Monday, November 30, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
The Jew from Kuwait
Every once in a while there is a glimmer of hope that somehow there can possibly be peace in the Middle East. One of those came when I read the story of The Jew from Kuwait, the story of a modern secular Muslim who discovered his long-hidden Jewish roots. It's about time that the children of Abraham really examined their shared obligation to peace and stop demonizing one another.
Isn't it possible that both sides have been failing to see the true nature of the conflict? There are young, Arab Jews who have a very different perspective on exactly what it means to be a Zionist and, just maybe, if they can make their voices heard by enough people, things can turn around.
Let's hope so.
Check out this video and then read more.
Isn't it possible that both sides have been failing to see the true nature of the conflict? There are young, Arab Jews who have a very different perspective on exactly what it means to be a Zionist and, just maybe, if they can make their voices heard by enough people, things can turn around.
Let's hope so.
Check out this video and then read more.
Monday, November 23, 2009
AMA Ends 72-Year Policy, Says Marijuana has Medical Benefits
HOUSTON --- The American Medical Association (AMA) voted today to reverse its long-held position that marijuana be retained as a Schedule I substance with no medical value. The AMA adopted a report drafted by the AMA Council on Science and Public Health (CSAPH) entitled, "Use of Cannabis for Medicinal Purposes," which affirmed the therapeutic benefits of marijuana and called for further research. The CSAPH report concluded that, "short term controlled trials indicate that smoked cannabis reduces neuropathic pain, improves appetite and caloric intake especially in patients with reduced muscle mass, and may relieve spasticity and pain in patients with multiple sclerosis." Furthermore, the report urges that "the Schedule I status of marijuana be reviewed with the goal of facilitating clinical research and development of cannabinoid-based medicines, and alternate delivery methods."
The change of position by the largest physician-based group in the country was precipitated in part by a resolution adopted in June of 2008 by the Medical Student Section (MSS) of the AMA in support of the reclassification of marijuana's status as a Schedule I substance. In the past year, the AMA has considered three resolutions dealing with medical marijuana, which also helped to influence the report and its recommendations. The AMA vote on the report took place in Houston, Texas during the organization's annual Interim Meeting of the House of Delegates. The last AMA position, adopted 8 years ago, called for maintaining marijuana as a Schedule I substance, with no medical value.
"It's been 72 years since the AMA has officially recognized that marijuana has both already-demonstrated and future-promising medical utility," said Sunil Aggarwal, Ph.D., the medical student who spearheaded both the passage of the June 2008 resolution by the MSS and one of the CSAPH report's designated expert reviewers. "The AMA has written an extensive, well-documented, evidence-based report that they are seeking to publish in a peer-reviewed journal that will help to educate the medical community about the scientific basis of botanical cannabis-based medicines." Aggarwal is also on the Medical & Scientific Advisory Board of Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the largest medical marijuana advocacy organization in the U.S.
The AMA's about face on medical marijuana follows an announcement by the Obama Administration in October discouraging U.S. Attorneys from taking enforcement actions in medical marijuana states. In February 2008, a resolution was adopted by the American College of Physicians (ACP), the country's second largest physician group and the largest organization of doctors of internal medicine. The ACP resolution called for an "evidence-based review of marijuana's status as a Schedule I controlled substance to determine whether it should be reclassified to a different schedule. "The two largest physician groups in the U.S. have established medical marijuana as a health care issue that must be addressed," said ASA Government Affairs Director Caren Woodson. "Both organizations have underscored the need for change by placing patients above politics."
Though the CSAPH report has not been officially released to the public, AMA documentation indicates that it: "(1) provides a brief historical perspective on the use of cannabis as medicine; (2) examines the current federal and state-based legal envelope relevant to the medical use of cannabis; (3) provides a brief overview of our current understanding of the pharmacology and physiology of the endocannabinoid system; (4) reviews clinical trials on the relative safety and efficacy of smoked cannabis and botanical-based products; and (5) places this information in perspective with respect to the current drug regulatory framework."
Further information:
Executive Summary of AMA Report
American College of Physicians resolution
See a state-by-state list of the effects of marijuana legislation.
THC Ministry
The change of position by the largest physician-based group in the country was precipitated in part by a resolution adopted in June of 2008 by the Medical Student Section (MSS) of the AMA in support of the reclassification of marijuana's status as a Schedule I substance. In the past year, the AMA has considered three resolutions dealing with medical marijuana, which also helped to influence the report and its recommendations. The AMA vote on the report took place in Houston, Texas during the organization's annual Interim Meeting of the House of Delegates. The last AMA position, adopted 8 years ago, called for maintaining marijuana as a Schedule I substance, with no medical value.
"It's been 72 years since the AMA has officially recognized that marijuana has both already-demonstrated and future-promising medical utility," said Sunil Aggarwal, Ph.D., the medical student who spearheaded both the passage of the June 2008 resolution by the MSS and one of the CSAPH report's designated expert reviewers. "The AMA has written an extensive, well-documented, evidence-based report that they are seeking to publish in a peer-reviewed journal that will help to educate the medical community about the scientific basis of botanical cannabis-based medicines." Aggarwal is also on the Medical & Scientific Advisory Board of Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the largest medical marijuana advocacy organization in the U.S.
