Do the Math

A few of the issues spotlighted by Occupy Together are the unrestrained power of Wall Street, flagrant economic injustice and the ongoing financial burden of two or three undeclared wars. ( Not to mention the human cost). If we end the wars and tax the rich a lot of the money problems are solved, obviously the 1% (including the war profiteers) are not happy about this.

Those who occupy identify as the %99.

Who are the 99%?

Well here they are:

If you are unemployed or If you have two or three part-time jobs. If you have a mortgage. If you are a student. If you are a child. If you do manual labor. If you are a teacher, nurse or member of a union. If you have a minimum wage job. If you do clerical work. If you are a farmer. If you receive Medicare or Medicaid. If you pay high premiums for health insurance or don’t have any. If you are paying off a medical bill or a student loan. If you have credit card debt. If you pay into social security or receive social security. If you’re on disability. If you have been foreclosed upon. If you have a family member in hospice or elder care. If you’re a peace activist or a folk singer. If you rely on or provide childcare. If you are undocumented worker. If you work 9-5. If you are a firefighter or police officer. If you work overtime. If you worry about paying your bills. If you haven’t had a vacation in years. If you put off going to the dentist because you can’t afford it. If you have served in the U.S. military. If you are poor or homeless. If you are in prison or on probation. If you native American. If you lost your pension or retirement money in the financial crisis. If you shop a discount stores. If you don’t have a car. If you eat out of your garden. If you’re in the sex industry. If you have been turned down for a loan. If you pay more taxes than Exxon, Bank of America or GE (They paid no taxes last year) If you can’t afford to fill up your car with gas. If you are against the war or want the troops to come home now. If you pay for car insurance. If you have no savings account. If you have less than a million dollars. If you are afraid for your future. You are the 99% and so am I

We personify the democratic, compassionate, intelligent, articulate, non-violent possibilities and solutions that we, as the 99% are capable of. We exhibit the brilliance and capacity of our social network to bring revolution with the nimble dexterity of our fingers. We the People are awakening and we are everywhere

It is not about republicans, democrats, independents, right or left wing, Muslims, Jews, Christians, gays, straights, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, women or men. It’s about people. A lot of people who are paying attention and understand that Wall St. in cahoots with international corporations and the US government have robbed us of our treasury and possibly our future.

I’m excited about the quantum leap that’s on the horizon so when we say %99 percent we’re not just talking about America, We’re talking about the whole wide world. On October 31^st, according to the world-o-meter, the total world population will reach 7 billion people. Here’s some fun math. There are just over a thousand billionaires in the world and their net worth is 3.6 trillion dollars. There are ten million millionaires. Their assets make up about 42 trillion dollars. There’s 44 trillion dollars in the world. That leaves 2 trillion for us. That’s about $300 dollars apiece. No wonder everybody’s so upset. Here’s another equation. Let’s see 7 billion people minus ten million 1 thousand equals. 6,989,999,000. I love math.

Euology for Matt Coleman

It’s a dangerous world and being a mother I would worry about the fate of my children, especially when they were little. My mother, may she rest in peace, taught me that once they leave our bodies, our children are on their own path and we have to trust them, even if they die.

These words have comforted me throughout motherhood to this day. Fortunately my children are alive and well, but there are other mother’s who have lost their children. And though we may curse the timing of tragic events, no one gets out of here alive. In cases of inexplicable random violence, We can shake our fists at the heavens and demand justice, a refund, a guarantee but alas, this life business does not have a warranty, make any promises or respect contracts. What you see is what you get. This reminds us how deeply precious this very moment is.

Many of you have probably heard by now of the death of our kind and beautiful friend Matt Coleman steward of the land and beloved member of our community. He was murdered last Thursday night a mile or so from highway one 10 miles north of Westport. The Sheriff has no leads, no clues at this point. It’s just a deeply heartbreaking story. It was an ordinary day, one where a simple man, in love with the world went to work which brought him to the Old Thompson Ranch last Thursday to do his job, eradicating invasive species, watching out for the salmon, photographing the birds, taking care of the earth and her creatures. His path crossed with someone at the exact time, who was armed and willing to do harm, irrevocable harm. We can never know what happened at the moment, if Matt came to close to an illegal pot grow, a random crazed hiker, or at first what some rumored was a bear attack. Matt’s love for the world and passion for keeping it green and growing is what he has left us. Besides a loving family coming to bury their son, brother, friend but also an amazing partner in life who’s beauty and childlike joy has touched many of us.

