Gay Mystics

Taylor Lautner in support of FCKH8

2012-01-31T08:59:00.000-08:00

Quite a hot photo of young Mr. Lautner supporting the "Born This Way" campaign. If only this were a coming out photo, but of course it's nothing of the kind. Taylor is simply lending his 'cool' to the campaign to support young gay teens and end bullying. But what a marvelous photo from this young pop idol.

And here's Zac Efron getting into the act:

On a related note, while researching play versions of Agatha Christie novels, I came across British gay playwright, Kevin Elyot (who wrote a version of Christie's And Then There Were None for the stage). Author of the renowned 90's drama, My Night With Reg, his most recent gay related works include the BBC TV movies, Clapham Junction, a homophobic murder mystery based upon the murder of 24-year-old bar manager Jody Dobrowski, who was beaten to death on Clapham Common in 2005 - and - the 2011 film study of Christopher Isherwood, Christopher and His Kind.

Here's a very interesting interview with Kevin Elyot, discussing the anomaly of the rising tolerance of homosexuality in society being accompanied by a rising tide of homophobic violence.

Gay Life on TV: The Guardian

Transgendered Sea Anemone Denounced As 'Abomination' By Clergy

2012-01-22T14:15:00.000-08:00

And now for a bit of levity:
Taken from The Onion

Filthy Anemone

Rev. William Chester, spokesman for the coalition which is dedicated to “the preservation of aquatic decency and morality” said: “This filthy anemone, which exhibits both male and female characteristics, is turning our oceans’ intertidal zones into dens of sin and perversion,” he added “For God knows how long, this twisted sea creature has been running rampant in our oceans, spreading its unnatural, bisexual lifestyle. And it’s high time somebody took a stand.”

Anemone’s Alternative Lifestyle

The “Telia Felina” has been practicing its alternative lifestyle since 1859 and since then over 40 of its subspecies have been identified as transgendered. The coalition also denounced its family structure and reproductive habits. “Unlike so many respectable, God-fearing creatures, the Telia Felina reproduces asexually, openly mocking traditional family values by giving birth to and raising its young in a single-parent setting,” Chester said. “This anti-Christian anemone, which has the audacity to think that a child can grow up properly without the benefit of two loving parents, is truly the Murphy Brown of the deep.”

Asexual Anemone is Not Natural

He added: “If you still doubt the pain and suffering wrought by this undersea abomination, just look into the eyes of a young anemone child forced to grow up wondering why Mommy and Daddy live in the same body. This, my friends, is not natural.”
As part of the coalition’s campaign against the organism they are calling upon environmental groups such as Greenpeace to put an end to their defense of endangered species and creatures that don’t have high moral standards. The coalition is also threatening a boycott of aquariums displaying the Telia Felina or any other organism of uncertain character.
Chester asked: “Is this the kind of marine invertebrate we want our children to see on their school field trips to the aquarium?” He believes that by putting the Telia Felina on display in the nation’s aquariums it sends a message to children encouraging a transsexual lifestyle.

Christian Anemone “Crossed Over” to a Life of Depravity

“It is truly sad to see what could have been an upstanding Christian creature cross over to a life of depravity and abasement,” Pastor Kenneth Boyle, director of the Loaves and Fishes Academy Of Christian Marine Biology, said of the Telia felina. “Just look at its flamboyant bright green and gold coloration. And its hundreds of effeminate tentacles, which sway back and forth temptingly in an effort to lure the spiritually weak. The Bible says that on the fifth day, God filled the oceans with living creatures, but surely this is not what He intended.”

The Assassins In Our Midst

2012-01-20T13:53:00.000-08:00

A few random thoughts and an assortment of quotations in honor of MLK, whose 'feast day' was this week.

Here are quotes from theologian Jim Douglas on the only trial ever conducted on the assassination of MLK, held in Memphis, 1999. Never heard of it, you say? You would not be alone. Apart from Jim Douglas, only one other reporter covered the trial, and in the final days a correspondent for a Lisbon newspaper. The US mainstream media? Ignored it completely, too busy with 'the trial of the century,' the trial of O.J. Simpson. Jim's full report can be found here.

According to a Memphis jury's verdict on December 8, 1999, in the wrongful death lawsuit of the King family versus Loyd Jowers "and other unknown co-conspirators," Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by a conspiracy that included agencies of his own government. Almost 32 years after King's murder at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on April 4, 1968, a court extended the circle of responsibility for the assassination beyond the late scapegoat James Earl Ray to the United States government.

I can hardly believe the fact that, apart from the courtroom participants, only Memphis TV reporter Wendell Stacy and I attended from beginning to end this historic three-and-one-half week trial. Because of journalistic neglect scarcely anyone else in this land of ours even knows what went on in it. After critical testimony was given in the trial's second week before an almost empty gallery, Barbara Reis, U.S. correspondent for the Lisbon daily Publico who was there several days, turned to me and said, "Everything in the U.S. is the trial of the century. O.J. Simpson's trial was the trial of the century. Clinton's trial was the trial of the century. But this is the trial of the century, and who's here?"...

What I experienced in that courtroom ranged from inspiration at the courage of the Kings, their lawyer-investigator William F. Pepper, and the witnesses, to amazement at the government's carefully interwoven plot to kill Dr. King. The seriousness with which U.S. intelligence agencies planned the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. speaks eloquently of the threat Kingian nonviolence represented to the powers that be in the spring of 1968....

Hatred and fear of King deepened, Lawson said, in response to his plan to hold the Poor People's Campaign in Washington, D.C. King wanted to shut down the nation's capital in the spring of 1968 through massive civil disobedience until the government agreed to abolish poverty. King saw the Memphis sanitation workers' strike as the beginning of a nonviolent revolution that would redistribute income. "I have no doubt," Lawson said, "that the government viewed all this seriously enough to plan his assassination."...

Maynard Stiles, who in 1968 was a senior official in the Memphis Sanitation Department, confirmed in his testimony that the bushes near the rooming house were cut down. At about 7:00 a.m. on April 5, Stiles told the jury, he received a call from MPD Inspector Sam Evans "requesting assistance in clearing brush and debris from a vacant lot in the vicinity of the assassination. . . . They went to that site, and under the direction of the police department, whoever was in charge there, proceeded with the clean-up in a slow, methodical, meticulous manner." . . . Within hours of King's assassination, the crime scene that witnesses were identifying to the Memphis police as a cover for the shooter had been sanitized by orders of the police....

Pepper went a step beyond saying government agencies were responsible for the assassination. To whom in turn were those murderous agencies responsible? Not so much to government officials per se, Pepper asserted, as to the economic power holders they represented who stood in the even deeper shadows behind the FBI, Army Intelligence, and their affiliates in covert action. By 1968, Pepper told the jury, "And today it is much worse in my view" -- "the decision-making processes in the United States were the representatives, the foot soldiers of the very economic interests that were going to suffer as a result of these times of changes [being actived by King]."
To say that U.S. government agencies killed Martin Luther King on the verge of the Poor People's Campaign is a way into the deeper truth that the economic powers that be (which dictate the policies of those agencies) killed him. In the Memphis prelude to the Washington campaign, King posed a threat to those powers of a non-violent revolutionary force. Just how determined they were to stop him before he reached Washington was revealed in the trial by the size and complexity of the plot to kill him....

Perhaps the lesson of the King assassination is that our government understands the power of nonviolence better than we do, or better than we want to. In the spring of 1968, when Martin King was marching (and Robert Kennedy was campaigning), King was determined that massive, nonviolent civil disobedience would end the domination of democracy by corporate and military power. The powers that be took Martin Luther King seriously. They dealt with him in Memphis.
Thirty-two years after Memphis, we know that the government that now honors Dr. King with a national holiday also killed him. As will once again become evident when the Justice Department releases the findings of its "limited re-investigation" into King's death, the government (as a foot soldier of corporate power) is continuing its cover-up -- just as it continues to do in the closely related murders of John and Robert Kennedy and Malcolm X....

As a complement to these sobering thoughts, here are more quotes from the distinguished poet and researcher, Peter Dale Scott, taken from his recent book, American War Machine: Deep Politics, the CIA Global Drug Connection, and the Road to Afghanistan

Elsewhere I have written of civilization as "a great conspiracy of organized denial." I mean by this the creation of a partly illusory mental space in which unpleasant facts, such as that all Western empires have been established through major atrocities, are conveniently suppressed....

.....deep events: events that are systematically ignored, suppressed, or falsified in public (and even internal) government, military, and intelligence documents as well as in the main stream media and public consciousness. Underlying them is frequently the involvement of deep forces linked either to the drug traffic or to agencies of surveillance (or to both together) whose activities are extremely difficult to discern or document. ...

A clearly defined deep event will combine both internal features- evidence, such as a discernible cover-up, that aspects are being suppressed - and external features-a ongoing and perhaps irresoluble controversy as to what happened. Some deep events - the 1968 assassinations, the Tonkin Gulf incident and 9/11 - clearly have both features. ...

In my experience, deep events are better understood collectively than in isolation. When looked at together, they constitute a larger pattern, that of deep history. For some years, beginning before 9/11, I have noted that from time to time America's recorded or archival history has been disrupted by deep events, such as the John F. Kennedy assassination. These events are attributed publicly to marginal and unthreatening agents-like Lee Harvey Oswald. But cumulatively, the historical succession of deep events-such as Dallas, Watergate, 911 - have impacted more and more profoundly on America's political situation....

Many Americans are at least dimly aware that we have had a number of similar deep events involving this form of sanctioned violence in the past half century. Some of these, including the murders of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert Kennedy, have had significant structural influence on the subsequent evolution of American political history. I have argued in the Road to 9/11 that we should consider the attack of 9/11 as yet another example of a deep event, another chapter in our nation's deep history....

The problem of illegally sanctioned and protected violence-violence regularly suppressed from our consciousness- is not necessarily attributable to the state as we normally think of it. We do not know in any state was directly involved in the recent unexplained murder of an Italian banker, Roberto Calvi, related to scandals at the Vatican Bank and it has even been argued that Pope John Paul I was murdered by those involved in these same scandals. But where there is cover-up, as in the Calvi case, the murderers have profited from a state connection.

What is a Christian to make of all of this and what is she to do? Firstly, we must honor the memory of our own assassinated Master, dispatched by a murky coalition of unsavory forces in his own society who have never been properly identified, apart from the horrifically unhistorical designation "The Jews." What elements in his own society were so threatened by his presence and his teachings that they joined forces to do away with him. We must remember that we follow not so much a martyred god figure as an outspoken prophet, who went knowingly to his death, trusting in "the Father" to redeem his suffering and death and turn it into good. From this faith, we must then ask for the courage to display the same fearlessness in face of the forces of evil in our world, forces just as devious and deceptive now as they were two thousand years ago. From our faith we must also find the hope that evil does not ultimately triumph, that - as Gandhi said- Truth is God, and that if we are fearless in confronting the forces of disinformation and denial in our culture, truth will win out in the end, provided we are fearless in confronting and exposing this deceit, both within our own indoctrinated selves as well as in the world at large. We in America in particular inhabit a culture of massive psychological denial at this point in history. The first call of the Spirit must be to the Truth and to the exposure of its denial. There can be no justice, no peace, no virtue in a culture of willingly embracing lies and deceptions. The truth will indeed make us free.

A New Flat for a New Year

2012-01-08T14:34:00.000-08:00

Gifts from a good friend in Slovakia

Just in time for the feast of the Epiphany, internet service has been turned on for my new and cozy flat in the Podoli district of Prague. I love the new living space, quite a bit smaller than the previous flat, but somehow so much more peaceful and conducive to prayer, writing and study - with a lovely 10 sq meter terrace overlooking a hillside. Just to be able to go outside in the evening and sit with a hot cup of tea makes me feel like I've been away somewhere for the whole weekend. A very prayerful silent place. Even the rambunctious and very friendly five year old boy next door can't be heard through the very thick walls. I'm quite astonished by the utter silence and peace. In my previous flat, with it's spectacular view of the river and castle, I could hear one of my very own students, a 15 year old Korean boy named Sung Po, bouncing around upstairs and shouting at his sister. Here nothing penetrates the walls, it is complete stillness.

Here are a few photos of no real interest to anyone but myself. The large luminous paintings of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary were given to me by a devout Slovak friend, and the paintings come, in fact, from Slovakia. They are a 'bit much,' yet they make me feel strangely comforted and somehow I feel they are supposed to be here, watching over this silent space and offering inspiration.

I had to move to this flat because I will no longer be teaching drama at the international school next year. At the age of 68, the school felt it was time for me to retire and, recognizing the hand of Providence moving me to concentrate more on my writing, I graciously accepted their 'offer' to pursue other interests. However, I've already landed two small drama teaching jobs next year with local theater companies and all feels right with the world. I've also just entered the UK Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger contest, for the best debut crime novel of the year. I hope at the very least to get on the short list. This move feels like the guiding hand of Providence revealing a major shift in my life towards a greater focus upon writing. Lord grant me the peace and fortitude to discover and live out your gracious will for me. Lord have mercy and thank you for all of your gifts for the present and the future. Watch over all of those I care for and bring peace to the world and instill harmony and understanding within and between the world's religions. Amen.

Library, reading and prayer corner

My young friend Michal, helping me order the internet connection.

A very cozy and peaceful spot

View from the terrace

second sofa pulls out into a bed.

Welcoming the New Year

2011-12-30T06:07:00.000-08:00

As a propitious ending to 2011 the coffin of Vaclav Havel was majestically carried down the Vltava River yesterday-and today- on it's way to his home.

The imaginary life journey of the first Czech president Vaclav Havel, who died earlier this month, will be symbolically closed by a boat voyage along the Vltava and Labe (Elbe) rivers on December 31, Sabina Tancevova from Havel's office told CTK yesterday.

The boat will set off downstream the Vltava from the pier near the National Theatre in Prague at 10:00.

It will carry flowers and wreaths that people laid at Havel's coffin on the days preceding his funeral last week.

The boat with the flowers will go down the Vltava and the Labe, into which the Vltava flows to the north of Prague, via the towns of Melnik, Roudnice nad Labem, Litomerice, Lovosice and Usti nad Labem to Decin, the last town on the Labe before it leaves the Czech Republic for Saxony, Tancevova has written in a statement that has also been signed by pop musician Michael Kocab and artist David Cerny.

Havel died at his country house in east Bohemia on December 18, aged 75.

And to welcome in the New Year, I've moved into a new and very charming apartment on the river with a 10 square meter terrace overlooking a green hillside. A perfect retreat away from the bustle of the city, where I can write and reflect over the coming year. I hope to have internet service up and running by next week and hope to resume blogging at that time.

Best wishes to one and all for a fulfilling, peaceful and hope filled New Year.

Joyous Noel

2011-12-24T23:12:00.000-08:00

PEACE JOY AND BLESSINGS

In Memoriam: Vaclav Havel

2011-12-18T10:05:00.000-08:00

At six this evening (one hour ago) all church bells across the Czech Republic tolled their bells in mourning at the passing of Vaclav Havel, one of the truly great political leaders in the world today - of the stature of Nelson Mandela. The story is well known how Havel after suffering imprisonment and harassment for many years at the hands of Communist officialdom led his country to freedom through the non-violent Velvet Revolution of 1989. A playwright, an artist, a creative and moral thinker, Havel was anything but a career politician, and even through two terms as Czech president, never became entirely comfortable in the role. He always longed to return to the role he loved best, that of writer and thinker and chronicler of his times, and for this longing and for his evident resistance to the political life he was beloved by his people, for all of his quirks and faults. His passing will now send shock waves of reflection and assessment through his country, as we evaluate how we have evolved as a country since 1989 and in what ways we have honored his legacy and in how many ways we may have betrayed it. The passing of a giant.

Estimated crowd of 100.000 pays homage to Havel this evening in Wenceslaus Square.

This is the self effacing poet and playwright who led them to freedom 22 years ago.

Havel, the dissident playwright who wove theater into politics to peacefully bring down communism in Czechoslovakia and become a hero of the epic struggle that ended the Cold War, died Sunday.

Christian Science Monitor

Apartment Hunting

2011-12-17T01:10:00.000-08:00

Running about these days searching for a new apartment here in Prague, which is experiencing one of it's mildest winters in years. We are usually covered in snow at this time and in fact most of the Czech and Slovak Republics are experiencing snow at this moment. Prague is drenched in rain and is beginning to turn cold, but so far nothing like the past few years. Various things are happening about town and the great churches are preparing for their advent concerts a week from now. It feels good to be here, and in preparation for the coming of the Lord I'm ignoring the crazy goings on in certain fanatical human institutions and living in the Peace that passeth understanding. Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus, Come.

A few of the possibilities for a new home for the new year and a cheaper one than the very expensive one I'm presently occupying. Trusting in Our Lady to show me the way. Then when all of this is settled, I'll be taking off for the grand Polish Marian shrine of Czestochowa.

Another Teen Bullied to Death, Another Reason for a New Christianity

2011-12-08T09:10:00.001-08:00

Terribly sad news for this feast day of The Immaculate Conception, a feast day that celebrates the purity and innate goodness within all of us. Immaculate Mother heal us all of the sin of homophobia.

Thanks to John Shore and Huffington Post for this article/

Another kid has been bullied into killing himself. His name is Jacob Rogers. He went to Cheatham County Central High School, in Ashland City, Tenn. Apparently he'd been pretty severely bullied for four years. It got so bad that around Thanksgiving he quit going to school.

A friend of Jacob's told reporters, "He started coming home his senior year, saying 'I don't want to go back. Everyone is so mean. They call me a faggot, they call me gay, a queer.'"

Yesterday Jacob took his own life.

You can read more via MSNBC. (An important detail not mentioned in that MSNBC story comes from from KingstonSprings.org: "Dr. Tim Webb, Director of Cheatham County Schools [said] that his almost all-new staff at the high school only knew of one incident of bullying and confronted the accused over the bullying. However, Dr. Webb also noted that because staff were new to the school, they were perhaps not aware of the extent of bullying that Jacob had endured in years past.")

I've done a fair amount of writing on these sorts of tragedies (see this past Saturday's "Tell Me, Christian, That You Hear this Boy," "Christians and the Blood of Jamey Rodemeyer" and "My Gay Christian Cousin Committed Suicide," to name just three). And so I have no doubt that some will claim that the primary reason Jacob killed himself is not because he was bullied. They'll say that we don't know the whole story. They'll point to the fact that Jacob lived with his grandmother, that his family is poor (not, God knows, that poverty is any sin) -- that it's safe to assume this kid had problems beyond being bullied.

And I will respond with what I always say: that certainly there are always myriad causes behind the suicide of any person. But that that does not alter the fact that the root cause of tragedies like the Jacob Rogers story is that strain of Christianity that continues to insist that homosexuality is an evil affront to God.

If Christians would actually read the Bible, instead of daring to insist that three or four isolated phrases within it justifies a theology that has no more to do with Christ than Fred Phelps has to do with Welcome Wagon, we would arrive at a popular Christianity that is not, as so much of our Christianity is today, a pure affront to anyone with half a conscience.

And that Christianity would dissipate the motivation of those kids who bully in the name and spirit of condemning homosexuality. Quickly and inevitably, that particularly noxious train would come to a halt. Because there wouldn't be left any enduring reason for anyone to ever condemn gay people at all.

Then gay people would just be ... people. You know: that thing God made in his own image.

* * *
I don't know how to say this without sounding self-serving, but the whole reason I wrote "Taking God at His Word: The Bible and Homosexuality," the concluding chapter in "UNFAIR: Why the "Christian View of Gays Doesn't Work," is because I wanted to unarguably prove that using the Bible to condemn gay people is purely unbiblical. And that's what that essay does. You can buy "UNFAIR" as Kindle book; you can buy it as a Nookbook; if you don't have a Kindle, you can download onto any PC, Mac or device a free Kindle reading app, and read it that way. You can wait for the paper version to come out about 10 days from now. I don't care. But the next time someone tells you that God condemns homosexuality, you give them that book.

GREASE is the word

2011-12-05T14:28:00.001-08:00

Just finished directing the musical, GREASE, for my high school here in Prague - which is why I haven't been blogging for a while. Exhausted from the experience and need a rest, but it was so rewarding. An absolutely fantastic production with such talented youngsters.

To Tip The Bushel of Oppression

2011-11-19T00:59:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Bishop Richard Mickley and Fr. John Churchman of The Diocese of One Spirit for this beautiful Advent Ritual Prayer.

An alternative Advent Ritual

Rather than lighting candles during Advent,
Let us instead overturn bushel baskets
To let our lights shine for all to see
Recognizing that those sitting atop our bushels,
Including Church hierarchy,
Will be upset when they are tipped
But that if enough of our lights are exposed,
We can cancel darkness forever,
Including that within the Church.
Love,
John Chuchman

Out from Under the Bushel

To Tip the Bushel of Oppression
to Let the Lights of Our God-Given Gifts Shine
for All to see
upsetting those seated atop,
We Pray.

For Women called to Full Church Ministry, including Priesthood
that
the bushel of being labeled not selected by Christ
be removed
so they may fulfill their call,
We Pray

For the Married, Divorced, and Remarried
that
the bushel of being labeled as living in sin
be removed
so they may be seen as fully sacramental,
We Pray.

For Gays, Lesbians, Transgendered
that
the bushel of being labeled intrinsically disordered
be removed
so they may be seen as equal to all others as in God's eyes,
We Pray.

For the Married Men called to Priesthood
that
the bushel of being labeled not capable
be removed
so they may fulfill their call,
We Pray.

For the Priests not called to Celibacy
that
the bushel of forced celibacy
be removed
so they may gain the intimacy they deserve and need,
We pray.

For those who are Not Catholic
that
the bushel of being labeled followers of a defective religion
be removed
so all may be welcome at all liturgies, rituals, and tables,
We Pray.

For the Laity who ARE Church
that
the bushel of being labeled less than the ordained
be removed
so they may BE Church fully,
We Pray

For All Those with Gifts Under a Bushel of Oppression
that
the bushels be removed,
no matter how high the hierarchy sitting atop
so the Lights of their Gifts may shine
for All,
We Pray.

To dare to dream, to make dreams reality,
We pray.

To believe in the power of the Holy Spirit
working within her daughters and sons to recreate, to re-inspire,
to regenerate the universal church,
We Pray.

With Love, John Chuchman
aka Bushel Tipper

This reflection is also published on John Chuchman's blog.