The AMA's about face on medical marijuana follows an announcement by the Obama Administration in October discouraging U.S. Attorneys from taking enforcement actions in medical marijuana states. In February 2008, a resolution was adopted by the American College of Physicians (ACP), the country's second largest physician group and the largest organization of doctors of internal medicine. The ACP resolution called for an "evidence-based review of marijuana's status as a Schedule I controlled substance to determine whether it should be reclassified to a different schedule. "The two largest physician groups in the U.S. have established medical marijuana as a health care issue that must be addressed," said ASA Government Affairs Director Caren Woodson. "Both organizations have underscored the need for change by placing patients above politics."
Though the CSAPH report has not been officially released to the public, AMA documentation indicates that it: "(1) provides a brief historical perspective on the use of cannabis as medicine; (2) examines the current federal and state-based legal envelope relevant to the medical use of cannabis; (3) provides a brief overview of our current understanding of the pharmacology and physiology of the endocannabinoid system; (4) reviews clinical trials on the relative safety and efficacy of smoked cannabis and botanical-based products; and (5) places this information in perspective with respect to the current drug regulatory framework."
Further information:
Executive Summary of AMA Report
American College of Physicians resolution
See a state-by-state list of the effects of marijuana legislation.
THC Ministry
Thursday, November 12, 2009
America: Freedom to Fascism
Did You Know?
1. No section of the Internal Revenue Code establishes a liabilty for the income tax.
Section 5005 establishes a tax liability for the distillation and importation of distilled spirits; Section 5703 establishes a tax liability on the manufacture and importation of tobacco products and cigarette papers; Section 4374 creates a liability for the tax on policies issued by foreign insurers; Section 4401(c) establishes a liability for the tax on accepting wagers; Section 5043 establishes a liability for the tax on wines.
2. The general term "income" is not defined in the Internal Revenue Code.
U.S. v. Ballard 535 F2d 400
The Internal Revenue Code defines 'Gross Income' (Section 61), 'Ordinary Income' (Section 65), Adjusted Gross Income (Section 62), Taxable Income (Section 63), 'Earned Income' (Sec. 32). It does not define 'income'.
3. "Our system of taxation is based upon voluntary assessment and payment, not upon distraint."
Flora v. United States, 362 U.S. 145, pg 176
4. "The IRS' primary task is to collect taxes under a voluntary compliance system." (emphasis added)
Jerome Kurtz, Internal Revenue Annual Report, 1980
5. "Our tax system is based on individual self-assessment and voluntary compliance." (emphasis added)
Mortimer Caplin, Internal Revenue Audit Manual, 1975
6. "Each year American taxpayers voluntarily file their tax returns and make a special efort to pay the taxes they owe." - Johnnie M. Walters, Internal revenue 1040 Booklet, 1971
7. "Your income tax is 100 percent voluntary tax, and your liquor tax is 100 percent enforced tax. Now the situation is as different as day and night." (See footnote 1)
8. "An individual taxpayer may refuse to exhibit his/her books and records for examination on the ground that compelling him to do so might violate his/her right against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment and constitute an illegal search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment." (italics added) - Handbook for Special Agents
9. "...warrantless entrys into the private premises of a person by the Internal revenue Service for the purpose of seizing property to satisfy a tax liability is a violation of that person's reasonable expectation of privacy under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. Before levies or seizures of property located on private premises are made, permission of the occupant of the premises on which the seizure is to take place must be obtained. If the occupant refuses to permit the entry the matter should be referred to District Counsel so that a court order authorizing the entry may be obtained."
G.M. Leasing Corp. v. United States, 429 U.S. 338
FOOTNOTES:
1) This statement was made by then head of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division of the IRS. It was made under oath in testimony given to the House of Representatives' Subcommittee of the Committee on Ways and Means, Eighty-Third Congress, First Session, Part A, 1953
Americans are starting to wake up to the startling idea that they have since 1913 been the victims of a massive fraud perpetrated by the federal government and private financial interests. Filmmaker Aaron Russo directed a thorough investigation into the creation of the Federal Reserve and the controversial legislation (or lack thereof) that requires American citizens to pay income taxes. In his film, "America: Freedom to Fascism," Russo interviewed key members of Congress, a former IRS Commissioner, tax attorneys, agents from the IRS and FBI, and various authors demystifying federal income tax and the creation of money.
Exposing the truth about the federal income tax is the goal of such organizations as Tax Honesty. They are engaging in acts of civil disobedience among other tactics to alert Americans to the fact that there is indeed no law requiring Americans to pay taxes on their income. In fact, there is not even a definition of the word “income” anywhere in the tax code! For those of us who have been living in fear of the IRS, there is logical and reasonable evidence that you don't owe any tax at all to the federal government and that the brunt of taxation was reserved for corporations, not individual wage earners.
It’s about time for a little honesty about the federal income tax as we try to regain our liberty as citizens. However, we may also be aware that it will not be easy, nor will it be painless. America is now under the control of “fascists” declared Russo in this interview shortly before his controversial death after making his film. He correctly argued that the popular understanding of fascism is incorrect and that the definition given by Mussolini, termed “corporatism,” is more apt as the partnership between government and corporations against the people.
Listen as Aaron Russo discusses his film and what he discovered:
Watch the film "America: Freedom to Fascism" and recommend it to your friends.
Don't stand on the sidelines; come help to restore the republic!
