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ISSN: 1530-5775
July 2010, Vol.12 #7

INDEX

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Featured Article

Demons
from Georgia Jones

Helen Thomas, long, long-long time reporter, columnist and poster child of the White House Press Corps (which by the way any legitimate reporter to can apply to join and receive credentials for), made a terrible mistake a few weeks ago. If you don't know about it the only reason I can think of is that you have had your head in the sand. If that is the case then, let me paraphrase. Helen Thomas said in the reach of a video camera: Jews go home and home is Germany and Poland.

Helen Thomas was wrong, factually, not just politically, but she was also an easy target. An older woman amidst the young and powerful lions of the Press Corps—a lot of her competitors were glad to be rid of her; happy for proof of her over-the-hillness; justified, they felt, in their silent disapproval of her wrinkles and her stoop… Older women, unless they are sitcom stars, are not tolerated in public places in the United States except on Mother's Day.

Unfortunately, Thomas left herself open to the attack. What she said was wrong. It was offensive, but there is no reality where we can honestly say that a lot of people don't feel that way, though most have been careful not to be caught saying it on camera. So, did she apologize for getting caught? Did she apologize for being what those who would denigrate any real discussion would call "politically incorrect"? Or did she apologize because she realized that she was wrong? I am sad to admit that I doubt that there is any chance in any dimension (including a hell) that she understood what was wrong about her statement.

Let's start with the usual suspects… When I say to people that we need to discuss the real history of the Middle East and Israel I usually get a straight-out-of-a-textbook or press release rundown of the UN decision in 1948 and the list of wars and confrontations since. Hurray for those who can memorize by rote. I am talking, though, about the real history. The one that began with the Romans, which we can slide over very quickly since it only explains why so few Jews were in their original homeland at the turn of the last century.

We could touch on the horrible persecution of Jews in Europe prior to the 1900s, but I am going to let you read about that one yourself. No, we do not need to begin with the history of the Jews to understand this problem.

Where we start is the Imperialism of European nations and the economic Imperialism of the United States, as I said, beginning around 1900. At that point, Jews in Europe (and the U.S.) still experienced significant discrimination but were not being exterminated. Jews in the Middle East, where they were a minority but a noticeable presence in their original homeland, originally shared with Palestinians and others, and a well integrated minority in almost every Arab state on that continent, lived peacefully—and, yes, there was a minority of that minority who wanted a rollback of 2,000 years of history, the Zionists. Not all Jews or Israelis were or are Zionists.

Nor were all colonizing Europeans anti-Semitic, but many were and among those many, as the years went by, were a lot of Nazis. So, what did the Middle East learn from their European rulers? They learned to compartmentalize in a new way. Tribal societies had always had conflicts, small by today's standards, between themselves. Under European rule the tribal loyalties were attacked, divided and sometimes dissolved. The people of the Middle East learned the prejudices and loyalties of their new power brokers.

By the end of World War II, most of the Middle East—by then unrecognizable because of changed borders for the convenience of the Europeans and changed power structures implemented by their rulers—the Middle East countries had had enough of European influences, but they did not begin to rebel in a serious way until they had first purged themselves of their new enemies: the Jews—Nazi sentiments, deeply ingrained by then, and European anti-Semitism were not stopped by the end of that war. When Arab countries declared that they would "drive the Jews into the sea" the march really began on Arab soil. Over half of those Helen Thomas and others like her would send back to Poland and Germany had lived for centuries in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and other Middle Eastern states. From the Israeli point of view this threat was not only hateful, but the sea was getting closer every day.

In 1948 the UN declared that enough was enough and the Israeli's would have a stopping point. In that moment, we are often told, about 700,000 Palestinians were displaced. Actually, around 350,000 of them attacked their Jewish neighbors and another 350,000 left rather than live with the same neighbors they had shared the land with for millennia. Both groups of Palestinians were promised support by their Arab neighbors. Support that materialized as a marginalized population of Palestinians were forced into a landless state, rather than being given refuge, and used as a surrogate army (or, even, a weapon) against the former friends and neighbors they now promised to destroy.

