I just read piece by Kathleen Parker at the Washington Post. Click to see it.

I wrote her a response:

Kathleen, to what do you attribute blind adherence to ideology when reality blatantly proves the ideology is a flawed abstraction? It's a real question, I am interested to know your thoughts.

It can't be stupidity, one cannot generalize such a characteristic to as large a group as the current neo-con Republicans.

I can't generalize mindless greed or spiritual bankruptcy to such a large group either, and yet I don't know how else to explain to myself what I've seen happening in this country especially the last 8 years. I know the military industrial complex took a larger role under LBJ, and has been expanding itself ever since, with the aid of government, all bent on security and profit. I know that the foundation for this corporate takeover has been in the works for decades.

I have a pretty well informed world-view for an American. I've traveled, I've spent chunks of time in other countries, and I've traveled extensively in North America. I see that most people are kind and want to be kind, even when they don't have much. I saw people in New Orleans in 2005-2006 show such compassion and wisdom as I had never seen before. I have also seen people be mean, I have to say mostly I have seen police be mean in crowd situations, and I have seen a lot of mean spiritedness on the blogs coming from the right. For the most part my impression of humanity is that humans are prone to a foolish shortsightedness, but they mean well most of the time...except for those "in power" who, for the most part, enrich their friends, themselves of course, and carry out ideological agendas that always include cruelty; killing people and Earth in business transactions, truly psychopathic behavior. Here's a link to a paper I wrote on the topic. http://www.healingmagic.org/articles/narcissism.pdf

Anyway, what do you really think is going on in this country? Maybe that can be your next column.

Have you ever heard of or tried Kombucha? I have a friend who told me about it, he's into many things fungal. It's a mushroom that grows in liquid. You drink the liquid and it's a super pro-biotic tasty drink.

OK drinking mushroom culture sounded kind of disgusting to me, so I didn't try it for a long time after my friend told me about it. When I was in Vermont this last time I was thirsty and went to the big overpriced natural food store which used to be a co-op, and I wanted something in glass because I am avoiding eating and drinking out of plastic, so I got a raspberry kombucha. It was pink and carbonated and tasted like any other good pro-biotic drink, and was really good. It wasn't sweet. Afterwards, the next day, I had the best morning shit. Sorry, but these things do matter and we never talk about them.

When I was preparing to drive west I wanted a half gallon glass bottle for water since I am not into buying water. I couldn't find one. I ended up buying a half gallon of kombucha in a glass bottle thinking I would drink it and use the bottle. Instead I have been drinking it, and refilling it and feeding it. I refill it with green tea with fresh ginger brewed with it, and feed it with agave syrup or brown sugar, let it sit out for a couple of days and it gets cookin'! If you've never tried it, do. It's good to read up on it by clicking in the link above before doing anything.

Today I feel ill at ease. We are over the edge and sliding. What's happening behind the scenes is insidious. It's happening and hasn't been unveiled yet. So much hangs in the balance.

Now more than anytime in my life it is time to keep the connections strong, to energize the web of relationships and awareness we each are part of, ultimately it's one web...life!

Today I put up massage posters, watched an episode of "Heroes," wept, played guitar, danced, drummed, and now I'm writing this. I also did a tarot reading for myself. Johnny Clegg on the stereo, from his most recent album. There's a ton of energy moving through me right now; feeling, thought, and just life force.

Morning in western Montana. It's cold and blustery, cloudy, snowing in the mountains a few miles away. My morning routine these days is to get up, have a cuppa joe, and tune into a few news sites online. I like to add my comments to articles in the Washington Post online and NYTimes online, though both of those newspapers have demonstrated that they are controlled by the right, one can participate in the online discussion by commenting on articles. The NYTimes screens posts before publishing them, and if one is too strident they won't print your comment, but the WaPo is instant publication.

It is fascinating to read what others have to say. Easily 95% of the posts are anti status quo (McCain) and pro change (Obama). The buy-in to polarization is easily 99%. Rarely do I see a post that is not ideological.

I like adding my $.02 to the discussions. I have become less and less vitriolic, but sometimes I do express my outrage, and if it's an article about Bush I feel fine expressing utter disgust. It's a fun pastime, and I do learn from reading some of the posts.

It is easy to hide behind one's computer and post whatever. There are folks out there posting vile hate-filled missives; people who would probably be afraid to spew their hate face to face but feel safe doing it online.

I found a massage table and a massage chair at a really low price this week and spent my last dollars on them. Tools of the trade! I did two tarot readings yesterday at the one really funky cool store in town, for the two women who run respectively the clothing/consignment part of the store and the metaphysical books and supplies part of the store. That was really fun and useful to the two women. They invited me to work out of their store anytime doing readings and massage. That's exciting! I also have an interview this coming week with the local mental health agency for a very part-time on-call crisis worker position. I also made contact with an agency in Missoula that does outpatient work with youth and families, and I think I will do some consulting work with them. Also exciting to me. I'm in the process of renewing my counselor's license in Vermont, and will be able to use that to obtain a license here in Montana. I can see that I will have all the work I want here, and I'm really excited to have such low overhead so I can charge a reasonable amount for my time and services, and be accessible to people who don't have much money.

The last 4 years have been very important in my life. The murder of my mother incited a riot in my mind, in my soul, in my life, so that I am much more congruous, more in line with my own ethics. Thank you Mom! Today I wish I could call her and tell her what I'm doing, and hear about what she's doing.

Seems to me that a lot of folks are waiting with bated breath to see what will happen next with the economy, the election, with the environmental crisis that's upon us. I say...don't sit around with bated breath, do something! At the very least talk about stuff with acquaintances, friends and family. At the most, do something radical like reducing your overhead, reducing your carbon footprint, refusing to buy into the lies being promulgated by the US corporate government. This is no time to be passive. We each have gifts, talents, skills, perceptions...if we use them, even if we go down, we go down with some integrity...and maybe, just maybe, using our abilities may save us from going down.

Now, I am not one who believes that humans are the crown of creation, and I do see that while we do not have to be, we have been and are a blight on this beautiful Earth. However, we can be part of the solutions, each of us, but we have to choose that. The status quo is to keep consuming ourselves to death, but we have a choice, each of us every day. Our species needs a 12 step program!