UFOs aka: UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) have been in the news a lot lately. Documented on-the-ground (or near-the-ground) presences would certainly change everything, beginning with the utter certainly that we are not alone, and that other beings’ technological knowledge vastly outpace any nation on earth’s. That epiphany in itself would likely cause mass panic and fear…for most people.
For your consideration, this longish op-ed column by Pepe Escobar, April 2, 2020, strategic-culture.org Given ‘republishable with attribution, I’ll paste all of it in so that the entire flavor of it comes though, even though you may know much of it already. I’ve added a few bolds for emphasis.
“As much as Covid-19 is a circuit breaker, a time bomb and an actual weapon of mass destruction (WMD), a fierce debate is raging worldwide on the wisdom of mass quarantine applied to entire cities, states and nations.
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The title is an essay by Ted Steinberg published on September 6, 2019 at counterpunch. He’s kindly given me permission to reprint it all, given that I’d told him that not only is it one of the best pieces (a dual hero journey) I’ve read in a long time, but it really should be read all of a piece. Had I needed to retell some it, surely I’d have made a hash of it. It’s chock-full of the many epiphanies both he and Edward Said had experienced along their roads less traveled.
Mr. Stinberg uses plain-speak, non-academic language throughout, perhaps because the vignette begins with himself at age 13, and he weaves ‘the cake’ motif as a central touchstone throughout the progression, and along the way discovers that the indigenous in Israel had been airbrushed out of history in his Hebrew school. I hope you’ll think it’s a brilliant as I do, and appreciate it even half as much.
As a side note, I’ve struggled not to bold or italicize any text I’d wanted to draw emphasize, and it’s been hard (smile). Enjoy!
I’m not a card-carrying feminist, but more of the accidental feminist variety. I’d reluctantly gone to two women’s lib meetings when I was at CU, and thought: meh; how very revolutionary to burn yer bras. The accidental part concerns the fact that I labored in many traditionally ‘male only’ venues: construction crews, learned carpentry, worked ‘maintenance’ for the City of Cortez to make enough money to go to massage therapy school, later built a house with Mr. wd, learned to lay river rock, cold-chisel paving stones, and all that. I got my first construction job after being pinched in bum by some asshat where I was waiting tables in Breckenridge, CO; I said fukkit, threw my apron on the bar, and got the hell outta there.
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(venus as the morning star rising with la luna bella)
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Posted in social commentary/prediction
Good evening; this is the early edition of the news.
In what Republican lawmakers described as ‘an easy vote’, the House today moved a step closer to avoiding a year-end government shutdown when it passed a one trillion dollar omnibus spending bill. The Senate expects a floor vote on the compromise bill soon, and rhetoric from both parties suggested that Senate Democrats are increasingly flexible, probably due to the new leverage Republicans have gained by passing their own version of the payroll-tax-holiday extension.
There’s an eerie silence over the land; I’m hearing friends far and near speak of it with concern and wonderment. Sure, the chattering political classes are doing their same old pompous picayune pissing contests, calling the electoral horseraces as though there’ s freaking election next week…never asking any of the right questions, content to keep to the scripted menu of allowable faux-discussion.
This will be my last entry, and I don’t know if anyone will ever read it; but I feel the need to chronicle what passes for life these days. My last entry was over four months ago, I see here…where did the time go? I’m going to hide it in a metal box under the loose floor board before we leave to keep it safe…just in case someone finds it one day and can hear what…well, anyway.
Posted in social commentary/prediction
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God…in Pencil
A good Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to us all. (a reprise from Oct. 21, 2011)
When I listen to Martin Luther King, Jr. speak, I can believe in God. There may be other times I have, but I can’t remember them specifically. In discussions about belief or not, I’ve heard people say that their personal stories have been determinant. A lot of them include hitting some emotional or spiritual bottom, and hearing a message from God, then being reborn in some state that exemplifies grace, along with which comes both a knowledge of, and a belief in, God; sort of a personal relationship.
I don’t know this place; this sort of state. Throughout the many dark nights of the soul I’ve experienced, I’ve never found that comfort or profound communication they describe. And yet I like to say prayers. The time spent in gratitude for my life, or mindful intentionality about my place and behavior in the universe can be nourishing, and requires no belief. It’s more an acknowledgement that it feels good to be part of something larger, to be connected, even if it’s just to all the best thought-energy sailing around in my local branch of the universe. You know; a hippie version of spirituality. What I mean to say is: Whether or not I believe in God isn’t a problem for me.
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Posted in social commentary/prediction, spiritual/metaphysical/visionary, Uncategorized
Tagged jr., MLK