REVOLUTIONARY NEWS FROM VIENNA

2011-11-07T18:31:00.000-08:00

Thanks once again to Bridget Mary's Blog for this revolutionary news from Vienna. Lay Catholics will begin to celebrate the Eucharist on their own in priestless parishes. This is just the kind of prophetic act the Church needs in this time of crisis to highlight the fact that the hierarchy, who have become mere bureaucratic administrators of Church 'buildings' and little more (except as signs of contradiction), do not possess some charismatic superiority, some special supernatural power, that elevates them above the laity. It is this misinformed adulation and 'idolization' of hierarchical power that the community called Church needs to purge from its body, this powerful addiction to sacral power residing exclusively in specially blessed male leaders. This act, if carried out, has implications far more profound than simply providing a solution to the priest shortage. The very system of clericalism needs to go and nothing less than a shock of this magnitude will effect such a profound purification. Blessings upon the We Are Church group in Vienna.

VIENNA Mon Nov 7, 2011

(Reuters) - "Dissident Austrian Catholics announced lay people will start celebrating Mass when a priest is unavailable, a clear call to disobedience just as the country's bishops hold their autumn conference.

A manifesto adopted by dozens of activists at the weekend said lay people will preach, consecrate and distribute communion in priestless parishes, said Hans Peter Hurka, head of the group We Are Church.

"Church law bans this. The question is, can Church law overrule the Bible? We are of the opinion, based on findings from the Second Vatican Council, that this (ban) is not possible," he said Monday...

Schoenborn, a former student and close associate of Pope Benedict, has ruled out sweeping changes demanded by dissident priests led by his former deputy, Rev. Helmut Schueller...The group, which claims to represent about 10 percent of the Austrian clergy, has challenged Church teaching on taboo topics such as priestly celibacy and women's ordination..."

"...A record 87,000 Austrians left the Church in 2010, many in reaction to sexual abuse scandals."

(Reporting by Michael Shields and Tom Heneghan)

Ricky Martin, father of twin boys, to Marry in Catholic Spain

2011-11-05T00:32:00.000-07:00

And on a more cheerful note, pop singer Ricky Martin has just been granted Spanish citizenship, by means of a letter of naturalization, "issued in special circumstances because of his personal and professional links with Spain."

Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that Martin sought citizenship in order to marry boyfriend Carlos Gonzalez Abella, with whom he is bringing up his twin three-year-old sons.

Read the full story here at Pink News.

Always nice to remember that Catholic Spain was the third country in the world to grant same sex marriages in 2005, helping to spark a world wide trend.

The sight of this high profile celebrity holding up his twin sons, Matteo and Valentino is also uplifting to the heart. Here are his comments on 'hands-on' parenting:

Discussing his hands-on parenting:

“I don’t have a nanny,” he says. “I’m doing this on my own because I don’t want to miss a moment. I have a personal assistant who helps me, someone who takes care of me while I’m taking care of them, but I’m the one who changes the diapers, the one that feeds them, the one that bathes them, the one that puts them to sleep. Then it starts all over again! I created structure for their eating and sleeping patterns — sometimes they cry at the same time, too. For any parent, the first couple of months tend to get a little bit intense. With twins, it’s double the love. But it also means I don’t get much sleep.”

What a wonderful comment, "With twins it's double the love," and what an inspiring role model for gay men everywhere.

“I’ve had many highlights in my life, but being a father has been the most amazing so far,” the singer shares. “I started this with a lot of love in my heart. I don’t think any other experience will ever get close.”

Read the full story here at PEOPLE.

Ricky's comment about his soon-to-be husband, Carlos Gonzalez Abella:

My partner, my boyfriend is very sexy, very smart, very compassionate, but the most important thing [is] he loves my children. It’s very beautiful. Super cool. I am very happy.”

Police association calls for homophobic recording of Stuart Walker murder

2011-11-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

In further developments in the Stuart Walker slaying, the UK Gay Police Association, an organization that specifically represents the needs and interests of lesbian and gay police employees in the United Kingdom, has called for the recording of the Stuart Walker murder as an explicit homophobic attack. Finally, some one has seen the light. I've been surprised at how few gay voices have picked up on this case, especially since the reticence of the police to name the attack as a hate crime only acts as a deterrent in preventing such evidence to surface - exactly the point of the UK Gay Police Association. A young eighteen year old neighbor boy has been arrested in connection with the case. The GPA was moved to make it's statement by evidence that Stuart Walker had been robbed and sexually assaulted before his death, then subjected to a ferocious beating before being set on fire. How could any impartial observer not view this as a hate crime?

Read the full story here at Pink News.

Addendum to Stuart Walker Case

2011-10-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

I'm continuing to follow the Stuart Walker case, posted previously. Unfortunately, the unfolding revelations have only gotten worse, but I decided in the interests of decency not to report them. The good news is that the local police have 'every available officer on the force' at work on this high profile case. Part of the shock of the case is that the community is so close knit and intimate, in which everyone knows everyone else. By all accounts, Stuart was warmly liked and equally warmly accepted for his sexuality. This is what has particularly shocked this (by all accounts) decent community, that homophobia was not in evidence. Yet the police and community are convinced it was not a random crime. If there is any blessing at all in this horrific event, it is the outpouring of love and support from his community, and their insistence that their love and respect for him were not conditioned or lessened by his sexuality, which they considered to be incidental.

Update:

Strathclyde Police

“We are still working towards identifying a motive for this murder. I am aware of all the speculation in the media regarding Mr Walker and his death. At this time we have nothing to indicate that this is a homophobic crime. Until we know the exact circumstances surrounding this murder, we will not rule anything out and will keep an open mind on any possible motive for his terrible crime.

“There have also been reports that Mr Walker was tied to a post, this is not the case. He was found lying on the roadside and although we are not going to go into specific details on the cause of death, it was an extremely violent crime and our focus at this time is finding those responsible and bringing them to justice.

Another Gay Ritual Slaying?

2011-10-24T09:22:00.000-07:00

Has another young gay man been sacrificed and martyred on the altar of homophobic hate, in a ritual slaying that mirrors the death of Matthew Shephard in the US? Too early to tell, but the suspicion must remain high that his horrific death by burning is linked to his sexuality. The case is already being referred to as "The Lamp Post Murder," since he was tied to a lamp post, beaten, and then set on fire. Clearly this is more than a simple murder, but a calculated slaying designed to make a point. Our hearts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

From The Daily Record UK

Family of 'gay slaying' lamppost murder victim Stuart Walker tell of shock at his brutal death

Oct 24 2011 David Taylor

A Gran had her 80th birthday party - unaware her grandson had been murdered and set alight while tied to a lamppost.

Stuart Walker's family only heard of his horrific death after Margaret McMeekin's party.

The barman's beaten and scorched body had been found at an industrial estate on the outskirts of his home town, Cumnock in Ayrshire.

Last night, the 28-year-old's cousin John Mullen spoke of the family's heartbreak.

John said: "We knew something was wrong because he was really close to his gran and wouldn't have missed her party for anything.

"He was close to everyone who knew him. He was everyone's best pal.

"Stuart was the best guy ever. Everyone knew Stuart - he was one of the best known boys in Cumnock and the surrounding area.

"If you were to walk down the street, no one would have a bad word to say about him." Police last night said Stuart, who was gay, may have been targeted after a house party in the town where he spent most of his life.

They were trying to piece together his final hours.

He is believed to have gone to a party in the town's Netherthird housing estate in the early hours of Saturday after a night out with pals.

Stuart's friends last saw him alive near the fire station in Glaisnock Street at about 2.30am. His scorched and beaten body was found tied to a lamppost just before 5am on the Caponacre industrial estate on the outskirts of town.

Detective Inspector John Hogg, of Ayr CID, said yesterday: "It is imperative that we find out where he was between 2.30am and 4.50am, who he was with and why this happened to him.

"We understand that there may have been a number of house parties in the nearby Netherthird housing estate in the early hours of the morning - between 2am and 3am.

"At this time we do not know if these parties are linked to our investigation or not, so again, any information on that is important. Officers are checking CCTV and carrying out door-todoor inquiries in the area and we would encourage anyone with information to approach them or to call."

Yesterday, flowers were laid near the murder scene. One left by his gran read: "Miss + Love you always our dear grandson. Sleep tight, Gran and Papa."

Another said: "There are so many words going through my mind at the moment. One is Why. Why our Stuart? The whole family has been ripped apart.

"Life will never be the same again - or any party! We are all so devastated and heartbroken.

Lov n miss you so much, from Keri, Ryan and kids. XXXX."

Stuart's cousin John said he had been "the kind of guy that everyone who met him loved".

John added: "He was the life and soul of the party. He loved music and clubbing.

"Whoever has done this has ripped our family apart and broke everyone's heart.

"If anyone knows what happened, we would plead with them to come forward."

Stuart started work in the First Edition bar, in Kilmarnock, days before his murder. Manager Gareth Alberts, 25, said: "He gave the whole place a real buzz."

Here is the Guardian's muted coverage of the story. The only hint that Stuart was gay was the mention that "Officers are not ruling out the possibility that the attack was motivated by homophobia."

And the Telegraph's more explicit coverage.

The Murdered and Forgotten Pope: Martyr to Reform

2011-10-14T23:06:00.000-07:00

Papa Luciani

Pope John Paul I

I've posted below a rather gentle reminiscence about this holy pope, long forgotten by history in the wake of John Paul II's reign, which swept his memory away like a pebble on the shore. His coffin, in the underground crypt of St. Peters, has been placed in the ignominious central aisle, reserved for the 'insignificants,' a few meters away from the spectacular niche reserved for his successor, JPII, with it's permanent guard and eternal flame. Whenever I visit, I always bring a bouquet of flowers and place it on the casket. It is the only one. He has indeed long been forgotten, and that fact in itself says much about the present state of the Church he intended to reform in much the same spirit as Pope John XXIII. The article itself makes no mention of the controversy surrounding his death, as he was most likely assassinated by elements within the Italian mafia with colluding forces within the Vatican. Both of the doctors involved in the case, his personal physician and the residing doctor who signed the death certificate ("for the safety of my grandchildren") were convinced he had been poisoned, a 'fact' only made public by them when they broke their 25 year silence for interviews with the Italian media in 2002. The Vatican, unsurprisingly, made no comment in response to the interviews.

(Taken from America Magazine. Thanks to William Lindsey for sending me this.)

Why Albino Luciani's holiness should be celebrated

On the Second Sunday of Easter, Pope Benedict XVI declared John Paul II “blessed,” a milestone in the late pope’s journey to sainthood. The speed at which Karol Wojtyla’s cause for canonization has progressed is singular. Under the church’s rules, the process cannot begin until a candidate has been deceased at least five years, but Pope Benedict dispensed with that requirement in this instance.

Not so with John Paul’s namesake and immediate predecessor, Albino Luciani, whose own cause, initiated nearly eight years ago, still sluggishly wends its way through the labyrinthine Vatican bureaucracy, its ultimate resolution still in doubt.

For those whose faith was rekindled by that gentle pope, the lingering uncertainty about his canonization is disheartening. Albino Luciani’s life was so exemplary that it could inspire a world grown weary and cynical and yearning for the “greater gifts” and a “more excellent way.”

“He passed as a meteor which unexpectedly lights up the heavens and then disappears, leaving us amazed and astonished,” Cardinal Carlo Confalonieri aptly observed at the pope’s funeral Mass in 1978.

‘Humilitas’

It is consoling to remember this holy man. Hundreds of millions, however, have no such consolation, for Luciani’s fleeting 33-day papacy has been eclipsed by that of John Paul II, whose illustrious 27-year tenure was of impressive duration and historical consequence. But papal longevity itself is no criterion for sainthood, and it is wrong to conclude that Luciani left no legacy of import to succeeding generations.

In just a month Pope John Paul I captured the hearts of people worldwide, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, who witnessed in him the welcome but unexpected triumph of humility. Many of us intuitively recognized in the flash of his benign grin, the gentleness of his manner and the compassion at the core of his public talks a beacon of hope. That Luciani transfixed the world during his abbreviated pontificate is no exaggeration: he was a radiant man who taught us how to live and love.

Luciani picked “Humilitas” as his episcopal motto, an appropriate choice for a prince of the church who regarded himself as “poor dust.” “We must feel small before God,” he preached; and he lived that conviction faithfully, often describing himself publicly as “a poor man accustomed to small things and silence.”

How Can I Serve You?

There was a nobility in Luciani’s simplicity, and evidence of his humility abounds. As bishop of Vittorio Veneto, for example, he visited his parishes by bicycle, a rather unassuming means of transport for a man of his station. Later, when taking official possession of St. Mark’s Basilica, he dispensed with the fanfare traditionally accorded the new patriarch of the ancient archdiocese of Venice. At his official residence he literally opened his door to all who knocked: priests, penitents, prostitutes, drug addicts, drunks, the destitute—everyone.

Luciani eschewed the accouterments of high ecclesiastical office, preferring a tattered black cassock to the regal purple and red hues signifying the ranks of bishop and cardinal to which he had reluctantly been raised. Strolling through the streets of Venice, Luciani would furtively stuff his zucchetto in his pocket, content to be mistaken for a parish priest by the pedestrians he encountered. After one such solitary twilight walk, the patriarch returned home sporting a bruised and swollen cheek. When the sisters asked him what had happened, he replied dispassionately, “Oh, nothing…. I met a drunkard…. He hit me in the face.”

Even Luciani’s speech patterns reflected the austerity that characterized his life. Like any great teacher, he had a gift for conveying profound insights in unadorned, easily understandable prose. Though blessed with a probing intellect, prodigious memory and vast learning, he sprinkled his discourse with humble anecdotes from life and literature, clearly illustrating great truths that even the young and untutored could readily grasp.

As pope, Luciani quickly discarded the royal “we” and disdained the sedia gestatoria, or portable throne in which popes, hoisted onto the shoulders of their subjects, were carried in majestic procession like conquering monarchs. At his papal installation he also abandoned the traditional crowning with the ostentatious, jewel-encrusted, triple tiara, insisting instead on receiving a simple shepherd’s pallium as symbol of his new role as bishop of Rome. This pope’s unexpected greeting to those who met with him at the Vatican was, “How can I serve you?”

And there were private instances—only recently disclosed—in which John Paul I revealed his abiding humility in ways the public could not have imagined.

A Niece Remembers

This past summer I made a monthlong pilgrimage to Italy and retraced Luciani’s life journey from Canale D’Agordo, his birthplace in the Dolomites, to St. Peter’s Basilica, where the pope’s earthly remains rest in a crypt not far from the bones of St. Peter.

I also examined documents written in his own hand and spoke extensively with several people who knew and loved him, including nieces, prelates and secretaries from his days as bishop, patriarch and pope.

One of them was the pope’s favorite niece, Pia Luciani Basso, daughter of Luciani’s younger brother Edoardo. Their relationship, she confided to me, was so close that he was like “a second father” to her.

She explained how her uncle’s soothing presence and gentle encouragement eased her mind when she left home to attend a distant school. Despite a pressing schedule as bishop, Luciani volunteered to accompany her when her father fell ill. “He always put aside his own problems to help others in need,” she recalled.

Her father was fond of telling about an incident that illuminates the pope’s extraordinary selflessness even as a youngster. The Luciani family was poor, and hunger was an almost constant companion. Even so, one day Albino came home with some white bread, a precious commodity. Instead of eating it himself or giving away a part of it, he gave Edoardo the entire piece and watched with satisfaction as the younger boy devoured it.

“His humility was a choice, because he was always conscious of his intelligence, but he was conscious too that this was a gift from God,” the niece explained.

Mrs. Basso noted that Luciani thought of himself as an ordinary priest. “His dream was to have a parish in the lake region and bring with him his mother and his father, because he said his mother would be happy to be in a house on the lake.” He never realized his dream.

Instead, Luciani would reluctantly accept what ambitious clerics yearned for: promotion to the highest ranks in the church hierarchy. “I must accept the will of Providence,” he would say resignedly, according to Mrs. Basso.

Just before entering the conclave that elected him, Luciani wrote to her expressing relief that he was “out of danger.”

“I think he was afraid of that. He was hoping that it wouldn’t happen,” she conjectured.

Santo Subito!

“Lived holiness is very much more widespread than officially proclaimed holiness.... Coming into Paradise, we will probably find mothers, workers, professional people, students set higher than the official saints we venerate on earth,” Luciani once wrote. That is undoubtedly so, and though he would surely deem himself undeserving to be counted among them, his life is a testament to his worthiness.

In his book Making Saints, Kenneth L. Woodward defines a saint as an individual who is recognized as especially holy. By that standard alone, Albino Luciani should have been canonized decades ago. The church’s official recognition of a saint confers special status on an individual in the eyes of the faithful, for it is the saints whose lives we celebrate and whose virtues individuals of conscience strive to emulate. It is they whose memory endures in perpetuity.

The Pope Luciani Foundation, based in Canale d’Agordo, Italy, his birthplace, is devoted to the laudable goal of memorializing him. Its director Loris Serafini, author of the delightful biography Albino Luciani, The Smiling Pope, informed me recently that dedication of a museum and library in the pope’s honor will coincide with the centenary celebration of his birth on Oct. 17, 2012.

That is a heartening development, but to those whose souls Luciani touched, it is not enough; his cause for sainthood should proceed apace.

Today, a broken world desperately needs moral enlightenment. The life and teachings of the first Pope John Paul can provide that in abundance. Thus it would be an incalculable loss to those in current generations—as well as future ones who never knew him—for his memory to fade into oblivion.

A streaking meteor, spectacular as it is for the glorious moment we behold it, leaves not a trace of its luminous presence once it hurtles beyond our vision. Pope Benedict has the power to prevent the fading of Albino Luciani’s light by canonizing this extraordinary pope.

Mo Guernon, a former newspaper reporter and Rhode Island columnist, is writing a biography of Pope John Paul I.

God is not a Christian, Nor a Muslim, Nor a Hindu: Are religions Becoming Obsolete?

2011-10-04T14:09:00.000-07:00

The visit of St. Francis of Assisi to Sultan Malik al-Kamil.

The following posting is in honor of St. Francis and his spirit of reconciliation.

I have just started a provocative book by Bishop Carlton Pearson, author of The Gospel of Inclusion.

His newest endeavor is entitled: God is not a Christian, nor a Jew, Muslim, Hindu: God Dwells with Us, in Us, Around Us, as Us. The color coding is part of the book's title.

This remarkable book is on "the cutting edge" of contemporary spirituality and religious culture and provides the perfect antidote for those too fixated on the institutional forms of any one branch of Christianity.

Some passages from the preface:

Religion is a faith journey into the mystery of God and things considered both divine and worldly or experienced in this world. Institutional or organized religion is a system of doctrines, dogmas and human-constructed disciplines that has become idolotrous and has begun to die and perhaps lie. Theism is not God. God is not a religion. Religion is a human construct and involves a definition of God that assumes that God is a being or a person that can be known, rather than simply or even profoundly experienced. Most have assumed this God to be a "Supreme Being": supernatural in power, dwelling outside the world, and occasionally invading it to answer prayers or to effectuate Divine will. I was raised to believe in that God and believe about that God. ...

Christianity, like most other institutional religions, tends to...claim the superficial as substance. Christianity has gotten so far from the accurate realities of the Christ Principle that even Jesus would probably distance Himself from it. Jesus was a mystic operating in the Christ Presence and Principle. who was in touch with His divine nature and taught us to be in touch with our spiritual center, our pre-incarnate self. This is Christ Consciousness, something much more potent, plausible, and viable than the religion bearing the name. The same of true of all religions.....

For the first time in my life, I don't feel an obligation to literally know God. In a sense, I'm getting in touch with the God I perceive to be with me, for me, in me, and perhaps as me. Mind you, I've already encouraged people to know God for themselves personally. I also felt for many years that the only way you could know God was through Jesus Christ as your professed Lord and Savior. As difficult as it is for me to confess it, I no longer believe such religious non-sense, though I love and believe in God and feel as close as ever to Christ as a person and a principle. I also love Jesus as much as I ever have and consider myself an honest and earnest follower of him, at least in principle. However, I am, for the first time in my life, willing to admit that the most certain thing I can say about God is that I don't know much about Him, Her, or It, at all. ...

We all came from the center and will all return there. The edge is an unstable place, full of artificial assumptions, all of them artifacts of a contrived religious past that no longer fits or feels relevant. Sadly, many refuse to acknowledge this and insist on living in denial. They seem afraid of the spiritual center. In fact, most people are completely unaware of that place, except in the deepest recesses of their spiritual memory. ...

In a colossal irony, I submit that Christianity and the other world faiths, which in theory were created in order to serve as conduits between the human and the Divine, have devolved to the point where they now serve only as barriers between humanity and the divine reality of God within us. Consequently, religion as we practice it today is in fact becoming irrelevant and obsolete. As a result, religion as we know it today could dissipate and perhaps disappear altogether over the next hundred years or so. Faith in God or the transcendent will never go away, but the varying brands of religion are becoming increasingly irrelevant in these modern, mystical, spiritual and more scientific times....

(The traditional) image of God has been mortally wounded by the evolving consciousness and experiences of millions of people of all religions who seem to have awakened to a broader awareness of self, soul, and inner divinity. There is a new perception of the concept of God emerging as a global shift in religious sensibilities. This shift is causing many to rethink God and Divinity. Religion is being shoved to the backseat, and "New Thought" is emerging on the largest scale in recent history....

I am for the first time in my life, enjoying knowing/being the God (and good) that I am. It is wonderfully renewing to feel and perceive the creative and intuitive gifts of God within myself and others. It's fun being God.

Highly recommended.

We are Egypt: The Occupation of Wall Street

2011-10-02T14:17:00.000-07:00

Still can't believe how few people know about this. If the Tea party were demonstrating on Wall Street for a single day (instead of 3 weeks), they would be receiving 24 hour coverage. And if you're looking for Jesus, you won't find him in the Cathedrals. He's occupying Liberty Park.

Superb article at Ampedstatus which fills in the historical context. Posting it whole at request.

How Anonymous, AmpedStatus, the NYC General Assembly, US Day of Rage, Adbusters and Thousands of Individual Actions Led to the Occupation of Liberty Park and the Birth of a Movement

As the occupation of Wall Street moves into its third week, there are many questions about the organizers behind the ongoing protests and the origins of the 99% Movement. As one of the many people who actively supported the effort, and helped launch the 99% Movement, I will give my perspective on the events leading up to the occupation of Liberty Park.

