THIS IS WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT.....

• I just brought in a bunch of wood as we expect to have a snowstorm tomorrow with 4-6 inches worth.  I love doing the wood - it's sunny now and cold outside.  A beautiful day really.  I try to make bringing in the wood my daily mantra.  Staying focused on that moment, each piece of wood, let the worldly worries pass through my mind and out.  Thanking the great spirit for each breath, each day, and each gift.

• I love this art work above that I found on a Korean friend's Facebook page.  Really tells the story of the two worlds.  The natural world that indigenous people understand and nurture.  Then the world of capitalism that is all about destruction, consumption, and creating things we don't really need.  And with that life comes the spiritual disconnection from the real things in life.  No wonder huge portions of North Americans are taking anti-depressant meds.  We have to talk to each other more about these two worlds - that is part of the process of change.  Create a new consciousness.  We have to think it and live it if we really want to survive on mothership Earth.

• I did an hour radio talk show out of Vermont this morning with Joseph Gainza who does a weekly peace show.  He's had me on several times and he is good about making the connections between militarism and so many other issues like austerity cuts, environmental degradation, corporate control of government and more.  Quite a few people called in.  One guy talked about his deep frustration with the decision that F-35 fighter planes will quite possibly be using Vermont's largest city (Burlington) as an airfield.  (Even their Socialist US Sen. Bernie Sanders supports the plan.) I told the story about the 80-year old woman in Ireland now in jail for going out to Shannon airport and blocking the runways. They did this because the Pentagon uses Shannon as a leap-frog base for US military planes going to Africa, Middle East and Central Asia.  How can peaceniks in other countries go to jail opposing US warplanes but activists here not do the same I asked the radio audience?

• I also told the radio audience this morning that I went to a Tar Sands protest yesterday afternoon in nearby Brunswick.  There was a good crowd standing in the middle of town and my sign read: Pentagon has the largest carbon boot print on Mother Earth.  Many environmentalists don't want to talk about that fact.  They want to avoid the military issue because they feel like they have good 'rapport' with elected Democrats.  Connecting these unpleasant dots might alienate their good relationship and prevent the Democrats from stopping tar sands and doing more about our worsening environment and the coming reality of climate change.  But we were on the street yesterday because Obama is now characteristically caving on the Tar Sands issue.  The Dems aren't going to stand up to Obama on this in any meaningful way so what is there really to lose by telling the truth?

• One caller this morning said "yeah activism is nice but we need to put our attention to alternative energy" instead.  What she was really saying is 'don't waste your time protesting and complaining about the military budget' that now consumes 60% of every federal discretionary tax dollar.  My response to her was, "You are right.  We need alternative energy like rail, solar, wind, and more but where is the money going to come from to build this in a serious way across the country?  Corporations are moving production overseas for cheaper labor.  The domestic investment has to come from the federal government, with our tax dollars, and the money is presently buried in the golden chest called the Pentagon."  

• I repeated the words of abolitionist Frederick Douglas who said, "Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will."  So what is our demand?  And how strongly are we willing to make it - like a sheep or a lion? Think about the future generations before you answer that question....