World is falling apart at the seams: we need a Peacemaker

[Q]

- Bush* and the other terrorists of the world are going to fool around until someone uses a nuke. When that happens...there will be no going back. The cycle of revenge will increase in intensity with nuclear retaliation and the death of millions.

- Even the dullest of minds must understand that the so-called 'war on terrorism' is little more than a crusade against the middle east. The religious overtones are transparent: my God is better than your God.

- Warmongers and Chickenhawks call it appeasement when anyone suggests waging peace instead of war. But isn't it obvious by now that dropping bombs in response to terrorism is only breeding more anger, revenge and terrorists? Isn't it time for someone to step forward to seek an understanding of terrorism and search for a way to end the cycle of violence?

- Police don't blow up a whole block in response to a hostage situation. Law enforcement would consider it a failure if they got innocent hostages killed while trying to apprehend their kidnapper. But isn't that exactly what the Bush* government is doing when their only option is to drop bombs in response to terrorism? If the Iraqi people were hostages as the Bush* government insisted...then the Iraq 'war' is a failure because thousands of them died in the process of capturing Saddam.

- But capturing and punishing the guilty parties without harming others has never been the goal of the Bush* government. War was and is their only option...demonstrated by the fact that the Bushies neutralized the UN and broke international laws and peace with impunity.

- Before it's too late...the US must drop it's macho bullshit and become a peacemaker. The US must admit it has wronged other nations in the past and make amends to a world looking for leadership instead of dictatorial superpowers. Someone must start a process of peace and stop the cycle of revenge. The whole world understands that Bush* is not that someone.

[gottaB]

1. yup

you said it

[Freddie Stubbs]

2. Police don't blow up a whole block in response to a hostage situation?

You've never been to Philadelphia, have you?

[Q]

4. What are you saying?

- That the US is justified in killing thousands of innocents in the pursuit of 'hostage takers'?

- I'm looking for common sense here. You're not helping.

[Freddie Stubbs]

5. Discount Flashback Warehouse: Philadelphia, 1985

http://www.cnn.com/US/9606/24/move.vertict/

[Q]

7. You're of the same mindset...

...that keeps the cycle of violence on due course. You're saying that violence can be excused because...what?...that's simply the way things are done?

- It's ALWAYS the goal of negotiators to keep hostages safe...even if they have to compromise with their kidnappers. Of course there are exceptions to the rule when people like Bush* are in charge.

- The issue at hand is to find a way to wage peace before Bush's* phony war on (some) terrorism escalates into an unstoppable slaughter of millions.

[FlaGranny]

16. To be fair - the police didn't attempt to blow up the whole

block, just one building. Unfortunately, that building took out the whole block when it caught fire and wasn't immediately put out. Bad stuff with the same result, I guess.

[Ontario Bureau Chief]

3. Well said...Kucinich is the man you're looking for...

if you want a fresh approach to this mess. He did an excellent interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now yesterday and plans to keep the peace agenda needling away right to the election. There ain't no give up in this guy!

http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2004/march/256/dnB20040322a.rm&proto=rtsp&start=29:44.1

[Mairead]

14. ooo you beat me to it. DK is indeed The Peacemaker. (nt)

[boilerbabe]

18. Wow/// just listened to Democracy Now link you posted...

Kucinich was and still is my second favorite person to take the lead in this country. Howard Dean was my first, but hopefully, he will stil have some sort of role here.

I stuck around for the other broadcasts on Democracy NOw and recognised that guy whose son was killed in the war (Fernando del Suarez?) I have seen him on TV and also in person at the rally in D.C. He is an eloquent and effective spokesperson for the futility of this whole endeavour. Every time I see him and hear him speak, I want to just cry.

Thank you so very much for providing this link...Let's just hope that something good comes out of all this!!!

XXXOOO

[newyawker99]

29. Hi Ontario Bureau Chief!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Ontario Bureau Chief]

32. Thank you kindly...

/BTW I miss Mike Malloy...

[Spazito]

6. It is amazing the amount of global turmoil that has occurred...

since bush was selected. Some may have happened regardless but I put the blame directly on this admin for a good part of it. The action of pre-emptive strikes has "let loose the dogs" and we are seeing the results.

[Q]

8. Bush* has turned our country into a 'rogue nation'...

...that uses tragedy and death to wage war and destroy the peace.

