Terrorist governor and sheriff in North Dakota

Last night the terrorist sheriff's department in Morton County North Dakota used water cannons on elders and others in below freezing temperatures. One elder had a heart attack.

The governor of North Dakota is Jack Dalrymple, a corporate whore to the nth degree. He is owned by the oil companies. Sheriff Kirchmeier is another terrorist. He and his department should all be rounded up and imprisoned for committing acts of torture.

If you haven't yet taken a stand, DO SO NOW! Call YOUR senators and let them know this is unacceptable. There is no point trying to call these terrorists themselves, their lines are busy and they don't give a shit, but contact people who can hold them accountable.

This is happening NOW in the US...government thugs in service to oil companies committing acts of violence against peaceful people.

Take a stand!

Counteract hate, be proactive!

Here is something you can do in YOUR community to counteract the emboldened knuckledraggers...

Whatever Trump believes, his rhetoric over the course of the campaign has given all kinds of permission to haters (racists, sexists, anti LGBTQ, anti immigrant, anti Muslim, anti Indigenous, and more) to act out.

Communities set their own standards of decency. It is through our everyday speech, through what we stand for, what we participate in, what we accept and do not accept, that we set the standards of our community.

Are there folks in YOUR COMMUNITY who would be interested in a weekly vigil that focuses on messages of support FOR indigenous, people of color, lgbtq, women, Muslims, immigrants etc.? Broadcast this very specific message of support, not rage or fear...create a space of support for people who are being targeted.

US at war within itself right now in North Dakota

Right now militarized police from numerous states are aggressing upon the Water Protectors in North Dakota on Native Treaty Land. All cell phone coverage has been jammed. There is no live video coming out right now, it's all jammed.
This is how a totalitarian state operates. Make no mistake about it, Obama is allowing this. This is an act of eco-cidal insanity. Understand that what we call the US Government is an occupying force representing a financial and fossil fuel elite cartel. The elections are false. The economic system is rigged. The various "law enforcement" agencies serve the elite...not you and me. A racist apartheid system is entrenched in this country, and most white people will deny that because they are insulated from it.

Your high Obamacare premiums and deductibles, your out of control student loans, climate change, police killing people daily...and so many more ills we see in our society, these are all symptoms of the corrupt system that rules this country. It's very clear that the upcoming presidential election is a farce. What will it take for there to be massive non-cooperation? We need a general strike in this country and we need it now.

Autumnal...and Starhawk!

Paradigms this week features the author Starhawk, talking about the new audiobook version of The Fifth Sacred Thing.  Starhawk and I are old friends so we have an easy rapport, and discuss many things of interest; the Standing Rock action, what "sacredness" is...she gives a great explanation...and more.

It's grey and rainy, there's a chill in the air.  The corporate news is full of election foolishness.  The independent media is full of stories of corruption, impending nuclear war, and just general awfulness.  I find that my best response is to sit quietly and watch the rain and the river, the birds, the dog, and just enjoy being part of this.  

Brexit and...

What I see in the Brexit vote, as well as in Trump and Sanders supporters, is that people are yearning to live in societies where they feel safe, where their basic needs are met, and then some; where there are opportunities to learn and be productive and to enjoy life.  Some of that is framed in false nostalgia for that which never was,  but all of the xenophobic and racist rants are basically saying that, albeit in a thoroughly ignorant and deluded way.  The Berners are saying that too though, in more altruistic and hospitable ways.  The neocon/neolib establishment is saying NO, only the few can have that, most of you must eat shit.

What no one is saying is that if we continue to trash the biosphere NO ONE will have any of that goodness.  The overcrowding many in Britain feel is going to be everywhere because we continue to grow our population.  The hunger and thirst of the so-called "undeveloped" nations will be everywhere because we are urbanizing  and degrading farmland, and wasting/polluting water, at alarming rates.

Humans are often at their best when things are at their worst, so perhaps we are setting the stage for a magnificent unification of the humans into a great blaze of consciousness that makes living in bodies unnecessary. Maybe we'll come together, remain corporeal, and stop our destructive ways.  Maybe we will make a desert of this whole planet.  There are many possibilities.

Melody's Archipelago

The last few episodes of Paradigms have been dealing with life and death and strife.  In the upcoming episode we return to our ever-present focus on the creative process conversing with Melody Parker, who has just released her first CD Archipelago.

Asking artists about their process can go any number of ways.  For some it is like asking the centipede how they coordinate all those legs...it's stultifying.  For some it's like diving into the deep end of the pool, or swimming out to the depths.  That's what it was like talking with Melody Parker.  She gave no easy answers, uttered not a cliché, and took long pauses (which I edited out of the podcast) sometimes between thoughts.  This is a person who is actively engaged in plumbing their own depths.  Kudos.

When you listen to the episode you'll hear some of the music from Archipeligo, and you might notice the different qualities of sound and instrumentation and rhythm from song to song.  The water theme is ever present, as is that personal "don't-fit-in-a-box quality that is part of Melody's personality.

Airtimes:
Sunday May 29 at 8 PM local time on WBKM in Burlington, Vermont.  The podcast goes live then also at Paradigms.Life.
Wednesday June 1 at 11 AM local time on KWRK-LP in Fairbanks Alaska  
Sunday, June 5 at 9 AM local time on KPOV in Bend Oregon

What is a revolutionary?

On this week's Paradigms I talk with Ahmed Salah, author of the recently published book You Are Under Arrest for Masterminding the Egyptian Revolution: A Memoir. In his book Ahmed describes how his upbringing in a political family shaped his world view, leading him to become an activist for democracy in Egypt. He recounts his activities as a non-violent activist during the years leading up to and including the protests that led to the fall of Hosni Mubarak in early 2011.

The book is a good read.  It is engaging and well written.  It is a powerful document for anyone interested in liberation of any kind, whether it's your mind or your country or your world.  The vision and courage it takes to speak out, knowing that the consequences may be dire, is worth acknowledging and appreciating.

Right now in the United States we face a less physically extreme but no less significant possible turning point in our political process, and what is expected and tolerated from leaders. I hope that most of the people have the vision and courage to stand up for ethics, and for the greater good.  It is time for this country to redirect itself towards peace with the rest of the world, including making peace with the planet Earth.