As I understand it, the #OccuppyWallStreet 99% Movement is a decentralized non-violent rebellion against economic tyranny. It is a leaderless movement that has been dependent upon tens of thousands of individuals taking it upon themselves to take action and fight back against their own personal financial hardships, and in defense of their family and friends who are desperately struggling to make ends meets.

The road that led to the successful occupation has been a long, hard and winding one. When you go to Liberty Park, into the heart of the occupation, you will see a very diverse group of people with opinions across the entire political spectrum. It is the very essence of a ground-up grassroots decentralized movement. Everyone there has their own individual story on what brought them to take such a strong and inspiring stand in support this action. I urge members of the press and people interested in the movement to begin a dialogue with any one of the people taking part. There are many fascinating stories to be heard and a deeper understanding of what’s happening is impossible without hearing from a plurality of voices.

To give some background information, the following is a timeline of my 19-month long personal experience within the movement:

The Birth of the 99% Movement

On February 15th, 2010, AmpedStatus.com published the first-part of an extensive six-part series that I wrote detailing the financial destruction of the US economy. The report is entitled, “The Economic Elite Vs. The People of the United States.” The first sentence reads:

“It’s time for 99% of Americans to mobilize and aggressively move on common sense political reforms.”

The introduction goes on to say:

“It has now become evident to a critical mass that the Republican and Democratic parties, along with all three branches of our government, have been bought off by a well-organized Economic Elite who are tactically destroying our way of life. The harsh truth is that 99% of the US population no longer has political representation. The US economy, government and tax system are now blatantly rigged against us.

Current statistical societal indicators clearly demonstrate that a strategic attack has been launched and an analysis of current governmental policies prove that conditions for 99% of Americans will continue to deteriorate. The Economic Elite have engineered a financial coup and have brought war to our doorstep… and make no mistake, they have launched a war to eliminate the US middle class.”

The report quickly went viral and many popular websites picked it up and published it. AlterNet.org featured an adapted excerpt from the report with the headline, “The Economic Elite Have Engineered an Extraordinary Coup, Threatening the Very Existence of the Middle Class.” It became one of the most popular reports that they have ever published. In aggregate, across many websites that have publish sections of the report, it has received an estimated five million page views.

Soon after the report was released, AmpedStatus formed the 99% Movement based on a general platform put forth in part-six of the report, entitled “How to Fight Back and Win: Common Ground Issues That Must Be Won.”

As the movement began to build over the course of the next ten months, after a series of TV interviews in which I supported the 99% Movement and called for acts of non-violent civil disobedience, the AmpedStatus.com website was attacked and repeatedly knocked offline. The source of the attacks remains unknown. After publishing investigative reports detailing the fraudulent activities of Wall Street; the destructive impact the financial elite have had upon the American people; revealing direct connections between economic hardships in the US and the uprisings that, at the time, were just beginning to take shape throughout Northern Africa, the Middle East and Europe, it was obvious that we were upsetting many powerful forces.

As AmpedStatus was pushing for a decentralized global rebellion against Wall Street and actively supporting the Egyptian uprising against the IMF and Federal Reserve, the attacks on the site escalated. In what appeared to be a fatal blow, the entire ISP network that the AmpedStatus.com site was hosted on was knocked offline, hundreds of sites were also affected and the AmpedStatus.com web hosting provider said that they would no longer be able to host the site unless it was moved to a service that was significantly more than we were paying or could afford. With a very limited budget, and in complete desperation, AmpedStatus put out a call for help.

Anonymous Rides to the Rescue…

As AmpedStatus.com came under attack, Anonymous was playing a key role in supporting the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. When no one else with the needed technical expertise would help us and it became apparent that we would have to shut down our operation, several Anonymous members stepped up and offered to support and defend AmpedStatus.com from further attacks. They assisted in setting up a new hosting account and helped develop a new Independent social network for the 99% Movement. From that point on, AmpedStatus.com has not once been knocked offline due to an attack.

Once we regained our First Amendment rights and knew that we had backing from Anonymous members, we then defiantly released another extensive report in February, 2011 entitled, “Analysis of the Global Insurrection Against Neo-Liberal Economic Domination and the Coming American Rebellion – We Are Egypt.”

The introduction states:

“If you think what’s happening in Egypt won’t happen within the United States, you’ve been watching too much TV. The statistics speak for themselves.
In previous Revolution Roundups, before we were knocked offline, we featured mass protests by the people of Ireland, Italy, Britain, Austria, Greece, France and Portugal, as the Global Insurrection contagion spread throughout Europe. And now, as we have seen over the past month, North African and Middle Eastern nations have joined the movement as the people of Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Morocco, Gabon, Mauritania, Yemen, Bahrain, Libya, Palestine, Iraq, Sudan and Algeria have taken to the streets en masse.
The connection between this latest round of uprisings and the prior protests throughout Europe is one the mainstream media is not making. We are witnessing a decentralized global rebellion against Neo-Liberal economic imperialism. While each national uprising has its own internal characteristics, each one, at its core, is about the rising costs of living and lack of financial opportunity and security. Throughout the world the situation is the same: increasing levels of unemployment and poverty, as price inflation on food and basic necessities is soaring.

Whether national populations realize it or not, these uprisings are against systemic global economic policies that are strategically designed to exploit the working class, reduce living standards, increase personal debt and create severe inequalities of wealth. These global uprising, which have only just begun, are the first wave of the inevitable reaction to the implementation of a centralized worldwide Neo-Feudal economic order.
The global banking cartel, centered at the IMF, World Bank and Federal Reserve, have paid off politicians and dictators the world over — from Washington to Greece to Egypt. In country after country, they have looted national economies at the expense of local populations, consolidating wealth in unprecedented fashion…”

Within this report, there was a section calling for an occupation of Wall Street, in what is referred to as “The Empire State Rebellion.”

A sub-group within Anonymous then joined with the AmpedStatus 99% Movement and we began a collaborative effort known as A99.

A broad A99 platform was presented on the AmpedStatus social network. The platform represented a diverse mix of political viewpoints that members felt would properly represent the 99% of the population that has lost political representation. [View original platform here.]

On Mar 12, 2011, Anonymous A99 announced their first operation by posting a video to the AmpedStatus YouTube page. The effort was called “Operation Empire State Rebellion” (#OpESR). The video “OpESR Communication #1” stated the following:

“We are a decentralized non-violent resistance movement, which seeks to restore the rule of law and fight back against the organized criminal class.
One-tenth of one percent of the population has consolidated wealth in unprecedented fashion and launched an all-out economic war against 99.9% of the population.
We are not affiliated with either wing of the two-party oligarchy. We seek an end to the corrupted two-party system by ending the campaign finance and lobbying racket.
Above all, we aim to break up the global banking cartel centered at the Federal Reserve, International Monetary Fund, Bank of International Settlements and World Bank.
We demand that the primary dealers within the Federal Reserve banking system be broken up and held accountable for rigging markets and destroying the global economy, effective immediately.
As a first sign of good faith, we demand Ben Bernanke step down as Federal Reserve chairman.
Until our demands are met and a rule of law is restored, we will engage in a relentless campaign of non-violent, peaceful, civil disobedience.”

Economic news site ZeroHedge quickly picked up the video and featured it on their site with the headline, “Hacker Group Anonymous Brings Peaceful Revolution To America: Will Engage In Civil Disobedience Until Bernanke Steps Down.”

The video then went viral and got over 225,000 views.

Anonymous Calls for a US Day of Rage

On March 23rd, Anonymous issued a press release calling for a “US Day of Rage.” The phrase, “A day of rage,” has been a rallying cry used in uprisings spreading throughout the Middle East. A new USDayofRage.org website was launched and their first press release, again quickly picked up by ZeroHedge, called for a day of mass action and pledged their support of A99′s original general platform. [Full release here.]

Throughout April and May, members of A99 were organizing and debating possible future actions. They decided that Flag Day, June 14th, would be an appropriate time to launch actions. They also set up several new Facebook pages, such as “#OpESR – Operation Empire State Rebellion Amped.”

On June 1st, this Anonymous call to action was published to AmpedStatus:

Acts of Resistance: What Are You Going To Do To Rebel Against Economic Tyranny?

The big banks have sold us out.
Democrats and Republicans have sold us out.
No one is defending our interests.
Our future is going up in flames.
It’s time for us to stand up and defend ourselves.
Trillions of dollars in fraudulent activity by the big banks on Wall Street caused our current economic crisis. Paid off politicians from both parties, along with secret deals made by the Federal Reserve, gave trillions of taxpayer dollars and subsidies to the very people who caused our crisis. After taking our tax dollars, they had the audacity to give themselves all-time recording-breaking bonuses and consolidate wealth in unprecedented fashion within the economic top 0.01% of the population.
While a record number of Americans are currently living in poverty and on food stamps; while millions of American families have been foreclosed upon; while health care, food and gas costs are skyrocketing; while over 200 million Americans are living paycheck to paycheck struggling to make ends meet, the super-wealthy have never had it better. We now have the most severe inequality of wealth in American history. The depravity of the Robber Barons has been outdone.
As their current policies prove, economic central planners have become so arrogant and tyrannical in their shortsighted greed. They think we are an ignorant and apathetic population that they can continue to exploit without fear of rebellion.
We are finally declaring that we have had enough. We will not remain passive while global banking interests destroy our future. We know the systemic causes of our current crisis and we are going to strike at the root.
On this Flag Day, June 14th, Operation Empire State Rebellion (#OpESR) will launch. #OpESR is a decentralized non-violent resistance movement to end the system of political bribery (campaign finance and lobbying) and break up the big banks centered at the Federal Reserve.
To coincide with the launch of this movement, people have begun organizing acts of resistance throughout the US. We are calling upon you to take an action of your own. Whether it’s taking part in a local public protest, withdrawing your money from one of the big six banks, starting a community group or passing out fliers. Anything you can do to rebel against the system of economic tyranny in a non-violent manner is welcome.
As a first step, please join the actions against the banks in one of the cities shown here, or use the ‘schedule an action’ tool to create your own.”

The online attention surrounding this call to action quickly grew. For a roundup of coverage see:

> Economic Rebellion Update – This Is What Decentralized Resistance Looks Like
> Prepare For Revolution: The Empire State Rebellion Begins on June 14th

On June 11th, Anonymous A99 released “OpESR Communication #2: Ctrl+Alt+Bernanke.”

“In this new video release, ‘as a first step,’ Anonymous has called for public protests beginning on June 14th, continuing ‘until Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke steps down.’ To make their case, they have presented a list of recent scandalous Federal Reserve actions.”

Once again, the video was posted to the AmpedStatus YouTube account and ZeroHedge quickly picked it up and featured it. The video instantly went viral attracting over 360,000 views on the AmpedStatus YouTube account alone. It became popular enough to break through and get some coverage from the mainstream corporate media. MSNBC, Time, Bloomberg and Forbes were among many news outlets to cover it.

On June 13th, it was announced that as part this day of action a group of people will occupy Liberty Park, a strategic public space closest to Wall Street and the New York Federal Reserve building. This Anonymous statement was released:

Activists to Occupy Financial District’s Liberty Park Until Demands Are Met – Operation Empire State Rebellion Begins

“On June 14th at 1pm EST, a group of activists will begin occupation of Liberty Park (recently renamed Zuccotti Park) in lower Manhattan’s Financial District, a few blocks from Wall Street (14971 Broadway, 10007). A Google Map featuring the event states the following:
‘This Flag Day, Tuesday June 14th, we will launch a non-violent movement with this list of demands:
* End the campaign finance and lobbying racket
* Break up the Fed & Too Big to Fail banks
* Enforce RICO laws against organized criminal class
* Order Ben Bernanke to step down’
Gary Roland, an organizer of the action, says they will occupy the park ‘indefinitely, to express non-violent dissent to the further consolidation of wealth into the hands of international corporations by the corrupted two-party oligarchy. This is a non-violent action that seeks to express dissent and raise awareness of the failures of our current political discourse, until our demands are satisfied.’”

With only 16 people showing up at Liberty Park, and only four prepared to occupy it, this part of the day’s actions were considered by some to be a disappointing failure. Though this intense form of civil disobedience didn’t gain enough support at that time, the many other actions happening throughout the day were very successful.

Anonymous A99 issued an extensive report detailing the days actions: “OpESR Status Update: Empire State Rebellion Day 1.” In the report, the section on occupying Liberty Park reads:

“The most ambitious ground operation launched on Day 1 was in New York City’s Financial District, just a few blocks from Wall Street, at Liberty Park. The protest only attracted 16 people in total, with only 4 people ready to occupy the park indefinitely. While this operation was a fail due to lack of participants, we want to thank the event organizer Gary Roland and the three other people who were prepared to occupy the park: David DeGraw, Oren Clark and Kevin Dann.
Getting people to stand up in this way requires a very strong commitment that most people have not yet realized will be necessary and in their best interests. As we continue Awareness Operations and build momentum, we will reactivate this part of our Ground Operation at a future date. We have set up a social network group dedicated to planning this operation. If you are ready to peacefully occupy a public place, please join the planning group here.”

On the very same day as the launch of the Empire State Rebellion and the failed Liberty Park action, there was a group of activists assembling down the road from Liberty Park. They were preparing to set up camp in what became known as Bloombergville to protest against New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s budget cuts. Gary Roland, after leaving Liberty Park with a feeling frustration, decided to join the Bloomberg protests.

Enter the New York City General Assembly

During the Bloomberg protests a group of activists, including Gary Roland, formed a People’s General Assembly, which eventually evolved into the New York City General Assembly (NYCGA), to help facilitate an organized non-violent movement. After the two-week long Bloomberg occupation near the city capital building, the NYCGA kept meeting and building toward the next major protest event. The NYCGA would go on to play the most pivotal role on the ground, building a large turnout through old-fashioned grassroots community-based organizing.

As the NYCGA was being formed, Anonymous A99 debated the exact date in which they would return to Liberty Park for another attempt at achieving the occupation of Wall Street. They were committed to a strategy of three-month cycles. Their first communication was issued on March 12th, the second video calling for protests was released 90-days later on June 11th. They debated and it appeared that the next attempted occupation of Liberty Park would occur on September 10th.

Adbusters Makes the Call…

As the debate among Anonymous A99 was happening and a date for occupation was being finalized, Adbusters magazine issued an open call for an occupation of Wall Street on September 17th. Anonymous, A99 OpESR, US Day of Rage and the NYCGA quickly endorsed the action. With the NYCGA focused on community-based organizing, Adbusters, Anonymous, AmpedStatus, A99, US Day of Rage, WagingNonViolence and many other sites actively pushed out the message online urging people to take part in the action. WeAreThe99Percent.com and OccupyWallSt.org were then Independently launched to directly support the action. Indymedia’s Global Revolution media team provided a livestream video feed to cover the event, which then inspired many more people to come and join the occupation once it had begun. It was this serendipitous confluence of decentralized Independent groups and thousands of individuals taking it upon themselves to take action that helped make the successful occupation of Liberty Park possible.

Note: There are definitely other significant groups that played a key role. In such a decentralized movement, it’s hard to keep track of all the efforts being put forth. We will feature other perspectives in the days ahead.

Moving Forward…

Ultimately, all of the groups mentioned throughout this report were just the seeds that helped launch what is now known as the #OccupyWallStreet 99% Movement. As the occupation of Liberty Park continues to grow and enters it’s third week, with no signs of protesters even considering leaving, the people most actively taking part are committed to remaining a decentralized leaderless movement based on the direct democratic process of deciding on future demands and actions through a consensus of those participating. In the spirit of the movement, people acting on their own have begun like-minded actions and occupations throughout the country.

The only unifying call to action seems to be:

“Anything you can do to rebel against the system of economic tyranny in a non-violent manner is welcome.”

As Anonymous A99 wrote in response to questions about their movement:

“We are a DECENTRALIZED non-violent movement. If you are looking to contact one of our leaders, go to the nearest mirror and peer deeply into it. It may take some time, but, eventually, one of our leaders will appear with answers to all of your questions.”

What more can you say?

As I’m typing this, the NYC General Assembly meeting just came to an end, I hear the sound of drums, looks like it’s time for another march. An NYPD officer who supports our efforts just gave me a nod and said, “Hey man, you better get back to the frontlines. The troops are on the move.” It’s another day of battle at Liberty Park.

The occupation of Wall $treet rages on…

Not to Be Missed: Christ Hedges occupies Wall Street

2011-09-30T05:13:00.000-07:00

Best theological commentary of the day/week from Chris Hedges with the occupiers on Wall Street, speaking of the corporate class creating and perpetuating "Systems of Death."

In a ringing clarion call of support for the Wall Street Occupies, Chris pleads for solidarity and support for them and calls for a rejection of "the distorted and perverted values system that defines the commodity culture". ..."We have to go back to the wisdom of the religious left..Dorothy Day, the Berrigans, King...that we have a moral imperative to fight for life....Camus writes about this, 'If we're not physcially involved in an act of rebellion (against these systems of death) then it's spiritual death'. ...As a Christian anarchist, I believe that we are called to do the good."

"The disease of empires, all throughout history, is brought back to the Homeland. Thucydides wrote about it on Athens, that Athens's expanding empire led it to become a tyrant abroad and then a tyrant at home, so that the tyranny that Athens imposed on others, it eventually imposed on itself. And that's what we've done.

Essentially, we are being given a wake up call - to emerge from the night of death around us.

See the five part live interview here at Truth Dig.

Those on the streets around Wall Street are the physical embodiment of hope. They know that hope has a cost, that it is not easy or comfortable, that it requires self-sacrifice and discomfort and finally faith. They sleep on concrete every night. Their clothes are soiled. They have eaten more bagels and peanut butter than they ever thought possible. They have tasted fear, been beaten, gone to jail, been blinded by pepper spray, cried, hugged each other, laughed, sung, talked too long in general assemblies, seen their chants drift upward to the office towers above them, wondered if it is worth it, if anyone cares, if they will win. But as long as they remain steadfast they point the way out of the corporate labyrinth. This is what it means to be alive. They are the best among us.

Read Chris's commentary here:

From The Guardian
“We might do well to consider the collapse of the European colonial empires. It certainly did not lead to the rich successfully grabbing all the cookies, but to the creation of the modern welfare state. We don’t know precisely what will come out of this round. But if the occupiers finally manage to break the 30-year stranglehold that has been placed on the human imagination, as in those first weeks after September 2008, everything will once again be on the table – and the occupiers of Wall Street and other cities around the US will have done us the greatest favour anyone possibly can.”

Elder Porphyry the Kapsokalivite Joyfully Blesses a Group of Prostitutes

2011-09-28T00:27:00.000-07:00

Lovely article (below) which I've shamefully lifted from the charming Orthodox site, Salt of the Earth, also cross-posted at Milk and Honey. Amidst all the 'fuss' about splintering and schism from within the quite partial, but very rich (and equally corrupted) Roman tradition of Christianity, it's wise to ponder the astonishing number of extraordinary saintly figures, both female and male, who illuminate the Orthodox tradition. The Great Schism of 1054, which divided Eastern from Western Christianity was a far more profound division than the Reformation of the 16th century. Yet Her Divine Holiness the Spirit continues to populate the Eastern branch with these extraordinary figures, as if to say, "Oh piffle, who gives a flying fidler's fart for all of these institutional divisions and distinctions. I sprinkle my flowers of inspiration where I may. Let the Roman Papist be confounded." To which I say, thank you, your Holiness, and Amen.

On a related note, I'm presently reading (very slowly) Diarmaid MacCulloch monumental, 1000 page A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years, and I'm happy to report from this reading that Chritianity is nothing but a history of splintering and fragmentation, some of it quite lovely and creative, a bit of it rather unpleasant and even bloody, but the whole process seems to be part of the substance,and well-nigh unavoidable. At the moment, I'm in the middle of the chapter highlighting the delightful Monophysites, the rambunctious Miaphsites and the equally naughty Dyophysites, all of whom split off from the 'main' Roman Imperial branch after Chalcedon, and that was a very long time ago. And yet it hasn't prevented these exotic flowers from producing some astonishing examples of holiness. Last Holy Week, I was in Jerusalem and was invited by the utterly sweet and charming Eritrean Monophysite Christians living in my hotel to attend their Easter Vigil, which was being held, courtesy of the Orthodox, in the tomb of Our Lady, which is right next door to the Franciscan Church of Gethsemane, outside the walls. Their service, which was held about 10pm, was so filled with joy and light, and an uncontainable enthusiasm for living, that it left me breathless and a little speechless. Never in my 66 years had I experienced such an Easter Vigil filled with so much JOY. Then, by a bizarre coincidence, when I walked out of the tomb and up the hill onto the main road, I was taken up into a swirl of Spanish pilgrims disembarking from parked buses and heading straight into the Franciscan church of Gethesame (which had been unlocked just for them, with a porter at the door monitoring their entrance)...so I went right along with the flow and felt carried by the Spirit into this quite conventional and very familiar Roman Catholic Easter Vigil service. It was quite lovely and profound and spiritual and LONG and boring and uninspiring in it's lack of theatricality, but it did do honor to the mystery of the feast and there was an inner sense of satisfaction at its finish. But if this had been a contest??? I'm sorry, the Monophysite Christians next door win the prize hands down for knowing how to celebrate. "The Lord is Risen and don't you forget it", the Eritreans were shouting to the world, and I say Amen to that and bring on the splintering!

Here is this charming story and don't the Orthodox have such bizarrely wonderful names?

Elder Porphyry Bairaktaris the Kapsokalivite

In the old days, during the feast of the Theophany, we used to sanctify homes. One year I also went to sanctify. I would knock on the doors of the apartments, they would open for me, and I walked in singing “In Jordan, You were baptized O Lord….”

As I went along the road called Maizonos, I saw an iron door. I opened it, walked into the courtyard which was full of tangerine, orange and lemon trees, and proceeded to the stairs. It was an outdoor staircase that went up, and below it was the basement. I climbed the stairs, knocked on the door, and a lady appeared. Since she opened I began my common practice singing, “In Jordan, You were baptized O Lord….” She stopped me abruptly. Meanwhile, girls began to emerge from their rooms after hearing me from the left and right of the hallway. “I see that I fell into a brothel,” I said to myself. The woman walked in front of me to stop.

“Leave”, she told me. “It is not right for them to kiss the Cross. I will kiss the Cross and then you should leave, please.”

I took seriously her disapproving attitude and said: “I cannot leave! I am a priest, I cannot go! I came here to sanctify.”

“Yes, but it is not right for them to kiss the Cross.”

