March 25, 2013
March 25, 2013
Trade liberty for safety or money and you'll end up with neither. Liberty, like a grain of salt, easily dissolves.
The power of questioning -- not simply believing -- has no friends. Yet liberty depends on it. ***
Oops, no financial contribution again this time around. Year to date: $560.47.
Note from the Editors:
A few somber anniversaries are upon us, including 100 days since the tragic Newtown, Connecticut, school massacre and 10 years since the illegal and immoral invasion and destruction of Iraq. Meanwhile, gun and ammo stockpiling continues, as does the Congressional hand-wringing over how "hard" gun control legislation would be to implement despite popular support. Perhaps it's time to wage a new war of distraction against another corner of the axis of evil -- Iran? North Korea? Keep an eye on the rhetoric, and read Michael DeLang's consideration of society's continual acceptance of violence; whether governmental or individual, anonymous or notorious, the ends never justify the means but the perpetrators always feel justified... Perhaps one day war for oil will be a thing of the past and we'll take our environment seriously and follow the likes of Norway, Iceland, or Canada and become dependent on hydroelectric power instead. Glenn Reed's doing his part along side many activists taking on coal trains, tar sands oil, and other continued dirty energy development. As he eloquently points out, change is not coming from the top.
Another source of environmental insult is the meat industry -- Raju Peddada examines the polluting effects of meat-eating on our ecosystem and our bodies. Similarly, Manuel García, Jr. explains how mindful eating of fresh whole foods powers healthy living and prevents economic exploitation by eating disorder. And some food for thought comes from Michael Barker, who ponders Carl Jung's selective consciousness, and Gilles d'Aymery, who muses about the election of a new Pope and the likelihood of Vatican change, a few notable and lesser-known passings, the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War, and the laughable circus in France.
On the culture front, Paul Buhle reviews Mel Donalson's Communion, a remarkable work that plunges us into modern Los Angeles where the underclass lives badly in every sense, and Peter Byrne looks at the imaginative British documentary filmmaker Patrick Keiller. Guido Monte poetically describes a recent and sad example of suicide by an unemployed Sicilian man, and we close with a reader's letter taking exception to Michael Barker's critiques of Rudolf Steiner.
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Patterns Which Connect
Seeking A Moral Calculus
A couple of news threads that have recently been playing out in both the American commercial media and the blogosphere have brought to mind William T. Vollman's massive study on violence, Rising Up And Rising Down. I speak specifically of the tragic gunning down of Connecticut schoolchildren and the ensuing storm of rhetoric regarding weapons legislation, and of President Barack Obama's overreaching executive program of tactical assassination of non-combatants, although any number of stories appearing in any given news cycle of the last few decades could easily apply. More... Michael DeLang is a self-defined middle-aged blue collar worker in the trucking industry who lives in Golden, Colorado.
The Gestalt Of Coal Trains, Pipelines, Climate Change & Golfing As Usual
It's a typical February day in Washington State. Intermittent rain and gray skies. My partner and I make the drive from the Skagit Valley down to Golden Gardens Park in Seattle in about an hour and fifteen minutes. People are gathering near two shelters on the beach when we arrive. More... Glenn Reed is a long-time activist and author who lives in Fair Haven, Vermont.
Meat: The Taste of Sin - Part II
Can we celebrate life without something dead on our plate? Can we celebrate at all, without this gruesome paradox? Every year ten billion land animals are slaughtered in the U.S. alone for food, and almost fifty-eight billion worldwide -- Are we going green, or red? More... Raju Peddada is an industrial designer who lives in Des Plaines, Illinois.
Eating And Mindful Metabolic Management
Our most intimate connection to the rest of life on Planet Earth is eating. In recycling through ourselves the cornucopia of life-forms prepared and mixed into the stream of food we consume, we literally absorb the energy and variety of nutrients they had accumulated during their lives, to now power our bodies and influence our myriad internal biochemical processes. To some degree, by eating we mesh our life-cycles with those of many other species. More... Manuel García, Jr. is a retired physicist, author, and family man who lives in Oakland, California.
Carl Jung's Selective Consciousness (Part I of II)
Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) is a well-known figure, who following other aristocratic gurus much like Madame Blavatsky, demanded cult-like respect by writing what was effectively a bible for his Jungian movement. Titled The Red Book, this esoteric text held his followers in awe for decades, but unlike Blavatsky's own biblical tomes, Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine, which provided a textual means of propagating her Theosophical nonsense, Jung's book has, until very recently, remained locked away to all but the most privileged initiates. More... Michael Barker is an independent researcher who lives in London, England.
Tidbits Flying Across the Martian Desk
Blips #133
"To create is to resist. To resist is to create." Gilles d'Aymery is Swans' publisher and co-editor.
Hungry Man, Reach For The Book
In The Path Of Walter Mosley
This is a remarkable work, plunging us into modern Los Angeles where the underclass, notably the young, minority underclass here, lives badly in every sense. The author is a Cal State English professor, a notable film scholar, poet, screen writer, and politically progressive Christian who believes deeply in community involvement, and knows wherefrom he writes. He also writes very, very well. More... Paul Buhle is a retired academic and comics' editor who lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
Arts & Culture
Patrick Keiller's Look-and-Think Films
How is it that Patrick Keiller, who only makes documentary films, has been called (by Owen Hatherley) "the most original geographical and political thinker in Britain"? It has to be because he makes a new kind of documentary. The old kind has been characterized (by Iain Sinclair) as "print journalism with jump-cuts...not a journey of discovery, but the justification of a script-approved argument... The world is explained (censored) as it is revealed, with language reduced to the function of cement -- holding together disparate elements." More... Peter Byrne is an American-born teacher and writer who lives in Lecce, Italy.
Multilingual Poetry
Suicide in Trapani
giuseppe hanged himself on his doorstep Guido Monte teaches Italian and Latin literature in Palermo, Italy.
Letters to the Editor
A reader criticizes "the increasing level of libel regarding Rudolf Steiner to be found in Michael Barker's essays...". More... We appreciate your comments. Please, remember to sign your e-mails with your real name and add your city, state, country, address and phone number. If we publish your opinion we will only include your name, city, state, and country. Thank you.
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