Ahmed is now living in San Francisco.  Among his accomplishments is bringing his experiences in Egypt here, and sharing with us so that we can all learn and be inspired as we effect changes in this country.

Driving with Zack and Bees

Zack and I just got home from a 7 hour drive...3.5 hours each way...to pick up a box of bees!  As soon as we started back after getting the bees I noticed a few flying around in the car.  They had gotten out of the box.  Zack didn't seem to mind and I just didn't have any fear response.  They seemed troubled and were flying against the rear windshield.  I turned up the A/C and got into relaxed driving mode, and 3.5 hours later we got back home with no stings. I felt a very delicious calm for most of the ride.  No music.  No windows open.  Zack was very attentive to the driving.  Occasionally he'd look back at the bees but then eyes front with a big smile. Zack is a dog, for those who don't know.

When we got home I brought the box out to where the hive is set up, behind a big rock as a windbreak, with a bush on the sunny side so as not to be too hot, and with the river about 20 feet away. I did what I was told, uncorked the box and let the bees out, then put the frames that were in the box into the hive I have set up, put the top on and put  the baggie with sugar syrup on top, with some cuts in it. There were a lot of bees in this box with the 5 frames, and they were all coming out of the box when I uncorked it...then when I took the lid off the box, wow!  Thousands more!  The cool thing is...no fear, and no stings.  Zack is fascinated and wants to check them out.  I suggested he let them get settled into their new home first.

I love the character "The Melissa" from Starhawk's "Fifth Sacred Thing" trilogy.  The Melissa is a priestess who communes with bees, and has become part bee in a way.  She works with bee energy and bee substances in healing, as well as "bee mind."  I am feeling a whole new exploration coming, for me, with bees.

Cancer, Medicine, Faith and Community

This week's episode of Paradigms, and next week's (it's a two parter!) focus on the experience of Dave and Rebecca.  At 35 weeks pregnant Rebecca was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in March of 2015.  Since then she has had a baby, undergone numerous different cancer treatments, been a catalyst for community, and worked with faith and prayer.

I've known Rebecca and Dave for some time, not super well but in the context of permaculture and spiritual community.  I've been following their story, if you will, since the diagnosis.

In these two episodes of Paradigms Dave talks about what happened.  He tells the story from before the diagnosis to the present.  There was too much for just one episode so I decided to make it a two parter.  The first part will air this Sunday, May 8, and explores a lot of the story, what happened when, stuff like that.  The second part will air May 15, and goes into some of the more esoteric and community based aspects of Dave and Rebecca's experience.

Rebecca chose not to be interviewed, but with her consent Dave and I spent some time together via Skype, and he told the story.  We shared funny moments, tearful moments, and joyful moments.  Tune in and let this story of love and commitment inspire you.

Notes on the April 17 Paradigms

This week's episode will be among many people's favorites!  Sha'an Mouliert, my old friend and fellow GMTI colleague, tells some of her story.  Sha'an started out in Queens, New York, and has been living in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont for quite a few decades now.  Listen to the episode and I think you'll enjoy her very much, and of course the music (which Sha'an picked!) is excellent.

This episode follows a theme that Paradigms has been actively exploring for 7 years; Justice.  Whether it's racial, gender, sexuality, economic, ability, environmental...Justice (and I use the capital "J" on purpose) is an elusive goal which, while we may never fully achieve it, as Kinan Azmeh said on last week's show, we must keep striving for.

Kinan Azmeh on Paradigms April 10, 2016

This week's Paradigms features Kinan Azmeh.  Kinan is a clarinetist and composer.  He's from Damascus, Syria and currently resides in New York City.  I enjoyed our conversation very much.  I found Kinan to be a thoughtful, wise, deep thinking person, whose musical talent is informed by his intelligence and ethics.  His music is not run-of-the-mill and you will probably find yourself exploring some less-traveled territory in your own awareness, while you listen.

Paradigms is now available on 4 venues!  It's very exciting.  I make 4 customized episodes each week. Three get call letters; WBKM, KPOV, and now KWRK-LP, and there's the Podcast. Soon there will be more radio stations broadcasting Paradigms to more people; more inspired inspiring stuff on the airwaves!

Next week's episode will feature guest Sha'an Mouliert who is  long time friend and someone I have done co-work with.  Sha'an will be telling some of her personal story about how she came to live and work in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.  Sha'an is African American and the Northeast Kingdom is 99% Euro-American.  Sha'an has been doing racism awareness and healing from racism work for many years and was recently awarded The Presidential Medal of Freedom from Lyndon State College in Lyndonville, Vermont.

If you know people who you think would enjoy Paradigms, please share the link http://Paradigms.Life with them, or this blog post.  The mission is to reach as many people as possible with inspiration!

North America, North Africa, How do you do?

I've been thinking about how people from North Africa, the area many call "The Middle East" were not in my awareness much when I was growing up.  I knew that Israel existed and that there were other countries that didn't like Israel, I didn't understand why.  I was brought up with virtually no religion, so understanding that other people had religious beliefs that led them to go to war was completely bizarre to me.  It still is. I had no idea that gasoline was made from oil that came from that part of the world.

Now in 2016 people from North Africa are much in my awareness, and many more are here in the US than were in the 1960's when I was a child.  There are people from that part of the world who have moved here to this land, who identify as Muslims, Christians, Jews, and other religions too.

Certainly the advent of air travel has contributed to people moving around the world, but I've been thinking about this in the context of balance.

The various oil and drug cartels based in "The United States" (I put that in quotes because I just can't take it very seriously anymore, nations, when we know that corporations are calling the shots) have invaded, killed, pillaged, and exploited the people and the lands in that part of the world relentlessly for over 100 years now.  It seems fair and just that we should thus experience an influx of people and culture from the area "we" have exploited.  It's karmic justice.

The western propaganda machine has so vilified our brothers and sisters in North Africa, the way this universe seems to work, it makes sense we would now be living the scenario of being with those same people so we can learn who they really are, and they can learn who we really are ("they" and "we" being huge generalizations).  It will take time but, as has happened countless times in human his/herstory, eventually the perceived differences will become less important, and will dissipate, people will intermarry and have children, and the differences that people feel so strongly about now will become memories.  This is generally how humans do it, unless one group rises up and kills the other group, that happens too, but hopefully less and less.