“But we don’t know if it is right for them or you to kiss the Cross. Because if God asks me for whom it is more right to kiss the Cross, the girls or you, I probably would say: ‘It is right for the girls to kiss and not you. Their souls are much better than yours.’”

With that she became a bit red in the face, so I said: “Leave the girls to come kiss the Cross.” I signalled for them to come forward. I began to chant more melodically than before: “In Jordan, You were baptized O Lord…” because I had such joy within me, that God had ordained things so that I may also come to these souls.

They all kissed the Cross. They were all made-up, with colourful skirts, etc. I told them: “My children, many years! God loves us all. He is very good and allows the rain to fall on the righteous and the unrighteous’ (Matt. 5:45). He is the Father of everyone and God cares for everyone. Let us make sure to come to know Him and for us to also love Him and to become good. May you love Him, and then you will see how happy you will be.”

They looked at me, wondering. Something took a hold of their tired souls.

Lastly I told them: “I rejoice that God has made me worthy to come here today to sanctify you. Many years!”

“Many years!” they also said, and I left.

Hope for the Future of Religions

2011-09-27T14:33:00.000-07:00

Lovely video below on Bede Griffiths in his gentle, declining years with words of wisdom for us all.

The perfect antidote to news of the Pope's visit to Germany -which I've been ignoring. Giving it too much attention (ala John Allen of NCR) only serves to increase it's negative energy -which is best left to dissipate like clouds of dust. Nice news about the young Catholics at the event, however, enjoying the fanfare and symbolism of the event, but almost completely ignoring the message -from Bilgrimage blog. The real work of the Spirit is hidden, subtle, unobtrusive - gentle, humble and wise. At this point in history, I think it is both unwise and unhealthy spiritually to get too caught up in any one institutional manifestation of the sacred. They are now all incomplete on their own, and only find meaning and substance in complementary unity. Where is the Spirit truly leading us? Not into an obsessive examination of the minutia of a crumbling institution.

"As long as (religions) remain on the surface they will always be divided in conflict. If they discover their depth, then we converge on the Unity. ...As you go deep into any religion, you converge on the center. And everything springs from that center, and everything is converging on that center.....90% of the people in the West are leaving the Church today not because they don't believe in religion or faith or Christ, but because they cannot accept they way it is presented to them....

"I think Hinduism taught me, above all, the sense of the sacred. I had been searching for it, but you see the Western World is profane. We've deliberately eliminated every sign of the sacred, except in some churches and some places. But in India, there are holy temples and places, but the earth is sacred and the air and the water. We are living in a sacred world."

Find the Video here: A Human Search: The Life of Father Bede Griffiths

Merton as Buddha

The Gospel of Religious Pluralism according to Justin Bieber

2011-09-26T13:58:00.000-07:00

Fascinating article on the young pop star and his religious faith, taken from CNN's Belief Blog. Since I met him about a year and a half ago, I feel a particular affection for this young performer - despite all the naysayers on the internet. The music is...well... a bit sugary, but then it isn't written for old folks like me, but for very young impressionable girls, and for them I think it's just fine. Let them have their magical moment with a young star who exudes decency from ever pore. What impressed me during my conversations with him is, that despite his religious origins in the Evangelical Christian "Right," he is warmly accepting of gay people in the entertainment industry, completely non judgmental and non patronizing. He is also particularly sensitive about the Jewish members of his staff, especially his Jewish manager, Scooter Braun. This is why, when he is witnessing in public to his gratitude to "God" at awards shows, etc. - while it may make some people squirm (including moi) - his sentences are carefully worded to distinguish between "God" and "Jesus." (I'd like to thank 'God' for all my success. I'd also like to thank Jesus- Video Music Awards, 2011). After all, it was none other than Thomas Aquinas who said many years ago, "You cannot put the name 'Jesus' and the word "God' into the same sentence co-joined by the copulative very 'to be'" (i.e. Jesus is God), a witty aphorism which has been very much neglected down the years by Jesuolaters. Remember Karl Rahner's famous quip that most Christians were Jesuolators, who had divorced the mystery of Jesus from its inclusion in the heart of the Trinity. This thought has been echoed by many distinguished theologians, among them Jan Sobrino. Jesus, while a conduit or symbol of the divine, is not an absolute substitute for the ultimate mystery of the Godhead. Justin, therefore, is not going to equate the two out of respect for the beliefs of his Jewish friends. Very wise, and very postmodernist, in line with the pluralist theology of Roger Haight, Paul Knitter, and Philip Phan. Justin has been taken to task by some for this practice, and accused of being theologically illiterate. Nothing could be further from the truth. He knows exactly what he is doing in respecting the sensibilities of his Jewish friends, particularly during the prayer sessions preceding each concert, in which Jewish and Christian prayers commingle, with no deference given to 'Jesus' as an absolute God Figure. I have to agree with the author of this article. The faith of this youngster seems very genuine, however awkwardly he may express it at times, employing hackneyed formulas (Jesus died on the cross for our sins). But that he has been touched by something very real within his inner being seems evident to those who really know him, which should give pause to those of us (like myself, I admit) who are sometimes harshly judgmental of the evangelical side of Christianity. Thank you, Justin, for showing us that the Spirit can touch the hearts of persons through a variety of theological/religious frameworks.

By Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor

(CNN) – Justin Bieber is one of the world's most famous pop stars but is also decidedly more Jesusy than his day job might lead some to believe.

When the young Canadian-born singer burst onto the scene, he was discovered in part by singing Christian songs on YouTube. But that is just the beginning of Bieber's faith journey, spelled out in a new book on the young star.

Cathleen Falsani sarcastically self-proclaims she is the "pre-eminent Justin Bieber scholar in North America."

Falsani has penned "Belieber! Fame, Faith, and the Heart of Justin Bieber," a book exploring the faith life of the tween sensation.

An award-winning religion journalist and a nationally syndicated columnist on the God beat, Falsani came to writing about Bieber almost accidentally.

"I was aware of who he was as a cultural figure. I was aware that he existed, that he was young, cute as a button and Canadian and that his music wasn't something that I generally listened to," she said.

She stumbled across an interview Bieber did with Rolling Stone magazine in which he talked about God. "I was like, 'OK, this is interesting. Let's see if this is any different than all of the other young 'Christian' pop stars or actors.' "

She was intrigued by the "tone and tenor" of what the young teen had to say about his faith, so she dug deeper. Her young adopted son Vasco was talking about Bieber at the time, and a friend told her she ought to write a book on "the gospel according to Justin Bieber."

What she found was a compelling story of a young man born to an 18-year-old single woman who lost and then found her faith and her way back to church.

Falsani details how Bieber's mother, Patricia Mallette, openly shared her struggles with drugs, alcohol and a suicide attempt before she gave birth to Justin.

Mallette's faith journey took her to Jubilee Christian Fellowship, a nondenominational church in Stratford, Ontario. The church mirrors many charismatic churches in the United States with an emphasis on prayer and spiritual gifts.

"I would call it a charismatic or a Pentecostal church. The iteration of that looks a little different in Canada than it does (in the United States). It looks like any number of our evangelical nondenominational churches, but with a lot more arms raised. Very, very prayerful," Falsani described.

Mallette joined the praise band, which led the music on Sundays. "Being young ... they used to hang out, and she would bring Justin. That's when they noticed this kid's got unbelievable rhythm. And he's 2," according to Falsani.

From there, Bieber lived the life of a normal Canadian church kid, focusing on school and sports.

Bieber kept his musical talents quiet from friends until he was 13 years old and entered a singing competition. He placed third.

His extended family was not able to come and see his performance, so he and his mom began to upload videos onto YouTube so the rest of the family could see him singing. Some of his tunes were Christian worship songs and others secular pop tunes.

The videos hit in a big way.

Falsani explained that Justin's mom thought, "If God had a plan for Justin to be to a music artist, then surely it would be in the Christian industry, and God would send them a nice Christian manager. Suddenly, this 25-year-old Jewish kid from Connecticut called."

In 2007, Scott "Scooter" Brown discovered Bieber.

His career took off. The family moved to the United States, and Bieber began palling around with music icons.

The haircut, the honey-dripped voice and the screaming tweens are the stuff pop legends are made of. Today, Bieber is a multimillionaire and an industry all to his own, but Falsani details in the book how he and his mother have maintained their faith.

Sprinkled heavily through "Belieber!" are tweets from Bieber and his mom talking about faith, quoting scripture and sharing a simple Christian narrative that God loves people.

Bieber explained his approach to Rolling Stone in February: "I feel I have an obligation to plant little seeds with my fans. I'm not going to tell them, 'You need Jesus,' but I will say at the end of my show, 'God loves you.' "

He does not take complicated theological soapbox stands. In February, he drew a lot of attention for articulating his opposition to abortion in a Rolling Stone article, but he was quick to say it was his belief and he would not force it on anyone.

The book also uses quotes from social media sites to evidence the positive influence Bieber's faith has on his young fans. Falsani sprinkles in quotes from Bieber's core audience - tween and teenage girls - and plays to their hand with a glossy color photo spread featuring pictures of Bieber being Bieber.

Though she considers herself a fan in his shadow demographic (the moms at the concert who secretly dig and buy the music), as a mother herself, Falsani appreciates the positive role Bieber's faith has played in his young career.

"I do think this faith he has is very genuine and very much his and not his mom's or anyone else's. It's not a marketing tool," she said.

Bieber's work with charity is well-documented; he gives a portion of ticket sales to charity, among other approaches. Falsani is taking a similar role with this book, too. Part of the proceeds from her book are going towards the United Nations-backed Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The Next Reincarnation of the Dalai Lama

2011-09-24T16:02:00.000-07:00

24 September 2011

Introduction

My fellow Tibetans, both in and outside Tibet, all those who follow the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and everyone who has a connection to Tibet and Tibetans: due to the foresight of our ancient kings, ministers and scholar-adepts, the complete teaching of the Buddha, comprising the scriptural and experiential teachings of the Three Vehicles and the Four Sets of Tantra and their related subjects and disciplines flourished widely in the Land of Snow. Tibet has served as a source of Buddhist and related cultural traditions for the world. In particular, it has contributed significantly to the happiness of countless beings in Asia, including those in China, Tibet and Mongolia.

In the course of upholding the Buddhist tradition in Tibet, we evolved a unique Tibetan tradition of recognizing the reincarnations of scholar-adepts that has been of immense help to both the Dharma and sentient beings, particularly to the monastic community.

Since the omniscient Gedun Gyatso was recognized and confirmed as the reincarnation of Gedun Drub in the fifteenth century and the Gaden Phodrang Labrang (the Dalai Lama’s institution) was established, successive reincarnations have been recognized. The third in the line, Sonam Gyatso, was given the title of the Dalai Lama. The Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso, established the Gaden Phodrang Government in 1642, becoming the spiritual and political head of Tibet. For more than 600 years since Gedun Drub, a series of unmistaken reincarnations has been recognised in the lineage of the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lamas have functioned as both the political and spiritual leaders of Tibet for 369 years since 1642. I have now voluntarily brought this to an end, proud and satisfied that we can pursue the kind of democratic system of government flourishing elsewhere in the world. In fact, as far back as 1969, I made clear that concerned people should decide whether the Dalai Lama’s reincarnations should continue in the future. However, in the absence of clear guidelines, should the concerned public express a strong wish for the Dalai Lamas to continue, there is an obvious risk of vested political interests misusing the reincarnation system to fulfil their own political agenda. Therefore, while I remain physically and mentally fit, it seems important to me that we draw up clear guidelines to recognise the next Dalai Lama, so that there is no room for doubt or deception. For these guidelines to be fully comprehensible, it is essential to understand the system of Tulku recognition and the basic concepts behind it. Therefore, I shall briefly explain them below.

Past and future lives

In order to accept reincarnation or the reality of Tulkus, we need to accept the existence of past and future lives. Sentient beings come to this present life from their previous lives and take rebirth again after death. This kind of continuous rebirth is accepted by all the ancient Indian spiritual traditions and schools of philosophy, except the Charvakas, who were a materialist movement. Some modern thinkers deny past and future lives on the premise that we cannot see them. Others do not draw such clear cut conclusions on this basis.

Although many religious traditions accept rebirth, they differ in their views of what it is that is reborn, how it is reborn, and how it passes through the transitional period between two lives. Some religious traditions accept the prospect of future life, but reject the idea of past lives.

Generally, Buddhists believe that there is no beginning to birth and that once we achieve liberation from the cycle of existence by overcoming our karma and destructive emotions, we will not be reborn under the sway of these conditions. Therefore, Buddhists believe that there is an end to being reborn as a result of karma and destructive emotions, but most Buddhist philosophical schools do not accept that the mind-stream comes to an end. To reject past and future rebirth would contradict the Buddhist concept of the ground, path and result, which must be explained on the basis of the disciplined or undisciplined mind. If we accept this argument, logically, we would also have to accept that the world and its inhabitants come about without causes and conditions. Therefore, as long as you are a Buddhist, it is necessary to accept past and future rebirth.

For those who remember their past lives, rebirth is a clear experience. However, most ordinary beings forget their past lives as they go through the process of death, intermediate state and rebirth. As past and future rebirths are slightly obscure to them, we need to use evidence-based logic to prove past and future rebirths to them.

There are many different logical arguments given in the words of the Buddha and subsequent commentaries to prove the existence of past and future lives. In brief, they come down to four points: the logic that things are preceded by things of a similar type, the logic that things are preceded by a substantial cause, the logic that the mind has gained familiarity with things in the past, and the logic of having gained experience of things in the past.

Ultimately all these arguments are based on the idea that the nature of the mind, its clarity and awareness, must have clarity and awareness as its substantial cause. It cannot have any other entity such as an inanimate object as its substantial cause. This is self-evident. Through logical analysis we infer that a new stream of clarity and awareness cannot come about without causes or from unrelated causes. While we observe that mind cannot be produced in a laboratory, we also infer that nothing can eliminate the continuity of subtle clarity and awareness.

As far as I know, no modern psychologist, physicist, or neuroscientist has been able to observe or predict the production of mind either from matter or without cause.

There are people who can remember their immediate past life or even many past lives, as well as being able to recognise places and relatives from those lives. This is not just something that happened in the past. Even today there are many people in the East and West, who can recall incidents and experiences from their past lives. Denying this is not an honest and impartial way of doing research, because it runs counter to this evidence. The Tibetan system of recognising reincarnations is an authentic mode of investigation based on people’s recollection of their past lives.

How rebirth takes place

There are two ways in which someone can take rebirth after death: rebirth under the sway of karma and destructive emotions and rebirth through the power of compassion and prayer. Regarding the first, due to ignorance negative and positive karma are created and their imprints remain on the consciousness. These are reactivated through craving and grasping, propelling us into the next life. We then take rebirth involuntarily in higher or lower realms. This is the way ordinary beings circle incessantly through existence like the turning of a wheel. Even under such circumstances ordinary beings can engage diligently with a positive aspiration in virtuous practices in their day-to-day lives. They familiarise themselves with virtue that at the time of death can be reactivated providing the means for them to take rebirth in a higher realm of existence. On the other hand, superior Bodhisattvas, who have attained the path of seeing, are not reborn through the force of their karma and destructive emotions, but due to the power of their compassion for sentient beings and based on their prayers to benefit others. They are able to choose their place and time of birth as well as their future parents. Such a rebirth, which is solely for the benefit of others, is rebirth through the force of compassion and prayer.

The meaning of Tulku

It seems the Tibetan custom of applying the epithet ‘Tulku’ (Buddha’s Emanation Body) to recognized reincarnations began when devotees used it as an honorary title, but it has since become a common expression. In general, the term Tulku refers to a particular aspect of the Buddha, one of the three or four described in the Sutra Vehicle. According to this explanation of these aspects of the Buddha, a person who is totally bound by destructive emotions and karma has the potential to achieve the Truth Body (Dharmakaya), comprising the Wisdom Truth Body and Nature Truth Body. The former refers to the enlightened mind of a Buddha, which sees everything directly and precisely, as it is, in an instant. It has been cleared of all destructive emotions, as well as their imprints, through the accumulation of merit and wisdom over a long period of time. The latter, the Nature Truth Body, refers to the empty nature of that all-knowing enlightened mind. These two together are aspects of the Buddhas for themselves. However, as they are not directly accessible to others, but only amongst the Buddhas themselves, it is imperative that the Buddhas manifest in physical forms that are accessible to sentient beings in order to help them. Hence, the ultimate physical aspect of a Buddha is the Body of Complete Enjoyment (Sambhogakaya), which is accessible to superior Bodhisattvas, and has five definite qualifications such as residing in the Akanishta Heaven. And from the Body of Complete Enjoyment are manifested the myriad Emanation Bodies or Tulkus (Nirmanakaya), of the Buddhas, which appear as gods or humans and are accessible even to ordinary beings. These two physical aspects of the Buddha are termed Form Bodies, which are meant for others.

The Emanation Body is three-fold: a) the Supreme Emanation Body like Shakyamuni Buddha, the historical Buddha, who manifested the twelve deeds of a Buddha such as being born in the place he chose and so forth; b) the Artistic Emanation Body which serves others by appearing as craftsmen, artists and so on; and c) the Incarnate Emanation Body, according to which Buddhas appear in various forms such as human beings, deities, rivers, bridges, medicinal plants, and trees to help sentient beings. Of these three types of Emanation Body, the reincarnations of spiritual masters recognized and known as ‘Tulkus’ in Tibet come under the third category. Among these Tulkus there may be many who are truly qualified Incarnate Emanation Bodies of the Buddhas, but this does not necessarily apply to all of them. Amongst the Tulkus of Tibet there may be those who are reincarnations of superior Bodhisattvas, Bodhisattvas on the paths of accumulation and preparation, as well as masters who are evidently yet to enter these Bodhisattva paths. Therefore, the title of Tulku is given to reincarnate Lamas either on the grounds of their resembling enlightened beings or through their connection to certain qualities of enlightened beings.

As Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo said:

“Reincarnation is what happens when someone takes rebirth after the predecessor’s passing away; emanation is when manifestations take place without the source’s passing away.”

Recognition of Reincarnations

The practice of recognizing who is who by identifying someone’s previous life occurred even when Shakyamuni Buddha himself was alive. Many accounts are found in the four Agama Sections of the Vinaya Pitaka, the Jataka Stories, the Sutra of the Wise and Foolish, the Sutra of One Hundred Karmas and so on, in which the Tathagata revealed the workings of karma, recounting innumerable stories about how the effects of certain karmas created in a past life are experienced by a person in his or her present life. Also, in the life stories of Indian masters, who lived after the Buddha, many reveal their previous places of birth. There are many such stories, but the system of recognizing and numbering their reincarnations did not occur in India.

The system of recognizing reincarnations in Tibet

Past and future lives were asserted in the indigenous Tibetan Bon tradition before the arrival of Buddhism. And since the spread of Buddhism in Tibet, virtually all Tibetans have believed in past and future lives. Investigating the reincarnations of many spiritual masters who upheld the Dharma, as well as the custom of praying devotedly to them, flourished everywhere in Tibet. Many authentic scriptures, indigenous Tibetan books such as the Mani Kabum and the Fivefold Kathang Teachings and others like the The Books of Kadam Disciples and the Jewel Garland: Responses to Queries, which were recounted by the glorious, incomparable Indian master Dipankara Atisha in the 11th century in Tibet, tell stories of the reincarnations of Arya Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of compassion. However, the present tradition of formally recognizing the reincarnations of masters first began in the early 13th century with the recognition of Karmapa Pagshi as the reincarnation of Karmapa Dusum Khyenpa by his disciples in accordance with his prediction. Since then, there have been seventeen Karmapa incarnations over more than nine hundred years. Similarly, since the recognition of Kunga Sangmo as the reincarnation of Khandro Choekyi Dronme in the 15th century there have been more than ten incarnations of Samding Dorje Phagmo. So, among the Tulkus recognized in Tibet there are monastics and lay tantric practitioners, male and female. This system of recognizing the reincarnations gradually spread to other Tibetan Buddhist traditions, and Bon, in Tibet. Today, there are recognized Tulkus in all the Tibetan Buddhist traditions, the Sakya, Geluk, Kagyu and Nyingma, as well as Jonang and Bodong, who serve the Dharma. It is also evident that amongst these Tulkus some are a disgrace.

The omniscient Gedun Drub, who was a direct disciple of Je Tsongkhapa, founded Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Tsang and took care of his students. He passed away in 1474 at the age of 84. Although initially no efforts were made to identify his reincarnation, people were obliged to recognize a child named Sangye Chophel, who had been born in Tanak, Tsang (1476), because of what he had to say about his amazing and flawless recollections of his past life. Since then, a tradition began of searching for and recognizing the successive reincarnations of the Dalai Lamas by the Gaden Phodrang Labrang and later the Gaden Phodrang Government.

The ways of recognizing reincarnations

After the system of recognizing Tulkus came into being, various procedures for going about it began to develop and grow. Among these some of the most important involve the predecessor’s predictive letter and other instructions and indications that might occur; the reincarnation’s reliably recounting his previous life and speaking about it; identifying possessions belonging to the predecessor and recognizing people who had been close to him. Apart from these, additional methods include asking reliable spiritual masters for their divination as well as seeking the predictions of mundane oracles, who appear through mediums in trance, and observing the visions that manifest in sacred lakes of protectors like Lhamoi Latso, a sacred lake south of Lhasa.

When there happens to be more than one prospective candidate for recognition as a Tulku, and it becomes difficult to decide, there is a practice of making the final decision by divination employing the dough-ball method (zen tak) before a sacred image while calling upon the power of truth.

Emanation before the passing away of the predecessor (ma-dhey tulku)

Usually a reincarnation has to be someone’s taking rebirth as a human being after previously passing away. Ordinary sentient beings generally cannot manifest an emanation before death (ma-dhey tulku), but superior Bodhisattvas, who can manifest themselves in hundreds or thousands of bodies simultaneously, can manifest an emanation before death. Within the Tibetan system of recognizing Tulkus there are emanations who belong to the same mind-stream as the predecessor, emanations who are connected to others through the power of karma and prayers, and emanations who come as a result of blessings and appointment.

The main purpose of the appearance of a reincarnation is to continue the predecessor’s unfinished work to serve Dharma and beings. In the case of a Lama who is an ordinary being, instead of having a reincarnation belonging to the same mind-stream, someone else with connections to that Lama through pure karma and prayers may be recognized as his or her emanation. Alternatively it is possible for the Lama to appoint a successor who is either his disciple or someone young who is to be recognized as his emanation. Since these options are possible in the case of an ordinary being, an emanation before death that is not of the same mind-stream is feasible. In some cases one high Lama may have several reincarnations simultaneously, such as incarnations of body, speech and mind and so on. In recent times, there have been well-known emanations before death such as Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje and Chogye Trichen Ngawang Khyenrab.

