Feature: CrossRoads

Read this and weep....no actually, be ENRAGED!!!!!!! This is being done in our names, with our tax dollars, and americans have their panties in a wad about Pro-choice.......I cant take it any more. Read the whole story here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080530/ap_on_re_eu/ireland_cluster_bombs

111 nations adopt cluster bomb treaty, but not USA

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 52 minutes ago

DUBLIN, Ireland - Diplomats from 111 nations formally adopted a landmark treaty banning cluster bombs on Friday after futile calls for participation by the weapons' biggest makers and users, particularly the United States.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged every nation in the world to sign the painstakingly negotiated pact "without delay."
Twelve days of negotiations ended after diplomats from scores of nations delivered speeches embracing the accord. It requires signatories not to use cluster bombs, to destroy existing stockpiles within eight years, and to fund programs that clear old battlefields of dud bombs.

However, the talks did not involve the biggest makers and users of cluster bombs: the United States, Russia, China, Israel, India and Pakistan. And the pact leaves the door open for new types that could pick targets more precisely and contain self-destruct technology.

Feature: Shifters

A message from the love of a mother....a mother who felt it all...who continues to feel it and who is acting to change it. Her critics say she needs to just "get over it" I say she is over it...done with the lying administration and the corrupt military complex...
I say she is all over it. Please read her entire message.
Cindy Sheehan
"A "Star Birthday" is the birthday where ones age matches ones birth date. My first-born son, Casey, was born on the 29th of May in 1979 and today, if he wasn't killed in BushCo's war for profit brought to you by the Military Industrial Congressional Complex, he would have turned 29.
This evening in Berkeley, Ca, I was supposed to have debated a military recruiter in front of an audience of students, parents and other community members as my way of honoring Casey's sacrifice. If Casey died for any "noble cause" it will be to prevent others of our young people from making the same tragic mistake that our family did when Casey was lied to and his goodness was exploited to help fulfill his recruiter's quota for that month. We found out after Casey died that a recruitment contract is only binding on the recruit and the government can break all of its promises. A unilateral contract used to be against the law before we entered the Bizarro-world of US Empire.
I have absolutely no respect for military recruiters that go after our young people and some as young as 5th grade have had AK-47's shoved in their little hands that have barely lost the dimples in their knuckles and some of the biggest selling video games are ones based on war and destruction.
Recruitment levels are thankfully down, http://www.nationalpriorities.org/militaryrecruiting2007 despite the greatly lowered standards and increased Pentagon recruitment budget. http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/85764/ To try to cure even a small part of the sickness that is causing our so-called Republic to slide into a military-fascism, we need to put ourselves in between the military services and our children.
A "volunteer" military that counts on poverty, ignorance, a tanking economy, and false patriotism is one of the tools that the Military Industrial Congressional Complex uses to keep our nation in constant war while using the deceptive phraseology of "Support the Troops;" the same troops that they are mis-using as bullet sponges and paid assassins. Some people, who like to complain, but not get out from behind their computers to protest, are comfortable with an all "volunteer" Army because it bestows on them a false sense of safety in their lack of shared sacrifice.
But I reluctantly say: Bring the dreaded-draft on.
A forced conscription would put a crimp in the Military Industrial Congressional Complex's wars of aggression, because the "not my kid" people would rise up and give the ant-war movement the numbers we have so desperately needed to put a swelling sea of bodies on the streets to demonstrate what 2/3rds of a nation really looks like.
I want to go on the record to say that I am not pro-draft, but pro-radicalism. If it takes a draft to radicalize apathetic Americans it is better than having to be radicalized the way I was: by three Army officers appearing one evening in my living-room regretting to inform me that my first born had been killed.
I said I was "supposed" to debate a military recruiter on Casey's Star Birthday, but that won't happen because no recruiter had the balls to debate me. Is it because they know they can't defend their immoral practices, or because they don't want to look into the sorrow filled eyes of the mother of a soldier who died for lies (on his birthday)---could I potentially be the mother of one of their recruits? Or both?
Today on Casey's Star Birthday, you can give him a posthumous birthday present. Donate to organizations that do counter-recruitment efforts, or that support soldiers who are resisters."

Feature: Doorways

The world desperately needs the Love of the Mother to lead the way....to be the force that assists us all in our transformation.

The Love of the Mother is so potent and powerful; the unleashing of which would definitely heal the planet....It is up to us...can you be the Love of the Mother...Do you know the Love of the Mother.....(i think you do) thanks Bronwen.......


The story below was heard from the voice of Bronwen Gates and then found from this link: http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-ppplayapr04n&msg=55066.1&ctx=0

"In Beichuan, rescue workers also found another dead mother protecting her child: she was kneeling down, bowing her back; both arms on the ground supporting her body – her posture was like someone kowtowing, however her body was crushed so badly that it was deformed, and she was dead.

Since it looked like she was protecting something underneath her, rescue workers carefully removed the rocks and stones around her. They found a baby who was around 3, 4 months old underneath her body. It was because the mother used her own body to block the falling wall, the baby was miraculously completely unharmed. When being taken out, the baby was even sleeping peacefully.

A nurse removed the blanket from the baby to examine her, and found a cell phone tucked inside the blanket. Doctor looked at the screen of the cell phone, and saw a text message left by the baby’s mother, “my dearest baby, if you can live through this, you have to remember that I love you.”

Feature: Shifters

Picture from the Jimmy Carter Center: http://www.cartercenter.org/peace/index.html

To read the entire letter..this is posted @ http://salsa.net/peace/conv/8weekconv7-5.html

Pray for Peace but Pay for War?
by Maurice F. McCrackinMaurice F. McCrackin, born in 1905, was a Presbyterian pastor in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1948 he stopped paying his federal income tax because a portion of the tax would be used far military affairs war preparations. He stopped filing his returns in 1957 because they aided the revenue department in collecting the taxes. When he was subpoenaed to appear in court with his financial records, he refused He was carried into the courtroom and sentenced to six months in jail. On his release, the Cincinnati Presbytery censured him and in 1960 suspended him from the ministry. This is his statement to the presbytery during his trial.

