OUR PRIMARY IDENTITY MUST BE BROTHER / SISTER.

This simply summarizes all that I've been coming to understand.

Our primary role as healthy, helpful, hopeful, joyful, suffering adults is / must be Brother / Sister. Anything less is failure on any meaningful front.

Your Loving brother, Start

CONFRONT COURTS UNLESS GOD IS ABOVE THE "LAW"

[maybe there will be time to flesh out the following at some future point.]

Among the self murdering errors of even best of the dreadfully self labeled "nonviolent" "peace" movement is the mistaken, unclear notion regarding how it should address itself to the "law."

Here is the correct answer.

1. When Humanity / Love / World-Family / God-the-Father reigns then it may usually be appropriate to address and thereby respect the courts.
2. AS IS THE CASE TODAY when God is nowhere to be found in the US let alone the Courts confronting the Courts / State simply empowers evil, the Idol State, address ourselves directly to the State in any way. We are to address ourselves to our brothers and sisters, including those within the State - but as brothers and sisters - not a State functionaries.

OUR "AGENDA" DOESN'T INCLUDE JAIL TOO OFTEN. P.B.

Must read all of Phil Berrigan at Jonah House. The following is derived from Faith and Justice:

"Most of us play checkers with resistance; we calculate the next move so as to reduce inconvenience or eliminate it altogether from our lives.
We have our own agenda and it doesn't include going to jail too often. We want to say that we were there; we don't want to say how far we went in."
Phil Berrigan

YOU VOTE WITH YOUR FEET... AND LIFE. P. BERRIGAN

Must read all of Phil Berrigan at Jonah House. The following is derived from Dispatches From The Lamb’s War:

"Jesus Christ practiced direct action, as did the Jewish prophets and other nonviolent militants. Even before the American Revolution, colonists resorted to direct action in struggles against injustice. In a capitalist society, there are no other means for representation, redress, or justice. To vote is political window dressing. It makes not the slightest bit of difference. If it did, the American people would soon lose this “right.” The only means for fighting judicial corruption, corporate greed, worker exploitation, police brutality, and militarism is direct action. The Industrial Workers of the World — aka the “Wobblies” — were right: you don’t vote with the ballot, you vote with your feet and with your life."

Phil Berrigan

OURS IS THE EVIL GENERATION. P. BERRIGAN

Must read all of Phil Berrigan at Jonah House. The following is derived from Scapegoating:

"With all my heart, I agree with Gerard that the Gospel alone will destroy scapegoating and needless killing. The Gospel alone offers the truth and strength necessary to disarm and eliminate nuclear terror. But the unknown quantity are Christians and our disbelief.
Luke's Gospel (11:29) speaks of an "evil generation", and ours is certainly that. No sign is allowed this generation except the sign of Jonah the prophet. And that sign is the Cross - the execution, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
Fidelity to that sign will not be easy, but it will not be hard. His yoke is easy, and His burden light. (Mt. 11:30). We are not to be afraid, Just believe. (Mk. 5:36)"

ACCEPTING VIOLENCE WITH LOVE ENDS THE SPREAD

Must read all of Phil Berrigan at Jonah House. The following is derived from Scapegoating:

ACCEPTING VIOLENCE
WITH LOVE
ENDS THE SPREAD

"THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH COULD NOT..." P. BERRIGAN

Must read all of Phil Berrigan at Jonah House. The following is from Scapegoating:

"The early Christian Church could not bear the purity and weight of the true meaning of Jesus' execution. It could not grasp the sheer voluntariness of the Cross, the voluntary love of His choice. And so the belief grew that God sent Jesus to die, that from his conception He was doomed to die, the divine scapegoat. Theology acquired a determinism, even tinges of fatalism. The divine/human mission to restore God's Kingdom began to fade; the Church's unequivocal condemnation of violence and war began to fade. The empire began to absorb Christians, exacting taxes and military service from them."

Phil Berrigan

"STATE IS A PUBLIC... REBELLION AGAINST GOD." PHIL BERRIGAN

MUST READ: FOREWORD AS IS EVERYTHING AT THE JONAH HOUSE SITE by Philip Berrigan.