With them we grieve. I would encourage you to allow grief to touch you. Grief is a profound human response to death that is crucial for compassion and healing. It is a virtue often forgotten, neglected in this tragic world. We tend to skip the grief and go for the depression, rage, vengeance, punishment, and revenge, but the act of grief is a synergistic. It’s a blessing and a beauty. And if you and I and you and she and we all take a moment to grieve, we are connected in that beautiful blessing. The Mayans say the Gods drink our grief, it feeds them and lets them know that something precious is lost, something of value. Someone who mattered.

Recently I saw a photo on the front page of the Chronicle. It was of a woman on her knees at an intersection in Berkeley. She was kissing the ground where her beautiful lover was shot dead on the night of his birthday last September. She makes a daily pilgrimage to the spot and grieves for her lover. This photo both touched and haunted me. There are daily, grizzly accounts of murder that are calling for our attention in terms of grief There are so many that perish each day, just think about Somalia. What if we had the presence to take a few minutes each day, perhaps at twilight and mourn for us all, for the questions that will never be answered and that question is Why? Why are some human beings so cruel and violent, heartless, and homicidal??

At this time, we are witnessing a rise in violence in our county where as for the last three weeks we have heard repeated reports of random gun violence and robbery, property destruction and generally scaring the locals. Yes, it is frightening and there is little we can do, but being afraid is not going to change fate or destiny, living our lives completely, staying on our paths and continuing our souls important work like the work that Matt was doing in stewarding this sacred Land trust. That’s where Matt put his trust, in the land, and He is in her arms now and we are left to grieve. We have little time to ask why? because there is no reason, there is no explanation here. It’s just the way it is. What can we do? Well it seems to me that Matt Coleman was doing exactly what he was born to do here on his true path. That his days were full of nature, life, celebration, love and surely a joyful path that he walked till it’s end. You can read Matt’s last contributions to the Mendocino Land Trust newsletters at Mendocino Land Trust.org. There you will also see his photos of the Great Blue Heron. May he forever fly with her and please, watch over us. At their website You will also find ways to volunteer and give to the earth and it’s restoration and pick up where Matt left off. We’ll do this together, No one should walk alone.

Hey You Gaias!

The 1^st Gaia Festival was born this past weekend on the sacred land called black oak ranch where hundreds of thousands have gathered over the last thirty years. From the Hog Farm Pignick to Camp Winnarainbow, to Kate Wolf Festival, Northern Ca Women’s Herbal symposium and Earthdance. Many have kicked up the dust in Laytonville’s hot sunshine and wondered at the moon in the cool starlight.

Producer, Susy Barsotti had the big idea to take the best of all their years of festival production and the occasion of masses of people gathering together to put some strong intention around it. While it is altogether delightful to celebrate with food, dance and music, with that many people the time has come to gather our energy and turn it toward action, beauty, sustainability, network, connection and healing. It was with that intention that the Barsotti’s gathered the most diverse profound artists from near and far, multicultural, young and old to join us together at the heart. The indigenous presence was deep and quite moving from the Native Pomo dancers, to John Trudell and Bad Dog, youth and elder councils met at the medicine wheel lodge put together the women of the herbal symposium, all of the stages were adorned with sacred creatures, bear. Owl, Raven, each evening we joined in enormous circles and sang down the sun with the voices of Bobi Cesbedes of the Yoruba tradition, Zili Misik bringing Haitian sounds and spirited longings of Ma Muse.

I had the truly extraordinary privilege of being the Mother of Ceremonies on the Earth and Sky Stage along with the inimitable presence of Visionary Activist and Weaver of Context Caroline Casey. . She benevolently mentioned President Obama’s birthday and asked us to see him to live up to his name, the translation of which is “bless the good” and see him in ancestors cloaks, innocent as the day he was born as if in his “birthday suit”.