The Palestinians, like the Israelis have traditionally been an educated, civilized people. The only excuse for the domino fall of tragedy in that part of the world is the way we (all) respond to the manipulation of reputation we call "demonization". Every country does it before declaring war. In World War II German and Japanese soldiers were, literally, portrayed in the United States with a hint of horns and clearly demonic features. It is a basic tool of war because no one lays down their life unless there is an identifiable (and hated) enemy to destroy. That is what war is.

Over the years of this Middle East Conflict, the demon face has shifted between the Palestinians and the Israelis, depending on where you were, who was leading which group and the capability of the public relations/propaganda on one side or the other. At different times, sometimes at the same time each group has behaved despicably. The current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , a Jewish George W. Bush character, has badly handled the very real concerns of Israeli citizens and has fallen into every PR trap laid by the ever more savvy Palestinians. But, no matter what they have done or to what end, a significant number of Palestinians are suffering and a significant number of Israelis live in a state of fear that we would not tolerate in the United States.

Most of the world has lined up, chosen their demon and their victim to attack or protect, and yet both sides are equally guilty, equally sad, equally at risk and fearful… And fear is the real cause of most conflicts.

I began this article by talking about Helen Thomas and it is important to notice that she, too, has been demonized. Women all over the world are demonized by the societal definitions used to keep them in their places of oppression. Even benign philosophies such as Yin and Yang, which many Westerners embrace as exotic and transcendent, place the female spirit in the dark passive part of the equation, while the male is seen as bright, active, and significant to society. These attitudes have resulted in the killing, passive, active or before they are born, of so many girl children that a shortage of wives for those preferred males is developing in places. This is a war against women. Girl children, as the children of the Dark, have been demonized.

Older women, when they have lost their singular function: reproduction, are regularly demonized. They are portrayed as hags, crones and witches.

Demonizing anyone will always lead to bad choices, to war and oppression. The trick to being fully human is not that perfect body or the maleness we mean when we talk about action, the trick comes from accepting the humanity of our neighbors, even when it would be easy or convenient to draw horns on their pictures and attack them.

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Comics

Comics

You can see more by David Donar at http://politicalgraffiti.wordpress.com/.

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Special Feature

I Am Mother
A channeling received from Mother, on Mother's Day
Sunday, May 9, 2010 at 11:30AM

from Zan Behnam

 

Daughter… I AM THE MOTHER … I am the MOTHER……..I am mother…..

I have sewn you before time begun, through the fires of my ethers which alighted your spirit. It is I who breathed you into life, and gave you my many winds so you might grow, scatter and multiply. My waters became your blood, and my body of rock and stone washed by the seas became your home.

From these I gave you of my many fruits, herbs, flowers, trees countless and varied beyond scope, dimension and imagination. This I did to feed you, shelter you, clothe you nurture you, so you might thrive. I brought you the no-leggeds, the feathered and the winged ones, and the plentiful finned and shelled ones, and many other jewels from the body of my seas.

I brought you the four legged beasts for your delight, comfort, consumption and companionship that you might grow able and strong to preserve, guard, maintain and replenish all that which I gifted you.

I AM YOUR MOTHER. I birthed all that is, and gave it life! I have given you all I have; the best of what I have.

I AM your Mother……..I am the MOTHER……..I am mother…..

Today is the day you call Mother's Day. This is the day you celebrate your mothers, and those you remember as mothers. You also celebrate the idea of the MOTHER. So, I have come this day to remind you that I AM THE MOTHER!

I AM THE FIRST MOTHER and indeed MOTHER OF ALL LIFE.

I AM THAT; I AM; the PACHA MAMA; the EARTH MOTHER. All that you have IS GIVEN to you by me and through me. REMEMBER ME NOW!

I AM THE MOTHER and All Mothers are my Daughters and all their Sons are also my Sons. I am the bringer and giver of life, without me and your SKY FATHER, you are NOT!

HEAR ME NOW BELOVED CHILDREN FOR YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN MY SONG.

