Category Archives: Politics

Asia, Politics

The Chinese People Need To Be Controlled

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Spring             Waning Seed Moon

Back from Wishes for the Sky where I helped visitors read scrolls written in a callipgraphic English that looks, at first glance, like Chinese.  There were some ahas, some head scratching.  One guy, when told that organizers said Chinese had the most trouble with reading the scripts laughed and said, “I must be part Chinese.”

The Mississippi river was high, but the Harriet Park Pavilion, in which the inside part of the event took place, had several disconcerting marks on the wall, labled with high flood marks for various years, most of them well above my head.

I had a chance to have nice chat several folks Scott Simpson, a guy he knows who plays Native American flute and Ming Jen, one of the organizers of the event.  When asked about Jackie Chan’s statement reported in the press  yesterday, “The Chinese people need to be controlled,” Ming Jen surprised me by agreeing with him.

Her rationale surprised me and made me humble once again about my ability to sense things from within a particular cultural perspective other than my own.  She voiced a concern Jackie Chan had, too, saying that Chinese people were individualistic enough.  With as many people as their are in China and the economic unrest created by economic freedom she feared more freedom would create potentially chaotic situations.  Besides, she pointed out, during the Han and T’ang dynasties, the controlling government was feudal in nature and highly centralized, but poetry and the art flourished.

China’s culture has a patriarchal and dynastic tradition stretching back literally thousands of years.  Democracy does not necessarily fit well within that tradition and, she implied, is not necessary for the Chinese people to flourish.

Another aspect of this, I realized while we were talking, was the experience of Chinese culture between dynasties, usually following, as Ming Jen pointed out, weak emperors.  Those time periods were chaotic, violent and the people suffered.

Always pays to ask someone from within the culture for their point of view.

Politics

60’s Ritual Taken Up By Gun Rights Crowd

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Spring            Waning Seed Moon

OMG   The Tea Party at the Capitol.   Don’t know about you but watching so-called patriots straight arming their fists in the sky like the Black Panthers and the protesters at the Mexico Olympics created cognitive dissonance.  A speaker at the rally said, “Do we love our country or what?” then raised her fist high above her head.  The crowd roared.

Personally, I choose “…or what.” in this context.  If love of country demands pulling back from rescuing the economy, taking care of the needs of fellow citizens and killing foreigners, then we have become not a country but a caricature of a country.

We have had 8 years of this kind of chuckle headed, shut the brain off and leave me alone with my righteousness blather.  Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice, Wolfowitz, Pearl and other political refugees now await the judgment of history and it will not be kind.

The morphing of political symbols is not new, of course.  The V finger peace sign beloved of my generation had its origin in the V for victory of Winston Churchill in WWII.  This appropriation of the rally style, signboards and pumped fists in the air by the right is not so much blasphemy as it is culture at work absorbing, adapting.

Still, those of us marched and fought the Vietnam War and participated in the struggles for civil rights can be forgiven a twitch of the heart when seeing flag draped anti-socialists holding placards and chanting with their fingers closed in a fist above their head.  Just doesn’t seem, well, you know…right.

Aging, Art and Culture, Commentary on Religion, Faith and Spirituality, Great Work, Politics, Writing

This Is The Question I Face Now. One I Have Not Answered.

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Spring            Waning Seed Moon

Agency.  There’s been a lot written in psychology and history about agency.  We have agency when we can affect the flow of events in our own lives or in the world around us. (No, I’m not going to get into the subtle no-free-will arguments floating around.)  A lot of the historical work has concerned how those without agency–say women, slaves, workers–get it or why they don’t have it.  In the case of the individual agency refers to our capacity to direct our own life.

A sense of agency underwrites our sense of self, or our sense of group identity.  Note that our agency or our group’s agency can be positive or negative.  A more negative sense of agency, that is, sensing that others or factors outside your control influence your life or your group, leads to a feeling of diminished capacity or is a feeling of diminished capacity.  A positive sense of agency promotes a feeling of active and successful engagement with the world, the ability to act in ways congruent with your self-interest or your group’s self-interest.

Here’s where I’m going with this.  In my regression back into the ministry after 8 or so years out I made the move because my writing career had not produced the hoped for results.  I had lost a sense of agency in the work area of my life and moved backwards on my psychological journey to retrieve it.  Going backwards to pick up something left behind is a key element of regression.  Its flaw lies in a return to a previous reality no longer relevant.  The ministy was what I had done, a minister what I had been.  The experience of return to the ministry produced missteps and a low level of energy for the actual work.

