Harry Belafonte recalled in an interview with Tavis Smiley recently a story he was told by Eleanor Roosevelt. She related a public event when her husband, FDR, introduced A. Philip Randolph and asked him, Belafonte recalled, “what he thought of the nation, what he thought of the plight of the Negro people and what did he think ... where the nation was headed.” Continuing the story, Belafonte recounted what FDR replied upon hearing Randolph’s remarks: “You know, Mr. Randolph, I’ve heard everything you’ve said tonight, and I couldn’t agree with you more. I agree with everything that you’ve said, including my capacity to be able to right many of these wrongs and to use my power and the bully pulpit. ... But I would ask one thing of you, Mr. Randolph, and that is go out and make me do it.”
This story was retold by Barack Obama at a campaign fundraiser in Montclair, N.J., more than a year ago. It was in response to a person asking Obama about finding a just solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict. After recounting the Randolph story, Obama said he was just one person, that he couldn’t do it alone. Obama’s final answer: “Make me do it.”
"I think it has really, really been an remarkable event in terms of getting everybody to stand back and say, look at what we have seen here in America. The America we remember is back again." -- Colin Powell
It is us. We, We did it. We started to create a vision of a new future. Our total asleepness created the last 8 years and now.... We have awakened. Awakened in prayer and power to manifest this hopeful future that we are staring at face to face. Barack and Michelle Obama are great. They are models of what can be but we are the ones who have created the frequency that allowed this to be possible. Take responsibility for this miraculous awakening. Pressure does create diamonds.
Hope is staring at us. Fear is at our side keeping us awake. Connection is the new currency. What we do right now is so priceless for we are right this minute building our future. What does this phoenix look like? What can it do? We, yes we are creating what that will be now. What do you want the future to look like? What are you contributing to make it so? What are you expecting of the Government? Of yourself?
Can you feel the shift? Is it giving you renewed energy? We have it now how do we build with this amazing reality? What are you doing to sustain you and support the world? Can you tell I feel the juice at the center of the Universe? Tell me who will you support? Who is your community? We can't sleep through this one. Please join hands with me and let us truly open the doors of the universe by our sheer power of projection and gratitude that we are allowed to live NOW!
Grace: That state that can be experienced, summoned, danced with. Invite it in. Let it expand you. Chant, pray, meditate, do your practice. Give these 1,000 day to weave together the fibers of our souls so we may truly move from the lead age to platinum. This transition is so extreme. We are not going through each stage of metals the tin, the copper, brass, steel, silver, gold no straight from leads dense dark domain to the subtlety and grace of Platinum.
Blessings: Come create the relationships and support here at the Blessings Center. See who is here use the greatness of each soul and see how your bonds can serve each other and the world.
I encompass you in blessings and prayers. Rejoice and walk into the grace and greatness of these times.
All Love in the Divine Gurutej
www.theenergygurus.com www.gurutej.com follow me http://theenergyguru.blogger.com "Diamonds or Dust the choice is yours both are created by pressure". What do you do with yours?
So Gurutej, I am building my community, brick by person. This weekend, a cantor at a temple invited me over to listen to the song "Hallelujah" by the performer of my choice. I am bringing John Cale's version. I met a woman from the Bahai temple at the National Day of Service, and invited her to speak to the kids at the Unitarian Church in Santa Monica. I invited Dan to be a "Shirt-Wearer" in my vision of the Lakota tradition -- modeled after Crazy Horse was. And I am trying to overcome my fear of expectations. I am also going to work with my family, both close and distant. I am also going to undertake a sustainability project that scares me to death -- even though I am completely capable, I am just scared by something deep down, something I have to let go of because it is not doing any good. Be gone dispair, fear, and loathing.
President Service Attended George W. Bush * Private service at St. John's Episcopal Church William J. Clinton * Private prayer service at Metropolitan AME Church George H. W. Bush * Private service at St. John's Episcopal Church Ronald Reagan * Private service at St. John's Episcopal Church James E. Carter * Interfaith prayer service at the Lincoln Memorial Richard M. Nixon * Breakfast in West Auditorium of the State Department Lyndon B. Johnson * Private service at National City Christian Church John F. Kennedy * Mass at Holy Trinity Church Dwight Eisenhower * Service National Presbyterian Church Harry S Truman * St. John's Episcopal Church F D. Roosevelt * Service at St. John's Episcopal Church
Where did Obama go? He went Episco. Maybe the English still hold the mortgage on the U.S. Government.
Like the Native American gatherings pow-wows, Obama brought a bunch of people together today, and said things that I didn't think could be said. And I believed it.
Obama proved himself a better "player" than Michael Jordan. Jordan could do things on the court with a ball and a hoop and a team that made my head swim. It was a thing of beauty.
Obama did the same thing today on the podium -- right in front of god and everyone. Rick Warren gave an amazing prayer that put Jesus back in Christianity. Obama made him do it. Obama lifted Justice Roberts after Roberts' stumble. Obama was one cool cucumber walking down that hallway. Obama reminded us of all those who emigrated, fought, and died for this and future generations and our common values. Put us in our place.
Some may say it is just stagecraft, others wishful thinking. I want him to keep it real. Do you feel me?
UPDATE:From around the world--- "Blacks face so much discrimination here," he said, standing outside the Cantagalo slum, where ramshackle shacks line steep hills in Rio de Janeiro. "Now with a black man in charge of such an important country, it might help decrease the racism in Brazil."
