Archive for July, 2008

Ok, I’m not a rich woman by American standards.  We barely make old fashioned middle class….we have no savings, no stocks & bonds, no real estate save the home we live in and it isn’t paid off.  We are pretty average.  We are not Christian, yet I believe whole-heartedly in charity.  I believe if you are blessed with a good job and a secure bed and sufficient food, it is just common sense that you should help those things be part of other people’s lives, too.  So each month, I write checks to several charities that I usually select at the end of each October.

October or early November is when my “ritual” year ends, so I plan the next years financial efforts then, too.  I give money to Habitat International, to Heifer International, to the Iraq Veterans Against the Way, to Fisher House, and now to Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America, too.  I also contribute to Amnesty International, ACLU, and the Environmental Defense Fund.

I get phone calls every day; and I admit I am quite snappish with some of them, especially the falsely hearty same-old-joke hired fund raisers who want to raise money for police and firemen’s widows and other assorted stuff like that.  It isn’t that I am anti-widow, it is that when I checked these charities out I found the fundraising company gets about 80% of the money.  But not every charity is a con game.  Many are quite legitimate and doing necessary work, providing various sorts of safety nets as the government finds it can’t even repair bridges.  So, I am often quite sorry to tell the phone crews “I am sorry, my charities are selected for the year, I cannot afford more.”

But when does it end?  Food banks need more money and food now, and more and more families end up on the streets and there are not enough shelters.  It is going to get worse.   I quit working my part time job out of injury, but then didn’t go back when I was better—because my ‘fill-in’ was a woman who cleans house for a living.  I am pretty sure she needs the money from MY former job, because with all the money crunch, fewer folks hire house-keepers.

To give more to the charities that solicit daily, I would have to find some horrible job at a fast food place, because my budget is stretched to it’s limit.  But other people need that job, don’t they?  My son is employed now, thank all the Gods, so we don’t have to support him completely and my step-mother no longer needs my financial aid since she has a financially secure boyfriend who insists on caring for her.  My pet population of rescued animals is down to a manageable number, so that money goes into the Environmental Defense fund now.

I know a lot of folks who don’t believe in giving to ANY charity.  Sure, sometimes big disasters like the tsunami shake the checkbook loose for the Red Cross, but there is no regular thought of it.  And many are quite resentful about churches that demand a tithe of 5 to 10%.  Is that really so bad, though?  Sure, perhaps you don’t care for how a church might allot your money, but is it so bad to think of a percentage of your income as giving to others in dire need.

You see, it isn’t just the big newsworthy tsunami out there…..there are big emergencies in smaller lives EVERY day.  I don’t fool myself that I can fix it all, and this isn’t a Lady Bountiful “because I can” will to power Neitzchean thing either.  It is, although I am not Christian, truly a “there but for the grace of others, go I” thing.  For all I know, the only reason my life is relatively secure (yes, yes, a mere three months from disaster and the streets), is so I CAN help someone else?

My husband accuses me of having “Franciscan moments” and maybe he is right to so tease me.  I don’t own a brown woolen robe…..I can’t afford one.  Consider just one charity, just one small check a month.  You see, charities don’t really get most of their money from the rich—it is the middle class and below that usually cares enough to give.  It is many small amounts that fill those coffers of hope!

So, on my “Franciscan” pagan knees again, I am asking you—-pick just one thing you care about, not even necessarily from my list, although I think all of my causes are excellent.  If the environment speaks to you, cries in pain—consider the Environmental Protection folks, or Sierra Club; if the suffering of your fellow man haunts you, Doctors Without Borders or Heifer International work tirelessly to succor that need.   If the plight of returning veterans makes you clench your jaw when you see them on street corners, consider Fisher House or IAVA, please.  Just think of writing ONE check a month for $15, please?  That is less than a family of four spends going to a fast food joint for lunch.  That is less than the price of two movie tickets.

Compassion is more than an emotion…..it is an action.

Sometimes the way back is very long indeed. In May of 2005, a young Marine was grievously wounded when a roadside bomb sent a shard of metal into his brain.  His injuries were serious and lasting, he settled near Palo Alto where a poly-trauma hospital for men like him stood ready to help.  His best friends were other wounded troops like himself.

His traumatic brain injuries and his post traumatic stress induced nightmares sent him back to the hospital again and again.  And last July, just two days short of Independence Day, he went to sleep and never awakened.  The big American Samoan won’t have bad dreams anymore.  But his family might, for you see, in spite of his service, the first autopsy said his death had nothing to do with his war wounds.

