{"id":62506,"date":"2012-12-01T08:16:56","date_gmt":"2012-12-01T13:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=62506"},"modified":"2012-12-01T08:16:56","modified_gmt":"2012-12-01T13:16:56","slug":"speed-bumps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/by-judith-gayle-2\/speed-bumps\/","title":{"rendered":"Speed Bumps"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

If my in-box is any reflection, Thanksgiving is no longer a mere holiday but more a gateway to Black Friday turned Black Weekend cum Cyber Monday, already evolved into CyberWeek. This pernicious capitalism-creep has been sneaking up on us for years, and now it’s gone full-tilt boogie. We pass long-standing markers of tradition without even a glance behind these days. Christmas stuff went up just after Labor Day, competing with Halloween candy and Thanksgiving decorations, and I expect Valentine’s Day junk to fill the aisles soon after New Years (if not before.)<\/p>\n

\"Political I dunno, maybe a spending spasm of this sort, giving folks a leg up on holiday shopping, will take some of the angst out of the December crunch. At least some of the popular products show a tendency toward greening. I was pleased to see CNN<\/em> highlight the newest environmentally-sound technology at the LA Car Show today, featuring the cute little Chevy Spark that will be available in 2014 in California and Oregon: an electric car that gets 100 miles per charge and is capable of taking an 80% charge in as little as 20 minutes. Hard to imagine in the Pea Patch, but — you know — as California goes, so goes the nation, sooner or later.<\/p>\n

With the eclipses behind us and Mercury gone direct, we’ve finally seen some progress on the home front, or, at least, movement in the larger sense. Brad Manning got a long-awaited day in court, testifying about his brutal pre-trial treatment and how his military psychiatrist’s recommendations were blatantly ignored by brig commanders. Manning was detained without trial for 921 days, despite military law’s mandated maximum of 120. Coming on the heels of the two-year anniversary of the release of the Wikileaks documents, Julian Assange — a virtual prisoner in London, granted long-term political asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy — spoke of Manning’s treatment in an article he wrote for Huffington Post<\/em>, a briefing on the Wiki information every American should read<\/a>. Pass it around.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

On the bigger stage, Palestine got its vote in the U.N. and is finally recognized as a legitimate actor: a non-member observer state. This boosts the cred of President Mahmoud Abbas who, negotiating without rockets, has taken a beating in popularity among his people, especially those who favor the more direct approach preferred by Hamas. The recent battle between Israel and Hamas should prove the folly of Palestinian defiance in the face of superior force, which usually earns them a 500:1 retribution ratio, mostly paid in the blood of Gaza’s women and kids. Obviously, Hamas doesn’t seem to mind losing citizens if it provides them an opportunity for revenge and an uptick in popularity.<\/p>\n

The U.N. vote is considered a slap at the Obama administration’s inability to get a grip on the peace process, as well as a sign of international frustration and displeasure at Netanyahu’s lift of the freeze on settlement construction in Gaza. Truth be told, the right-wing Israeli hard-line has even begun to work the nerves of the American public, if not yet the inner sanctum of the State Department. There were just nine votes denying Palestine a place at the table, and it’s a short, embarrassing list: the U.S., Canada, Israel, the Czech Republic and a handful of small island nations.<\/p>\n

You’d think, here in the colonies (which we ruthlessly grabbed from indigenous inhabitants under flags of manifest destiny and white exceptionalism) we’d feel some hint of karmic backwash, and perhaps we do, though it’s seldom spoken of in mainstream circles. Speaking of karma, this wrangle in the Holy Land is the world’s oldest, the cradle of humankind’s beginnings and the scene of some of its darkest moments. Perhaps it’s timely that our attention shifts to an area so steeped in historic bloodletting, reconsidering our position as Israel’s unquestioning ally even as a CNN<\/em> anchor — in a jaw-dropping moment, I thought — began a national conversation today by asking, given the U.N. vote, what the world knows that we don’t.<\/p>\n

Yes, there’s movement at a very deep level, a change of mind that’s taking shape within the conscience of a newly-awakened America. Have we become teachable now? I appreciated Len’s recent description<\/a> of the slingshot effect of an eclipse sequence, only one of the energetic goads that is pushing us out of old thinking and awakening new impulses. We seem newly open to green solutions, we’re examining matters of civil liberty and ethics, of justice overlooked and injustice done. We’re linking arms.<\/p>\n

Have Manning and Assange shattered some of our national mythology about American imperialism, cast doubt on the war on terror? Has our new attitude about Middle Eastern politics got us re-thinking blanket acceptance of solidarity with the nation of Israel, while wishing well to the Egyptians as they renew their Arab Spring marches against a moderate president who has proven himself a creature of repressive politics? Will they, I wonder, remind us how a successful protest looks and feels? Are we paying that much attention?<\/p>\n

We will probably need that inspiration, given the disparity between the political parties and the biggest scare tactic of recent memory, the “fiscal cliff.” It’s not a cliff, actually not even a slope<\/a> but more like a speed bump. In fact, it’s legislation that could be changed at any moment if Congress decided to forgo politics in favor of the common good. The cliff was put in place by cynics who thought they could force an Appomattox-moment on budget concerns, with both parties so cowed by the dire possibilities of stringent cuts that they’d capitulate and surrender to compromise.<\/p>\n

So far, however, Republican leadership has shown no intention of negotiating with the administration if it insists on folding the Bush tax cuts, the long-standing tax giveaway to the wealthy which added $1.8 trillion dollars to the deficit between 2002 and 2009. If not reversed, those cuts will amount to some $5+ trillion in corporate welfare in the next decade, curtailing spending in a manner we can only consider stringent and crippling to the middle and lower class.<\/p>\n