UP-UPDATE: (That didn't take long) From www.whitehouse.gov .>.>.>.>.>.>
Katrina President Obama will keep the broken promises made by President Bush to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. He and Vice President Biden will take steps to ensure that the federal government will never again allow such catastrophic failures in emergency planning and response to occur.
President Obama swiftly responded to Hurricane Katrina. Citing the Bush Administration's "unconscionable ineptitude" in responding to Hurricane Katrina, then-Senator Obama introduced legislation requiring disaster planners to take into account the specific needs of low-income hurricane victims. Obama visited thousands of Hurricane survivors in the Houston Convention Center and later took three more trips to the region. He worked with members of the Congressional Black Caucus to introduce legislation to address the immediate income, employment, business, and housing needs of Gulf Coast communities.
President Barack Obama will partner with the people of the Gulf Coast to rebuild now, stronger than ever
Or so it is generally believed. And me, I don't know at all. I am just along for the ride.
But we have a big party to pull off. Seven continents. One moment.
Here is the skinny: the party will be spread out on 12/20&21/2012.
We are going to celebrate the Mayan end of an eon. Their calendar ends. How cool is that? What other culture has ever designed a calendar to end? Most are forced to embrace the unknown of the infinite. With the end of the Mesoamerican Calendar, we get to redefine the world as we inhabit a new eon. What do we want to do with it? What do we want to keep from this old eon and take into the new culture of our own creation?
Now you see why we need to have a party. A possible eon is ending, and as far as I know, it is the only eon ending in my lifetime, so I want to be there front and center.
I figure we will need Michael Stypes and R.E.M. to perform (you guys have to stay alive til then) the song EOTW(AWKI). Oliveri, it is your job to get them to agree to do it. I think they should perform as part of a globally televised concert, with performers all over the world from every continent. Maybe have members of the band on each continent, linked digitally. Net performances in every city and village. A cosmic song. We are the world. It is the end of the world and I feel fine.
I can imagine a stage at the base of Kilimanjaro. One on the Yangtze River. Athens. Stonehenge. Woodstock. Wherever.
I propose that this is not just another Bacchanalian ecstasy rave, but a celebration of human achievement and human failures. What did we get right, what did we get wrong. A day of judgement. A day of forgiveness. A day forward. Start drawing up lists of accomplishments and failures. I am not sure we have to worry about full documentation, truth stands on its own.
There are a lot of examples of how to do this. Bob Geldorf has pulled a few big, rudimentary events off. The Chinese did the 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremony. Obama is doing a stay-at-home-and-celebrate inauguration complete with a day of service (and he is probably going to pull it off with a 0.5% participation rate).
We need volunteers. I hope Dan offers. And Flo (you out there Flo?)
While we have taken several significant steps to adjust our cost structure during the year, including reducing department budgets and suspending salary increases for 2009, the acceleration of the economic downturn forced us to take additional measures to align our operations with our expected revenues.
Are the economists admitting defeat? Are they embracing socialism? Do they believe in unilateral price controls? Did Atlas just shrug? Did the holy grail of market efficeincy just lose credibility in the courtroom?
Have you any wool? Yes sir, Yes sir, three bags full.
While you were praying for peace in the world, let the truth (**cough**) be told:
Contact: Dr. Gary Cass, Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, 866-508-2232
VISTA Calif., Jan. 5 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Christian Anti-Defamation Commission (CADC) has prepared a Top Ten list of the most egregious acts of Christian Bashing in American in 2008. Every day in America serious Christians face increasing hostility at work, school, and in the culture because they stand for their faith and values.
"It is time for the Christian bashing to stop and for Christians to no longer be treated like second-class citizens," said Dr. Gary Cass, Chairman and CEO of CADC. "Anti-Christian bigotry is real and growing. Those who engage in it should be exposed and called to account."
INSTANCE #10: Jack Black Musical Video
In a short video posted on FunnyorDie.com entitled, "Prop 8 The Musical," an all star cast of Hollywood celebrities perform a low budget musical farce that defames Christ, mocks Christians and distorts the teaching of the Bible. Jack Black played the lead role of Jesus.
INSTANCE #9: Bill Maher Gratuitously Attacks Pope
Bill Maher, host of the HBO program Real Time, made light of the Pope during his recent visit and the tragic sexual abuse scandal. Maher said, "Now I know what you're thinking, Bill. You can't be saying that the Catholic Church is no better than this creepy (radical Mormon polygamist) Texas cult. For one thing, alter boys can't even get pregnant. But really, what tripped up the little cult on the prairie was that they only abused hundreds of kids, not thousands all over the world. Cults get raided; religions get parades... If you have a few hundred followers and you let some of them molest children, they call you a cult leader. If you have a billion, they call you Pope."
INSTANCE #8: ESPN Anchor Dana Jacobson's "F--- Jesus" Remark
Speaking at an ESPN corporate event in Atlantic City, N.J., to honor ESPN Radio personalities Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic, Dana Jacobson let go with a steam of vulgar remarks; "F--- Notre Dame," "F--- Touchdown Jesus" and finally "F--- Jesus." Jacobson was suspended for a few days for the incident.
INSTANCE #7: Minnesota University Professor Desecrates Communion
A Biology Professor from the University of Minnesota, Paul Zachary Myers, recently desecrated a consecrated communion wafer from a Catholic Mass. Meyer's has also asked people to steal the Eucharist for him in order that he might desecrate it and display it on his blog.
