Day of Departure
Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the great island of Nantucket! My best to you and yours on this frigid start to the day here in little Osterville, a humble looking town, although extremely wealthy, nestled at the foot of Hyannisport, Camelot to me, as it yearns back to days before I was born, where politics seemed to be less of the machine that drove this country, and money was not the end all be all of our society. “Ask not what your country can do for you (this is for you U.S. and foreign corporations, now that you are people! see Citizens United Supreme Court case ‘09), but what you can do for your country.” The sun has risen over that tiny village of Barnstable, the original town, other than Provincetown, of Cape Cod, and it looks as if all is clear on the horizon. The same cannot be said for what is transpiring in Cairo right NOW. Thus far, there have been 43 attacks on foreign journalists in Egypt. Joe Scarborough, one of the hosts of “Morning Joe”, only on MSNBC, was laughing, only a few moments, ago regarding this issue, happening at the six o’clock hour, with his co-host Mika Brzezinski fiercely whispering, “I’m not going there and neither are you.” Well done Mika, and Joe, it’s really easy to play Monday morning quarterback and have some jokes at the expense of your fellow journalists, but hey, really, what gives? Do you really think it was funny when you said, “Gee I hope Katie (Katie Couric of CBS NEWS) is alright“, laughing under your breath and saying it with a big smirk on your face? Is that really funny Joe? Is it? Why don’t you take your show over to Egypt and get roughed up yourself, see if that experience changes your tune. You have sunk, hopefully for only a moment, to the level of Rush Limbaugh, who said yesterday this little gem–speaking of the pro-Mubarak goon squads who have been tactically deployed by Mubarak’s “special police force” to crack down on foreign journalists, taking their equipment, kidnapping them, beating them, stabbing them, and threatening beheading–yes, Rush, in his true state of being, yesterday said this, and I am not paraphrasing here, “What are we supposed to think of this, these attacks on journalists, are we supposed to be mad? Are we supposed to be happy, you know, like what are we supposed to say, like, na na na na boo boo,” abruptly stopping his insanity at that juncture of ego over exposure, perhaps frightening even himself. Graeme Wood, from “The Atlantic”, told us a scary story where they were driving through the various checkpoints that have arisen out of the violence, where vigilante groups are checking cars, initially allowing journalists to run free from place to place, changing yesterday for the worse, when he told us of his carjack experience–after crossing several check points, with no problems, and, upon reaching another, he and his cameraman were suddenly taken hostage by two men who forced out the original drivers and took control of the car, speeding them off to an unknown destination, whereupon they were forced out of the car and into a group of ten to fifteen armed men who told them they were about to die. The camera man who was a veteran reporter and had been in war time situations, sought out an elderly “silver haired” gentleman, a member of the armed group, whom he hugged and kissed on the cheek, and pleaded with him to understand that they meant NO HARM and were only journalists covering this horrible event. The man somehow understood and as tempers simmered, the two journalists were set free, although they were still chased and barely got out with their lives. Laura Logan, a correspondent for CBS NEWS, was kidnapped herself and it is not clear as to her condition at this juncture, she was reportedly detained by members of this “special police force”, part of Mubarak’s dictatorship, and I’m sure it was a harrowing affair. God’s speed Laura. Limbaugh, after his nasty, mean spirited words concerning his fellow citizens, let alone his fellow “reporters”, although that clown is clearly nothing but a bag of hot, diseased air, polluting the airwaves with hate, violence, fear and paranoia, something he is CLEARLY an expert on, changed his tune, when he learned that some of the reporters from FOX NEWS had also been detained, beaten and their equipment confiscated. What an assh@le! With some of the surrounding countries in that region, such as Israel, now siding on Mubarak’s behalf, and the Obama administration with it’s hands literally tied behind it’s back, although that is not really true, for the RIGHT thing is always the hardest thing, seemingly, to do, the next step in this ongoing saga of monumental proportions is foggy at best. The frightening FACT is this however, our stance on dictators here in the good ‘ole USA seems to be one of convenience. For it was true that Saddam Hussein gassed his own people, but is it not equally true that we are witnessing a brutal defense of a regime by a dishonest dictator who is HATED by his own people, with rampant torture, secret prisons, previously used by the U.S., and now a bloody attack on an otherwise peaceful demonstration, where only 48 hours ago, grandma’s were seen kissing soldiers next to their tanks covered with flowers? When do we, as a nation, take a stand, put our money where our MOUTHS are, and “man up”, by standing behind the building block principals that THIS nation, the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, was founded on–a nation, “Of the people, by the people and FOR THE PEOPLE.”