"This evil chain of violence and death must be broken and it will be broken when enough individuals say to the state, "You may order me to do something I believe wrong but I will not execute your command. You may order me to kill, but I will not kill nor will I give my money to buy weapons that others may do so." There are other voices that I must obey. I must obey the voice of humanity which cries for peace and relief from the intolerable burden of armaments and conscription. I must obey the voice of conscience, made sensitive by the inner light of truth. I must obey the voice heard across the centuries, "Love your enemies, pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you." In obedience to these voices lies the only path to brotherhood and peace. And these are the voices I must obey. "
From Instead of Violence, Beacon Press, Boston 1963

Feature: Crossroads

War is the Ego gone wild....War is the absolute sham(e) on humanity.....unless one can deeply understand the reality of war...one has no business declaring, supporting, or cheering it on. Humanity remains at an infantile state, when war is an answer, a method or an end game. It is delusional to believe otherwise.


On This Memorial Day /// Monday 26 May 2008

by: Camillo "Mac" Bica, t r u t h o u t | Perspective(cross posted from: http://www.truthout.org/article/on-this-memorial-day

For many of us who have known war, it has been years since we faced the insanity of man's inhumanity to man. Yet, it haunts us still. It is the nature of war, I think, that we can still recall with frightful realism, the rifle butt and bayonet that forced a weary body to continue the seemingly endless trek of the Bataan Death March, or appreciate the gentle beauty of a snowflake without recalling the blood stained snow banks of the frozen Chosin Reservoir. Not a day goes by, I think, that we do not recall the devastating screams of a comrade who died in our arms while taking and then giving back a useless and desolate hill top in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, or wake up screaming as we relive the horror of the bloodstained streets of Fallujah.

It is the nature of war, I think, that we shall never forget and need no holiday to remind us. As warriors, we may know little of the politics of diplomacy and international affairs. But no one knows war better than we who did the killing, and the dying, and the remembering, and the grieving. For we are neither war's initiators nor its beneficiaries, we are its victims.

In war, we are conditioned to put aside the lessons of our youth, of our parents, teachers, and clergymen who stressed the importance of compassion, understanding and loving our fellow man. We are transformed into warriors capable of unleashing untold horrors and devastation. The legacy of war, therefore, is not of honor or glory, for such virtues can never be derived from causing the death and suffering of so many of God's children. War is in fact hell as is living with the memories and nightmares.

On this Memorial Day, I do not celebrate the successes and victories of wars long gone or those currently being fought, as war is not a cause for celebration. Rather, it is a day like any other in which I remember and grieve the deaths of those who fought by my side and those against whom I fought. The warrior is conceived in the womb of battle, breathed life in the midst of suffering and death, and lived, loved and hated with such intensity that life ever after loses its meaning. I believe, sometimes, that death in war is benevolent, and those who died more fortunate than we who are condemned to live as penance for the sacrilege of war.

This bond or brotherhood of the warrior, or better, of victims, is sacred to us and it has become our purpose to ensure that those whose lives were sacrificed on the beaches of Normandy, at the Pusan Perimeter, at Khe Sahn, and in Haditha should never be forgotten. We certainly shall never forget them for they have touched our lives so deeply, and their young faces visit us so often in our dreams. And those of us who truly know war, will never allow others to forget them either, nor profane their memory by using their sacrifices to encourage other young men and women to march blindly off to battle for a cause that is misguided or nonexistent.

War has taught us that patriotism has its place as long as it is tempered with reason. And war has taught us that the suffering of children who inevitably do the fighting is so great that everything must be done to ensure that human life never again be wasted on the field of battle. For isn't that why we made our sacrifices and those that we allege to remember and honor gave their lives. And war has taught us that when the frenzy of death and destruction has subsided and the smoke of battle has cleared, amidst the death and suffering that remains there are no winners, only shattered lives and grieving families and loved ones. And war has taught us that if those of us who know the insanity of war find solace in embracing the fantasy of glory and heroism and allow those blinded by greed, hatred, misunderstanding, and misguided patriotism, to again place our children on the battlefield unnecessarily, the very survival of our nation, perhaps, even of our species, may well be placed in jeopardy. War has taught us this.

We must mark this Memorial Day, then, not with parades and air shows that celebrate the instruments of destruction. Nor with picnics or sales at the mall. Rather, we must use it to remind all Americans of the tragedy of war, of its futility and waste. We must make them understand, distasteful though it may be, the true nature and the lessons of war.

--------

Camillo "Mac" Bica, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. His focus is in Ethics, particularly as it applies to war and warriors. As a veteran recovering from his experiences as a United States Marine Corps Officer during the Vietnam War, he founded, and coordinated for five years, the Veterans Self-Help Initiative, a therapeutic community of veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He is a long-time activist for peace and justice, a member of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and a founding member of the Long Island Chapter of Veterans for Peace. Articles by Dr. Bica have appeared in Cyrano's Journal, The Humanist Magazine, Znet, Truthout.org, Common Dreams, AntiWar.com, Monthly Review Zine, Foreign Policy in Focus, OpEdNews.Com, and numerous philosophical

Feature: Shifters

“The first act of awe, when man was struck with the beauty or wonder of Nature, was the first spiritual experience.” Henryk Skolimowski

Happy Birthday to an enlightened philosopher....and most compassionate being...

Gratitude to you Henryk!!!!!!

