Friday, July 09, 2004
Curves and Operation Save America
Jason at The Wildhunt Blog tells us that Operation Save America, sister organization to Operation Rescue, the radical religious Anti-Abortion Extremist Group, is coming to town (Columbus, Ohio) to harrass not their usual targets (pro-choice and gay folk), but to take on witches. First women, then queers, now witches, Oh My!
If you missed the Curves link in my last post, you might want to take a few minutes to explore the connection between the extremist Operation Rescue/Save America groups and the Waco, Texas-based business (Curves), that Entrepreneur magazine named "the fastest growing franchise in 2003 among all U.S. and Canadian companies who franchise." I heard recently that Curves is now the 4th largest fitness business in the United States.
Calling on all Pagans, Wiccans and Goddess Women to quit supporting the work of these hate groups by spending their good money at a place where the CEO uses business profits to help fund the "work" of Operation Save America.
Let Freedom Ring!
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If you missed the Curves link in my last post, you might want to take a few minutes to explore the connection between the extremist Operation Rescue/Save America groups and the Waco, Texas-based business (Curves), that Entrepreneur magazine named "the fastest growing franchise in 2003 among all U.S. and Canadian companies who franchise." I heard recently that Curves is now the 4th largest fitness business in the United States.
Calling on all Pagans, Wiccans and Goddess Women to quit supporting the work of these hate groups by spending their good money at a place where the CEO uses business profits to help fund the "work" of Operation Save America.
Let Freedom Ring!
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Thursday, July 08, 2004
Fahrenheit 9/11
Finally, we saw it last night. Almost two weeks after it opened, and our theatre was 98% full if not sold out.
Nothing I read about this film prepared me for it. I'm not even sure what to say about it here. It's not so much what I want to say about the movie. It's what I want to say about being human, about being a woman, about being Pagan, about being American.
I can't even accurately identify the feelings I have after taking in Michael Moore's message about Bush, business and war. I know there's anger in me somewhere, but it's having a hard time fighting its way out from under the oppression of shame, shock, futility and depression that hovered over me on my way out of the theatre.
How have we let things come to this, to all this? Yes, this movie is about Dubya & Co., and about Americans asleep at the wheel. But really, it's about so much more. Its about human values turned upside down, and so entrenched in that position that we're all Hanging Men and Women. Megabusinesses get corporate welfare and get away with murder and other nasties while our young people get killed on the streets, rot in jails and prisons, and suffer medical, emotional and social neglect due to poverty. It shouldn't be this way. It doesn't have to be this way. But what can we do to make it different?
Oh, I know, many of us are doing lots of things to make it different. Here are a few of my favorites of the moment:
But when I left the movie last night I thought What more can I do? I must do something more. But what?
Last weekend while channel surfing I happened on All The President's Men and watched it for the fourth or fifth time. You remember it, right? The story of Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein investigating Watergate ... a journalistic investigation that lead to the resignation of President Nixon.
As I watched it, I knew there were resonances with what's going on now, and with Michael Moore's documentary journalism. In the movie, Deep Throat tells Bob Woodward to "Follow the Money."
And so this is my first answer to my own question about what more I can do: Follow the Money!
That's enough for today....
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Nothing I read about this film prepared me for it. I'm not even sure what to say about it here. It's not so much what I want to say about the movie. It's what I want to say about being human, about being a woman, about being Pagan, about being American.
I can't even accurately identify the feelings I have after taking in Michael Moore's message about Bush, business and war. I know there's anger in me somewhere, but it's having a hard time fighting its way out from under the oppression of shame, shock, futility and depression that hovered over me on my way out of the theatre.
How have we let things come to this, to all this? Yes, this movie is about Dubya & Co., and about Americans asleep at the wheel. But really, it's about so much more. Its about human values turned upside down, and so entrenched in that position that we're all Hanging Men and Women. Megabusinesses get corporate welfare and get away with murder and other nasties while our young people get killed on the streets, rot in jails and prisons, and suffer medical, emotional and social neglect due to poverty. It shouldn't be this way. It doesn't have to be this way. But what can we do to make it different?
Oh, I know, many of us are doing lots of things to make it different. Here are a few of my favorites of the moment:
- 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005
- A Call for Needfire -- 2004
- Alliance for Conflict Transformation
- Freecycle
- Fair Trade Coffee and Foods
- Global Justice and Solidarity Movement
- Working Assets Build a Better World
But when I left the movie last night I thought What more can I do? I must do something more. But what?
Last weekend while channel surfing I happened on All The President's Men and watched it for the fourth or fifth time. You remember it, right? The story of Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein investigating Watergate ... a journalistic investigation that lead to the resignation of President Nixon.
As I watched it, I knew there were resonances with what's going on now, and with Michael Moore's documentary journalism. In the movie, Deep Throat tells Bob Woodward to "Follow the Money."
And so this is my first answer to my own question about what more I can do: Follow the Money!
- Curves ... Its CEO funds militant anti-choice activism with his profits. [I thought about joining. Glad I didn't.]
- AAA ... "a lobbyist for more roads, more pollution, and more gas guzzling." [We're switching over to the Better World Club when our current coverage expires.]
- Dell Computers ... CEO Michael Dell is a Bush/Ashcroft/Republican Party/Department of Defense supporter. [I bought a new Dell a few months ago. Gross.]
That's enough for today....
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Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Grandma Hypothesis
We live in a society that is so geared towards younger people. It is nice to realize that it might be older people that make us human after all.
In research published in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, anthropologists Rachel Caspari and Sang-Hee Lee find support for the so-called "grandma hypothesis" which credits the role grandmothers play in contributing to a group's success by helping to raise their extended families.
In a study of 768 different human fossils from Cro-Magnon, Neanderthals, and earlier prehumans such as Homo erectus and australopithecenes, the proportion of older to young adults in a given group was shown to increase over time and to have "skyrocketed" in the Upper Paleolithic, about 30,000 years ago.
This could be when the uniquely human condition of menopause evolved and started to have an effect, Caspari said. Women not burdened by childbearing could focus on their grandchildren and other kin.
Human evolutionary theory -- out with the fittest and in with the menopausal.
READ THE WEB ARTICLE
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Sunday, July 04, 2004
Let Freedom Ring
Celtic Sacred Hours (3, 6, 9, 12 am/pm) Healing Practice:
What does my body need?
What does my spirit need?
Where is the flow? What wants to happen right now?
