I just came across something I wrote awhile ago with which to introduce myself to all of you. Some of you are old friends, but some just have connected with our site and don't know who's behind it. This was an article I was asked to write about myself three years ago or so, for a publication in Italy that sponsored a conference at which I was a speaker (my topic was “The Future of the New Age“). Then, if you'd like to know more about Lex Hixon, whom I quote at the beginning and end of my piece and on whose shoulders I stand, you can read about him on pages I maintain on the Net. He was an extraordinary human being, who played with us mortals on even footing. You can start with the bulletin board I have up for comments about him that I think will stir your hearts. In this new year, I'm thankful for the privilege of coming into your lives. There are such wise people on this list that I have visions of what could happen if that wisdom were pooled. Now, I'm finally set up in my new cyberspace configuration, which will help to do that. With every entry, there's a place for comments — remarks will come to me and I'll post what advances the action. I've never been party to any cyberspace interaction that accomplishes what I have in mind, and I'll be feeling my way to evolve ours as I try to make it a meaningful exchange. What you'll find on the new site are posts that are dear to me. It's been longer than ever between Updates this time, thanks to this switch of formats and to the holidays, so I've honed down to especially outstanding things. There's more here than I will let accumulate between future Updates, and I hope that doesn't deter you from taking time to read what's posted, and also to link through to original articles. I've kept the December Monthly Report as the first entry. Old listmembers have seen that Report, but note that I've worked on the part entitled “CROP CIRCLE INQUIRY,” which I'm using to solicit conversation. If you or anybody you know is influential, and the subject is of interest to you, jump in and/or pass this writing on. You'll also find an entry I call “CROP CIRCLE SMARTS,” about the limits of what even our most advance technologies could be doing to make the circles. What needs to be understood is that there is an inexplicable phenomenon, and this info shoots down a popular attempt to ascribe the circles to human cause. You can count on being kept up to date as well as encouraged to share your understanding and ideas about this single topic that I think stands a chance of evoking the change of consciousness that the world so needs. Another piece meant to generate conversation is something I wrote, “Could We Spark a Campaign?” And more along that line is, “What's Needed is a New National Undertanding.” I'm encouraging progressives to unite in a new thrust — to cease thinking of fighting for the poor and start focusing on getting the cooperation of the affluent. My intention with these pieces is to try to shape a body of thought and a consequent body of action that goes beyond liberal and progressive thinking, where fighting to get what we want still prevails. As I've said before, I'm not passing along as much from the world press as I used to, so the things I do post are especially outstanding. So it is with listmember Ed Herman's writing, which is as good an overview of the Iraq folly and its potential consequences as you will find — and with another great writer, John Pilger, giving a chilling summary of a longstanding master plan that Iraq fits into. Pilger also clarifies some of what is not obvious to any of us, where he digs into the mind-set of journalists to understand their deep-seated bias. The public is at their effect, and it is hugely helpful to be able to see through their smokescreen of what passes for reality. As I say in a post about another piece from the Media Lens (Correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media) excellent tell-it-like-it-is site, “Understanding is Power.” There is yet a third entry that reflects on the media's grip on us, “Misinterpreting Osama's Message,” a quintessential illustration of how the media twist what we'd see for ourselves if we read source material and didn't just take their word for things. The enemy can be us. Not every function on the site is optimized yet, so there will be some things that may not add up, but it's pretty close to being the model that will serve for the next while. I hope you like it!
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Thomas Friedman’s hawkish ways
From: Walter Starck [ggoldend@bigpond.net.au] — Sending you “A War for Oil?” by Thomas Friedman
To Walter from Suzanne
Yes, let's tell the truth about how important oil is:
“But wait a minute. There is nothing illegitimate or immoral about the U.S. being concerned that an evil, megalomaniacal dictator might acquire excessive influence over the natural resource that powers the world's industrial base.”
But I have a problem with Friedman having “no problem with a war for oil.” Because it's best that oil be in our hands, war is OK as a way to get it? I don't think so. This is a good example of how pervasive the zeitgeist is, to where the best we can do is be good at the wrong game. We've got to open a possibility of war not being the way, period — and for making it a world that is up to mutual benefit and not staked on victors vanquishing enemies.
Talking with Walter Starck about “Time Magazine” Persons of the Year
From: Walter Starck [ggoldend@bigpond.net] — re “The Three Whistleblowers”
It is great that some people are willing to speak out and despite the disclaimers I don't think their gender is coincidental. It is also disturbing but hardly surprising that many in their organizations seem more concerned about the revelation of problems than they are with doing anything about them.
To Walter from Suzanne
I liked the Time cover. It's a more sophisticated and gutsy choice than I'd have thought they would make — biting the hand that feeds them sort of thing.
I love this: “More unusually, all three are married but serve as the chief breadwinners in their families. Cooper and Rowley have husbands who are full-time, stay-at-home dads.” Blowing out all preconceptions.
This is great — it's quintessentially female in terms of reciprocity versus the male tendency to rugged individualism: “During the ordeals of this year, it energized them to know that there were two other women out there fighting the same kind of battles. In preparation for their meeting in Minneapolis, WorldCom's Cooper read through the testimony that Enron's Watkins gave before Congress. 'I actually broke out in a cold sweat,' Cooper says. In Minneapolis, when FBI lawyer Rowley heard Cooper talk about a need for regular people to step up and do the right thing, she stood up and applauded.”
As Cooper says, “This is a wake-up call for the country.” I like what she thinks we're waking up to: “There's a responsibility for all Americans—teachers, mothers, fathers, college professors, corporate people—to help and make sure the moral and ethical fabric of the country is strong.”
I was watching Frontline, I think the same day that you sent me the Time email. It was a story about Bhutan, which seemed unbelievable. As it says in an article about Bhutan on the PBS Website, “Gross national happiness is more important than gross national product,” because, “happiness takes precedence over economic prosperity in our national development process.”
More choice parts: “It is hardly surprising that people here often speak of 'the outside world' as if it were another celestial body…Maybe we are somewhat isolated from the world, but we feel part of a living community that is not just connected by wires. That's why 95 percent of us exchange students return home. By and large, you would have to say people are happy here…because an individual's quest for happiness and inner and outer freedom is the most precious endeavor, society's ideal of governance and polity should promote this endeavor…the last Shangri-La…a paradise on earth.”