INSTANCE #6: Religulous the Movie
Bill Maher released a very shallow, pseudo-intellectual documentary entitled Religulous. The movie did not cover any new intellectual ground. It simply raised the old attacks on the faith. Maher studiously avoided being fair and did not allow for legitimate Christian answers from any leading Christian intellectuals.
INSTANCE #5: Chaplains Fired for Praying in Jesus' Name
Chaplains for the State of Virginia are being denied their right to pray in Jesus' name. Six chaplains were fired for continuing to pray in Jesus' name. Earlier this year in Virginia, Rev. Hashmel Turner, a city councilman in Fredericksburg, was told by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that his prayers during city council meetings that ended in Jesus' name will continue to be banned.
INSTANCE #4: Colorado Law Criminalizes the Bible
SB200, a Colorado state bill recently signed into law, criminalizes the Bible. Section 8 of the bill entitled "Publishing of discriminative matter forbidden" makes publishing the Bible illegal because it contains anti-homosexual passages. This is part of a larger effort to criminalize the expression of certain opinions and beliefs.
INSTANCE #3: Barack Obama Defames Christianity
According to research into President Elect Obama's own statements about faith, and an examination of Obama's position on moral issues, CADC has determined that by any biblical and historic Christian standard, Barack Obama is not a Christian, although he claims he is a "devout Christian."
INSTANCE #2: Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin Is Attacked
Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin, came under sharp attack by some in the mainstream media because she self-identifies as a Christian. The Washington Post published a cartoon by Pat Oliphant mocking Palin because she has a background as a Pentecostal/Charismatic Christian. A suspicious arson fire at Sarah Palin's home church recently caused over $1,000,000 in damage.
And finally, the #1 Christian Bashing Instance in America for 2008...
INSTANCE #1: Radical Homosexuals Assault Prop 8 Marriage Supporters in California
During and after the November campaign stories flooded in of pro-Prop 8 signs being taken, people verbally and physically assaulted, church property and private automobiles vandalized, and person's jobs and pastor's lives threatened simply for exercising their right to campaign and vote in support of traditional marriage.
BONUS INSTANCE: Senator Grassley's Abuse of Power
US Senator Grassley, a member of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, has demanded the financial records of a number of very prominent conservative, evangelical broadcast ministries. The demand was based on Grassley's concern that these ministries are not spending their contributions properly. Grassley has admitted his concerns were in part driven by media accounts.
First, Michelle Obama invites us to join in a day of service this coming Monday. Now Colin Powell says that is not enough, rather we need to make a commitment to continual community service. What ever happened to democracy by the rich for the rich?
When are we Americans going to tire of police officers beating, tasering or shooting people they don't like? In a democracy, we are the police. Bad apples are our bad apples.
Whether it is Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright in Louisiana during the filming of "W":
Or Oscar Grant in Oakland laying on the ground with restraints:
Brolin, Wright and crew got their case thrown out. Oscar Grant got to meet his heavenly father. Bang Bang. Happy New Year!
The Federal Reserve Bank recently increased its balance sheet (read debt) from $800 billion to $2 trillion, an increase of $1.2 trillion. This translates into $4,000 for every resident of the United States.
When asked what happened to the money, Fed Vice Chair Donald Kohn said it has been lent out to various financial institutions. When asked who got the $1.2 billion, he REFUSED to say who got the money. Not only that, he said if he told, then those banks would not be willing to borrow.
So my family just borrowed $16 thousand via the Fed to loan to Wall Street (this is on top of the $10 to $20 thousand in TARP money from the bailout spent on behalf of my family), and they can't tell us who gets the money or what we received in return?
I am beginning to see that the "full faith and credibility" of the U.S. Government upon which our monetary system is fairly empty. The Fed is acting like that Jack Nicholson character who yells "You want the truth?! ... You can't handle the Truth!!!"
The word "bible" has many definitions, but its root comes from a collection of books, usually assembled together in a tome. These "books" are often seen as being authoritarian, legitimizing, or some grouping of coherent ideas along some meme. They are often religious in nature, with this definition being repeated most often due to the big collection of historical stories, divinations, genealogies, poetry, and dreams of those who kept records in the Judeo-Christian tradition -- subjugated to a heavy dose of political editing. The editing was often accepted as a condition for the keepers of the biblia to keep their livelihoods.
In 2009, the definition of books has been expanded greatly. Think of Excel Workbooks. Could a workbook be of such great beauty or profundity that it should be included in a bible? Me thinks yes. Is there a matrix in linear algebra that approaches perfection? A sudoku puzzle so minimal that it is considered elegant? A poem so full of truth, that for you you could not live without? The famous Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdos beleived in an unwritten book holding an elegant collection of mathematical formulas he regularly refered to as "The Book".
If you were to build a cannon of personal scripture (whether religious, profane, mathematical or else), what would you put in it?
For me, right now, there is one song that kicks my ass every time. It is in mine:
Magic & Loss
When you pass through the fire you pass through humble You pass through a maze of self doubt When you pass through humble the lights can blind you Some people never figure that out You pass through arrogance you pass through hurt You pass through an ever present past and it's best not to wait for luck to save you Pass through the fire to the light
As you pass through the fire your right hand waving there are things you have to throw out That caustic dread inside your head will never help you out You have to be very strong 'cause you'll start from zero over and over again And as the smoke clears there's an all consuming fire lying straight ahead
They say no one person can do it all but you want to in your head But you can't be Shakespeare and you can't be Joyce so what is left instead You're stuck with yourself and a rage that can hurt you You have to start at the beginning again And just this moment This wonderful fire started up again
When you pass through humble when you pass through sickly When you pass through I'm better than you all When you pass through anger and self deprecation and have the strength to acknowledge it all When the past makes you laugh and you can savor the magic that let you survive your own war You find that that fire is passion and there's a door up ahead not a wall
As you pass through fire as you pass through fire try to remember its name When you pass through fire licking at your lips you cannot remain the same And if the building's burning move towards that door but don't put the flames out There's a bit of magic in everything and then some loss to even things out
There's a bit of magic in everything and then some loss to even things out
There's a bit of magic in everything and then some loss to even things out
I wonder if Lou Reed's intent was to give us guidance on how do do it,,, or is he making a songline for himself so he can get back when he gets lost?
