Monthly Archives: June 2013

TOMATO BLUES

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I love tomatoes. I grow my own; I eat them daily; I often buy Mexican cherry tomatoes between seasons. But recently I noticed this news article about a bust at a tomato farm in Veracruz. Even more shocking than the offered (not paid) pay rate of less than $1us per hour (~$12mx) is the kidnapping and slavery perpetrated by the owners of the farm. Mexico: I love you, but you breaka my heart! The question to watch for: what will now happen to the owners?

If this crime were committed in USA (it happens; it happens) the farm owners could be at risk of life in prison, along with labor fines that would probably bankrupt the business. But if there is one thing business owners understand, it’s risk assessment. Yet the fact that such practices continue says much about both societies. ¶Sometimes it’s just hard to enjoy a meal. Yes, we’ve all gotta eat. I need to be mindful that one man’s food is another’s paycheck. And, yes, fair trade prices have a reason for being. ¶ The early economics classic WEALTH of NATIONS describes an invisible hand in the marketplace, keeping prices fair. Is that hand, today, crippled? (The author, Adam Smith, wrote about businesses which typically had only a dozen employees.) Few students of economics are aware that Smith was not an economist but a moral philosopher (in America, an ethicist), also authoring another important volume, The THEORY of MORAL SENTIMENTS. ¶ Things to ponder as we offer thanks before our next meal.

IS THERE LIFE AFTER DELIVERY?

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Birthing Barbie photo by rdnckwlly at photobucket.com

In a mother’s womb were two babies.
One asked the other: “Do you believe in life after delivery?”

The other replies, “why, of course.
There has to be something after delivery.
Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.

“Nonsense,” says the other.
“There is no life after delivery.
What would that life be?”

“I don’t know, but there will be more light than here.
Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths.”

The other says “This is absurd! Walking is impossible.
And eat with our mouths? Ridiculous.
The umbilical cord supplies nutrition.
Life after delivery is to be excluded.
The umbilical cord is too short.”

“I think there is something and maybe
it’s different than it is here.”

The other replies, “No one has ever come back from there.
Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery
it is nothing but darkness and anxiety
and it takes us nowhere.”

“Well, I don’t know,” says the other,
“but certainly we will see mother and she will take care of us.”

“Mother??” You believe in mother? Where is she now?

“She is all around us. It is in her that we live.
Without her there would not be this world.”

“I don’t see her, so it’s only logical that she doesn’t exist.”

To which the other replied, “sometimes when you’re in silence
you can hear her, you can perceive her.”

I believe there is a reality after delivery
and we are here to prepare ourselves for that reality.

Sherry V Wakeman, posted to The_Now2  — found by MeridaGOround at Nonduality Highlights, issue #4949, of June 16

CA$H & CAREER

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Judas receiving payment for betrayal of Jesus, by Giotto di Bondone

Careerism is an ugly word, but it is also a subtle form of temptation. So, what’s your price? ¶ As detailed in the link below, The United States of America has now been found to have fallen to the organized-crime mob of citizens who work for the security state. They have sold the rest of us out for a paycheck. I’m stunned. The protectors have become the perpetrators. And the evidence is huge. Friends, please read and ponder the evidence to be found in this very credible article from NYTimes by Philosopher Peter Ludlow .

 

SECURITY, SPYING, and “PROTECTION”

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Alfonse Capone, circa 1935

Capone at Alcatraz

An Open Letter to Congressman Brian Higgins (D-26th, NY) of House Intelligence Committee

Congressman Mr Higgins:

I have voted for you in every primary and general election (until you were re-districted outside my hometown). This evening I heard you on the radio making excuses defending NSA spying on our entire citizenry. Sir, I spent four years of my life defending the principles of our Constitution against all enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC. Today you have colossally failed to do so, here, at home. You are making a bargain with the devil, and I won’t sit by to allow your view to pass without protest. Your excuses are lame. Your defense of this outrageous violation of our principles is unacceptable.
¶ On WBFO radio you cited a disrupted terrorism incident regarding rail service passing through Buffalo. A few lives were probably saved. Great. (At what cost to liberty and treasury was this act prevented?) But we could easily save thousands of lives if legislators would enact more rigorous dwi laws, enforcing driver license suspicion honored throughout our 50 states – suspended in one state, ineligible to apply for license in all 50. (But there’s no campaign money there!) Instead, our legislators, including you, are in bed with Wall Street and Silicon Valley — selling “protection” to us just like Al Capone did to merchants in Chicago. SHAME! Where is your moral compass pointing, Mr Higgins? I’m truly disgusted with both parties and their actions displayed in this wholesale criminal enterprise of spying and protection-bilking. Where is the integrity and courage that was once so honorably American? Edward Snowden seems to be one of few citizens with real courage and vision.
¶ Today I sent a check to the American Civil Liberties Union, as I understand they are suing our government over this outrageous spying activity. The ACLU appear to be the only leaders with sufficient concern to defend our Bill of Rights. You, Sir, are no longer a trusted public servant. In my view, you are serving yourself, and the ultra-wealthy puppet masters who pay for your reelection. Please look into your heart today and question what you stand for. You’re on the House Intelligence Committee. I expect you to be more intelligent. This deal must end.
In the words of Ben Franklin: They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. It’s time to retract the Patriot Act, I say.
 
Signed,
~eric.
Eric Chaffee, Alden NY