So the upshot of this is...my message to people who talk about "Islamification"... this our western culture has created this situation by warring and oppressing.  Just something to think about, especially when vilifying "the other."

Republicans imploding!

We are seeing a number of states governed by republicans getting ready to implode.  

Arizona, with it's oh so blatant disenfranchisement of citizens regarding the right to vote...from the governor on down there is obvious culpability.  In Alabama the governor, a family values republican, now caught in an affair with a co-worker...he is about to tumble as his the entire top of Alabama's state government. Kentucky's new governor is accused of election fraud, though nothing seems to be happening with that at the moment. Rick Snyder, who is responsible for the poisoning of thousands of people in Michigan, will be facing some serious reckoning one way or another in the near future (my personal favorite is street justice for a scumbag like Snyder)...the governor of Indiana just signed a law requiring women to pay for the funerals of their aborted fetuses, and it goes on and on.  

The republican party is about to implode nationally. Christofascist laws and policies are being rolled out willy nilly however most of the actual PEOPLE seem NOT to be in favor of laws that enshrine hate and bigotry. The US is on the cusp of actual progress, or of slipping back into some of the worst human nature has to offer. It's tense! Even though Hillary Clinton is intent upon stealing the presidential election no matter what, it's clear already that, if there were an election right now (a fair one) Sanders would be elected by a huge margin.

I believe that the majority of people living in the US want to move forward with protecting the environment, maintaining a secular state, keep jobs here rather than outsourcing abroad, have schools that actually teach young people, have access to medical care not just medical insurance, have access to wholesome food that is not full of poisons; this list could go on and on.

The only thing standing between humanity and living in a wonderful peaceful world are people who wish to control others, whether it's through religion or economics or indoctrination. We know who those people are, we know they are at the top of the economic and religious pyramid schemes that run so many countries including the US. It seems high time to take back our power from these parasites, don't you think?

We don't have to allow ourselves to be screwed!

Have you ever been overcharged by the bank or credit union you deal with?  Have you ever been overcharged by a doctor? Have you ever been ripped off by what should be an honorable institution like a bank or doctor or utility or any other service that is pretty much a necessity in this society?  I bet you're nodding vigorously!

I am one of those people who just can't stand injustice. I campaign for justice in much of my life, so when I encounter this kind of chicanery it really gets me going.  I am sharing this with the intention of encouraging others to not allow themselves to be screwed.

Recently the credit union I was banking with charged me for overdraft fees that were not legit.  The funds were there, but they charged me anyway.  I made a stink, filed a grievance with the state agency that regulates banking, who forwarded my complaint to the federal agency that regulates credit unions.  It took about 6 weeks but the credit union called me, apologized, and paid me back.  This experience led me to wonder, how many people are charged fees by banks and credit unions...$25 here, $50 there...that are not legitimate? I bet it ends up being millions of dollars a year.  If it happens to you, you have recourse!  Your state has an agency that regulates banking, and you can contact them, file a complaint, and they will have to deal with it.

Currently I am dealing with a situation with a doctor who charged me $500 for a 10 minute consultation that involved looking down my throat with a scope.  The outcome was that I was told to drink more water.  $500 for 10 minutes?  You have got to be kidding.  Whether a person has insurance or not (I do not due to a snafu at Healthcare.gov which is hopefully being resolved) that is wild overcharging.  That is the kind of overcharging that creates hugely inflated medical costs all around.  Why is this tolerated?  I have filed complaints with the Medical Board and the Consumer Protection Agency of the state I am in, Oregon.  The Medical Board replied telling me they did not find any illegal activity, but they keep the complaint and add it to the doctor's file.  I have yet to hear from the Consumer Protection Agency.

If we do not speak up when we are being ripped off, then we are allowing it.  I, for one, am not inclined to just allow this stuff.  These are minuscule issues in the bigger scheme of things, but the ongoing disenfranchisement of regular folks in favor of institutions is not healthy for people and not healthy for society.

I encourage you to notice when you are being ripped off, and to do something about it.  The mechanisms exist for holding institutions accountable, and it's not difficult to access them.  It can be tedious to fill out the forms, so some patience is required.  Outcomes are not fast, so again, patience is required, however when one is vindicated it is a great feeling, and hopefully the offenders learn from the experience and stop ripping people off!

So, if you are being ripped off by any provider of a service, you do not have to just take it.  You have the right to seek and to find justice!

Depolarizing Campaign 2016

The presidential campaign in the US continues to highlight what is at stake in this election.  On the right hand there is Donald Trump playing the part of the blustering strong man who will say anything, no matter how outrageous, for the cheers and applause.  He goes out of his way to appeal to the lowest common denominators of fear and anger.  It is actually people like Trump who have brought this country to this point of moral and ethical bankruptcy, and who have created this shell game of an economic system with it's periodic bubbles (one is about to burst any day now in fact) that lead to increased concentration of wealth among a few while more and more people are impoverished.

I think Cruz and Kasich are the only other republicans left standing, both hideous christofascists who espouse the most medieval policies to punish the poor for being poor while making it impossible for anyone to get out of poverty.  Lovely. Also on the right is Hillary Clinton.  She's running as a democrat, because the democratic party has embraced a right of center position for many years now.  A Clinton presidency would be as repressive and violent as if any of the republican candidates won.  If Clinton becomes president you can count on more war, more privatization of natural resources like water, more "Free Trade" deals which actually create more poverty and  are environmentally unsound.  You can expect more fossil fuel subsidies, since Clinton herself is an investor in fossil fuels. The surveillance state will grow, education will continue to be expensive and the quality will continue to diminish. Basically, Hillary Clinton is a republican.

Then on the left there are two candidates, Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein.  Bernie is running as a democrat though he has been an independent for most of his political career. His proposals all stand in stark contrast to those of the rightist candidates.  He wants less war, better education made available financially, proper taxation of the wealthy, an end to the toxic "Free Trade" treaties that the Clintons started us on in the 1990's, renewable energy, jobs programs to employee youth and rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, and more.