Catholics who claim they have seen the Virgin Mary will be forced to remain silent about the apparitions until a team of psychologists, theologians, priests and exorcists [along someone bearing the title of the Devil's Advocate] have fully investigated their claims under new Vatican guidelines aimed at stamping out false claims of miracles.
The Pope has instructed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly the Holy Office of the Inquisition, to draw up a new handbook to help bishops snuff out an explosion of bogus heavenly apparitions.
Benedict XVI plans to update the Vatican's current rules on investigating apparitions to help distinguish between true and false claims of visions of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, messages, stigmata (the appearances of the five wounds of Christ), weeping and bleeding statues and Eucharistic miracles.
Parenthetical inserted by Still Life Living
My guess is that during economic downturns, more and more people are prone to have their own visions rather than relying on mediated intercession. Secular vigilantieism. This is always a challenge to power structures in general. Plus, given all the lawsuits, settlements and so on, the Church may not have the funds to buy up all the new holy sites. Its funny, because either way, the Pentecostals and Agnostics win.
I wonder if the Catholic Church will excommunicate those who sell the unsanctioned relics on Eay?
If you have faith Obama is going to turn this thing around, where are you going to be on January 19th? If you don't know what I am talking about, you had better watch the following video:
2009 is the year of the fire OX (and I don't mean hugs and kisses). Many cultures venerate the ox. The Greeks praised Bacchus, the Spaniards have el Toro, the pre-French would lure the Camargues into ravines in the primal mano-al-mano test of survival. The children of Israel were led astray by the Golden Calf of certainty. The armageddenoists have been breeding a red heifer seen necessary to usher in the cleansing of the kingdom (sound like a fire ox?).
The buffalo is the ox of the North American continent. As a resident of that continent, I prefer the legend of the White Buffalo. White Buffalo are sacred anima.
The legend of the White Buffalo Calf Woman tells how the People had lost the ability to communicate with the Creator. The Creator sent the sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman to teach the People how to pray with the Pipe. With that Pipe, seven sacred ceremonies were given for the people to abide in order to ensure a future with harmony, peace, and balance. The native Americans are waiting for the White Buffalo to return to signal the healing of the earth and the people.
The common element of these legends, myths and prophecies is an animal spirit capable of righting the course though strength and stability. Salvation is not guaranteed, but it is an omen of the best chance for realignment after the cycles of pigs, rats, and monkeys.
As 2009 is the year of the fire ox in Chinese astrology, here is a primer on the Ox.
The Ox is the sign of prosperity through fortitude and hard work. This powerful sign is a born leader, being quite dependable and possessing an innate ability to achieve great things. As one might guess, such people are dependable, calm, and modest. Like their animal namesake, the Ox is unswervingly patient, tireless in their work, and capable of enduring any amount of hardship without complaint.
Ox people need peace and quiet to work through their ideas, and when they have set their mind on something it is hard for them to be convinced otherwise. An Ox person has a very logical mind and is extremely systematic in whatever they do, even without imagination. These people speak little but are extremely intelligent. When necessary, they are articulate and eloquent.
People born under the influence of the Ox are kind, caring souls, logical, positive, filled with common sense and with their feet firmly planted on the ground. Security is their main preoccupation in life, and they are prepared to toil long and hard in order to provide a warm, comfortable and stable nest for themselves and their families. Strong-minded, stubborn, individualistic, the majority are highly intelligent individuals who don't take kindly to being told what to do.
The Ox works hard, patiently, and methodically, with original intelligence and reflective thought. These people enjoy helping others. Behind this tenacious, laboring, and self-sacrificing exterior lies an active mind.
The Ox is not extravagant, and the thought of living off credit cards or being in debt makes them nervous. The possibility of taking a serious risk could cause the Ox sleepless nights.
Ox people are truthful and sincere, and the idea of wheeling and dealing in a competitive world is distasteful to them. They are rarely driven by the prospect of financial gain. These people are always welcome because of their honesty and patience. They have many friends, who appreciate the fact that the Ox people are wary of new trends, although every now and then they can be encouraged to try something new.
It is important to remember that the Ox people are sociable and relaxed when they feel secure, but occasionally a dark cloud looms over such people and they engage all the trials of the whole world and seek solutions for them. Also the Ox people are all caring and loving but at times when you mess with them they will tear out in anger.
Barack Hussein Obama was born August 4, 1961 - a year of the steel Ox . Obama has steel ox energy. This is good energy – very stable, plodding, deliberate, conservative, strong, focused, determined, and a seeker of the sacred truth.
In numerology, 2009 has the value of eleven (2+0+0+9). This is a master number in numerology. It is a year of illuminations. Much is to be revealed in such a year. And there are a few things we are all dying (literally) to know. Such a year is a humanitarian year, a year of undoing and redoing. It is not a year of “success” in the tangible, rather it is successful in the realm of the unseen but experienced.
