by Don Hynes
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| Vantage Point | Culture and Politics by Don Hynes |
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"No man is prejudiced in favor of a thing, knowing it to be wrong.
He is attached to it on the belief of its being right; and when he sees it is not so,
the prejudice will be gone." - Tom Paine
December 18, 2006 A New Old Fashioned Christmas I’m a sucker for a classic Christmas film. The old stylists of Dickens’ Carol and other timeless masterpieces understand the essential themes: repentance, forgiveness, redemption, new life. They’re old chestnuts, but have held up under the scrutiny of time, far more than the insanity that passes for intelligence in our present day. The celebration of the coming of the Christ Spirit upon the Earth doesn’t belong to Jerry Falwell or the Pope in Rome. The re-birth of Life amidst the darkness of winter is not the intellectual or devotional property of christians to the exclusion of other religions or anti-religionists. The re-birth of Life is a function of the Eternal and this comes as surely today, perhaps more so, than at any time in history, because today this Coming is most needed and perhaps paradoxically given the daily “news,” is most welcome. The practice of Christmas is simple. It has to be, given the competition it receives at Buy More, Shop Now and War for Less. I believe a minority of the human race remains hypnotized by the twin evils of gross consumption and violent militarism. However, the larger majority accept the status quo passively because of the steady message of impotence the mass media blares out in the wake of governmental and social retardation. The antidote is contained in two pragmatic words, words which were the highlight of the life even the distorted Biblical history of Jesus emphasize repeatedly: NO! and YES! Yes to Life, to the stillness of the morning, the spreading light of dawn, to the sounds of awakening and the earnest work of good will, to the compassion of Humankind that labors then rests each evening under the beckoning brilliance of the stars. And NO, no to ignorance, to the blasphemy of God’s name in every mendacious and pernicious evil from war, to poverty, to the poisoning of the Earth and the sickening of our children; NO as an absolute and unending denial of all that is wrong and unjust. This is the time of unity, when these magical words YES and No, the open-says-ME of essential spiritual practice and the true meaning of Christmas, must be spoken loud and clear. We need to participate in the creation of a vision for today and tomorrow while we clearly condemn and deny all that ruins and destroys. We can embody the highest of our Vision and Truth while we address and remove the horrors of our deepest outrage. Old Scrooge would not have found the benefit of his first genuine Christmas morning without the unflinching witness to every mean and despicable act of his past. His repentance allowed for forgiveness, and his forgiveness received allowed for redemption and new Life, a life of blessing and kindness and CLEAR VISION; a whole-in-us that is worthy of the gift of Life we’ve been given. Merry Christmas! YES SEVA – A Vision of Service Mercy Corps – Be the Change Amnesty International – Working to Protect Human Rights Worldwide Sr. Joan Chittister on the Amish community Oregon Senator Gordon Smith on War in Iraq Sean Penn on Receiving the 2006 Christopher Reeve First Amendment Award Specter, Leahy Introduce Bill to "Restore" Habeas Corpus Urge Congress to Repair our Nation's Elections The End of the Bush Dynasty Elizabeth de la Vega, Indicting Bush Richard Dreyfuss' Civics Lesson Miguel's Film NO Former U.S. Detainee in Iraq Recalls Torment Bush's 'New Way Forward' Is into Quicksand The Urge to Surge, It has to be Resisted The War on the Middle Class Global systemic crisis - December 2006 - Dollar-Real Estate-Stock Markets *** November 26, 2006 All War is War against the Earth I’ve been brooding on a Vantage Point for Mother Earth, Her protection, care, Her return to health, an end to our human abuse of this beautiful planet. However, an article in this morning’s paper on returning Iraq War veterans touched me so deeply, calling me to speak out about the charnel house that was once the nation of Iraq. Recent studies have now shown that brain injuries are present in 23 to 40% of returning soldiers, this within Army medical circles notorious for obscuring the effects of Pentagon and White House policies (i.e. Agent Orange, Gulf War syndrome, depleted uranium, etc.). Yet in thinking about this grief filled issue, it seems obvious that beyond political theater, all war is ultimately war against the Earth. The tons of explosive that were launched in the bombardment of Afghanistan killed many humans, some supposedly our “enemies,” but all of the deadly poisonous material fell upon and punished the Earth. The shock and awe of which the American presidency once prided itself destroyed many of the Baathist regime’s buildings, yet also despoiled vast tracks of the Iraqi landscape while depleted uranium weaponry poisoned the very ground of Iraq, to wreak havoc in the human DNA life stream for an unknown time forward. The UN estimates that as many as a million unexploded cluster bomblets remain as land mines in Lebanon, turning that once fertile land into killing fields often for children and for farmers who must return to their land. The wars that rage in Africa are the most horrible and humiliating for women and children who are pawns in the struggle for mineral wealth and political power, victims in the corporate funded competition to determine who will be in "best" position to rape the Earth for profit. Outside of military war there is another great violence, the overwhelming human consumption which is poisoning the land, the seas and the very air we breathe. Consumerism has become a religion in the United States with celebrity status during the “holidays,” as people maul one another for a discount toy or trinket whose half life to the garbage dump can be overnight, whose manufacture depleted the earth and whose refuse is often poisonous. The Earth has vast regenerative power and She has born the burden of our ignorance until this present point when Her life systems are breaking down world wide. Members of our government, proud of their retrograde thinking, still debate the merits of global warming as valid science, that which (Vice) President Al Gore termed an inconvenient truth, and scientist James Lovelock, originator of the Gaia movement, now terms the end of Eden. This week I call your attention to these articles on what we