“If you haven’t tasted the meals other mothers have prepared, you think your mother is the best cook,” says an African proverb. Michael Moore’s movie SICKO shows us how tasteless Mother America’s healthcare meals have been.
Last night (Saturday June 23rd) we were among a packed audience at Seattle's AMC Pacific Place Theatre that watched a sneak preview of Michael Moore's comedy about 47 million unisured Americans with no healthcare in the richest country on Earth and the insured who are denied their benefits when they most need them.
From one horrifying healthcare story to the next, SICKO documents the miserable plight of countless Americans the US government has betrayed to the American Medical Association, health insurance agencies, HMOs and pharmaceutical companies.
Human life, for these powerful businesses and interest groups, appears worthless, and all that seems to matter is the multi-billion-dollar profit they make off the people's suffering, pain and blood. It’s like a hen sucking the yolk out of its own eggs.
SICKO unmasks the glaring hollowness of American economic prosperity, military superiority, and democratic ideals. What's a nation's wealth or worth if it fails to care for its sick children, if it fails to heal its wounded in the line of duty and if it fails to aid its helpless elders, widows and pregnant women?
Is this the America George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and the other founding fathers had in mind? Is this the beacon of democracy, the land of milk and honey, of freedom and justice under God for all?
In SICKO Moore juxtaposes emotionally wrenching scenes with generous and entertaining humor that sow the seeds for an open and honest discussion of the shameful state of America’s healthcare system.
If free universal healthcare is good for Canadians, the French and even Cubans why is it not good for Americans?
With SICKO Moore establishes himself as a master social critic who informs the people and lets them decide.
Since imagination is everything, the next step for the US is to visualize Mother America as the best cook on the block. Visualize universal healthcare for all Americans. Imagine that all the good things about the French and British and Canadian healthcare systems are right here in America, because energy follows thought! Being able to imagine the health care system we desire is the next step toward making this dream a reality.
Visit SICKO web site
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
Serving others is the answer
I’m not a fan of Thom Hartmann per se but I met him when he came to Seattle last year on a book signing tour. I think he’s a cool guy. Most everything I know about Thom, from the magical stories of Master Stanley and Herr Muller and of the mountain dwellers in South America warning the developed world to change the course of impending doom they are on in The Prophet's Way, to what I know of his radio talk shows on Air America, I learned from my significant other.
I woke up yesterday with a desire to skim, yes, skim Servers of the Divine Plan, a book I bought about a month ago. I had no idea why I had that feeling, but I followed it anyway. I flipped through the pages and what caught my attention was the story of “The Sheep and the Goats” from The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ.
As I read it, I wondered how it would fit into my reflection of yesterday on "What Matters Most." I finished the blog without adding it because it didn’t seem to fit.
My significant other comes back from dropping our son at school. She’s excited and tells me about what she’s just heard on Thom Hartmann’s radio talk show.
Thom had a man on who was talking about growing up a Southern Baptist Christian. He said although Matthew Chapter 25 is a pivotal message of Jesus , his church downplayed that message while growing up. Thom Hartmann and his guest were talking about politics and Christianity and they used the parable of “The Sheep and Goats” to show that ultimately the Christian life is about serving others.
Needless to say I was shocked. I had just finished reading the same passage. I felt as if God was speaking directly to me. What was God telling me? I asked myself.
This passage comes after Jesus and his disciples “were lost in prayer for seven hours” on Mount Olivet. It was a special day because “the curtain had parted” and they stepped “beyond the veil into the secret courts of God.” Because his message of the day was particularly important he whispered and called the hidden name of God. The parable of the “Sheep and Goats” was one of the teachings of that unique moment.
“The curtain had parted” and “the secret courts of God” may mean that Jesus and his disciples entered what is often described as the liminal zone, or the non-local universe, that space where time ceases and distance collapses. They were together in the void, in a state of pure consciousness, in the Kingdom of God.
Throughout that chapter, Jesus repeated more than thrice the need to be prepared: “be ready every moment of the day and night” he told his disciples. When they least expected the coming of the Lord, he would appear.
For me, the “coming of the Lord” means the day I’m called back to God. Jesus said that when that time comes my actions and thoughts will come to scrutiny. What will matter most, then, will be service to the race.
In The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ, The parable says that there will be a judge who will separate the sheep from the goats. The judge will tell the goats: those found unprepared and wanting:
“Your life was full of self; you served the self and not your fellow man, and when you slighted one of these, you slighted and neglected me.”
And those who qualified to be in sheep camp the judge will say, “You served the sons of men, and whatsoever you have done for these, that you have done for me”
This, of course, is a parable. Since I’ve been wrestling with what matters most, it seems to me that here’s another layer, another answer to my struggle. What matters most, then, is service to others. That service must be selfless. It must be with the attitude that I am serving the Creator through them.
I hope that this blog I’m posting here, the work that I do, and my life will be of service to others. Because I desire to be ready and to hear the judge tell me on that day: “You served the sons of men, and whatsoever you have done for these, that you have done for me.”