Her lightning storm dispensation of ancient cosmic consciousness and present day reclamation was enough to make our heads spin and spiral and we both unglued the language and put it back together to fit with the quality of life that we would much prefer. One where we are called Gaias instead of Guys, One which we add the missing l to words like peacefull and beautifull, to fill our mouths and psyches with the completion of our ideals. One which we are willing to give up our addiction to having an enemy visualizing a global community called, Imagine Nation. We repeated the Gaia dream of zero waste, toasted every band with a prayer for the water and constantly reminded everyone that we are in mercury retrograde for another two weeks

Mercury retrograde is a challenge of communication which may lead to confusion and chaos and when one finds themselves in mercury’s mayhem it’s helpful to employ words that start with re- Remember, recall, relate, rehearse, realize, retreat, reorganize, rehabilitate.

We had a birds eye view of the festival audience from that robust Main stage position and could literally see people awaken with new thought and direction. Here’s one of the offerings we made from the stage. Close your eyes. Now imagine you are a dandelion gone to seed, so your head is completely full of the puffiest of puffs giving you the most marvelous hair do. Ok. Fill each seed with the loving message you like to send into the world. Every seed jam packed. Now, feel the wind in your puff, just gently blowing you to and fro. Now you realize you are surrounded by thousands of other dandelions just as poofy. And at the count of three we’re going to blow. Just the look on their faces was priceless was consciousness rising. We counted to three and blew…..and the laughter filled the bowl as we could surely see those delicate envoys sail away with the gentle winds. We remembered that Joy is power and laughter is the antidote to so much toxicity.

The consciousness at the festival included a stage for the children and bands sent there to perform specifically for the little ones. Usually it’s just a play area, but these were main stage artists singing for the children. Paul Stamets was there with his fungi magic mindfulness. We were offered A cannabis forum with Sheriff Allman and John McKowen and others. A psychedelic medicine forum and the morning mystic physical healing of Qi Gong. The Gaia invitation was to play and re imagine our world at the very same time Gov. Rick Perry gathered his minyans at Reliant Stadium in Texas to pray for God’s interference in a women’s right to choose and gay lovers to marry, Caroline advised us to inhale leadership and suck the g out of the word kingdom.

All within the sound of our broadcast were moved and brought to their senses. It was an awakening of a new festival in the heart of Pagan celebration of lamas, the harvest. In answer to the madness, the lies and twisted consciousness that is flooding the mainstream with terrible noise, piranha consciousness and the illusion systems of Dow Jones and Standard and Poor’s ,we laid ourselves down on the Gaia, our mother, and held her as she held us and we knew it was the truth, that we call come from the mother and to her we shall return. Re-member

I Want to Hold your Hand

I want to hold your hand. I want to give you hope. I want to remind you of the strength you have that has kept you alive and productive your whole life. I want to tell you how much you mean to me. I want to thank you for the beauty you create and generate in this world. I want to take you on a mental vacation, so you can rest and repair and relax. Smile.

I want to make you laugh, tell you a joke. Here’s one. A guy is sitting at home when he hears a knock at the door. He opens the door and sees a snail on the porch. He picks up the snail and throws it as far as he can.
Three years later, there is a knock on the door. He opens it and sees the same snail. The snail says, "What the hell was that all about?"

I want to honor your intelligence and appreciate the small things you do everyday that go unnoticed like making dinner, doing the laundry, taking care of the children, the elders, the animals.

I want to dance around the room with you, play games, swim in the river, dip our toes in the ocean. I want to remind you to rest, take a nap if you can. Sing loud in the car because when I drive by you, it’ll make me laugh. I want you to know that singing helps your spleen and balances the left right hemispheres of your brain. I want to encourage you to hold a baby, visit an elder and tell them a story.

I want to thank you for taking care of yourself. I want to acknowledge how much you contribute to community, all the events, gardens, meals, festivals, celebrations, concerts, benefits and fairs that bring us all together to enjoy our time together. I want you to know that inspite of all the terrible awful things going on in the world that there is most definitely and surely good news. Here’s some of the headlines from the Positive News out OF Bolinas CA. American Indians Granted $760 million in a class action lawsuit settlement. Teachers without Borders connecting teachers Globally to make changes locals. Slow Food movement saves a Vermont. President Obama meets with 11 young climate activists. Huge Palm Oil Company in Indonesia promises to End Deforestation and 12 year old food grower Katie Tagliano from south Carolina donates 2 tons of vegetables to homeless

I want to tell you a story about a guy who photographs individuals who normally go unseen, enlarges them to extreme gigantic sizes and plasters them to buildings to surprise and enlighten neighborhoods devastated by war, crime and poverty. His name is JR and his the winner of the 2011 TED Prize which operates under the concept; one wish to change the world. One of JR’s most recent projects was to photograph Israelis and Palestinians in the same occupations, Taxi drivers, chefs, teachers, army and to put their photos side by side on the Walls which separate the two people. This artistic action has opened so many minds to the idea that we’re not that different.

