Red Barn Rockland

BLOG FROM 04/01/08 TO 06/30/08

Iraq Occupation

Two majority leaders of the Iraqi Parliament testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week. They want the U. S. out, contrary to Republican policies. And they wish to keep Iraq unified and to train their own soldiers without our assistance, contrary to two Democratic proposals. Nadeem Al-Jaberi and Khalaf Al-Ulayyan see the Parliament as opposed to Executive policies there just as our Congress is opposed to Executive policies on Iraq here. It is clear a majority of the elected representatives there as well as here wish the American Occupation to end. Reporting of this testimony is carried on the web in an article by Maya Schenwar for Truthout. Meanwhile our mainstream media has ignored this testimony preferring to mouth repeatedly “things are getting better in Iraq” and “Victory” and “Win” as possible. It is clear that Iraqis at this point consider the Occupation a violation of their Sovereignty. Shall we leave or do we imagine we know better than they what the people of Iraq should have for their future together?

06/12/08

Primaries End

The primaries have finally wound down, not with a bang, but a whimper. The rhetoric by now has become redundant even for the nominee. It is on now to the election in five months. Will it be a contest for the last stand of “democracy?” Perhaps. If Obama wins will it overturn the established interests of socialized corporatism and attendant secrecy and corruption? In part, more humane at least, and a more open process. But there is a great inertia in the system. We saw how well Clinton, the corporate candidate, did in Appalachia. It is an arrangement that works. We see how well McCain can rally atavistic energies for dominance and conquest. And “ours, the greatest country the earth has ever seen.” In Obama I perceive something new, beyond the older arguments he projects. Will that “something new” show its face? Very likely we will have enough glimpses to give it form. Will it prevail? Not in my lifetime.

06/03/08

Lilacs

I have a great respect for the lilacs beneath our bedroom window. I look out upon a sea of purple lilacs. They are magnificent! And I am allergic to this beauty. I need no further proof that beauty is visceral. They take my breath away, literally. Morning begins in a moan as I stagger towards the coffee. And when I open our kitchen door and step out on the piazza my legs buckle under the heavy aroma. All systems are sluggish. It takes a major effort to jump-to the chores of the day. Meditation becomes a stupor. Wrestling with abstract thoughts becomes a maze and confusion. I cannot imagine cutting down the ancient stalks for firewood. Great grandmother’s purple lasts only two weeks at best. Then a sea of green greets the morning and summer air is welcomed at our window. Such beauty is transient and I can awaken and breathe a sigh of relief!

05/30/08

John Adams

The popular documentary series is now released on DVD. Had Adams been a Baptist, Roman Catholic or Anglican it would be mentioned and mentioned often. But since he was an outspoken Unitarian this is not mentioned and not mentioned often. His tomb can be visited today at the First Parish (Unitarian) in Quincy, MA.

05/28/08

Local Attachments

Is it inconsistent to be intimately attached to a local landscape and its people, while at the same time committed emotionally and intellectually to world citizenship; to be at once present here in Rockland and globally? Since moving back, six years ago, I have reintegrated with the family stories which connect every hill, inlet, point and street in this seaside city and its surrounding towns. I spent many childhood hours out on harbor ledges daydreaming sea stories, traveling out to islands and continents far away. The walk downtown always involves associations with houses along the way. I now attend funerals of distant cousins, those I see once a year at reunions or in chance meetings at the grocery store. My response is that it is more than consistent; it is essential. When you “have eyes to see and ears to hear” you are local, wherever you may be. Local narratives run within global narratives. We are children of earth even as the house we were raised in was where we absorbed earth connections. Contrast the question with its flip side: can you feel at home anywhere if you have lived nowhere? Can you float through life without connecting with life around you, without sympathy for all life?

05/15/08

Ninth Cousins

Every now and then I google myself to see how well my publications are getting around and how they are being used. I google my full name which eliminates all the other Peter Richardsons of the world. But Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico always intrudes as he graduated from Tufts. One item I opened was Bill Richardson’s ancestry. It turns out we are ninth cousins once removed. So much for the information revolution of useless things to know.