1. No section of the Internal Revenue Code establishes a liabilty for the income tax.
Section 5005 establishes a tax liability for the distillation and importation of distilled spirits; Section 5703 establishes a tax liability on the manufacture and importation of tobacco products and cigarette papers; Section 4374 creates a liability for the tax on policies issued by foreign insurers; Section 4401(c) establishes a liability for the tax on accepting wagers; Section 5043 establishes a liability for the tax on wines.
2. The general term "income" is not defined in the Internal Revenue Code.
U.S. v. Ballard 535 F2d 400
The Internal Revenue Code defines 'Gross Income' (Section 61), 'Ordinary Income' (Section 65), Adjusted Gross Income (Section 62), Taxable Income (Section 63), 'Earned Income' (Sec. 32). It does not define 'income'.
3. "Our system of taxation is based upon voluntary assessment and payment, not upon distraint."
Flora v. United States, 362 U.S. 145, pg 176
4. "The IRS' primary task is to collect taxes under a voluntary compliance system." (emphasis added)
Jerome Kurtz, Internal Revenue Annual Report, 1980
5. "Our tax system is based on individual self-assessment and voluntary compliance." (emphasis added)
Mortimer Caplin, Internal Revenue Audit Manual, 1975
6. "Each year American taxpayers voluntarily file their tax returns and make a special efort to pay the taxes they owe." - Johnnie M. Walters, Internal revenue 1040 Booklet, 1971
7. "Your income tax is 100 percent voluntary tax, and your liquor tax is 100 percent enforced tax. Now the situation is as different as day and night." (See footnote 1)
8. "An individual taxpayer may refuse to exhibit his/her books and records for examination on the ground that compelling him to do so might violate his/her right against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment and constitute an illegal search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment." (italics added) - Handbook for Special Agents
9. "...warrantless entrys into the private premises of a person by the Internal revenue Service for the purpose of seizing property to satisfy a tax liability is a violation of that person's reasonable expectation of privacy under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. Before levies or seizures of property located on private premises are made, permission of the occupant of the premises on which the seizure is to take place must be obtained. If the occupant refuses to permit the entry the matter should be referred to District Counsel so that a court order authorizing the entry may be obtained."
G.M. Leasing Corp. v. United States, 429 U.S. 338
FOOTNOTES:
1) This statement was made by then head of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division of the IRS. It was made under oath in testimony given to the House of Representatives' Subcommittee of the Committee on Ways and Means, Eighty-Third Congress, First Session, Part A, 1953
Americans are starting to wake up to the startling idea that they have since 1913 been the victims of a massive fraud perpetrated by the federal government and private financial interests. Filmmaker Aaron Russo directed a thorough investigation into the creation of the Federal Reserve and the controversial legislation (or lack thereof) that requires American citizens to pay income taxes. In his film, "America: Freedom to Fascism," Russo interviewed key members of Congress, a former IRS Commissioner, tax attorneys, agents from the IRS and FBI, and various authors demystifying federal income tax and the creation of money.
Exposing the truth about the federal income tax is the goal of such organizations as Tax Honesty. They are engaging in acts of civil disobedience among other tactics to alert Americans to the fact that there is indeed no law requiring Americans to pay taxes on their income. In fact, there is not even a definition of the word “income” anywhere in the tax code! For those of us who have been living in fear of the IRS, there is logical and reasonable evidence that you don't owe any tax at all to the federal government and that the brunt of taxation was reserved for corporations, not individual wage earners.
It’s about time for a little honesty about the federal income tax as we try to regain our liberty as citizens. However, we may also be aware that it will not be easy, nor will it be painless. America is now under the control of “fascists” declared Russo in this interview shortly before his controversial death after making his film. He correctly argued that the popular understanding of fascism is incorrect and that the definition given by Mussolini, termed “corporatism,” is more apt as the partnership between government and corporations against the people.
Listen as Aaron Russo discusses his film and what he discovered:
Watch the film "America: Freedom to Fascism" and recommend it to your friends.
Don't stand on the sidelines; come help to restore the republic!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Anthem
On a day like this when all the world seems steeped in darkness, I need a song... not just any song, but one that has the power of truth behind it. Listen to this song and feel the truth of our situation in the world today. Grieve for the way things are, but rejoice for the possibility of a new awakening and a new birth of the sacred among us, the living.
In the final analysis, it's up to us. Before we can transform the world, we must transform ourselves... to do that, we must acknowledge the truth about ourselves and the world. We will never be perfect, but we can be human. That's what it's all about anyway.
ANTHEM
by Leonard Cohen
The birds they sang
at the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don't dwell on what
has passed away
or what is yet to be.
Ah the wars they will
be fought again
The holy dove
She will be caught again
bought and sold
and bought again
the dove is never free.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
We asked for signs
the signs were sent:
the birth betrayed
the marriage spent
Yeah the widowhood
of every government --
signs for all to see.
I can't run no more
with that lawless crowd
while the killers in high places
say their prayers out loud.
But they've summoned, they've summoned up
a thundercloud
and they're going to hear from me.
Ring the bells that still can ring ...
You can add up the parts
but you won't have the sum
You can strike up the march,
there is no drum
Every heart, every heart
to love will come
but like a refugee.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in.
In the final analysis, it's up to us. Before we can transform the world, we must transform ourselves... to do that, we must acknowledge the truth about ourselves and the world. We will never be perfect, but we can be human. That's what it's all about anyway.
ANTHEM
by Leonard Cohen
The birds they sang
at the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don't dwell on what
has passed away
or what is yet to be.