Using the Golden Urn

As the degenerate age gets worse, and as more reincarnations of high Lamas are being recognized, some of them for political motives, increasing numbers have been recognized through inappropriate and questionable means, as a result of which huge damage has been done to the Dharma.

During the conflict between Tibet and the Gurkhas (1791-93) the Tibetan Government had to call on Manchu military support. Consequently the Gurkha military was expelled from Tibet, but afterwards Manchu officials made a 29-point proposal on the pretext of making the Tibetan Government’s administration more efficient. This proposal included the suggestion of picking lots from a Golden Urn to decide on the recognition of the reincarnations of the Dalai Lamas, Panchen Lamas and Hutuktus, a Mongolian title given to high Lamas. Therefore, this procedure was followed in the case of recognizing some reincarnations of the Dalai Lama, Panchen Lama and other high Lamas. The ritual to be followed was written by the Eighth Dalai Lama Jampel Gyatso. Even after such a system had been introduced, this procedure was dispensed with for the Ninth, Thirteenth and myself, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.

Even in the case of the Tenth Dalai Lama, the authentic reincarnation had already been found and in reality this procedure was not followed, but in order to humour the Manchus it was merely announced that this procedure had been observed.

The Golden Urn system was actually used only in the cases of the Eleventh and Twelfth Dalai Lamas. However, the Twelfth Dalai Lama had already been recognized before the procedure was employed. Therefore, there has only been one occasion when a Dalai Lama was recognized by using this method. Likewise, among the reincarnations of the Panchen Lama, apart from the Eighth and the Ninth, there have been no instances of this method being employed. This system was imposed by the Manchus, but Tibetans had no faith in it because it lacked any spiritual quality. However, if it were to be used honestly, it seems that we could consider it as similar to the manner of divination employing the dough-ball method (zen tak).

In 1880, during the recognition of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the Twelfth, traces of the Priest-Patron relationship between Tibet and the Manchus still existed. He was recognized as the unmistaken reincarnation by the Eighth Panchen Lama, the predictions of the Nechung and Samye oracles and by observing visions that appeared in Lhamoi Latso, therefore the Golden Urn procedure was not followed. This can be clearly understood from the Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s final testament of the Water-Monkey Year (1933) in which he states:

“As you all know, I was selected not in the customary way of picking lots from the golden urn, but my selection was foretold and divined. In accordance with these divinations and prophecies I was recognized as the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and enthroned.”

When I was recognized as the Fourteenth incarnation of the Dalai Lama in 1939, the Priest-Patron relationship between Tibet and China had already come to an end. Therefore, there was no question of any need to confirm the reincarnation by employing the Golden Urn. It is well-known that the then Regent of Tibet and the Tibetan National Assembly had followed the procedure for recognizing the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation taking account of the predictions of high Lamas, oracles and the visions seen in Lhamoi Latso; the Chinese had no involvement in it whatever. Nevertheless, some concerned officials of the Guomintang later cunningly spread lies in the newspapers claiming that they had agreed to forego the use of the Golden Urn and that Wu Chung-tsin presided over my enthronement, and so on. This lie was exposed by Ngabo Ngawang Jigme, the Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, who the People’s Republic of China considered to be a most progressive person, at the Second Session of the Fifth People’s Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region (31st July 1989). This is clear, when, at the end of his speech, in which he gave a detailed explanation of events and presented documentary evidence, he demanded:

“What need is there for the Communist Party to follow suit and continue the lies of the Guomintang?”

Deceptive strategy and false hopes

In the recent past, there have been cases of irresponsible managers of wealthy Lama-estates who indulged in improper methods to recognize reincarnations, which have undermined the Dharma, the monastic community and our society. Moreover, since the Manchu era Chinese political authorities repeatedly engaged in various deceitful means using Buddhism, Buddhist masters and Tulkus as tools to fulfil their political ends as they involved themselves in Tibetan and Mongolian affairs. Today, the authoritarian rulers of the People’s Republic of China, who as communists reject religion, but still involve themselves in religious affairs, have imposed a so-called re-education campaign and declared the so-called Order No. Five, concerning the control and recognition of reincarnations, which came into force on 1st September 2007. This is outrageous and disgraceful. The enforcement of various inappropriate methods for recognizing reincarnations to eradicate our unique Tibetan cultural traditions is doing damage that will be difficult to repair.

Moreover, they say they are waiting for my death and will recognize a Fifteenth Dalai Lama of their choice. It is clear from their recent rules and regulations and subsequent declarations that they have a detailed strategy to deceive Tibetans, followers of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and the world community. Therefore, as I have a responsibility to protect the Dharma and sentient beings and counter such detrimental schemes, I make the following declaration.

The next incarnation of the Dalai Lama

As I mentioned earlier, reincarnation is a phenomenon which should take place either through the voluntary choice of the concerned person or at least on the strength of his or her karma, merit and prayers. Therefore, the person who reincarnates has sole legitimate authority over where and how he or she takes rebirth and how that reincarnation is to be recognized. It is a reality that no one else can force the person concerned, or manipulate him or her. It is particularly inappropriate for Chinese communists, who explicitly reject even the idea of past and future lives, let alone the concept of reincarnate Tulkus, to meddle in the system of reincarnation and especially the reincarnations of the Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas. Such brazen meddling contradicts their own political ideology and reveals their double standards. Should this situation continue in the future, it will be impossible for Tibetans and those who follow the Tibetan Buddhist tradition to acknowledge or accept it.

When I am about ninety I will consult the high Lamas of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions, the Tibetan public, and other concerned people who follow Tibetan Buddhism, and re-evaluate whether the institution of the Dalai Lama should continue or not. On that basis we will take a decision. If it is decided that the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama should continue and there is a need for the Fifteenth Dalai Lama to be recognized, responsibility for doing so will primarily rest on the concerned officers of the Dalai Lama’s Gaden Phodrang Trust. They should consult the various heads of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions and the reliable oath-bound Dharma Protectors who are linked inseparably to the lineage of the Dalai Lamas. They should seek advice and direction from these concerned beings and carry out the procedures of search and recognition in accordance with past tradition. I shall leave clear written instructions about this. Bear in mind that, apart from the reincarnation recognized through such legitimate methods, no recognition or acceptance should be given to a candidate chosen for political ends by anyone, including those in the People’s Republic of China.

The Dalai Lama
Dharamsala

Yet Again! Another Gay Teenager Crosses to the Other Shore

2011-09-22T14:53:00.000-07:00

Fourteen year old Jamey Rodemeyer took his own life last Sunday night in Buffalo, New York, in response to years of bullying from his classmates at school. I've lived with the story through the week and couldn't find the words to comment on yet again another young gay teen tragedy. Words fail at this point and the only proper response seems to be one of prayerful silence and heartfelt grief. However, words fail even more profoundly when one visits Catholic 'centrist' spiritual blogs (alongside of centrist theological journals) and encounters so many words attempting to express both 'compassion' for the despairing youth as well as rationalizations and justifications for traditional Catholic Church teaching on homosexuality. God forbid one should have to question the latter. Catholics of this persuasion need to be told that they have nothing, nothing at all, of worth to say in response to such a tragedy if they cannot recognize the complicity of their own church and its defective, disordered moral teaching in the hate which destroyed this beautiful, sensitive, promising youth. Please, please, if you have any sense of decency at all, remain silent. Your 'compassion' is so profoundly offensive and inappropriate. Fortunately, there are sufficient people commenting on the blogs and at the Buffalo News Website, who do "get it." What makes this story particularly heartbreaking is Jamey's own video for the "It Gets Better Campaign," which shows a vulnerable, broken youth struggling with heartache beyond his young capacity to endure. We are all complicit, we are all guilty, we are all shamed.

The full story here:

Jamey's You Tube Video here:

Thank you Jamey for the grace you have given us in living and in dying. May your great grandmother have embraced you at the gates of Paradise and taken you in her arms and given you all the love and acceptance so cruelly denied you here among us on earth. We have failed you, Christians especially, but the Spirit of Love never fails.

At The River Crossing by Harry "Breaker" Morant

Oh! the quiet river-crossing
   Where we twain were wont to ride,
Where the wanton winds were to sing
   Willow branches o'er the tide.


There the golden noon would find us
   Dallying through the summer day,
All the weary world behind us -
   All it's tumult far away.


Oh! thou rides across the crossing
   Where the shallow stream runs wide,
When the sunset's beams were glossing
   Strips of sand on either side.


We would cross the sparkling river
   On the brown horse and the bay;
Watch the willows sway and shiver
   And their trembling shadows play.


When the opal tints waxed duller
   And a gray crept o'er the skies
Yet there stayed the blue sky's color
   In your dreamy dark-blue eyes.


How the sun-god's bright caresses,
   When we rode at sunet there,
Plaited among your braided tresses,
   Gleaming on your silky hair.


When the last sunlight's glory
   Faded off the sandy bars,
There we learnt the old, old story,
   Riding homeward 'neat the stars.


'Tis a memory to be hoarded -
   Oh, the foolish tale and fond!
Till another stream be forded -
   And we reach the Great Beyond.

Making Love is Making God: Gays and the NEW New Testament of Jesus

2011-09-19T11:01:00.000-07:00

Making Love Is Making God

A brief look at the three (3 only) passages in the New Testament in which something similar to same sex relations is mentioned, contrasting the King James Version with the New New Testament. Information on this sublime new recasting of the New Testament can be found in the previous posting. The book can be purchased as a paper back here:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/new-new-testament?store=book

Romans 1:26-27:

KJV

[26] For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, [27] and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed in their passions for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

NNT:

God has such deep compassion for those who have not yet made this love-connection with him, because they have not yet seen and experienced the truth of the immense love he has for them. He longs for the day when they will see this truth. Through the awe of a starry night to the warmth of the rising sun, his power and love have been manifested since the beginning of time. But many have failed to open their minds and hearts to this glory. Their fear had hid this truth from them. So instead of seeing the Glory of God, they settled for the dust of this world. God waited patiently for them to mature through their acts of dishonor to him and themselves.

(end of Chapter 1)

1 Corinthians: 5 & 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10

KJV:

But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard....

No, you yourelves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren!

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites....

NNT:

1 Corinthians 5

My prayer now is that we return sexuality to its rightful place next to spirituality. I now see that sexuality is the marvelous expression of spirituality on the physical level. As matter is to energy, so sexuality is to spirituality. Sexuality is the Divine Gift to augment our Spirituality. Its primary purpose is spiritual growth, not human birth. Human birth happens only very rarely, whereas spiritual growth is needed constantly!

1 Corinthians 6

Be aware that your bodies are members of Jesus. They too are made in the image of God. Be aware also that your bodies are Temples of the Spirit, the Risen Jesus, given to you by Dad to help you live as the Spirit, as the Risen Jesus. Making love is making God, since God is Love. Move your sexuality totally into your Temple and act out from that sacred place. Move your Sexual energy, your creative energy, into the world and shower it with Love...

As I have said (sometimes wrongly) in my previous writings: Don't let anyone convince you otherwise.

Enter the heart of Dad's love and you will feel this Truth.

1 Timothy 1:8-11

KJV

Knowing this: That the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers.

For fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers.

NNT:

For the law is for unbelievers. If we truly believe in Love, in God, there is no need of law, other than those which bring order to our external world. But we have the Good News of our beloved God to guide us, and which I have been entrusted to share.

Women obey your husbands: A brief sample.

Eph. 5:22-24 – “Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of his wife, as Christ is the head of the church, His Body, and is himself its savior. As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands.”

NNT:

Honor one another just as you would honor Jesus. This is especially important for husbands and wives. Husbands, love your wives as you love Jesus. Wives love your husbands as you love Jesus. There has never been a greater example of the Love we are called to than that of Jesus.

One who loves his wife loves himself. One who loves her husband loves herself.This is simply the reality of our Oneness. As Jesus treats his Communities, we are to treat one another, for we are members of his Body. Husbands and wives should have as deep a unity with each other as Jesus has with his communities, and with each one of us.

Only hearts totally open to Spirit can understand the depth of our call to Love. Only hearts totally open to Jesus can live it.

A "NEW" TESTAMENT FROM JESUS?

2011-09-18T06:02:00.000-07:00

Friends of mine from the Catholic Diocese of One Spirit have sent me what is being described as "THE NEW NEW TESTAMENT." Essentially, it is a re-written version of the traditional texts, with a substantial amount of negativity (towards the Jews for example) written out of it, and many other passages illuminated by a profound mystical consciousness. I found this new version so profound and inspiring, and free of so many troubling elements, such as sexism, exclusivism, anti-Judaism, that it has now become my scripture of choice. The end results are ever more mystical than the original and will be quite familiar to those who have been exposed to 'new age' thinking (though I dislike the phrase). The scribe, Ken Maley, claims to have been guided interiorly to complete this task, which makes of it something similar to The Course In Miracles.

Taken from the website of The New New Testament.

The scribe of The New New Testament is Ken Maley. Ken has always felt a deep calling to spirituality and spent a year in a hermitage in his youth to deepen his union with Jesus. Later he spent 18 years as a Roman Catholic priest, sharing spirituality in a large American parish and then with seminarians in Africa. While in Africa he felt led to leave the Roman Catholic Church after reading A Course in Miracles, and finding it so close to the Gospel of St. John and so spiritually fulfilling and Spirit based. It opened the New Testament and the real message of Jesus to him in a very profound way.

Ken was ordained a Catholic bishop, though not Roman Catholic, on Easter of 2001. And because of his Native American blood, he promised in a long Vision Quest in the desert to open more fully to Jesus and Spirit. It was during these three months that Jesus first asked him to rewrite the New Testament, but he did not have the courage to do it at that time. When the Call came again in 2009, he was more prepared and agreed to the arduous task, knowing that many would believe he was delusional or even worse. But what Jesus wanted was more important to him than what people might think of him.

To explore this New New Testament in greater depth, please visit the website here.
The New New Testament Rewritten through Jesus and the Original Authors
is available for purchase as a paperback by clicking here:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/new-new-testament?store=book

Review from Barnes and Noble:

It's about time! I was quickly at home with the new New Testament, feeling I was drinking from the spring instead of the polluted downstream. This amazing work's truth resonates: we are love, we are divinity having human experiences, all is well. You will be amazed at the beauty of the language. Preachers now have a clearer path to preach love instead of fear. Get ready for a real Jesus who makes sense.
Will the New New Testament change the world? I don't know but it has changed mine. God bless the courageous man who received this translation.

Blurbs from the Website.

"Exactly what Jesus would say if he came to earth again! Perhaps this is how he will come again." - Christian Person

"What Christians have been seeking for centuries. Literally millions will love it." - Catholic Bishop

"Speechless! I am totally amazed at what is here." - Person with ties to India and Hinduism

"Poetry for my soul." - Protestant Minister

"Marvelous! My wife and I have read John's Gospel through twice to each other. Our favorite phrase: 'God's Heart is so big you can't walk out of it.'" - Couple with a Mormon background

"Many will find that this book is miraculous, since Jesus brings us into the Heart of God.” - A Seeker

You can order the book as a paperback here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/new-new-testament?store=book

Lesbian Nuns: Still Immodest After All These Years

2011-09-15T18:59:00.000-07:00

Great review from Religious Dispatches on the landmark historical study, Immodest Acts:The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy. It is considered a landmark study precisely because of "the extent to which it was part of the recovery of the lesbian and gay past."

Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy
Judith C. Brown
Oxford University Press (1986)

In 1986, Judith C. Brown published a book about Renaissance Italy called Immodest Acts. It was reviewed in the New York Times, The Nation, and the San Francisco Chronicle, not to mention many scholarly venues. Why? Perhaps because the subtitle of the book was The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy.

The notion of the lesbian nun was not a new one. Denis Diderot’s 18th-century anti-Catholic piece entitled La Religieuse (The Nun) certainly portrayed what we might see as lesbian activity on the part of nuns. And, just a year prior to the publication of Immodest Acts, Naiad Press published Rosemary Curb and Nancy Manahan’s influential and controversial collection of pieces entitled, yes, Lesbian Nuns (in that case, subtitled Breaking Silence).

That the apparent oxymoron “lesbian nun” was of crucial public interest is evident in the subsequent publication of portions of the Curb and Manahan book in Ms. magazine. That the topic had a salacious history is evident both in Diderot’s frequently republished classic and in the fact that portions of the Curb and Manahan collection were also subsequently published in the men’s magazine Forum.

Though it served a role as a prop in a film entitled Damned if You Don’t as early as 1987, Immodest Acts is neither anti-Catholic, a work of contemporary advocacy, nor of salacious interest. Rather, Immodest Acts was (and is) a work of history that has itself taken a place in the history of both lesbian and gay scholarship and in the wider social changes of the past several decades. Immodest Acts is based on archival material Brown discovered in the State Archive of Florence while in pursuit of other historical questions. It reads the life of Benedetta Carlini, the trials she underwent between 1619 and 1623 and her roles as able convent administrator and for some time Abbess of the Convent of the Mother of God, recipient of visions and stigmata (or not), and as a person with a complex erotic entanglement with another nun.

Read the rest of the review here.

Does Truth Have a Chance

2011-09-13T09:04:00.000-07:00

Does 9/11 Truth Have A Chance?

Another superb commentary by Paul Craig Roberts (former Asst. Secretary of the Treasury and editor of The Wall Street Journal and Business week)

September 11, 2011 "Information Clearing House" -- -- In the US on September 11, 2011, the tenth anniversary of 9/11, politicians and their presstitute media presented Americans with “A Day of Remembrance,” a propaganda exercise that hardened the 9/11 lies into dogma. Meanwhile, in Toronto, Canada, at Ryerson University the four-day International Hearings on the Events of September 11, 2001, came to a close at 5pm.

During the four days of hearings, distinguished scientists and scholars and professional architects and engineers presented the results of years of their independent research into all aspects of 9/11 to a distinguished panel consisting of the honorary president of the Italian Supreme Court who was an investigative judge who presided over terrorism cases and three distinguished scholars of high renown and judgment. The distinguished panel’s task is to produce a report with their judgment of the evidence presented by the expert witnesses.

The Toronto Hearings were streamed live over the Internet. I was able to watch many of the presentations over the four days. I was impressed that the extremely high level of intelligence and scientific competence of the witnesses was matched by a high level of integrity, a quality rare in US politics and totally absent in the American media.

As I stressed in my recent interview about 9/11 with Jim Corbett and Global Research, I am a reporter, not an independent researcher into 9/11. I pay attention when the fact-based community finds problems with the official propaganda. Perhaps this reflects my age. My generation was raised to believe in evidence and the scientific method. George Orwell and other writers warned us of the consequence of succumbing to government propaganda as a result of disinterest in the truth or government manipulation of one’s patriotism.

My ability to serve as a reporter of scientific evidence is enhanced by my having a Bachelor of Science from Georgia Tech, a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, and post-graduate education at the University of California, Berkeley, and Oxford University, where my professor was the distinguished physical chemist and philosopher, Michael Polanyi. In the 1960s, I was appointed Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, in order to provide together with Polanyi to the science students at Berkeley a course in Polanyi’s unique contributions to knowledge. Polanyi’s illness prevented the course from happening and condemned me to being a mere economist.

This does not mean that I am infallible or that my reporting is correct. If my reporting stimulates you, go to the presentations, which I believe will continue to be available online, and if not, some edited CD will be available. Try http://www.ustream.tv/channel/thetorontohearings

As one whose own contributions to economics, now belatedly recognized, are “outside the box,” I am responsive to those who can escape peer pressure in order to advance truth. Here are some of the important things I learned from the Toronto Hearings.

The NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology, a government agency) reports on the twin towers and building 7 are fraudulent. Witnesses at the Toronto Hearings proved that building 7 was a standard controlled demolition and that incendiaries and explosives brought down the twin towers. There is no doubt whatsoever about this. Anyone who declares the contrary has no scientific basis upon which to stand. Those who defend the official story believe in miracles that defy the laws of physics.

A nano-chemist from the University of Copenhagen, who together with a scientific team spent 18 months investigating the chemical and physical properties of dust from the towers, found evidence of nano-termite in the dust and quantities of particles not naturally formed by office or normal building fires that indicate another explosive was also present.

These findings explain the extreme high temperatures that produced the molten steel for which indisputable evidence exists. In the orchestrated cover-up, NIST denies that molten steel is present as its presence is inconsistent with the low temperatures that NIST acknowledges building fires can produce.

Physicist David Chandler proved beyond all doubt that building 7 fell over its visible part (other buildings obscure the bottom floors) at free fall speed, an unambiguous indication that explosives had removed all supporting columns simultaneously. There is no possibility whatsoever according to the laws of physics that building 7 fell for the reasons NIST provides. The NIST account is a total denial of known laws of physics.

Many other powerful points were made at the conference that I will not report, at least not at this time, because the revelation of malevolence is so powerful that most readers will find it a challenge to their emotional and mental strength.

Psychologists explained that there are two kinds of authority to which people submit. One is to the authority of people in high positions in the government. The belief that “our government wouldn’t lie to us” is pervasive, especially among patriots. The other source of authority is experts. However, to believe experts a person has to be educated and open-minded and to trust scientific, professional, and scholarly integrity.

In recent years in America, scientific and scholarly authority has come into disrepute among Christian evangelicals who object to evolution and among anti-intellectual Tea Party adherents who object to “elitists,” that is, objection to knowledge-based persons whose knowledge does not support Tea Party emotions.

In other words, qualified, knowledgeable people who tell people what they do not want to hear are dismissed as “the enemy.” Much of the American population is set up to believe government propaganda. Without an independent media, which the US no longer has, people are taught that only “conspiracy kooks” challenge the government’s story. Even on the Internet, this is a main theme on Antiwar.com and on CounterPunch.org, two sites that protest America’s wars but accept the 9/11 propaganda that justifies the wars.

This is the reason that I think that the US is moving into an era where the emotional needs of the population produced by government propaganda overwhelms science, evidence, and facts. It means the abolition of accountable government and the rule of law, because protection from terrorists is more important.

The fact-based world in which “we are not afraid to follow the truth wherever it may lead” is being displaced by dogma. Anyone who doubts “our government” is an anti-American, Muslim-loving, pinko-liberal commie, who should be arrested and waterboarded until the culprit confesses that he is a terrorist.

