It's Time to Break Silence

"When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, 

are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, 

extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered."

-- Dr. Martin King Jr., Speech at Riverside Church, April 4, 1967

"It is my firm belief that Europe of today represents not the spirit of God or Christianity but the spirit of Satan.  
And Satan's successes are the greatest when he appears with the name of God on his lips.  
Europe today is only nominally Christian.  
In reality, it is worshiping Mammon."

-- Mahatma Gandhi, Young India, August 9, 1920.

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With the Tyrannotrumposaurus Wrecks in the White House continuing to hold 800,000 government workers, countless contract workers, and those whose lives rely on government programs hostage, the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. seem even more relevant this year.  

The Gangster in Chief's obsession, that of constructing a huge wall crafted of xenophobia and billions our tax dollars stands in stark contrast to the Dr. King's Dream.

Dr. King's vision was that of taking down walls not building them. 
   
Yet, the walls that Dr. King dreamed of removing didn't merely consist of white supremacist segregation.  Like his Master Jesus, King had his eyes set on the poverty of spirit rampant among the rich, the moneylenders, and hypocrites who claimed righteousness while making, money hand over fist, serving Mammon.  He was intent on turning the tables on those who thrived on a system built on exploitation. 

The Truth, The Whole Truth, and....

For decades now, the corporate media has celebrated Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech -- and assiduously whitewashed Dr. King's views on economic justice, materialism, and militarism.  

Like Mahatma Gandhi, King's message was essentially Spiritual.  They each saw clearly that Mammon worship, the soul-sucking evil of materialism/consumerism, was alive and unwell, lurking in the belly of capitalism.

Throughout history, racism and economic exploitation have always walked hand in hand.  The prosperity of the capitalist English Empire and it's rebellious offspring, the USA, were built squarely on the horrors of genocide and slavery.  Sadly, although its current forms (cultural genocide, systemic poverty, and jailhouse slavery) are widely ignored or explained away, this continues today.

Like my identical twin brother, Lance, I usually tend to be more Buddhist in my lingo.  Yet, I just gotta say it out loud: I agree with Mahatma Gandhi. This is the work of the freakin' DEVIL!

Dr. King, like Gandhi, was a Holy Man.  He sought to alleviate the suffering created by a political and economic system that feeds on greed, hatred, and delusion.  Like many other Prophets throughout history, both King and Gandhi threatened the ruling order of bankers and preachers -- and were martyred. 

Although Dr. King focused on the evil of racism in his "I Have a Dream" speech that late summer day in Washington DC, his words were delivered to the throng that had assembled for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.  This effort, which he had helped organize, challenged economic exploitation and suggested bold governmental action to alleviate poverty. The FBI claimed the event was inspired by Communists and lobbied to prevent it from happening.

King then continued to march.  He continued to preach love and championed a non-violent response to a system that has always used violence.  Like Jesus of Nazareth, and a myriad other martyrs, Dr. King knew full well that he may be killed for challenging the ruling order -- and he chose Love instead.

Dr. King's assassination five years later occurred when he traveled to Memphis to support striking Afro-American municipal sanitation workers as the leader of the National Poor People's campaign.  That campaign demanded an Economic Bill of Rights which included five planks:

1. "A meaningful job at a living wage"
2. "A secure and adequate income" for all those unable to find or do a job
3. "Access to land" for economic uses
4. "Access to capital" for poor people and minorities to promote their own businesses
5. The ability for ordinary people to "play a truly significant role" in the government

When's the last time you saw the Economic Bill of Rights highlighted in the corporate media coverage of Dr.  King's life? 

A Time to Break Silence

As Trump's legion of misanthropes, materialists, and military men continue to loot and scuttle our beleaguered ship of state, it's a time to break silence.  Dr. King's did so dramatically on April 4, 1967 at the Riverside Church in New York City.   

On that day, Dr. King proclaimed, "these too are our brothers," and came out against the US involvement in the Vietnam War with a passion and an eloquence that many believe caused his assassination exactly one year later.

The corporate media today ignores this speech and remains silent.  I hope you don't.  Please listen and pass this along.  Then join some folks and speak out -- with love in your heart!

It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it!

Beyond Vietnam: A Time To Break Silence

Thanks -- but No Thanks
Some Personal Reflections on Thanksgiving Day 2018

"Oh, Great Spirit whose voice I hear in the winds, 
and whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me, I am small and weak,  
I need your strength and wisdom." 
 -- from a prayer

by Lakota Chief Yellow Lark, 1887
(Entire Prayer)

"Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, 
it was loaned to you by your children. 
We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, 
we borrow it from our Children." 

-- Ancient Native American Proverb

The three day feast that brought together 90 Wampanoags and the 50 surviving Pilgrims at Plymouth Plantation in 1621 has become part of our nation's mythology.

Unfortunately, this idyllic tale doesn't portray the stark reality of the holocaust that ensued as European colonists descended on this continent bringing with them white supremacy,  a harshly judgmental Christianity, the European notion of private property, and an emergent capitalism.  (The pilgrims received a land patent from the London Virginia Company and financing from Company of Merchant Adventurers who sought to profit by colonizing lands overseas)

Although the set of Democratic Ideals set forth in the Preamble to the US Constitution reflect humanity's universal quest for a just society, "our forefathers" also brought forth on this continent disease, death, domination, and the destruction of a Way of Life that seemed to better understand and honor humanity's relationship to Mother Earth, to the Great Spirit, and to the Circle of All Life.