That is why his name never appeared last year on the DOD listings or on my lists here and the message boards.  I have yet to figure  out how to catch all the names the DOD doesn’t care to list.  But an Army examiner did the right thing, more than a year past the funeral in Utah…..his name is on the list now.

Staff Sgt. Faoa L. Apineru, 31, of Yorba Linda, Calif. – Marine – Iraq – IED injuries (died July 2, 2007, after wounding in May 2005)

Better late than never?  Somehow, more and more often, things of this war are much more than a day late, and so sadly more than a dollar short.   I hope the reversed autopsy ruling grants his family and fellow Marines some much-deserved peace and satisfaction.

But not in the wind. These “candles” were strong indeed. The Unitarian Universalists of Tennessee deserve support in this terrible time. In my opinion, it was only the certain conviction and strength of their members that kept the death count from being what the very disturbed shooter visualized.  Greg McKendry was the hero of the day, his loss will long be felt; but may his heroism be longer lauded!

You may leave messages of support at this site:

http://knoxvillesupport.blogspot.com/

I blogged a good while back about the number of women dying in suspicious (to put it mildly) circumstances.  Lavena Johnson is one of many, and one so horrifyingly obviously not the suicide the Army conveniently labeled it, that it makes your head spin. Please, join me in seeking truth and justice for her.

Dear Friend,

LaVena Johnson was 19 years old, serving in Iraq as a private in the Army, when she was raped, murdered, and her body was burned–by someone from her own military base. Despite overwhelming physical evidence, the Army called it a suicide and closed the case.[1]

For three years, LaVena’s parents have been fighting for answers. At almost every turn, they’ve been met with closed doors or lies. But together we can help achieve justice for LaVena and other families who have suffered similar tragedies.[2]

Will you join me in standing with the Johnsons and calling on Henry Waxman, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, to investigate the Army’s cover-up of Lavena’s death?

http://www.colorofchange.org/lavena/?id=2034-630613

Thanks.

1. “The cover-up of a soldier’s death?” LavenaJohnson.com, March 6, 2007
http://www.lavenajohnson.com/2007/03/cover-up-of-soldiers-death.html

2. “Is There an Army Cover Up of Rape and Murder of Women Soldiers?” CommonDreams.org, April 28, 2008
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/28/8564/

Some years back, I recall reading a blog (don’t ask which—long since lost that list of bookmarks) wherein it was suggested that in deciding how to tackle America’s numerous problems, the powers that be needed to do “triage” in the medical sense of the word.  Now, since we are (still!) at war, I am sure all sorts of old M.A.S.H. episodes come to mind at the mention of the word; but it really is simple—someone experienced walks stretcher to stretcher and decides who gets care first because of the urgency of the injury.  This person also has the unpleasant duty of deciding whose case is utterly hopeless of course, so time is not wasted leading to loss of other lives.

As I watch the news (more and more rarely) or read it online, I surely wish somebody would come up with a news-related method for them to determine what stories to print/report.  Then perhaps the idea of prioritizing hot points and buttons could spread to other areas of life?  I mean, really, do we all NEED more drama?  And yet, every one of us can name someone in our lives who simply leaks drama like salted cucumbers leak water.  The news shows follow this tendency to very literally stupid conclusions.

They publicize silly nonsense about some actress falling off the wagon, but do not tell us real details about why Americans are losing their homes in foreclosures?  Or, when a major paper prints up the ills of the Bush Administration now afflicting America, they blame it on America’s declining middle class for taking  “huge, fat tax breaks”?  First off, we qualify as lower middle class, if only barely.   Our ‘huge’ tax break was a whopping $600 or so, if I recall.  Gee, wow, which Carribbean island should we purchase, dear?  Second, I really don’t see where any newspaper columnist gets off pointing fingers at the “middle class” as if they were Bushie Brown Shirts out throwing rocks through windows, when THEY were notably SILENT as the Bush Administration set much of the current revolving hell into motion.  So, yes, all of you wanting to point at ordinary citizens en masse as compliant and blame-worthy?  Shut the fuck up unless you had your mouth open just as wide to scream about the lies and deceptions of those in POWER positions.  I did not vote for that imbecile, I did not believe his lies about the war, I was making phone calls, bitching, screaming, protesting, and it did me no fucking good.  Possibly because Congress is incapable of separating truth from manure and none of them had the balls to be called ‘unpatriotic’ while the shit went down.  It isn’t the middle class to blame, its the elected middle management!
Now, mini-rant over, back to the idea of triage.  Really, what story affects more people, that Angelina Jolie succeeded in giving birth or that Turkish-based Kurdish rebels took German hostages to try forcing Germany to stop supporting Bush Co?  Honestly now, if online news and email were added, we could really have some fun, eh?  Like, which email should a thoughtful person, a smart person (yes, channeling Wanda here!) give more credence and attention to: the one saying there is a trail of bodies in Obama’s past (OMG…a reporter who once asked him a question died of ‘natural causes’?!) or the trail of completely verifiable and unnaturally bloodied bodies that are the result of the Bush lie-engendered war?  What if Congress had to actually see every issue facing America like those combat docs and nurses see their problems: as bleeding, hurting humans on stretchers?  Do you think they could pull their heads out of the damned pork barrel and stop thinking about re-election, if a bleeding, screaming “issue” grasped their hand in a shaky grip and cried “Help me, oh God, please help me cause it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!”

