Archive for September, 2008

Sep 29 2008

Thomas Jefferson on the bailout

Published by Richard under Life on Earth

Often I think about what our founding fathers would have to say about what has been going on in this country and the world, especially in the last few decades. The following might give us a clue as to what Jefferson would have said about our current financial crisis and the impending lapdance bailout for the guilty.

If we run into such debts as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our callings and our creeds, as the people of England are, our people, like them, must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four, and give the earnings of fifteen of these to the government for their debts and daily expenses; And the sixteen being insufficient to afford us bread, we must live, as they do now, on oatmeal and potatoes, have no time to think, no means of calling the mismanagers to account; But be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains around the necks of our fellow sufferers; And this is the tendency of all human governments. A departure from principle in one instance becomes a precedent for a second, that second for a third, and so on ’til the bulk of society is reduced to mere automatons of misery, to have no sensibilities left but for sinning and suffering…and the forehorse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression. - Thomas Jefferson

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Sep 02 2008

Changes

There can be no political revolution, no social revolution, no economic revolution. The only revolution is that of the spirit; it is individual. And if millions of individuals change, then the society will change as a consequence, not vice versa. You cannot change the society first and hope that individuals will change later on. – Osho

A move seems to be in my not to distant future. In my earlier life, when I would hear someone talking about Hawaii, or read something about the islands, I would think to myself that it might be nice to visit, but it never developed into a real desire, probably at least in part due to not having the money for a trip. A couple years ago, I started to think seriously about visiting, but again, felt no strong desire to pack a bag and board a plane.

This year however, things have changed. A series of those pesky coincidences have been coming up. First a friend forwards an email to me from a woman who was wanting to sell her place in Hawaii. I dismissed it at the time since the price was more than I could afford, and truthfully, the thought of living in Hawaii had not really gelled.

What followed over the course of a few months, was a Hawaiian barrage. I would turn on the TV and there would be a program on about Hawaii. A couple people from Hawaii used the contact page on this blog to write me about things they did not want to post in public. Several times while I was shopping, I ran into people wearing T-shirts they got in Hawaii. I would be driving down the street and see a car with a Hawaiian license plate. Personally, things that were “hanging around” that would keep me from moving started to resolve themselves with no conscious effort from me.

In and around these “coincidences” I did some journeys on the possibility and got an what can only be described as a “smile” from my guides and helping spirits. In one journey I had decided to visit Pele, the Goddess of the volcano, and when I got to my sacred garden, I found a roaring fire in my ceremonial fire pit and knew it was my portal for a visit to Pele. I entered the fire, and remember nothing after that for about an hour, but I was in a state of complete bliss when I returned.

I can feel a quickening, and plan a trip over right after the first of the year to look for a place and to see if the islands like me, and I like the islands. I still have one commitment here that I must see through, but that too seems like it might be heading for a conclusion.

Change is the only real constant in life. Even our bodies completely renew every seven years or so they say. The cells, atoms, electrons, protons and neutrons making up your body today are completely different from the ones of around seven years ago.

As a species, we’ve seen a huge changes over the past twenty years, and especially over the past eight. What will the future bring? That is for each of us as individuals, and in turn collectively as a society to determine, but it always starts at the level of the individual.

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