The event of 9/11 is now outside the realm of fact, science, and evidence. It is a dogma that justifies the Bush/Cheney/Obama war crimes against Muslims and their countries.

Obama regime appointee Cass Sunstein, a Chicago and Harvard Law School professor, thinks the 9/11 movement, for challenging the official “truth”, should be infiltrated by US intelligence agents in order to shut down the fact-based doubters of government propaganda.

When a law professor at our two most prestigious law schools wants to suppress scientific evidence that challenges government veracity, we know that in America respect for truth is dead.

The notion that a country in which truth is dead is a “light unto the world” is an absurdity.

Child Genius, Benjamin Grosvenor, Rocks the Rudofinum

2011-09-12T15:09:00.000-07:00

I attended the dazzling piano recital yesterday of very young and very brilliant, British pianist, Benjamin Grosvenor. He has just turned 19 - no longer a child genius, but he first skyrocketed to fame by winning the BBC Young Musician Award in 2004 at age just 11. He has just been signed by Decca Records, the youngest artist ever signed and the first British pianist signed to Decca in 60 years. His technique last evening was phenomenal (a word I shouted out to him from the first row during the curtain call and which elicited an impish smile), but all of that dazzling virtuosity was so focused and concentrated into a very personal vision. An artist of great originality and intensity, here is a video of him playing Gershwin's Love Walked In (Rather than the expected performances of Chopin and Liszt). The future of our world lies with such profoundly spiritual and gifted artists. Blessings.

Review from The Independant, October 2010

There are child prodigies, and then there's Benjamin Grosvenor. He first made the headlines when he won the piano section of the 2004 BBC Young Musician of the Year competition aged only 11. As prodigies go, Grosvenor was the real McCoy: he astonished everyone not only with his ability to zip around the instrument, but also with the extraordinary maturity of his musical understanding....

Personally, I'm convinced that Grosvenor is the most important British pianist to emerge in decades. The key is that he has his own sound, something rare even among well-established names: it is poetic and gently ironic, brilliant yet clear-minded, intelligent but not without humour, all translated through a beautifully clear and singing touch.

He's one in a million - several million. All being well, great things should lie ahead.

The Day After: Theologians for 9/11 Truth

2011-09-11T00:32:00.000-07:00

I became involved in the 9/11 Truth movement when I discovered that two of my most respected professors of theology from my grad school days, process theologian John Cobb and James Douglas, theologian of nonviolence and author of JFK and the Unspeakable, had become spokespersons for the movement. Jim Douglas is one of the founders of Religious Leaders for 9/11 Truth. Jim entitled his 2010 lecture tour promoting his book, JFK, OBAMA and the UNSPEAKABLE. Jim believes that "the same interest groups that executed this 1963 coup have also formed the 'shadow government' that attacked the US on 9/11, and holds the US and the world hostage to this day." Hence, the topic of James’ talk, “JFK, Obama, and the Unspeakable.” "The same interest groups (with larger representation today from international finance) hold the same 'deep political' power as in 1963 at the time of Kennedy's assassination. Those who have eyes, let them see; those who have ears, let them hear." (National Catholic Reporter's review of Jim Douglas's book, JFK and the Unspeakable.)

John Cobb is a close colleague of the leading spokesperson for 9/11 Truth, theologian David Ray Griffin, both of them Professors Emeriti from the Claremont School of Theology. See below for Professor Cobb's endorsement of Griffin's newest book, which Amazon claims is out of stock in the very week in which it was published.

(Amazon claims that the book is "temporarily out of stock" in the very week in which it was published! The book's US publisher, Interlink, insists Amazon has the book in stock. The UK publisher also insists the same, though Amazon/UK says the book will be shipped in 7 to 12 days. It seems fairly clear that someone 'got' to Amazon to restrict the sales of this book during the period of the 10 year anniversary. You can buy Prof. Griffin's book as a Google ebook, or direct from the publishers' online stores: www.interlinkbooks.com and Haus Publishing).

Advance Praise for David Ray Griffin s 9/11 Ten Years Later

Anyone who has actually studied Griffin's writings on 9/11 knows that the evidence against the truth of the official account is overwhelming. It is not surprising that the mainstream response has been to ridicule and ignore rather than to engage in reasoned discussion. What is disappointing is that leading liberals and responsible journalists have joined in by affirming ideas that contradict basic science and condescendingly rejecting solid research without examining it. In this book, Griffin describes the behavior of these journalists and attempts, in a remarkably charitable spirit, to understand it.

John B. Cobb, Jr., author of The Earthist Challenge to Economism and (with Herman Daly) For the Common Good

In this, his tenth book on 9/11 and its consequences, David Ray Griffin continues to report the facts and marshal the evidence that the mainstream media continue to ignore. Having previously demolished the official 9/11 story, Griffin now explains how the government got away with its crime against democracy.

Paul Craig Roberts, formerly assistant secretary of the treasury and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, has most recently written How the Economy Was Lost

Why yet another book on 9/11? Because, as David Ray Griffin points out clearly and persuasively, 9/11 continues to be not only the greatest crime in American history, but also the most strenuously covered up, and certainly the crime with the greatest political consequences. He shows how over a decade the events of 9/11 and the reports on them have been used to attack the American democratic system. Above all, he documents the success of this attack by the refusal of the media, the academy, and religious institutions to openly discuss these matters, and by the numbers of critics who at one extreme have made fools of themselves in echoing the Orwellian official version, and at the other extreme have been either fired or silenced after their dissent from it.

Peter Dale Scott, poet, former Canadian diplomat, professor at the University of California (Berkeley), and author of American War Machine.

Our civilization cannot survive if we do not confront the unanswered questions about 9/11. David Ray Griffin does that with the same clarity and meticulous documentation that characterized his preceding books. Frightening as the enormity of the truth about 9/11 may be, we should also bear in mind that it is a window of opportunity for addressing a whole range of problems threatening the lives of our children and grandchildren. I am sure those who follow will recognize David Ray Griffin's body of work as one of the most important contributions of the last decade.

Niels Harrit, Associate Professor Emeritus, Nano-science Center, Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen --.

'David Ray Griffin establishes himself, alongside Seymour Hersh, as America's number one bearer of unpleasant, yet necessary, public truths.' - Richard Falk, professor emeritus, Princeton

Haus Publishers' Description:

Ten years on from the 9/11 disaster, Griffins highly thought-provoking and controversial new book exposes the false claims behind the official account of the events, rebuts the justification for war in Afghanistan and demonstrates how the real threat to America's democracy lies in its people's nationalist faith and resulting self inflicted blindness.

He demonstrates how the official story would have required at least a dozen miracles - understood as events that contradict the laws of science - and questions why otherwise rational journalists have blindly endorsed such a presentation. He also reinforces his claim that the controlled demolition of Building 7 was 'hidden in plain sight', that reported phone calls from the plane were faked, and that the intensely contested issue of the Pentagon - whether or not it was stuck by Boeing 757 - is quite unimportant. Ultimately, in the wake of Osama Bin Laden's death in May this year, Griffin seeks to resolve how involved the man really was in the planning of the attacks, and questions whether he was a convenient scapegoat for U.S. leaders with a hidden agenda.

Amazon Review:

David Ray Griffin in his new book, 9/11 TEN YEARS LATER: WHEN STATE CRIMES AGAINST DEMOCRACY SUCCEED, takes stock of what we know, after the passage of a decade of intensive grassroots research and analysis, about what really happened that day, and of the present state of the 9/11 truth movement - its strengths and its weaknesses, and how it can move forward most effectively. The book is a combination of important lectures given by Griffin in the last few years, revised and updated for publication, and of completely new essays on key topics, such as the strong evidence that the phone calls from the hijacked airliners must have been faked, and the powerful consensus about the Pentagon events that has been achieved by the movement.

The first four chapters highlight the strongest evidence that 9/11 was an inside job and the clearest implications of that evidence: the lack of evidence that Muslims attacked the US on that day (making clear that the ten-year-long series of wars on Muslim nations is morally and legally unjustified); the multiple occasions on which the laws of physics were miraculously inoperative in the destruction of the World Trade Center, if the official account so ferociously defended by erstwhile critics of government like Bill Moyers, Robert Parry, Alexander Cockburn and many others is to be believed; and the extraordinary case of WTC 7's classic demolition, which has been assiduously covered up by the mainstream media and government agencies (its collapse was never even mentioned in the 9/11 Commission Report, and the final report on its destruction issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology in November 2008 was fraudulent).

Chapter 5, "Phone Calls From The 9/11 Planes: Why They Are Not Authentic," examines all the evidence that has been discovered regarding phone calls from the hijacked airliners. The phone calls have been a crucial part of the official story of the day's events, purportedly establishing that the planes were hijacked by Arab Muslims and that Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. But after a careful, critical analysis Griffin is forced to conclude that the phone calls were not made from the planes. First he shows that there is no evidence that the alleged hijackers actually were ever onboard any of the planes, and further, that the failure of any of the eight pilots to "squawk" the hijack code into their transponders is "strong evidence that the official story about the 9/11 planes -- that the cabins were taken over by hijackers - is false." He then shows that the calls to Deena Burnett, which registered on her caller ID as calls from her husband Tom Burnett's cell phone (he was a passenger on board Flight 93), could not have been completed because cell phone technology in 2001 was not capable of completing calls from airliners at high elevation. Griffin concludes the calls had to have been faked, and suggests that they were faked by voice morphing, already a well-established technical capability at the time. After examining the claims made for many other calls, including those for Barbara Olson, wife of then Solicitor General Ted Olson, which were the basis for the claim that Flight 77 was still in the air and subsequently crashed into the Pentagon, Griffin concludes that "the evidence that the `calls from the planes' were faked is strong, ... far stronger than the evidence for the view that the calls were made by passengers and flight attendants, describing the activities of Middle-Eastern hijackers."

Chapter 6 discusses Vice President Dick Cheney's changing account of his whereabouts and activities at key times during the morning of 9/11. After admitting on national TV five days later that he had been present and in charge in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center in the basement of the White House before the Pentagon was attacked, he changed his story in November and claimed he did not reach the PEOC until after the Pentagon attack. Griffin shows that the 9/11 Commission Report upheld Cheney's otherwise unsupported second account, which absolved him of responsibility during two key incidents, the Pentagon attack and the destruction of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania. He shows further that much evidence, ignored by the Commission, contradicted Cheney's second story, including Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta's testimony before the Commission, Counterterrorism Czar Richard Clarke's published account of the morning, and reports from ABC News on the first anniversary of 9/11, all of which the Commission buried without mention.

The gem of the book is the seventh chapter, "The Pentagon: A Consensus Approach." In this very detailed analysis Griffin shows that the 9/11 truth movement has developed a complex, broad-based refutation of the official story of what happened at the Pentagon (that "the Pentagon was attacked by American Airlines Flight 77... under the control of al-Qaeda"). He examines fourteen facts which have been established by independent researchers, upon which there is universal agreement, and any one of which is enough to demolish the official account. Griffin argues that the movement should concentrate its Pentagon energies on further strengthening and advocacy of these points of agreement, and avoid dissipating time, energy and trust on a question which has taken up much of these resources in recent years, the question of "what hit the Pentagon?" He shows that this question is unanswerable with the evidence available; only a genuine investigation of the 9/11 attacks will enable it to be answered.

Chapter 8 illuminates the psychology of resistance to the truth about the 9/11 events which is so widespread, arguing that the real faith of the nominally-Christian US is "nationalist faith." The critique of the official story laid out by the 9/11 truth movement is literally unthinkable for many, even for devout Christians whose religion calls upon them to avoid all kinds of idolatry, including nationalism. Griffin concludes that "[w]hen Christian faith is subordinated to faith in American goodness ... it becomes a blinding faith, producing Christians with eyes wide shut."

The subtitle of the book indicates that the 9/11 attacks, in being a false-flag operation carried out by elements of the US government, were a "State Crime Against Democracy" or SCAD, with the primarily political purpose of imposing policies by force upon the country, and that the failure to carry out a genuine investigation, arrest the perpetrators and reverse the policies adopted by the government after 9/11 means that the operation has succeeded. But only to this point in time: the future is still open. Griffin provides in a powerful conclusion (Ch. 9, "When State Crimes Against Democracy Succeed") suggestions for how the 9/11 truth movement can continue to press forward to the necessary investigation of the 9/11 crimes and the reversal of the tragic course taken by the US while under the control of the criminals.

This superb book is written with the usual clarity, logic and argumentative power readers have come to expect from David Ray Griffin, which he has now employed in ten books on the 9/11 attacks. 9/11 TEN YEARS LATER continues his advance at the cutting edge of 9/11 truth, and should be read by everyone who wants to take stock of what the movement has achieved and how to press on into a future in which illegal, immoral wars have been stopped and the country's democratic ideals reaffirmed.

Et Resurrexit: The Vienna Boys Choir

2011-09-10T13:29:00.000-07:00

I attended a magnificent concert this evening at Prague's great concert hall, The Rudofinum - The Vienna Boy's Choir, accompanied by the Prague Chamber Orchestra. We were treated to very stirring renditions of Haydn's madrigal, "Hark, the Wild Uproar of the Winds,' and Hayden's powerful Te Deum. The showpiece of the evening, however, was a glorious performance of Schubert's Mass No. 3 in B Flat Major, with boy soprano and alto and the adult tenor and bass. It brought the audience to it's feet for a thunderous ovation at the close, most of the enthusiasm showered upon the very tiny boy soprano. I was sitting directly in front of him, midway in the first row. He seemed to be about ten, very serious with frame-less glasses and a kinetic energy that propelled him onto his toes every time he needed to launch a high note into the stratosphere, which he did with all the panache, volume and force of a grand bejeweled diva. It brought a lift to my soul and seemed a fitting end to this day of mourning and repentance, as Americans world wide mourn the dead of 9/11 and ask forgiveness for the crimes and sins of our own nation. For an encore, the two boys together sang Schubert's beautiful aria, Salve Regina, and I doubt there was a dry eye in the house. A more fitting close to this day of mourning and regret I could not imagine.

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy!
Our life, our sweetness, and our hope!
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve,
to thee do we send up our sighs,
mourning and weeping in this valley, of tears.
Turn, then, most gracious advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us;
and after this our exile show unto us the
blessed fruit of thy womb Jesus;
O clement, O loving, O sweet virgin Mary.
Pray for us, O holy Mother of GodThat we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

I felt a pang of sympathy for the thirty boys in the rear of the stage, however, because they were all magnificent as well, but because of the configuration of the performers on stage, they could not come forward during their encore to receive their due praise. They all looked quite solemn, while the two boys in front beamed with pleasure and pride. Oh well, such is show biz.

I've been fasting today on bread and water (and a dab of peanut butter and an apple) in reparation for the terrible harm my own nation has inflicted on so many millions of Muslim families in the Middle East. Now, however, after this glorious concert, the cloud has lifted, a new day has dawned, the Spirit is with us leading us beyond the sorrow and the pain. So I think it's time for some pasta and a nice bottle of Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blank, which I've had on ice for a while waiting for a suitable occasion.

For any who are interested, here is another article on 9/11Debunkers, also from TV Lies. It may not seem like the most credible site and the author can become embroiled in his own indignation, but I like the simplicity of his summations. For those looking for greater dignity and gravitas, the works of theologians John Cobb and David Ray Griffins are highly recommended.

Why You Can NOT Believe the '9/11 Conspiracy Theory Debunkers"

There are some people who can win any argument or debate, no matter whether they are right or wrong. Lawyers, for example, make really nice livings convincing juries that the most obviously guilty criminals are innocent. So goes the modus operandi of the 9/11 truth de-bunkers out there: wrong or not, they are always right. Or at least, like the lawyers, they appear to be right.

First off, let me correct myself and apologize for the inaccurate title of this article. I used the phrase "9/11 conspiracy theory" in order to speak in terms most people understand. In reality, I am referring to the truth about 9/11, rather than any so-called "conspiracy theory. " In other words, I am referring to the thousands of undisputed, officially endorsed but disturbing pieces of information related to the attacks of 9/11, that, when actually examined, chronicle a far different story than the one told to us by our government and their reality manipulators known as the establishment media.

to continue reading please go to TVNews Lies here.

Finding Hope From Confronting the Unspeakable

2011-09-09T06:57:00.000-07:00

"In a time of universal deceit, truth-telling becomes a revolutionary act." George Orwell

As many of the relatives of victims of 9/11have been attempting to tell us for the past ten years, the only true form of remembrance for those who perished on this day is an honest uncovering of the truth, an event which has yet to happen. Because there is so much confusion on the internet, not to mention disinformation, ridicule, denial and slander, coupled with fanatical belief and one sided distortions, I'm posting a few summaries which seem to me to be trustworthy and sound. This one (At bottom of page) comes from TV News Lies. Org. (Re-posted with permission of the author.)

But in the end, does it really matter? Shouldn't we let this contentious issue rest, let-go and move on? Aren't there more pressing issues of injustice facing us? After all, the civilian death toll from the invasion of Iraq surpasses the numbers of 911 victims by a factor of several thousands! Why expend so much energy on a 'losing battle,' uncovering what may have been a US government crime, but in terms of numbers lost, would have been one of the lesser US crimes of the past 100 years. The 1989 US invasion of Panama resulted in over 4,000 civilian deaths (numbers from Panama's Catholic Charities), so why focus so much attention on the tragic, but rather paltry 3,000 dead from 911? Doesn't this just contribute to the profound illusion so many Americans bought into on that day that 'we' have suffered more than anyone else has suffered, when in fact, the opposite is the case. With no disrespect intended for the 911 victims and their families, the maudlin self-pity propagated world wide by American culture was and is sickening to so many of America's true victims. As my cousin, Joe said to me by phone on the evening of 911 (after having run across Manhattan to pick up his ten year old daughter from school since all transport had shut down), "Well, now we know what it feels like to get bombed and attacked. We've been doing it with impunity to other countries worldwide for years." So shouldn't we just let go and not contribute to another world-wide wave of sickening, maudlin self-pity propagated by US media culture? I'm not referring to the genuine mourning, heartfelt and sincere, which will undoubtedly take place tomorrow, but given the power of the US media worldwide, it's impact will be disproportionate. Where are the ten-year memorials for the victims of the Panama invasion, for the thousands of Iraqi children who perished from drinking the poisoned water supplies at the end of the first Iraq War (Statistic from UNICEF), poisoned because the US air force as it's last official act bombed and destroyed all of the sewage disposal and water treatment plants of all of Iraq's major cities (a major war crime under the Geneva conventions, which was first denied by the US Pentagon in 1991, then admitted in 1998)? Where are the memorials for all of the slaughtered women and children of Iraq and Afghanistan, their numbers in the millions?

Within 24 hours, the world is about to be treated to both a genuine service of heartfelt mourning as well as (unfortunately) a media orgy of US self-pity and self-justification, as it honors and grieves for the dead of 9/11, when the act itself may very well have been 'an inside job.' If there is even a remote possibility that this has been the case, then we must press forward for a complete uncovering of the truth, not only to honor the immediate victims of 9/11, but to honor and make reparations to the millions of other victims, most of them Muslims in Middle Eastern countries. 3,000 people did not lose their lives because of 9/11, the real number is surely in excess of 3 million. 9/11 became the nub and the nexus of a great evil, spawning wars in six Middle Eastern countries, and distorting the moral and political life of the US almost beyond redemption. We are a country with a great lie festering at the heart of our social, political and moral life, a lie few wish to face because it is too disturbing to contemplate. Until the boil is lanced, the infection will continue to fester, the rot will continue to spread.

However, the social consequences of discovering that 911 was to some extent an inside job would be well nigh catastrophic, resulting in nearly total disaffection of the US populace from it's governmental institutions. This is a real threat. As we have just learned from University of California at Berkeley Law School Dean ChristopherEdley, Jr., Obama and his team feared a coup if they prosecuted Bush administration officials for war crimes of torture and rendition. Daniel Ellsberg last June, upon the de-classification of the Pentagon Papers, said that top editors of US media had told him the Obama administration had put a gag order on them not to cover 9/11. Most likely this was for the same reason, that any true uncovering of the 'fact's of 9/11 would leave the President with no country to govern. The following quote is also very apropos.

"Air Force Colonel and key Pentagon official Karen Kwiatkowski - who blew the whistle on the Bush administration's efforts to concoct false intelligence about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction - wrote (page 26):

I have been told by reporters that they will not report their own insights or contrary evaluations of the official 9/11 story, because to question the government story about 9/11 is to question the very foundations of our entire modern belief system regarding our government, our country, and our way of life. To be charged with questioning these foundations is far more serious than being labeled a disgruntled conspiracy nut or anti-government traitor, or even being sidelined or marginalized within an academic, government service, or literary career. To question the official 9/11 story is simply and fundamentally revolutionary. In this way, of course, questioning the official story is also simply and fundamentally American."

(Taken from Washington's Blog)

And of course, it's not just the 'mainstream' media who are too afraid to touch 9/11. What I call "The Mainstream Alternative Media," are just as frightened of the issue. This includes Counterpunch, ZNet, Truth Dig, Democracy Now. Their fierce and protracted refusal to deal with the findings of the 9/11 truth movement is more than simple denial. Rather, it is grounded, in my opinion, in their fear of being tarnished for discussing "conspiracy theories," thereby losing both their credibility and their corporate funding.

This means that we have a small group of very courageous investigators who form the core of the 9/11 truth movement who cannot get a hearing within the mainstream alternative media! And yet they can get their scientific papers published in some of the most prestigious peer-reviewed scientific journals in the world, such as the Open Chemical Physics Journal, a fact of such significance it passes completely without comment in the mainstream and alternative media. In this regard, they remind me strikingly of gay theologians like William Lindsey of Bilgrimage who struggle to get a hearing within progressive, 'centrist' Catholic journals for their arguments for the civil rights of gay persons. And yet these 'progressive' journals continue to refuse to 'hear' the cries of their gay brothers and sisters because they are ensconced behind such a massive wall of denial. Comparing gay theologians to the struggle of the 9/11 truth investigators may seem like too much of a stretch - unless you have spent the necessary time truly 'listening' to the arguments and evidence of the 9/11 truth movement, and then spent equal time painfully listening to their detractors and debunkers- who are very vocal in the mainstream media and on the internet, but who will not debate the issue in public forums or publish in peer reviewed journals.