Now, about ten  years later,  once again I have reached back into my past, this time even further, to retrieve a sense of agency, the ur-agency, for me, the political.  This is the work with the Sierra Club. (hmmm.  just realized I did the same thing two years back when I studied Paul Tillich.  That was a return to life as a student, a potent form of agency for me.)

What the work with the Sierra Club, the study of Tillich and the ministry have in common is an attempt to regain a positive sense of self through a form of agency already well-established and presumably easily recaptured.  None of these activities in themselves is a bad thing, but that is the lure, the  seductive call of regression.

Back there, if only I could go back in time, and become the captain of the football team again.  Prom queen.  College radio jockey.  The actor I became after college.  My successful years as a bond trader or nurse or carpenter.  Back there I was strong, able.  I had a way with the world, a position of respect and self-confidence. Continue reading This Is The Question I Face Now. One I Have Not Answered. →

Great Work, Politics, Weather +Climate

High Temps and Legislative Sausage

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Spring               Waning Seed Moon

The weather has a run of above average high temperatures, 9-10 degrees warmer through Friday.   Saturday, according to NOAA the temperatures will fall back to average at a 58 predicted high.

Those of us who garden also watch the lows closely at this time of year and we will be well above freezing for the remainder of the week.  There is a chance for below freezing temperatures on Sunday night (30).

We have no rain in the forecast until Saturday and Sunday, then only a chance of showers.  We need moisture, according to the Star-Tribune this morning this was our 10th dry day in a row.  Those of us with irrigation systems have not started them.

Thanks to the wonders of cyberspace I’m writing this and listening to the House Finance Committee hearing that will take up the omnibus environment bill.  I just listened to the House Ways and Means Committee pass the House version of the omnibus energy bill.  Right now the parents of the missing St. Thomas student speak before the Finance Committee because of a quick bill put together by compassionate conservative Marty Siefert.

Great Work, Politics

A Good Lesson In Humility

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Spring           Waxing Seed Moon

I’ve been working with the Sierra Club for a while now and I’m constantly amazed at how much more these folks know about politics than I do.  I’ve begun to realize that I never shepherded legislation though the legislative process or worked on the ground in a modern political campaign.  I’m a rabble rouser, an agitator, a motivator and an organizer, but political process has never been my strength.  And all along I thought it was.

So the uphill curve has found me panting along behind, running hard to keep up.  At times, like tonight, I’ve felt out of my depth, just not up to the task.  In fact I’ve taken the risk, jumped in and tried to stay afloat.  I’ve not got the total package going on as yet, but I can get there.  A good lesson in humility.

Tonight will be the last night of meds, the penicillin will run out Friday at noon and I believe the infection will be on its last legs, even if they could take awhile to go down.  Yeah.

Lunch tomorrow with Bill Schmidt, talking nuclear power.

Great Work, Health, Politics

They’ll Need a Resurrection. But, They Won’t Get One.

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Spring         Waxing Seed Moon

For the first time since last Thursday, I feel like working out.  When I tried before, each step on the treadmill transmitted up to and resonated in my jaw.  I no longer look like a chipmunk although I can tell the infection is still there, though now it is like a folded section of cloth about 8 inches long as opposed to the walnuts in the cheek look of before.

The pain has throttled way back, too.  I hadn’t popped any Alleve today at all until about a half an hour ago, but I decided that before I went back on the treadmill I wanted a little cushion.

All this is because we went after the infection in the first place so this was the hard part of getting to a healthier state.  I look forward to that moment, though I’ve appreciated the intimacy with my bodies defenses that I’ve had over the last four days.   When my body and the penicillin worked hard on the infected bone, it took my attention away from the outer world.  I got sleepy and in fact slept a lot.  My energy level was low so I laid around, not exerting myself much.  It’s good to know my bodies still enough punch to fight back hard.  Even if it means some discomfort.

My thinking has been a little fuzzy too so if there’s anything strange in the last few posts chalk up to distraction by infection.

The legislature will go away on Easter break and will come back needing a resurrection.  They won’t get one.  The budget deficit will not go away and all the federal stimulus dollars don’t patch the holes in our revenue stream versus our expenses.  Something has to be done and the legislature and the governor are the ones we elected to do it.

