Thursday, November 30, 2017

Organizing Notes: U.S. Threats & War Games are Illegal and Criminal

Organizing Notes: U.S. Threats & War Games are Illegal and Criminal

Bruce Gagnon of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, posted this legal list of how the U.S. is violating international law in its conduct towards North Korea, written by Francis A. Boyle, Professor of Law, University of Illinois College of Law.

I am deeply heartened to see someone spell out the misconduct of the U.S. in legal terms in this matter.

Monday, October 2, 2017

Peace Activist Examines Costs and Value of Aircraft Carriers

When I was living in Qingdao, back at the time of the Beijing Olympics, I went down to the beach to watch the sailing regatta, which was being held in the Yellow Sea at Qingdao (and that's a story in itself). So there I was, looking out at the harbor, and seeing a number of naval ships. Someone (I can't remember exactly who it was, but I think it was an Australian fellow teacher who I had struck up a friendship with at the time), told me that the aircraft carrier that I was looking at was China's only aircraft carrier, the Liaonang, and it was posted there to protect the harbor from attack from the U.S.
(Remember tensions were high; the U.S. was boycotting the Beijing Olympics and had been involving in stirring up a war in Georgia). This person was rather savvy, and also told me that aircraft carriers were considered obsolete today, which is why other countries were not building them: carriers were considered too expensive and too vulnerable; their military dollars were better spent in other ways.

WHAT ARE THE COSTS?

So I've been wondering ever since at how much money the U.S. spends to maintain our fleet of aircraft carriers, which I now consider in the class of white elephants. Personally, as a peace visionary and activist, I consider all military spending as a waste of precious resources, of both money and what people put their attention to, which endangers everyone by keeping the focus of the world engaged on military conflict, or the potential thereof, instead of our evolutionary capacity for caring better for each other and our planet.

So how much do we spend on our carriers? Either we have 11 or 19, based on how they are categorized, but the newest carrier, the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford, cost $12.8 billion. Once you add the costs of the air wing, the support of five surface-combat ships and one attack submarine, and 6,700 sailors, the bill for operating a carrier group: $2.5 million a day.

You can do the math yourself, but I'll take a stab at it. Operating costs of $2.5 million, multiplied by 365 for one year comes to $912,500,000, or nearly a billion dollars. That's just for one carrier, and we have either 11 or 19. Multiply that by 11, and you get nearly 11 billion dollars. Multiply that by 19, and you get nearly 19 billion dollars, give or take a few million. That's for one year alone, to operate carriers that may be obsolete in today's world.


In another related National Review article, "Is it Time for the Navy to Reassess the Importance of the Aircraft Carrier?" dated September 30, 2015, George Will makes a case for carriers being too expensive and vulnerable. "Henry J. Hendrix of the Center for a New American Security argues that, like the battleships which carriers were originally designed to support, carriers may now be too expensive and vulnerable. China has developed land-based anti-ship missiles to force carriers to operate so far from targets that manned aircraft might become less useful than unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) operating from smaller, less expensive carriers. Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/424870/it-time-navy-reassess-importance-aircraft-carrier-george-will

So, exactly how much is the U.S. spending on our military? Here is an overview of what our military spending costs this country, from the Federal Budget Tipsheet posted on the website of the National Priorities Project, whose stated mission is, "Fighting for a U.S. federal budget that prioritizes peace, economic security and shared prosperity." They state that from 2001 through the end of fiscal year 2015 on September 30, 2015, the U.S. government will have spent more than $1.64 trillion in war funds, including $715 billion in Afghanistan, $819 billion in Iraq, and $6 billion on the fight against ISIS." Their website is well worth exploring if you are at all interested in where our taxpayer money goes.

IS THE 7TH FLEET VULNERABLE?

I keep seeing news that reflects how vulnerable our extremely expensive naval craft really are, either because they are susceptible to collisions (possibly caused by hostile attacks or simply, gross negligence or incompetence.)  However, repairs for each incident will easily run into the millions of dollars, let alone the cost of legal settlements.

