Wednesday, December 23, 2009

What I Seek to Live By...

What I Seek to Live By...

By Norm Lowry

"Many waters cannot quench Love; Floods cannot drown it". (Song of Songs 8: 7)

“Since Jesus went through everything you're going through and more; learn to think like him. Think of your sufferings as a weaning from that old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way. Then you'll be able to live out your days free to pursue what God wants instead of being tyrannized by what you want.” (I Peter 4: 1-2)

“We are now His broken things. But remember how He has used broken things: the broken pitchers of Gideon's little army, the broken roof through which the paralyzed man was lowered to be healed, the broken alabaster box which shed its fragrance abroad and the broken body of our Savior.

Let us ask Him to take our broken hearts and to press upon them further suffering to give us a poignant realization of the suffering of the world. Let us ask Him to show us the endless, hopeless river of lost souls. This will break our hearts anew; but when it happens, God can use us at last.” (Martha Snell Nicholson)

I seek to be a person “who is jealous of none; who is a fount of mercy; who is without egotism; who is selfless; who treats alike cold & heat, happiness & misery; who is ever forgiving; who is always contented; whose resolutions are firm; who has dedicated mind & soul to God; who causes no dread; who is not afraid of others; who is free from exultation, sorrow & fear; who is pure; who is versed in action yet remains unaffected by it; who renounces all fruit, good or bad; who treats friend & foe alike; who is untouched by respect or disrespect; who is not puffed up by praise; who does not go under when people speak ill of him; who loves silence & solitude; and who has a disciplined reason”. (Mohandas K Gandhi)

“We are all born & someday we’ll all die…to some degree alone. What if our aloneness isn’t a tragedy? What if our aloneness is what allows us to speak the truth without being afraid? What if our aloneness is what allows us to adventure; to experience the world as a dynamic presence—as a changeable, interactive thing?” (Rachel Corrie)

A Safe, Healing Environment is one in which:

• Attention and effort are given to fostering personal choice and responsibility for growth and life through relationships. (…not where attention and effort are given to maintaining conformity to rules and external performance).

• People seek and experience personal forgiveness, reconciliation and redemption through difficult circumstances. (…not where people hold secrets from one another and harbor resentments through difficult circumstances).

• People can give full, authentic expression both to their successes in life and faith and to their failures and the consequent effects of those choices. (…not where people speak only of their successes, what they accomplish, what they are achieving, and fear being exposed for their weaknesses and failures).

• People are encouraged to accept personal responsibility for their growth, bringing them to complete and personal accountability for all their life choices. (…not where people do only what they are told to do, do nothing at all, or do what they want regardless of what others think or say).

• People practice complete accountability, without receiving judgment or being shown partiality, which in turn brings healing, change and inner transformation. (…not where people do only what is observed and on the surface, according to the direction of the authority over them, bringing internal stagnation and external conformity).

• People embrace the weakness and brokenness existing in each of us, all of us being equally sinful before a Holy God. (…not where people are concerned only with the rightness, justness, and fairness of what is due). (Charles Romanic)

Implementing a Safe, Healing Environment involves:

• Coming to understand and practice true Biblical grace as opposed to lenient inaction or Pharisaic judgment.

• Walking toward a full understanding of my Identity in Christ and how that impacts my life.

• Using Christ-likeness as the model for all my behavior.

• Practicing Self-evaluation of both my choices and matters of the heart.

• Initiating full accountability without resorting to powering, authority, punishment, or judgment.

• Eliminating roadblocks that violate or limit a person’s ability to choose what they want, allowing them to take personal responsibility for their choices and decision-making process. (Cash Lowe & Curt Floski)

Reality Therapy Principles:

• Focus on the present and avoid discussing the past because all human problems are caused by unsatisfying present relationships.

• Avoid discussing symptoms and complaints as much as possible since these are often the ineffective ways that we choose to deal with (and hold on to) unsatisfying relationships.

• Understand the concept of total behavior, which means focus on what we can do directly; act and think. Spend less time on what we cannot do directly; that is, changing our feelings and physiology. Feelings and physiology can be changed indirectly, but only if there is a change in the acting and thinking.

• Avoid criticizing, blaming and/or complaining. By doing this, we learn to avoid these extremely harmful external control behaviors that destroy relationships.

• Remain non-judgmental and non-coercive, but be encouraged to judge all I am doing by the Choice Theory axiom: Is what I am doing getting me closer to the people I need? If the choice of behaviors is not getting people closer, then I will work to find new behaviors that lead to a better connection.

• Legitimate or not, excuses stand directly in the way of my making needed connections.

