Keep Your Hands Off My Web...

I will not be posting new blog entries

for 24 hours after midnight 17-18 January 2012,

in solidarity with the internet blackout protest

over SOPA -

the internet censorship legislation
the oligarchs are attempting to impose on US citizens...

 

More Than Celluloid...

George Clooney's been pushing for peaceful change in the Sudan...

Ed Norton's been focusing on biodiversity, and sustainability and the environment.

And then there's Morgan Freeman, David Strathairn, Robert Redford, Mark Ruffalo and Leonardo DiCaprio - all have been vocal and active in the environmental, social justice/social change arenas...

Sean Penn has shown his concern for where this country is heading...

And Matt Damon came out in support of public education and teachers several months ago:

Seriously - all those Hollywood types - especially the men... you've all been PLAYING "hero" on celluloid... consider all those movies as dress rehearsals for the real thing... now's your chance to LIVE it...

We - the 99% - have reached critical mass...

Now it's your turn...

Brad, George, Matt, Sean, Robert, Dustin, Leo - put your (our) money where your mouths are...

GET TOGETHER - do the MUSKETEERS thing... OCCUPY HOLLYWOOD

Work collectively/collaboratively to effect the change you've each called for individually... 

 

Giving Thanks...

With thanks to all the wonderful beings in my life...

two-legged, 

four-legged, 

the flyers, 

the swimmers,

the crawlers, 

the plant people,

the standing ones,

the grandmothers, grandfathers and children of the earth,

the star people,

all the elements, qualities and attributes of the four directions of the Sacred Circle... 

I love you all...

click on image to read text

‎PS: #thanksgiving #occupy #revolution - Sending love and thanks to all those walking this journey; it's a great time to be alive - I had almost despaired of us reaching critical mass to change and create a more loving, humane world for all beings; let's succeed this time!

 

You Know You're Living...

... in a fascist police state when:

I said "You need a degree to get a good job", so he went into debt to go to college, while I got rid of the jobs; he protested #soipeppersprayedhim

I took his job away - sent it overseas - and then when his family lost their house, he protested, #soipeppersprayedhim

He proclaimed "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed" #soipeppersprayedhim

He wanted to complain about tuition increases #soipeppersprayedhim

He hadn't had a shower in 3 days and was living in a tent, for chrissake #soipeppersprayedhim

He said "MIC CHECK!" #soipeppersprayedhim

JP Morgan Chase gave me $4.6 Million to do their bidding #soIpepperSprayedHim

They were gathered together having a teach-in #soipeppersprayedhim

They set up a library and were reading books! The nerve! #soipeppersprayedhim

Those kids were way too peaceful... #soipeppersprayedhim

They said they didn't like it when we spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on Riot Police but closed public schools #soipeppersprayedhim

They were chanting about corruption #soipeppersprayedhim

They were sitting on the grass with their arms linked #soipeppersprayedhim

He questioned Bernanke's ability to create money from nothing, #soipeppersprayedhim

Somebody looked at me funny #soipeppersprayedhim

I was handing out fliers to people as they walked by #soipeppersprayedhim

Someone shared an idea that was different than mine #soipeppersprayedhim

He was wearing a Guy Fawkes mask #soipeppersprayedhim

He said they wouldn't let his special ed kid go to their charter school #soipeppersprayedhim

He said it was time for the rich to share their wealth #soipeppresprayedhim

He said he wants real change in government #soipeppersprayedhim

He said "They only let white kids go to that charter school" #soipeppersprayedhim

He said "My kid doesn't know how to speak English so they wouldn't let him go to their charter school" #soipeppersprayedhim

He said "CEO's making 435 times the amount of the average worker is too much for one person" #soipeppersprayedhim

He said "Bill Gates granted billions to charter schools, but the state cut public education budgets, closed schools", #soipeppersprayedhim

He said he works two jobs and can't pay his bills when I told him "go get a job, take a bath" #soipeppersprayedhim

He said "It's the poverty, stupid" when they told him his public school was failing #soipeppersprayedhim

He said "I do my job every day, why doesn't Congress do theirs?" #soipeppersprayedhim

He said "We all have a right to a free and public education" #soipeppersprayedhim

He said "You can't put an idea in jail." #soipeppersprayedhim

She was 84, he was in a wheelchair and their friend was very pregnant #soipeppersprayedhim

  

 

You Do Realise...