It is the song of the web of life, sung by countless generations before you!

"What you do to the web, you do to yourself…" ~Chief Seattle, 1854

I AM YOUR MOTHER!

You have forgotten my song and so in your ambition, gluttony and arrogance you have forgotten me. You have poisoned me, raped me, ravaged and pillaged me with abandon and disregard. You have sliced me, dug me, quartered and divided me as though you could. You have sought to own me, conquer me and you have carelessly defiled and wasted me.

Do you not know that you can not own me? The seas of my body run together as do my winds. My land cannot be divided, even by your boundaries; beast, fowl and fish know not this separation. You have fought many wars over me which you could not win! You have killed for your small portion of me which you CAN NOT have or own. All the while your hatred, blame and abuse of this web of life has grown and your power to destroy has multiplied.

You have hunted my beasts for the pleasure of your treasure and fished my seas with impunity while others have starved. You have felled my trees, the lungs of my life force and bled me, yes drained me, with blatant disregard of my life blood, which you call OIL.

You have consumed this blood lavishly in all that you use for your comfort as you build, create, alter, waste and transport. Taking my life blood has become your way of life in your modern age, technical and product oriented world.

YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN MY SONG!!!

How long would you live if you were to be bled daily? For a while you would survive, but soon your life force would grow dimmer and your body would weaken and you would no longer be able to defend yourself against disease and blight.

It is ever so with me. Do you not understand that this OIL which you take is the life blood of the food chain? It is that oil that helps MINERALIZE my soils providing for abundant and healthy growth and vegetation which feeds all life, and provides shelter and clothes for all. Without my oil I weaken and all weakens and begins to die off.

You have FORGOTTEN MY SONG! I AM THE MOTHER! You have forgotten about this intricate, interwoven web of life that weaves itself throughout, from the smallest to the largest. It is that which supports the balance in all my nature. Without the small, the larger die off! It IS how it IS! You must hear me NOW!

There is a CRISIS of enormous proportion unfolding now, and none are exempt from its effect! There are far too many of you taking without replenishing or restoring. YOU DO NOT EVEN THANK ME! We have passed the point of sustainability where all life forms from the smallest to the largest are now threatened with extinction. This may soon become a rapid, catapulting and unstoppable die off of the food chains that sustains all life.

WE HAVE LOST OUR BALANCE!

When balance is interrupted then a new balance must be restored. I shake, tremor and roll over. I cough up volcanic dust, and send the seas with my winds into the land to flood. I MUST BE HEARD BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!

I have been lenient, patient and giving. I have sought to teach you and spare you in subtle ways to awaken you. And some of you have heard my song. Most of you have not.

And so you continue in your old ways of taking, plundering, pillaging and poisoning, all the while complaining, all the louder, as if someone other than you had done this to you! War has never been the answer. Soon you will need one another, for separate and alone, you will not be able to survive.

You have forgotten that it is a privilege to be part of this complex and delicately interwoven web of life. The cold rains of winter brought by the clouds rest as ice on snow crested peaks, which in the spring time melt and flow downward into rivulets nourishing the lands and the rivers below, upon which my many creatures thrive! So it is with this interdependent web of life! Do you hear me?

My children, the time has come for you to remember this my song. HEAR it now and ACT upon before it is too late! We are on the verge of a huge die off of cataclysmic proportion. You have no choice, none of you, but to heed my words, hear my song and from it learn and change your behavior NOW! You can do this! It starts NOW. YES, YOU CAN. There is no time to waste. You must walk gently upon me and leave a smaller print. Take only what you need and no more and replenish what you take. You are smart. You know there are other ways to fuel your automobiles, homes and businesses. You can conserve; you can recycle; you can diminish your use of my oil and you can use alternative forms through my sun, my wind, my waters and use of your waste. YES, YOU CAN.

I AM YOUR MOTHER; I AM THE GIVER OF LIFE. All is related; all is interdependent upon everything else.