Jill Stein as even more progressive than Bernie.  She would end the US taxpayer's subsidizing of the Israeli occupation, and make deeper cuts into military spending than any of the other candidates.

This whole "right vs left" paradigm is absurd.  It's a way of simplifying things for people, but it does not serve real critical thinking at all.

Rather than think in terms of right and left, how about just looking at each candidate's stated policy proposals and deciding which ones actually would be good for the people?  If you do that there is no question that either Sanders or Stein would be the best choices. Both place the physical environment high on their priority list.  That's good because...hah...no clean air, no clean water, no humans! They also both recognize the need to de-corporatize the government. The folks on the right want to increase the role that corporations have in running the country.  We have already seen what happens when the profit motive outweighs valuing life, and it's horrific.

Discard your labels; republican, democrat, independent, right, left, center, progressive, liberal, conservative; and just think about what would actually be most healthy.

Vernal Equinox 2016

I find myself stepping back from the fray, a bit. The emotional hooks, to be angry or afraid, are not interesting anymore. I feel them, but really, in stepping back from it and observing a bit, what I see is that we humans keep reliving the same stories over and over, from civilization to civilization, age to age. Love, pain, treachery, trust, social progress, social regress, round and round, and we are now at this point in the story, again. And each of us is in "our" story living a life, also living out cycles, playing our part, in a personal cycle of evolution, regeneration, karma, if you will.

It seems to me that if we want to change the story, we can. It requires each of us recognizing that we are repeating a story, both as a society and as individuals, and making different choices. It's that simple.

This week's episode of Paradigms

Just to listen to this upcoming episode of Paradigms, people probably wouldn't think that it took me over a month to process my way through what initially felt like an ethical dilemma; only to rediscover, yet again, the organicity of everything, in order to be able to bring this episode together.

It is gratifying to be continuing to learn from putting together this weekly radio program. Sometimes I learn new technical stuff, new production strategies, and sometimes, when it's really good, I am shaken to my core and have to recognize more parts of myself in order to bring something out to people that has depth, that hopefully will touch people and ask them to recognize more parts of themselves.

Making the upcoming episode of Paradigms has been that experience for me.

The episode airs Sunday March 20 at 8 PM ET on WBKM 107.1 FM Burlington, VT (wild cheering for the new FM signal!) and streaming at WBKM.org, and of course the podcast will be available at Paradigms.Life and in iTunes.

Welcome to 2016! I haven't been posting regularly here, but this blog is still here and is about to become more active again.

Some exciting news! The book I wrote is now available in Kindle format. Virtual Survival: Staying Healthy on the Internet Check it out! The new publisher is Davis Studio Publishing, who also publish other wonderful books and apps.

Paradigms is doing great at the new website, with lots of fascinating guests and great music.

Stay tuned for more!

Dear friends...tonight is the 6 year anniversary of Paradigms! The first episode aired on WBKM on Sunday May 31, 2009. Tonight episode #182 will air! It has been an amazing experience. I have learned so much and had the privilege of speaking with hundreds of remarkable people doing great things. I have made some great friendships along the way too! Thank you WBKM - Eric and Tony, and thank you listeners and contributors! Tonight's episode, featuring a young woman just starting out on a singing career, and a man who rides his bike to raise money for kids...or last week's sax player who got into music via studying philosophy, or Freda and Toghestiy of Unist'ot'en Camp blocking oil and gas pipelines...on every episode people who embody the essence of Paradigms by daring to have visions of a viable future for life on Earth that includes humans. Thank you all for existing. Inspire and be inspired! Love, Baruch

It is International Women's Day...only one day??? OK...fine...it's better than nothing.
Dear women, the ones I know directly and the ones I don't:
Thank you Mom for giving birth to me! You didn't have to, you chose to. I'm glad you did.
To all the girls and women I have known...many of my best friends, sisters, teachers, lovers, priestesses...what would my life have been without you? Who would I have become? I can't imagine. I honor you.
To all the women of the world...whether you live in a society that explicitly honors you for who you are or one that requires you be hidden and disempowered, and everything in between...my hope my wish first is that the crime of rape become a distant memory for all of humanity.
Second my hope my wish is that humanity embrace a woman's right to choose when to bear a child.
Third my wish my hope is that men and women can continue healing the wounds that create obstacles to full partnership and co-creation of humanity. All of us who were not born women can learn from women. We can all learn from each other, and benefit by it.
We can honor all of the life on Earth everyday if we choose to!

O People of Earth, Hear My Plea!

Especially to the younger people, please put down your weapons, put down your hate and fear of “the other.” Look someone in the eye. They are not so different from you. Put down the burden of carrying the hate and narrowmindedness of your elders. Refuse that legacy! Let them know, who would have you carry their hate forward in time perpetuating this endless bloodshed and misery, let them know that you will not do it!

And to those who strive ever to acquire and attain more more more, know this. No matter how much you have, power over others or material wealth, you will still suffer as all humans do, and you will die as all humans do. Make peace with that! Share rather than hoard! Offer rather than taking!

Share Share Share

For many years my meditation has been on the Earth...seeing the whole...choosing to be aware of all the life, all the lives, as much of the whole picture as I can hold, with love.

I choose to be aware of as much as I can, in love.

I choose to love every life. I have not perfected this, but I do my best. That is what I offer.

As I get older I feel my relationships with the world, culture, politics, as well as with my work, and with the people in my life, all changing.

I am less attached. I see with a longer view. I am less interested in outcomes and more interested in how things are happening.

Each year I find myself choosing to ingest less and less media. What we call “news” is pretty much just propaganda. What we call “our political system” is a military dictatorship on a global scale. Whatever brand of partisanship one buys into, it is all a lie designed to perpetuate bigger deeper more encompassing lies.

I see it. I cannot change it single handedly. It tires me and brings me great sadness.

Earlier in my life I did learn that it is enough for me to focus on what’s in front of me, to do my work the best I can, and that my small contributions, though a drop in the bucket, aggregate with all the work of all the others, and so together we make a difference. I still believe this is true, however, I also believe that the more encompassing lies I referred to above have not been widely exposed yet, so even with all of the amazing contributions by hundreds of millions of people, we are still living in what is essentially a mass hypnosis/delusion that maintains acceptance of injustice as a core value in contemporary human societies.

