Fighting for Your Right to Die

Does it seem odd that American citizens are protesting in the streets, not demanding universal health care, but rather demanding not to have it? Why are we the most powerful nation, with the biggest economy on the planet, yet the only developed democracy which does not provide health care to all its citizens? Well, it seems to me, what with how much sense Glenn Beck makes, that it’s just not how our little model works.

The fear of death is almost primordial. No sooner do we discover our mortality than do we begin to fear it. Some degree of fear in the population is essential for productivity. It is essential for creating order. Hence, Hans Morgenthau’s rule, about the necessity of having a monopoly on all means of violence in creating a nation.

We can’t beat workers like we used to, but if the threat of being uninsured is constantly held over the head of every individual, the dog eat dog, never ending quest for wealth (our ideal mindset for US citizenry), is reinforced, because, in our society, the closest thing to a fountain of youth is an unlimited bank account. Just ask Steve Jobs and his brand new liver.

Our version of cutthroat, free-market capitalism may very well fall apart if the proletariat is no longer in such literal fear for their lives. Is that what the conservatives are worried about? Is it less about profits for insurance companies and an out of control national debt, and more about the worry that cutthroat consumerism might be threatened if the sheep are a little less afraid for their lives?

If you are trying to create a selfish, money hungry, rat racing, capitalist, consumer, there is no better way than to start by making his health care dependant on his success in the rat race. Is it not logical that an employee will be more accommodating and easier to manipulate and control if his health care is dependant on his job? Won’t the uber-rich be more willing to keep outrageously accumulating wealth and clawing for a higher position on the masters of the universe list, like Oprah Winfrey, if the possibility of more surgical procedures is dependant on more money and if you know the government won’t pay for you to be frozen, cast in pure gold, and shot into outer space to live forever with Walt Disney and L. Ron Hubbard?

Many American politicians argue that providing universal health care is an ethical issue. Well that may be. But in the USA, the very foundation of our capitalism, a primary quest for wealth, and an obsession with getting higher on the social ladder, is ethically questionable.

If the whole cultural ideal rests on having more than the next guy, and individuals are entitled to accumulate billions of dollars while the next guy has to go into debt just to go to college, it’s not surprising that we don’t provide health care to everyone. Why would we? It might undermine our very way of life: our selfish individual pursuits of more stuff to distract ourselves from our impending demise and our powerlessness to stop it; even with all the plastic surgery, tubes, needles, and breathing machines. We all have to die.

I hope that doesn’t seem morose. Yet here we are, in a dilemma. Our present condition leaves questions unanswered. As rich as we are, it turns out our formula has left us a couple trillion dollars in debt, uninsured or not. The FDIC is looking to the banks it insures because it needs to borrow money. Yep, you read that correctly. If the banks don’t lend the money, the FDIC will be going to the US Treasury for cash, yet the US Treasury is just a touch beholden to China at the moment. It seems our quest for more has left us at a few trillion less than zero.

I go to Glenn Beck for the best information out there; and one thing is sure, Beck is protecting the American way. None of this sissy, lets try to take care of all our citizens, stuff. No. The greed must stand. So if we are not going to tax 100% of all wealth above 100 million dollars for those individuals who are worth that much, in order to build a green infrastructure, provide health insurance to all citizens, and pay off the national debt, then what should we do?

I suggest a purchase quota. This would be something akin to what Christopher Columbus cleverly devised when he was governor of Hispaniola in the early 1500’s. Convinced there were vast amounts of gold beneath the island, he required that each native deliver a certain amount of gold, or off with a hand. Well it turned out that there wasn’t much gold, so a lot of hands got chopped. Hands are important in sustaining a population, and sure enough, it wasn’t long before the native population of Hispaniola was nearly extinct. What lesson does this provide us in discussing health care? Dead folk don’t require health care.

One plus one equals Glenn Beck. So to avoid the terrible burden of keeping an aging population of hard partying baby boomers alive and Viagra’d on the government dime, we could impose consumption minimums. This is the way to keep the American way alive. If you are too old to be a good consumer, the plug gets pulled. Pay to play baby. It’s the American way. Spend to live. Simple. Thank god those folks are protesting in the streets. “Don’t give us health care!” “Let us die if we can’t afford health insurance!” “Stop trying to take away our rights!” Keep standing up people. Don’t give in. Don’t let the government provide you health care. Private corporations are the ones who really care about you. If you aren’t working and spending, and you don’t have enough accumulated wealth to pay to stay alive, then you can just keep fighting for your right to die.

Well

What's so interesting about the Bible is how God wrote all this stuff down for Himself to read so He would remember to not be such an Asshole in his human incarnations. Too bad God doesn't even speak his own language anymore down here on earth. God is so confused down here because He's busy being 7 billion different people at the same time. He keeps teaching Himself all this funny business making Himself feel guilty for being who He is [a fallen angel]. So he yells at himself and says "Stop Killing Each Other!" He is God. He is Christ. He is Anti-Christ. He is Buddha. He is Mohamed. He is Hitler. It's the same Dumbass, experiencing existence, again, and again, and again, just like He sent Himself down here to do. Sent down to Be His Own Servant. Incarnate. It's just hard for Him to remember. He also forgets He's Her.

stealing from facebook

Eating Chinese food delivery in Aspen and pretending I'm hiding in New York and writing. I have to admit, this is better Chinese delivery than any I had in New York, except the delivery I had to my apt. on my first night there. I had no silverware, and they included no chopsticks or plastic fork or knife. I used two sanitized pens as chopsticks. That was the best.