"What you do to the web, you do to yourself…" ~Chief Seattle, 1854

So I blacken your skies with my ash, and I kill the life of your seas with my oil. YOU WANT MY LIFE BLOOD. TAKE IT! TAKE IT ALL! I give it to you plentifully!

What will you do with all my oil now?

IT IS BECAUSE I LOVE YOU SO MUCH THAT I MUST DO THIS! THIS MUST HURT GREATLY, FOR WITHOUT PAIN YOU DO NOT CHANGE!

There is none more important in this chain of life than another! Everything here is relative to everything else. You think that these resources are yours forever and that that they will never run out. In part this is so, for as you die off from malnutrition, draught, asphyxiation and disease, and as the seas become blackened, your air poisoned and your lands wasted, as I seek to find balance, maintain and cleanse, I do so that life can survive. In time it will replenish itself once again.

Still I love you! I cry with you.

My song teaches that for peace, joy, health, abundance and prosperity, all things in the universe must seek balance. That is a law! It is a law you call "Cause and Effect!" The Law of what you sow, you reap. You must teach this to your children now, for they have not heard my song and you cannot teach them a song that you have forgotten! They must learn my song and by remembering, teach it to their children, and their grandchildren and their great grands on forward.

It is because I love you that I do this. I AM your MOTHER. All things are related.

I am the Mother. Do this for me. Sing my song; teach it to your children as I once taught it to you. I am your mother, just as you are the Mother or Father to your children. You must act now; it is time to come together to heal.

YOU ARE MY BELOVED CHILDREN! SING NOW MY SONG!

Rev. Zan Butterfly Deerwoman Benham, goddess of many hats, weaves together modalities as individual and unique as the clients she serves. She is an ordained interfaith minister and a spiritual counselor. She is also Certified Hypnotist, Reiki Master, energy worker, shamanic practitioner, motivational teacher and ceremonialist. Rev. Zan has actively participated in healing circles for almost 20 years. She is Clan Mother of the southwest Florida Mockingbird Clan, a rainbow clan which follows "native way spirituality" and she has spent time with some of the shaman/chacaruna's of Peru.

Rev. Zan ButterflyDeerwoman often facilitates new moon and full moon healing circles, shamanic journeys, soul retrievals and sweat lodges. She is a pipe bearer, in the tradition of the late Sun Bear and a water pourer for sweat lodges.

Zan is host of "The Butterfly Effect" audio show on The Butterfly Effect..

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Virtual World

Hyperbolic Fun

My husband knows I love crafts and mathematics. For my birthday, he gave me a wonderful gift, Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes by Daina Taimina.

A hyperbolic plane is an elusive geometrical surface. One way of thinking about it goes like this: If I have an ant on a 2 inch leash and it walks around me, the radius of the circle she travels will be exactly 2 inches. If I have her on a beach ball, the radius of the circle she travels would always be less than two inches. The hyperbolic plane is the surface on which the ant's circle would always have a radius of more than two inches. That is just a simple visual for a very important mathematical concept

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Daina says:
In this book I am trying to explain to crocheters the mathematics that can be experienced through these models. With weathered mathematicians I am sharing a tactile way of exploring mathematical ideas. For all others, I hope this book will convey a different way to view mathematics. (p.6)

A wonderful goal, and she succeeds. But that is not the reason for this article.

You would think that this conjunction of crochet and mathematics is of rather limited interest. But it has spawned enthusiasts all over the world, thanks to the magic of the internet. On facebook, for example, there are 5 groups that come up when you search for "hyperbolic planes"!

The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef is a project started by Christine Werthheim and Margaret Wertheim as "a woolly celebration of the intersection of higher geometry and feminine handicraft, and a testimony to the disappearing wonders of the marine world." Currently there is an exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum in New York, and in October there will be an exhibit at the Smithsonian. And other people have started making satellite reefs in such places as Chicago and Australia.

For people who like to work with their hands, the prospect of making your own Hyperbolic Plane are very intriguing. The Institute for Figuring has pictures and instructions. Lion Brand yarns has free instructions for coral reef components. But I figured mine out from the book.

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