In 2017 so far, 1) on January 31, the USS Antietam, a Ticonderoga class guided missile cruiser, ran aground in Tokyo Bay. Captain Joseph Carrigan was ultimately held responsible and relieved of his post. https://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/navy-probe-blames-captain-s-judgment-in-uss-antietam-grounding-1.480879#.WdLE0WhSzIU

2) On May 2, the USS Champlain was rammed by a South Korean fishing boat. Was it just a mishap? There is speculation that North Koreans were responsible, and the Champlain was guarding the USS Carl Vinson from attack.

3) On June 17, the USS Fitzgerald, while operating near Okusaka in Japan, collided with the ACX Crystal, a container ship from the Phillipines, which rammed into it on the star-board bridge. The commanding officer, executive officer, and command master chief were all fired, it being established that "the bridge team lost situational awareness."

4) On August 21, another Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, the USS John McCain, was rammed by a Liberian oil tanker off the coast of Singapore in Malaysian waters. In 2009, The USS John McCain was involved in tracking a North Korean ship, the Kang Nam 1, with a reputation for shipping arms, enforcing a U.N. resolution of an arms export embargo against North Korea.  
http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/north-korean-ship-might-be-holding-missile-technology/

Might it not be entirely in the realm of the possible that the USS John McCain was again tracking a North Korean ship that might be carrying arms? It could have been damaged in an attack by North Korea, a country infamous for running its ships under other country's flags, especially very poor countries who get some income from this practice.

The U.N. passed Security Council Resolution 2371 August 5, 2017 in response to North Korea’s two ICBM tests in July, reaffirming the Council's support for the Six Party Talks, and sanctioning the export of several materials. What got dropped from the recent U.N. resolution on North Korea that the U.S. wanted, but knew China would veto:  "a mandate for warships from any member state to inspect ships suspected of carrying contraband to or from North Korea, and to enforce inspect using “all necessary measures”. 

Almost certainly some of the ships of the U.S. Seventh Fleet have been carrying out operations to find ships carrying North Korean contraband. So I am interested in getting the following questions answered:  

Was the collision of the USS John McCain with a Liberian oil tanker on August 21, 2017 just another mishap, or was it a deliberate attack by the DPRK against an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer? 

Was the incident when the USS Champlain collided with a South Korean fishing boat on May 9, 2017 also another mishap, or was it protecting the USS Carl Vinson from an attack? 

Was the USS Antietam, a Ticonderoga class ship that ran aground in Tokyo Bay end of January 2017 the result of Captain Joseph Carrigan's foul mood and errors in judgment, or, perhaps, the result of a cyber-attack which gave erroneous readings? 

When the USS Fitzgerald, operating near Okusaka in Japan, collided with a Phillipine carrier ship on June 17, did the bridge team lose "situational awareness" out of negligence, incompetence, or did something more sinister occur?

No matter the answer to these questions, it would appear that our naval fleet is vulnerable, from within and without, and may be risking the security of Americans rather than protecting it. Just imagine what might happen if we were actually at war, due to these kinds of errors and incidents. Maybe we should ramp down such an aggressive stance towards North Korea and other countries. Maybe we should look at how we could create a more peaceful world in other ways than the use of military force.

And just maybe, as aircraft carriers were first built to protect battleships, which then became obsolete, and may have become obsolete themselves today, maybe the entire concept of protecting the peace through military preparedness has also become obsolete.

References:

https://thediplomat.com/2014/04/does-the-us-navy-have-10-or-19-aircraft-carriers/
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/424870/it-time-navy-reassess-importance-aircraft-carrier-george-will
http://www.fi-aeroweb.com/Defense/LHA-America-Class-Assault-Ship.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_R._Ford-class_aircraft_carrier#construction
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasp-class_amphibious_assault_ship
https://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/lhd-1.htm
https://www.nationalpriorities.org/guides/tipsheet-pentagon-spending/
https://thenextweb.com/insider/2017/08/22/the-us-navy-is-investigating-possibility-of-cyber-attack-in-latest-collision/#.tnw_ueKG3C8J
https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/UN-Security-Council-Resolutions-on-North-Korea

In Memory of Clooney

On my cancer journey, I had a dear companion who helped me through it all, Clooney. Little did I know that Clooney was on his own cancer journey as well.