Feature: Shifters

"He told people that their sins were forgiven,and never waited to consult all the other peoplewhom their sins had undoubtedly injured.” CS Lewis

"The failure of most Christians to embody these teachings, characteristics, and values in their daily lives is undeniable, but, the fact should be recognized for what it is: humans are imperfect, human reflections of a perfect God. If I didn’t know anything about Jesus and I only had the lives of Christians to go by as a testament to Christianity, I fear that I would also think of the Christian life as foolishness because of the gargantuan gap between the way that Christ lived on earth and the way that so many Christians, including myself much of the time, live now. Pompous piety will achieve nothing without the embodiment, through grace, of Christ’s character and teachings in our daily lives." (unfortunately unknown)

Feature: Shifters

The courage & truth of Larisa Alexandrovna::::amazing//notable//wild http://www.atlargely.com/2008/05/all-the-preside.html

I do not usually post an entire report.....but this one is so worth it...Forgive my lack of techno knowledge on how to do it more effectively...it takes time for old dogs.....
please read this in its entirety....it BLOWS the ROOF off the secret chest of what is and has been really going on at high levels of power in this country for the last 20 years or longer....Fellow countrybeings...let us stand in unity against these vile aliens.

All the President's Nazis (real and imagined): An Open Letter to Bush
(cross-posted at Huffington Post)
Dear Mr. Bush,
Your speech on the Knesset floor today was not only a disgrace; it was nothing short of treachery. Worse still, your exploitation of the Holocaust in a country carved out of the wounds of that very crime, in order to strike a low blow at American citizens whose politics differs from your own is unforgivable and unpardonable. Let me remind you, Mr. Bush, of your words today:
"Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," Bush said at Israel's 60th anniversary celebration in Jerusalem.
"We have heard this foolish delusion before," Bush said in remarks to Israel's parliament, the Knesset. "As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."
Well Mr. Bush, the only thing this comment lacked was a mirror and some historical facts. You want to discuss the crimes of Nazis against my family and millions of other families in Europe during World War II? Let me revive a favorite phrase of yours: Bring. It. On!The All-American Nazi
Your family's fortune is built on the bones of the very people butchered by the Nazis, my family and the families of those in the Knesset who applauded you today:
WASHINGTON -- President Bush's grandfather was a director of a bank seized by the federal government because of its ties to a German industrialist who helped bankroll Adolf Hitler's rise to power, government documents show.
Prescott Bush was one of seven directors of Union Banking Corp. (search), a New York investment bank owned by a bank controlled by the Thyssen family, according to recently declassified National Archives documents reviewed by The Associated Press.
Fritz Thyssen was an early financial supporter of Hitler, whose Nazi party Thyssen believed was preferable to communism.
--snip--
Both Harrimans and Bush were partners in the New York investment firm of Brown Brothers, Harriman and Co., which handled the financial transactions of the bank as well as other financial dealings with several other companies linked to Bank voor Handel that were confiscated by the U.S. government during World War II.
Union Banking was seized by the government in October 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act.
Oh, but there is much more too:
The two Holocaust survivors suing the US government and the Bush family for a total of $40bn in compensation claim both materially benefited from Auschwitz slave labour during the second world war, Kurt Julius Goldstein, 87, and Peter Gingold, 85, began a class action in America in 2001, but the case was thrown out by Judge Rosemary Collier on the grounds that the government cannot be held liable under the principle of "state sovereignty".
I cannot think of one Democrat who can boast this kind of lineage. Can you? No, I don't think so. But you can lie brazenly and attack a sitting US Senator on foreign soil by comparing him to Nazi sympathizers? Let us continue down memory lane to help those who applaud you understand just what it is they are celebrating.
The All American Traitor
You family did not stop with supporting fascists and Nazis abroad, did they Mr. Bush? Surely you must know of your grandfather's role in the treasonous plot of 1933 to overthrow democracy in America? Let me remind you.
Grandpa Bush - that is to say, your grandfather - wanted fascism imported into the United States, or as you now call this type of transformation, "exporting democracy." Prescott went so far as to subsidize a coup attempt in order to achieve his dream of a fascist America (see BBC report below):
Document uncovers details of a planned coup in the USA in 1933 by right-wing American businessmen. The coup was aimed at toppling President Franklin D Roosevelt with the help of half-a-million war veterans. The plotters, who were alleged to involve some of the most famous families in America, (owners of Heinz, Birds Eye, Goodtea, Maxwell Hse & George Bush's Grandfather, Prescott) believed that their country should adopt the policies of Hitler and Mussolini to beat the great depression. Mike Thomson investigates why so little is known about this biggest ever peacetime threat to American
In other words, not only was your grandfather a self-professed fascist, he was a Nazi sympathizer and a war profiteer who should have stood trial at the Hague instead of buying his way into the US Senate. He was also a traitor, twice over.
Now clearly the crimes of Prescott Bush are not your fault, Mr. George W. Bush. Let us therefore judge your actions and words on their own merit.
Iraq is your Poland
Your reminiscence today about the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany should have been seen as your own condemnation of your own abhorrent actions against Iraq. The morbid irony of what you said will likely never register with your or your speechwriter. To truly grasp the grotesqueness of what you said requires that you have both a conscience and some understanding of history. We know you possess neither.
I will therefore make your history lesson brief, but to the point. The unprovoked attack on Poland by Germany was a war crime just as your attack against Iraq - based on lies - is a war crime. This is not my opinion. This is not a political attack. This is a fact. Consider the words of the esteemed former chief prosecutor in the Nuremburg trials, Benjamin Ferencz, regarding your war of aggression against Iraq:
"...Prima facie case can be made that the United States is guilty of the supreme crime against humanity, that being an illegal war of aggression against a sovereign nation."
Moreover, your reckless verbiage and partisan pandering using something as tragic and criminal as Germany's war of aggression against Poland is an insult to all victims of those atrocities.
My grandfather's sister and parents were having supper in their Warsaw home when a German bomb erased them from this planet. Your evoking the German atrocities against Poland in order to play dirty politics against Democrats is as offensive to me as if you had pinned a swastika onto your lapel.
Even your own words appear to be penned by Hitler's ghost all the while you imply that Democrats are Nazis and/or terrorists - something you have done over and over. Your lies and Hitler's lies even have the same purpose.
When you, Mr. Bush, said "see in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda," were you aware of Adolph Hitler's eerily similar statement? Hitler said "If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed."
Yet if words alone were your only weapon and words strung together into lies your only crime, you might be seen as simply the loathsome, unethical dilettante and despot that you are. Unfortunately, your crimes are many and so similar to those of the Nazi regime that at times one wonders if you are not yourself reenacting that very history you used today as an insult against a political opponent.
Your very own concentration camps
You ordered the creation of secret camps all over the world and on US territory where you also authorized the torture of countless men, women and children is a violation of the Geneva Conventions, international law, and domestic law. In other words, you authorized war crimes.
We don't know the number of people you have had disappeared, tortured, and possibly murdered. Although we have some idea of what these numbers may be, I doubt the full truth of it all will ever be known.
In 2005, I had a CENTCOM document leaked to me illustrating that since the start of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, more than 70,000 men, women, and children have been detained at one of your various camps Mr. Bush. We don't know what happened to them, if they were tortured, raped, or murdered. What we do know is that less than 2% of those 70,000 had any sort of charge brought against them in a court of law. None of those alleged crimes, by the way, were acts of terrorism. We don't know if that 70,000 figure was the actual and full count of detainees in US custody around the world in 2005. But it is safe to say that in the last 3 years since this document was published, the number of detainees has likely grown.
What we also now know, in great horror, is that at least one of your camps had a crematorium in it, which some of the US soldiers stationed there suspected was used for burning bodies:
"We had some kind of incinerator at the end of our building," Specialist Megan Ambuhl said. "It was this huge circular thing. We just didn't know what was incinerated in there. It could have been people, for all we knew--bodies." Sergeant Davis was not in doubt. "It had bones in it," he said, and he called it the crematorium. "But hey, you're at war," he said. "Suck it up or drive on."
What we also now know is that Dick Cheney and senior members of your administration carried out a plan of torture and abuse that violated international and domestic law with regard to human rights, down to the type of torture tactics that would be used against prisoners in our custody. This plan, we now know, was approved by you.
Has the mirror cracked yet from this much fact or are you still peering into the political sphere hoping to ascribe your own crimes to others? It won't work. It never has and it certainly won't work now. We know far too much about you and yours.
I could continue listing the litany of your crimes, both against the United States and against foreign nations. I won't. We know what you are and what you have done. Having roughly 1,000,000 dead Iraqis under your belt should have shamed you into the parasitic hole you came out of, attaching yourself to the blood of this nation and sucking it dry. Instead, you parade around, the globe-trotting horror show and anti-Semite that you are. Yes, you are an anti-Semite Would you say no, you are not an anti-Semite? Consider your own words when you thought no one was keeping score:
"You know what I'm gonna tell those Jews when I get to Israel, don't you Herman?" a then Governor George W. Bush allegedly asked a reporter for the Austin American-Statesman.
When the journalist, Ken Herman, replied that he did not know, Bush reportedly delivered the punch line: "I'm telling 'em they're all going to hell."
Only an anti-Semite would think this type of humor is acceptable. Did you tell the Jews of Israel they were going to hell? No, instead, you told them that American Democrats are Nazi sympathizers and in an act of sheer indecency, the right wing Likud party orchestrated the greatest applause you ever got. For shame!
What this blind adoration finally proves to me is that the right-wing regime that has overtaken Israel cares nothing for its people, its heritage, and the tragic history that they now honor by applauding a man whose family-fortune was built on the bodies of their loved ones. Like their Republican (and Lieberman) counterparts in the United States, Likud does not represent its people, rather, it represents its owners. Likud has traded Israel, its Jews, their heritage and history for the same golden calf purchased and sold by the far-right wing in the United States.
I am ashamed of you Mr. Bush. I am ashamed of those who applauded your political porn played out against the hallowed backdrop of the Holocaust. I am ashamed of those reporters with you, who between them could not muster the moral courage to call you out on your ugly rhetoric and ask you about your own family Nazi ties. You are, sir, the most abhorrent human being of my lifetime. I dare say, in the lifetime of this nation.

