We are in difficult times. We are in times of high stress that are not comparable to anything in previous American history.
The tragedy in Arizona is the worst case manifest.
We are all connected in this angry age and it is humbling for someone who has frequently vented and occasionally has tossed out some communication that afterwards - had me pause to consider what atmosphere we create with language. Everyone should know that we have some very shaky personalities in our broad community. They exist in the realm of the Right, they exist in the realm of the Left. They are a small minority but they can be stirred to movement, to violence by a wide variety of forces.
As I sit in this fine little country home and watch TV, a TV that I have been without for about 2 1/2 years though for some reason it seems far longer. In the weeks before I watch the bombs thrown from Left to Right and from Right to Left. I appreciate the local news team at their desks in Portland Maine not that I get my national and world news from them, but they broadcast to the greater community. They have not sided with one arbitrary notion of the political spectrum and foster fear and disrespect of the other. The world has changed since Huntley-Brinkly and Walter Cronkite.
Maybe there will be an awakening, maybe the American's who lost their lives in one of the rarest and worthy exercises in Democracy, this Congress at your Corner in Arizona, will serve the greater purpose of turning us all to a more civil approach to one another and our right's to our political opinions. A correction in our National drift and a cause for all of us to realize that no we are not going to fall into lawlessness and disrespect for life. That all Americans are part of a greater calling and we maybe called on to stand peacefully together despite our Politics on a National level and the politics that may live in our brains.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Ben Bernanke - The Economy
January 8, 2011
I saw Ben Bernanke on CSPAN for maybe 20 minutes last night. Intelligent man, intelligent senators questioning him. Lot's to be concerned about, mortgages, bankrupt state governments, currency issues etc. A lot of it is over my head.
Talk about American Manufacturing and getting these foreign countries to open up their markets to our products. I guess I need to get on the internet and find out what we make these days. It seems like everything is made in China or somewhere in Asia. That's why we have Walmarts and Targets so we can get the best of cheap labor and then cheap products for us. Then we wonder why so many Americans are out of work. But we all flock to these cheap superstores, where we get our China fix. One senator said he thought we were still the greatest manufacturing country in the world. Senator's should know this stuff.
There was a day that the American Economy was an engine unto itself, sure there were exports and imports, but within the borders of this nation an engine was fueling itself. That's history but I wonder if it's a history we should look at and wonder why not? Sometimes you make mistakes and you grow and learn. I am not an expert in much of anything, I just am not feeling very good about the place we have grown to be. I think domestic manufacture should be part of the fabric of society, all societies. I think rather than wasting energy trying to 'open up markets' abroad we should be living with our market. Every nation on the Earth might gain strength by having as strong a domestic manufacturing base as possible. That runs counter to the American vision where we have seen all the developing countries of the world as new markets for our products... McDonald's, Coca Cola all of our corporate glory through the years. Now for me to use the word Greed, I am sure that must be just an emotional inflammatory word that has no basis in the truth. Somewhere our captain's of industry have gotten blinded by something and our politicians, excuse me, our elected Representatives believe them that enhancing their wealth machines benefits Americans.
Like Population and many other aspects of Civilization's journey much of it is simply evolution that is beyond human control. However I think this 'helpless' resigned state in the face of destructive forces... Greed, benefits no one and in fact perpetuates a spiraling state where the loss of individual freedoms and dignity will continue until we decide that yes we can fulfill our Country's founders mandate and vision. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness plus a desire for all the nations of the world to share that same high standard without fear of foreign armies ours included.
I saw Ben Bernanke on CSPAN for maybe 20 minutes last night. Intelligent man, intelligent senators questioning him. Lot's to be concerned about, mortgages, bankrupt state governments, currency issues etc. A lot of it is over my head.
