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Violence

4/21/2016

Violence (or How to Make the World a More Peaceful Place)
by Allan

Most people, if asked, would say they are into nonviolence but would say something needs to be done about whole list of things they would like the government to do. Are they aware that all the things they want the government to do costs money and they have to get that money somewhere? Maybe some do, but not many. So this is a contradiction because government uses force to get the money (in the form of taxes) to do things that only some people think need to be done. With this basic belief that taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society when in reality a civilized society would not take money (taxes) from us by force. So violence creates more violence.

The American Empire, with the military industrial complex, thinks it’s just fine to use Violence (yes kill people) anywhere in the world. What to do about this horrible situation? Peace starts at home with each individual. Pay as little tax dollars as legally possible. Visit the Thrive Movement website to learn about some other ideas.

How do we change this?  First we need to understand what’s happening and set a course to a Non-violent Future. A Voluntary Civil Society only needs two laws, I believe. Do all you have agreed to do, which is the foundation of contract law. And do not encroach on other people or their property, which is the basis of tort law and some criminal law.

I know, I know, it’s too idealistic. But evolution starts in small nooks and crannies all over the world.   We can start with ourselves. I think we are all Ignorant in one way or another. I have boiled down what I think is going on in the world gone mad: ignorance, fear, violence and lack of freedom.

How about a Vegan Corporation and non-profit? Maybe even a church with businesses and values used to create a better world for the share holders and everyone else involved, of course, with the illusion of security. I say “illusion” because there is no true security, but we can have what feels like security in the now. Some of what we need are vegan idealists with accounting, lawyering skills and a whole bunch of good ideas because maybe one out ten businesses will be successful businesses.

Remember: as Buckminster Fuller said: You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.

Peace, Love and Monkey Business.

A.J.

I LOVE LIVE FOOD BECAUSE LIVE FOOD LOVES ME BACK .

Just imagine a future better than the present. You begin to love every minute of it. You become part of the solution and see that your life and energies are worthwhile and making a difference. How fortunate we all are to be living in these times.

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Clinton Lies & Other Political Statements

4/16/2016

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By Willow

I don’t often like to post about politics; it’s such a mess and mired in so much that it’s often ridiculous to even address the topic - sort of like trying to unravel a giant ball of string.

BUT, recently I was reading “Clinton Cash” about all the money going into the Clinton family coffers. I was also reading “Trickle Up Poverty” which I already wrote about in a previous blog.

However, “Clinton Cash” and the current political primaries and other presidential race gobbledy-gook [which I pay little attention to, but unless one is dead, one hears about stuff anyway], along with the fact that too many people surrounding me are actually VOTING for Bernie Sanders. What?

As a feminist, I am pleased, on one hand, that a woman is running for president of the U.S. It’s about time. I think women can do many of the same things men can do; I detest the conversation about ‘women vs. men’ that continues to this day. It is well known that the overlap between what women and men can do is large; except for producing sperm, giving birth, having different genitals, and a few other minor things, women and men are very similar. We can both engage in critical thinking and reasoning, we can handle small and large problems and issues. We can both do many things, although it seems that the divisions of ‘housework’ and outside work still occur to a large degree with women in heterosexual couplings still doing the majority of ‘housework’ detail.

Anyway, the point is, this divisiveness of women vs. men has gone on far too long; the facts are in and they are that both sexes are capable of many of the same things. The conversation ought to switch from the differences between the sexes to the similarities; yet that doesn’t seem to be part of the U.S. conversation just yet. We’re still mostly mired in the ‘us vs. them’ mentality. So, I say ‘yay!’ that a woman is running for president of the United States. Women are running other countries; I don’t know how well, but they are. So, it’s about time.

However, while I think it’s great a woman is running for president, I DO NOT in any way shape or form endorse Hilary Clinton. She is as good as the boys when it comes to lying, cheating, stealing, political maneuvering, furthering her own personal and political agendas, etc. etc. Thus, she IS just as ‘good’ at the political game as any guy in power. And, that’s my point. I think it is a real shame that feminists are backing Hilary JUST BECAUSE she is a woman, and don’t consider her history, all of the investigations into her and her husband’s shenanigans, the likelihood that she has done MANY illegal activities, and all the rest make her such a poor candidate. I think it is so unfortunate that some people, especially feminists and some women (and maybe even some men; I don’t really know since I’m not paying THAT close attention to the media pundits) are telling people to vote for Hilary BECAUSE she is a woman (note the recent backtracking of Gloria Steinem, who was advocating for Bernie and then had to eat her words later...sigh...what an idiotic 'conversation').

We need to get away from this single issue, single focus on ‘gender’ or ‘skin color’ or whatever and look at the holistic picture of what a person’s livelihood has shown them to be: in this case Hilary ranks right up there with the good ol’ boys in the power, authority, and furthering her own political games. Do NOT make the mistake of voting for Hilary just because she is a woman. That is a fallacy of the highest order, that someone’s sex is the most important factor in a political race!

On a slightly different note, I wholeheartedly agree with Richard Maybury who said something to the effect that ‘anyone who runs for president or wants to be president has some form of pathology’ (or, is crazy, to the rest of us). Who in their right mind could be the ‘head of state’ in this crazy, messed up version of the United States? The number of governmental agencies alone has increased exponentially since 9/11. The decisions and minions surrounding the president are just unbelievable. I don’t think anyone is in their ‘right mind’ who supposes they can run a country like the U.S. [and, of course, that concept could be debated, I know] or is someone who can be counted on to run a country. I have seen over and over again the speeches that promise this and that, only to see the person take office and switch their positions 180 degrees. It seems to me that most people who run for political office are doing it for personal reasons: power, authority, promoting their own personal or political agendas, money mongering, etc. The idea of representation of the people is pretty much a null and void aspect of legislators. I can’t recall a legislator in my area in the past 30+ years who represented me... Can you think of someone who has? And, forget even upholding the constitution of the United States, which they swore to do when they took office.

Bernie Sanders - what? I don’t get why people are voting for him. We know that socialism doesn’t work; we have plenty of evidence from other countries and historical evidence that has shown time and again that socialism doesn’t work and isn’t beneficial to the majority of the populace. For whatever reason, people seem to be drawn to Sanders; I don’t devote enough of my time or energy to the political debates [formal and informal] to understand the draw to Bernie, but I fully and wholeheartedly believe that Bernie, nor just about anyone else who is running for president, will be our savior.

I urge you: rather than listening and being swayed by the verbiage, look at what people have actually done in their political or professional history. Look behind the veiled curtain, which is veiled for a reason! Far too often, people vote for a candidate for emotional reasons, or because their friend did. Don’t be the lemming who falls over the cliff because your friend did! Take some time to dig a little and really get behind the scenes of the political theater to see what happened in a person’s past. What is Bernie’s agenda? Look at his history and you’ll get a little sense of it... Don’t be fooled by the political swaggering (“When I’m president, I’ll make sure there’s a chicken in every pot!”).

Or... Don’t vote at all; that’s another option. There could well be moral and ethical reasons not to vote; you could take that into consideration, as well...

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Violence

Clinton Lies & Other Political Statements

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