• Focus on the source of the problem: disconnectedness. If I have been disconnected for a long time, it will be difficult to reconnect. If I am involved in the symptom I am choosing, I can easily lose sight of the fact that I need to reconnect.

• Focus on specifics. Find out as soon as possible who I am disconnected from and work to choose reconnecting behaviors. If I am completely disconnected, focus on finding a new connection.

• Make specific, workable plans to reconnect with the people I need, and then follow through on what was planned by evaluating my progress. My plan is always open to revision. (William Glasser)

Broken Dreams

I do not hold my broken dreams and cling to them & weep
Beseeching God to mend them now.
I give them back to Him from whom they came
And a secret Joy lightens all my days
And long, sweet nights I dream
Of how it fares with them in Heaven.
I fill my little day with little tasks.
I give the best I have to him who asks.
Years that are full more quickly pass.

Someday,
The stars will shine
The flowers bloom
And, all the winds blow sweet.

Someday,
In heaven's golden dawning
Will tender angels give them back to me
My Broken Dreams
Unbroken then
All loveliness
Complete! (Martha Snell Nicholson)

Civil Disobedience, Imprisonment and My Search for Justice...

Civil Disobedience, Imprisonment and My Search for Justice…

By Norm Lowry

17 November 2009
Peoplesvoice.org

"Justice is more precious to me than life..."

An ancient prophet by the name of Habakkuk began one of his writings by saying, "Everywhere I look there is oppression and bribery and men who love to argue and fight. The Law is not enforced and there is no Justice given in the courts, for the wicked outnumber the righteous and bribes and trickery prevail..."

For nearly six months (4/17/09 - 10/08/09), I was imprisoned in the Lancaster (PA USA) County Prison, charged with three crimes: Possessing an Instrument of Crime, Disorderly Conduct and Criminal Mischief. The local media (newspapers, radio and television) 'helped the public', by portraying me as simply being 'an angry man who chose vandalism as a sedative'. Omitted were the facts:

That I had given more than one month's notice of leaving my employment;

That, with preplanning and a written statement of intention and guilt, I purposefully walked onto property being used by the U.S. Military Recruiters, with the total intent of committing an act(s) of civil disobedience;

That I did willfully use a 20 oz. framing hammer to break out some of the windows in vehicles used by the U.S. Military Recruiters;

That my chosen actions were carried out as a Spiritual, Socio-Political Protest against the Extreme Violence, Racism and Poverty Production of the United States of America, to me, the world's most evil-ever imperialist empire;

That I was openly declaring non-violent war on all mechanisms of said Violence, Racism and Poverty-Production;

That I was officially and openly renouncing my U.S. Citizenship (a response to the mass apathy among U.S citizenry; especially those who claim Loving Allegiance to our Creator, who seem all too willing to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the gross injustices and crimes of the USA).

My Protest was three-fold:

First, my Protest was against the Fiscal, Political and Military Policies of the U.S., which in my short, nearly 60 year life have taken my country to war (covertly or overtly) with 150+ sovereign nations, causing the purposeful (and mostly preventable) deaths of over 2 Billion citizens. Note: Currently, U.S. policies and sanctions are responsible for 70,000,000+ deaths per year; over half of which are children, from whom we simply withhold food and water. The public record calls these deaths "excess" (unnecessary).

Second, my Protest was against the U.S. Prison System, which houses nearly 25% of the world's total prison population (not including Military and CIA Torture Prisons), in a nation comprising merely 4% of its entire population. Absolutely baffling is the fact that 80% of all U.S. crime is said to be committed by "white collar" criminals, while 80% of all U.S. prisoners are said to be "blue collar" criminals or the facts of the extreme violence perpetrated or allowed (by the guards) against the inmates or the extreme racism of the system.

Third, my Protest was against the so called "Justice System", which seems eager to speedily move through and showcase the "high profile" cases (cases that will reelect them or win them political points?; e.g.-Lancaster County PA USA Roseboro murder case--involving a rich man) in little more than a year’s time; while allowing many (especially minorities) to sit in Prison for 2-4+ years, without being allowed their constitution-guaranteed "speedy" processes.

While waiting to be arrested, the 20-30 Military personnel had opportunity to laugh and poke fun, that I would state that "Love" was my inspiration. How could it be Love, to strike out at the U.S. Military; or to bring up all the wars, murders and carnage that has occurred in my lifetime; or the fact of being told (by our Senior Drill Sgt Arroyo, on my first day of U.S. Army Boot Camp, Ft. Leonard Wood MO USA, 1971) that we could feel free to rape "attractive" women before killing them (if we were chosen for Vietnam, a 50-50 chance)?