Ah the wars they will
be fought again
The holy dove
She will be caught again
bought and sold
and bought again
the dove is never free.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
We asked for signs
the signs were sent:
the birth betrayed
the marriage spent
Yeah the widowhood
of every government --
signs for all to see.
I can't run no more
with that lawless crowd
while the killers in high places
say their prayers out loud.
But they've summoned, they've summoned up
a thundercloud
and they're going to hear from me.
Ring the bells that still can ring ...
You can add up the parts
but you won't have the sum
You can strike up the march,
there is no drum
Every heart, every heart
to love will come
but like a refugee.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Painful Deceptions
At the risk of being called a "conspiracy theorist," I submit that there are still far too many unanswered questions in regards to the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The explanations given by the 9/11 Commission fail to address a number of anomolies in the scientific data about the collapse of the towers as well as significant inconsistencies in statements made by government officials charged with either the investigation of or the prevention of this attack. We owe it to ourselves as American citizens to arouse ourselves from the torpor we have fallen into and once again be vigilant in our quest to know the truth about what has been and is now happening in our country. We must get to the bottom of this crime and see to it that its perpetrators are prosecuted in a court of law as should have been done long ago. We must not allow ourselves to be lulled to sleep or distracted by those who would lead us into a false sense of security or by those who play upon our fears in order to execute their own nefarious and cynical agendas. Come on people, wake up to the painful deception that has been foisted upon us!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Our Island Planet and the Interdependent Web of Life
I was born and raised in McDowell County, West Virginia… heart of the Pocahontas Coal fields and the scene of some of the most terrible ravages against both humanity and nature that anyone has ever experienced. From the poverty and ignorance of a society held in thrall by greed and exploitation at the hands of those whose quest for ever increasing riches through the despoiling of the land and its people, I stand before you today, disheartened at what I saw in West Virginia, yet oddly enough, encouraged.
Though the land of my birth has been strip-mined, its streams polluted and its people left destitute, there are signs of a new awakening to what has been done and a very real desire to atone for the past. The people of Appalachia are starting to wake up to the damage that has been done and are trying to reverse it. For that, I am encouraged and hopeful.
As a young man, I moved to Hawaii, a fabled land of beautiful sunsets and rainbows, of tropical beaches and scenic vistas famous around the world. In the thirty years that I lived in Hawaii, it became obvious that there was another Hawaii, hidden from the view of most Americans and others who came to enjoy themselves amid the sandy beaches and balmy air. The native people of Hawaii have been victimized and their culture prostituted for the sake of greed. There is poverty and homelessness, ignorance and oppression, pollution of the waters and over-fishing of the sea.
Hawaii has suffered greatly and I have witnessed it first-hand as I did in West Virginia. Yet, here too are signs for hope.
The native people of Hawaii, the Kanaka Maoli, have begun the struggle for self-determination and control of their lands… the struggle to once again have their cultural values be the determining factor in how their most precious asset, the land itself is treated, not as a commodity to be bought, sold and abused, but as the very source and sustainer of life itself. The Hawaiian people are very aware of the fact that they occupy only a tiny speck of land in the middle of a vast sea… their island home is all they have and they know that if they are to survive, they must care for it.
They learned this lesson long ago, when, after crossing the Pacific in their open canoes, they discovered this fertile garden with all they needed to sustain them… it was truly a garden. This lesson however was lost on those who later on stumbled across this garden and saw it not as a living system, not as a precious giver and sustainer of life, but only another resource to be plundered. That has been for too long our way.
This must change for we realize that we too live on an island. Our planet earth is literally an island oasis in a vast and limitless cosmos. It is the ONLY place we know of that harbors life as we know it. It has been our cradle and may soon be our grave unless we alter our perspectives on it and realize the truth in the words of Chief Seattle: “Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.” Still, in order to see this picture, it is necessary to step back and look at it from a distance. In fact, it’s the only way that we can see it as it really is. We forget how small our island planet is and how vast the distances among the stars, before we might find any place remotely possible for us to inhabit.
As a teenager, I remember watching in fascination as Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in 1969. The images were broadcast on television to millions of people around the world. I still remember the pictures of the earth as seen from the moon, a beautiful blue and white ball suspended in space. For once, we were able to step back from our far too close up view of the world and were able to see it for what it really is, an island planet “hanging on nothing” as it moves through space.
Despite our seeming disconnect to all things natural and this bigger view, we are not separate from, but are an integral part of the web of all life on this planet. When you look at the earth from a distance, there are no national border lines, there are no racial, religious, political or social divisions… only a ball of rock, ice and water with its myriad life forms all interdependently connected, none able to survive without the others.
When we see this view of our island planet, we merely see “home.” Those astronauts who have gone into space and seen, not merely photographs of our island planet, have come back transformed, with a new perspective that has changed their lives. Their descriptions of the earth as seen from space reflect an understanding of the interdependent web of existence and the fragile nature of life in a way that few others can share.
"Our planet is our spaceship," said NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus, after returning from spending about 4 ½ months on the space station. Speaking at an Earth Day celebration, she had this to say: “…it’s very easy to take it for granted when we’re living on it, when it seems so big and so massive. But it's not. It's very small and very fragile."