I thought that maybe I was ready to write about him, but I find that the subject is still too tender. To be completed another time when I am stronger.

Thursday, August 3, 2017

Do you believe in Armageddon? I don't.

If you have a strong belief in Armageddon, you might be cavalier about starting another major world war. Fortunately, the vast majority of people in the world do NOT believe in Armageddon. The unified energy field has coalesced around this issue so that it will not happen. 

All that said, it is nevertheless time for a class action suit to be filed against the U.S. for its violations of international law, such as aggressive attacks and wars in other countries based on false flag events, interference in the internal affairs of other countries, etc. Whether this might be effectively pursued in the United Nations or World Court remains to be seen. If enough countries pursue the matter, it could be done.

Every country that has been harmed by the military aggressiveness of the U.S. could be a party to this lawsuit. It could be filed against the U.S. government, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, BAE Systems, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, EADS, Finmeccanica, L-3 Communications, and United Technologies, et al. 

If the profiteers from war have to pay reparations, it will no longer profit them, and we will effectively dismantle the war machine.

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Global Tensions Building as U.S. Senate Imposes More Sanctions Against Russia, North Korea and Iran

I have posted excerpts from articles this past week about sanctions the U.S. Senate passed against Russia, North Korea, and Iran. Of course, this has ratched up tensions considerably, and these countries have responded immediately. The threat of global war has never been closer, especially when you throw into the mix Trump's insulting China. What gives? Is the U.S. so intent on starting WWIII to save its economy now that more and more countries are dumping the U.S. dollar as their foreign currency exchange?

Maybe yes, maybe no. It's hard to say. What does seem clear is that the U.S. is exposing itself to charges of warmongering.

My bet is that it will all come to a head this next week or two, and cooler heads will prevail as more time passes, and yet again, global war will be averted. And why am I so sanguine?

It's because I trust that love and peace will prevail, and that the energy field has been coalescing in a paradigm shift to a world where a country wielding military options are not supported, not even with the mightiest and most aggressive country of all, the United States. I have been anchoring the spiritual energies flooding in so that it's not possible for this timeline to continue any further, this timeline of ongoing war and aggression. Believe me, I'm not the only one engaged in spiritual work of this nature.

We are jumping timelines, and the paradigm shift is actually happening, where we are more and more connected with each other all over the world, and our ability to love others is expanding. These trumped up threats will disappear like bubbles popping. This new timeline involves empowerment of women, and activations at many levels of sleeping souls, who will step into their personal power. Just watch what a difference individuals can make as this happens.

No longer will people feel powerless over what happens next in their lives, both on a micro and macro level. Of course, everyone operates on different schedules, but there are many who are ready, and as they start to manifest a different reality and a timeline of unlimited potential upgrades, hundreds, thousands, and even millions will come online with the new energies.

And why not? Almost everyone's lives will flourish on this timeline, and nobody will have to fear death and destruction from wars or violence. Cooperation will make so much possible that has not been an option with competition and aggression as the dominant mode in the world.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 27, 2017 The U.S. Senate gave final approval to legislation strengthening sanctions on Russia and giving Congress the power to block President Donald Trump from lifting them, setting up a possible clash with the White House.
The measure, passed 98-2 Thursday by the Senate, has already cleared the House and now goes to the president. The White House has given mixed messages about whether Trump will sign the legislation at a time when Trump’s presidential campaign is under investigation over possible collusion with Moscow.
The bill, which also imposes new sanctions on Iran and North Korea, had been delayed while lawmakers resolved procedural issues and revised language that energy companies said would prevent many overseas deals.
The Russia sanctions in H.R. 3364 are an unusual signal of disapproval of Trump from congressional Republicans. Lawmakers say they want to prevent the president from acting on his own to lift penalties imposed by the previous administration for meddling in last year’s U.S. election and for aggression in Ukraine. House and Senate committees and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are examining possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-27/russia-sanctions-bill-passes-senate-with-limits-on-trump-s-power