... that we are living inside a REVOLUTION, don't you?

Just take some time to give that idea a chance to sink in...

What does that mean for you?

Maybe it would help get some perspective if we looked back at all of the other revolutions and rebellions we have instigated or fought against...

and there are many, many, many of them... see this (not exhaustive) list:

Revolutions & Rebellions Through The Ages

Seems we are a restless, confused, capricious, difficult to please species... 

Well not really; it seems like some of us have a need to be in power and control over the rest, and others of us don't like being dis-empowered and controlled...

So, given that we don't seem to have the knowledge or the will to do things differently, eventually, we fight it out... 

What's different this time?

One thing that is certainly different, is that this time the revolution is global...

AND there is more at stake - the survival of our own and all the other species living on the planet, if not the planet herself...

So, in the first place, do you believe me?  You don't have to take my word for it... open your eyes and ears and your mind... look all around you...

And if you then do agree that we are living inside a REVOLUTION, where do you stand?

For or Against?

And what will you do for or against this REVOLUTION?

Everything?

Something?

Nothing?


LYRICS

History never repeats
I tell myself before I go to sleep
Don't say the words you might regret
I've lost before you know I can't forget

There was a girl I used to know
She dealt my love a savage blow
I was so young, too blind to see
But anyway that's History

(I say) History never repeats
I Tell myself before I go to sleep
Don't say the words you might regret
I've lost before you know I can't forget

You say I always played the fool
I can't go on if that's the rule
Better to jump than hesitate
I need a change and I can't wait

History never repeats
I tell myself before I go to sleep
And there's a light shining in the dark
Leading me on towards a change of heart (ah-ar)

History never repeats (x2)

Deep in the night it's all so clear
I lie awake with great ideas
Lurking about in no-man's land
I think at last I understand

History never repeats
I tell myself before I go to sleep
And there's a light shining in the dark
Leading me on towards a change of heart (ah-ar)
Never repeats (x3)
Hey Hey, Hey... 

Take A Chill Pill, Bill & Jill...

I've noticed that people have been reading the "Plan A" and "Plan A Isn't Going To Plan..." posts...

This message crossed my path today (in the Universe's usual very timely fashion) and I just had to share it!

So many people and situations this advice could apply to...

My own personal life...

The oligarchs...

The Occupy/99% movement...

Humanity...

The planet...

All of Creation!


BUT... and we all know there is always a BUT...

well actually, let me amend that... there are no BUTs, no EITHER/ORs... in this paradoxical paradigm we consider to be our reality, there are only AND/ALSOs... and life changes, opens up once we "get" and accept that...

"A Warrior...

 
... accepts that we can never know
what will happen to us next"

Say this to yourself...

Several times...

Notice how it feels in your body...

BREATHE... 


BREATHE... 


BREATHE...

PS:   Dorli Rainey, the grandmother who was maced by members of the Seattle Police Department, is a long time activist, former schoolteacher, and school board member who has become the face of the Occupy movement by virtue of one picture and a life of activism. 

 

Born in Austria, Rainey came to the U.S. in 1956 following her work as a technical translator in the U.S. Army in Europe. She describes herself as an "all-around troublemaker."

 

"I believe change begins in the streets, and all citizens have the power to make a difference," she writes in her blog. "Together we can make our voices heard in the ivory towers of government”. 

 

In addition to supporting Occupy Seattle, she is a member of Women in the Black an international network who "stand in silent vigil, calling for peace, justice and non-violent solutions to conflict." 

 

Rainey has been called "a role model among activists that walks the walk."

 

 

How Low Can You Go?

I'm asking for prayers and good vibes... 

Son's father is fighting our proposed move to Australia in court... not only that, but he wants custody of him, claiming I am an unfit mother...

This from the man who has been kicked off five different domestic violence perpetrator programmes in five years... whose visitation access to our son is determined by how much progress he is making on said programmes...

And he's playing really, really dirty - I can't even read the court documents he filed in their entirety yet, they are so horrible...

I picked up the documents this evening - they were improperly served at the previous house we had lived in...

And leaving the house, the car in front of me had a bumper sticker in Yiddish, with English translation... it said "Have courage, be strong"... I hadn't even read the documents yet!!!