Referring to a pop-culture event, The Matrix; remember when Morpheus tells Neo that he is a slave? The worst thing would be to be enslaved, right? And yet, look at the reality. We work at whatever it is we do, and we pay a hefty chunk of the money we earn (a ridiculous concept on a planet that used to feed us all “for free”) to people to make weapons, to train our youth to be killers, and to send them around the world to impose the same system upon others. That is how it is happening, and the only way it will change is with refusal to continue participating in this sham, on a massive scale. Refusal is happening around the world in flashes. Nowadays there are always protests just as there are always wars. People are gathering to refuse at least for a little while. It doesn’t last, or at least it hasn’t yet, but it is happening more and more, everywhere. Real change occurs from the bottom up, and it takes time and numerous attempts before it “takes” but that is what’s happening.

More and more people now understand that the so-called leaders, the Obamas and “past leaders” like the Clintons and Bushes, are enemies of liberty. They serve another master, call it greed, call it blood lust, call it whatever you want. These people thrive on the destruction of culture, the destruction of the Earth, the destruction of YOUR liberty. They purvey and profit from death to your children, by violence or poisonous foods and drugs they sell to the world. Anyone who is amassing a fortune and not using it to help is an enemy to liberty. Bill and Melinda Gates have spent fortunes getting vaccines out to the world; vaccines that sterilize, cause permanent brain damage, and even bring death, to children. These are the kinds of people that the propaganda “news” tells us are good people doing good work in the world, but that is all part of the lie.

For the first time in my life I see people in the US questioning the role of the police. I’ve known since I was a child that many of the people who are attracted to police work are actually dangerous psychopaths. This is finally being acknowledged on a large scale. Contemporary police forces are an outgrowth of union busting private thugs from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Finally even some of the privileged classes are questioning the existence of these police forces that operate above the law.

Shakespeare’s popular phrase again shows itself to be so true “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players...”

We each play our part. It can be profoundly disconcerting to realize that we are playing into the hands of the very people who mean us harm, when we participate in the status quo, and yet more and more people seeing this is exactly the cure! The more of us who wake up and see, and who are ready when the time comes to STOP complying, the better.

The only revolution that can work here in the US is not a violent one, but one whereby those who seek to control us are rendered irrelevant. If the soldiers would just all stop participating. If the good cops would stop turning away when the bad cops rape, rob, and murder. If the people who work as peons in the banks would just stop what they are doing that enables the great thieves in the big offices to get away with their deeds. Basically we need to acknowledge our co-dependency, as a country, and stop enabling the money/blood/war addicts who are running the show.

Recent events regarding the deaths caused by police in Ferguson MO, New York NY, Oakland CA, and more, have highlighted the perception of separateness between police and the citizenry. The execution of two police in New York has caused further polarization. The "thin blue line" has become a line of death. This is an unacceptable situation. As a society all of us need for police to either protect and serve the communities they work in, or be disbanded. The adversarial posturing by police is unacceptable. They are not a private cadre in blue who get to terrorize the citizenry. They are not above the law. Anyone who becomes a police officer should be high on the altruisim scale and low on the narcissistic. They deserve to receive excellent mental health training as well as how to handle violent situations. Training should include de-escalation as well as how to use force in the form of non-lethal restraints. Etc...my point is that if police are to continue to exist there needs to be a paradigm shift. People who are not police need a role in oversight of police, which means people have to step up. Police need to humbly shed any belief that they are above the law. Every police person needs to take a good look at their motives for being on the force. If you're in it for glory, or because you like the power, admit it to yourself and go into a different line of work. That would be serving your community better than being a cop when you're in it for the wrong reasons. I suspect that a truly effective police force would involve people rotating out of their positions after a set number of years. Service to the community should be rotated to prevent burn out, entrenchment, and corruption.

I am one of many trying to make some kind of sense of what is happening around me. There have got to be better ways for us to proceed.

Drawn from the supernal to the infernal
Death and the spark of rebirth
The longest night
The bottom of the year
Roots are fed
in the quiet
of Solstice.

--Baruch, Yule 2014

It amazes me that it has been nearly a year since I last made an entry here. Facebook is to blame! I am the responsible one but it is true that I have put this kind of energy into FB posts. In truth I think FB is pretty lame but it is the latest iteration of addictive social media, like AOL was back in the 1990's. Like AOL, FB will wane. I mostly use it to play Scrabble.

Anyhow, enough with such mundane trivialities. Why blog today?

It is July 2014. The entity riding this local consciousness has a long view of existence, beyond the personal or the immediate. That's been with me my whole life; some awareness of before and after NOW.

It's also true that the ego "me" is present and has an effect.

Watching the world has been my main occupation in this life. I realized that my job was to be a witness when I was a teenager. Participant yes, but first and foremost, a witness. I have been developing those skills ever since.

I live in a little wooded canyon in the hills, just a mile from sprawled pavement, buildings, freeway and commuter rail. The canyon is quiet, cool, even though the creek has dried up for the summer, there is a lushness. It is the edge of the megalopolis. Beyond are hills covered with drought gold dry grass. I live in a green bubble surrounded by heat, dryness, people, cars, and buildings.

I am house sitting for friends whose home sits atop a mountain facing Elephant Mountain in Inverness, California. They have a piano. Yesterday and today I played music of my own creation for the first time on the piano. I remember my fingerings from childhood lessons, and I go slowly, but for the first time I "get' the instinctual quality of keyboard chords, the same way it has been happening on the guitar. I am able to choose what direction and what notes are dominant, which I never understood before. So, for the first time, there is an intentional musicality happening with me and the piano. It's an amazing feeling, especially since I had long ago given up on the piano as a means of expression.