Speaking before the Knesset, Bush said that “some people” believe the United States “should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along."
"We have heard this foolish delusion before," Bush said. "As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is—the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

And Senator Biden had his own comments:::: by Steven R Thu May 15, 2008 at 09:32:34 AM PDT/// http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/15/122620/929/436/516202

Biden sayes “This is bullshit, this is malarkey. This is outrageous, for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, to sit in the Knesset . . . and make this kind of ridiculous statement.” “He is the guy who has weakened us,” he said. “He has increased the number of terrorists in the world. It is his policies that have produced this vulnerability that the U.S. has. It’s his [own] intelligence community [that] has pointed this out, not me.”
Biden noted that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have both suggested that the United States ought to find a way to talk more with its enemies.
"If he thinks this is appeasement, is he going to come back and fire his own cabinet?” Biden asked. “Is he going to fire Condi Rice?”

And Keith Olbermann adds his Truthful comments...check this out....http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/24635229#24635229

have we finally started to speak....is the Shock finally wearing off:::

Feature: Shifters

Live from The Rolling Stone Magazine.......this is a duzy...a science fiction wet dream.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/20797485/chinas_allseeing_eye/2

China's All-Seeing Eye ;;;;; With the help of U.S. defense contractors, China is building the prototype for a high-tech police state. It is ready for export.