Talk about American Manufacturing and getting these foreign countries to open up their markets to our products. I guess I need to get on the internet and find out what we make these days. It seems like everything is made in China or somewhere in Asia. That's why we have Walmarts and Targets so we can get the best of cheap labor and then cheap products for us. Then we wonder why so many Americans are out of work. But we all flock to these cheap superstores, where we get our China fix. One senator said he thought we were still the greatest manufacturing country in the world. Senator's should know this stuff.
There was a day that the American Economy was an engine unto itself, sure there were exports and imports, but within the borders of this nation an engine was fueling itself. That's history but I wonder if it's a history we should look at and wonder why not? Sometimes you make mistakes and you grow and learn. I am not an expert in much of anything, I just am not feeling very good about the place we have grown to be. I think domestic manufacture should be part of the fabric of society, all societies. I think rather than wasting energy trying to 'open up markets' abroad we should be living with our market. Every nation on the Earth might gain strength by having as strong a domestic manufacturing base as possible. That runs counter to the American vision where we have seen all the developing countries of the world as new markets for our products... McDonald's, Coca Cola all of our corporate glory through the years. Now for me to use the word Greed, I am sure that must be just an emotional inflammatory word that has no basis in the truth. Somewhere our captain's of industry have gotten blinded by something and our politicians, excuse me, our elected Representatives believe them that enhancing their wealth machines benefits Americans.
Like Population and many other aspects of Civilization's journey much of it is simply evolution that is beyond human control. However I think this 'helpless' resigned state in the face of destructive forces... Greed, benefits no one and in fact perpetuates a spiraling state where the loss of individual freedoms and dignity will continue until we decide that yes we can fulfill our Country's founders mandate and vision. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness plus a desire for all the nations of the world to share that same high standard without fear of foreign armies ours included.
From Out of the Sky
January 7, 2010
How can I ignore the birds?
I imagined a world where the skies were crowded with birds, birds and bugs, maybe the land was crowded with all kinds of creatures - except Humans. So crowded that birds fell out of the sky.
That is the opposite of our world. It's we humans who are teeming. Then birds fall out of the sky.
It's we humans who rule everything in our blundering way that has nothing to do with ruling ...
Sometimes you blunder into good things. Yes I keep a door open for humanity.
The sky is not falling just some birds. That was really weird weren't their 3 separate incidents. I am not internet connected at the moment so I can't do some quick research. Well at least two, one in Arkansas one I believe it was in the UK about a week later. I didn't hear a reason that seemed to logically explain this event. The big booms of New Years Eve, the sound panicked the birds and they what? They all had collective Heart Attacks and died. Is that what they said? I don't know. Maybe they panicked and flew too high... I am not a scientist. Hopefully someone is still working on it.
It made me think of the HAARP program that the defense department is running and I wondered if there was a connection. I don't know. Have you heard of the HAARP program brought to you by our defense department? Read some of this www.HAARP.net. Sounds pretty sick to me. It makes you wonder just how much stupidity can pass as intelligence in this world. Quite a lot no doubt. I will try to muster up the energy to write a letter to My Congressperson who ever that maybe here in Maine as well as back in California.
How can I ignore the birds?
I imagined a world where the skies were crowded with birds, birds and bugs, maybe the land was crowded with all kinds of creatures - except Humans. So crowded that birds fell out of the sky.
That is the opposite of our world. It's we humans who are teeming. Then birds fall out of the sky.
It's we humans who rule everything in our blundering way that has nothing to do with ruling ...
Sometimes you blunder into good things. Yes I keep a door open for humanity.
The sky is not falling just some birds. That was really weird weren't their 3 separate incidents. I am not internet connected at the moment so I can't do some quick research. Well at least two, one in Arkansas one I believe it was in the UK about a week later. I didn't hear a reason that seemed to logically explain this event. The big booms of New Years Eve, the sound panicked the birds and they what? They all had collective Heart Attacks and died. Is that what they said? I don't know. Maybe they panicked and flew too high... I am not a scientist. Hopefully someone is still working on it.