She had returned with a new perspective on her home planet. “When you look out the window (of the space station), you notice how incredibly thin our atmosphere is, how such a fragile shell of air surrounds our planet and makes it habitable. You can read that in a book, but until you see it, it doesn’t strike home.” Magnus went on to say that when a person gazes at the Earth, there is a sense that humanity and all life as we know it are completely dependent on a single planet and its thin atmosphere. "It makes you think about our planet as a whole system," Magnus said. "We're all there together living together as human beings and other organisms and we have to take care of each other."
We, as a society, have indeed forgotten this view of the earth. I can think of few better reasons to support the space program… to make sure that we, especially now, are reminded of the vastness of the cosmos and the fragility of that little blue dot seen from the Voyager mission as it turned its camera earthward from a distance of 4 billion miles. When you get home, do a quick Google search for the pictures I’m talking about and you’ll see what the astronauts were talking about and the way it changed their perspectives. It is, in fact, only a tiny island moving through an immense universe… our birthplace… our home… a home that we share with every other living thing, in fact the ONLY living things that we know to exist in all the vastness of space. It’s just us… our tiny planet… and life is fragile.
What we do to the earth and to other species, we ultimately do to ourselves. That is why it is so imperative that we not merely respect the independent web of existence, but make this respect something real in terms of action, not only on the personal and local level, but in policies and laws on a global scale.
We must not be forced to explore the universe in search of a new home because we have made the Earth inhospitable, even uninhabitable. For if we do not solve the environmental and related social problems that beset us on Earth - pollution, toxic contamination, resource depletion, prejudice, poverty, hunger - those problems will surely accompany us to other worlds.
The people of our planet, especially we Americans, instead focus on trivialities while this big picture eludes us. We focus on a small view of life on this planet… largely seeing and caring about only those things that affect us as individuals. Despite pictures of polar bears adrift on ever shrinking ice flows in the Arctic, despite the evidence of storms of ever increasing intensity, despite the evidence of our eyes and our ears, we’re all too easily lulled back to sleep by the seduction of our consumer oriented lifestyles. Many of us even argue that we’re not being affected, that the problems environmentalists warn us about aren’t even “real.” Meanwhile the environmental and climatic crises are fast approaching catastrophic proportions.
Indeed, recent scientific data shows that we may well have already reached the “tipping point” when it comes to carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, the driving force behind climate change. The “safe” level for human beings is known to be 350 parts per million, but we have now reached a level of 387 parts per million. I’m no scientist, but I do know that we need to notice this and, if possible, do something now.
We have serious problems and we need serious people to solve them. But the magnitude of the crises facing us, and the literally global consequences of the decisions we make in response to those crises, are rapidly moving toward a critical mass. We must find the political and social will to do the very hard things that need to be done very quickly if there is, literally, to be a tomorrow for our species.
We cannot afford to waste any more time seeking purely “market driven” solutions. It’s clear that we can no longer drag our feet when it comes to making the serious changes we need to make and to wait until a more financially feasible way is found. To quote Willy Nelson’s character in the film Stage Coach, “I never saw a dead man who cared about money.” That statement may well be about us as a human species.
In our desire for more and more consumption, more and more economic growth, more and more things, we have despoiled what we have been given stewardship over. We have defiled the land with pollution and strip mining, we have defiled the oceans with our wastes and over-fishing; we have defiled the air we breathe. The earth is no longer a garden. It has become a grave.
However, may I remind you of something we rarely consider? Even if we do find ourselves extinct as a species, life on this planet will go on… without us. There will be survivors just as there were in the other mass extinctions that our planet has experienced over the millions of years of its existence. Life will go on. I don’t just mean Keith Richards or cockroaches, either. There will be other species that survive the catastrophe. Sooner or later, given the millions of years available, another species may arise, one that understands a simple maxim: “Ignorance can be cured, but stupidity is usually fatal.”
Let us not be stupid. Let us beware, lest we, through our inattention to proper stewardship for this planet, find ourselves facing a radically different world than we envisioned for our descendants. Even if we as a species survive, the prospects of the world we will be leaving those generations that come after us appear bleak indeed.
Still, there is room for hope. We are moving toward, I believe, an ever-greater maturity in relation to our world, and in relation to our religious community's responsibility in that world. We are finally beginning to grasp what we mean when we speak of “respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.”
People are starting to wake up to the realities of our situation and are taking steps to do something about it. People of faith need to be and have been part of that waking up process. The seventh of our Unitarian Universalist Principles says that we “Covenant to affirm and promote… respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.” Clearly understanding the need for putting this principle into action, in 2006, the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly adopted a Statement of Conscience on Climate Change; it reads in part:
“Earth is our home. We are part of this world and its destiny is our own. Life on this planet will be gravely affected unless we embrace new practices, ethics, and values to guide our lives on a warming planet. As Unitarian Universalist, how can our faith inform our actions to remedy and mitigate global warming/climate change? We declare by this Statement of Conscience that we will not acquiesce to the ongoing degradation and destruction of life that human actions are leaving to our children and grandchildren. We as Unitarian Universalists are called to join with others to halt practices that fuel global warming/climate change, to instigate sustainable alternatives, and to mitigate the impending effects of global warming/climate change with just and ethical responses. As a people of faith, we commit to a renewed reverence for life and respect for the interdependent web of all existence.”
These are, indeed, fine words. The entire document is long and lists some very specific actions that we as individuals, congregations and as a denomination can take. You can find the whole list on the UUA website so I won’t burden you with reading it all. But, for now let this statement of conscience be a reminder of the urgency of the situation and the attitude that we, as a people of faith must exhibit.