After my arrest came interviews with the local Police Detective and F.B.I. Agent-in-charge (two of my Arresting Officers were actually angry with their Detective, for calling the F.B.I.). The Detective seemed disturbed that I would strike out at the military and asked why I had selected the Military over an institution such as the U.S. Postal Service (he seemed surprised to find that the U.S. Postal Service is merely a contractor and not an actual part of the U.S. Government). The F.B.I. Agent asked what I believed should be done with me. I encouraged that he recommend sending me to Guantanamo (or to any of our myriad other torture prisons, worldwide), where we keep our 12 year old "Terrorism" Suspects (among the many others, who are seldom "officially" charged or convicted of anything of serious substance); or simply allow me to share a cell with Mr. Obama, Mr. Bush, or any other of our "Mass Murderer" leaders or citizens (who support torture, illegal/genocidal war, or U.S. dominated drug [opiate, cocaine, etc.] monopolies, etc.).

The F.B.I. chose not to recommend U.S. Justice Department Prosecution (the agent actually said that he 'personally had no problem with what I did or why I did it'), though he did state that 'next time, I would face prosecution as a "Domestic Terrorist"'. The local Police Detective handed me over for Criminal Arraignment, after which I was taken to Prison. Note: The Arraignment Justice stated that ' I would normally be considered for release "on personal recognizance", pending trial but, since I chose to renounce my U.S. Citizenship, I was a "flight risk" and he was setting my bail high enough to keep me locked up'.

My time of imprisonment was most interesting. We were locked up 20+ hours per day (in two or three-man cells). Purposeful violence and racism were a given. I personally witnessed 25+ beatings (most were purposefully ignored by guards); met three inmates who had been brutally beaten by the guards (spoke with multiple witnesses, many who mentioned knowing of other inmate beatings); and talked with thirteen guards and one other employee who admitted to participating in, witnessing, or having knowledge of inmate beatings. I also personally witnessed a system, grossly over-weighted toward minorities (including women) and "blue collar" criminals; was utterly grieved at the numbers of inmates who had been incarcerated for 2-4+ years (without being given their Constitutionally guaranteed rights to speedy trials); and sought to intervene on behalf of non-English speaking inmates (especially whose health concerns were being ignored). I discussed these issues with the Prison Warden (in writing, on multiple occasions, with no response), with the appropriate prison leadership (with mostly limited response, except for a caring nurse) and with the PA Prison Society (who were eager to discuss a witnessed threat of abuse against a mental health patient [by a guard], though never came back to discuss my other concerns). I received threats of violence (from guards) for my willingness to 'stand against the system' and for 'protesting by hitting the U.S. Military'.

My "day in court" consisted of five separate appearances (from day one, I admitted [in writing] my guilt and asked for sentencing). At my first appearance (on the day of my arrest), the District Justice said that he was only there to let me know my charges and to set bail. At my second appearance (preliminary hearing), the District Justice said that he was not authorized to sentence me (though a published newspaper article, in fact, stated that District Justices could receive pleas and sentence crimes that were misdemeanors). Note: At this appearance, the Police Detective and Prosecutor spent considerable time discussing how my charges might be raised to felony level. My third appearance was an Arraignment for my charges, at which I officially plead "guilty" to all charges. At my fourth appearance (pretrial hearing), the Judge stated that 'my arraignment pleas would not be accepted' and rescheduled the court date, as he only had one of my charges ready (on this day). At my fifth appearance, a new Judge accepted my pleas, gave me "time served" (on all charges) plus Probation, and ordered my release.

I left the courtroom deeply grieved, that day. If it had taken this grandiose process six months to process a man who (from day one) was willing to plead and be sentenced, how much longer would it take for the many who were still "rotting away" in the Prison (after spending 2-4+ years)? My mind returned to the "high-profile" cases that were more speedily processed and to the mass amount of "white collar" criminals and rich white men whose crimes are consistently ignored. On the way back to the Prison (from which I would be released that day), I cried.

Nearly a month has passed, since that day when my outward freedom was returned to me. I still cry and grieve; my heart is utterly broken! It is most unlikely that this Society (USA) will ever comprehend that it can only take my outward freedom away. My heart belongs to our Loving Creator and to the poor, abused and downtrodden.

Over the last nearly seven months, the country of my birth (USA) has continued its relentless pursuit of fiscal, political and military policies to fulfill its stated desire of "Total Dominance" of the entire world. Our leaders continue laughing at the genocide and mass displacement of humanity in Afghanistan, Gaza, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, etc. Our military presence in 130+ countries (incl. 7-1600 military bases and torture prisons) seeks to guarantee our geopolitical aims (encircling of those nations who are a threat to our designs, security for "our" drug crops and business, mass exterminations of humanity, etc.). Every month, 6,000,000+ people have been exterminated (as a result of our policies; of which 3,000,000+ are children) and most of our citizens don't even know that each one has a name... like 5 year old Fatima... Our prisons remain full (as we move toward having 25%+ of the world's entire prison population). Our courts remain corrupt.