The outlook for significant environmental legislation has gotten mushed up in all this fiscal dithering, but I think we’ll still see some important bills:  green jobs, sensible communities, maybe something on clean cars and atv’s.  It ain’t over till its over and that date is in May, not April.

Memories, Politics

More on Newspapers

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“Gardening is an active participation in the deepest mysteries of the universe.”  Thomas Berry

I knew there was some reason I liked gardening.

My father edited a small-town daily for a long time.  It, like many of its kind, disappeared after the Canadian newsprint crisis in the early 1970’s.  I know what it means to lose a newspaper, for the jobs associated with it to leave town.

Citizens have much less information about government and business, the particular governments and businesses that affect their daily lives.  This lack of information makes democracy much more difficult.  It allows those who would abuse and misuse the public trust less likely to get caught.

I’m for any form of organization that meets the challenge, though I have reservations about L3C status, not for the Strib, but for the probability of its misuse.

I’d jettison the presses and the rolls of newsprint, phase out the circulation staff and go strictly online.  I’d charge for this service in a way that reflected those saved costs.

Disintermediation is only a problem if you’re not taking advantage of it yourself.

Great Work, Politics, Weather +Climate

Wonky Politics

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Spring              Waxing Seed Moon

Kate left home to visit a snow storm.  4-6 inches falls in Denver right now.  Tomorrow will be a good day for a ski oriented family to have a birthday.

Though the southern part of the state has blizzard warnings, we look mild here.  Saturday does not look quite as good as I thought it would for outdoor work.

I popped two alleve and the throbbing went down toward manageable levels.  A vicodin will get me to sleep.  Bearable now.

A week plus of little commitments stretches out ahead of me, so I plan to school myself on Sierra Club issues, especially safe mining and building sensible communities.  Environmental politics has a wonky aspect once you get past tree-spiking and waving signs.  A lot of science and complex theory behind much of the work makes even entry level understanding a challenge.

How have I continued to work without a detailed knowledge of the issues?  Well, two things.  One, I have a good, broad grasp of the issues, just not a detailed one.  Second, the politics have been what interested me initially and politics I understand.   The Sierra Club folks understand the legislative process much better than I do, but in politics I’m a quick study and I was not as far behind in understanding as I was on the issues.

Politics

The Heartless Bastards.

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Spring           Waning Moon of Winds

Think elections don’t make a difference?  That votes don’t count?

Consider the hanging chads in Florida and the Supreme Court in 2000 that gave the Presidency to the man who lost the popular vote.  Then recall last November when the people voted and voted and voted, in the end choosing Barack Obama.  If he were not in office, I can guarantee you would not have read the following article.

Then consider the following that appeared on a Yahoo news article:

“Insurers offer to stop charging sick people more
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press Writer Ricardo Alonso-zaldivar, Associated Press Writer – 12 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The health insurance industry offered Tuesday for the first time to curb its controversial practice of charging higher premiums to people with a history of medical problems. The offer from America’s Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association is a potentially significant shift in the debate over reforming the nation’s health care system to rein in costs and cover an estimated 48 million uninsured people. It was contained in a letter to key senators…

Insurers are trying to head off the creation of a government insurance plan that would compete with them, something that liberals and many Democrats are pressing for. To try to win political support, the industry has already made a number of concessions. Last year, for example, insurers offered to end the practice of denying coverage to sick people. They also said they would support a national goal of restraining cost increases.”

The heartless bastards.  Offering to stop doing what no moral or decent person would have entertained in the first place.

Reminds me of, oh let me see, executives at AIG who drove the company into the ground then wanted the taxpayers to give them bonuses for doing it.

Politics

Michele, My Belle (& Unfortunately, My Congresswoman)

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Gosh, gee whiz.  What can you say?  Michele opens her mouth and engages Rush Limbaugh’s brain.  Our gerrymandered district has kept her in office.  The new districts can’t come soon enough for me.

“Bachmann urges “armed” revolt over climate plan

Rep. Michele Bachmann, the firebrand Minnesota conservative Republican, may have gone a bit over the rhetorical line last weekend when attacking the Obama administration’s cap-and-trade proposal.

Speaking on a right-wing talk radio show in Minnesota on Saturday, Bachmann said:

“I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back. Thomas Jefferson told us ‘having a revolution every now and then is a good thing,’ and the people – we the people – are going to have to fight back hard if we’re not going to lose our country. And I think this has the potential of changing the dynamic of freedom forever in the United States.””

http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0309/Bachmann_urges_armed_revolt_over_climate_plan.html