NORTH KOREA's responds to further sanctions the next day:  July 28, 2017  North Korea fires missile towards Japan  http://globalnews.ca/news/3631920/north-korea-missile-japan-waters/  So the Washington bureau of CNN reports that President Donald Trump condemned North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday. "Threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people." Trump said in a written statement. "The United States will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region." http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/28/politics/north-korea-missile-test/index.html


July 31, 2017 Russia responds to further sanctions by saying it will expel 755 U.S. diplomats.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/07/russia-expels-755-diplomats-response-sanctions-170730201720880.html
August 1, 2017  Iran says new U.S. sanctions breach nuclear deal: Iran's government says it will soon announce retaliatory measures
The Associated Press Posted: Aug 01, 2017 10:07 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 01, 2017 10:07 AM ET
Iran's parliament speaker Ali Larijani said Iran complained to the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreement because the U.S. sanctions 'contradict parts of the nuclear deal.' (Osman Orsal/Reuters)
Iran has complained to the Joint Commission created to oversee the country's nuclear deal with major powers about sanctions the United States imposed on Iran in July, saying they breached the agreement's terms, the speaker of parliament was quoted on Tuesday as saying.
The Joint Commission of the formally titled Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was created to supervise the nuclear agreement clinched in 2015 between Iran and six major powers, including the United States. The deal led to the lifting of most sanctions against Tehran in return for curbs on its nuclear program. 
However, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on six Iranian firms in late July for their role in the development of a ballistic missile program after Tehran launched a rocket capable of putting a satellite into orbit.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/iran-deal-us-sanctions-breach-1.4230272








Monday, May 1, 2017

Organizing Notes: Veterans March on Washington DC Again

Spreading the word: if you have the ability to join the march in Washington DC, please go to join the protest to stop endless war.  Organizing Notes: Veterans March on Washington DC Again

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Early Spring Walk in Portland, Oregon



I went on an early spring wildflower hunt in Portland, and made this video of my photos in May of 2013, adding some of my favorite music at the time. Today, after having survived cancer treatments (hysterectomy, chemo and radiation), I am finally feeling healthy and well. I want to make note of this day, March 15, 2017. I am free of cancer, and I am well!

Yeah, thanks to my medical team, my stellar oncologist, Dr. Wingo, my friends and family, and all of the prayer support that I received and the wonderful healing support from my friend Sheila Cook, who practiced esoteric long distance energy healing on me. Also special thanks to my mother, Harriet Schiffer, and my son, James Schiffer and his wife Luna, for coming to care for me when I needed them, and for all of their financial support, too. I want to thank the community that I live in here in Spring Valley, Arizona, for all the churches who paid my rent these months, and the food banks that so generously helped out with food.

Watching this video and listening to the music was so joyous for me today. 2013 was a very tough year for me when I returned from Malaysia after seven years overseas. My health wasn't too good at that time either. Yet somehow I went for this walk in the woods and made this video, which is a wonderful memento to view for the rest of my life, so it wasn't such a lost year after all.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Sea Change in the Gloaming

I am reposting an essay that was published in the Earth Rainbow Network in 2007. My thinking has not changed that much since I wrote this. What has changed is my sense of what's happening in the hearts of people in this Trump era:

...a sea change is happening in the hearts of Americans and people all over the world. It's largely unseen as of yet, but the consequences will change our reality... and it's going on right now. In the gloaming, as our darkest hour moves in, love lurks in corners you can't see, and love will prevail. Don't wait to see what happens... join in the paradigm shift. Make things happen that you want to see in the world.


CHALLENGING QUESTIONS THAT BEG AN ANSWER...