It isn’t just the news media, folks, nor is it truly just Congress, although since they do ascribe such powers to themselves; I do wish they would start a new trend. Call it triage if you like the analogy.  Or call it “pulling your head out of your ass and giving your brain some oxygen”…..in any case, fucking GET REAL.  Cause damn, the knee jerk stupid is burning and scarification is just not my thing.

I have looked back over the last few posts and man, does summer ever take the wind out of my sails. It has sucked mightily in the writing and variety department. So, I must re-instill some discipline to myself and here is the first step.

No, I do not promise to blow your pants off with wonders written fresh daily, life simply isn’t that smooth. But, changes are in order. I used to take Mondays “off” to recover from the arduous weekends, but with summer here I will be taking Fridays instead…to prepare FOR the weekends.

So, Monday is henceforth “domestic goddess” day. I mean that both in a semi-humorous way and a serious one. I am pagan after all, I DO worship various divinities and on Monday I turn my mind to the Goddess of the Hearth–Hestia. Hard core polytheists will snipe, but some of you may know this Lady as Vesta of the Romans. I think of Hestia every time I pass my hearth-altar, every time I do laundry, clean house, cook a meal—she is the core of domestic life. In winter, Tuesday tends to be the Hestia day, but in summer, I need to step up my week. So writing will be spare on Mondays —the occasional rant, perhaps.

Fridays, being my day off, will be the day dedicated to writing particularly pagan posts, I think. Talking about the Gods and Goddesses I do consider relevant in my more or less shamanic hermitage here on the Walk.

Weekends I will try to post amusing pet photos and book reviews.

Other days, yes, rants, raves and whatever strikes my radar.

Blessings of the Hearth to you all!

And re-astonished afresh.  Friday was marathon day.

It took me months to get around to taking a closer look at a gift given to me. It was only reading a book recommendation that got me motivated, to be honest. I finally read an online book about shamanic experience by Phil Hines and found some of the things he said enlightening. One of the comments that finally made me smack my head and go “duh!” was his statement that movies and books are part of the mythic world. And that being part of the mythic world, they can comprise initiatory experiences!

And then I knew why some films made me watch again and again. When asked what my favorite movie is, I always know the answer. I have many favorite movies, but only one that is THE movie. And that is “Blade Runner” you see? Which makes half the folks asking me the question go “Ewwww.”  This brings me back to the gift—the four disk set with both US and European theatrical release versions, two directors cuts and then special disks (VERY long) about the making of the movie and its history since release in 1982.

I had immediately re-watched my favorite original theatrical release and little else. So, finally admitting that this sci-fi film was my favorite because it WAS an initiation of sorts for me, I sat down yesterday to go through the entire pile of DVDs. The one about the making of the film was fascinating. It was, as they said, practically the last “analog” sci-fi made—-all the special effect sort of things are on the film, in the big old fashioned 65 mm movie camera! Not a bit of digital addition, no blue screen anything. The visual effects were built and filmed the old fashioned way with miniatures and matte paintings of incredible and beautiful complexity. And although it is over 25 years old, this science fiction film does not look “hokey” or out of date….it stands up to the computer digitally manipulated flicks of the current era looking just as futuristic and sparkling as the day it opened. Movie magic really does apply to this film. And in more than one way.

And when it opened, it bombed. It was the Reagan Era “Don’t worry, be happy” summer of ET Phone home-happy-eyewash. Almost nobody wanted to watch this grim sci-fi noir of gritty dark streets and corporate hegemony. Well, unless, like Philip K. Dick said about Americans and science fiction, unless you were “an adolescent or a disturbed adult”….because he was pretty much told that is who would read his book “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” that the movie sprang from. The film and book are not similar, though Dick told Ridley Scott he had exactly captured the world he “saw” when writing the book. The movie is considerably brighter than the book. The movie is set in Los Angeles in 2019, and frankly, it would not be impossible for LA to look like the movie in eleven years.  Commentators on the film process said that to their shock, places in China look like this film already, minus flying cars and spaceships, of course.