Help others.org has a smile deck that you electronically shuffle and are given instructions for actions of kindness. Clubs are for people you know, hearts are for strangers, diamonds are acts for yourself and spades are for the world. This is a terrific exercise and could be contagious.

These are just a few of the sentiments and stories that are happening at this very moment in our world. The stories that never make the front page or even the last. The stories that we don’t see on TV or hear on the mainstream radio. We are a planet of 7 billion mostly good people and it is our daily interactions, of Art, compassion, love, kindness and simplicity that very much deserve our attention. We deserve to hear it, integrate it and spread it around. Here’s a challenge. See how long you can hold a smile without laughing. Pass it on.

You can finds links to these stories at my website. Sherryglaser.net

The Age of Surveillence

If I saw one police car yesterday, I saw a hundred. We were driving up from the Bay Area and it appeared that every couple of miles on 101 there was a cop sitting and watching or actually in the process of harassing or arresting someone or worse. The same was true in Ukiah, 253, and Boonville and the 128. Even though I wasn’t doing anything wrong, I had that uncomfortable feeling that I was going to get in trouble any minute. Know what I mean?

It feels like there’s somebody always watching. It’s the age of surveillance. Surveillance comes from the French and it means, watching over. I wish it were that benign. For we watch over our grandchildren when they are close to the waters’ edge or climbing on the monkey bars. I certainly wouldn’t say they are under surveillance, but I’m not in France. Surveillance is huge business right now. There are thousands of cameras mounted in cities and towns all over country. In the UK there are more cameras than there are citizens. In fact, George Orwells’ house is surrounded by 32 cameras, Don’t you just love the irony. He’s dead, but still, big brother is watching

Yes, They are watching us, but not with the benevolent eyes of grandmothers, but with the prying, invasive eyes of officials waiting to detain, question and invade our privacy. We have practically given them carte blanche to do this in the form of our social networking. We generously divulge our family’s faces, habits, whereabouts in our innocence and belief that only our friends are being informed, but in our heart of hearts we know, this is public space and whatever we post is permanent, indelible ink.

According to wikipedia, they are listening as well. Remember "Hepting v. AT&T . This was United States class action lawsuit filed in 2006 by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) AT&T, in which the EFF alleged that AT&T permitted and assisted the National Security Agency (NSA) in unlawfully monitoring the communications of the AT&T customers, businesses and third parties whose communications were routed through AT&T's network, as well as telephone calls routed via the Internet". But the case was dismissed and to this day if ATT and the NSA consider us suspects they have warantless access to our daytime and nocturnal transmissions.

In the beginning of our democracy we were protected by the Bill of rights and the 4^th amendment which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause. But this lofty ideal has been whittled away ever so diligently by our previous presidents, and the current one has done nothing to restore privacy in any way.

Privacy is a thing of the past especially at airport security. Not only does the TSA rifle through our sex toys, prescriptions and valuables in our luggage, but now they have the right to look through our clothes, under our underwear and even through our skin. At this point we still have the option to opt out, but that gets you a public molestation which is humiliating and ineffective.

Take me for instance. I have an extremely large bosom. And although I’ve been felt up a number of times by TSA agents, they never really get under my breasts. Let’s assume it’s modesty, or perhaps ignorance about how much storage space is available to me. I know that if I want to smuggle a small child on the plane I could.

But here’s my point; Flying in a plane, Using a social network, or texting on a cell phone is a choice that some of us make in spite of the risk. But when it comes to installation smart meters it appears we have no choice. It is the intention of PGE as an agent of the PUC with the help of a company known as Wellington to install smart meters against the will of the people in California and in our case in direct violation of the decision of the Mendocino Board of Supervisors to Ban these meters. In fact it is also in violation of the Precautionary principle that as a county we also put into effect especially when it comes to health threats, the kind that have been documented in coordination with the installation of electronic meters.