The 11 is the most intuitive of all numbers. It represents illumination, a channel to the subconscious, insight without rational thought, and sensitivity, nervous energy, shyness and impracticality. It is a dreamer. The 11 has all aspects of the 2, enhanced and charged with charisma, leadership and inspiration. It is a number with inborn duality, which creates dynamism, and inner conflict with its mere presence. It is a number that, when not focused on a goal beyond itself, can sometimes create inner fears or phobias. The 11 walks the edge between greatness and self-destruction. Its potential for growth, stability and personal power lies in its acceptance of intuitive understanding and of spiritual truths. For the 11, such peace is not found so much in logic, but in faith. It is automatically attuned to the unconscious realms and is known as the psychic’s number. Once it becomes comfortable with its special gifts, it will serve as the spiritual channel between the physical and spiritual worlds. The 11 can also have nervous tension due to the high energy frequency of its number.
Obama’s life number (from his birthday) is also 11 (8+4+1+9+6+1=29; 2+9=11). Another powerful divination – doubly powerful. A person with an 11 life year in an 11 astrologically year is very powerful. Add to that the power of the steel ox, and you have a harmonic convergence - a perfect storm: it is said that Obama is strong enough to carry the United States (born in the year of the Monkey – a childish friend of the ox).
I hope so.
With the legend of the white buffalo (read ox), the master numbers of 11, and the friendship between the loyal ox and the monkey, we as a country and world can wear the yoke of hope! Let the year of the fire ox be one of cleansing by fire -- the success of realignment by truth.
BTW, if you have not seen the following video, it will envision you about the strength of the ox/buffalo. Watch the baby torn by lions and crocodiles, only to feel the redemptive love of the herd.
Credits: The source materials come from wikipedia, permanentcosmeticsdermacentre.com, and sacredwhitebuffalo.org, and voiceofmitra.com
If you are too big to fail, maybe you are too big?
Here is a novel idea: How about making a law or something that is kind of the opposite of Glass Steagal. If a business is too big to fail, it is determined to be fundamentally necessary for the operation of society. At that point, a company has to open itself to extraordinary public scrutiny, since the public has been proven its "on the hook" for these companies' screw-ups.
In order to enforce this program, any company with a certain market share, revenue levels, or employment base would have to submit annual reports from an economic consulting firm that indicated that the company was "not to big to fail", and the corporate officers would have to sign the report a la Sarbanes-Oxley requirements for audits (brought about by the Bush-term accounting failures in 2002). Then, if the company claiming to be small did fail, it would subject its leaders to fraud investigations should they require some type of bailout.
This would also go a long way toward preserving the competitive model that we Americans believe in: along with our other pillars of faith in God, Guns, and Flags.
UPDATE: The NYT is reporting that all the big banks we just bailed out are still going to suffer, suffer, suffer once all the commercial real estate purchased/overvalued during the past decade implodes.
Stock analysts say commercial real estate is the next ticking time bomb for banks, which have already received hundreds of billions of dollars in capital and other assistance from the federal government. Big banks — like Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley — each hold tens of billions of dollars in commercial real estate securities. The banks also invested directly in properties.
Regional banks may be an even bigger concern. In the last decade, they barreled their way into commercial real estate lending after being elbowed out of the credit card and consumer mortgage business by national players. The proportion of their lending that is in commercial real estate has nearly doubled in the last six years, according to government data.
Just as home loans were pooled, then carved up and sold to investors as securities over the last two decades, commercial property loans were repackaged for the financial markets. In 2006 and 2007, nearly 60 percent of commercial property loans were turned into securities, according to Trepp, a research firm that tracks mortgage-backed securities.
Now that the market for those securities has dried up, borrowers cannot easily roll over the loans that are coming due.
Did I mention the number of "zero-interest" credit card offers I have received in the past few weeks? Some banks never learn....
Aren't we all gay, even a little bit? Gay means for pleasure, not reproduction. Isn't a little bit supposed to be for fun? Not according to the efficiency manual. Stay alive at 55.
How real does it get? Do Astronauts tell the truth or only the scientific military-based calibrated truth? I wonder if they let the astronauts on the space shuttle have sex in the name of science? Maybe they are forced to as part of their job. What could we learn about human beings by studying their weightless orgasms?
Some orgasms are very heavy. So put on a happy face!
I have gay sex all the time. I have procreated only twice. So all the others should be classified as "Not For Reproduction" which, under the laws of symmetry means those were gay sex. I put on a happy face.
Tonight in the car, I was listening to Lou Reed perform the Blue Mask. I don't think consciousness gets any more real than that. Here are the lyrics below. How do you get there? What does this song tell us about reality. About the crucifixion? About identity politics? About the I Am?
They tied his arms behind his back to teach him how to swim They put blood in his coffee and milk in his gin They stood over the soldier in the midst of the squalor There was war in his body and it caused his brain to holler
Make the sacrifice mutilate my face If you need someone to kill I'm a man without a will Wash the razor in the rain let me luxuriate in pain Please don't set me free death means a lot to me
The pain was lean and it made him scream he knew he was alive He put a pin through the nipples on his chest he thought he was a saint I've made love to my mother, killed my father and brother what am I to do When a sin goes too far, it's like a runaway car it cannot be controlled
Spit upon his face and scream there's no Oedipus today This is no play you're thinking you are in what will you say Take the blue mask down from my face and look me in the eye I get a thrill from punishment I've always been that way
I loathe and despise repentance you are permanently stained Your weakness buys indifference and indiscretion in the streets Dirty's what you are and clean is what you're not you deserve to be soundly beat
Make the sacrifice take it all the way There's no "won't" high enough to stop this desperate day Don't take death away cut the finger at the joint Cut the stallion at his mount and stuff it in his mouth
It came upon the midnight clear, That glorious song of old, From angels bending near the earth, To touch their harps of gold: "Peace on the earth good will to men, From heaven's all-gracious King." The world in solemn stillness lay, To hear the angels sing.
