Ports and nest of problems

It appears the operation of our ports by Dubai

has opened up a nest of problems. We have no

choice but to sell our assets to our creditors. They

are demanding it, or they call in our debt. I always

thought there was something fishy about being in

debt to foreign nations and corporations. That's it.

That's why "commercial interests" are buying up

all U.S. assets. We prefer that they just buy up

our I.O.U.s and collect interest , but that just led to

their buying up everything.

 

The Dubai deal is going thru March 2 regardless

of the 45 day investigation. They take over the ports

in 3 days, and the only thing that will stop it is 

going to federal courts.

 

And the Dubai co. owned by an Arab govt thus

controlled by an Arab govt has threatened CNN

to stop Lou Dobbs from reporting anything about

what is going on. They have cut CNN out from any

info or accessibility, but CNN won't cave. They stand

by Lou Dobbs.

Dubai Ports World

Does anyone think this is strange......?

 

Dubai Ports World is requesting a 45 day investigation required

by U.S. Congress and the U.S. Treasury says they will begin

when they get the formal request from Dubai Ports World and

Bush says he accepts their request.

The human spirit

The human spirit is more powerful than any drug and

that is what needs to be nourished.

Petty spats turning deadly?

2-12-06 news item from Milwaukee has been

haunting me...that part of me with the sociology

background . So I pass it on to my readers.

 " While violent crime has been at historic lows nationwide and

in cities like New York, Miami and Los Angeles, it is rising

sharply in Milwaukee and in many other places across the

country. And while such crime in the 1990s was characterized

by battles over gangs and drug turf, the police say the current

rise in homicides has been set off by something more bewildering:

petty disputes that hardly even seem the stuff of fistfights.

Milwaukee Police Chief Nannette Hegerty calls it "the rage thing".

We're seeing a very angry population, and....they go right

to guns," she said."

 

It makes me think of Columbine. And by the way, the word is

out that boys who did that were on anti-depressants or derivatives

of Serotonin uptake inhibitors. You can read about that at

DrugAwareness.org....M Blake Tracey. 

 

Presence and Pain

Living in the present is the most precious experience
unless you are in a lot of physical pain or you are
disabled, then it's not so much fun. There are ways
to handle 'the pain' thru connecting to others mentally
who are also in 'the pain' , but I think you have to be
prepared ahead before you are in 'the pain'.

If you're badly disabled, sometimes not relating to it
constantly is a survival gift. My thoughts, today, about
living in the present. Denial is good sometimes..

Democracies or Corporations

I see and hear so much talk about living in a democracy, and our Bill of Rights

yet from my experience working 50 hours a week in a corporation, no freedoms

or Bill of Rights existed for me. I was not informed about what was going on,

I was not allowed to ask questions (except about my job), I was not allowed to

speak to most of the other employees unless it concerned my work. There was

no free speech, and obedience was the law. It was strictly authoritarian, no

equality. I didn't have time to know what's going on in the outside world

where people lived in a democracy. I am quite uncertain about this democracy

we live in because it's not to be found in the workplace, nor in the military nor

in the industrial complex. Now corporations have taken over our lawmakers and

administration. I can't seem to find democratic principles for everyday working

man or woman. I wonder if it isn't a luxury item for those who don't work or

for business owners.  

living in the present

There are wonderful lessons about living in the
present and worth our attention. And yet, if you don't
plant the seeds to grow in the spring, you will go hungry
as well as those you love. Living in the present should
come later (or a little along the way) when you are covered
for food, clothing, shelter, and medical care for yourself
and those whom you love to care for.

I once sat in a room with a Swami and a few followers
when that question was raised by an attendee. How
can I travel if I don't plan ahead? The Swami was saying,
well, sometimes you have to do it. My comment was,
if you want to live only in the present, you will have to find
someone else to dothe planning for you,
which is what that particular
Swami did for his travels.

So, it looks like, if you are a spiritual tutor, you offer
your presense for a price. Have I got that right?

I have found, in the face of great emotional pain, living
totally and gratefully in the present set me free of 'the
pain'. But it did not make working easier, and in fact,
it made anything but menial labor almost impossible.
So be aware of the prophet or teacher who tells you to
live in the present. I once heard a opening address by
a spiritual teacher at the Calif. Assoc. of Marriage
and Family Counselors. He said, " if you ask a person
to live in the present, you are asking them to be willing
to die"

Drugs, Etc. to cover insanity . .

In January I wrote under 'Telling the Truth" a bit about
drugs. Here are some thoughts by Eckhart Tolle from his
book, 'The Power of Now' in the same vein.

"Most human are still in the grip of the egoic mode of consciousness:
identified with their mind and run by their mind. If they do not free
themselves from their mind in time, they will be destroyed by it.
They will experience increasing confusion, conflict, violence, illness,
despair, madness. Egoic mind has become like a sinking ship. If you
don't get off, you will go down with it. The collective egoic mind
is the most dangerously insane and destructive entity ever to inhabit
this planet.

Already for most humans , the only respite they find from their own
minds is to occasionally revert to a level of consciousness below thought.
Everyone does that every night during sleep. But this also happens to some
extent through sex, alcohol, other drugs that suppress excessive mind
activity (including overeating & overviewing TV). If it weren't for alcohol,
tranquilizers, antidepressants, as well as illegal drugs , which are all
consumed in vast quantities (and now by our children), the insanity of
the human mind would become even more glaringly obvious than it is
already. I believe that, if deprived of their drugs, a large part of the population
would become a danger to themselves and others. These drugs , of course,
keep you stuck in dysfunction. Their widespread use only delays the breakdown
of the old mind structures and the emergence of higher consciousness. While
individual users may get some relief from the daily torture inflicted on them
by their minds, they are prevented from generating enough conscious presence
to rise above thoughts and so find true liberation."

(parentheses mine)

Telegram for you

In the news:

Just want to mark this date that the last telegram
has been sent. Those were the days ! Getting or
sending one was a blast...an adventure. As a youngun
traveling, it was a safe haven too, to get money
from home. And I want to honor the messengers who
originally went to your door or to your hotel or
theatre to deliver.

Billions of our tax dollars

To promote what the administration wants
to promote,
from education proposals to
pentagon public relations, etc.,etc.
Paying advertising agencies.
How is that legal?


Congratulations to the State Legislature of
Arizona. They have a plan passing to withhold
from the Fed Govt, all income taxes paid by the
people of Arizona. The state will collect it, deduct
the cost of border protection and send the balance
to the IRS. It's legal.

current events

Now the gun-totin' Republican lawyer knows

how the Quail feel !!  

a bit of Tao Te Ching . . .

In being without

desires,

you experience the

wonder;

but by having desires,

you experience

the journey.

 

Yet both spring

from the same source

and

differ mostly in name.

a little Zen

From the third Zen patriarch, verses on the faith mind.....

                                                          by Sengstan

 

The Great Way is not difficult

for those who have no preferences.

When love and hate are both absent

everything becomes clear and undisguised.

Make the smallest distinction, however

and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.

 

If you wish to see the truth

then hold no opinions for or against anything. 

Spirit of love and light and God

I think the spirit of love is light;and, if you are full of light, it is your fullfillment in life to shed your light on darkness.
If you are light, that's what you do...you bring light to the darkness. So when we turn our heads away because we
don't want to look at the darkness, we cannot bring light to the dark. We are not sufficiently full of light. That's why,
I think, all programs of spiritual development have a cleansing first....so the light of God can shine thru us. Some
people have so much light in them, God shines thru them to heal others. Others have so little light, they have to
be around others who have much light in order to feel loved.