euphemistically refer to as the “environment,” a.k.a. our Mother, the body and blood upon Whom we live and breathe and have our being. May She be healed as we are healed, and take our place as stewards of this precious Home. In the name of that healing and forgiveness, there are several following articles on those who suffer from the many wars now raging on Earth, wars which always have "two losers." Earth The End of Eden: James Lovelock Says This Time We've Pushed the Earth Too Far The Breathing Earth Climate costs: The global picture A disaster to take everyone's breath away Deep in the heart of the world's greatest rainforest, a nine-day journey by boat from the sea, Otavio Luz Castello is anxiously watching the soft waters of the Amazon drain away. Every day they recede further, like water running slowly out of an immense bathtub, threatening a worldwide catastrophe. Standing on an island in a quiet channel of the giant river, he points out what is happening. A month ago, the island was under water. Now, it juts 5m above it. It is a sign that severe drought is returning to the Amazon for a second successive year. And that would be ominous. New research suggests that one further dry year beyond that could tip the whole vast forest into a cycle of destruction. Africans are already facing climate change Voices from the Gas Fields Cracking Up: Ice Turning to Water, Glaciers on the Move and a Planet in Peril An Inconvenient Truth The Post Carbon Institute War Iraq war vets struggle with hidden wounds 57 unarmed Palestinian minors killed by IDF since June Lebanon mines continue to kill US rides wave of weapons sales According to the annual Conventional Arms Sales to the Developing World released by the Congressional Research Service in November, the US provided countries in the developing world with more than $11 billion in arms last year. Of these 25 countries, all had human-rights problems, according to the State Department's Human Rights Report, and 10 (including three of the top five) were "undemocratic" in the sense that citizens of those nations "did not have a meaningful right to change their government" in a peaceful manner. This is the eighth year in a row that the US has led in global arms deliveries. Behind the Numbers: Untold Suffering in the Congo War in the Congo is driven by the desire to extract raw materials, including diamonds, gold, columbium tantalite (coltan), niobium, cobalt, copper, uranium and petroleum. Mining in the Congo by western companies proceeds at an unprecedented rate, and it is reported that some $6 million in raw cobalt alone—an element of superalloys essential for nuclear, chemical, aerospace and defense industries—exits DRC daily. Any analysis of the geopolitics in the Congo requires an understanding of the organized crime perpetrated through multi-national businesses, in order to understand the reasons why the Congolese people have suffered a virtually unending war since 1996. In War-Riddled Congo, Militias Rape with Impunity Amnesty International USA uman Rights Pledge Save Darfur Every War Has Two Losers: William Stafford on Peace and War *** November 19, 2006 Weekly Articles of Note "Reality can no longer be avoided." - Lieutenant General William E. Odom, U.S. Army (Ret.) Richard Nixon was elected president in 1968 as the “peace candidate” of the Republican Party. That lie put most of America to sleep in regard to the war in Vietnam and six years later over a million more Cambodians and Vietnamese had been murdered by Nixon and Henry Kissinger in their illegal air war against south East Asia. The excuse then was “peace with honor.” The obscuring deception today is “exit strategy.” Congressman John Murtha was willing to counterpoint the absent balance of power in Washington DC by taking a strong position on an opposing pole to the sitting president and his rubber stamp Congress, as has Congressman Dennis Kucinich. Murtha gave his political future to do this, as evident in the recent Congressional vote which defeated Murtha’s bid to be the majority leader in the House. This defeat was augmented by a “swift boat” attack against Murtha by other Democrats, right wing rottweilers Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter, a smear largely unchallenged by the mainstream media. Despite the media’s ignoring the obvious fact, the 2006 election was a complete repudiation of President Bush's foreign (and lack of domestic) policy, in particular the invasion and occupation of Iraq. If the new Congress does not take up this mandate it is doomed. With the recent return of the United States voting populace to apparent consciousness, we need to keep the ongoing military occupation under the closest scrutiny. The following Articles of Note spotlight one vital issue, the ongoing and increasingly brutal war in Iraq. Murtha Swift Boated November 17/18/19, 2006 -- Questions remain about where the right-wing American Spectator obtained a copy of the John Murtha videotape made of the FBI's attempted ABSCAM sting of the congressman conducted some twenty-five years ago. Since Murtha was never indicted for any wrongdoing, such a videotape was at the very least secret grand jury evidence and should have been kept sealed or destroyed after the statute of limitations expired. Since Robert Gates is a good friend of the American Spectator's publisher, the Senate should ask Gates about the origins of the Murtha videotape during his confirmation hearings. The reappearance of the Murtha tape after the recent election campaign was used by Murtha's opposition to sink his election as House Majority Leader in a swiftboat-type attack campaign. The Mugging of Murtha Congressman Kucinich calls for cutoff of Iraq funds 'Cut and Run' Must be First Step in Iraq The United States upset the regional balance in the Mideast when it invaded Iraq. Restoring it requires bold initiatives, but "cutting and running" must precede them all. Only a withdrawal of all U.S. troops - within six months and with no preconditions - can break the paralysis that enfeebles our diplomacy. And the greatest obstacles to cutting and running are the psychological inhibitions of our leaders and the public. Our leaders do not act because their reputations are at stake. The public does not force them to act because it is blinded by the president's conjured set of illusions: that we are reducing terrorism by fighting in Iraq, creating democracy there, preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, making Israel more secure, not allowing our fallen soldiers to have died in vain, and others. But reality no longer can be avoided. *** |
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