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Apologies to the raccoons
...and many thanks to the Beehive Collective up in Maine for creating this and many other wonderful images. They've taken on a lot of important issues over the years--their latest is mountaintop removal in Appalachia. Stay tuned.
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Straying Home
I've started another blog, a chapter-by-chapter, week-by-week serial about the changes I made in my life and what went before. I'm calling it "Straying Home", and when it's all online I'm going to publish it as a book. If you want to watch it in progress you can go to www.strayinghome.wordpress.com
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The Invisible Chair
The best seat in our house is definitely The Invisible Chair. Mark invented it a couple of years ago and we've got the prototype in the living room. Most days it's just a chair--we sit on it to use the house computer, we pull it out on the porch when we need an extra place to sit, visiting children have crayoned on it--but on evenings when people sit around playing music, it reveals its other side..... -
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..we can choose to live in joy.
"Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrow, but we can choose to live in joy." Joseph Campbell 1904-1987
All six hens are laying now--brown eggs from the two Barred Rocks and these lovely little blue-green eggs from the Americaunas.
2 Comments
March 14, 2008 at 12:56 am
Powerful.
March 23, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Q: Why are we in Iraq?
A: Because America’s economy is backed primarily by her military superiority.
Excerpts from a speech By Texas Congressman Ron Paul Before the US House of Representatives, February 15, 2006…
Full version: http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul303.html
…Realizing the world was embarking on something new and mind-boggling, elite money managers, with especially strong support from U.S. authorities, struck an agreement with OPEC to price oil in U.S. dollars exclusively for all worldwide transactions. This gave the dollar a special place among world currencies and in essence “backed” the dollar with oil. In return, the U.S. promised to protect the various oil-rich kingdoms in the Persian Gulf against threat of invasion or domestic coup. This arrangement helped ignite the radical Islamic movement among those who resented our influence in the region. The arrangement gave the dollar artificial strength, with tremendous financial benefits for the United States. It allowed us to export our monetary inflation by buying oil and other goods at a great discount as dollar influence flourished.
In November 2000 Saddam Hussein demanded Euros for his oil. His arrogance was a threat to the dollar; his lack of any military might was never a threat. At the first cabinet meeting with the new administration in 2001, as reported by Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, the major topic was how we would get rid of Saddam Hussein – though there was no evidence whatsoever he posed a threat to us. This deep concern for Saddam Hussein surprised and shocked O’Neill.
It now is common knowledge that the immediate reaction of the administration after 9/11 revolved around how they could connect Saddam Hussein to the attacks, to justify an invasion and overthrow of his government. Even with no evidence of any connection to 9/11, or evidence of weapons of mass destruction, public and congressional support was generated through distortions and flat out misrepresentation of the facts to justify overthrowing Saddam Hussein.
There was no public talk of removing Saddam Hussein because of his attack on the integrity of the dollar as a reserve currency by selling oil in Euros. Many believe this was the real reason for our obsession with Iraq. I doubt it was the only reason, but it may well have played a significant role in our motivation to wage war. Within a very short period after the military victory, all Iraqi oil sales were carried out in dollars. The Euro was abandoned.
In 2001, Venezuela’s ambassador to Russia spoke of Venezuela switching to the Euro for all their oil sales. Within a year there was a coup attempt against Chavez, reportedly with assistance from our CIA.
After these attempts to nudge the Euro toward replacing the dollar as the world’s reserve currency were met with resistance, the sharp fall of the dollar against the Euro was reversed. These events may well have played a significant role in maintaining dollar dominance.
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