Some quotations from Phil Berrigan on Law:

• the Bible gave human law ample treatment. 1st Samuel 8th chapter, for example, exposes the State as a public, bureaucratic rebellion against God.
• the law, like the State is inherently flawed and violent -- its function to legalize a rebellious State.
• Paul's Letter to the Galatians -- his most sustained indictment of human law.
• The genesis of the State then, ancient or modern, is rejection of God, rebellion against God. "They have not rejected you [Samuel], they have rejected me as their King." (1 Sam. 8:7)
• As the ruling hierarchy told Pilate: "We have no King but Caesar." (John 19:15)
• Paul equates the law with sin and death -- sin because law has nothing to say to sins of omission, and death because most will draw their morality from the law.
• The morality of most Americans is legalized. To become "law abiding" is to fear the penalties of the law, to become house-broken, domesticated.
• Morality limited by the boundaries of the law is spiritual death.

LEGAL DISSENT IS CONSENT - THOREAU

LEGAL DISSENT IS
CONSENT - THOREAU

How are we to understand this?

• Driving the speed limit is to say that there is not an emergency.

NOBODY'S PEACEMAKING CUZ NOBODY'S PEACEMAKING

• NOBODY'S PEACEMAKING CUZ NOBODY'S PEACEMAKING
• Nobody's liberating Palestine cuz...

Nobody's:

• Stopping use of depleated uranium cuz...
• Ending the starvation of 18,000 children / DAY cuz...
• Rescuing and Restoring Darfur...
• Ending the war in Iraq cuz...

"This is no day
to pay lip service...
we must
pay life service....”
Dr. Martin Luther King,

COMMUNITY DIES WITH FOCUS ON "ME" OR "COMMUNITY" ITSELF

TRUE COMMUNITY / "FAMILY"
ONLY COMES FROM
EMERGENCY SHARED

Do most honest attempts at "community" fail with a misguided notion that they are to focus on helping the "individual" or on fostering "community?" The impossibility and assured destruction of this can be imagined in this way:

Can you drive effectively
and at the same time
watch yourself in the mirror?

As soon as community
is ABOUT the "individual's
growth" or fostering
"community" it is cut
off from its roots and
begins to die.
TRUE COMMUNITY /
"FAMILY" ONLY COMES
FROM EMERGENCY SHARED

WAR OF HUMANITY WILL COST 1000'S OF LIVES

In order to save planet earth it will take a war of mass construction, militant loving, militant humanity whose cost can be measured in 10's of thousands of lives. Or, it is the end of any human history that we could wish for.

ps: This is extremely inexpensive compared with wars of destruction. But it is NOT without cost in lives. 10's of thousands of lives it will cost.

Mine seems to be happily pledged to saving the world.

FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE IS TRUE RELIGION'S FRUIT

FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE,

OF HUMANITY,
IS TRUE RELIGION'S FRUIT.

WHAT FREEDOM
IS IN PRISON?
FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE;
FREEDOM OF HUMANITY...
THE ONLY TRUE FREEDOM.

WHAT FREEDOM IS IN PRISON? CONSCIENCE, FREEDOM OF.

WHAT FREEDOM IS IN PRISON? FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE.

Are you your pulse? Are you your lusts / appetites? Are you your conscience / humanity?

Conscience / Humanity comes closest, right? In which case:

THE ONLY TRUE FREEDOM

IS FREEDOM OF
CONSCIENCE / HUMANITY.

WE RELIGIOUSLY DESTROY

OUR FREEDOM AND

OUR CHILDREN'S FREEDOM

WITH THE CHAINS OF:

"NORMALCY,"
CONVENTION,

"GETTING ALONG,"
BEING "SAFE,"
PATRIOTISM,

"RELIGION..."

"CONSISTANT WITH THE SPIRIT OF JESUS...?"

"Was it constant
with the spirit of Christ,
Martin Luther King,
and Mohandas Gandhi?"
Philip Berrigan

THIS IS THE
ULTIMATE QUESTION
FOR THE
FOLLOWER OF JESUS:

"IS IT CONSISTANT WITH
THE SPIRIT OF JESUS?"

HEREIN LIES THE ERROR
OF THE DOGMATIST;

OF THE "RELIGIOUS;"
THE FUNDAMENTALIST;
THEY UPHOLD "LAWS"
AND TRAMPLE "SPIRIT."

IF YOU KNEW A "POLICE STATE" WAS PLANNED, YOU'D DO WHAT?

IF YOU KNEW A "POLICE STATE" WAS PLANNED, YOU'D DO WHAT?

Millions of folks like you would take to the streets, protecting the future of their children, right?