The United States of America remains a Society of potentially good people who have chosen 'Apathy, Silence and Doing Nothing' over Justice tempered with Intimate Mercy. It is as if we have purposefully become the hideous monstrosities of our worst nightmares. We have sold off our neighbors and the peoples of our world, for "another meal and a tank of gas". We are blind and deaf to the "Terminal Depression" that is upon us and to the "...imminent collapse of human industrialized civilization" which we have caused. As irony would have it, the world will likely survive (though much worse for wear) but, the United States of America has likely been dead for some time and soon, someone will have to bury our stinking, rotting carcass.

Beware of our "C.I.A.-led, Military-Industrial Complex", who still don't believe that they are dead; are most desperate and will soon seek to pass off their destructive power to someone more evil than they...

Please accept my continuing gratitude, for those of you who continue to be a part of the solution to the world's many dire issues.

Please forgive me, for my country's injustices and crimes against humanity...

The Solution to the World's Crisis

The Solution to the World's Crisis

By Norm Lowry

18 March, 2009
Countercurrents.org

"...as a species and as a planet we have reached a point of self-imposed crisis that can neither be postponed nor evaded." Mike Ruppert

Today, our society sits at its major crossroad. Which road we take will determine our outcome. On the one hand, we have blind leaders who are leading us to the slaughter, all the while continuing to offer us their illusion of security. On the other hand, we citizens have the answers to it all; something that our selfish, greedy, mostly-criminal leaders will never accept...available, quality, creation-filled relationship. In my country (USA), our leaders think that we somehow need them, continue to voice their veiled threats & to wave their so-called power cards (poverty sanctions, racist belittlements, imprisonment & destructive weapons) over our heads & over the heads of all of the world. But here's the good news, "Tyranny cannot exist without public consent, and is therefore entirely retractable".

It has been aptly said, that "To think deeply in our culture is to grow angry and to anger others; and if you cannot tolerate this anger, you are wasting the time you spend thinking deeply. One of the rewards to deep thought is the hot glow of anger at discovering a wrong, but if anger is taboo, thought will starve to death." During the most recent Gaza Genocide, I publicly stated my dissent (for my country's involvement); in world media, petitions & emails by stating my belief that most of my nation's leaders are criminals who simply need to be in prison & by asking noisy Israel & the quiet UN to remove their facilities & officials from my country. My Senator's (Robert Casey PA) canned email assured me that while he appreciated my concern, the US would continue to value its unbreakable commitment to Israel. That my country wants me to believe in the fomenting of racism, poverty & murder brings lots of deep thought (with its resultant "hot anger") to my mind & heart.

Our current crisis is much larger than being simply one nation against the other. My country's self-described "elites" are intent on Global Domination; their stated design. By manipulating the world's resources (in collusion with their worldwide counterparts), the last chapter of a decades-long agenda is being played out on the world society. It is their stated design to suck us dry, while paying no mind to how many become poor, hungry, or die. Every hour, around 8000+ lives are snuffed out (as if they meant nothing) as a result of my country's economic, political, & military policies. Every day, I look at pictures of our mutilated or dead brothers & sisters (especially the children) & weep.

There is much talk about rejecting "Protectionism" yet this seems to be the drug-of-choice for most of our world's leaders & of the bulk of my country's citizens. How about if we world citizens simply tell our leaders to "take a hike" & lead the way, by giving up our individual self-protections? Mohandas Gandhi told his people that if they desired freedom, "they would have to start acting like they were free & take responsibility for their own lives, their own communities, and their own local concrete issues of poverty". To continue to sit back, hoping that this will all just go away is to seek a most cheap substitute; one that will take our tomorrow away. I want to be free...do you?

So what does freedom look like?

To a ten year old girl named Rachel Corrie, freedom was "facing aloneness"; that quality of life that materialized for her, when she realized that 40,000+ people starved to death (preventably) each day. Listen to my most remembered words of Rachel:

I’m here for other children.
I’m here because I care.
I’m here because children everywhere are suffering and because forty thousand people die each day from hunger.
I’m here because those people are mostly children.
We have got to understand that the poor are all around us and we are ignoring them.
We have got to understand that these deaths are preventable.
We have got to understand that people in third world countries think and care and smile and cry just like us.
We have got to understand that they dream our dreams and we dream theirs.
We have got to understand that they are us. We are them.
My dream is to stop hunger by the year 2000.
My dream is to give the poor a chance.
My dream is to save the 40,000 people who die each day.
My dream can and will come true if we all look into the future and see the light that shines there.
If we ignore hunger, that light will go out.
If we all help and work together, it will grow and burn free with the potential of tomorrow.