- We have to stop killing the innocent 'hostages' and find another way to fight terrorism. Common sense dictates that the best way is to find and capture those responsible for 9-11 WITHOUT waging a indiscriminate war against countries that may or may not have terrorists within their borders.

- Why kill a farmer or a young boy or girl because they happen to live in the same country as Saddam or bin Laden? Is our country so primitive that we can't find a better way?

[Spazito]

19. It used to be that when the US administration took a position...

on an issue, the world gave it due consideration. Now, due to bush and his cabal, the world "rolls it's collective eyes" and knows that any position taken by this horrendous administration is dangerous to the world.

[MuseRider]

10. These guys were poking the hornets nest

from before they were put in office by the Supremes. Yes, it is possible some of it would have happened anyway but the vast majority of it was caused by them IMO.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

9. Kucinich Kucinich Kucinich Kucinich Kucinich

[Mairead]

15. Yes, DK is The One. The only one. And those in power hate and fear him

[YIMA]

11. I agree.

These people are attacking because they see no other alternative to their poverty and being treated as sub-humans. We must immediately divest from Israel, leave the Middle East and pay reparations to the countries and families we have wronged. Only then can we begin the healing process with the world community.

[boilerbabe]

21. I agree, it is obvious that we have gone too far and need to ...

step out of the middle east's affairs. Our overweening interest in oil should be vitiated by alternative energy solutions (and hunny, I am working for an energy company..this is gonna get me in trouble, more than likely) I think that this country and NOT IN OUR NAME and NOT IN OUR ACQUIESCENCE, has become just waaay too big for our britches so to speak.

I am seriously looking to relocate in some other country (except that most of Europe would not tolerate an American at this point) and starting over.

Let's hope that people like you will get this country back on track before it's too late!

[kentuck]

12. But, you don't understand Q.....

Violence is the only language "these" people understand. I hear it everywhere I go.

[FlaGranny]

17. And isn't it unfortunate that

"us" people don't know any better either. Simple math: violence + violence = more violence. Very simple, really (as simple as 1 + 1 = 2), and a concept that too many people are too dense to learn. If your nose is bleeding, you don't cut off your nose, you cauterize the bleeding vessels - you go to the root of the problem and cure it. They are cutting off their noses to spite their faces.

[Brewman_Jax]

13. True statement

too many are dying, and for what? Telling the rest of the world to take a hike is not the way to win friends and influence others.

[Kong]

20. Agree

[SpiralHawk]

22. Peacemakers? Coming right up

Massive Medicine Wheel Set for May 8, 2004
- Involves Most of the USA West -

Copyright 2004 - by Steven McFadden


While dwelling amid the high mountains along the North American Continental Divide, Bennie LeBeau of the Eastern Shoshone tribe began to experience a torrent of dreams and visions, especially in 1999. The visions directed him to set in motion the plans for a massive Medicine Wheel Ceremony.

Over the last year Bennie LeBeau has become aware of many profoundly distressing changes in the land and the animals at Yellowstone National Park. These changes are becoming even more ominous right now, he says, and they have prodded him into direct action to bring his vision alive.

The huge Medicine Wheel Ceremony that Bennie envisions is intended to be a mass spiritual event involving people of all colors and spiritual traditions. The ceremony is set to take place at High Noon on Saturday, May 8, 2004 at more than 20 sacred sites in the American West, and at many other sacred sites elsewhere around the world, including Australia, Ecuador, Guatemala, and the Middle East.

The Grand Teton peaks in Wyoming -- The Four Grandmothers Standing Tall -- will serve as the center of this Medicine Wheel. The perimeter will extend out in a hoop 600 miles or more in radius, enveloping the long spine of the Rocky Mountains. Simultaneous prayer ceremonies at other sacred sites around world will help to re-activate and re-attune the web of subtle energy pathways that wrap around planet earth.

"All nations, all peoples are invited to participate," Bennie says, adding, "all nations, all peoples are needed to work together on this -- the black, white, yellow, and red nations of Mother Earth."