We are called to become instruments of change. We are being called to publicly stand up and lend our voices and our actions in support of a new approach to our island planet. We are being called to build a sustainable world. We are being called to make peace with nature, to reverse the destructive effects of what we have already done to our world and to find ways to repair the web of life in those ways that we can.
It is up to us, the present generation to respond to this crisis… not because we have done it all, but because we are the first generation to become aware of the crisis that we as a people have brought about. We stand at the crossroads. Future generations will look back at our time and see it as either what David Korten calls “the Great Turning,” when we chose to turn around as a people and actually practice respect for the interdependent web of existence, or they will see this as the moment in time when we failed in our duty to life on our world.
We are being called to lend our voices to those other voices around the world. We are lending our voices to the cry of our descendants for a livable planet and an end to the delaying tactics and gradualism in favor of concerted action aimed at reducing greenhouse gasses and restoring levels to a more sustainable level.
We must let this day not be an end, merely another sermon, but a beginning as we collectively and individually demand effective change in global policy about climate change. It is imperative that we do so, especially in light of the failure of the United States to sign the Kyoto Protocol on climate change in the last international effort. This is something we should never again tolerate. Let us not waste time being ashamed of our collective inaction on Kyoto. We now turn toward the future, hopeful that a new day is dawning for us all.
This December in Copenhagen, there will once again be international talks aimed at a treaty that will curb global warming and control carbon dioxide emissions. If this can be accomplished, it will begin a transformation from the business as usual approach, it can be a powerful moment in world history. The threat of climate change is so great, and impacts so many countries, that collective action is now required. An effective treaty in Copenhagen would show that the international community can get beyond their individual differences and take common action for the common good of all nations that share this fragile world of ours.
And if we can come together on a solution to an issue as complicated as climate change, think of what else might suddenly seem possible? We might truly begin to create the world that we dream of. We might well find ourselves once again viewing our world as a garden rather than a grave.
We may finally as a human family decide that the ignorance, poverty and oppression faced by so many of our fellow beings can no longer be tolerated. We may finally come to realize that human rights are important not only in the abstract, but in reality… that we are indeed “caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in single garment of destiny.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. was absolutely right when he suggested that “there are some things in our social system to which all of us ought to be maladjusted.” Let the naysayers call us "liberals,"“environmental nuts,” let them call us “tree huggers,” let them call us what they will. Future generations will call us people who did not sit idly by… we were activists in the best sense of the word. Remember that “an activist is not the one who announces the river is dirty. An activist is the one who helps clean it up.” We are beginning to do just that.
Let us make certain that our representatives face the upcoming talks in Copenhagen with a sense of urgency, with a will to actually do the hard work it takes to turn things around while we still can. Let us no longer allow our nation or any nation to recklessly endanger the interdependent web of life by refusing to act responsibly… to recognize that none of us are exempt to the consequences of our actions or inactions.
As Chief Seattle, so eloquently said:
“This we know. The earth does not belong to us; we belong to the earth.
This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are interconnected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of the earth. We did not weave the web of life; we are merely a strand in it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.”
Indeed, the Earth IS our only homeland… an opal strung in space. Let us do all we can to change our destructive ways and treat it with the care it deserves… so that for generations to come it will be a home for us all. We all share this island planet and bear responsibility for not only it, but each other. Not one of us can stand aside separate… no individual, no city, no nation. “Our world truly is one world; what touches one affects us all.” The earth was given to us as a garden; it can be so again if only we have the will to make it so. We can either take the bigger view or not. The choice is ours.
Shalom, Amen, Blessed Be and Aloha
Though the land of my birth has been strip-mined, its streams polluted and its people left destitute, there are signs of a new awakening to what has been done and a very real desire to atone for the past. The people of Appalachia are starting to wake up to the damage that has been done and are trying to reverse it. For that, I am encouraged and hopeful.
As a young man, I moved to Hawaii, a fabled land of beautiful sunsets and rainbows, of tropical beaches and scenic vistas famous around the world. In the thirty years that I lived in Hawaii, it became obvious that there was another Hawaii, hidden from the view of most Americans and others who came to enjoy themselves amid the sandy beaches and balmy air. The native people of Hawaii have been victimized and their culture prostituted for the sake of greed. There is poverty and homelessness, ignorance and oppression, pollution of the waters and over-fishing of the sea.
Hawaii has suffered greatly and I have witnessed it first-hand as I did in West Virginia. Yet, here too are signs for hope.
The native people of Hawaii, the Kanaka Maoli, have begun the struggle for self-determination and control of their lands… the struggle to once again have their cultural values be the determining factor in how their most precious asset, the land itself is treated, not as a commodity to be bought, sold and abused, but as the very source and sustainer of life itself. The Hawaiian people are very aware of the fact that they occupy only a tiny speck of land in the middle of a vast sea… their island home is all they have and they know that if they are to survive, they must care for it.
They learned this lesson long ago, when, after crossing the Pacific in their open canoes, they discovered this fertile garden with all they needed to sustain them… it was truly a garden. This lesson however was lost on those who later on stumbled across this garden and saw it not as a living system, not as a precious giver and sustainer of life, but only another resource to be plundered. That has been for too long our way.
