“We will stand down, when they stand up.”

President Bush’s new media barrage to help sagging poll numbers is based on the same old same old philosophy, a failed policy that he wants to continue to push no matter how many Americans and Iraqis have to die. When is this administration going to stop blaming other people for their failures and stand up and take the leadership roles that were thrust upon them? Yes, thrust upon them. This administration was content to just sit back and help their wealthy corporate friends and donors that got them into the oval office until 9/11. Then this administration not only was expected to lead America but to show the world what America was all about. Instead of using the goodwill the world was offering and using the attacks on 9/11 to unify the world against Al Qaeda, this administration decided to wage war on a country that would never be able to attack us and also go for the money grab. Our leaders in Washington only know how to continue to monopolize the power and continue to attack anyone and everyone who speaks out against them.

If Bush actually spoke to a group of real Americans, instead of his handpicked crowds, what would the questions look like?

My questions would be:

We all know that you think you made no mistakes up to the point of the town hall debate with John Kerry, but do you still believe that your administration has its perfect record intact?

How many of your Republican brethren will be burned by Jack Abramoff?

Did Scooter Libby act alone in outing a covert CIA operative during a time of war or was he taking orders from the Vice President?

How do you defeat an insurgency that may actually be acting in America’s best interest?

If Iran had gone into Iraq to rid the world of Saddam Hussein like we did, would they have been treated as liberators?

Is a puppet government in Iraq going to be enough of a victory for us to pull out troops?

What if Iraqis do not stand up?

And finally

Mr. President as you have so eloquently put it in the past, “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, well, ummm, you just can’t get fooled again.” How do we know that you are not just pulling the wool over America’s eyes again to continue the rape of real American’s jobs and pensions for the benefit of your corporate allies?



Please add your own question.

Is it all about me?

I have been away for a while because this week I went home. I got to see my family and friends and watch my children enjoy playing with their cousins and grandparents. It has been a very enjoyable week so far. As many people around me know, one of the things I miss most about my home town is my church. I miss my minister and spiritual leader and the love that the congregation shows for one another and the world around. The thing I miss most is hearing Randy dissect the Bible, myths, gospels, poetry, history, Old Testament or New Testament. It does not matter which section he is breaking down. He has a way of making it not only come to life but of making me see it in a way I would not have without him. One of the things I found most interesting about this weeks sermon was the use of the word “churchianity”.
I, for a long time, have been trying to somehow distance myself from the Christians that claim to have a stranglehold on Jesus and the Bible and what it all means and what God requires. I don’t claim to have all the answers, or any for that matter, and truly think that anyone who does is full of shit. If you think that our “Bible” has all the answers spelled out in black and white then you just do not want to actually think.
Could it be as simple as stop being selfish and think about someone else? Could it be that heaven is not actually about us?

This week I saw a cartoon in the local paper that had Milosevic on the end of the devil’s pitchfork in an elevator with the caption “going down.”
Just because it is human nature to want to judge each other constantly, do we really believe that any of us could stand up to God’s judgment. Do we really need to believe that God is sitting there on his throne, hand extended, either giving us the thumbs up or down? Does She take the time to explain Her verdict? Do we get to say anything in our defense? (Have you ever seen the movie Defending Your Life?)
What if heaven is that feeling you get when you go out of your way to help someone, to sacrifice your time and needs, for the good of someone else? I think if we did this everyday, we could actually experience heaven on earth. We as Americans could actually fall asleep without the aid of the pharmaceutical companies. We would not need the approval of a Priest, Father, Rabbi, Cleric, or Minister. All we need to know is that I did not live my life for me.

As for “churchianity”, all religions tend to get bogged down with details. We get mired down in the minutia and the definitions and miss the big picture. It doesn’t matter if you are Christian or Muslim, Jew or Gentile, black or white, homosexual or heterosexual, Democrat or Republican, the bottom line is that we all think that we deserve more than someone else or that we are better than someone because of what we think or how we act, but in the eyes of God none of us measure up. So what do we do?

The only thing we can do, as Randy taught these past two weeks, is start our day with Help, Help, Help and end our day with Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.

Help me to be a better person.
Help me to find a way to help someone else.
Help me get over my insecurities and see what You want me to see.
Help me to preserve this planet for my children.
Help me find Your voice in the crowd.
Help me help You. (a line from Jerry Maguire)

Live, live, live, then

Thank You for helping me see.
Thank You for helping me hear.
Thank You for opening my heart.
Thank You for opening my mind.
Thank You for walking with me.

Here is the link to last weeks sermon if you are interested. If you want to read more just go to the link on the side All About Love.

Cooperative Democracy????

Is there a chance that this nation and the world for that matter can return to a form of democracy where people working and living in the neighborhoods get to make decisions for their neighborhoods? Can we get away from a profit motivated Corporate Democracy back to a people motivated Cooperative Democracy?

I recently read some articles in a local publication that were very thought provoking and could have been combined for effect.

One I have a link to here:

http://www.worldproutassembly.org/archives/2005/11/the_renaissance.html

The other talked about the effect of industrial dairy farms on our health and the environment. It was titled What Price New Mexico Milk? By Mark Winne

Both articles were in the 3/06 version of the Sun Monthly.