–and stop propping up corrupt dictators, presidents and prime ministers all over the world? When? We need to understand that when listening to crazies out there like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and FOX NEWS, who now broadcast statements like, “the President made a big gaffe in calling for Democracy, James Madison is not walking around Egypt with a musket,” yes, we need to understand that when our ears take in that incessant NOISE and filters it through our brain’s, our core BEING must KNOW that is just that NOISE, meaning NOTHING, thus, coming to nothing, and quickly letting it go, never to “re-think” it again. For we are listening to sad, pathetic hate and fear mongers, who clearly have a different agenda than that of any sane, common or uncommon man, who only yearns for peace and a decent free and fair way to make a living for his or her family. Again, I still can’t believe I witnessed Joe Scarborough, early this morning, when Mika was talking about Laura Logan of CBS NEWS, blurting out, in a sarcastic manner, with a big grimace on his face, “Is Katie (Katie Couric, anchor of CBS EVENING NEWS) OK?” Say it ‘ain’t so Joe, say it ‘ain’t so. The question that should be asked is “why is this happening to all of these journalists?” WHY? Because it was planned, it is a strategic attack on western truth seekers, namely journalists, who are seen as pro-democracy, and why not, they are the peaceful ones after all, and journalists are only human. The current government is using violence as a means to wear down the protesters, mostly young and very poor, and eventually crush them, as the President of the United States slips into that tough spot of being between a rock and a hard place. The bigger picture of the basic fragile peace in the region is much more tenuous than any of us here in the United States can possibly fathom, as evidenced in the tragic illegal war waged in Iraq, and we are in no position to start throwing around our “opinion” as to what the region as a whole should or should not do. But to have a former assistant to the Secretary of Defense to run his big, fat mouth off calling the President’s top cabinet members part of the “Muslim Brotherhood”, is over to top, strike that, damaging, immature and venomous, another example of the real agenda of the right wing in this country, taking any situation and tearing at the very fabric of this nation, a nation that is hurting as well, as corporate profits continue to rise, just so long as that Suez canal stays open and we can all go back to “business as usual”. If you witnessed on television the flying police van, pedal to the metal, aiming directly at innocent protesters on the bridge overlooking Tahrir Square, bodies flying up in the air, after being struck by a vehicle traveling at 60-70 m.p.h., you would have no doubt as to what is really going on. A shocking sight. This past 48 hours has devolved from a still shot of a grandma kissing a soldier, next to a tank adorned with flowers, to another still shot of the fires in Tahrir Square late last night, as the men with homemade shields and bloody faces stride forward with their arms cocked back to fire the stone that is in their collective hands. A scene right out of the first century A.D. The second in command at the state run television station in Egypt quit yesterday and gave this statement, “I wanted to stop being a part of the PROPAGANDA machine. I feel liberated and I am on the side of the people.” FOX NEWS? Anyone? Bueller, anyone? anyone? “Who’s with me? Who’s with me and flipper here?” (credit Tom Cruise and the classic film, “Jerry McGuire”) Alas, my poor friends at FOX NEWS, you still believe in “divide and conquer”, the polar opposite of LOVE, that speaks of INCLUSION, not exclusion, pitting the force of the collective ego against the natural instincts of the human being, designed around the TRUTH of who and what we really are, at our deepest core, JOY, LOVE and PEACE. If ya’ll don’t live in peace, how can you be expected to give it, let alone receive it? That is why you are forgiven. Agape baby. That JOY, PEACE AND LOVE is the part of GOD that we all ARE. Perhaps the most profound quote I heard in the past 48 hours is this statement coming from one of the pro-democracy protesters, “We want a better life for our children, and if it means that we must lay down our lives for that cause, then so be it.” With Glenn Beck ’scaring the straights’ with his boogie man ‘caliphate’ conspiracy theory (won’t it be fun to see Glenn Beck in his later years, and walking up to him and saying, “what were you thinking about brother?”), where the Islamists are poised to come under one umbrella of terror and rage, fire and brimstone, as they take over Europe and side with the, let me see if I have this