One of the first Christmas hymns written by an American writer and published in the Christian Register in 1849, "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" emphasizes the social implications of the angels' message: achieving peace and good will toward our fellowmen in the midst of social difficulty. The writing of this text occurred at a time in American history when there was much unrest, including the foreboding of the tensions between the North and Southern States, social upheaval due to industrial revolution, and the time of the "Forty-Niner" gold rush.
The hymn text was considered to have addressed these difficulties, urging folks to listen once again to the angels singing. The final stanza is a verse of hopeful optimism: "When peace shall over all the earth its ancient splendors fling, and the whole world gives back the song, which now the angels sing."
Rev. Edmund Hamilton Sears was born on April 6, 1810, in Sandisfield, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard Divinity School and spent life pasturing small Unitarian Churches in Massachusetts. Many were surprised that Edmund Sears, a Unitarian (believer in religious tolerance and support of liberty of conscience), could write such a fine text surrounding Christ's nativity. He was viewed to be more a Unitarian in name than by conviction, for he believed and preached the deity of Christ from his pulpit.
Sears was a quiet man who shunned the public. He preferred to live in small towns with small congregations where he could devote most of his time to studying, thinking, and writing. When he was 24, Sears wrote a carol titled Calm on the Listening Ear, which was inspired by the text of Luke 2:13-14 “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
Fifteen years later the United States was on the cusp of the Civil War. Sears once again returned to his theme of “peace on earth, good will toward men.” His second attempt at the song proved to be more popular than his first. However, today’s singers do not grasp the depth of his emotion at that point in history since the stanza that contextualizes it is usually omitted.
Yet with the woes of sin and strife The world hath suffered long; Beneath the angel-strain have rolled Two thousand years of wrong; And man, at war with man, hears not The love song which they bring: O hush the noise, ye men of strife, And hear the angels sing!
Dresden
For info on another of my favorite carols, click here.
...For although in a certain sense and for light-minded persons non-existent things can be more easily and irresponsibly represented in words than existing things, for the serious historian it is just the reverse. Nothing is harder, yet nothing is more necessary, than to speak of certain things whose existence is neither demonstrable nor probable. The very fact that there are serious and conscientious who treat such as existing things brings them a step closer to existence and to the possibility of being born.
Albertus Secundus tract. de cristall. spirit. ed. Clangor et Collof. lib. I, cap. 28.
(Holograph translation by Joseph Knecht)
Ask not what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive...then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
I would like to introduce you to Mr. Kittens and Kate. Two travelling minstrels going from hear to their, on a great big clipper ship. He is (or his parents are) from Houston, she is from somewhere in the deep six south. They play for free living life about as raw as a stuffed kitten cannibal could. I wish them luck with thier Rainbow.
Let me introduce the adoring hordes to TJ and Brad of Tribal Butterfly. I think she said they got engaged about three hours after meeting each other. This is how things happen at the root chakra of amerikkka.
I am in new orleans. two blocks from the continent's lower digestive tract. and it is disintegrating before our very eyes. some call it evolution. some call it progress. some call it hell. some don't call at all.
New Orleans is where to good come to get dirty. they take lent seriously here and get ready as one would for a long walk in the desert. as much as you can. ask an israeli fighter pilot how to prepare for tomorrow
today may be a good day, tomorrow might be an eternity
tj told me that her brother committed suicide when he was 18. she wrote a song about finding him (see title)
They say what happens in vegas stays in vegas. This town is not vegas. vegas is silicate sand at high temperatures. nola is mud and slime. vegas records everything. nola preserves everything. there is no telling what happens in this town. not that they can't, its just that it doesnt matter. tom and jim's raft is still out there, even post katrina. the river still brings the outcasts and the castoffs. but they are not the interesting ones tonight. i am watching the competent souls that need freedom from the angels for just one night. to fly that free, they shape shift in the one place god promised not to look. they pretend to be french and become stars in their own neon dreams. and you take the devil's sacrament of maize and coca, and star in your own bourbon street of dreams
In my humble opinion, most people want to touch the real through a medium. Last night, I was talking to the bathroom attendant at a Bourbon Street bar. (I was watching this spot on band called Tribal Butterfly). Anyway, this distinguish 54 year old man who earns his living handing out paper towels, cologne, chewing gum, and cigarettes in the men's room. Very intimate. He has two kids, both grown up. I asked him what was the one most important thing he has learned in life thus far. Without a missing a beat he said you can't see the face of god and live.
I was reading MarcLord's ramble on mormonism in a portion of a comment at Adored by Hordes (linked here) MarCo sez:
In the research, I studied every interaction of the best BS artist yet born on the American continent, Joseph Smith, founder of the LDS Church. His powers and wit were such he sometimes converted sane, prosperous, strong-minded men to his cult literally within seconds of chance first meetings.