By the wise old age of 23, Rachel penned these words, "We are all born and someday we’ll all die…to some degree alone. What if our aloneness isn’t a tragedy? What if our aloneness is what allows us to speak the truth without being afraid? What if our aloneness is what allows us to adventure – to experience the world as a dynamic presence – as a changeable, interactive thing?" Three months later, Rachel was crushed to death by Israeli forces beneath an American made Caterpillar army bulldozer (March 16, 2003).

To Sumayyah bint Khabbab (سمية بنت خياطّ), said to be Islam's first martyr, freedom meant the right to choose the "supreme importance", even if it led to death. To Gandhi, freedom meant that "Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as cooperation with good". To Dietrich Bonhoeffer, martyred in 1945 for his part in seeking to rid the world of Adolf Hitler, freedom meant identifying with the "costly nonviolence of the cross (of Jesus)". Of freedom, Philip Berrigan said, "We are all expected to do good, to seek justice and to resist evil. We will have to resist war for the rest of our lives. We're called to serve the poor, resist the state and be ignored, ostracized and sent to jail because we do that. We all have to take responsibility for the Bomb. But this new responsibility will breed all sorts of life-giving, salvific benefits in our lives. It will create the new human person, the new creation, the just social order". To Henri Nouwen, freedom is "Peacemaking" (Prayer, Resisting Injustice, Building Community, Serving the Poor, Accepting Weakness and Vulnerability, Practicing Nonviolence, Demanding Racial Justice, Making Purposeful Connections, Being full of Gratitude, Following our Creator's Plan). He believed that “...only those who deeply know that they are loved and rejoice in that love can be true peacemakers”. To this, John Dear adds, "Somehow we have to withdraw our cooperation more and more from the system of war, nuclear weapons, economic hegemony, global oppression of the poor, and imperial violence. We have to help others realize that we are an occupied people, living in the belly of the empire, so they can withdraw their cooperation with the system of institutionalized injustice, what Jonathan Schell calls "total violence"".

I am 56 years old & this is the day I was created for. For the first 28 years of my life, I generally bought the lies of the selfish, ego-driven, racist, violent, murdering, eco-destroying, economy-sucking US Empire (& associated friends). My life was full of its own lies, cheating, & theft; a lifestyle that destroyed all that was dear to me & eventually led me to deserved imprisonment, depression & eight years of homelessness (simply walking around, lost & dead inside). During those seemingly empty years, our Creator got me quiet enough to begin to hear His voice & assisted me by opening my blind eyes. I began to seek help to change my vile ways & to read & search the Holy Books & the public record for truth. What I have found has amazed me & has absolutely set me free. Today, my sole aim is to become one, “who is jealous of none; who is a fount of mercy; who is without egotism; who is selfless; who treats alike cold and heat, happiness and misery; who is ever forgiving; who is always contented; whose resolutions are firm; who has dedicated mind and soul to God; who causes no dread; who is not afraid of others; who is free from exultation, sorrow and fear; who is pure; who is versed in action yet remains unaffected by it; who renounces all fruit, good or bad; who treats friend and foe alike; who is untouched by respect or disrespect; who is not puffed up by praise; who does not go under when people speak ill of him; who loves silence and solitude; and who has a disciplined reason" (Gandhi). I am free...do you want to be free?

Here is your invitation to freedom! In spite of the seemingly overbearing threat of worldwide destruction (which is guaranteed to come, if we don't take charge), I am inviting you to join me in a simple acknowledgment that our leaders are blind & have taken us to the edge of destruction. I'm inviting you to join me in trusting that the vision of peace that we carry deep in our hearts can be realized, if we work together to throw off the bonds of racism, poverty, oppression & murder that dominate most of our leader's thoughts. Our grand heart-dreams can become reality...beginning today. This will cost us...some of us, most dearly...including death. Yet, what would this cost be, compared with the destruction past & the guarantee of destruction future (if we do not take charge)? I am not advocating violent overthrow, as such. Violence never erases violence...period! What I am advocating is this: Say no to the lies, in practical ways. Refuse to take unfair advantage of anyone. Refuse to speak an evil of anyone. Refuse to buy or sell products that come from slave labor. Raise your hand in violence against no one; restrain but do no harm in return. Refuse military service. Honor & Love your Creator, by honoring & loving your neighbor (this includes the most evil of neighbors). Stand in the way of weapons of destruction & peacefully destroy them. Take a bullet or imprisonment (if necessary)...for Love. As John Dear says, "Only peacemakers can see the way forward toward a world of peace".