If you need more information follow these links:
Two Versions of the Parable of the Sheep and Goats
From The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ. Section XVI Chapter 158 verses 33-48
From The Message Matthew 25, 31-46
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2025;&version=31;
Servers of the Divine Plan http://www.thenewcall.org/book_sdp.htm
Rebecca Dawn
I woke up yesterday with a desire to skim, yes, skim Servers of the Divine Plan, a book I bought about a month ago. I had no idea why I had that feeling, but I followed it anyway. I flipped through the pages and what caught my attention was the story of “The Sheep and the Goats” from The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ.
As I read it, I wondered how it would fit into my reflection of yesterday on "What Matters Most." I finished the blog without adding it because it didn’t seem to fit.
My significant other comes back from dropping our son at school. She’s excited and tells me about what she’s just heard on Thom Hartmann’s radio talk show.
Thom had a man on who was talking about growing up a Southern Baptist Christian. He said although Matthew Chapter 25 is a pivotal message of Jesus , his church downplayed that message while growing up. Thom Hartmann and his guest were talking about politics and Christianity and they used the parable of “The Sheep and Goats” to show that ultimately the Christian life is about serving others.
Needless to say I was shocked. I had just finished reading the same passage. I felt as if God was speaking directly to me. What was God telling me? I asked myself.
This passage comes after Jesus and his disciples “were lost in prayer for seven hours” on Mount Olivet. It was a special day because “the curtain had parted” and they stepped “beyond the veil into the secret courts of God.” Because his message of the day was particularly important he whispered and called the hidden name of God. The parable of the “Sheep and Goats” was one of the teachings of that unique moment.
“The curtain had parted” and “the secret courts of God” may mean that Jesus and his disciples entered what is often described as the liminal zone, or the non-local universe, that space where time ceases and distance collapses. They were together in the void, in a state of pure consciousness, in the Kingdom of God.
Throughout that chapter, Jesus repeated more than thrice the need to be prepared: “be ready every moment of the day and night” he told his disciples. When they least expected the coming of the Lord, he would appear.
For me, the “coming of the Lord” means the day I’m called back to God. Jesus said that when that time comes my actions and thoughts will come to scrutiny. What will matter most, then, will be service to the race.
In The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ, The parable says that there will be a judge who will separate the sheep from the goats. The judge will tell the goats: those found unprepared and wanting:
“Your life was full of self; you served the self and not your fellow man, and when you slighted one of these, you slighted and neglected me.”
And those who qualified to be in sheep camp the judge will say, “You served the sons of men, and whatsoever you have done for these, that you have done for me”
This, of course, is a parable. Since I’ve been wrestling with what matters most, it seems to me that here’s another layer, another answer to my struggle. What matters most, then, is service to others. That service must be selfless. It must be with the attitude that I am serving the Creator through them.
I hope that this blog I’m posting here, the work that I do, and my life will be of service to others. Because I desire to be ready and to hear the judge tell me on that day: “You served the sons of men, and whatsoever you have done for these, that you have done for me.”
If you need more information follow these links:
Two Versions of the Parable of the Sheep and Goats
From The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ. Section XVI Chapter 158 verses 33-48
From The Message Matthew 25, 31-46
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2025;&version=31;
Servers of the Divine Plan http://www.thenewcall.org/book_sdp.htm
Rebecca Dawn
Thursday, June 21, 2007
What matters most?
As I reflect on Rev. Dr
"What matters most to you?"
Time is flying. So many sunsets to see, so many bird songs to hear, so many flowers to smell, so much honey to taste, so much to touch and feel.
I work part time in a library. Every day, hundreds of books, DVDs, compact disks, and other media pass through my hands. I barely have time to read even the titles. For someone who grew up in an African village without libraries, someone who loves books, this is like being a child in a candy store--my wildest dream come true.
What I've learned handling this amount of media is that I can't read or watch or listen to everything. Here, too, the nagging question arises: "What matters most to you?"
Last Sunday, a friend,
After the ceremonies in what the Right Rev. Father Alan Kemp of the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch Malabar Rite in
We agreed that connecting with and maintaining a constant communion with our inner selves was the most important task for us and for the world. We said that all our actions should be premeditated and intentional. Without constant union with the Spirit within, our lives are shallow. Next come meeting our basic needs followed by our own service to the world.
I've experienced peace and disquiet simultaneously recently. Peace because all my life, I’ve worked to connect with my inner spirit for guidance and strength. Disquiet comes since there's so much to do to live from this center, to meet basic needs and leave the world a better place.
This disquiet alarms me as I perceive the conundrum of the age. We're the generation most likely to leave this world worse than we found it. We have made the greatest scientific discoveries but we've used these inventions for the most part to deaden the spirit, enslave others and destroy the earth.
What matters most for me, then, is reconnecting with my inner core, and with those who have connected with their inner spirit to create a positive global consciousness to take us out of the nightmare of the age.
The Catholic Apostolic
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