My dog took off today. I have let him be collar and harness free this week...a naked dog is a happy dog...and today when I wasn't looking he went out the open back door. I spent the next hour or more yelling his name, driving up and down the mountain, walking around in the tick infested grass, yelling his name. I never got really upset though, partly because I thought he'd come back, partly because I thought if he didn't then that's life, and partly because I feel emotionally pretty tuckered out already. I got him announced on the local radio station and was just about to print out fliers when in he walks, big smile, breathing hard. Clearly he had a good time being a naked dog outside on his own on open land. I picked a few ticks and foxtails off him and now he's asleep.

The world of not-humans will not be easily tilled under by us. I hope we cannot do it.

If you do anything today, please call your congressional delegation and let them know that YOU know that the meltdown at Fukushima poses imminent danger to the world. If the fuel rods that are 100 feet up in a collapsing building are allowed to collapse, we could all be dead in a a matter of days from the radiation that would be released. No joke. There needs to be an international effort to address this NOW. TOP priority. http://fukushimaupdate.com/the-real-fukushima-danger-spent-fuel-pools/

Today is the ninth anniversary of my mother’s death. Two days ago was the ninth anniversary of my mother being struck down by an intruder, probably some poor recently released from prison schmuck come to rob her of her meager supplies and money. I remember, when I was small, my mother told me that after she died she would become part of everything. The memory has, for some reason, especially a feeling of the sky, so today I talked to my mother in the sky, in the trees, in everything. I’m listening to one of her favorite pieces of music as I write. Forest Flower, by Charles Lloyd. There’s a lot to say, and there’s nothing to say. I honor who she was by how I walk in this life, because I know that despite our generational and personal differences, both our lives are about honoring life and experiencing immanence. Onward Rita, who/what/where ever you are...

I don’t feel alone in being deeply troubled by the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin. It’s a shock and at the same time it’s a reminder of the numbness that has become the hallmark of the United States. This is a country whose “leaders” send robots to murder children, whose “leaders” have poisoned the soil in Iraq creating millions of birth defects and immense suffering. I could go on and on listing just the violence against children around the world that is perpetrated daily by Barack Obama and his cronies in Congress and on the Supreme Court. And now George Zimmerman, the cold blooded murderer of an unarmed teenager, walks free, and can even have his gun returned to him, the gun he murdered a 17 year old boy with. What is the proper response to this? Is it to focus on the obvious racism of both the court, the jury, and the defendant? Is it to focus on the larger issue of how the United States murders brown skinned children daily? I know there are many with vengeance in their hearts, but I also know that leads nowhere. Passivity is also not an option. At what point will enough people in this country refuse to cooperate? Is Barack Obama planning martial law and mass internments? That’s the rumor, but it was rumored about Bush also. We know Obama has a kill list and orders the murder of citizens of this country, as well as citizens of other countries. We know that the government is listening to every phone call, can access every email, and can track anyone with a cell phone. The big picture is daunting, chilling, appalling. But back to George Zimmerman, I wonder if he has any conscience. Does he care that he took the life of another person? Or is he an empty shell, an animated body with a mind and no soul? There seem to be a lot of those around these days. I have no answers, just questions and grief over the tragedy, the travesty, and the waste.

Summer is here! It's in the 80's in Vermont, after a long cold winter. Halleluja! This Sunday, June 2, will be the final episode of Paradigms for the season. The guest is Graham Hancock, author and archaeologist and visionary. The interview was very interesting and fun, I think you'll enjoy him. It will air Sunday June 2 at 8 PM EST streaming on WBKM and at Paradigms.

I am excited about tonight's radio show! The guest is Kisten Tynan of the Fully Informed Jury Association. We had a great conversation about what FIJA is and what it does, the history of jury nullification, the for-profit prison industry, and what we, the people who may be called to serve on a jury, should know about Juror's Rights. This includes information that judges will misinform you about, amazingly, as part of routine jury instructions. This is actually very interesting and significant and provides a way for citizens to reign in runaway government. I hope you'll listen because this is stuff everyone should know. Of course there is great music mixed in with a "Justice" theme. The show airs tonight on WBKM at 8 PM EST and the podcast will be available at Paradigms and in iTunes
.

I have heard that there is a thin line between going crazy and transformation, and that they often overlap. Hear hear!
This last weekend was one of the most difficult and intense internal times I can remember in this life. I encountered my rage at a level I have never allowed myself to experience before. In truth it was scary at times. It was definitely not pretty.
I fasted for 4 days, not intentionally so much as having no will to nourish my body. I slept a lot, and when I wasn’t asleep I was in my bed enraged, ruminating. Like I said, not pretty.
I slept a lot and I dreamed. I don’t remember all the dreams in detail but I was experiencing a review of my life; memories, people, mistakes, joys.
The family I grew up in was one that, by the time I came around, had been hurting for years. My parents were unhappy with each other, unhappy with where their lives had brought them to. My three older brothers were all engaged in their own survival tactics. Along came me; smart Aries child with BIG feelings and BIG questions and hardly any boundaries. You can imagine what ensued.
Now I am in my 50’s encountering still the patterns I learned as a child. I learned that I am too much for the people around me and I better tone it down. I learned that being smart meant having to defend myself from attack. I learned that I was on my own, and that no one would ever really come through for me.
It’s been decades of deliberately choosing to change how I see and what I do and all that, but the patterns are stubborn and were etched deeply. Just choosing to change has not erased them or transformed them. Encountering myself in a different way this weekend, and thanks to one of my housemates who was willing to hear my rage without taking it on, and thanks to the many friends and family who reached out to me, I feel in myself the space that opens up when something is released. In this instance releasing rage, like releasing a caged ferocious angry animal, has exhausted me and in so doing is setting some part of me free. I think it’s an ongoing process though, not a momentary event.
Now I find that I must be gentle with myself. I am honoring the space that opened up and not wanting it to be filled quickly or without intention.
The pain and rage are teaching me. I’m listening. I’m watching. I’m feeling. I’m learning.