I  need to focus on filing a response to this crap - one of the hearings is on the 28th, I think, and I have 20 days to reply to the other motion he filed... and I have to file a request for the renewal of the Protection Order this week...

It's kinda hard to do the forgiveness thing when, just when I think I am there, more of this crap comes - but I guess that's the challenge...

And after tomorrow, I don't know where we'll be living.... the boy and I, two cats and some of our "stuff"... and our van with the window that was shot out September 2010 that's still covered in clear plastic sheeting and dragon-patterned duct tape!

The rent for the week-to-week motel we're staying at was due three days ago - the landlord is asking for it...

Son's dad owes me $1,500 and two clients owe me around $3,000; have been asking for them to cough up - no reply yet...  

I guess I now understand something about what life was like for the people who went through the Great Depression and World War 2... 

Though I still probably haven't got a clue what life is like for the millions in the third world, starving to death...

Well - I guess this all goes on tomorrow's agenda...

I have just enough gas left to get to my therapy appointment (lovely women who doesn't ask me to front up with the co-pays!); will use the hour with her to get my head around all of this...

PS:   As above, so below, as within, so without... the macro reflects the micro and vice versa...

It's 11.30pm Pacific Time here in Seattle, and I am watching the New York Police Department completely destroy the OccupyWallStreet camp... pepper spraying, hurting, arresting protestors and trashing absolutely everything...

It seems to me to be synchronistic that I got those horrible, hurting, trashing documents tonight and that we are facing homelessness tomorrow, in the same manner as OccupyWallStreet - which is standing up to governmental and corporate abuse - is being attacked/evicted by police...

As a Facebook friend said: "the empathic principal in action... seems to me that the line being drawn is spreading like wildfire... much violence is up, which is the sign of weakness and fear...sigh"...

Who Are You?

... Are you one of us?

We are the 99%

We speak up for the 99.9% of the WORLD

If you care, you should come

If you are homeless, you should come

If you love the planet, you should come

If you are unemployed, you should come

If you have a mortgage, you should come

If you have been laid off, you should come

If you have a credit card, you should come

If you have student debt, you should come

If you are sick of the drug war, you should come

If you have been a victim of crime, you should come

If you doubt the mainstream media, you should come

If you think our democracy is broken, you should come

If your house has been foreclosed on, you should come

IF YOU KNOW YOU CAN'T VOTE FOR REAL CHANGE, YOU SHOULD COME

If you are struggling to pay all your bills, you should come

If you have been a victim of police brutality, you should come

If you are worried that you will lose your job, you should come

If you lost your savings in the economic crash, you should come

If you have a university degree but can't use, it you should come

If you have been denied a pension you deserve, you should come

If you are a small business owner who is struggling, you should come

If you have a child and care about its future, you should definitely come

If you are willing to ditch your labels and work together, you should come

If you want to take part in a global movement for change, you should come

If your sense of Decency and Humanity has been offended by people who make decisions about your life without your permission, WE'LL SEE YOU THERE

WE ARE THE 99%

 

AND WE SHALL BE HEARD...

I'm Not Moving...

... many of us are not moving...

Response...

My post yesterday impelled Angelique to respond...

Which was a lovely gift, because her expression of caring and concern in turn solidified some thinking/feeling, settled an ambivalence I had been feeling about the journey as it's been unfolding...

Angelique said...

Plan "B" ... is more I think ... we'll see how it goes form here ... ;)

 

Hope you can make a decission because what I read out of your story ..... well ..... you aren't doing well.

 

Moving house again and again...having no place of your own.

 

Could you have a place of your own Down Under? Or would you be in the same situation?

 

Take care. Wish I could help you...

 

 

Sahila said...

Angelique..... thank you so much for your response and for your caring....

 

Whenever I get on my "pity-pot" and feel sorry for myself and my son, I remind myself of all the blessings we do have, and that the NOW is all there is - I/we could be dead in the next minute...

 

In the NOW, we have absolutely everything we need - people who love us, a warm, dry roof over our heads, clothes/shoes to wear, food to eat, even a vehicle with enough petrol in the tank to get us to wherever we want to go today...

 

We have far more even than that - we have toys, books, music, film/videos, a computer, the internet and choice...

