Collateral Murder on the Fourth of July

A lot today. A lot everyday. So perhaps not much different than any other. But there's always something about the Fourth of July... Not when we were young... God bless the ignorance of youth. When is it exactly that it strikes us? That initial spark that all is not exactly as we were told when we were children. A long loopy endless trail of realizations research thoughts feelings and discovery. First, anger. Shock. Dismay. Disgust. Sadness. Confusion. But not hopelessness. Never hopelessness. Egypt quells any room rhyme or rational one can possibly muster to dare feel hopeless.  If THEY can do it, so can we. And I would assert, along with many other people at this point probably that we need nothing less in today's America than a full on revolution. If we got rid of every person serving in the White House and the U.S. Congress I dare say we would be no less safer nor a better country for it.
        See, that's the thing isn't it? As incredibly wicked and corrupt things seem in the United States today, one can always point to a nation somewhere that has it worse. People often do. And unfortunately at times that's the ONLY thing some persons point to when someone else brings up some of the myriad problems that the country is facing at the moment. "If you don't like it then why don't you move somewhere else?!?!" they shout belligerently, as if they haven't a clue about the very foundational reasons why the United States was so theoretically great to begin with and could be once again. There is a blind jingoistic patriotism that has swept through America and won't leave. It is maddening to those who truly love the country and because of it want to see it improve, to live up to its highest values and the near impossible standards we set all those years ago.
        Ever since what everyone refers to as 9/11 one gets the sense that there is still a semi-majority in the United States who have eaten the whole elephant tail tusks and all. Still the elephant remains in the room. And it doesn't appear to be going anywhere. Perhaps it's always been there. One considers the 1960s... everything the country went through and yet the people, united, did not win. For all intents and purposes it could be said that we lost more in the 1960s than perhaps during any other period in American history. Eisenhower warned us of the coming storm. Frankly I don't think anyone except the few controlling elite, the exact group he was speaking of and warning us about, understood what he was really saying. Of course in hindsight it's easy now to clearly see what he was trying to say, so delicately and yet admirably so boldly at the same time. Point being, fight as we did (and by we I am speaking figuratively), the controlling powers that be -- this Military-Industrial-Political Complex that Eisenhower warned of -- pounded one and only one message home until the people finally sputtered out of energy, quit and scattered: "YOU will lose this; we will win. It is inevitable." And they did.
        Perhaps if MORE people understood what was going on at the time and joined the cause as opposed to staying home and cowardly watching it all on their televisions; perhaps they weren't cowards but just ignorant as to what was really happening. You would have thought the untimely assassination of JFK and the ridiculously unbelievable circumstances offered by the government about his murder would have compelled every man woman and child to rise up out of their recliners and take to the streets. Or Vietnam. Or MLK. Or the riots in the streets over civil rights. Time and time again the people of America were maced jailed beaten literally, and tortured teased mocked and ridiculed metaphorically by their government in broad daylight, by this same government, played with like little mice, and still the majority of the people did not come together to defend the nation. It never ceases to amaze me when I reflect back on it or study that time.
        We are seeing a similar situation in the United States now. The protest-march against the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 was one of the largest in the history of the United States (the largest in world history also happened to take place on the same day in cities all over the earth, massive records were broken that day and in the days that followed) yet no one could stop the government of the United States from their devious plan to invade Iraq. And from near and afar it appears that things have only gotten worse. Much worse. One gets the sense that there now is absolutely NOTHING that the U.S. government can do no matter how illegal heinous criminal or deadly that would shock the American people for longer than a day or two. And yes, luckily we still have a free media and hence that's part of how we are aware of just how bad things have gotten. Unfortunately we have not been successful in doing much to stop this ghostly walk into the deathly hallows of shame and infamy. How are we to feel like celebrating the Fourth of July, Independence Day as it is called, when we have no independence left to speak of? When no matter how bad things get and how much we protest it, nothing changes...?    
         If you've already watched the video that's posted above then you probably feel the same way that many do. How is this possible? How is it so blatantly out there? Something so horrible... How are they so overtly callous and murderous? Without shame or guilt or remorse, without compassion or concern or even a general human awareness of the value of life? How can the government lie so openly proudly and confidently? We already know the answer. Because we let them. One recalls that famous attributed to Adolf Hitler, "Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually the people will believe it." We've seen it manifest over and over again in human history. One wishes that it were somehow not possible in the United States of America, that we were somehow immune to this faulty human tendency. Especially on days like today, the Fourth of July.
       I think it's important for us to note one thing though here: for those of us who notice what is happening and speak out against it, it is not the United States that we are in opposition to or criticizing; on the contrary. It is the government of the United States. And really not even the government, but rather the politicians, the employees if you will -- our employees -- of this government. Most of us are patriots. I think there's a lot of confusion about this out there in the mainstream. Luckily more and more information is leaking out to common everyday folks that helps shed light on what all the fuss is about. It isn't the United States that's the problem, even though that's how the rest of the world now sees it; it's the United States government. Ultimately one supposes that means it comes back to us though... We are after all the people responsible for who is working in and running this government.
        In general I still believe that most Americans are operating under the misconception that those who speak out against the United States government are in some way unpatriotic or radical extremists or "conspiracy theorists", when most of the time the exact opposite is true. Most of the time these are the people who love the Unites States of America and what it allegedly stands for the most. I know that applies to me. And I am sure it applies to everyone I know in the various movements around the country of different people who are trying to enact real change in how we do things here. My hope is that this time, as the country veers closer and closer to another 1960s, or worse, another 1860s, that enough of the populace is educated and aware of what we are fighting for and that for the first time since the Revolutionary War that we together can form a majority so we can win once more instead of fighting each other as in times past.
        I for one would love to once again enjoy my Fourth of July as I once did as a child, wide eyed and proud, happy and grateful for who we are as a country and what we've accomplished and what we stand for around the world. And I can see it. I can see that one day being a reality again. But today is not that day. We have traveled too much. We have learned too much. The world is too flat. We are in communication with too many people from other countries all over the world to believe these myths, to NOT know how the rest of the world feels, to NOT know how we should feel if of rational mind, stable body and compassionate heart. We cannot swallow the whole elephant some of us. But it doesn't mean we aren't hopeful. And it doesn't mean that we won't keep trying.  

        I would be remiss if I didn't make mention of the fact that Princess Little Tree and The Squid left today to head down to Florida for the International Avatar Course. They left early this morning. While I was sleeping. I had just enough awareness to say goodbye. So beautiful. So precious. So perfect she remains to me after all these years. I cannot believe how much I already miss her. They will be gone for twelve days. Today has already felt like a week. I now for the first time I believe finally understand what it's like to "feel" really married, to love and miss someone that much, to not want to travel without them, to not want to leave their side, to long to die the moment they do. I love Princess Little Tree that much now. As opposed to marriage making us feel less in love with one another, it has done the exact opposite. I love and miss her even more.
        We will be recording most of this entire time over the next few weeks. So that will provide me with ample distraction. But regardless, the days feel long and slow without her and the nights even more so. As always, more later.