The worldview of the Indigenous People embraced Connection and Reverence.  Our forefathers brought with them, instead, the Unbridled Greed buried in the belly of Capitalism, and the myopic worldview of a Christianity that produces a separation from one another, from the natural world, and from our spiritual connection to all that is.  

Through force of arms, including germ warfare and the power of "law," the bad guys won.  Unfortunately for Mother Earth and her myriad beings, they still hold tremendous power today.

In fact, lest we forget, Thanksgiving this year falls on the anniversary of the assassination of JFK . (I blogged about the chilling reality of the political assassinations in the 1960's in Lest We Forget.)  And this year we are also faced with the stark reality that a virulent stream of white supremacist capitalist insanity is being fostered by Trumposaurus Wrecks and his crew in the White House.

Yet, it doesn't have to be that way forever.

It is true that history shows us that those with more guns and less morals have often taken power.  Yet, the opposite is also true.  In my own lifetime, Mahatma Gandhi, armed with nothing but a spinning wheel, the force of Great Loving Soul, and the Power of the People, sent the mighty British Empire packing.   Martin Luther King and legions of non-violent activists toppled the framework of legal racial segregation that existed here in the "land of the free."

So....? 
(READ MORE)

It's Crunch Time!

The Count Down Continues...





There is no doubt about it.  

We need Regime Change here at home.

If we don't prevail and take back at least the House of Representatives, these Repugnant Retrograde Republicans will continue to support the Bully in the Presidential Pulpit.  He, in turn, will continue to support them as they turn their back on minorities, women, the elderly, most the middle class, and the working poor.

We need to turn out in massive numbers and turn the table on these crooks and misanthropes. If we do, we can at least put the brakes on their hell in a handbasket trajectory toward even greater Crony Capitalism, Xenophobia, Militarism, Racism, and Environmental Devastation.

The only thing standing in their way is us.

There are a number of ways you can jump in to dump these chumps.  You can put your feet on the ground, your mouth or fingers to the phone to call or text, or pitch in a few dollars to those specific candidates who reflect progressive values or to organizations like MoveOn.org, Indivisible, and the ACLU who are mounting widespread sophisticated Get Out The Vote (GOTV) campaigns.  The big conservative donors are spending a gazillion dollars on this.  All we have is a gazillion of US willing to devote some time and energy and/or a few bucks.  It matters.  Every $3 adds up.

If you are reading this and happen to be in a solidly Blue district like I am in here Western MA, you have a computer and/or a smart phone, right!?  Make it count!

Although we all need to roll up our sleeves for a few days and help out locally (here in MA there are important ballot initiates,) you can also have a personal impact on important races throughout the country, sitting there at home!  

Here's a few options:  
Indivisible Phone and Text Bank

•You can assist in important races like those of Beto O'Rourke in TX, Stacey Abrams in GA, and Andrew Gillum in FL.   

               
MoveOn.org Text Bank (beginning Nov. 4)

Vote with Me Phone App   

•  For a personal touch, this app uses your own contact list and identifies friends that are in districts with tight races! I love this one. It's been great to text my old friends in Woodstock, NY and encourage them to vote in the NY-19 congressional election.

                                    

• • Happy Lucky 7th Birthday #Occupy Wall Street! • •

IT'S SO NOT OVER!

September 17th marked the 7th anniversary of the day that protesters descended on 
Zuccotti Park in New York City, re-naming it Liberty Park and launching 
#Occupy Wall Street! 
On November 6th, 2018
we will see whether the Spirit that inspired the nationwide uprising seven years ago
will prevail in the midterm elections. 
 We the People,
 those of us who believe that we are truly created equal 
with an unalienable right to freely pursue our happiness,
must wrest back at least a semblance of political power on November 6th.
I'm hoping that 7 is our lucky number on the 6th!

(Click for lyrics)

As I Sit Here Today

As I sit here today with only 49 days until the midterm elections, I'm admittedly a bit scared at times.

Yet, I remain hopeful.  

At old coot now, at age 72, I still believe that there is an essential Goodness and Decency that resides in the heart of We the People.  I'm praying that our collective aspiration to create a land where all human beings are deemed of equal worth will propel us to wrest back at least a modicum of governmental power from the current Retrograd Republicans.   

It's crucial that we do so.

Without a victory that returns the House and/or the Senate to the Democrats, Trumposaurus Rex and his Wrecking Crew will continue their unfettered campaign to destroy enlightened public policy.  Without a victory, The New Deal and Social Security, the Great Society, the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, and the Affordable Care Act, and the regulations that put them into action, will continue to be in the crosshairs  of these Kleptocrats, Privateers, Banksters and Gangsters.

Although I've got a bone to pick with the Democratic Party, and will continue to rant and rave about the Corporate takeover during the Clinton era, this is a no-brainer.  The reality isn't a choice between two evils.  It's the choice about whether we put the brakes on, or race off the cliff full speed ahead.  

Each of us must roll up our sleeves and do everything we can in the next few weeks.  

It's SO not over!

(READ MORE on the background of the song, first written in the wee hours of the morning that Mayor Bloomberg backed off on his first plan to clear the park "for maintenance." I was glued to a LiveStream as the victory was announced.  A roar surged through the crowd. I broke into tears.  The song wrote itself.)