The last week has been challenging for me. I find myself angry, frustrated, feeling really fed up with just about everything. No, nothing dire has happened in my little life. It is the aggregate of a lifetime of living in a society which is increasingly vapid, soulless, conformist, imperialistic...I could go on and on with a list of adjectives a mile long. I am just really tired of it. Whine whine, yeah I have a good life compared to many. Yes I have enough to eat and medical care and heat and a roof. I am not saying that I have it any worse than anyone else. To the contrary, I have it better than most and this is how fed up I am. Think of the rest of humanity! I do! Every day! And from what I see things are not getting better. Humanity seems to me to be a great failure. There has been a lot of beauty and goodness, but it is the ugliness that is such a part of our species, to which I refer. I won’t bother citing specific incidents of said ugliness. We are all painfully aware of so many. I find myself wanting, more than anything, to disengage. I am unsubscribing from nearly every list I’m on, deleting and unfriending on facebook, throwing stuff away, packing up my belongings, giving things away. I am reducing the clutter in my life, physical, emotional, and virtual. I’m not sure what comes next but for sure my circumstances are about to change.

Alrighty then! It is over a month since the world was supposed to end. It didn't. Now what?
I'm thinking that it's time for a post-(neo)liberal wake up call for the United States.
I know a lot of nice people think they did the right thing by voting for Mr. Obama. As Obama's various murder sprees using drones are receiving media attention; children in Pakistan, suspected terrorist teenagers, now he has also given himself the authority to do the same thing here in the US. Seems only fitting really, since he is a world-class despot; the latest in a line.
Wake up Americans! Your country has been taken over by corporations who care about power, and not about life. Certainly they do not care about YOUR life unless it profits them. We have for profit prisons, for profit schools, for profit medical, for profit food, everything is for profit, and all you have to pay with is your life, because that is real. Money is imaginary. The Fed makes up numbers every day, giving itself more made-up money with which to dominate YOUR life, and we allow it.
Lately we are saddened by the murders of children that the media has presented to us, and yet no one is talking about the fact that we are a nation of child killers. US drones murder children around the world regularly. So why should OUR children be exempt, just because we live in the seat of the empire?
"He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword." So many Americans are "believers" yet they forget the teachings of their own religion and are shocked when the chickens come home to roost.
If we want to live with less violence then we must become a society that is less violent. It's that simple.
People respond to the actions of their leaders. Obama is a role model. His very public murdering of children gives unconscious permission to those among us who are also prone to similar sociopathic behavior. If you want your country to be less violent then insist that your country stop promoting violence.
The US is the world's premier weapons manufacturer and merchant, for profit. The US arms both sides of conflicts around the world, for profit. US TV and movies promote, exalt, and at the same time trivialize violence. Most American children have seen hundreds of thousands of murders on TV shows by the time they are 10 years old; for profit.
Is it moral to profit in these ways?
While it is easy to blame the crazies among us, or to campaign for gun control, those issues are symptomatic of a larger societal ill. Our country is run by people who promote violence for profit, and for whom it is advantageous to keep the rest of us fighting each other, lest we see how those at the top of the pyramid are exploiting us.
If you really want change, start by noticing how you support the status quo, and STOP DOING THAT. Voting for democrats and republicans is supporting the status quo.
Notice what issues you turn away from, and instead, look at them straight on!
Notice the "official versions" of things that you have accepted, and question them. Come up with your own questions, and discuss them openly, with friends, at work, in public.
If you really want change, be different.

In meditation the world is shown to me; people, places, auras, hearts, minds, life, lives. Hearts are opening all around the planet, connecting. I see faces of people I will never meet and I love them. I see faces of people I do not like and I love them. We are awakening. It is a gradual process, and individuals are proceeding each at their own pace, but it is happening. This is not an idea or an event, it is a process and an experience. I don't think you can make yourself feel this, I think you can however notice, be observant, internally as well as externally. Increased awareness inspires change. Momentum builds upon itself. A small stream joining a bigger faster stream itself accelerates. Notice the ways you feel connected with others, near, far, known, unknown; notice how you experience that.

Tonight on Paradigms at 8 PM Eastern on WBKM and at Paradigms...very exciting! Actress and author Sarah Miles talking about her life, her new book "Boy and the Beez" and about The Crop Circle Challenge. Really great. Also Illac Diaz, another one of the winners of the 2012 Curry-Stone Design Prize. Check out his website Liter of Light to see some VERY cool stuff! Lots of great music as always...I hope you will tune in!

This week's episode of Paradigms is very close to my heart. Guests are Bess Klassen-Landis; a musician who like myself is a homicide survivor, and Holly Pickett photojournalist extraordinaire. Two amazing women. Tune in Sunday October 7, 2012 at 8 PM Eastern on WBKM.org or at Paradigms.bz or in iTunes!

Hello faithful blog readers. I haven't posted anything personal in a while. Now it's 2 days to Equinox, September 2012. The feeling of impending event grows steadily. I'm excited! Our national/global habits, unsustainable and therefore with expiration dates, are moving towards the inevitable. What that looks like and when I don't know, but change is certain, and so I am excited.

There is a homicide survivors support group I have attended a couple of times. I found it very helpful. I was in an email conversation recently with the woman who facilitates it and she offered words that best describe what I have been working with this summer.

"I just finished my Masters in Applied Positive Psychology and did my thesis on ways in which victims can flourish in the aftermath of the crime. The conclusion I came to is that it is important for victims to “break up” with the offender in their case in order to flourish. In your case there wasn’t a specific offender to “break up” with, which causes unique sets of challenges. I think that the process of disengagement is so important..." -Amy Holloway 2012

This year I broke up with the killer. I wrested my attention away from that person's ill deed, and refocused on my life, the people around me, the world in present time. Deep breath.

Here is a snapshot of my life these days.

I teach online and really love the material, the students, and the school. That's a lot! It's a good feeling to know I make a difference through teaching.

I'm producing two radio shows a week, Paradigms on WBKM and, under an alter ego, Scrying Time on WGDR. The radio work is always challenging and fun. I continue to get fairly little feedback from Paradigms (hint hint...tell me how you like the show and what you want to hear on it!) but I love it. Last Sunday Holly Near was on. I am listening to her new CD as I write this. Music is magic and real inspired music like this is uplifting and, well, inspiring. I want everyone to listen to this music so you can feel this!

I'm working with a friend on a spoken word production and learning things I never imagined; what it takes to build a performance piece, to make it real, to allow myself to be directed by someone else, someone who knows things I don't know.