It made me think of the HAARP program that the defense department is running and I wondered if there was a connection. I don't know. Have you heard of the HAARP program brought to you by our defense department? Read some of this www.HAARP.net. Sounds pretty sick to me. It makes you wonder just how much stupidity can pass as intelligence in this world. Quite a lot no doubt. I will try to muster up the energy to write a letter to My Congressperson who ever that maybe here in Maine as well as back in California.
American Community II
January 5, 2011
The United States of America is very much a community. There is not much to debate about that, most all definitions of community would agree . Whether we are running on empty, running on two cylinders instead of eight, running against the wind no matter the level by which we fall short of some idealized version held by ourselves or others, we exist because we are a community.
Sometimes we refer to the fabric of society, that's us, as we shop, as we work, as we drive and engage with day to day life.
As we move on with our lives in the year 2011 many of us feel a deep anxiety about our direction, we see the trends and notice that for all the modern advances, for all the brilliance of our technology, our community has become a tougher place to live and thrive. Why is that?
If we are a free people with the ability to chart our own course why are we so helpless when it comes to improving this fabric, tightening up the weave instead of watching it unravel.
Maybe ' it is what it is ' ... isn't a good enough answer. Maybe we need to address our situation
and let go of this ongoing sense of drift and helplessness. Is that possible? Do we have the
ability to see through the 'mystery clouds a pouring, confusion to the ground' as John Fogerty sang back in the 1960's and maybe is still singing today. To attempt to address our situation may seem on the outset hopeless but to go out in this lifetime with this 'helpless' feeling inside us is not a good way to go.
What are the forces that unravel the thread?
Population Growth, New Immigrants, Politics, Wealth and Poverty, the Media, Enemies Abroad, Human Stupidity ... I am looking at some likely suspects, maybe there will be some
common ground of experience as I survey our 2011 landscape.
Population Growth. Most everybody has seen the graph of human population growth particularly over the long stretch, say a thousand years, the straight horizontal line that suddenly seems to take a 90 degree turn straight up at the start of the 20th century. What impact has that had on your life? The impact maybe experienced differently for someone 60 years old and someone 13 years old. When I was about 13 years old the population of the US was somewhere about 160 Million to 180 Million. Now we stand over 300 million, in about 50 years our country's population has doubled. The experience can vary state to state, if you are a resident of South Dakota you might say no problem in fact come on over I could use a few more neighbors. Most of the people of the US who have been around awhile have seen their streets get more crowded, watched as treasured pockets of nature, get swallowed up as more of humanity moves in. Generally as the US density of population has grown there is a corresponding reduction of something and I believe that something is quality of life.
Does more traffic encountered in your daily travel enhance your day or diminish it? Maybe you don't let it bother you. Bravo, but let's say you had a choice. Let's say you had a choice and you had a choice as to what the next generation might experience. Your next generation, your kids who you have struggled to do your best for. How do you cast your vote?
How do you feel about bumping into someone you know during the course of the day? Someone who says hello to you with a smile. Not bad really, kind of brightens your day for
a minute. Some of us may be fortunate than others having this a common occurrence. A lot of Americans are restless people, I am one, in writing about 6 paragraphs i have gotten up, been to the refrigerator about 7 times, have stopped to pick up the guitar 3 times, checked the outdoor thermometer 2 or maybe 3 times (It seems a little off, too high). Turned the vacuum on at least 3 times it still sits waiting for me to find another patch of dust, swore to give up caffein about three times, and so on and of course where do I move next. Where in America? What are we looking for? Well we are restless but let's get back to that experience. Bumping into someone you know while you are out and about and sharing a smile for a minute or two. It's not bad at all, sometimes maybe I take it for granted. Do I want more for me or the next generation of that type of experience? Much of that goodness will come from my or our own nature and the people who I or we have met over the years from living in one place. However that experience can be expanded or diminished with the increase of population in your community. Let's say we have a choice. Where do you stand? Do you have a community that you can call your own? I am writing from a small village in Maine. I am not sure I know where home is anymore.