Date: 12 Nov 2007
From: Ariel Ky
Subject: Responsibility of U.S. Citizens for their Government's Actions in Waging War and Torture

I have been thinking a lot about how responsible U.S. citizens are for the conduct of the U.S. in the world today, specifically for the wars being waged in Iraq and Afghanistan and the use of torture of prisoners held in prisons and detention centers in over a hundred countries. I am a U.S. citizen who has left my country because I do not support what the government is doing, nor what the country has become, which is certainly no longer any form of democracy of the people, for the people, and by the people, if it ever was. Should Americans be held accountable for the actions of a government that fights wars when they want peace? Especially when they feel powerless to stop the government?

Can a people be held responsible when they have continually been lied to by the media and politicians? Can a people be held responsible for corruption of all the institutions in their country? Can a people be held responsible when there has been an extensive program of mind control and manipulation of the truth by all the mass media?

If people are guilty of apathy, passivity, complacency, and fear of losing what they have worked to attain, as they may lose their job and jeopardize their income if they speak out or show anger or seem too political, it doesn't seem so terrible on the face of it. If people decide politics is too dirty or distressing for them to get very involved, such naivete may be distressing, but it's not quite the same as actively carrying out harm to other people. If people decide to devote themselves to their family and a small circle of friends rather than being involved politically, is that so reprehensible?

There is great diversity among Americans. The truly ugly Americans who are hateful, ambitious, ruthlessly aggressive, greedy, arrogant and willing to kill others in wars so that they can go on making lots of money and having more than other people in the world have always been a minority, even if they sometimes seem the most vocal and powerful today.

As I have networked over the Internet with people from other countries, I have put together a very different picture of the U.S. than the mythology we are taught about our country. What I have come to realize is that the U.S. has always pursued aggressive wars to open markets in other countries and that the economic system of capitalism is not so much twinned to democracy as it is to militarism. Democracy only works when people work it; there has been far too little involvement of citizens exercising the responsibility of staying informed and voting to make it work. Consequently, the U.S. has not evolved into a country of more freedom, but one of less and less liberty.

Freedom and human rights for everyone are incompatible with basic erroneous principles that most people in the U.S. have agreed to: 1) that profit is the bottomline, never the commonweal (and certainly not protection of the environment, especially if you can move your production to developing countries and pollute them instead of your own), 2) that you can pretty much do whatever you want to if you have enough money (and damned little if you don't), and 3) that the violent use of force as a country (the military option) is justifiable if it succeeds in meeting your goals. As long as most people subscribe to these ideas, nothing will improve, because these are the working principles that govern the present conduct of the U.S. While ruthless aggression and the use of violence is seen as inevitable and normal, the country follows a downward spiral away from the higher good of all.

There is little all-inclusive community left anywhere in the U.S. Our car culture and computers have contributed to destroying in large degree our sense of connectivity with the larger community. The newspaper wars of the past thirty years have left all major cities with only one big daily newspaper --always the largely conservative voice of the wealthy-- which has also led to the deterioration of a sense of community that includes everyone. On the Internet, people usually only dialogue with other like-minded people. Differences do not usually get resolved, not even through the courts, only managed. The net result has been a loss of community and a dangerous disconnection with other people.

The mass media disinforms people and without knowing the truth, they collectively grow detached from reality. Last year I engaged in a daily dialogue with my students in Europe about the war in Iraq. When I returned to the U.S. last summer, almost nobody was discussing it and I could not get anyone to sustain a conversation about it for more than a minute or two. The mass insanity of people carrying on their lives as though no war was being fought was truly mind boggling.

I could go on and on with how I have considered many aspects of this issue of culpability. I now live in China, which is breaking free of the fetters of a repressive era, opening to the world in a process that is exciting to witness. From this vantage point, the U.S. seems to be mired in as repressive a totalitarianism as the Chinese suffered in the cultural revolution. Were the Chinese people responsible for what their government did to them? Are any people truly responsible for conditions when they have succumbed to fear? Are the American people responsible for what their government is doing, not only to them, but to people in other countries and all over the world?

After going round and round on this, what I have concluded is that if the American people are not responsible for what their government or military does, then who is? Who is better situated to hold it accountable for its actions? Therefore, I challenge each and every person in the U.S. to examine their hearts and souls to ask themselves if they are passively contributing to the murder and torture of people in other countries by the military and intelligence agencies of their country, and if there is truly any justification for the wars being fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, and possibly coming up, a war in Iran.