straight, “the Uber left”, yes, I think that’s it, and then ultimately partnering with China to “take over the world”– crying out in an insane rant, “the end is nigh, the sky is falling and it’s all the fault of those tree hugging liberal communist bastards and you know what we are going to do…?” What Glenn? You know what we should do with you? Put you in a straight jacket and send you to someplace where you can’t pollute any other impressionable minds. Yes, as this is all happening, his buddy over at the other ‘pollution show’ on FOX, one of many, Sean Hannity’s ‘whatever’ is interviewing a true clown, from the very sketchy company, firm or whatever called the “Center for Security Policy” ?, namely Frank Gaffney, a former assistant to the Secretary of Defense, who said these words, verbatim, “The Obama administration policies are being reviewed through and actually articulated, and now implemented, through influence operations that the Muslim Brotherhood is running in our own country.” I rest my case. So the big lie that the “right” wingnuts in this country are feeding their flock is this–an obscure and other wise peaceful group, the Muslim Brotherhood, NOT Al QAEDA, and only representing 20 percent of the Egyptian political population, is actually PART of the Obama administration and went so far as to name names, and I quote the fine former government employee, (Let the Witch hunt begin! “Burn her she’s a witch! How do you know? She turned me into a ‘Newt’…I got better.” credit: Monty Python’s Flying Circus and one of their films, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail“) and ACTION! “John Brennan is the Homeland Security Advisor for the President of the United States, he’s absolutely daft on what the nature of the threat is and is insistent upon using the Brotherhood front organizations as sources of information and as vehicles for reaching out to the Muslim community. Jim Clapper, the Director of the National Intelligence Agency has said that these sorts of groups are “sources of wisdom” as he puts it to the United States government. Janet Napolitano Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security is insisting meeting with Muslim Brotherhood front organizations and I think has in the past, if not today, employed people who are associated with them.” Say it with me everybody, “what an assh@le!” As Rachel Maddow put it on her show last night, “So the Director of the National Intelligence agency, the Homeland Security Advisor and, of course, El Janet El Napolitano, are all Muslim Brotherhood, you know.” FLASH to a 30’s, or 40’s film, I think, called “The Manchurian Candidate”, and ACTION! “I have here, the list of the names of over 207 persons, who are known by the Secretary of Defense, to be members of the communist party!” and cut, print, wrap. “You got me mein fuhrer! I’m a communist, socialist intellectual, conservationist, naturalist photographer who just happens to write. I am also an animal and HUMAN rights activist, who just happens to believe in the sanctity of human LIFE! To fight to preserve it, not denigrate it, or de-humanize it, through the use of flagrant fear mongering designed to whip the masses into their “place”. A place devoid of basic human rights, a real living wage, and the freedom to express themselves in any way they see fit, just so long as it does not trample on the rights of other living, non financial, human BEINGS. Basic human rights afforded by a much higher authority than you, afforded to all mankind, be they black, white, brown, yellow, or any other color under the rainbow. I am and so are you. The freedom from which you speak of so often, is not freedom at all, but slavery to a corporate mandate that has spun out of control. People enslaved in a corrupt global corporate system controlled by warped ego’s that have become monstrous in their ability to destroy our environment, our animal kingdom and most importantly the people that make up this wonderful world we all share. To laugh at your fellow journalists, while they bravely cover what is perhaps the most important news story in decades, globally, is not only abhorrent, but unconscionable. Tom Cruise stated, as I dip into the movie vault once again, in the same movie as quoted before, Jerry McGuire, “These fish, these fish have manners… there is such as thing as a way of treating people.” This is the essence of why we are all here, at this time, at his place, on this little blue rock called earth. For to Love another, is to truly LOVE yourself, and somehow, somewhere along the line, we have forgotten that FACT, we forgot how to connect with the very basic ingredients of who and what we really are deep down inside. “Day of Departure” indeed, as Egypt’s is literal and although ours is figurative as of now, the seeming abandonment of reason, let alone common decency, for madness is slowly becoming the norm, the reality, coming to you LIVE over the polluted airwaves via the likes of “news” outlets such as FOX NEWS. God be with the poor people of Egypt and may there be a peaceful resolution soon. Have a nice week end folks! PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M