I recall the governor of what might be my home state, California saying in his annual state of the state address about 2 years ago, right before things went right in the crapper. Governor Arnold with his warm smile informed Californians that the Golden State's population would reach 5o million by about 2050 from it's present 37 million. Therefore let's keep building, woohoo.. we have an economy to grow. He didn't say that exactly but for Governor Scwarzenegger and most political leaders, developers and many others that straight up projection of population growth means more money.
There has got to be a better way of living. Life is short humans, you know this there isn't a lot of time to enjoy yourself. What do I leave my children or your children since I don't have any of my own? Do we have a choice? It seems most of our elected Representatives would have us believe that population growth is inevitable and even desirable. The alternative, decreasing or achieving an equilibrium seems impossible yet the latest census suggested it might be happening on its own.
Maybe if the people of America agreed that slowing this population growth down quite a bit is a good thing perhaps thats how progress might happen. Maybe we if we think of ourselves as a planet of one people maybe we can share this planetary knowledge small families are a good thing, adoption is a good path for those who want the large family.
I hope we are at the crest of the great Population Spike. I hope that historically in 100 years 200 years or 500 years from now we will talk about the days in the first half of the 21st century,
when this country the USA and the World began to adjust to the new vision where the health of Community and the health of our Natural World became more important than the accumulation of wealth.
The United States of America is very much a community. There is not much to debate about that, most all definitions of community would agree . Whether we are running on empty, running on two cylinders instead of eight, running against the wind no matter the level by which we fall short of some idealized version held by ourselves or others, we exist because we are a community.
Sometimes we refer to the fabric of society, that's us, as we shop, as we work, as we drive and engage with day to day life.
As we move on with our lives in the year 2011 many of us feel a deep anxiety about our direction, we see the trends and notice that for all the modern advances, for all the brilliance of our technology, our community has become a tougher place to live and thrive. Why is that?
If we are a free people with the ability to chart our own course why are we so helpless when it comes to improving this fabric, tightening up the weave instead of watching it unravel.
Maybe ' it is what it is ' ... isn't a good enough answer. Maybe we need to address our situation
and let go of this ongoing sense of drift and helplessness. Is that possible? Do we have the
ability to see through the 'mystery clouds a pouring, confusion to the ground' as John Fogerty sang back in the 1960's and maybe is still singing today. To attempt to address our situation may seem on the outset hopeless but to go out in this lifetime with this 'helpless' feeling inside us is not a good way to go.
What are the forces that unravel the thread?
Population Growth, New Immigrants, Politics, Wealth and Poverty, the Media, Enemies Abroad, Human Stupidity ... I am looking at some likely suspects, maybe there will be some
common ground of experience as I survey our 2011 landscape.
Population Growth. Most everybody has seen the graph of human population growth particularly over the long stretch, say a thousand years, the straight horizontal line that suddenly seems to take a 90 degree turn straight up at the start of the 20th century. What impact has that had on your life? The impact maybe experienced differently for someone 60 years old and someone 13 years old. When I was about 13 years old the population of the US was somewhere about 160 Million to 180 Million. Now we stand over 300 million, in about 50 years our country's population has doubled. The experience can vary state to state, if you are a resident of South Dakota you might say no problem in fact come on over I could use a few more neighbors. Most of the people of the US who have been around awhile have seen their streets get more crowded, watched as treasured pockets of nature, get swallowed up as more of humanity moves in. Generally as the US density of population has grown there is a corresponding reduction of something and I believe that something is quality of life.
Does more traffic encountered in your daily travel enhance your day or diminish it? Maybe you don't let it bother you. Bravo, but let's say you had a choice. Let's say you had a choice and you had a choice as to what the next generation might experience. Your next generation, your kids who you have struggled to do your best for. How do you cast your vote?