I challenge each and every person reading this to consider what you can do differently if you do not want to be complicit in the pursuit of empire of the U.S. today. Do you really want to cooperate with the megalomania of leaders of this country in attempting to force U.S. rule over the entire world? Is there any way you might express your voice and build community that can bring about effective change?

Ariel Ky

We give thanks and honor to our mother, the Earth, whose beauty and love glorifies our lives as the sun rises and sets and sparkles on the sea, as the wind blows in the trees and carries the seeds, as our existence depends on the bees.

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Standing Rock

My thoughts and prayers are with the Water Defenders at Standing Rock. Also with the people below the dam at Oroville in California. The rain is coming down. Amazing that the reservoirs are mostly full now in Northern California, after years of drought. I pray that everyone is safe. Fukushima's reactors are now sites of uncontrolled fision, burning into the ground. What happens when those burns hit water? In the meantime, whales are dying in Hawaii. Rotting carcasses. Probably from radioactivity in our oceans.

My thoughts are slipping and sliding. How many concerns can you have? And I haven't even touched on Trump and his disastrous appointees.

Well, it's time for bed. I will sleep and perchance dream. And let everything rest in the hands of God. I let it all go.

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Martin Luther King Revisited

Today I picked up books from the Cordes Lakes public library on Martin Luther King, which I had reserved. The librarian told me that she had met Coretta King at an event with Amaji, her spiritual leader, and had been deeply impressed by her.

I am making a study of his some of his works right now because I think he was the most effective civil rights leader in my lifetime. I think there is much to be learned from studying his writing. He knew how to raise people's consciousness with freedom marches, but he also knew that economic boycott was also necessary to get people's attention. That is a lesson that we seem to have forgotten. Cesar Chavez also understood this strategy. All the people I know who want to see a better world that is more fair and just, who want to be free and others to be free, who want not just to survive, but also to thrive, and for everyone else in the world to have the opportunity to do the same... to end wars, violence, and oppression; we need to be inspired. And who better than Martin Luther King for that inspiration?

I have just listened to an audio book while driving back and forth for radiation treatments, "Song Yet Sung", written by James McBride and narrated by Leslie Uggams. At first, I had a difficult time getting into the story; it seemed such a dreary theme, set in Maryland when slavery was still going, and chronicling the saga of slaves escaping and making a run for the north. But I'm glad that I kept listening to it because I got very engrossed in the story.

There was this women they called the dreamer because she saw the future. And she saw a man who said, "Free at Last!", who was of course, Martin Luther King, and she understood that someone she knew was his ancestor.

I had already ordered the books on Martin Luther King when I got to that part of the story. It was the kind of coincidence that underlines how important this is for me to do. I picked up the audiobook by chance, just choosing the most appealing one to me at the tiny branch library near me in Cordes Lakes.


So I have started reading Letter from the Birmingham Jail. Here is an excerpt: 

"...I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives in the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere in this country."

I consider this an eloquent restatement of my favorite poem by John Donne, No Man Is an Island, which I have memorized and re-memorized over the years:

No man is an island entire of itself; every man 
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; 
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe 
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as 
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine 
own were; any man's death diminishes me, 
because I am involved in mankind. 
And therefore never send to know for whom 
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. 

As a feminist, I learned that the personal is political; and what's political is personal. If we want
to build a better world, it begins with each and every one of us. And as a woman committed to
bringing about the paradigm shift of the Aquarian Age, I understand that we must work
together because our strength is in cooperation, not competition; it is in numbers, not any one
individual. We must all play our part.


Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Desert Botanical Garden on Valentine's Day - Spring Comes Early in Phoenix

Yesterday I went into Phoenix to the Cancer Support Community to join a group that meets weekly of other people who've been dealing with cancer, facilitated by a professional counselor. I listened eagerly to their stories, but found myself a little too empathic with their suffering, although I heard hope there, too.