Keep this in mind every time you see someone crowing on the internet about their latest article debunking '9/11 conspiracy theorists'. The response of the 9/11 truth movement is always the same. "Fine, we may very well be wrong. But come forward and follow the standard scientific, social science methods and protocols. Publish in peer reviewed journals and then join us in an open public debate." The silence to this response is deafening.

We in the US are, in my opinion, a country in profound moral and spiritual denial and it is a sickness of the soul that continues to fester at the moral heart of the nation. The rot will not go quietly away while we attend to other 'pressing matters' that we consider of more immediate importance. 9/11 has been the nub of great evil and it must be exposed. As James Douglas said in regard to the Kennedy assassination,

In a time when the Cold War has given way to a war on terror, hope comes from walking through the darkness of our history. We can find hope at that point of total denial and darkness where we don't want to go. Hope comes from confronting the unspeakable truth of the assassination of President Kennedy. (from JFK and the Unspeakable)

And I would add: Hope comes from confronting the unspeakable truth of 9/11. But before confronting that truth, we must be willing to uncover it.

Here is the first of a series of articles on 9/11.

I don't believe the official story of 9/11 because I know the official story of 9/11!

During the past 10 years I have not met a single individual who, after doing research on the subject, switched from questioning the official narrative of the events of 9/11/2001 to believing the official narrative of those events.. It is always the other way around. Why do you think that is? There are good reasons for this, and I will try to explain this phenomenon right now.

The term "conspiracy theorist", perhaps the most misapplied description in our vernacular, is often used to describe 9/11 truthers. Perhaps that term does apply to a segment of the 9/11 truth movement. But in most cases a more accurate description of 9/11 truthers is probably "expert", or "scholar", or "researcher." You see, much of the doubt cast on the official narrative of the events of 9/11 has not come in the form of speculated accusations, or "theories." In fact, it has come in the form of questions that have been raised after a careful study of the official and undisputed events and details.

Ten years have passed since the infamous events of September 11th, 2001 took place, and the majority of people still don't know a damn thing about the actual details of that event. They don't know what was going on in the country with regard to our military that day. They don't know the history or the activities of key members of our government, defense establishment or intelligence community, on, or during the weeks, and in some cases the years leading up to that day. They don't know what took place during or immediately following the events of that day. And they don't know what actions were taken by those key people following that event.

As is the case with so many issues, people tend to stand strong and argue a position or voice an opinion about an event like 9/11. But, when questioned about the many details surrounding that event they have no answers. They are clueless. And they are, in the end, dumbfounded.

I can not tell you how many times I have discussed the events of 9/11 with an outraged citizen who can not believe that I would "accuse our own government" of such a terrible thing as conducting a false flag operation, only to hear the phrase "no, I did not know that, is that true?" repeated over and over as I "educate" them about those little things called DETAILS. I can not count the pale-faced stunned looks on people's faces as I exposed them to some of the "official facts" they never suspected, and never knew. I have walked away from many a confrontation with newly educated "patriotic Americans", only to worry about whether or not they would again resume breathing correctly.

They would never do such a thing

A common start and end to any intelligent discussion about the events of 9/11 is prefaced by the assumption that no American would betray his or her country by allowing or conducting an attack on the American people. Well, the people who take this position know nothing about history, let alone human nature. They also don't know about the public positions, declarations, speeches and published documents written by the people who ran our nation on that day.

False flag operations have taken place for generations, in this nation and nations around the world. Many of these operations have been exposed, but proof of many of these activities is probably hidden away in secret documents that may one day come to light. You can however, start your exploration on the topic by researching one plan for American self-inflicted terrorism that became public, Operation Northwoods. Do I detect my first "I did not know this, is it true?" May I suggest you also peek into the neoconservative teachings of the principles involved in running our nation at the time of the "new Pearl Harbor" that took place in 2001.

But the 9/11 Commission did not find anything wrong

I can not believe how many people do not know the genesis or mission of the 9/11 Kean Commission. From the initial appointment of one of America's most nefarious political figures as its original leader, Henry Kissinger, - to its executive director whose area of expertise and education were in the creation and maintaining of public myths, Philip D. Zelikow,- people have no idea as to who comprised or what the mandate was for this commission.

To give you some kind of idea as to why the "findings" of this commission can NOT be used to back up any talking points on the topic of 9/11, let me remind you what the official task of this commission was. The Kean Commissions was told to document the official story and make national security recommendations based on that story. The only information that was to be included in the official report had to match the official story. If any one member of the committee objected to any testimony or finding, that piece of information was to be left out of the report For some examples of this you can talk to the thousands of people who became 9/11 truthers as a result of their testimony being omitted from and contradicted by the final report.

Start with the WTC worker credited with being the last man out of the WTC William Rodriguez. See if he can tell you why, after being invited to the White House and meeting with George W. Bush, his testimony about witnessing explosions in the sub basement of the WTC moments prior to the first plane hitting the building was omitted from the Kean report. And for more details you can read David Ray Griffin's book called The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions And Distortions. It pretty much translated the Kean report into a stack of rather harsh and useless toilet paper. Are the "I did not know this, is it true?" responses piling up yet?

Are you even qualified to discuss the issue?

What people don't understand when discussing issues like 9/11 is that not everyone is qualified to join the discussion, let alone impose an "opinion" on the topic. 9/11 is not really a topic that is open to opinion. The conclusion you draw from the facts are open to opinion, but what many people don't realize about the 9/11 truth movement is that its opinions are based on facts, and grounded in the reality that its members know more of the facts than the average person. If you have a discussion with a doctor about medicine your opinions and views on the subject don't exactly merit the same consideration as do those of a group of physicians..

Similarly, someone like me (and many 9/11 truthers), has the equivalent of 3 PhD's on topics such as 9/11. I am a full time journalist. I research this kind of stuff every single day and I have been doing so since 2003. Not everyone is qualified to debate me on an issue like 9/11. We can discuss it. You can ask a great number of questions and perhaps inform me about aspects of the issue of which I am not aware. But you can't impose your "opinions" on me, nor can you do that to a majority of 9/11 truthers. And by the way, when it comes to opinions vs. facts, facts win. FOX News watchers don't seem to be able to grasp this concept.

People have to realize that what separates the unsuspecting mainstream masses from the 9/11 truth movement are factual information and details. Forget the claims and accusations. You don't need to go that far to understand that there is something fishy going on here. Just look at the official body of evidence. It's all there and it will make your head spin. Don't listen to the accusations, just examine the evidence.You'll understand so much if you really take a good look. In time, if you do your research thoroughly you may just compile a list of suspects, as have many of the 9/11 truthers. I have. But we are not there yet. We really have enough official evidence to lead to quite a few criminal indictments, and I am not kidding about this. But for now let's just talk about the facts and hope that some day we will have the real answers declared by juries in courtrooms. Chances are that many truthers would be proven correct in their accusations - but again, for now, just look at the facts and understand that there are a lot of questions that need to be answered. And, find out that it's okay to say, "I did not know this, is it true?"

So, are you qualified to take part in a discussion with a 9/11 truther?

If you don't know about the "coincidental" military drills taking place on September 11, 2001, or about the interesting little political cabal known as PNAC or the Project for a New American Century, or if you don't know what WTC7 is, or the 1,500 plus architects and engineers who have serious questions about how and why it dropped like a pancake on 9/11, or if you don't know about the fact that up until his supposed murder, the FBI did not list Osama bin Laden as wanted for the events of 9/11 because, in their own words, they had no proof of his involvement, then you are not qualified to enter a discussion about the event. You have a lot of homework to do before you can chime in. So on you go...study...but finish this article first. I'll bet the ranch that you'll be saying, over and over, "I did not know this, is it true?"

Why don't we accept the official story?

Here is a question that you should really think about. Don't just chime in with your own uninformed opinion because I am going to give you the answer to this question; the real honest answer. Why do you think I, Jesse Richard, founder of TvNewsLIES.org, have drawn the conclusion that the official narrative of the events of 9/11 is a crock? The answer to that is this...I did not always feel that way. As a matter of fact ,within hours of the event I emailed to all my friends a blistering attack on Islamic fundamentalism. And while some things that happened that day, or did not happen that day, (and week I should say,) seemed odd, I was not immediately suspicious of the "story" being told on TV about the event.

It took me almost two years before I saw enough "official" information to make me realize that there was something, actually many things, that were very wrong. I came across so many disturbing, yet official and undisputed facts that I started asking others about it. Most people did not know what I was talking about. Nobody knew the details. So your answer is this...I don't believe the official story because I know the official story! I don't believe the conclusion, and the little tale of 19 buffoons overtaking our national defense all by themselves. The official position on that by the way, is that they, the FBI, have no proof of the identity of the so-called hijackers or that there were any hijackers at all. They are not listed on the passenger lists, but you would not know that.

BUT...the official story and facts are what made me realize something was very wrong with the public perception of what took place that day, and who was responsible for what took place that day. The official story, when accepted and believed, morphs by any logic into a total and absolute fabrication!

So if you believe the conclusion to the official story, you had better know that story from start to finish. Don't approach this they way the Kean Commission approached it, by starting out accepting the explanation as truth. Study the events, study the officially acknowledged body of evidence and study the people who told you the story in the first place...and I bet it won't be long before you have as many questions as do I about that infamous day and about the people who control our government. And, of course, you'll be saying, "I did not know this, is it true?"

Okay, then, who really was behind the attacks on 9/11?

9/11 truthers make the mistake of starting their discussions with conclusions...I am not doing that. All I am saying is that there are a lot of questions about what happened that day that are not answered by the official conclusion or explanation. I would like some answers that add up. I did the math myself and I have my own "theories", but I am a journalist, and I deal in the facts, not the fables.

The official story, as fed to the American public is filled with unsupported and implausible explanations designed to convince a gullible public that they should ask no questions and trust their leaders to take revenge on those who hated us for our freedom. Volumes can be, and have been written about so many of them. For the most part, you have not read any of them.

In this article, I've posed many questions and have provided links to their answers - so that you will more clearly understand that there is SO much we have not been told about the attacks that took place a decade ago. But, those facts are the tip of a very well hidden iceberg, because there are so many questions that still remain unanswered.

So, I will end this article with a sampling of the questions that must be answered, or in the very least, investigated by impartial truth seekers.. They must NOT be ignored, or accepted simply because they were offered to a frightened nation by an administration defined by its lies. They are legitimate questions, based on legitimate suspicions. They are not, for a single moment, conspiracy theories"

Why did the news agencies report that WTC 7 collapsed almost 1/2 hour before it did, even though it was not hit by a plane, only had a few floors on fire, and gave no indication that it was in any serious danger?
Why do we still believe the tale of the 19 hijackers when so many of the accused hijackers showed up ALIVE within days? And why do we still believe the fable of the 19 hijackers when the FBI admitted that they are not sure about either the identity of the hijackers or if there were any hijackers at all?
Why was WTC 7 rebuilt, reopened and reoccupied with no press attention? Wouldn't this be an important victory in American resolve and perseverance?
Why were the NORAD rules changed for the first time several weeks prior to 9/11, taking responsibility/authority for shooting down hijacked planes away from NORAD military command for the first time in its history, and given to a civilian, Donald Rumsfeld, and then returned to NORAD the day after 9/11?
Why would hijackers planning on attacking NY and Washington DC drive from Florida, pass both DC and NY, and drive all the way to Maine and hinge this huge operation on a connecting flight from Maine to Boston, where we are told they hijacked their plane? Why wouldn't they fly out of any of the airports that are visible from their targets, like Newark, La Guardia or JFK...or even some of the smaller local airports that would have given them a clear easy path to their target and reduce the amount of time that our air defense systems would have to stop them?
Who placed all of those put options on the airlines just prior to the event, as if they knew that the stock prices on those specific airlines would lose a huge amount of value?
Why did George W. Bush's Secret Service detail not rush the president to safety when it was evident that the nation was under attack? If the nation was under attack, and they did not know the scope of the attack, and the president's location was known, how did they not worry about being attacked in Florida?. Why did they act as if they knew that there was no threat? And why, when our nation was under attack, did the president not rush into action? If you say he was concerned about upsetting the children, you are the ultimate apologist. He could have told them that his mommy was on the phone and he had to see what she wanted. Our county was supposedly being attacked and he/they waited 20 minutes before they moved. This is the smoking gun of smoking guns.
Why did the FBI never list Osama bin Laden as being wanted for 9/11? Actually, we know this one...because they admitted that they had no evidence linking him to the event.
Why was their molten metal flowing under the wreckage of the WTC for months? No jet fuel can melt metal, and nothing explainable could melt that much metal and keep it hot enough to remain molten for a month.
How did a passport of one of the so called hijackers make it through the huge fireball and end up on the street?
Why have photos from the 80+ cameras confiscated at the Pentagon never been released?
Why did the airplane that supposedly crashed at Shanksville vaporize so that nothing remained, not bodies, not luggage, not metal, - nothing - for the first time in aviation history? However, we are told that even though the plane vaporized at Shanksville, a hand-written note from a hijacker was found.

Of course, there are so many more. We deserve the answers. We deserve the right to ask these questions in public forums like the corporate media....who will not touch them with the proverbial ten foot pole. We have gate keepers on the Internet who actively ridicule and dismiss anyone who dares to raise these questions. Will you be one of them? Or, after really thinking about them, will you hope that one day, when we know what went on before, during and after the attacks on 9/11, - we can all say: "I did not know this, but I'm now absolutely convinced that it is true."

Think about it...it's really time to think about it.
Jesse Richard - Founder, TvNewsLIES.org

Myths, Lies and Fantasies about 9/11

2011-09-07T13:47:00.001-07:00

4 Videos that help to deconstruct the myth of 9/11. Is the US A society living in profound denial?

A significant portion of the international community feels that a careful and critical reflection on the events of September 11, 2001 is now required, given that these events have been the pretext for invasions and human rights violations throughout much of the world. The International Center for 9/11 Studies is sponsoring four days of citizen Hearings in Toronto, Canada on the 10th anniversary of the events of 9/11. To a distinguished panel of international citizens, expert witnesses will testify that official investigations into 9/11 have failed to describe and account for the 9/11 events. A final report consisting of the testimonies and the conclusions of panelists will be issued for citizens across the world.

GRTV talks to Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, former Assistant Treasury Secretary, former editor of the Wall Street Journal, author and researcher, about the significance of 9/11 on the brink of the tenth anniversary of those events. We discuss the many points at which the official explanation of 9/11 do not mesh with the available evidence, the many experts who have raised their voices in dissent (and been silenced), and what our response to 9/11 teaches us about where we are heading as a society. (Paul Roberts has a slow, pondering speaking style, but well worth listening to. He is a frequent contributor to the left wing journal/website Counterpunch, one of whose editors, Alexander Cockburn, is a strong opponent of any "911 Conspiracy Theories." Here is Cockburn's most recent 'rebuttal' to the 9/11 truth movement, an article that appears to my eyes to be a childish, hysterical rant.)

A new film of 6 minutes length has been released today, asking simple questions about the detours in the flight routes of the 9/11 hijackings, about "radar gaps", the simultaneous events between 8.46 and 8.56 a.m. that morning, as well as about the possibilitiy of remote control and the role of the war games:The Lone Gunmen Pilot - 9/11 Predictive Programming

Is Comet Elenin the feared Blue Star Kachina of Hopi Prophecy

2011-09-03T10:29:00.000-07:00

Apparently there is a comet named Elenin (discovered in 2010) approaching the earth (within 20 million miles) whose debris might impact the earth in large or small ways. Tons of stuff on the internet about this, speculation, conspiracies, reflections, sober analysis. As best as I can make out, no one really knows what to make of it, since scientists can't seem to agree on the comet's size and therefore can't predict the significance of any debris from its tail hitting the earth.

I started out watching this video below just for 'fun,' but became increasingly impressed by the spiritual depth to the presentation and the psychological balance of the presenters. A very moving film that is not at all extremist, it views the Hopi prophecies with respect and links them - perhaps - to Comet Elenin. Personally, I wouldn't sneeze at any of the Hopi 'predictions,' no matter how easy it might be to misinterpret them. Also, I can't help but be reminded of the prophecies of the Marian apparitions of Garabandal, predicting the arrival or collision of two comets in the stratosphere visible from the earth. This celestial 'event' is supposed to presage the culminating miracle of Garabandal, which would follow soon after. Fascinating stuff and quite profound, whatever the weirdness factor. But is this it? Who knows?

(Here is a very sobering but utterly fascinating scientific blog which tracks the numerous physical changes and upheavals on earth. It reports that Comet Elenin is disintegrating. The Extinction Protocol.)

I never believed this comet represented any kind of a threat to the planet and was quite frankly dismayed by the organized public campaign of fear-mongering on the internet and youtube about a potential doomsday event connected to this comet- most of it, as always, had absolutely no basis in science.

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Since this video piqued my interest and since there wasn't anything more entertaining to do this evening, I browsed around and came up with this comment about Comet Elenin:

If projections aren’t enough proof, Agnew says to look no further than the major governments of the world. Both the US and Russia have invested fortunes into new underground shelters, and the author says there has to be a reason for it. NASA, he says, has also recently circulated a video among the families of employees advising them what to do in case of an upcoming emergency.

According to Agnew, it’s time to connect the dots, and he’s not just talking about constellations.

Taken from: The Mystery of Comet Elenin.

Spiritual Integrity - What it Really Looks Like

2011-08-28T14:19:00.000-07:00

9/11 Video Quilt

Why the Sioux Are Refusing $1.3 Billion

Members of the Great Sioux Nation could pocket a large sum set aside by the government for taking the resource-rich Black Hills away from the tribes in 1877. But leaders say the sacred land was never, and still isn't, for sale.

A young Lakota Sioux girl at the annual Pine Ridge powwow. Photo by Mike Fritz.

BY FRANCINE UENUMA AND MIKE FRITZ

RAPID CITY, S.D. | Pine Ridge Reservation stretches across some of the poorest counties in the United States. Plagued by an unemployment rate above 80 percent, arid land, few prospects for industry, abysmal health statistics and life-expectancy rates rivaling those of Haiti, it’s no wonder outsiders ask: Why do the nine tribes constituting the Great Sioux Nation, including those on Pine Ridge, staunchly refuse to accept $1.3 billion from the federal government?

Driving from nearby Rapid City to the reservation on Pine Ridge, it's easy to see why the tribes want to reclaim some of that unused land -- and why it was parceled as it was. Unlike the barren stretch of land that encompasses the reservation, the Black Hills are green, resource-rich, and thick with the smell of Ponderosa trees. Stretching across western South Dakota to neighboring Wyoming, they've been a draw for tourists and investors alike. In addition to gold, timber and minerals have been extracted, reaping profits for people other than the Sioux.

Fast forward to 1980. The Supreme Court agreed with the Sioux: The land, long since settled, had been taken from them wrongfully, and $102 million was set aside as compensation. The trust's value continues to grow well beyond $1 billion, but the Sioux have never collected.

One key problem: The tribes say the payment is invalid because the land was never for sale and accepting the funds would be tantamount to a sales transaction. Ross Swimmer, former special trustee for American Indians, said the trust fund remains untouched for one reason: “They didn’t want the money. They wanted the Black Hills.”

“The Sioux tribes have always maintained that that confiscation was illegal and the tribes must have some of their ancestral lands returned to them, and they’ve maintained that position since 1877,” said Mario Gonzales, general counsel for the Oglala Sioux Tribe, who has devoted much of his career to the issue.

“It’s a tough, tough group up there. I’m amazed that they have been willing to sit on the money this long without taking the money,” Swimmer said.

But it's not the resources alone that have fueled their determination all these years — a key reason for their lingering stand is that “the Black Hills has always been a spiritual place for tribal nations,” said Lionel Bordeaux, president of Sinte Gleska University on the nearby Rosebud Reservation.

"The Sioux Indians are very attached to their lands and particularly the Black Hills because that’s the spiritual center of the Sioux nation," said Gonzales. To this day, sacred sites and religious narratives often center around the Black Hills.

"It really saddens me that we've got some tribal members that want to accept the money and they don't realize the harm they’re going to do; they don’t really understand why we say the Black Hills are sacred,” said former Oglala Sioux Tribe President Theresa Two Bulls.

Nonetheless, leaders say the effort to reclaim portions of the Black Hills is now both principled and pragmatic: they “understand that times have changed, that they cannot remove non-members of the tribe from these lands,” said Gonzales, and are asking instead for some combination of federally owned, unused land and joint management or rental agreements. Excluded from the debate are landmarks like Mount Rushmore, Ellsworth Air Force Base and privately owned or residential land.

“We know that people are utilizing the Black Hills for their daily living, and it’s never been our intention to remove anybody,” Bordeaux said. “We have to coexist. But we would like to have some type of a co-management plan for certain parts of the Black Hills.”

Tribal leaders are quick to point out that not only does the $1.3 billion represent a fraction compared to the monetary value of gold, minerals and timber extracted from it, it is based on value at the time of the treaty, not the present. And further, if distributed on a per capita basis across nine tribes, the money would soon be gone with little permanent benefit to the recipients.

“If you took the money, it would be [a] pittance. Our numbers are too big in terms of population, and the dollars would be expended in a hurry…in a week, two weeks' time, you’re broke, and you don’t have anything,” said Bordeaux.

Two Bulls agreed. “If we accept the money, then we have no more of the treaty obligations that the federal government has with us for taking our land, for taking our gold, all our resources out of the Black Hills … we’re poor now, we’ll be poorer then when that happens,” she said.

Leaders must continue to convince younger generations to adopt their long view. Tim Giago, who was born on Pine Ridge Reservation and has spent three decades as a journalist covering the issue, worries about that trend. “I think younger people aren’t as attuned to it. There are many that are, but then again we’re losing a lot of people.”

The issue has been revived in recent years by an offer by President Obama to meet with the tribes if they could come up with a unified proposal to settle the issue in Congress. The most prominent attempt to do so in recent decades was a failed bill introduced by former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, which would have returned some of the land. But in the years since, the issue has been largely dormant, and the money in Washington untouched. The administration’s offer has raised a glimmer of hope that the issue could finally be resolved, 130 years later.

Toward that end, tribal council leaders have been holding a series of meetings to try to come up with an agreement to take to Washington. The Hasapa (or Black Hills) Reparations Alliance was formed to bring the Sioux tribes together to formulate a plan that could be presented to the Obama administration. A series of meetings are underway this summer and fall in an attempt to reach a unified position.