NAOMI KLEINPosted May 29, 2008 3:24 PM

American commentators like CNN's Jack Cafferty dismiss the Chinese as "the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for the last 50 years." But nobody told the people of Shenzhen, who are busily putting on a 24-hour-a-day show called "America" — a pirated version of the original, only with flashier design, higher profits and less complaining. This has not happened by accident. China today, epitomized by Shenzhen's transition from mud to megacity in 30 years, represents a new way to organize society. Sometimes called "market Stalinism," it is a potent hybrid of the most powerful political tools of authoritarian communism — central planning, merciless repression, constant surveillance — harnessed to advance the goals of global capitalism.
Remember how we've always been told that free markets and free people go hand in hand? That was a lie. It turns out that the most efficient delivery system for capitalism is actually a communist-style police state, fortressed with American "homeland security" technologies, pumped up with "war on terror" rhetoric. And the global corporations currently earning superprofits from this social experiment are unlikely to be content if the lucrative new market remains confined to cities such as Shenzhen. Like everything else assembled in China with American parts, Police State 2.0 is ready for export to a neighborhood near you.

Feature: Crossroads

Great interview with Naomi Klein directly out of "Rolling Stones Magazine"
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/17478636/shocking_truths

"What do 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and 2004's Southeast Asian tsunami — not to mention countless earthquakes, floods and pretty much any kind of havoc global warming might cause — have in common? If you are a normal person, you might say "untold human suffering." But that wouldn't make you a very good neocon. In her new book, The Shock Doctrine, Canadian journalist Naomi Klein rips apart the big lies and secret agendas of the Bush administration to show how the opportunists at the helm of American power have used misery and disaster as a cover for extending U.S. economic hegemony, abrogating human rights and shredding our own Constitution. It's a chilling, important book, and anyone who wants to understand how the world really works — not to mention how the war on terrorism has made the likes of Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney extremely wealthy men — should read it immediately.
What are the most profound changes the U.S. faces in the next twenty years?
If we just draw all these lines into the future, we can see more disasters, more inequality. We could have a fully privatized response to climate change, with a small group of people buying their way out for a couple of generations. Our world could look more like Baghdad — a green zone guarded by Blackwater and everything provided by Halliburton and then just a raging red zone outside.

How do you think this happened so quickly? Just a few years ago, Americans seemed to fundamentally believe that the government worked.

Well, part of it is the amazing success of the propaganda campaign around the idea that all progressive ideas have already been tried and failed. There's a level of shame about defending anything in the public domain. None of this could have happened without September 11th. This is the thesis of my book: that an atmosphere of crisis provides the cover not to have a debate.

In one eye-opening chapter of the book, you show how deeply Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney were invested in the companies that the administration was handing out contracts to. Why hasn't this been treated as a national scandal?

We talk about Bush and Cheney grabbing power and hoarding it in the executive branch. But they didn't just hold onto it, they gave it to their friends. This is who these people are — they are disaster capitalists. Look at Giuliani — he's another one. As soon as he could, he starts a company to profit off of 9/11.

What will be the lasting effect of the Bush administration?

People haven't fully grasped the revolutionary nature of the Bush years. They are leaving a hollow shell to their successors. It's like what happens in Third World governments, where the reformers take over the presidential palace, only to realize that the power lies elsewhere. That's what's going to happen to whoever comes in after the Bush administration. They will find out how much power resides in this parallel contractor economy.

The state won't have the ability to just cancel those contracts?

The state doesn't even have the ability to oversee those contracts. This is one of their clever tricks — they privatize the war on terror and then say everything about this war is classified, so we don't even know what we have contracted out. Maybe you catch glimpses of it — the Abu Ghraib scandal breaks, and we find that some of the key people are contractors. We caught another glimpse of it when it became clear that the State Department can't function without Blackwater.

What have been your impressions of the presidential race so far?

What's been amazing is the extent to which money is running. It's never been this overt: The media reports on campaigns as if they're a corporation with third-quarter profits and that is more important than anything else. This has been the subtext before, but it has never been the main story. People know it, and then they become even more cynical. They don't understand, and neither do I, how you translate really wanting something, and telling pollsters that you want it, into voting for politicians who actually get it. And yet that gets described as voter apathy."

Feature: Shifters

"There are no rules on how to grow or change;

All self imposed rules or judgements are limiting illusions.

The Great Mystery cannot be solved, so dont try.

Everything you seek can be found inside of you.

Laughter and irreverance dissolve the illusions and the fear.

Unseen worlds exist within the tangible and cannot be separated.

You ARE the moment you decide to BE."

---Jamie Sams

Features: Doorways

when you least expect it...when you need it most...when things are not as they would seem...be alert ...trickster energy may be near...
tearing down our false selves....to build our true selves.
Put it out there...and it will be so!!!




The Sacred Trickster
Tricksters cross boundaries.
Tricksters break taboos.
Tricksters play tricks,and are tricked.
Tricksters flip power, turning things upsidedown.
Tricksters use opposites to redefine reality.

Feature: shifters

A friend emailed this to me.....I thought, wow, this is poignant...you dont have to be the biggest, or the toughest, or even have the most guns...you just need to think things through...with purpose ...and shed fear.!!! You just need to be able to see the alternatives.
....thanks Richard......

OLD DOGS RULE
A wealthy old Gentleman decides to go on a hunting safari in Africa, taking his faithful, elderly Jack Russell terrier named Killer, along for the company. One day the old Jack Russell starts chasing rabbits and before long, discovers that he's lost. Wandering about, he notices a leopard heading rapidly in his direction with the intention of having lunch.
The old Jack Russell thinks, 'Oh, oh! I'm in deep doo-doo now!' Noticing some bones on the ground close by, he immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the leopard is about to leap, the old Jack Russell exclaims loudly, 'Boy, that was one delicious leopard! I wonder if there are any more around here?' Hearing this, the young leopard halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees. 'Whew!', says the leopard, 'that was close! That old Jack Russell nearly had me!'
Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the leopard. So off he goes, but the old Jack Russell sees him heading after the leopard with great speed, and figures that something must be up. The monkey soon catches up with the leopard, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the leopard. The young leopard is furious at being made a fool of and says, 'Here, monkey, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine!
Now, the old Jack Russell sees the leopard coming with the monkey on his back and thinks, 'What am I going to do now?', but instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn't seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the old Jack Russell says... 'Where's that damn monkey? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another leopard!'
Moral of this story: Don't mess with the old dogs -- age and skill will always overcome youth and treachery! Bullshit and brilliance only come with age and experience.