What if you "suspected:"

1. A "police state" was planned to happen with the next "engineered" 911?


2. The war in Iraq was ALL ABOUT OIL and that 2+ million innocents have been slaughtered there for "oil?"


3. Iran is the next target for US exploitation, plunder, terror and murder?


4. The US elites are totally selling out and stealing the assets and jobs of the US people?


5. The US elites are selling out planet earth / global warming for short term profits?

Phil Berrigan Quotes

1. Nuclear weapons are the scourge of the earth; to mine for them, manufacture them, deploy them, use them, is a curse against God, the human family, and the earth itself.
2. "Peacemaking is not only a central characteristic of the Gospel, peacemaking is the greatest need of the world today. We are the daughters and sons of God, and that means we are called to be peacemakers."
3. "There is no freedom without love."
4. "You are the answer."
5. "Don't get tired."
6. "War on terrorism by the U.S. is impossible. We are the number one terrorist."
7. “We're not made by God to mass kill one another, and that's backed up by the Gospels. Lying and war are always associated. Pay attention to war-makers when they try to defend their current war: if they’re moving their lips they're lying.”
8. Herein lies a riddle. How can a people so gifted by God become so seduced by naked power, so greedy for money, so addicted to violence, so slavish before mediocre and treacherous leadership, so paranoid, deluded, lunatic?
9. "I die with the conviction, held since 1968 and Cantonsville, that nuclear weapons are the scourge of the earth; to mine for them, manufacture them, deploy them, use them, is a curse against God, the human family, and the earth itself."
10. "I die with the conviction, held since 1968 and Cantonsville, that nuclear weapons are the scourge of the earth; to mine for them, manufacture them, deploy them, use them, is a curse against God, the human family, and the earth itself."
11. "War can't end terrorism. War is terrorism."

"WORLD SINKS DEEPER INTO ... PSYCHOSIS..."

"Where does one
look for hope,
as the world sinks deeper
into social psychosis?
To the people alone,
particularly
to people of faith.
In the past,
the people alone
checked the mad ambitions
of the pharaohs."

Phil Berrigan

"CONSCIENCE, THE SOLE CERTAIN GUIDE." Tolstoy

"I WILL ADMIT BUT ONE TYRANT
IN MY LIFE;
THE STILL SMALL VOICE WITHIN."
Tolstoy's Gandhi

WHAT "CIVILIZATION" / "FAMILY" LOOKS LIKE

1. Lives squarely in the midst of the least of these
2. Expert at suffering out of love for the joy of it
3. Teaches / leads their children to do the same as though their children's lives depended on it - because they see that their lives do depend on it
4. Expert at taking and savoring just the R & R that each NEEDS [not more, NOT LESS] for the sole purpose of keeping the level of emergency service at maximum throughout the lifetime. "It is not more vacation we need - it is more vocation." Eleanor Roosevelt. Also from Eleanor: "When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die."
5. Aggressive at recruiting exactly as the best nurse or Dr. in an emergency "recruits" / brings / exhorts / collects / carries... people to health
6. Lives as though Love, Life and Truth are more the essence of Life than Pulse Itself - because they are.

"THE SOLE MEANING OF LIFE IS TO SERVE HUMANITY..."

"THE SOLE MEANING OF LIFE
IS TO SERVE HUMANITY
BY CONTRIBUTING TO
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF
THE KINGDOM OF GOD,
WHICH CAN ONLY BE DONE
BY THE RECOGNITION
AND PROFESSION OF THE TRUTH...."
Gandhi's Tolstoy

"But seek ye first
the Kingdom of God,
and His Righteousness,
and all these things
shall be added unto you."
(Matt 6:33)

"The Kingdom of God
comes not with outward show,
neither shall they say, Lo here!
nor Lo there!
for behold,
the Kingdom of God
is within you."
(Luke 17: 20-20)

HYPOCRISY AND THE HYPNOTIC SUGGESTION THAT RESULTS FROM IT

"HYPOCRISY AND THE HYPNOTIC SUGGESTION THAT RESULTS FROM IT"

Gandhi's Tolstoy

"THE ONLY FREEDOM IS TO RECOGNIZE THE TRUTH..."

"THE ONLY FREEDOM IS TO RECOGNIZE AND PROFESS THE TRUTH."
Gandhi's Tolstoy

"THE ONE DUTY OF LIFE IS TO RECOGNIZE AND PROFESS THE TRUTH."
Gandhi's Tolstoy

"My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God. Non-violence is the means of realising Him."