The milk article stated:

- In 1992 Curry and Roosevelt counties had 21,000 dairy cows and by 2002 they had 115,000 and that number will double in 5 years.
- Every cow produces 4 tons of manure X 115,000 cows = amount of excrement as the city of Los Angeles produces.
- Many of these farms have moved here from Southern California. They were essentially forced from there due to pollution.
- Little research has been conducted on the environmental and health impact on New Mexico. One study by New Mexico State University’s Health Science Dept., Dr Stephen Arnold, gathered air and water data from dairies in the southern part of the state. He found an association between increase rates of asthma and diarrhea in children and proximity to the dairies.
- When his findings were published the dairy industry deluged New Mexico State University with letters, phone calls and emails berating them for supporting this kind of research.
- The economic impact of the dairy industry in New Mexico is over $2 billion dollars
- Dr. Arnold’s work involving the dairy industry was curtailed.
- The asthma rate in Curry County is 28. This is 3 times higher than the state average.
- Both Roosevelt and Curry County draw most of their water from the Ogalla aquifer. The biggest water user is the dairy industry. When the aquifer will become unfit for human consumption is not know. It is not an if but a when. Most estimates put the time frame between 5 and 30 years.
- The Clovis school districts water bill has climbed over 3 years from $50,000 to $250,000 due to lower water tables and higher extraction cost.
- Faith in the government to find a solution is faltering, a study showed that 93% of residents think nothing can be done to improve air and water quality.
- A quote from a resident, “Government is in the pocket of the dairy industry.”

Factory Farm

vs



Organic Farm



The question remains what is the cost of milk?
Who is going to pay the real cost for a $2.69/gallon of milk?

The answer is the same as who pays the cost for the low prices at Wal-Mart?
The tax payers
The tax payers pick up the cost of Wal-Mart’s health care for their low payed workers and also are going to pick up the tab when clean up is required for these dairy farms. The tax payers are going to get the bill for all these environmentally induced asthmatics health care. The tax payers are already getting the bill for the increased cost of water.

My question is if we actually had a cooperative democracy instead of a corporate democracy would the citizens of Roosevelt and Curry County allows these factory farms to pollute their neighborhoods and exploit them for a profit or would there be a balance reached between profits and environmental safety?


A fact for those of you who like me buy the organic milk at around $5.50 a gallon

Horizon was bought out by Dean Foods, the number 1 milk producer in America, and they are not actually meeting the standards set for organic farming. They are now saying that they are producing organic milk but with factory farming. For the full story go to http://www.cornucopia.org/

This looks to be nothing more than corporate America trying to again to cash in some extra profits by deceiving the consumer. Will the government do anything about it?

Poor little Rich men!

The NFL labor discussion is hilarious. The owners speaking about revenue sharing calling them selves the “haves and have-nots” strikes (no pun intended) me as funny. Let’s just call them what they are. They are really the “haves and have mores”. I mean come on we are not talking about American society here. We are talking about a group of old men who have so much money that they have nothing better to do with it than own an NFL franchise. Fortunately the NFL players union is now bargaining from a position of strength unlike most unions in today’s economy. Most unions in today’s world have been marginalized by the continued protection corporate America gets from the Republican Party. The owners can not outsource these jobs and must deal with the union’s proposal.

The tax-payers and fans have already been fleeced enough by this greedy group of owners. Every time any owner wants a new stadium he threatens to take his team to a city that will pay for a new stadium so he can reap the rewards. Do the tax payers get anything back for this investment? Yes a team they are renting and a long term bill, but not any real loyalty because you can bet the next time the stadium needs upgraded so they can put in even more corporate luxury boxes so the owner can reap higher profits he will not be investing his own money for this venture. He will again be investing tax payer dollars for private profits.

"Could you take notes for me, I'm going to take a nap"

So we find out that Bush was warned that some of the levees would be breeched. This of course after he stated after Katrina hit that no one predicted the levees being breeched. I am not going to talk about the fact that this administration has yet again lied to the American people and been caught, but the fact that a news organization a self proclaimed “fair and balanced” news organization has the gall to say that this is not news. Yes, my favorite news organization, Fox News had a caption “News or not?” when discussing this video footage of Bush being briefed before Katrina hit. Instead of discussing the fact that the administration flat out lied about not knowing that devastation that Katrina was going to cause, they were busy tearing down the AP for calling the footage “confidential footage.” They are also now trying to claim that Brownie was doing a good job and the Bush nomination of a crony was legit. If this isn’t the typical attack the messenger and change the subject I don’t know what is. If everyone in America only watched Fox News this country would be in deep trouble.

Today on Air America I heard them discussing the fact that maybe George just can not stay focused for long meetings and maybe he really did not hear the warnings. This I find a valid argument and a valid excuse if the President wanted to use it. Wouldn’t it be refreshing to hear him just come out and say, “I must have been daydreaming about the ranch.”?

My suggestions so we can get through the next 3 years. Anytime anyone has a meeting with the President it has to be scheduled for less than 7 minutes. I think that is about his attention span. After all it took him 7 minutes to react after hearing about the United States being under attack. We all know he wanted to hear what happened to the goat in the children’s story. We also must dispense with all the niceties and thank yous at the beginning of meetings. Just come in and say, “Mr. President, we have over 25,000 American casualties and the Iraqi troops are still unable to take the fight to the insurgents, and Iraq is about to erupt into a civil war. The insurgency is growing everyday and is being emboldened by American troop presence.” Wait a minute, wait a minute-- That is way to many facts. I can see his eyes glazing over now and the words freedoms on the march coming to his lips. Hmmmmm—We must keep the facts to a maximum of 2 and no 3 syllable words. “There have been 25,000 dead and wounded Americans since your war began, and the Iraqis hate us more now than ever.” (We will make an exception in the 3 syllable rule for the word Americans because he has been taught that word and gets excited every time he gets to say it.)

I think with implementation of these rules some facts could penetrate the Bush bubble. Oh, 1 more rule only one person gets to tell him the facts. It has to be a woman and she has to look like Barbara Bush. I think this is the only way that he will hear anything and the only way the America we all knew and loved can return to its former self.