Here's the thing: the biggest reason he was successful was he believed his own bullshit. Yes there's power in the dark side, in dissimulation, in fakery, in exaggeration, but it's the core belief that provides the greater power, not the cynical misuse of it. Smith was also guilty of that, and it's what got him killed.
Oh, the merged trajectories of desire and belief. After securing the financial support of enough followers, Joseph Smith had to deal with his expansive libido. So god revealed to him the eternal doctrine of polygamy, which is: more women, being inherently more righteous than men, progress to the highest plane of heaven, which is godhood, and each god creates a universe with spirit children and worlds. Therefore, in practising polygamy, we emulate the gods, the ancients in the Bible, and 70% of the earth's population to this day. Smith had a gift for tidy doctrine, yet I have no doubt he deeply believed polygamy as coming not from himself, but divine revelation.
Ole Joe Smith was a prophet (with a capital A), and he was real. I think he was really fucking cool. He did just what Jesus, John the Baptist, Sitting Bull, Job, Rilke, Moshe and others have done: They went out into nature and saw god. How cool is that? (even if it was just a finger)
Yeah, maybe it wasn't your god. Maybe you aren't willing to let that god near your root chakra, and maybe Smith started using his "I get it" for social engineering purposes, and he crashed and burned in a Butch Cassidy ending "Hyrum, how many do you think are out there? 10? 15?"
But I do think that if you keep going bank to the same spot in nature for four years (and you know he was back there everyday, I mean if you see god somewhere you don't wait 365 days to go back). Well, if you spend that much time in nature, you are soon going to see the truth about the garden of eden, and from there on out it is all downhill.
1. You shall have no other gods before me 2. You shall not make for yourself an idol 3. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of your God 4. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy 5. Honor your father and mother 6. You shall not kill 7. You shall not commit adultery 9. You shall not steal 10. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor 11. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor
I heard that there are a bunch of people who want to put the 10 commandments in court rooms. And there is another group of folks who think doing so would violate the Constitution’s separation of church and state. Well, call me a secular theocrat, but some of these things don’t have a damn to do with religion. Take “you shall not steal” -- well not take directly cuz that would be stealing and you would have to go to hell. But I think we all agree that stealing is wrong – so lets put it up. Got nothing to do with Jesus, Mohammad, Lao Tzu, Buddha or Santa Claus. It passes the test.
So of the others, the ones about coveting, and bearing false witness are actually written into our secular laws. So put ‘em up. Now some clearly have to do with G*d. These are 1, 3, and 4. Government can’t punish someone for hitting themselves on the thumb with a hammer, so we can’t outlaw any associated reactions. Plus, the government does a real bad job regulating concepts. Look what happened to the likes of war on inflation, and war on terror, and war on Christmas. So those 4 are out.
Then there is a grey area with the others: Graven images? Honoring parents? Adultery? All are close to the religious line, but they don’t cross it. So they could go up. But then again, a lot of people get riled when the government starts talking regulation around social issues. So this is a toss up. What if we put them up with asterisks that indicated there shall be no attempt for the government to enforce such laws? Then what the hell – put ‘em up if makes people happy.
This is an important area of common ground. Religious people would be glad to get 4 to 7 of their big concepts past the censors, and the liberal George W. Bush distrusters can remind Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, and Alberto Gonzales that they are not supposed to lie and the judges are reminded daily to keep their eyes and ears alert for crimes and misdemeanours.
So if there is common ground on this, maybe we can all honestly work toward reducing the number of unwanted babies and pregnancies, slowing the killing in the middle east, and healing God’s project called planet earth. Because if there is an omnipotent God and he told us to be stewards of our brothers AND all creation…well I think he will be kind of p.o.ed. No wonder some people want the rapture – “oops, I’m outta here!”
Does your common ground include me or is it just sound.
The American Folk Movement is alive and well. These two yahoo high school teachers went out and answered a question that could become very important for themselves. And they were nice enough to share this experiment with the world so we know how it works. Where was UCLA, Princeton, Southern Methodist, Miami, Alaska Fairbanks or my alma maters? I doubt even the University of New Delhi was going to explore America for this answer because it is not an interesting question to them. The truth about life will only come from the streets. By what you do at home in your own quiet desperation. What experiment have you quietly undertaken? What experiments do you think you should be undertaking right now? Please share. Charles Bukowski did.
Before anyone calls the police to report my racial mixing of sacred religious icons, I want to praise the quest for salvation from birth through pupation of life. Lou Reed sings about the crucifixion and salvation of his cross in this song. About the desire for freedom from the pain of existence. The same pain of existence that the reenact each week in churches everywhere. Free me from the pain of existence. Take me home to the bosom of mother. Suckle me. Keep me safe oh lord. Please take my pain. I am all alone. Even with everyone crowding up next to me, almost touching me. Just keep me from being afraid because I don't know what is going on. I feel positive about the whole thing, the future, flying blind, but I don't know if I can do it. Give me strength. I feel just like Jesus' son...
It is all the same story. The great negro spirituals about freedom. Take me home mama. Can you see Paul Robeson singing Heroin? Well, maybe Buckwheat Zydeco or Ziggy Marley. But can you imagine being backed up by Max Roach on drums, George Clinton on base, Cecil Taylor on chaos, and de la soul for harmony. And Michael Faranti on integrity. Sweet Honey and the Rock as backup? Let freedom ring.
Imagine them performing this song as a spiritual. It would be first and foremost, a beautiful event to have those guys performing together. But it could also open a tiny connection between cultures at the side.