 

I have a good brain, am able to articulate and write what I think and feel and KNOW and (still) have some freedom to express that...

 

All of which is much, much more than most of the world's other people have... So, in the NOW - which is all there really is - what have I got to bitch about? Any complaining I do, is ingratitude...

 

It's funny, because the Tarot card for yesterday (when I wrote this post), which I didn't look at till this morning, was the 5 of Pentacles and the interpretation that came with it was this:

 

"The Five of Pentacles card suggests that my power today lies in DEFIANCE. We are willing to reject the sure thing or accept excommunication to try to make it on our own rather than endure the status quo or submit to conditions that assume we are invisible -- in this, we have nothing to lose. We accept responsibility for the difficulties ahead and do not seek pity for having chosen against the grain. I am empowered by mutual support and my assets are self-worth, hope, and pride." ...

 

I'm finding my way to a new place in life - as we all are, which is manifesting right now in the #Occupy movement that is spreading across the US and internationally...

 

And that new place is about not having any attachment to situation, places, things... but living in the NOW and our primary relationships being with people and other creatures and the planet...

 

Everything else is a distraction...

 

And my difficulty has been stepping fully into that space - the spirit is willing but the ego is weak, or rather, strong! - and taking my son into that world with me...

 

I've been feeling ambivalence about taking him so far out of the mainstream - which is the only path that FEELS right for me - and a fear that I am not giving him the values, tools and place he needs to operate in the current paradigm...

 

And as I write this, and I "feel" it and I look back on how far I have already come, I realise that he's my son and came into my life at this time in my evolution because this is his journey too... he needs me to make way for him into the new future so many of us are working for...

 

It's no longer the world for which I raised my other children... My son - and his generation - will be growing into a new world, that the #Occupy advocates are working on creating now... and he and I are part of that...

 

If I/we could be with them in New York, I/we would be...

I'm filled with excitement and anticipation at where this path is taking us... even though I have no clear sense of where/how that is/will be!

 

 

"The Five of Pentacles is often understood as a perilous Tarot card, signifying a tough time, financial hardship and struggle.

 

The Five of Pentacles recalls the ups and downs of our relationships. All couples have their biorhythms, so to speak. When the Five of Pentacles appears, it suggests things are tough but you can weather the storm. These struggles are precisely the moments that define you as a couple. That with the bitter comes the sweet. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

 

The beauty and hope thriving within the Five of Pentacles card comes via the bright light shimmering through the stained glass window above the couple. Salvation is possible should they choose to seek it.

 

Should the the Five of Pentacles appear for you and you happen to be going through a tough time, let it stand as a reminder things will get better. You will make it through stronger, tougher and wiser..."

 

~ Tarot Diva - Five Of Pentacles

 

 

 

 

What's It All About, Alfie?...

LYRICS:

What's it all about, Alfie?
Is it just for the moment we live?
What's it all about when you sort it out, Alfie?
Are we meant to take more than we give
or are we meant to be kind?

 
And if only fools are kind, Alfie,
then I guess it's wise to be cruel.
And if life belongs only to the strong, Alfie,
what will you lend on an old golden rule?
 

As sure as I believe there's a heaven above, Alfie,
I know there's something much more,
something even non-believers can believe in.

 
I believe in love, Alfie.
Without true love we just exist, Alfie.
Until you find the love you've missed you're nothing, Alfie.
When you walk let your heart lead the way
and you'll find love any day, Alfie, Alfie.

LETTER TO THE RULING CLASS:

You control our world. 

You’ve poisoned the air we breathe, contaminated the water we drink, and copyrighted the food we eat. 

We fight in your wars, die for your causes, and sacrifice our freedoms to protect you. 

You’ve liquidated our savings, destroyed our middle class, and used our tax dollars to bailout your unending greed. 

We are slaves to your corporations, zombies to your airwaves, servants to your decadence. 

You’ve stolen our elections, assassinated our leaders, and abolished our basic rights as human beings. 

You own our property, shipped away our jobs, and shredded our unions. 

You’ve profited off of disaster, destabilized our currencies, and raised our cost of living. 

You’ve monopolized our freedom, stripped away our education, and have almost extinguished our flame. 

We are hit… we are bleeding… but we ain’t got time to bleed. 

We will bring the giants to their knees and you will witness our revolution!

~ A Pencos Reyes