Feature: Doorways

You don't really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around - and why his parents will always wave back. ~William D. Tammeus

Happy Mothers Day.....

Feature: Doorways

TRUE MAJORITY GETS IT RIGHT AGAIN
"You may have heard about KBR - the former Halliburton subsidiary and largest contractor in Iraq. The same Halliburton that Dick Cheney ran until he decided to campaign for Vice President. They've been under a lot of scrutiny recently for no bid contracts, offshore tax havens, massive fraud, and even claims of rape.

Now, TrueMajority is launching a campaign demanding large shareholders including pension and retirement funds hold KBR accountable for their abuses."
Help them kick off their campaign by signing their petition today;
http://www.truemajority.org/StopKBR

Feature: Crossroads

The duty of a patriot is to protect
his country from its government
— Thomas Paine

Feature: Crossroads

Posted from Pax Americana....a brillant piece....see it whole @ http://www.paxamericana.net/

"You may have heard the phrase "Nuclear Giants and Ethical Infants" before.

It's attributed to Gen. Omar Bradley. Enjoy these quotes and reflect upon their message, if you will:"

The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience.

Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.

We know more about war that we know about peace, more about killing that we know about living.

The way to win an atomic war is to make certain it never starts.

Wars can be prevented just as surely as they can be provoked, and we who fail to prevent them, must share the guilt for the dead.

With the monstrous weapons man already has, humanity is in danger of being trapped in this world by its moral adolescents."

Feature: Shifters

Visit the website for US Campaign for Burma....

http://uscampaignforburma.org/index.php

"The news is staggering and in many ways unfathomable. Yesterday, Shari Villarosa, the leading US diplomat in Burma said that 100,000 may have died and 95% of the buildings in the affected areas could be wiped out. The death tolls could increase as water born diseases such as cholera are beginning to spread, and in these worst hit areas aid has not to arrive.

The Burmese regime's blocking of aid is beyond horrendous. Minimal aid is being allowed in. There are still many people and supplies waiting to go, but the Burmese regime continues to deny access. Yesterday, the French government launched a push in the UN to try and enforce aid delivery, but China blocked the effort. If you haven't already, email UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and urge him to step in. Yesterday, within hours after thousands of our members writing in, Ban Ki-moon did start speaking out about Burma. However, more must happen.

Feature: Shifters

Copyright David "Chim" Seymour/Magnum PhotosChildren Playing with a Broken Doll, Naples, Italy, 1948 Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Gift of Ben Shneiderman

"Honoring the simple reality of another person's experience is an instant link to the bigger world outside of one's self. It's the seed of empathy, and it's free."
---Seth Godin

Either-or....black-white..good-evil....as beings we have spent enormous energy separating ourselves from ourselves.... deeply wounding our psyches and our souls.....what happens when the dichotomy disappears....Feel the connection!!!!

the link below invites one into the center.

http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/C.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.ExhibitionDetail_VPage&pid=29YL530TBZ4N
"Magnum Print Room is proud to annouce the first commercial exhibition of Steve McCurry's work to be shown in the UK. McCurry, best known for his iconic image of the Afghan girl with the piercing green eyes, recently published the book 'In The Shadow Of The Mountains' (Phaidon, 2007) where a large majority of portrait and landscape images in the exhibition have been sourced.This exhibition features a large selection of images from Afghanistan, a country which has always held a fascination for McCurry and is where he first established his photographic career. He has since returned many times and always favours longer term projects where he can engage with his subject matter. McCurry has a distinctive visual language; his photographs are contemplative and his style is based on strong compositions, direct portraiture and jewel-like colours. He is able to find beauty within the rubble of a Kabul landscape and expresses a celebration of racial diversity through his acclaimed portraiture."

Different Standards for Black and White Preachers
Rudy Giuliani's priest has been accused in grand jury proceedings of molesting several children and covering up the molestation of others. Giuliani would not disavow him on the campaign trail and still works with him.
Mitt Romney was part of a church that did not view black Americans as equals and actively discriminated against them. He stayed with that church all the way into his early thirties, until they were finally forced to change their policies to come into compliance with civil rights legislation. Romney never disavowed his church back then or now. He said he was proud of the faith of his fathers.
Jerry Falwell said America had 9/11 coming because we tolerated gays, feminists and liberals. It was our fault Our chickens had come home to roost, if you will. John McCain proudly received his support and even spoke at his university's commencement
Reverend John Hagee has called the Catholic Church the 'Great Whore.' He has said that the Anti-Christ will rise out of the European Union (of course, the Anti-Christ will also be Jewish). He has said all Muslims are trained to kill and will be part of the devil's army when Armageddon comes (which he hopes is soon). John McCain continues to say he is proud of Reverend Hagee's endorsement.
Reverend Rod Parsley believes America was founded to destroy Islam. Since this is such an outlandish claim, I have to add for the record, that he is not kidding. Reverend Parsley says Islam is an 'anti-Christ religion' brought down from a 'demon spirit.' Of course, we are in a war against all Muslims, including presumably Muslim-Americans. Buts since Parsley believes this is a Christian nation and that it should be run as a theocracy, he is not very concerned what Muslim-Americans think.
John McCain says Reverend Rod Parsley is his 'spiritual guide.'
What separates all of these outrageous preachers from Barack Obama's?
You guessed it. They're white and Reverend Jeremiah Wright is not. If it's not racism that's causing the disparity in media treatment of these preachers, then what is it?
I'm willing to listen to other possible explanations. And I am inclined to believe that the people these preachers go after are more important than the race of the preacher. It's one thing to go after gays, liberals and Muslims - that seems to be perfectly acceptable in America - it's another to accuse white folks of not living up to their ideals.
I think there is another factor at play as well. The media is deathly afraid of calling out preachers of any stripe for insane propaganda from the pulpits for fear that they will be labeled as anti-Christian. But criticism of Rev. Wright falls into their comfort zone. It's easy to blame him for being anti-American because he criticizes American foreign and domestic policy.
If Rev. Wright had preached about discriminating against gay Americans or Muslims, there probably would not have been any outcry at all. That falls into the category of 'respect their hateful opinions because they cloak themselves in the church.'
But one thing is indisputable - the enormous disparity in how the media has covered these white preachers as opposed to Rev. Wright. Have you ever even heard of Rod Parsley? As you can see from what I listed above, all of these white preachers have said and done the most outlandish and offensive things you can imagine - and hardly a peep.
If the disparity in coverage isn't racist, then what is it?
© 2008 Huffington Post All rights reserved.