05/10/08

“Totally Obliterate Iran”

When I hear a major candidate for President respond to a question about protecting Israel announce that she would “totally obliterate Iran” I immediately question her sanity. There are tens of millions human beings there: men, women, children. “Totally obliterate?” There are world treasures there: museums, exquisite mosques, ancient centers of history. “Totally obliterate?” What mindset can “totally obliterate” a people? I don’t want her answering a red phone any time, day or night! “Totally obliterate Iran” appeals to the most primitive stirrings of revenge or aggression, power applied atavistically. Do we want to stir up savagery in ourselves, dominate others with raw terror? Iran has not attacked anyone over her borders in hundreds of years. What Iran is accused of by the most bellicose pales beside routine CIA activities around the globe. “Totally obliterate?” Loose talk? Tough talk? Is her brain ‘wired’ to respond this way? Perhaps she could explain how that differs from a fanatic commandeering a plane and plunging into the Pentagon. Obliterating 70 million people! Just the idea of it makes me sick.

Meanwhile Bully Bush is still obsessed with Iran, egged on by his pals Cheney and Lieberman. Some wonder if he will bomb Iran’s nuclear power plant and other “terrorist” targets before or after our presidential election. It is thought by U.S. “intelligence” that Iran is not developing a bomb. But bullies don’t need facts or reasons. Assertions and irritations will do. In this hysteric climate Hillary’s “totally obliterate” response did nothing to calm a slide towards tragic disaster.

May 4, 2008

“In Prayer”/”In Doubt”

Someone in the Unitarian Universalist Association has come up with a stupid ad. “When in Doubt, Pray. When in Prayer, Doubt.” (Time, April 14, p. 58). The image immediately came to mind of a medieval monk on his bloody knees praying fervently to be free of doubt, to be faithful. In this day and age I would think we would encourage doubt, invite doubters to share their doubts in a sympathetic fellowship. The ad continues with the term, “in prayer.” If a person is “in” something as traditional as prayer they are unlikely at the time to be able to bring to bear a larger perspective unless they are not wholly “in” in the first place. Thus the ad appeals to those only superficially “in doubt” or “in prayer,” who float on the surfaces of their experience. In this condition they would not be looking for us. Those really “in doubt” might profit by airing their doubts among us in the service of forging a new positive life orientation. Those really “in prayer” might profit more from exposure to the Franciscans or the Sufis.

April 28, 2008

Mindset

We blame “the media” for the garbled, and uncritical reporting which obscures issues in a democracy. In fairness reporters treat opposing opinions, spins or considered views, equally, without critical follow through questions or sustained fact checking or examination of logic or history. I often wonder if some reporters research beyond their hotel lobbies or coffee break rooms. I used to believe they were intimidated by corporate executives. I now think if a reporter is ineffectual they will not be bothered by the owners. They live in a mindset, a conventional bubble, and have little time for reflective thought or wider perspectives beyond waves of fashion and current excitements. Many now seem young and green to me. Busy Americans all, they commute from their lawn-mowing and mortgage-paying, their partners and two and a half children in suburbia, listening to their radios and cell phones on the way to “work.” So what can we expect of them? We have to engage the world with our own reflective thought and wider perspectives. We can’t expect others to do it for us.

April 21, 2008

Type and Politics

You can observe type at work quite clearly in the Obama vs. Clinton primaries. The former employs inspiration, change, process (NF). The latter employs detailed plans, tactical sound bytes, administrative experience (ST). Both of course will hit a buzz saw in Washington should they be elected. Neither change nor detailed plans sit well with the Congress (or lawyers, lobbyists, “think” tanks). Hillary with her details will play to “win” (TJ). Good luck! Barack with his vision will play to shift the center to implementing a greener sustainable ‘equalite’ (FP). Possible? If you believe the inertia of corporatism is too powerful to overthrow, Clinton, the corporate candidate, may make it more humane. If, like me, you feel there is still some hope for a democratic renaissance, Obama may be our best (last?) chance. Both of course are extraverted: Hillary (extraverted thinking) and Barak (extraverted intuition). I can’t imagine myself in their shoes (introverted feeling).

April 14, 2008

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