The Solution to the World's Crisis is available, quality, creation-filled relational community!

Please join me in bringing this to pass.

I Murder 200,000+ People...Every Day...

I Murder 200,000+ People…Every Day…

By Norm Lowry

12 March 2009
Paltelegraph.com

As a US citizen, I am personally responsible for the worldwide murders of 200,000+ people every day. Commonly labeled as “Excess Deaths” - just as starving people are said to be “Food Deficient”- the truth would have it that these deaths are admittedly avoidable. Pathetic descriptors, coined by oligarchic leadership, do not erase the fact that lives are purposefully being erased for mostly selfish & illicit ends.

My country was supposedly founded on “Christian” principles; principles that would cause a person to die so that others might live; not to live so that others may die. Somehow, these grand ideas have mutated into the creation of a society which seems to see itself as being more honorable or moral than all others. This allows us an illicit luxury: purposeful deafness & blindness to the use of blatantly vile power & control to purchase an illusion of ease & comfort.

Most everyone in the world knows that my country’s so-called “elitist” leaders are simply putting the finishing touches on the largest fiscal rape of humanity, ever (likely $60 quadrillion dollars extracted & counting). Most of my fellow citizens are willing to admit that “something very serious is occurring” yet few seem willing to “face the music” that “the fat lady” (reference to opera’s final act) is singing & that life as we know it is soon to become life as we have handed to the world we have been oppressing.

So, how is it that I murder 200,000+ people…every day? And, where is it all leading?

First, let me reiterate that I am speaking of ‘taking responsibility’, which seems the only way to facilitate genuinely compassionate change. For the past twenty-one years, I have dedicated myself to personal change, from the inside out. It is my desire to give up whatever is required that others may be lifted up (for even one moment) “above the emptiness of their unbearable lives”.

My pathway has been one of looking below the shallow presentations of the mainstream media & the surface words of my religious & political leaders. I went to the world’s holy books & to the public record. In the holy books, I found stories of all sorts of people being sought out by deities, some good & some evil. In the public record, I found unadulterated truth (even with regard to the arrogant lies of our conceited leadership).

Second, let me say (in the combined words of others), “The continuing, horrendous global avoidable mortality (murder) is fundamentally due to violence, deprivation, disease and lying”.

In my 56 years on this planet, my country has chosen to go to war (either overtly or covertly) with the following sovereign nations: Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Armenia/Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Bhutan, Biafra, Bolivia, Bosnia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Burma, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chad, Chechnya, Chile, China, Columbia, Congo, Costa Rica, Cuba, Croatia, Cyprus, Darfur, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Falklands, Fiji, Gambia, Gaza, Georgia, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guam, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Herzegovina, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Irian, Israel, Jordan, Kosovo, Kenya, Korea, Kuwait, Jamaica, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Nepal, Nicaragua, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Micronesia, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Oman, Philippines, Pakistan, Palestine, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent & Grenadines, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Timor, Trinidad & Tobago, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, US Virgin Islands, Vanuatu, Vietnam, West Papua, West Sahara, Yemen, Zaire/Congo, Zaire, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

The staggering thought is that this list is likely nowhere near complete…sigh!

My short list of “the horrendous true cost of global avoidable mortality (murder)”, commonly ignored, is: racism & bigotry, poverty, medical communities (avoidable mortality, lack of water, basic health care & preventive medicine), relatively high infant death rate (incl. abortion), euthanasia, public transport related deaths, tobacco, alcohol & illicit drug related deaths, depression, social laxity, obesity, STDs, suicide, mounting “home alone” elderly & child issues, crime-related deaths;

Fossil fuel based deaths (toxic pollutants—carbon monoxide, particulates, sulfur dioxide, heavy metals), malnourishment (57%+ of total world’s population), famine (incl. food sold on commodities markets, producing artificial price inflation), immoral diversion of food for biofuel (“lies, censorship, intimidation, self-censorship, white-washing, anti-science spin”), nuclear industry (production, waste storage, materials theft, industrial pollution and un-reported radioactive contamination events), mainstream media entrenchment culture (oblivious to lying by omission or not caring to know the truth), induced global warming (incl. mass denial), US corporation off-shoring, outsourcing jobs, US as a major world occupier;

Climate change as a military weapon (“deprivation & deprivation-exacerbated disease”), terrorism (&“terror hysteria”), defense (war & profit-making), nuclear terrorism (incl. depleted uranium issue, giving away or allowing theft of our nuclear material), turning our backs on other country’s genocide, psy-ops, 200+ military torture prisons (incl. public willingness to ignore the issue, based on promises to close Guantanamo & “redecorate” Bagram, etc.), labeling of so-called terrorist organizations.