Feature: Crossroads

Listen to Show Segments
RF 050308 Hour 1 News of the Week Cindy Sheehan Pap Attack
RF 050308 Hour 2 Matt Filipowicz Alec Foege
RF 050308 Hour 3 Mark Crispin Miller Arianna Huffington

This is a great show....first hour they discuss the news not making headlines....how the pentagon hired media spokesmen to sell the war....and also how the EPA has been hyjacked by Bush Cronies and how they are selling out our country for corporate profit $$$$.

Can you spell GREED!!!!!

Feature: Shifters

The All-White Elephant in the Room
By FRANK RICH
Published: May 4, 2008

BORED by those endless replays of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright? If so, go directly to YouTube, search for “John Hagee Roman Church Hitler,” and be recharged by a fresh jolt of clerical jive.

What you’ll find is a white televangelist, the Rev. John Hagee, lecturing in front of an enormous diorama. Wielding a pointer, he pokes at the image of a woman with Pamela Anderson-sized breasts, her hand raising a golden chalice. The woman is “the Great Whore,” Mr. Hagee explains, and she is drinking “the blood of the Jewish people.” That’s because the Great Whore represents “the Roman Church,” which, in his view, has thirsted for Jewish blood throughout history, from the Crusades to the Holocaust.

Mr. Hagee is not a fringe kook but the pastor of a Texas megachurch. On Feb. 27, he stood with John McCain and endorsed him over the religious conservatives’ favorite, Mike Huckabee, who was then still in the race.

Are we really to believe that neither Mr. McCain nor his camp knew anything then about Mr. Hagee’s views? This particular YouTube video — far from the only one — was posted on Jan. 1, nearly two months before the Hagee-McCain press conference. Mr. Hagee appears on multiple religious networks, including twice daily on the largest, Trinity Broadcasting, which reaches 75 million homes. Any 12-year-old with a laptop could have vetted this preacher in 30 seconds, tops.

Since then, Mr. McCain has been shocked to learn that his clerical ally has made many other outrageous statements. Mr. Hagee, it’s true, did not blame the American government for concocting AIDS. But he did say that God created Hurricane Katrina to punish New Orleans for its sins, particularly a scheduled “homosexual parade there on the Monday that Katrina came.”

Mr. Hagee didn’t make that claim in obscure circumstances, either. He broadcast it on one of America’s most widely heard radio programs, “Fresh Air” on NPR, back in September 2006. He reaffirmed it in a radio interview less than two weeks ago. Only after a reporter asked Mr. McCain about this Katrina homily on April 24 did the candidate brand it as “nonsense” and the preacher retract it. "
For the rest of the story....link to : http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/opinion/04rich.html?hp

Feature: Crossroads

So White Elitist of Ms. Clinton......So damn elitist of the Democratic Traders...In the words of William Wallace, I only have one thing to say.........
FREEDOM !!!!!!

"Some leaders in the Democratic Party are playing with fire. They think that they can betray the will of millions of voters and choose Hillary Clinton as the nominee, regardless of whether or not she is the choice of the voters. We can't let this happen. It would be the largest disenfranchisement in modern history, and it would mean the Democratic Party giving their stamp of approval to a clear and consistent pattern of race-baiting by the Clinton campaign.

If we make our voices heard, we can stop it. Please join us in signing an open letter to leaders in the Democratic Party -- DNC Chair Howard Dean, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and all superdelegates -- demanding that they reject an outcome that involves trampling voting rights and legitimizing the politics of division and fear:

http://colorofchange.org/dems/?id=1737-143446

By the time the last vote is cast on June 3rd under the rules of the Democratic Party, it's unlikely Hillary Clinton will beat Barack Obama among voters.¹ But there's a chance that superdelegates will hand Clinton the nomination anyway.

This would be a shocking attack on democracy, and it would destroy the Democratic Party's credibility on protecting the right to vote. Black people have a long history of fighting against voter suppression, and now the Democratic Party will be the enemy in that fight. As bad as that would be, there's another reason that a coup by party insiders would threaten racial progress.

Senator Clinton's plan to have superdelegates hand her the nomination relies on a parallel strategy -- One of Clinton's key arguments to superdelegates is that America won't elect a Black man, and therefore she's the better choice for Democrats to beat John McCain."
GO TO THE LINK....SIGN YOUR NAME...FOR DEMOCRACY HERSELF..
INFORMATION OBTAINED @ http://colorofchange.org/

Feature: Doorways

For all of us.....who are undergoing the marvelous transformation .... out of a world of illusions into one of truth..... may we all shine brightly, find the truth we seek and become over and over.

