with at least one of each of them by now this Lent. Some of them several times. But allowing a metamorphosis to take place by the grace of God and by surrendering to a higher power and one's own higher self (soul)is what is required of us. This is not self-help, but rather surrender to the Divine Wow. Metanoia and transformation into a new creature. This is the Lenten Spring.
DJY
Readings for today.

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates said that at his trial for heresy.

We cannot procrastinate until tomorrow. For we know not what the next day will bring. Nor should we say, let us conquer a certain habit “little by little”, since this “little by little” will never come to an end
- St. John Chrysostom
photo credit: Loriannloo
~~~

Great News For Pie Lovers

Stauffer’s Cake & Pie Shoppe is opening a second location on March 1st, at N.48th and St. Paul in University Place, giving the beloved locally owned and owner-operated home-cookin’ eatery locations on both ends of 48th Street (the other is just south of S. 48th and Highway 2). It'll be open for breakfast and lunch Monday through Saturdays, with dinner hours likely coming at a later date, once the new locale gets well established.

If you are not already a customer/fan, please do pop in for some good plain Midwestern cooking featuring menu items such as Hot Beef Sandwich, Michigan Salad (spinach, walnuts, dried cherries and local cheese)or a cheeseburger with onion rings. Not to mention made-from-scratch pies with such exotica as gooseberry, chocolate peanut butter and raisin sour cream along with the usual blueberry apple cherry pumpkin. In the immortal words of Bob Dylan, Oh me, oh my, love that country pie.

And when you come in please say hello, I'll be working as a part-time host there six days a week, over the lunch rush! We expect a real warm welcome from north Lincoln. (That street corner has really needed a good mom'n pop diner, hasn't it?)

Icons and Orthodoxy Sunday

The idea that the Son of God was incarnate, born of a woman as all other humans are, that He lived, and breathed, and laughed and then even suffered and died, as do all humans ~ this idea was anathema to many people. Actually it still is today. Many Protestants and Roman Catholics and others view the Orthodox person bowing and venerating the icons, and think we are engaged in some form of idol-worship. But we worship only God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, but we use the medium of the icons to do so. And in the case of all the saints, angels and the Holy Theotokos, we do honor and respect, ask for prayers and blessing from them, but we do not idolize nor worship nor provide the relationship which is due to God alone. The best way I can explain it it to point out that you might have a picture of your deceased grandfather, or another deceased relative, in your home, and when you think of that departed beloved done, you might even give the picture a little kiss and have warm feelings welling up in your heart for that person, now gone to their reward. But you certainly are not worshipping them, or the glass and wood the picture is made of. Or even when you kiss a friend's cheek, or a child's forehead or even your spouse, you are loving and connecting with a living "icon" of the living God, who is not due worship but only respect and love, as the east Indians say, "Namaste" ~ basically meaning "I see the God in you, the divine in me sees the divine in you and gives it greetings".

The Sunday of Orthodoxy is the first Sunday of Great Lent. The rancorous iconoclastic controversy, which had raged on and off since 726AD, and in 843AD was finally laid to rest, and icons and their veneration were restored on the first Sunday in Lent by the Empress Theodora. Ever since, this Sunday has been commemorated as the "Triumph of Orthodoxy." Today it is known as the Sunday of Orthodoxy, or simply Orthodoxy Sunday.

Almsgiving

The three cornerstones of Lent are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. The giving of alms is an ancient, worldwide spiritual practice of giving, materially, to the poor and needy. In a broader sense, almsgivng may be said to include the pouring out of self to include the broader definition of brotherhood, family and inclusiveness. Give, and give of your talents, and be of good cheer! Thank God for all my gifts and blessings, and trials and difficulties.

Householders & the homeless, in mutual dependence, both reach the true Dhamma. - Buddha

Total willingness to give is the wish-granting gem for fulfilling the hopes of wandering beings. It is the sharpest weapon to sever the knot of stinginess.It leads to bodhisattva conduct that enhances self-confidence and courage,And is the basis for universal proclamation of your fame and repute. Realizing this, the wise rely, in a healthy manner, on the outstanding path of(being ever-willing) to offer completely their bodies, possessions, and positive potentials. The ever-vigilant lama has practiced like that.If you too would seek liberation, Please cultivate yourself in the same way. - Lama Tsong Khapa

Christ Jesus in Matthew 25:45 (Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition)
Then he shall answer them, saying: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to me.

Christ Jesus in Luke 11:40-42

40Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without, make also that which is within?
41But yet that which remaineth, give alms; and behold, all things are clean unto you.
42But woe to you, Pharisees, because you tithe mint and rue and every herb; and pass over judgment, and the charity of God. Now these things you ought to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

Forgiveness