This science fiction film scared me worse than any horror film, scared me worse than Ridley Scott’s big money maker “Alien” because it is more believable. This film made me believe environmentalists more fervently. It made me fear and question advertising more. It made me seek definitions of what is human in a way I never had before. It made me think about what people do that DEPRIVES them of their humanity. I saw this film, on VCR tape a couple years after the theater flop. And it coincided with the first shamanic content dreams that would change my spiritual life forever. I honestly believe the film came first and it opened doors in my brain that had been held tightly shut.

That is the function of myth isn’t it? To ignite magic?  To open doorways of perception?

I finally got around to watching the newest “Director’s Cut” re-done in 2007, and found it unremarkable. It lacks the original voice over and the sunny ending, but has very little of the original four hours of film added back in, to my disappointment. I think the voice over helped viewers who hadn’t any idea of the book, for in spite of dissimilarity, the world Ridley Scott created does almost need a guide book. The after-addition of Ford’s voice over was that, clumsy as it was at times. Obviously, I recommend this film. If you watched it years ago and dismissed it, consider going back again. The film was considerably ahead of its time, and not only because the film effects have stood the test of time.  But I find any version, original or Scott’s more personal vision have equal power to frighten and ignite.

Think about how corporations gain power and rights in government.
Think about how the world is being more polluted and poisoned.
Think about artificial intelligence and cloning.
Think about where the rich and powerful will go when they have ‘used up’ this world.
Think about sheeple.
Think about the last eight years.

The estimable Logan on patrol:

Once again, time turns, and it is time for the list of names released since the Full Moon.  As always, my sympathy to the families and loved ones of those fallen in the wars.

Pfc. Willington M. Rhoads, 23, of Las Vegas, Nev., Army – Afghanistan – non-hostile incident

1st Lt. Jason D. Mann, 29, of Woodlynne, N.J., Marine – Afghanistan – non-hostile incident

Aviation Boatswain Mate Third Class Petty officer Daniel R. Verbeke, 25, of Exton, Penn., died July 14 in Paoli, Penn. of complications from injuries he suffered in a flight deck accident in December 2005 while serving aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, CVN-71. (My deep sorrow for Daniel’s parents—the things they and he endured trying to get proper care for him over the long haul between his wounding and his death.  I urge you to Google his story and read it. The VA was more the enemy than the friend in this story)

Staff Sgt. Danny P. Dupre, 28, of Lockport, La., Marine – Iraq – combat ops

1st Lt. Nick A. Dewhirst, 25, of Onalaska, Wis., Army- Afghanistan – RPG, small arms fire

Pfc. Ivan I. Wilson, 22, of Clearlake, Calif., Marine – Afghanistan – combat ops

The weekend draws nigh…but not fast enough. Just scanning the news makes me want to climb back, under my covers. But I wouldn’t sleep, would I? I’d be busy asking questions like these:

*WHY IS MARK STARR AT NEWSWEEK SUCH A MEAN, PETTY ASSHOLE? In a world where people hack babies out of women and leave them dying while stealing infants, Mark thinks disgraced Olympic athlete Marion Jones needs to stay in prison for using ‘performance enhancing’ drugs. Holy shit, Batman….the world is going to freaking end over this? Tell me, Mark, have any of those wonderful ‘boys of summer’ gone to jail for this, yet? How dare a female athlete engage in such things. Newsweek, of late, can’t focus on any news of note—noooo, they keep flinging silly-assed distractions at us and covering up shit that even any well-mannered cat would know stinks to high heaven. Why not, in the online version of the mag, don’t you talk about things like people dying of being tasered more than half a dozen times, tasered cause some cop was pissed off, not because you were any danger to anyone? (google Baron Pikes, anyone?) Can’t Newsweek find any stories with real MEAT? If you want corruption, Mr. Starr, why not find some that is fucking up the lives of REAL people, not the sports elite. Or is the betting pool in the financial stratosphere all you really care about?