How do you feel about bumping into someone you know during the course of the day? Someone who says hello to you with a smile. Not bad really, kind of brightens your day for
a minute. Some of us may be fortunate than others having this a common occurrence. A lot of Americans are restless people, I am one, in writing about 6 paragraphs i have gotten up, been to the refrigerator about 7 times, have stopped to pick up the guitar 3 times, checked the outdoor thermometer 2 or maybe 3 times (It seems a little off, too high). Turned the vacuum on at least 3 times it still sits waiting for me to find another patch of dust, swore to give up caffein about three times, and so on and of course where do I move next. Where in America? What are we looking for? Well we are restless but let's get back to that experience. Bumping into someone you know while you are out and about and sharing a smile for a minute or two. It's not bad at all, sometimes maybe I take it for granted. Do I want more for me or the next generation of that type of experience? Much of that goodness will come from my or our own nature and the people who I or we have met over the years from living in one place. However that experience can be expanded or diminished with the increase of population in your community. Let's say we have a choice. Where do you stand? Do you have a community that you can call your own? I am writing from a small village in Maine. I am not sure I know where home is anymore.
I recall the governor of what might be my home state, California saying in his annual state of the state address about 2 years ago, right before things went right in the crapper. Governor Arnold with his warm smile informed Californians that the Golden State's population would reach 5o million by about 2050 from it's present 37 million. Therefore let's keep building, woohoo.. we have an economy to grow. He didn't say that exactly but for Governor Scwarzenegger and most political leaders, developers and many others that straight up projection of population growth means more money.
There has got to be a better way of living. Life is short humans, you know this there isn't a lot of time to enjoy yourself. What do I leave my children or your children since I don't have any of my own? Do we have a choice? It seems most of our elected Representatives would have us believe that population growth is inevitable and even desirable. The alternative, decreasing or achieving an equilibrium seems impossible yet the latest census suggested it might be happening on its own.
Maybe if the people of America agreed that slowing this population growth down quite a bit is a good thing perhaps thats how progress might happen. Maybe we if we think of ourselves as a planet of one people maybe we can share this planetary knowledge small families are a good thing, adoption is a good path for those who want the large family.
I hope we are at the crest of the great Population Spike. I hope that historically in 100 years 200 years or 500 years from now we will talk about the days in the first half of the 21st century,
when this country the USA and the World began to adjust to the new vision where the health of Community and the health of our Natural World became more important than the accumulation of wealth.
Monday, January 3, 2011
An American Community
As I sit and write from the small village in Maine where I am practicing 'Me Here Now', I recall my last year here in 1974 when after dropping out of college in NY state I moved up to Maine.
Somewhere in my youthful mind, I took some of the Fire my Father had endowed me with and tried to put together my philosophy of Life. This was not a disciplined undertaking, there are no
papers that I wrote on the subject or even tried to write. I pieced together what I had taken from observation, with an eye on my father Reverend Meyer's persistent vision of a 'New World Movement'. A vision that he tirelessly strove to launch, his philosophy of World Community, World Government, World Peace a vision fashioned by his times, his parents (from the World War I experience in their revulsion of the massive loss of lives on all sides with with the accompanying National patriotic -----) his heroes (Ghandi, Thoreau), his geography New England (Transcendentalism, the spiritual fervor of the Puritan Heritage in it's best representations, think - Roger Williams founder of Rhode Island Colony). From his own mind just as I filtered all that came to me in a philosophy, a framework of understanding, in my mind.
What I came up with, influenced somehow, by my teenage years in the 1960's in America, was that in my country, the US, the only country that I had experience of, there was nothing as important as community, for the health of society, for the health of individuals. That any movement to expand the greater good for the World is better served and might best achieve positive lasting results if it is rooted in our own sense of Community and not just an intellectual response but of the tangible connections that keep us alive. Connections that translate into the work of individuals, our neighbors, whether we know them or not.