This is, after all, the truth: to have the capacity of meeting everything anew, from moment to moment, without the conditioning reaction of the past, so that there is not a cumulative effect which acts as a barrier between oneself and that which is.
"You scared yourself with music, I scared myself with paint"
-- Lou Reed "quoting" Andy Warhol
Open House Songs for Drella
Terrence McKenna was perusing the Tollman Psyche Library at UC Berkeley when he pulled a book off the shelf about schizophrenia. He recounted that the book said "these people live in a world of their own twilight imagining..." His response was -- "This is IT!, This is IT!!!"
Schizophrenia is coming face to face with the four winds, the seven chakras, the ten personalities, the twelve tribes, the multidimensionality of alien space. So how does one manage in this evolutionary process?
Cubism is greater than the third power. It is an eyeful. Braque and Picasso were more than friends. Picasso said Braque was his best wife. They presented two dimensional representations of multidimensional six senses (if you count thinking) around a fixed identifiable object. Oil-based crystal balls. The past, the future, a series of interweaving three dimensions based on smell, sound, sight, touch, taste, and symbols.
So how do you manage reality? How do you acknowledge reality? Most of the time, I can barely juggle five levels of reality at once -- height, width, depth, time, and thought. Generally I process those by sight and hearing. I rarely use smell and taste, only a few times a day. And I hurry through, keep it safe. Touch is constant but mostly relegated to the background shadows of the unexplored world.
Picasso and Braque, god rest their souls, managed their multidimensional friendship. Jazz. They should be examples to us all.
I just got this joke from my buddy Riccardo the agnostic Samaritan.
ABSOLUTELY - The Funniest Joke Ever ! . . . ON US Does anybody out there have any memory of the reason given for the establishment of the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY during the Carter Administration?
Anybody?
Anything?
No? Didn't think so.
Bottom line: we've spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency the reason for which not one person who reads this can remember.
Ready? It was very simple, and at the time everybody thought it very appropriate.
The Department of Energy was instituted on 8-04-1977 -- TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.
HEY, PRETTY EFFICIENT, HUH? AND NOW IT'S 2008 -- 31 YEARS LATER AND THE BUDGET FOR THIS NECESSARY DEPARTMENT IS AT $24.2 BILLION A YEAR. THEY HAVE 16,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES, APPROXIMATELY 100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES AND LOOK AT THE JOB THEY HAVE DONE!
THIS IS WHERE YOU SLAP YOUR FOREHEAD AND SAY 'WHAT WAS I THINKING?' Ah yes, good ole Bureaucracy. And now we are turning the Banking system over to them? God Help us.
I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.
Here is the story that is true of all Armageddons from the beginning. The Jewish Armageddons, the Christian Armageddon, the Maoist Armageddon, the Environmental Armageddon, the Education Armageddon, and the New American Armageddon. We are surrounded.
In a building of gold, with riches untold, lived the families on which the country was founded. And the merchants of style, with their red velvet smiles, were there, for they also were hounded. And the soft middle class crowded in to the last, for the building was fully surrounded. And the noise outside was the ringing of revolution.
Sadly they stared and sank in their chairs and searched for a comforting notion. And the rich silver walls looked ready to fall As they shook in doubtful devotion. The ice cubes would clink as they freshened their drinks, wet their minds in bitter emotion. And they talked about the ringing of revolution.
We were hardly aware of the hardships they beared, for our time was taken with treasure. Oh, life was a game, and work was a shame, And pain was prevented by pleasure. The world, cold and grey, was so far away In the distance only money could measure. But their thoughts were broken by the ringing of revolution.
The clouds filled the room in darkening doom as the crooked smoke rings were rising. How long will it take, how can we escape Someone asks, but no one's advising. And the quivering floor responds to the roar, In a shake no longer surprising. As closer and closer comes the ringing of revolution.
Softly they moan, please leave us alone As back and forth they are pacing. And they cover their ears and try not to hear WIth pillows of silk they're embracing. And the crackling crowd is laughing out loud, peeking in at the target they're chasing. Now trembling inside the ringing of revolution.
With compromise sway we give in half way When we saw that rebellion was growing. Now everything's lost as they kneel by the cross Where the blood of christ is still flowing. To late for their sorrow they've reached their tomorrow and reaped the seed they were sowing. Now harvested by the ringing of revolution.
In tattered tuxedos they faced the new heroes and crawled about in confusion. And they sheepishly grinned for their memories were dim of the decades of dark execution. Hollow hands were raised; they stood there amazed in the shattering of their illusions. As the windows were smashed by the ringing of revolution.
Down on our knees we're begging you please, We're sorry for the way you were driven. There's no need to taunt just take what you want, and we'll make amends, if we're living. But away from the grounds the flames told the town that only the dead are forgiven. As they crumbled inside the ringing of revolution.
I currently practice kundalini yoga, johrei, and wilderness awareness. I am currently outside the law of the mothership without a tether.
I was a University of Chicago trained economist in a former carnation.
I am part of a nuclear family.
I have a good professional resume.
I would love to be able to channel J. Krishnamurti, Aldous Huxley, Albert Camus, and Terrance MeKenna. Oh yeah, and Jesus, Buddha, Mohammad, and Gandhi. I would really love to get their groove on. As well as jack kerouac, crazy horse, and ingwe.
I think there are secret prophetic messages in almost all pieces of art, and our job is to take them and exist in a better world.
I think mother earth is god.
I think we as a society are trying to kill god out of hatred.
I think mom is running out of patience.
I have hope.
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