Last night, as I was sleeping

Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt -- marvelous error!—
that a spring was breaking
out in my heart.
I said: Along which secret aqueduct,
Oh water, are you coming to me,
water of a new life
that I have never drunk?

Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt -- marvelous error!—
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures.

Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt -- marvelous error!—
that a fiery sun was giving
light inside my heart.
It was fiery because I felt
warmth as from a hearth,
and sun because it gave light
and brought tears to my eyes.

Last night, as I slept,
I dreamt -- marvelous error!—
that it was God (Goddess)I had
here inside my heart.

Antonio Machado

http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/M/MachadoAnton/LastnightasI.htm

Feature: Shifters

The Phantom Tollbooth

by Norton Juster, illustrated by Jules Feiffer

Copyright 1961.

---

It has been a long trip," said Milo, climbing onto the couch where the princesses sat; "but we would have been here much sooner if I hadn't made so many mistakes. I'm afraid it's all my fault."

"You must never feel badly about making mistakes," explained Reason quietly, "as long as you take the trouble to learn from them. For you often learn more by being wrong for the right reasons than you do by being right for the wrong reasons."

"But there's so much to learn," he said, with a thoughtful frown.

"That's just what I mean," explained Milo, as Tock and the exhausted bug drifted quietly off to sleep. "Many of the things I'm supposed to know seem so useless that I can't see the purpose in learning them at all."

"You may not see it now," said the Princess of Pure Reason, looking knowingly at Milo's puzzled face, "but whatever we learn has a purpose and whatever we do affects everything and everyone else, if even in the tiniest way. Why, when a housefly flaps his wings, a breeze goes round the world; when a speck of dust falls to the ground, the entire planet weighs a little more; and when you stamp your foot, the earth moves slightly off its course. Whenever you laugh, gladness spreads like the ripples in a pond; and whenever you're sad, no one anywhere can be really happy. And it's much the same thing with knowledge, for whenever you learn something new, the whole world becomes that much richer."

A ho Mitakuye Oyasin !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FEATURE:Crossroads

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i_LLY8gc6av_Whr8kdxbeuy5EFXwD90D3UA00
I AM SO GLAD WE LIVE IN A NATION GOVERNED BY LAWS....GEEZ, WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO ME IF I JUST REFUSED TO "SHOW UP"
CAN YOU SPELL---CRIMINAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

House Committee Threatens Rove With Subpoena By Ben Evans The Associated Press
Friday 02 May 2008
Washington - The House Judiciary Committee threatened Thursday to subpoena former White House adviser Karl Rove if he does not agree by May 12 to testify about former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman's corruption case.
In a letter to Rove's attorney, committee Democrats called it "completely unacceptable" that the Republican political strategist has rejected the panel's request for sworn testimony even as he discusses the matter publicly through the media.
"We can see no justification for his refusal to speak on the record to the committee," the letter states. "We urge you and your client to reconsider ... or we will have no choice but to consider the use of compulsory process."
Committee Democrats are investigating whether Rove and Republican appointees at the Justice Department influenced Siegelman's prosecution to kill his chances for re-election. It is part of a broader inquiry into whether U.S. attorneys were fired for not aggressively pursuing cases against Democrats.
Siegelman, a Democrat who served one term as governor after being elected in 1998, was convicted in 2006 on bribery and other charges and sentenced to more than seven years in prison. He was recently released on bond pending appeal.
Last year, Alabama attorney and one-time Republican campaign volunteer Jill Simpson, told the committee under oath that she heard conversations among GOP operatives in 2002 suggesting that Rove was pushing the Justice Department to pursue a conviction against Siegelman. She also has said Rove asked her in 2001 to find evidence that Siegelman was cheating on his wife.
go to Thom Hartman's interview with Don Sieglman here:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thom-hartmann/interview-with-former-ala_b_99338.html
Rove, who frequently worked in Alabama politics before orchestrating President Bush's White House campaigns, has denied having anything to do with the case. In a recent magazine article, he called Simpson a "complete lunatic" and said he had never heard of her.

Feature: Crossroads

Very interesting....go to Real News to catch this very surreal story.....americans are so screwed...we have been bent over...lied to .....fooled...our own apathy has created a monster.

http://therealnews.com/web/index.php?thisdataswitch=0&thisid=1415&thisview=item

Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline is on
Pepe Escobar: Asian countries create interdependent energy economy with Iran, despite US opposition
Tuesday April 29th, 2008
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has met with Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Reza Gillani to discuss the construction of a gas pipeline from Iran to India. The Real News Analyst Pepe Escobar calls this "one of the most important energy developments of 2008," because it shows that Asian countries that have good relations with the US, such as India and Pakistan, are willing to do business with Iran, despite Washington's attempts to isolate the country.

Feature: Shifters

Longshore Union Strikes Against War By Peter Cole The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Tuesday 29 April 2008
On Thursday, May Day, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union will declare an eight-hour strike to protest the war in Iraq. Since the ILWU controls every port along the U.S. Pacific Coast, including Seattle and Tacoma, this strike demonstrates the collective power of workers willing to use it.
The ILWU is demanding "an immediate end to the war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Middle East." Although the majority of Americans repeatedly have expressed their desire to end the war, President Bush has not obliged us, so it drags on. Because our leaders refuse to listen, ILWU members are taking the next logical step for workers: Strike.
For those unfamiliar, the ILWU is perhaps the most militant and politicized worker organization in the nation. It operates in one of the most important sectors of the world economy - marine transport - and, thus, is in a strategic location to put peace above profits.
Forged in the fires of 1930s worker struggles to gain basic rights, the ILWU was born in 1934 when longshoremen (there were no women in the industry then, though there are now) performed the incredibly hard, dangerous and important work of loading and unloading ships. To improve their wages and wrest some control over their lives, men all along the coast struck - and in a few instances died - to gain union recognition.

See the full article at ::: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050108B.shtml