Gandhi

DELUSION: SUBSTITUTING "HAVING" KINDNESS FOR "BEING" KIND

Our culture addicts us to this type of self-subterfuge so why should I be surprised?

• I have an LA Fitness Membership so I AM STRONG
• I am an American so I must be just and fair
• I am a Christian so I must be good
• I have done a kindness
  (a big one for a moment last week)
  so I AM KIND

Living this self-deception
instead of living the Truth
is all the difference between:
Heaven and Hell;
Nirvana and Police State;
Gandhi and George Bush;
Jesus and the Hypocrites

WE VICTIMS OF EMPIRE DESTROY THE EVIDENCE!

When we are confronted by empire we destroy the evidence. What evidence?
Our compassion. Our sorrow. Our sadness. Our grief.
Our World Familyness.

IT IS THIS EVIDENCE THAT CAN KILL THE HYPOCRISY,
THE BEAST THAT IS MURDERING THE PLANET.

How do we destroy this evidence? In the face of the empire we allow
Anger, Self Righteousness, Animosity, Hatred
to destroy the evidence.

THE MACHINE MAKES THE MAN. IT'S THE ENVIRONMENT STUPID!

On my 4th reading / listening of Tolstoy's "The Kingdom of God is Within You" (last 2 chapters; FREE online) I'm beginning to get it. More later, but for now -

Take anyone playing even a remotely small role in US empire and it's domestic and international exploitation; take anyone of these participants OUT of the machine and they would never sanction the horror. They would even stand against! But from within the machine the machine "is" their "world" and we don't summon the imagination to see beyond. We exist in a hypnotic trance, and it is this that allows us to participate in the destruction of the planet and our 6 billion brothers and sisters.

We must come out of the machine.
The Matrix.

NOT GIVING INNOCENT BLOOD? USELESS AT BEST.

Strategically this may be the most important post on this site: TO KILL THE BEAST (DISCONNECTION) - OFFER IT ENOUGH INNOCENT BLOOD

If it is correct, and it is, AND if we are on the verge of Armageddon in a host of forms, then:

NOT GIVING INNOCENT BLOOD?
USELESS AT BEST.

UNTIL WOULD-BE "SAVIORS" ARE ADMIRED, WE FAIL.

It is not unusual for me
to be told by those
observing my work
that they "admire"
what I am doing.
Unless and until I
live a life that others "envy,"
"greedily envy"
I am of little or no use.

Start Loving

KING AND GANDHI'S CHILDREN "ABUSED." 2 REASONS.

More later. For now:

Both King and Gandhi led lives that placed their "family" under extreme physical risk, deprivation and trauma. Did they bring them into a war zone? Unnecessarily?

1. They found that their bio-children were only part of the "family" of billions;
2. To live less-than-heroic humanity would be to pass on living "death" which although it is the norm, is a fate WORSE THAN CESSATION OF PULSE to the likes of King, Gandhi, Jesus and any and every other Human being that has not been dehumanized by adulthood.

"Freedom is never dear at any price. It is the breath of life. What would a man not pay for living?"
Gandhi

Our values in this society religiously sacrifice, murder the Spirit, Freedom, World-Familiness of our biological children to "save their bodies / lives." King and Gandhi lived the reverse out of love for their "children."
Start Loving

The n0n-fictional movie "Patch Adams" gives us an interesting look at this life choice. The woman Patch loved, when "saved" from the living death of her depression "Lived" just briefly. Her actions upon coming "Alive" killed her.

Give me liberty or give me death. It is time to decide what we really want for our children: Pulse? or Life.

ONLY KINDNESS MATTERS. HURRY.

Click (3min54sec)

"Hands" Jewel

If I could tell the world just one thing
It would be that we're all ok
And not to worry because worry is wasteful
and useless in times like these
I will not be made useless
I won't be idled with despair
I will gather myself around my faith
for light does the darkness most fear
My hands are small, I know,
but they're not yours they are my own
but they're not yours they are my own
and I am never broken
Poverty stole your golden shoes
but it didn't steal your laughter
And heartache came to visit me
but i knew it wasn't ever after
We will fight, not out of spite
for someone must stand up for what's right
cause where there's a man who has no voice
there ours shall go singing
In the end only kindness matters
In the end only kindness matters
I will get down on my knees and I will pray
I will get down on my knees and I will pray
I will get down on my knees and I will pray
My hands are small, I know,
but they're not yours they are my own
but they're not yours they are my own
and I am never broken
My hands are small, i know,
but they're not yours they are my own
but they're not yours they are my own
and I am never broken
We are never broken
We are God's eyes
God's hands
God's mind
We are God's eyes
God's hands
God's heart
We are God's eyes
God's hands
God's eyes
God's hands
We are God's hands
God's hands
We are God's hands