In the more than half a century of my life, the American Community has stubbornly resisted
as well as practically adapted to the forces of change. We are a living entity, most of us behave as humans trying to to what's best for us and our families. The American people may not all be like myself, or at least sometimes as how I perceive myself, ready for ranting and raving, even in a polite civilized manner, striving to change the world to his or her imagined sense of a greater justice as we all slide to a greater injustice. The young man who tells me sure he would take the money and build some monstrous mansion on top of a scenic hill for the happiness of some exceedingly wealthy human. Sure he would, and we will build more roads, and pave more marshes and fields as we strive to grow the economy not for some altruistic goal or vision but to simply provide for what seems our immediate needs. We are in a tough bind in the US and throughout the world with the pressures of population and with our economic system grown as it has into this centralized wealth machine where the ordinary American can aspire to acquire vast holdings of property for his own betterment. In my opinion at the cost of local communities and individuals. Everything is a commodity, everything can be monetized and if you can control the distribution of any goods you can become rich.
Is that bad? Are their alternatives? Where are we going with our economy and will a 'new currency' emerge at the local level if our centralized system collapses.
The American Community exists we are who we are. It is what it is. The language of our times accurately says we are here, yet what we are and what we are going through .. can we find some common ground of agreement that describes roughly where we are and what we are faced with? Many people try, many books are written, many articles are written. It's a challenge and here I am trying to throw my two cents in there as well....
Somewhere in my youthful mind, I took some of the Fire my Father had endowed me with and tried to put together my philosophy of Life. This was not a disciplined undertaking, there are no
papers that I wrote on the subject or even tried to write. I pieced together what I had taken from observation, with an eye on my father Reverend Meyer's persistent vision of a 'New World Movement'. A vision that he tirelessly strove to launch, his philosophy of World Community, World Government, World Peace a vision fashioned by his times, his parents (from the World War I experience in their revulsion of the massive loss of lives on all sides with with the accompanying National patriotic -----) his heroes (Ghandi, Thoreau), his geography New England (Transcendentalism, the spiritual fervor of the Puritan Heritage in it's best representations, think - Roger Williams founder of Rhode Island Colony). From his own mind just as I filtered all that came to me in a philosophy, a framework of understanding, in my mind.
What I came up with, influenced somehow, by my teenage years in the 1960's in America, was that in my country, the US, the only country that I had experience of, there was nothing as important as community, for the health of society, for the health of individuals. That any movement to expand the greater good for the World is better served and might best achieve positive lasting results if it is rooted in our own sense of Community and not just an intellectual response but of the tangible connections that keep us alive. Connections that translate into the work of individuals, our neighbors, whether we know them or not.
In the more than half a century of my life, the American Community has stubbornly resisted
as well as practically adapted to the forces of change. We are a living entity, most of us behave as humans trying to to what's best for us and our families. The American people may not all be like myself, or at least sometimes as how I perceive myself, ready for ranting and raving, even in a polite civilized manner, striving to change the world to his or her imagined sense of a greater justice as we all slide to a greater injustice. The young man who tells me sure he would take the money and build some monstrous mansion on top of a scenic hill for the happiness of some exceedingly wealthy human. Sure he would, and we will build more roads, and pave more marshes and fields as we strive to grow the economy not for some altruistic goal or vision but to simply provide for what seems our immediate needs. We are in a tough bind in the US and throughout the world with the pressures of population and with our economic system grown as it has into this centralized wealth machine where the ordinary American can aspire to acquire vast holdings of property for his own betterment. In my opinion at the cost of local communities and individuals. Everything is a commodity, everything can be monetized and if you can control the distribution of any goods you can become rich.
Is that bad? Are their alternatives? Where are we going with our economy and will a 'new currency' emerge at the local level if our centralized system collapses.
The American Community exists we are who we are. It is what it is. The language of our times accurately says we are here, yet what we are and what we are going through .. can we find some common ground of agreement that describes roughly where we are and what we are faced with? Many people try, many books are written, many articles are written. It's a challenge and here I am trying to throw my two cents in there as well....
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