A Medicine Wheel is an ancient spiritual tool with a history of widespread use all over Turtle Island (North America). Stones are set to mark the Four Directions of North, South, East and West, and also of other major points. In this manner, if done with knowledge and respect, a sacred space is defined. Within that space, the people can direct thoughts, feelings and actions toward a unified idea. The Medicine Wheel also helps people to be grounded physically, to properly orient to the Four Directions, and thus to have a clear sense of where they are. That foundation of stability gives a reliable base for high spiritual work.

"The Earth is drastically out of balance now," Bennie LeBeau says. "This Medicine Wheel ceremony will strive to re-set the basic tone -- or vibrational pattern -- of the West, and by extension help to re-attune the whole of the earth."

more...

To read the whole story, see the March, 2004 edition of the Chiron Communique:

http://www.chiron-communications.com/communique%209-2.html

[Moderator]

30. Spiral Hawk

Per DU copyright rules
please post only four
paragraphs from the
news source.

Thank you.

DU Moderator

[Bandit]

23. Why is it I read a post like this and see it as just plain Common Sense

but millions of Americans can't or won't "Get It". It really isn't that hard to grasp. I heard a bit of Madeline Albright this AM as she was first "witness" in open 9-11 commission hearings and she said basically the same things you have. She said we must change our course because the entire world is turning against us. We all know that here but America as a whole does not. How to get through to them??????? :shrug: Another good post from Q :thumbsup:

[Q]

26. Most of America knows the world is turning against us...

...but they simply don't care or are caught up in the 'war fever' inspired by the Bush* government's 'with us or against us' nationalism.

- The can be no peace as long as the insane war profiteers are in control and democracy is smothered by totalitarianism.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

24. One thing you said really stood out

Despite their protests to the contrary, the Busheviks really are framing the war on "terrorism" as a war against Islam, especially when they speak in coded language to their fundamentalist supporters. In doing so, they play right into the whole apocalyptic mindset of that crowd, with Osama bin Laden as the antiChrist.

Look at how they're letting fundamentalist missionaries into Iraq. (Now one thing I know is that mainstream Christian missionaries don't even go to Islamic countries, because Islam sees "apostasy" (giving up one's relgion) as a terrible sin, and in some cultures, you might even be killed for it.) When the missionaries meet their sad but unsurprising fates in Iraq, the Stateside fundamentalists then have some martyrs to venerate.

As a liberal Christian, I find this aspect of it especially scary, the idea that Bush is backhandedly framing the fight against "terrorism" as a religious war.

(As some of you know, I don't believe that there is any ideology called "terrorism." It's a tactic, not a belief system, and it has been used by groups of every political philosophy.)

[Q]

25. You're right...war can't be waged against a noun...

...or an idea. The war on (some) terrorism is doomed to suffer the same fate as the war on (some) drugs. Only the poor and disenfranchised suffer in these wars...while the ruling class propers from their suffering.

- Perhaps we DO need a viable third party in opposition of the warmongers on the left and right?

[bmbmd]

27. It is time

for the Jubilee.

[Justpat]

28. In disturbing times like these

we need to remember the power of the individual. When things
fall apart at the center, it is frightening, but it is also an
opportunity to remake society around a stronger center. Each
one of us can remember to choose peace in every instance in which
we are inclined to wage hate against those who are attempting to
destroy democratic life in this country. We are the peacemakers.

Believe me, I go through periods during the day where I am so
angry that I can barely breathe, but in the end I sit down and
think of way to deal with this rage against the ignorance running
loose in our national consciousness right now.

For me, I remind myself that to choose peace doesn't mean being a
wimp. It means that I will not do violence against those I disagree
with. I will, however, speak what I feel are words of truth to
anyone who will listen. I deal with the thought that to be a
peacemaker in today's society takes great courage.

As for someone to follow, I think Kuchinich is the man. He is the
only politician with a moral vision of strength and inclusion. Compare his message with the religious right's message of intolerance
and exclusion. He has been thoroughly trashed by the media who is
owned by the intolerant, exclusionary right wing.

[Minstrel Boy]

31. Funny thing about peacemakers. They keep getting killed.

Mahatma Gandhi
Dag Hammarskjold
Patrice Lumumba
John Kennedy
Malcolm X
Martin Luther King
Robert Kennedy
Olaf Palme
Benigno Aquino
Yitzak Rabin
Paul Wellstone

And so many more.

Sometimes I hope. And sometimes I think we're just a shitty little species that's going to get what it deserves, and we'll never know why.