Homeland security, Patriot Acts, Homeland Security laws, oppression or imprisonment of dissident citizens, mandatory immunizations, economic sanctions (as a prelude to war & for population control), high level radiation or chemical tagging of dissidents, spying on the public, fear mongering, use of artificial intelligence-typical software to steal trillions from federal housing authorities, military, and pentagon subversion, radiation experimentation, chemical experimentation, drug wars, drug dealing & money laundering, treating money in foreign countries with radiation (purposefully causing cancer), intentional poisoning of air & water, irresponsible & illegal invasions & subversion, mass exterminations (as National Security Policy), purposeful fiscal wrecking of corporations & countries that oppose US aims;

WALL Street complicity (incl. cover & money laundering for the CIA), 1000+ military installations (incl. 100+ underground, secure bases), unwillingness to be accountable to world criminal courts, immigration persecution, 50%+ of world’s military budget, largest arms dealer in world, demonization of minority races (incl. ethnic, religious & gender bias), nearly 25% of the world’s prison population (excluding military & torture prisons), ignoring nuclear weapons treaties, breaking nearly all (if not all) of Native American treaties, purposeful extermination of Native American & African slaves, treatment of populace of US territories as foster children, rapacious taxation, rape of financial system, use of AIDS & Avian DNA for military-grade weapons, genetically altered crops (incl. cover up of faulty seed crops & related disease, use for population control), creating poverty through fiscal rape of economy, Geopolitical plans for world domination & creation of an “elitist New World Order”, propaganda, illegal occupation, war related disease-spreading, subversion of the Sovereignty of other nations, political assassination…and Peak Oil…

And now for the “bad” news:

This is simply the beginning. The worst is yet to come. My country’s so-called elite say (US National Security Policy & US Intelligence Community assessments) that 2/3+ of US & World populace must die, for the world to sustain itself. It has been stated that one of the new strains of the Avian Flu (US created?) is up to the task.

The good news is that many of the worlds oppressed have been refined through imposed suffering & possess all that is needed to throw off the lies & chains of oppression. Maybe you can teach the rest of us, both how to suffer well & how to rid our world of its evils.

Today, I murdered 200,000+ people. Please forgive me & teach me how to be your servant!

A Day of Reckoning for the USA

A Day of Reckoning for the USA

By Norm Lowry

11 February 2009
Countercurrents.org

“The foundation of all Mental Illness is the unwillingness to experience legitimate suffering.” Carl Jung

Lately, I have been inordinately baffled. The combined government & media sources of the world tell the tale of whole countries sitting on the edge of fiscal insolvency; civil unrest now becoming commonplace; starvation & suicide deaths soaring; staggering rises in unemployment; food shortages; rising threats & escalating wars. In my country (USA), the stories are the same…maybe 46 of 50 States, 80% of US cities & 2 of 3 US banks are fiscally insolvent; likely 1 of 5 workers unemployed or working part-time (due to lack of suitable employment); home foreclosures up 80% in 2008 (worse yet expected in 2009).

The rise in homelessness expected to soon use up available resources; up to 1 in 6 go to bed hungry; likely 40% of States discussing possible secession options & Federal Government committing to unconstitutional use of US troops to quell expected civil disobedience or to enforce US sovereignty over the States. In spite of all of this, the majority of my fellow citizens seem to believe that we will somehow just be okay; that we are somehow more honorable & moral than everyone else.

Reality would seem to indicate that this is simply not true; that genuine hope lies only in the compassionate truth that our old, corrupt system of leadership & lies must die in order for honest resolution to occur. A monstrous lie, which is our silence to injustice, violence & racism, now covers my country like a thick fog. Though the preponderance of evidence would show us to be ‘freemen who have chosen slavery’ (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn), our ‘absurd deafness’ (Henri Nouwen) thinks it prudent to overestimate our status & to overlook the fact that we have allowed our corrupt leaders to lead us into ‘purposeful, pre-planned recessions & wars, theft of the world’s wealth, selling of drugs & laundering of drug resources, repressing dissent (to avoid exposure), convincing the populace that we are moral & honorable, & committing genocide to maintain an illusion of control’ (Mike Ruppert, Jenna Orkin, Paul Craig Roberts, David M. Walker, Michel Chossudovsky, Ron Paul, Cynthia McKinney, John Pilger, Jonathan Cook, Stephen Lendman). Oh, that this were not true!

The Day of Reckoning for the USA is nigh at hand. Soon…our lights will go out, our economy will come to a screeching halt (when our oil supply is no longer able to be financed, due to the world losing confidence in us or no longer being willing to bow to our arrogance), chaos will become the law of our land & greater, mass death will be perpetrated on our citizenry. Soon…we will reap the due consequences of what we have allowed to be sown on our greater world.