This must change for we realize that we too live on an island. Our planet earth is literally an island oasis in a vast and limitless cosmos. It is the ONLY place we know of that harbors life as we know it. It has been our cradle and may soon be our grave unless we alter our perspectives on it and realize the truth in the words of Chief Seattle: “Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.” Still, in order to see this picture, it is necessary to step back and look at it from a distance. In fact, it’s the only way that we can see it as it really is. We forget how small our island planet is and how vast the distances among the stars, before we might find any place remotely possible for us to inhabit.
As a teenager, I remember watching in fascination as Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in 1969. The images were broadcast on television to millions of people around the world. I still remember the pictures of the earth as seen from the moon, a beautiful blue and white ball suspended in space. For once, we were able to step back from our far too close up view of the world and were able to see it for what it really is, an island planet “hanging on nothing” as it moves through space.
Despite our seeming disconnect to all things natural and this bigger view, we are not separate from, but are an integral part of the web of all life on this planet. When you look at the earth from a distance, there are no national border lines, there are no racial, religious, political or social divisions… only a ball of rock, ice and water with its myriad life forms all interdependently connected, none able to survive without the others.
When we see this view of our island planet, we merely see “home.” Those astronauts who have gone into space and seen, not merely photographs of our island planet, have come back transformed, with a new perspective that has changed their lives. Their descriptions of the earth as seen from space reflect an understanding of the interdependent web of existence and the fragile nature of life in a way that few others can share.
"Our planet is our spaceship," said NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus, after returning from spending about 4 ½ months on the space station. Speaking at an Earth Day celebration, she had this to say: “…it’s very easy to take it for granted when we’re living on it, when it seems so big and so massive. But it's not. It's very small and very fragile."
She had returned with a new perspective on her home planet. “When you look out the window (of the space station), you notice how incredibly thin our atmosphere is, how such a fragile shell of air surrounds our planet and makes it habitable. You can read that in a book, but until you see it, it doesn’t strike home.” Magnus went on to say that when a person gazes at the Earth, there is a sense that humanity and all life as we know it are completely dependent on a single planet and its thin atmosphere. "It makes you think about our planet as a whole system," Magnus said. "We're all there together living together as human beings and other organisms and we have to take care of each other."
We, as a society, have indeed forgotten this view of the earth. I can think of few better reasons to support the space program… to make sure that we, especially now, are reminded of the vastness of the cosmos and the fragility of that little blue dot seen from the Voyager mission as it turned its camera earthward from a distance of 4 billion miles. When you get home, do a quick Google search for the pictures I’m talking about and you’ll see what the astronauts were talking about and the way it changed their perspectives. It is, in fact, only a tiny island moving through an immense universe… our birthplace… our home… a home that we share with every other living thing, in fact the ONLY living things that we know to exist in all the vastness of space. It’s just us… our tiny planet… and life is fragile.
What we do to the earth and to other species, we ultimately do to ourselves. That is why it is so imperative that we not merely respect the independent web of existence, but make this respect something real in terms of action, not only on the personal and local level, but in policies and laws on a global scale.
We must not be forced to explore the universe in search of a new home because we have made the Earth inhospitable, even uninhabitable. For if we do not solve the environmental and related social problems that beset us on Earth - pollution, toxic contamination, resource depletion, prejudice, poverty, hunger - those problems will surely accompany us to other worlds.
The people of our planet, especially we Americans, instead focus on trivialities while this big picture eludes us. We focus on a small view of life on this planet… largely seeing and caring about only those things that affect us as individuals. Despite pictures of polar bears adrift on ever shrinking ice flows in the Arctic, despite the evidence of storms of ever increasing intensity, despite the evidence of our eyes and our ears, we’re all too easily lulled back to sleep by the seduction of our consumer oriented lifestyles. Many of us even argue that we’re not being affected, that the problems environmentalists warn us about aren’t even “real.” Meanwhile the environmental and climatic crises are fast approaching catastrophic proportions.
Indeed, recent scientific data shows that we may well have already reached the “tipping point” when it comes to carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, the driving force behind climate change. The “safe” level for human beings is known to be 350 parts per million, but we have now reached a level of 387 parts per million. I’m no scientist, but I do know that we need to notice this and, if possible, do something now.
We have serious problems and we need serious people to solve them. But the magnitude of the crises facing us, and the literally global consequences of the decisions we make in response to those crises, are rapidly moving toward a critical mass. We must find the political and social will to do the very hard things that need to be done very quickly if there is, literally, to be a tomorrow for our species.
We cannot afford to waste any more time seeking purely “market driven” solutions. It’s clear that we can no longer drag our feet when it comes to making the serious changes we need to make and to wait until a more financially feasible way is found. To quote Willy Nelson’s character in the film Stage Coach, “I never saw a dead man who cared about money.” That statement may well be about us as a human species.
In our desire for more and more consumption, more and more economic growth, more and more things, we have despoiled what we have been given stewardship over. We have defiled the land with pollution and strip mining, we have defiled the oceans with our wastes and over-fishing; we have defiled the air we breathe. The earth is no longer a garden. It has become a grave.
However, may I remind you of something we rarely consider? Even if we do find ourselves extinct as a species, life on this planet will go on… without us. There will be survivors just as there were in the other mass extinctions that our planet has experienced over the millions of years of its existence. Life will go on. I don’t just mean Keith Richards or cockroaches, either. There will be other species that survive the catastrophe. Sooner or later, given the millions of years available, another species may arise, one that understands a simple maxim: “Ignorance can be cured, but stupidity is usually fatal.”