The main theme of Lent, and indeed of the message of Christ Himself, is forgiveness. The unity this points to is nothing less than an overwhelming complete cohesiveness of the heavens and the earth, of humanity and nature, a new Eden. For that which is one must needs be harmonious, it shall not split apart or argue disparate battles, lest it become schizophrenic. Which is what our current state of the world is. Forgiveness of offenses opens the door for a fresh and clean realization that all is indeed one, that all is indeed love.
DJY

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Forgiveness is freeing up and putting to better use the energy once consumed by holding grudges, harboring resentments, and nursing unhealed wounds. It is rediscovering the strengths we always had and relocating our limitless capacity to understand and accept other people and ourselves. ~ Sidney and Suzanne Simon

The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

The more you know yourself, the more you forgive yourself. ~ Confucious

Alicia Keys-Pray For Forgiveness




Alicia Keys - Pray For Forgiveness

Beautiful garden
Where have you gone?
Myself delusions are leaving me in the start
Taking for granted all the goodness that I found
Somewhere I lost hope
My control came crashing down

[chorus]:
And I pray for forgiveness
Look for the answers
'Cos it's hard for me to pretend
Look to my mother
Gone to the captain
Don't you see this state that I'm in
No one will notice
Nobody notices
'Cos it's me where it begins...
Lookin' for justice
Searchin' for answers...

Beautiful morning
Please don't wake me from my sleep
'Cos I need some comfort
To regain my sanity

I don't wanna feel this crazy
I don't wanna feel this parted
Shattered in a million pieces
I'm so broken hearted

No one left to run
Nowhere left to go

[chorus]

I swear that every day
I feel like my mind is haunting me
I think of every little stupid mistake that has been made

This time I won't have the string to gather myself
I'm falling to pieces...

Clean Monday

The Lenten Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian, to be prayed morning and night throughout Lent.

O Lord and Master of my life, take away from me the spirit of laziness, meddling, ambition and gossip.

But give to me your servant, the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love.

Yes, Lord and King, grant me to see my own sins and faults, and not to judge my brothers or sisters, for you are blessed to the ages of ages. Amen.

Monday, February 15, is “Kathara Deftera” (or in English, Clean Monday). It is the first day of Lent for Orthodox Christians worldwide. Actually, Lent itself, begins the preceding evening during Vespers (called Forgiveness Vespers). The theme for this beautiful service is “forgiveness” – when all present ask each other for forgiveness – starting Lent with a clean conscience and forgiveness.

Feb. 8th ~ Saint Theodore Stratelates

St. Theo, pray for us and pray for all our military and police.

The holy Martyr Theodore was from Euchaita of Galatia and dwelt in Heraclea of Pontus. He was a renowned commander in the military, and the report came to the Emperor Licinius that he was a Christian and refused the idols. Licinius therefore sent certain men to him from Nicomedia, to honor him and ask him to appear before him. Through them, however, Saint Theodore sent back a message that it was necessary, that Licinius should come to Heraclea. Licinius, seeing in this a hope of turning Saint Theodore away from Christ did as was asked of him.

When the Emperor came to Heraclea, Saint Theodore met him with honor, and the Emperor in turn gave Theodore his hand, believing that through him he would be able to draw the Christians to the worship of his idols. Seated upon his throne in the midst of the people, he publicly bade Theodore offer sacrifice to the gods. But Theodore asked that the emperor entrust him with the most venerable of his gods, those of gold and silver, that he might take them home and himself attend upon them that evening, promising that the following day he would honor them in public. The Emperor, filled with joy at these tidings, gave command that Theodore’s request be fulfilled.

When the Saint had taken the idols home, he broke them in pieces and distributed the gold and silver to the poor by night. The next day a centurion named Maxentius told Licinius that he had seen a pauper pass by carrying the head of Artemis. Saint Theodore, far from repenting of this, confessed Christ boldly. Licinius, in an uncontainable fury, had the Saint put to many torments, then crucified.

While upon the cross, the holy Martyr was further tormented, horribly. The next day Licinius sent men to take his corpse and cast it into the sea; but they found the Saint alive and perfectly whole! Through this, many believed in Christ. Seeing his own men turning to Christ, and the city in an uproar, Licinius had Theodore beheaded, about the year 320. The Saint’s holy relics were returned to his ancestral home on June 8, which is also a feast of the Great Martyr Theodore.

Not Even Bothering To Rearrange the Deck Chairs

Apparently we cannot even be bothered to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic (referring to global climate change and peak oil) let alone make a halfhearted attempt to get the babies and women in the lifeboats. I have suspected as much since the 1970's when the window of opportunity to address this problem in an effective and significant way opened and then closed again in the span of a few short years, while celebrity divorces, petty dictator's temper tantrums and making the almighty dollar - damn the cost! - occupied the worthy citizens.

DJY

From Frum Forum, The latest talk on the Hill has it that climate legislation has no chance this year, given the bandwidth consumed by high jobless numbers, financial reform, a healthcare debate hanging around like an unwanted in-law, and the starboard turn of 2010 electoral politics.

~~~

I'm Baaack!

I've been a shrewd observer of the scene these past few weeks ~ I apologize if anyone has missed the eclectic and random musings presented here. I'm back!