The good news is that much of our coming calamity could likely be avoided. But it would necessitate complete honesty & integrity; admitting the truth (as it is), turning away from our blindness & evil, & becoming willing to make genuinely honest amends. Either way, the price tag seems to be the same. We can die or live, dependent on the Mercy of those we have offended…or…we can simply suffer the consequences of a terrible Day of Reckoning, with its guarantee of more destruction & death than any of us would like to see.

Be Wary of Who You Follow

Be Wary of Who You Follow

By Norm Lowry

04 February 2009
Countercurrents.org

Let me first say a heart-felt "Thank You" to Abdul Basit, for his "Global Financial Crises and Hugo Chavez". Over the last short period of time, it has been my honor to begin some meaningful dialog with Mr. Basit. For those not familiar with his writings, I would suggest his: "Manifesto to Counter Global Warming and Climate Change", "Climate Change Solutions: Beyond Science and Above Confines", "Wars and climate change: national interests versus global emergency", "Humanity At crossroads: Attitudes and Climate Change", and "Mr. President, We Too Have a Dream". As you read these grand articles, you will come to more fully appreciate the passion & wisdom behind his offerings. Especially enlightening is his grasp of our deep need for "promoting sustainable development (at individual, social & national, & international levels)".

My piece of the debate on "Global Financial Meltdown" is simple: *Stop looking to my country (the USA) for much of anything related to "Integrity" or "Moral leadership"*. Our combined selfishness has created & seeks to exacerbate the woes, for purposes of "World Domination". Sure, our leaders hatched the schemes (financial bubbles) but our citizenry has selfishly & blindly followed suit, thinking mostly of "what is in it for me?” Sure, the world systems tended to jump on the "bandwagon", often for selfish gain. But here's the crux...it is my country which has held the biggest gun to everyone's head & will continue to do so...if allowed.

Contrary to the popularly publicized traditions, the USA was not formed with "freedom for the masses" in mind. Our Declaration of Independence covered only about 15% of our population (the so-called "elites" & did not cover minorities, including women, or white males who owned less than $300 in real property). From our inception, we have exterminated those who got in our way. The extermination of 50.000.000+ Native Americans began at the hands of the Puritans (Pequot tribe) & continued with the extermination of 50,000,000+ African slaves. Today, our economic, political, & military policies cause 70,000,000+ deaths annually (that's 200,000+ deaths per day). As the world watches in horror, US "elites" rape & pillage our planet & its societies (for their benefit). All the while our general citizenry sits at home in "SILENCE", turning a deaf ear to the truth (which makes us complicit). And the saddest part is that the bulk of the "church people", who preach & teach that there is a Creator who is all about Love & Hope, either back the Hegemony & Kleptocracy that is the US or sit quietly & refuse to "confront" (saying, "we cannot be judgmental"). By the way, my deepest Joy is found in my relationship with this Loving, Hope-filled Creator, who asks me not to be silent. Simply put, my country remains the most racist & violent land in existence & I will not be silent about it.

At this present juncture, the US is a flat-broke, unrepentant, sociopathic, desperate, wounded & cornered wild animal, poise to strike out at anyone who even dares hint at our improprieties. By "elite" design, we will seek to muscle our way out of our debacle & continue to blame it on someone else. The larger world, in order to more amicably survive must discard most of what we have to offer. You must quit acquiescing to our political overtures & threats. You must give up the hyped-up perceptions that our new leadership is anything but a "bought-and-paid-for fall guy". You must quit listening to our new administration's fiscal team, many of whom have been the originators of our mutual crises. You must quit believing the "lie" that the world's prime terrorists are anyone but the US & our so-called Intelligence communities. You must quit financing our debt, which only perpetuates our ability to oppress & to aid others who would oppress. You must release yourselves from the evil clutches of the IMF, World Bank & related financial rapists.

For those interested in some excellent perspective from some of my fellow citizens & an enlightening Canadian who will not sell out, please check out the writings of:

· Craig Paul Roberts (former US Assistant Treasury Secretary) at http://www.vdare.com/roberts/all_columns.htm
· David M Walker (former US Comptroller General & head of the GAO) at http://www.pgpf.org/about/leadership/dmw/
· Mike Ruppert (author of Crossing the Rubicon--a must read) at http://www.mikeruppert.blogspot.com/
· Professor Michel Chossudovsky (Director & Editor of the Centre for Research on Globalization / Centre de recherché sur lamondialisation) at http://www.globalresearch.ca/

We have a big world, filled with precious & wonderful people, just waiting for a better life. Together, we can make this happen!