WE USE VIOLENCE CUZ WE'RE TOO DISCONNECTED TO LOVE

This became so accutely clear to me in Jail. See DARFUR VIGIL: INTERRUPTED INDEFINITELY BY JAIL

Why 2 million in jail in the US and rising?

1. Jails require little or nothing from the "elite."
2. The "elite" are so disconnected from the poor that they feel nothing, none of the pain, humiliation, dehumanization, violence, murder....

God help us all.

OUR RELIGION, CAPITALISM IS KILLING THE US, LITERALLY

U.S. life span shorter
August 11, 2007 05:08:02 PM PST

Americans are living longer than ever, but not as long as people in 41 other countries.

For decades, the United States has been slipping in international rankings of life expectancy, as other countries improve health care, nutrition and lifestyles.

Countries that surpass the U.S. include Japan and most of Europe, as well as Jordan, Guam and the Cayman Islands.

"Something's wrong here when one of the richest countries in the world, the one that spends the most on health care, is not able to keep up with other countries," said Dr. Christopher Murray, head of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

A baby born in the United States in 2004 will live an average of 77.9 years. That life expectancy ranks 42nd, down from 11th two decades earlier, according to international numbers provided by the Census Bureau and domestic numbers from the National Center for Health Statistics.

Andorra, a tiny country in the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain, had the longest life expectancy, at 83.5 years, according to the Census Bureau. It was followed by Japan, Macau, San Marino and Singapore.

The shortest life expectancies were clustered in Sub-Saharan Africa, a region that has been hit hard by an epidemic of HIV and AIDS, as well as famine and civil strife. Swaziland has the shortest, at 34.1 years, followed by Zambia, Angola, Liberia and Zimbabwe.

Researchers said several factors have contributed to the United States falling behind other industrialized nations. A major one is that 45 million Americans lack health insurance, while Canada and many European countries have universal health care, they say.

But "it's not as simple as saying we don't have national health insurance," said Sam Harper, an epidemiologist at McGill University in Montreal. "It's not that easy."

Among the other factors:

• Adults in the United States have one of the highest obesity rates in the world. Nearly a third of U.S. adults 20 years and older are obese, while about two-thirds are overweight, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

"The U.S. has the resources that allow people to get fat and lazy," said Paul Terry, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Emory University in Atlanta. "We have the luxury of choosing a bad lifestyle as opposed to having one imposed on us by hard times."

• Racial disparities. Black Americans have an average life expectancy of 73.3 years, five years shorter than white Americans.

Black American males have a life expectancy of 69.8 years, slightly longer than the averages for Iran and Syria and slightly shorter than in Nicaragua and Morocco.

• A relatively high percentage of babies born in the U.S. die before their first birthday, compared with other industrialized nations.

Forty countries, including Cuba, Taiwan and most of Europe had lower infant mortality rates than the U.S. in 2004. The U.S. rate was 6.8 deaths for every 1,000 live births. It was 13.7 for Black Americans, the same as Saudi Arabia.

"It really reflects the social conditions in which African American women grow up and have children," said Dr. Marie C. McCormick, professor of maternal and child health at the Harvard School of Public Health. "We haven't done anything to eliminate those disparities."

Another reason for the U.S. drop in the ranking is that the Census Bureau now tracks life expectancy for a lot more countries — 222 in 2004 — than it did in the 1980s. However, that does not explain why so many countries entered the rankings with longer life expectancies than the United States.

Murray, from the University of Washington, said improved access to health insurance could increase life expectancy. But, he predicted, the U.S. won't move up in the world rankings as long as the health care debate is limited to insurance.

Policymakers also should focus on ways to reduce cancer, heart disease and lung disease, said Murray. He advocates stepped-up efforts to reduce tobacco use, control blood pressure, reduce cholesterol and regulate blood sugar.

"Even if we focused only on those four things, we would go along way toward improving health care in the United States," Murray said. "The starting point is the recognition that the U.S. does not have the best health care system. There are still an awful lot of people who think it does."