Let us not be stupid. Let us beware, lest we, through our inattention to proper stewardship for this planet, find ourselves facing a radically different world than we envisioned for our descendants. Even if we as a species survive, the prospects of the world we will be leaving those generations that come after us appear bleak indeed.
Still, there is room for hope. We are moving toward, I believe, an ever-greater maturity in relation to our world, and in relation to our religious community's responsibility in that world. We are finally beginning to grasp what we mean when we speak of “respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.”
People are starting to wake up to the realities of our situation and are taking steps to do something about it. People of faith need to be and have been part of that waking up process. The seventh of our Unitarian Universalist Principles says that we “Covenant to affirm and promote… respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.” Clearly understanding the need for putting this principle into action, in 2006, the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly adopted a Statement of Conscience on Climate Change; it reads in part:
“Earth is our home. We are part of this world and its destiny is our own. Life on this planet will be gravely affected unless we embrace new practices, ethics, and values to guide our lives on a warming planet. As Unitarian Universalist, how can our faith inform our actions to remedy and mitigate global warming/climate change? We declare by this Statement of Conscience that we will not acquiesce to the ongoing degradation and destruction of life that human actions are leaving to our children and grandchildren. We as Unitarian Universalists are called to join with others to halt practices that fuel global warming/climate change, to instigate sustainable alternatives, and to mitigate the impending effects of global warming/climate change with just and ethical responses. As a people of faith, we commit to a renewed reverence for life and respect for the interdependent web of all existence.”
These are, indeed, fine words. The entire document is long and lists some very specific actions that we as individuals, congregations and as a denomination can take. You can find the whole list on the UUA website so I won’t burden you with reading it all. But, for now let this statement of conscience be a reminder of the urgency of the situation and the attitude that we, as a people of faith must exhibit.
We are called to become instruments of change. We are being called to publicly stand up and lend our voices and our actions in support of a new approach to our island planet. We are being called to build a sustainable world. We are being called to make peace with nature, to reverse the destructive effects of what we have already done to our world and to find ways to repair the web of life in those ways that we can.
It is up to us, the present generation to respond to this crisis… not because we have done it all, but because we are the first generation to become aware of the crisis that we as a people have brought about. We stand at the crossroads. Future generations will look back at our time and see it as either what David Korten calls “the Great Turning,” when we chose to turn around as a people and actually practice respect for the interdependent web of existence, or they will see this as the moment in time when we failed in our duty to life on our world.
We are being called to lend our voices to those other voices around the world. We are lending our voices to the cry of our descendants for a livable planet and an end to the delaying tactics and gradualism in favor of concerted action aimed at reducing greenhouse gasses and restoring levels to a more sustainable level.
We must let this day not be an end, merely another sermon, but a beginning as we collectively and individually demand effective change in global policy about climate change. It is imperative that we do so, especially in light of the failure of the United States to sign the Kyoto Protocol on climate change in the last international effort. This is something we should never again tolerate. Let us not waste time being ashamed of our collective inaction on Kyoto. We now turn toward the future, hopeful that a new day is dawning for us all.
This December in Copenhagen, there will once again be international talks aimed at a treaty that will curb global warming and control carbon dioxide emissions. If this can be accomplished, it will begin a transformation from the business as usual approach, it can be a powerful moment in world history. The threat of climate change is so great, and impacts so many countries, that collective action is now required. An effective treaty in Copenhagen would show that the international community can get beyond their individual differences and take common action for the common good of all nations that share this fragile world of ours.
And if we can come together on a solution to an issue as complicated as climate change, think of what else might suddenly seem possible? We might truly begin to create the world that we dream of. We might well find ourselves once again viewing our world as a garden rather than a grave.
We may finally as a human family decide that the ignorance, poverty and oppression faced by so many of our fellow beings can no longer be tolerated. We may finally come to realize that human rights are important not only in the abstract, but in reality… that we are indeed “caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in single garment of destiny.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. was absolutely right when he suggested that “there are some things in our social system to which all of us ought to be maladjusted.” Let the naysayers call us "liberals,"“environmental nuts,” let them call us “tree huggers,” let them call us what they will. Future generations will call us people who did not sit idly by… we were activists in the best sense of the word. Remember that “an activist is not the one who announces the river is dirty. An activist is the one who helps clean it up.” We are beginning to do just that.
Let us make certain that our representatives face the upcoming talks in Copenhagen with a sense of urgency, with a will to actually do the hard work it takes to turn things around while we still can. Let us no longer allow our nation or any nation to recklessly endanger the interdependent web of life by refusing to act responsibly… to recognize that none of us are exempt to the consequences of our actions or inactions.
As Chief Seattle, so eloquently said:
“This we know. The earth does not belong to us; we belong to the earth.
This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are interconnected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of the earth. We did not weave the web of life; we are merely a strand in it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.”
Indeed, the Earth IS our only homeland… an opal strung in space. Let us do all we can to change our destructive ways and treat it with the care it deserves… so that for generations to come it will be a home for us all. We all share this island planet and bear responsibility for not only it, but each other. Not one of us can stand aside separate… no individual, no city, no nation. “Our world truly is one world; what touches one affects us all.” The earth was given to us as a garden; it can be so again if only we have the will to make it so. We can either take the bigger view or not. The choice is ours.
Shalom, Amen, Blessed Be and Aloha
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