*WHY IS RYAN CROCKER A COMPLETE IMBECILE, YET HE IS EMPLOYED AND I AM NOT? Ryan is a “veteran diplomat” touring Iraq just now. And guess what, he has GOOD news for me. The Iraqis, having endured “years of sectarian violence” and now tired and won’t go back to slaughtering each other when America declares victory and leaves. Years, Ryan? Did you take even a minor course in Middle Eastern History, Ryan? Try the word “centuries” in that sentence. You are an idiot with a whitewash brush trying to paint away the cock-up job the current Administration has done. Go home, crawl under your bed and pray to your dear and fluffy Lord that nobody remembers your name. Veteran dipstick is more like it!

*IF I AM AWAKE, WHY DO I FEEL STUCK IN AN OLD STAR TREK MOMENT? Well, because Raytheon has developed what looks and plays like a video game–except the joystick is controlling a drone that REALLY kills REAL people. The guys sit in “virtual cockpits” in Nevada and kill people in Iraq! I know, I am old, but reruns are forever—doesn’t anyone else recall that episode with the warring planets that did it by computer, printing names of the dead so they could walk into incinerators or something like? (Yeah, now Trekkies are gonna bang me up for not putting that well…tough shit!) And imagine, the next phase won’t need a joystick…they are working to make it so the THOUGHT alone kills. Wow. Next time you go to a protest over, oh, I don’t know…not being able to feed kids or afford gas to get to work, keep in mind, Raytheon only sells these things to governments like yours. Crowd control is going to be way different if mere tasers, tear gas, and fire hoses don’t suffice. Whoops, I slipped out of Star Trek right into a set from “Running Man”. Be afraid, be VERY afraid. You won’t even see a helicopter over head….just a harmless looking little drone. Gee, maybe this is a fighter plane that even George the Chimperator could really fly. Yeah, really, BE AFRAID!

*WE DON’T NEED NO STINKIN’ INFRASTRUCTURE—DO WE? Cause man, Dolly was only a category one storm, and yet the headlines, they are shocking. Texas may wash completely away the way some of them sound. Not to be insensitive to Texans, really, but holy shit folks….if your government can’t dike you up against the Rio Grand flooding you out with a Cat One storm, what the fuck is going to happen if another Katrina comes up the Gulf? But how much, how many billions a day are being spent in Iraq to make sure those oil companies get nifty contracts so they don’t have to bother drilling on the acres of leases they already own here stateside? None of that money going to shoring up dikes, or fixing bad bridges, or making health care a reality. Never mind that a PITTANCE of the war budget would insure every man, woman, and child in the nation, let alone Texas. If I were a Texan, I’d be asking my Congress Critters when we will stop “rebuilding Iraq” and when we start rebuilding America.

AM I THIRSTY? Because, if I am, I can go draw a glass of clean water that is piped from a well less than 200 yards from that kitchen tap. How about you? If you live in America, your water bills may rise and rise and rise….but it still runs, right? Do you know why the cost goes up? Because, get this, water is no longer a human “right”…it is a mere “need” now. Being downgraded, it is now, even as we speak, being “privatized” away from being public utility—water companies sell shares now and some have the stated goal of owning ALL the fresh water and water rights in the world. Do you know, only 3% of the water on our blue marble of a planet is fresh, not salt? And of that, much is polluted and disease bearing. Buying up all the good stuff left is a big deal with “unlimited profit potential” right now. And desalinization? Costs LOTS…not only in energy costs, but it puts truly horrifically toxic pollution back into the ocean it works from. If enough plants keep doing that, we will KILL the oceans. Forget thirst…do you like BREATHING? Because, you see, the oceans MAKE the oxygen you breath….so if you kill enough of the biosphere in the ocean, you kill the PLANET. But perhaps the folks making the money don’t care, I get more movie flashbacks here: this time of Bladerunner. Maybe the ones with the cash will just go somewhere else and leave us in a sink of pollution and death? Oh, and did I mention that these private water companies sell water from America not just to Americans?  Did I mention that they fill the greedy guts of empty oil tankers with AMERICAN WATER and send it back to the Mideast for big bucks in their pockets?  More on this when I finish research….I just threw this one in because I wonder why Newsweek doesn’t care about something like this that shapes planetary existence as much as they care about some track star’s prison time.

And that’s it. I need my weekend early because I am feeling so pissed off and snarky over the bullshit that passes for news…..under most of the radar. And this little bitch-fest is not even the tip of the iceberg. GET INFORMED and GET PISSED OFF. Sheeple, like sheep, end up as fluffy slippers and barbequed dinner.

Forget Calgon. I think I need something higher powered to take me away.  When I feel like sitting down to a breakfast of strong red wine on Thursday, it is not (in spite of movie flashbacks) a sign that I have been watching Sophia Loren films.  But I wish it were.