After we'd finished our session, I visited the Desert Botanical Gardens. By then, it was up to 82 degrees, and I was dressed a little too warmly for comfort. Walking was an effort. I quickly tired, but there were lots of benches, and I took many photos. I had been there last fall, and had gamely explored as much of the gardens as I was able to, considering that I was still recovering from the complete hysterectomy I'd had in early October. Walking wasn't any easier this time, as I have yet to regain vitality, strength, and endurance.

I suppose there is no way that I can post on a daily basis without this also being a blog about my cancer journey, as I am feeling subsumed by it right now.

I was wandering, a little lost, through the wilder end of the park in the saguaro forest when I realized that birds were singing all around me, that happy sound birds make in the spring. I was so glad to be out of doors and listening to the birds sing, even if my body wasn't in quite the shape that I'd like it to be. As I was finding my way out to the exit, I was distracted by the blooms in the succulent garden, and found a friendly bird who seemed to be showing off for my camera while dipping its long beak in tubelike flowers.


This bird had a scratchy kind of sound that it made. I imitated it, and it flew closer to me to investigate. My encounter with this bird was magical; it was part of the paradigm shift of communicating with everything, and feeling that you are a vibrating part of all life on the planet.

I'm going to share more of my photos so that you can enjoy walking in the desert garden with me. Enjoy the flowers of the desert with me.











Next I'm going to share photos of cacti, trees, and the captivating landscape of the desert, including an oasis. Look for the dove; it's well camouflaged. And there is one odd plant that looks like it is growing flossy hair; I joked with an old couple looking at it with me that it was how my hair looked under my wig. First are two very tall century trees that supposedly only bloom once in a hundred years.














Monday, February 13, 2017

Mission Statement for Paradigm Shifts and Politics

I'm starting this blog in order to share the process that I'm going through of shifting paradigms, or, at least, in setting out to shift paradigms. I am a strong believer in the maxim, "The truth shall set you free." Of course, that doesn't work unless you change your outlook and actions when you learn the truth. Still, it sets your mind free from lies, distortions, and misinformation. You gain clarity.

So when something bubbles up for me in my dreams... or my interest gets activated by some event in the world or new ideas, I want to share my thoughts. For me, the paradigm shift to the Aquarian age means an expanded view of reality... that explores new possibilities unfettered by old ideas, that takes in the interests of all humanity, and of the planet itself. It's a shift to a higher level of spirituality, of the sacredness of life, of how our lives are all woven together in a unified field of energy.

I'm also challenging myself to post a daily blog, even if it's only a paragraph or two. I have been posting quite a bit on Facebook, which really isn't the best place for longer posts. I like to post photos as well, and Blogger makes it easy. So I'll let my Facebook friends know when I've posted a blog, and provide a link.

I also intend to interview social change activists.  For some time, I've been wondering what the next stage of my life will bring. My attempt to live in a community at Arcosanti last year was a grand failure; albeit I learned a great deal from the experience. Right on the heels of being fired there, I found out that I had not one, but two kinds of endometrial cancer, and I've now gone through three stages of treating it: surgery, chemo, and radiation.

That first half of September, after I got fired at Arcosanti, my cat went blind, I got stung by a scorpion, and a foot long centipede made its way into m my room.  Tarantulas were crawling all over the place. And my cousin Suzanne's son died of stage four cancer on 9/11... the same week that I found out that I had cancer... and diabetes.

These health challenges have both bamboozled and blessed me. I am still trying to make sense of everything that I've gone through, and coming to terms with it. Perhaps my inner life has gotten stronger; I seem to be more telepathic, but how do you measure that? My friends, family and community prayed for me, supported me emotionally and sent me healing and loving energy.

It seems more important than ever to blossom into the fully actualized person that I've always intended to become, and a big part of that is to express myself as a writer. I hope my dreams, observations, analysis and stories will touch someone who reads them.

Here's a photo of my cat, Clooney, that I took this afternoon.  I'm calling him the Mystic Cat. We often meditate together, and I go into this pure, beautiful energy we share... no words, no images, only a kind of lovely void.