These meters are designed to hook up with our smart appliances. Yes, the ones that I bought thinking I was being responsible and more energy efficient. Yet, it was all a precursor to this. Smart Meters use A remote electromagnetic frequency that zaps our nervous system and watches over our appliances and electric usage, reporting back to PG&E information about our private lives

On the other hand with all our nifty devices we are watching them too. We are recording, downloading, sharing, organizing and getting our communities and attorneys in gear.

Just watch us.

We declare Sovereignty

As we see the August 2nd deadline looming and the two parties feuding regarding the US debt ceiling we realize that our government is not so much in the business of conducting business, but in the business of waste, lies obfuscations, and destruction of the lives of Americans and immigrants who have worked so hard to make this country a beautiful productive and successful place. For it is on the backs of these working people that the billionaires have made their fortunes and incurred this unfathomable debt. This fact is never mentioned when discussing taxing the rich and that without the poor there would be no rich and without the wars there would be little debt. I have said, a general strike would be an excellent tonic for this nation Like they do in Europe the working class comes out in mass and refuses to participate and hold up the crumbling infrastructure if even for a day. For until then, mass consciousness will remain mired in the thinking that power is in the hands of the few rather than the many because in truth without us they are nothing.

We discussed these very urgent issues last week in syncopation with the 4^th of July celebrations at the Mendopendence conference. Local folks gathered a the Mendocino recreation center in response to a call from the new director of the Mendocino Environmental Center Justin Calvino and his co-worker Sarah Bodnar in an effort to define and declare sovereignty. Much of the panel discussions over the weekend focused on the very question "What is Sovereignty?" The most common definition was “control over local resources, including media, education, energy, food, security, jobs, and health”. We have long relied on the federal government to provide us these things and at the same time we are subject to their mood swings and strange unpredictable behaviors.

Let’s take health care for example. For so long we have been begging the government to provide us with Universal health care and what we got was not. I know there have been “improvements” like the fact that insurance providers can no longer deny coverage to a patient with preexisting conditions or the fact that you can keep your children on your policy until they are 26, bravo. But how much does it cost us and what kind of health care are they providing? Well, we rank 38^th in care in the world behind Costa Rica, Chile, Denmark, etc. Most people I know that find themselves in the maze of American Healthcare get a lot sicker before they get better, if they ever get better.

In a state of sovereignty we create a local system of healthcare that sustains our health and prevents disease rather than being dependent on a system tends to be dangerous and near collapse. We have a treasure of natural remedies and herbs growing wild here in Mendocino County that could keep a majority of us in good health for a long time. Last week on Holistic Healing Perspectives we were informed about Kangen water systems that transform our water from an acidic or neutral PH to a Base PH. Listeners chimed in on how miraculously the water changed their lives for the better. Marijuana, is a locally grown medicine and is also a proven anti depressant and pain manager. From the sea we have a valuable resource in iodine rich seaweed a definite protection against free floating radiation.

In fared Saunas are also a huge health benefit and relieve symptoms of fibromyalgia, arthritis, high blood pressure, and many other ailments. Sovereignty advises that we as a community invest in this kind of infrastructure.

We discussed the power grid and a way to generate our own electricity from the Sun, wind and perhaps biomass. As we see the unemployment rate climb we need ask ourselves what kind of industries can we create? What are our assets? What are our talents? For it is not the government or the billionaires that will provide it is we, ourselves.

Of course I dream of President Obama walking out to that bully pulpit to announce a new WPA works progress administration like the one created in 1939 by FDR employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects,^[1] including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects. It fed children and redistributed food, clothing, and housing. Almost every community in the United States had a park, bridge or school constructed by the agency, which especially benefited rural and Western areas. Yes, that would be on the heels of him writing an executive order rescinding all tax breaks for anyone who makes over a million dollars a year a removing subsides for things like 126 million dollars from the Horse racing industry. 3 billion in irrigation subsides that provide our nations fast food French fries, or making a change in the the Mining Law of 1872, which regulates the extraction of hardrock minerals Since 1872, land and mineral values have risen considerably.. Between $2 billion and $4 billion worth of royalty-free minerals are extracted each year from public lands, it estimates. But I fear Mr. Obama will do no such thing. He appears to be another puppet on a string. The time has come my friends for us to claim sovereignty and you can do so at the mendopendence website.www.mendopendence.com'