Wrangling over spending (entitlements) vs. revenue (taxes,) the Grand Bargain of months ago is still on the table, although Obama is flexing his muscles, spending some of the political capital he earned early this month by including additional stimulus in the deal, and permanently eliminating the congressional role in deciding the debt ceiling. Obama seems open to a two-part solution, dealing with the most critical portion now, which includes mainstream tax cuts, then kicking the can down the road for a year on the rest. In Obama’s world, that’s tax cuts extended to 98 percent of Americans, 97 percent of businesses, which results in “fully removing half of the fiscal cliff.” As the administration has made clear for months now, there are a number of nail-biters<\/a> included in this bargain, along with cuts to things that liberals hold dear. Activists are attempting to remediate the worst projections by flooding the White House with petitions, more on that later.<\/p>\n

Republicans say that additional spending renders this a less-than-serious proposal and they’re fuming, but it’s really tax rates that are holding this up. Pubs are reluctant to piss off their base and throw both the rich and the military-industrial complex under the bus, unthinkable to a party that now identifies itself almost entirely with their wellbeing over national concerns. Waiting for Obama to sweeten the pot, they have become petulant and whiny, but they may have a long wait, as the Prez takes his populist argument on the road, pitching to the public and allowing Geithner to be his point-man with outraged Pubs, who find themselves between a rock and a hard spot.<\/p>\n

As fearful as Republicans are of being blamed as the party that dragged their feet while the nation went over the fiscal cliff, supporting either revenue or anything Obama presents, for that matter, targets them to be “primaried” (replaced with a teapot) by an angry base flush with plutocratic money in the next election. A monster self-created; instant karma, don’t you think?<\/p>\n

As Louisiana’s wee Republican governor, Bobby Jindal, made clear after the election, “We can no longer afford to be the party of stupid.” With a very clear national mandate for legislative compromise, then, we shall see which of them are teachable now, or if David Frum’s contention that the Republican “entertainment-industrial complex” (FOX News) has effectively murdered the party’s future.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, progressives are on a crusade to make it plain to the administration that no entitlement cuts will do. Neither Social Security nor Medicare are for-profit ventures, nor can they be seriously replaced by privatization. Tweaks in their funding will keep each solvent without national crisis, and I’m reminded once again, that if we had single payer health insurance in this country, medical costs would be under control and pizza restauranteurs wouldn’t be making fools of themselves over employee coverage. Bernie Sanders, supporting a No Deal Is Better Than A Bad Deal movement, offers a petition<\/a> urging no hits on Social Security or Medicare, one of many urging the Democrats to hold firm in response to possible austerity cuts.<\/p>\n

This business of being teachable is very present in the current energy. I’ve seen some amazing changes in people’s attitudes lately, real breakthroughs. Last week I quoted Yehunda Berg of the Kabbalah Centre who suggested that we are hindering rather than helping a person who is not ready to receive transformational information, and although I’m still mulling that, it appears likely when I think about trying to talk rational politics with those firmly in right-wing clutches. Still, we never know when the Light is ready to break through, shining down to show us a different reality entirely from the one we were so sure about. I thought about that this week at an open Alcoholics Anonymous meeting I attend monthly with my dear friend — 33 years sober — Fishin’ Jim.<\/p>\n

I like AA folks, they’re self-reflecting, a hard-learned skill not everyone in the Pea Patch understands or appreciates. The topic at this month’s potluck was gratitude — a regular topic for a group of people who have come back from self-consigned hell — and one story caught my attention as an example of Light dawning. After years rejecting AA, a nice enough guy, hardworking and friendly but a confirmed drunk, blacked out, committed a serious crime and found himself in prison. Almost immediately, a fight broke out in the yard and the facility went into lock-down for three days, leaving most prisoners in their tiny cells. My friend found himself isolated for three days with nothing to do but read the only book there, left by the last inmate: AA’s Big Book<\/em>. He did, just to pass the time and barely curious, and it began to change his outlook on life. He’s free now, sober for a handful of years and successfully rebuilding his life. He credits that moment as his turning point.<\/p>\n

When the student is ready, the teacher appears. My friend had what A Course in Miracles<\/em> calls “the little willingness.” That’s not full-blown willingness, mind you. It’s just the tiniest opening in the energy, a willingness to be MADE willing. That’s all it takes, when we’re ready, and I trust that millions of us are finding that little willingness now, suddenly aware that things aren’t the way we thought they were. It’s only within the landscape of the self — in relationship, first and foremost, with the splintered portions of self seeking wholeness — that change is accepted, creativity is inspired, turning points are discovered and embraced, fears are conquered and doubts are resolved. Such moments are dharmic blessing, coming directly from our higher self, in the quiet time, in the silence.<\/p>\n

The speed bumps in our way — fiscal cliffs, Wikileaks, prison cells — slow us down long enough to think, to explore, to break through static thoughts with fresh insights. They take us by surprise, challenge what we know, lift us into our hearts to fully feel their truth, to palpate their vibration in our solar plexus. They demand that we take a bit of time to truly listen and perhaps, for the very first time, really hear, see, feel — when the student is ready — all that’s waiting for us in the Light.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves If my in-box is any reflection, Thanksgiving is no longer a mere holiday but more a gateway to Black Friday turned Black Weekend cum Cyber Monday, already evolved into CyberWeek. This pernicious capitalism-creep has been sneaking up on us for years, and now it’s gone full-tilt boogie. We pass … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1744],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62506"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62506\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}