Edward Charging Elk, a member of the Rosebud Tribe, has put together one such proposal for a bill that he says is “realistic and doable” that focuses on three elements: the return of 1.3 million acres of the Black Hills, relabeling the trust money as back rent and then agreeing on the terms of future rent for the resources from the land to the tune of roughly $7 million a year. He hopes that plan will provide a vehicle for a mutually acceptable solution.

“I think the work of disunity is over now. It’s a matter of rolling your sleeves up, following a very simple plan that everybody understands, and getting it into Congress,” Charging Elk said.

Two Bulls sees the clock ticking as tribes scattered across the Dakotas and Nebraska try to unify. “There’s jealousy, there’s misunderstanding — instead of compromising, instead of discussing it and coming up with a solution, they all want their own way and we’ve tried to explain to them that this is very important because we’re running out of time.”

Giago has seen the “ebb and flow” of the conflict but says it is now at a critical juncture with President Obama nearing the end of his first term. “We have a very, very small window of opportunity to try to at least get a bill introduced, and I think we’re still too far away from that. I’m hoping they can pull it together and get a bill in, but it’s going to be a tight race.”

And what if the latest round of negotiations doesn’t yield the long-awaited redress to the Black Hills land claim that the Sioux seek? Bordeaux takes the long view of the seemingly intractable fight over the Black Hills: “If it doesn’t happen, we’ve been here before, and we’ll just back up and regroup and go forward again.”

“We won the battle against Custer," he said. "But the war continues.”

Tom LeGro contributed to this report.

Death of a Hidden Gay Icon

2011-08-21T00:02:00.000-07:00

See below for article detailing new evidence into the mysterious death of Dag Hammarskjold

God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason. Dag Hammarskjold

Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary General of the UN, seen here boarding a plane at Elizabethville, Congo 1961. He died in a plane crash not long after.

The longest journey is the journey inwards. Of him who has chosen his destiny, Who has started upon his quest for the source of his being.
Dag Hammarskjold

One of the remarkable figures of the 1960's, Dag Hammarrskjold is now widely known to be gay, but during his lifetime he kept his orientation hidden except to his closest friends. After his death, his diary was published as Markings, which became an instant spiritual classic and shocked his most intimate friends, who had no idea of the spiritual depths of this enigmatic figure. His death (by assassination) puts him in the company of such figures of the 1960's as JFK, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, with the same dark powers responsible for all.

"Hammarskjöld's death appears to have been part of an attempt (by the CIA and MI5) toprevent Katanga's mineral wealth from falling under communist control." Mail & Guardian

Dag is becoming troublesome and ... should be removed

"Hammarskjold was not openly gay during his lifetime. Given the climate in which he worked, public knowledge of his sexual orientation would likely have reduced his effectiveness..".

Do not seek death. Death will find you. But seek the road which makes death a fulfillment.

NEW evidence has emerged in one of the most enduring mysteries of United Nations and African history, suggesting that the plane carrying the UN secretary-general, Dag Hammarskjold, was shot down over Northern Rhodesia - now Zambia - 50 years ago, and the murder covered up by British colonial authorities.

A British-run commission of inquiry blamed the 1961 crash on pilot error and a later UN investigation largely rubber-stamped its findings. They ignored or played down witness testimony of villagers near the crash site that suggested foul play.

But residents on the western outskirts of the town of Ndola, Zambia, have described Hammarskjold's DC-6 being shot down by a second, smaller aircraft. They say the crash site was sealed off by Northern Rhodesian security forces the next morning, hours before the wreckage was officially declared found, and they were ordered to leave the area.

Pope In Spain: Good Catholics Use Condoms

2011-08-18T21:30:00.000-07:00

No, Pope Benedict didn't really say that, but there are really interesting developments coming out of this trip for World Youth Day. Thanks to Bridget Mary's blog for alerting us to these developments.

The poster below was to have appeared on billboards and buses across Spain, until municipal authorities, bowing under pressure from the Cardinal of Madrid, rescinded the permission.

Maybe it's just me, but there is something amusing about the way Catholics for Choice have taken Benedict's quite timid and tentative statement last year (If condoms are not "a real or moral solution ... in this or that case, they can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality.") and run with it all the way to the goal post. Maybe this is the way change always comes to the church, timidly at first, with many reversals, fits and starts. Of course, as you can see from the press release below, Catholics for Choice's ingenious plan to place their slogan - Good Catholics Use Condoms - on billboards and buses throughout Spain during the Pope's visit, first met with approval, then censorship, thanks to the intervention of Cardinal Antonio Ruoco of Madrid.

From Catholics For Choice Blog

Pope Arrives in Spain Amid Censorship Controversy

International Youth Coalition Seconds Archbishop’s Affirmation of Freedom of Expression

The World Youth Day 4 All coalition welcomed the remarks from Archbishop Braulio Rodriguez of Toledo, Spain, who pointed out that the Catholic World Youth Day celebration is taking place in a country where freedom of expression is protected.

“Spain’s openness to freedom of expression is something Catholics for Choice took for granted when we arranged, months in advance, for the display of our Condoms4Life ads in Madrid’s transit system to coincide with World Youth Day,” said Marissa Valeri, a lead organizer of the coalition. “We were surprised, then, when the message ‘Good Catholics Use Condoms’ was deemed too offensive for Madrilenos. In reality, the best interests of the public was not the issue. Instead, it was a move made by ultraconservatives to stifle the many diverse voices of Catholics at World Youth Day, which should be a place where, as Archbishop Rodriguez affirmed, ‘we can all say what we want to say.’

The municipal authorities did a disservice to all visitors and to all Spaniards by stepping between the life-giving message that condoms save lives, on the one hand, and the individual’s right to make up his or her mind about that message, on the other.”

Condoms are apparently not the only topic that is too hot to handle in Madrid this August. Patrons at the Madrid public library have allegedly complained they were unable to access Web sites providing information on protests being organized against World Youth Day.

One of the hallmarks of the Catholic tradition is unity in diversity. Like the World Youth Day 4 All coalition, the event itself is made up of participants from all over the world, people who may speak different languages and come from different cultures, but who find kinship on the level of faith. The church hierarchy obviously feels that Spain’s respect for freedom of expression gives them room to express their viewpoint—Archbishop Rodriguez even decries those who think that certain points of view are “more right than others.” Spain’s civic freedoms should be able to include the voices of the Catholic people—including those who support the use of condoms—as well as the perspectives of non-Catholics. Otherwise, the “world” part of World Youth Day goes missing, and those from a tiny, easily ruffled minority within the Catholic hierarchy and the Spanish authorities are the only ones celebrating.

Luckily, diversity is not so easily squelched—the Condoms4Life message has been making headlines all week (see the blog, and pilgrims have encountered stickers and projections on walls around the city.

The Ascension of Sophia and the Mystery of our own Assumption

2011-08-16T09:33:00.001-07:00

Just back from a very quiet 3 days in the country. School begins tomorrow. Here is a photo of the lovely church of the Assumption in the small town of Bled, outside of Ljubjana, Slovenia.

This travel blog photo's source is TravelPod page: Bled: Part I

And here is a lovely gnostic meditation on the archetypal significance of the Assumption.

Rising into the Light

by -- Rev. Steven Marshall

August 15th is the traditional date for the feast of the Assumptionof Blessed Virgin Mary in the Roman Catholic Church and the Dormition ofMary in the Orthodox Church. The feast commemorates the assumption of Maryinto Heaven at the end of her earthly life. It was not until the year1950that the doctrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was madea dogma in the Roman Catholic Church, yet her feast goes back to the middleages. According to C.G. Jung the proclamation by the Pope was accompaniedby visionary revelations of the Blessed Virgin to himself and others. Thissuggests that the image of the Assumption of Mary relates to a phenomenonof the archetypal feminine in successive experiences of a revelatory nature.The story of the Ascension of Sophia, originating in the fourth century,predates the Feast of the Assumption by many centuries, and yet its imageryseems to be the archetype upon which later revelations about Mary are patterned.For this reason, it seems apt as Gnostics, to celebrate the Ascensionof Sophia, on the Sunday nearest the feast day of the Assumption. The storyof Sophia in many ways prefigures the Marian myth that has grown throughoutthe history of Western civilization. Her image is the archetypal mysterythat is closest to us in our terrestrial existence.

The story of Sophia is the story of our own soul. Her ascent followsher descent, but like our own journey, it is not an easy climb. The descentis like a lightning flash, but the ascent is a slow and winding path, likethat of the Serpent of Wisdom on the Tree of Life. The Logos does not reachdown and immediately pull Sophia out of the chaos of the lower worlds.Her assumption back into the Pleroma is a gradual and incremental process.The Redeemer raises her just a little at the first. She is aware that thingsare better, that her tormenters, the archons are farther from her, butshe does not know who her helper is, nor can she see him. Eventually, afterseveral incremental steps out of the chaos of matter, the Helper is revealedto her. She sees the Logos revealed in all his dazzling glory. At firstshe feels ashamed and covers herself with a veil, but when she sees thevirile emanations of his light-power, she can hold back no longer and rushes to his embrace. In their ecstatic reunion, a fountain of light-sparkspours forth between them, which showers the world with its redemptive seedto empower all of the exiled light of Sophia to return to the Height. Withtheir reunion so consummated in the bridechamber of light he brings herfinally into the Height and back to her aeon in the Pleroma.

Sophia is named Pistis Sophia or Faithful Sophia. She was never defiledby the archons, she remained a virgin-power, because she kept faith inthe Light; she remained faithful. Though she was betrayed by the falseLight of the Chief Archon, the Arrogant One, she never lost her longingfor the Light of the Father, the Alone-Begotten, the First Mystery.

So there exists within us a divine spark, a beautiful pearl, unsullied,undefiled by the world and the chaos of matter. This is the priceless pearl,the light of the Gnosis for which we strive, and which in itself is thesource of our own longing for the Light of the Pleroma. Though we can effectivelyapproach these mysteries psychologically, Sophia is not just a “head trip.”Neither is our own divine Self a psychological head trip. The things ofarchetypal, spiritual reality are as real if not more real and more lastingthan our physical sensate reality. The Gnosis is a knowing of the heart,not a knowing of the senses. Though sensate experience can be a valuableavenue to Gnosis, the aim and direction of the experience must be on somethingtranscendent and outside of this world. Gnosis requires an experience ofthe archetypal bedrock of reality, which can not simply be taught in aworkshop, lecture hall or classroom. It is a long and winding road to Gnosis.
Many maps of the journey have been left by those who have been “thereand back again,” as the original title of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbitdescribes. The story of Sophia is one of those maps. It shows how we gothere and how we can return to the Fullness of the Pleroma. Certainly, wecan make up our own maps, very beautiful, politically correct, wonderfullycreative, but if those making the map do not clearly remember the way,these made up maps are not going to get us back to the Light. Other naiveapproaches include simply picking the parts of the map we like, or pickinga piece from this map of one terrain and another from that of another terrain,either of which appreoaches must ultimately fail to get us to the soughtfor destination. This is not to say that we must restrict ourselves tofollowing only one spiritual path and symbol system; the more maps we canuse, the more terrain we can know and experience in finding our way outof the chaos. But, if a map is to be useful on the journey of the soul,it must be from one who truly knows the way, and it must be maintainedin the integrity of the one who made it.

The map must describe the journey from where we are; it must includeboth our starting point, the goal and the way between them. Like a treasuremap that says take so many paces this direction and so many paces anotherdirection, it only works if we start from the right place. But we needmore than a map. If that was all that was needed we could more easily blazeour own trails back to the Light. We require also a spiritual energy, alight-power, to be able to see the path ahead and follow the markers alongthe way. The world in which we live is a dark place, unless we have a spirituallight to illumine it for us. If we can not even see the spiritual realityof ourselves or those closest to us, how can we possibly see our way backto the Light. We can but stumble about in the darkness following the voicesof attachment and despair.

We lack sufficient light-power to see who we are and a mirror by whichwe can see our Self reflected. This is why the Logos says in the Actsof John, “I am a lamp to thee who seest me. I am a mirror to thee whounderstandest me.” As put forth in the writings of Mani, the Savior comesnot only at the right time but at the right place as well. The Messengerof Light, the Savior, comes to us at the place where our journey back tothe Light begins. Our ascent begins where our descent ends, at the verybottom, in the furthest depths of the chaos.

The Logos does not bring Sophia out of the chaos by immediately graspingher back into the Pleroma but by restoring her light-power little by little,by revealing to her who she is. So it is in our own souls; the Messengerof Light comes to give us the light to see who we are as spiritual beings,and being akin to that Light, we mystically and simultaneously know boththe beginning and end of our spiritual journey within our very Self.

The Christ is the alchemical stone and the Self, the true, constellatingcenter of the psyche, a real, unique and yet universal being, which bothsurrounds and penetrates us from the very core of our own being. Like Sophiawe are mostly and usually unaware of our divine helper. As we become awareof this presence, this mysterious other, we must acknowledge that it isnot simply a state of consciousness that the ego may eventually evolveto; we recognize that the ego personality can serve to mediate our truecenter in the outer world, but it cannot accomplish the redemptive soul-makingwork of the Self, the Christ within. The ego cannot by itself lift us outof the chaos; it cannot save itself from its own condition—something outsideof the ego is required.

The error of the ego is ignorance of any power above it. This also isthe error of the Demiurge in the story of Sophia. The demiurge forgetshis Mother Sophia who engendered him, when he arrogantly proclaims, “Thereare no gods before me.” The supernal Sophia then calls from the heightto remind him, “You lie, Samael (blind god), there is the Man and thereis the Son of Man.” In the same fashion, the demiurgic arrogance of theego considers itself to be the sole power in the psyche, unneeding of redemptionor sufficient to the task itself, whether alone or in a group of otheregos all attempting to lift themselves by their own bootstraps and remainingin the chaos together. Christ consciousness is the conscious expressionof a real being, the true royal Selfhood, which includes and transcendsthe ego personality. It does not displace or take over the ego personalitybut has access to the totality of the psyche, with knowledge, experience,understanding and compassion that is far beyond what the ego alone canpossibly know.

By her descent Sophia gives birth to the Demiurge, who like the egopersonality, can take command of life in the material world but is incompleteand deficient. The entire story of the descent and ascent of Sophia representsthe great scheme for correcting this deficiency both in ourselves and inthe world.

In the Wisdom literature of the Old Testament, Sophia is called “theMother of fair love, and of patience and perseverance, and of holy hope.”We must persevere in the work of redemption, the particular task to whichwe are called, not in response to our ego needs for recognition and greatnessbut in response to the call of the Holy Spirit who has remained here onearth to give us guidance and spiritual nurturance. We must have the patienceto wait for our time to act. We must have holy hope to remember the treasuresof the spirit, the Treasury of the Light to which we aspire.

As in the story of Sophia, the Helper comes at the place in our descentwhere we can acknowledge our powerlessness and regain our remembrance ofour Mother Sophia and our faithfulness to the Light. We can not acknowledgeour need for redemption until we remember the Light, until we rememberwho we are and indeed why we descended, the answer to which can only befound in its origin in the Light. And so the Sophia, as our own soul inthe chaos of matter, cries, “O Light have mercy upon me, for there is novirtue in the cup of forgetfulness.” In the heart of the Gnostic, thiscry brings forth tears of both sorrow and joy, for they are tears of loveand tears of beauty—Sorrow for our condition of alienation in the chaosof the world and joy in our discovery of our long forgotten and true spiritualfriend whose beaming radiance reminds us of the Place of Light in whichwe may be united once again.

One of the values of the story of the Ascent of Sophia, is the portrayalof the Logos as a Hero figure, as Liberator and Lover. The Savior comesto Sophia as the Hero to rescue the damsel in distress, yet he does notpick her up and carry her up; he gives her light-power to rise above thechaos, to become more conscious of who she is in her own power. Her responseis gratefulness, greater faith in the Light, and love. Like Sophia, allof our souls are damsels in distress, suffering the distress of the soulnot knowing who she is and like Sophia beseiged by material powers. Untilour response to receiving that light is an increase in gratefulness, faithfulness,and love, the Liberator and Lover is not revealed to us.

In the Biblical stories and the Gnostic Gospel of Philip, the Christrescues Mary Magdalen in much the same fashion as in the Ascent of Sophia.Jesus rescues her from ignorance by showing her who she is. By her redemptionthe Magdalen, like Sophia, becomes the one who redeems. She recognizesin herself the feminine image of hero and savior as she treads down thedragon-faced power and awakens to the love of the Logos. “The Lord lovedher more than all the other disciples and kissed her on her mouth often.”(Gospel of Philip) The image of Jesus kissing Mary Magdalen is animage of the spiritual reality of the redemptive process. Mary Magdalen,Sophia and the Divine Soul within us all recognize that the bridechamberis not complete without herself.

Sophia is the feminine image of the Redeemer because she is the completionof her Redeemer, the Christ. We require a saving power, a Hero-Liberator-Loverand a Sophia, both of which have been denied us in mainstream Christianity.The Christ of mainstream Christianity is often either a suffering victim,a wrathful judge or a namby-pamby Jesus who could not possibly be a herofigure to anyone. The image of the Hero-Christ requires a Sophia.

The story of Sophia is not just a philosophical conundrum or a moraltale. Sophia is the bringing back of the feminine image of the redeemedredeemer, which restores the hero in all of us. We all have within us,regardless of our gender, the potential to be noble knights in serviceto Our Lady Sophia; we are all, male or female, prepared as a bride toreceive the Bridegroom, our true royal Selfhood, the Christ within.

As described so beautifully in a prayer attributed to Valentinus:
“Prepare yourself as a bride receiving her bridegroom, that you maybe what I am, and I what you are. Consecrate in your bridechamber the seedof light. Take from me the bridegroom, and receive him and be receivedby him. Behold Grace has come upon you.”
So may the grace of the one who is full of grace dwell with us and leadus into the Light, that we may find the redeeming power of Sophia withinus, where we might put her on as a “robe of honor” and put her about usas a “crown of joy.”
-- Rev. Steven Marshall

Encouragment for those disappointed with the Church

2011-08-14T12:11:00.000-07:00

reposted from the blog of Leonardo Boff (most of the articles are in Spanish)

There is great disappointment with the institutional Catholic Church. A double emigration is happening: one is exterior, persons who simply leave the Church, and the other is interior, those who remain in the Church but who no longer feel that she is their spiritual home. They continue believing, in spite of the Church.

It’s not for nothing. The present pope has taken some radical initiatives that have divided the ecclesiastic body. He chose a path of confrontation with two important episcopacies, the German and the French, when he introduced the Latin Mass. He articulated an obscure reconciliation with the Church of the followers of Lebfrevre; gutted the principal renewal institutions of Vatican Council II, especially ecumenism, absurdly denying the title of «Church» to those Churches that are not Catholic or Orthodox. When he was a Cardinal he was gravely permissive with pedophiles, and his concern with AIDS borders the inhumane.

The present Catholic Church is submerged in a rigorous winter. The social base that supports the antiquated model of the present pope is comprised of conservative groups, more interested in the media, in the logic of the market, than in proposing an adequate response to the present grave problems. They offer a «lexotan-Christianity» good for pacifying anxious consciences, but alienated from the suffering humanity.

It is urgent that we animate these Christians about to emigrate with what is essential in Christianity. It certainly is not the Church, that was never the object of the preaching of Jesus. He announced a dream, the Kingdom of God, in contraposition to the Kingdom of Caesar; the Kingdom of God that represents an absolute revolution in relationships, from the individual to the divine and the cosmic.

Christianity appeared in history primarily as a movement and as the way of Christ. It predates its grounding in the four Gospels and in the doctrines. The character of a spiritual path means a type of Christianity that has its own course. It generally lives on the edge and, at times, at a critical distance from the official institution. But it is born and nourished by the permanent fascination with the figure, and the liberating and spiritual message of Jesus of Nazareth. Initially deemed the «heresy of the Nazarenes» (Acts 24,5) or simply, a «heresy» (Acts 28,22) in the sense of a «very small group», Christianity was acquiring autonomy until its followers, according to The Acts of The Apostles (11,36), were called, «Christians».

The movement of Jesus is certainly the most vigorous force of Christianity, stronger than the Churches, because it is neither bounded by institutions, nor is it a prisoner of doctrines and dogmas,founded in a specific cultural background. It is composed of all types of people, from the most varied cultures and traditions, even agnostics and atheists who let themselves be touched by the courageous figure of Jesus, by the dream he announced, a Kingdom of love and liberty, by his ethic of unconditional love, especially for the poor and the oppressed, and by the way he assumed the human drama, amidst humiliation, torture and his execution on the cross. Jesus offered an image of God so intimate and life-friendly that it is difficult to disregard, even by those who do not believe in God. Many people say, «if there is a God, it has to be like the God of Jesus».

This Christianity as a spiritual path is what really counts. However, from being a movement it soon became a religious institution, with several forms of organization. In its bosom were developed different interpretations of the figure of Jesus, that were transformed into doctrines, and gathered into the official Gospels. The Churches, when they assumed institutional character, established criteria of belonging and of exclusion, doctrines such as identity reference and their own rites of celebration. Sociology, and not theology, explains that phenomenon. The institution always exists in tension with the spiritual path. The ideal is that they develop together, but that is rare. The most important, in any case, is the spiritual path. This has a future and animates the meaning of life.

The problem of the Roman Catholic Church is her claim of being the only true one. The correct approach is for all the Churches to recognize each other, because they reveal different and complementary dimensions of the message of the Nazarene. What is important is for Christianity to maintain its character as a spiritual path. That can sustain so many Christian men and women in the face of the mediocrity and irrelevancy into which the present Catholic Church has fallen.

Ted Gunderson Former FBI Chief - Most Terror Attacks Are Committed By Our CIA And FBI

2011-08-14T11:37:00.001-07:00

This video speaks for itself. Scary.

For even scarier (and more fascinating) stuff, see the Ted Gunderson Files.

Ted Gunderson passed away two weeks ago.

"Gunderson's former comrades in the FBI have long ago turned their back and shunned him because he's been willing to tell it like it is and let the chips fall where they may. He's more interested in the truth, the welfare of the American people, and the saving of innocent lives than in being a comfortable retiree with Club Fed. His dedication to the principles of righteousness and justice has cost Gunderson dearly, more than the public will know. "

Penny Red: Panic on the streets of London.

2011-08-10T07:30:00.000-07:00

Great read from young UK journalist Penny Red - for the context that is being left out of most media coverage of the UK Riots. USA - welcome to your future.

Penny Red: Panic on the streets of London.: "I’m huddled in the front room with some shell-shocked friends, watching my city burn. The BBC is interchanging footage of blazing cars and..."