I'm living in this funky run-down farmhouse with housemates, dog, cat, chickens. I am exploring a couple of possibilities for an upgrade off the paved roads with better garden space, but this place is good in the meantime.

My body, this body, this collection of molecules, is working pretty well! With huge thanks to Dr. Louisa Silva, the only acupuncturist I will allow to needle me at this point in my life because she is THE BEST, I have very little pain and really good mobility in my spine.

Good fortune and wise choices have brought me into community with many people, all around the world. We argue about, teach each other and discover theology and thealogy, power and hierarchy issues, and we celebrate life and magic, and generally behave like a big far flung family. It's not always comfortable but it is worth it. That's Reclaiming.

So, as we continue to be in motion on our inexorable path, as we carry on, I greet you and the rest of the world with love.

Singer, songwriter, activist Holly Near returns to Paradigms Sunday September 16 to discuss her new double-CD album "Peace Becomes You" and to talk about life. The CD is a collection of 23 songs including original compositions by Holly, as well as songs by Cris Williamson, Ferron, Lerner & Loewe, Irving Berlin, and more. Holly is accompanied by an excellent band and has never been in better voice.

I am very excited about this show! I hope you will tune in.

Paradigms 8 PM Eastern streaming at WBKM also available at http://paradigms.bz and in iTunes as a podcast.

Ahamed Sa'id,"The Prince of Kassala" is an ethnic Beja musician who has teamed up with Miguel Merino to form Otaak Band bringing together traditional Beja music with the Blues on a new CD called Bejawiya. Aaron Jakes who plays sax is also interviewed, as well as returning guest Omdas Melad Qamhat Maahes Sa Uriel.

For the second half of tonight's show Joaquin Pacheco and David Ortega from A Place Called Home join Paradigms for the first in a series of interviews with some of the young people making music at APCH.

Paradigms 8 PM Eastern streaming at http://wbkm.org also available at http://paradigms.bz and in iTunes as a podcast.

Tune in to WBKM at 8 PM ET for the start of Paradigms Season 4!

Well, I was going to go to Baltimore to cover the Green Party Convention for Paradigms. That didn't pan out. Then I was going to cover it remotely using the live feed from the convention. That also didn't work out. All that being said, I want you all to know that the Green Party of the US held it's nominating convention in Baltimore this past week and Dr. Jill Stein was selected to run as the Green Party Nominee for President of the United States.

As much as US elections are pretty much theater at this point, if you do choose to vote, a vote for Dr. Stein is spit in the eye to the republicans and democrats who so richly deserve to be spat upon. They will steal votes from her but they will know that our numbers are growing, and soon, planet willing, their days of dominance will be coming to an end.

Dr. Stein, good on ya!

http://jillstein.org

Life is interesting, no doubt.

Maybe not everyone, but certainly a lot of humans have to face the choice of whether they want to live or die many times in life…some people are not given a choice but what I mean is, for instance, say someone murders your mother, you might go through some deep psychological stuff about staying in this world and it might take a lot of time and experiences to navigate that.

I'm a pretty physical person, by which I mean I experience life through my body, including emotions and psychological stuff etc. I have a sense, today, having had a positive outcome from yesterday's upper endoscopy, that I have come through something; the threat of cancer represented my ambivalence about staying alive. Now that it seems that I do not have cancer I feel immense relief and excitement about going forward with life. It feels good to feel good!

Sunday May 13 Paradigms is very happy to bring you a live acoustic set with Todd Thibaud! 8 PM Eastern on WBKM!

Tune in, don't miss this wonderful talented heartfelt musician.

The chair of the House Ag Committee in the VT Legislature is caving in to Monsanto, and refusing to bring the GMO Labeling Law to the House for a vote.

802-828-2228 Rep. Carolyn W. Partridge, Chair House Ag Committee

Let her know that it is her job to serve the people of Vermont, not Monsanto. The bill is H.722

Sunday April 15 2012 Paradigms:

The Vermont Legislature is considering passing a law requiring all GMO foods to be labeled as such. 16 other states are in a similar process. The Bio-tech industry is threatening to sue Vermont if they pass this law. April 12, 2012 there was a rally at the Vermont State House. Paradigms was there! Tune in to hear the rally including people in the crowd and speakers.

8 PM Eastern http://wbkm.org and http://paradigms.bz

Coming up on Paradigms, two "David & Goliath" stories, one which worked out well and one which is in process.

Vermont's own Rock Art Brewery prevailed when Hansen's Natural stopped their trademark infringement complaint over the name of a beer, The Vermonster. Matt Nadeau of Rock Art is on the show this week.

Bo Muller-Moore, the Eat More Kale guy, is currently being targeted by Chik Fil A. Bo is on the show discussing what's happening.

Great music as always including a new tune from Bobby Treasure! Sunday April 8, 2012 at 8 PM Eastern on WBKM and at Paradigms.

Paradigms tonight!

Jim Lantz is a filmmaker and playwrite whose play "The Bus" debuted in Burlington, VT and made it to Off-Broadway in NYC. Jim is now working on a film, A Defiant Dude, with Bo Muller-Moore, the Eat More Kale guy.
Ryan Harb returns to Paradigms a year after his initial visit to tell us about what's happened with the UMASS Amherst Permaculture Project; some very exciting stuff!

8 PM Eastern http://wbkm.org and http://paradigms.bz

Tell all your friends!

Equinox Eve, March 20, 2012. Outside tonight, a moonless sky bright with planets and stars. The even of the vernal equinox, Ostara, 2012, and record breaking heat across the continent.

Being outside under the stars is for me one way of going to church. It is a tangible experience because my senses inform me of the star field and the sphere I am on, and of the enormity of the supposedly spherical expanding universe. All those stars, even just the ones I can see, shedding light on me, literally particles from those stars permeating my body, sending photons into my eyes, so looking at the night sky is for me to experience connection at the deepest.

Blessed Equinox to all!

love,
Baruch

Malik Rahim of New Orleans, co-founder of Common Ground Relief and Common Ground Health Clinic, is the guest on Paradigms tonight, discussing what's happening on the Gulf Coast, in New Orleans, the Occupy movement and more. Great music as always. 8 PM Eastern WBKM and Paradigms.