MOON IS RISING

Father Moon out of the hospital on Jeju Island

• My talk in Hood River was well received last night. I've been here three times over the years so I've come to know a few of the people a bit. The host groups were the Columbia River Fellowship for Peace and Occupy the Gorge so it was a nice mix of older activists and some young folks. Many good questions and what like happens so often, I had to stop things at 9:00 pm because I start running out of gas. I was feeling a bit sick last night but my host Linda Short fixed me up with medicinal teas and such and by this morning I felt much better. I also got to sleep late which is a rare treat. Usually I am up around 6:00 am getting ready to make my next travel connection.
• Today I have until 1:00 pm to just relax. I will be given a ride into Portland where I speak tonight at the First Unitarian Church. My hosts there have kindly decided to put me into a hotel for the next two nights which is most appreciated. Sometimes on a long trip like this it is nice to have some alone time.
• People in Hood River are quite frustrated with the growth of the local drone manufacturing operation since Boeing bought it. A retired Navy guy (double dipper) has been brought in to run the show. He was a middle man while in the Navy - one of those guys who works as liaison with the military industrial complex and then goes to work for same after "retirement". I saw one newspaper story that exclaimed the joys of weapons production by saying, "Now our local economy is not reliant only on agriculture and tourism" as if there had been something wrong with that in the past.
• The first question I get practically every time I speak is "What can we do?" I have many answers, depending on my mood and what I've already talked about, but one answer I often give is that we all need to take a trip to the Wizard of Oz and get some more courage and determination. As we face the coming economic and civil liberties clampdown we will surely be tested. I tell people that this is why learning from and supporting folks on Jeju Island, South Korea is so important. Activists there have been dealing with fascism for a long time - they know what it smells like, what it tastes like, and they know how to react to it. We all can learn alot from them.