Ecology and Religion joining forces... or all the forces are already joined!

click title to check out this interesting article Prof. Stewart and the Carnegie Council so kindly shared with us. Is it Ecoligion? Religecology? Who split the first atom? I don't think it was Adam. Maybe when the first Atom split it made a big bang, and suddenly there was light and dark, male and female... and we've been colliding or just call it banging ever since. bunch of separate pieces of One trying to come together. God bless us, every One.

Relax

Relax. It's Aspen. Hah. Relax. It's planet Earth. And the sun keeps on shining. Amy Goodman said recently that if we don't do something about global warming soon it will become irreversible. Yea, thanks hun. I'll give you a big capital Duh on that one. Until the next ice age. Mother Earth is in control baby. Sure we can do better. But dammit, stop fucking scaring people so much. Relaxing is important.

a new day again

hey ya'll. I'm listening to Warren Zevon's "I've got to roll with the punches." It's late at night and i'm not quite channeling Hunter S. Thompson. I'm sending out Hunter's best vibes. His happiest dreams for a better future, the future he dreamed of and the future his limited perspective thought was trampled on by the reelection of George W. Bush. I was pretty bummed myself when we gave GW his mandate after 4 years of idiocy. I was sober at the time, and I think it drove me to drink, and I hadn't had nearly the come down that Hunter experienced.

We may have lost Hunter as a result of George W. Bush. But maybe his suicide saved some of our lives. Do we want to go that high, and stay that high, when we know the rules? Hunter taught us the result, what goes up, must come down. If you keep going up and up and up, you must eventually come down. If you go too far up, the landing will be too much to bear. As the caption on an old plastic plate of mine with Winnie the Poo falling into the arms of his friends, catching him in the midst of his fall, says: "and the coming down is the hardest part." Ain't that the truth?

For those of us who see reality as it is and choose to live in it consciously, the only logical reaction is insanity. The logical reaction to insanity is insanity. Those of us that are normal "functioning members of society" are the ones who are really insane. The bums and the patients in the insane asylum are the one's who are sane. The poverty that we are at "war against" is our salvation. We are at war with ourselves. With our true nature. We are trying not to die, when dead is what we all already are. Death is the rebirth of life. Life feeds on death. Decay and resurrection. But if those of us who are awake to this beautiful reality don't come down periodically and remember our impermanence, we are doomed to jails, sanitariums, and death, as the AA lingo tells us. Those of us who are attracted to the spirits, indeed we who become addicted to them, when we have tapped into the infinite "God" consciousness of which we are all a part, if it is not grounded in the foundation that we are all One, when we are still attached to an "I" which is separate from you, the I which can kill, which is God and Satan incarnate, which is the infinite potentiality who has defeated all the other species on earth in single handed combat and also killed our brother and sister humans as a result of the illusion that we are separate, you will start screaming you're fucking head off, because people aren't living up to the God consciousness of which we are all a part, and that you have realized, and you will think you're god, and you are, but if we are still a part of the illusion, attached to the "I" which is separate from "you," if we don't come down periodically we will go "nuts."

But the key is to remember that everything is OK. That we are all connected, and that because of what is, so It must be. How could it be any different? How could we change this moment where i'm writing this foolishness at 3:45 in the morning Colorado time, which has nothing to do with real time, because the sun never actually sets, and the full bright moon tonight is just the Sun's reflection. And if I die from taking too much of the white illusion tonight, it was only because of my own foolishness. Let us thank the Lord for his Mercy. Give thanks to the moon and stars that rule by night for his mercy which rules for I. But that's the reggae music that helps me be grateful for this life that I am so lucky to be living.

Every life that I live is a miracle. We are the eyes of God looking out at the this chaos of perfect order. We are all part of the Great IS. I've been searching for a Bible. Been meaning to buy one for awhile, but today looking through my Grandmother's incredible library, on the top shelf I found a whole collection of Bible's. I was attracted to the one that was covered in Silver first. I pulled it out. It is that old, sacred, wretched book, full of God and Satan and the illusion of Sin and the fear of Death, and it is engraved with my grandparents names. It was their bible, from 1965, with love notes and commitments to their marriage. But that marriage came to an end. Which is sad. But they are OK. My granddaddy is out in the midst of the universe now. His molecules are in existence. He has lived, will ever live, and is invisible to us now, just as our true natures are mostly hidden from us in our daily lives. This is to keep us sane. It's all good. That's the key message.

I hope Michael Franti and Spearhead keep pumping some positivity. We are all the same out here. We are all connected. I'm so grateful to be alive. The thing I kept opening in the Bible was Matthew 4, 4, when Jesus is being tempted by "Satan," which is simply the fear of death and decay, but... "Then Satan took him to Jerusalem to the roof of the Temple. "Jump off," he said, "and prove you are the Son of God; for the scriptures declare 'God will send his angels to keep you from harm.... they will prevent you from smashing on the rocks below.' Jesus retorted "It also says not to put the Lord your God to a foolish test." And here I was opening to this page after Satan flew up my nose, testing the Lord, and thank God I am alive to tell the tale. Twice I opened to the same page today, in two different bibles.

Rasta man vibration yea. higher man vibration yea. Thanks Bob Marley, who also died. Are we all the same person seeing reality through our own limited perspectives? But Bob says, make way for a positive day... oh what a new day. Are you picking up now? Who is I am? Who is I am that I am? Who is everything and nothing? Who is God and the devil incarnate? Who is the creator and the destroyer?

We are all on the same boat here, folks. Form is emptiness and emptiness is form. Love is Emptiness and Emptiness is Love. Love is God and God is Love. God is emptiness and God is form. May our form and our emptiness be blessed. If we want to save the world, all we need to do is let go and realize that the world is already saved. Aloha, crew.

a haiku for the first of September

Bunny bunny Sun
The hawk cried to the eagle
This is the jungle