As the struggle to make ends meet, feed our families, keep a roof over our heads, pay for a rising cost of living, with stagnant or falling income, forces and pressures are building that are making more and more people feel like Mr. Beale, “I’m as mad as Hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore” from the 1976 movie ‘Network.’
The words Mr. Beal spoke in 1976 were prophetic and Timeless, and are just as True for the realities of Today
Powerful and rich Mr. Jensen delivers his ‘corporate cosmology’ to the Mad Prophet of the Airways in the link below. Only with the benefit of hindsight can we see the 1976 movie was prophetic and current for our Time 36 years later as the world wakes up to see and realize the Global Corporatocracy that has consolidated power and control over every material aspect in the lives of the people-consumers of this world.
Unawares to me, earlier that Saturday, March 5, before I uploaded this report later that night, Michael Moore spoke to the Protesters in Madison, Wisconsin.
His speech contained similar themes to those in this 1976 movie ‘Network.” At the 19 minute mark he had the crowd chanting, “We have had it” a thought very similar to “I’m as mad as Hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore.”
I was happy to discover the Michael More video the next day, as in the Spirit transcending National boundaries, Space and Time.
This article was the lead paragraphs in the article ‘TV & POPULAR CULTURE: IDOLS, ADVERTISING AND UNREAL REALITY’ posted on March 5.
This Blog, being a work in progress, I thought it better to separate that article which was much too long for a Society accustomed to 30 second sound bytes, with attention deficit disorder to greater or lessor degrees, and give it a new current title.
The following video from the 70’s is strong evidence the more things change, the more they remain the same.
This article was written by Professor Richard Falk, currently the UN Special Rapporteur For Palestinian Human Rights.
Richard Falk is an International Law and International Relations Scholar who taught at Princeton University for forty years. Since 2002 he has lived in Santa Barbara, California, and taught at the local campus of the University of California in Global and International Studies and since 2005 chaired the Board of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.
There are several pressures that push war in the direction of the absolute, and imperil the human future. Perhaps, the foremost of these is emergence, use, retention, and proliferation of nuclear weapons, as well as the development of biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction. Since Hiroshima and Nagasaki there have been several close calls involving heightened dangers of wars fought with nuclear weapons, especially associated with the Cold War rivalry, none more serious than the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. To entrust such weaponry to the vagaries of political leadership and the whims governmental institutions seems like a Mt. Everest of human folly, and yet the present challenges to nuclearism remain modest and marginal despite the collapse of the deterrence rationale that seemed plausible to many during the confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States.
Underneath the tendency to develop for use whatever weapons and tactics that technology can provide is the fragmented political identities of a world divided into sovereign states. The inhabitants of these states of greatly varying size, capabilities, and vulnerabilities, have long been indoctrinated to view their own state through the idolatrous eyes of nationalism that view the extermination of the enemy as acceptable if necessary for national security or even desirable to satisfy national ambitions. The ideology of nationalism, nurturing the values of unquestioning patriotism, have led to an orientation that can be described as secular fundamentalism, vindicating militarist worldviews however dysfunctional given the risks and limits associated with gaining desired political ends by relying on military superiority. The crime of treason reinforces the absolutist claims of the secular state by disallowing defenses based on conscience, law, and belief.
As I have pointed out in other contexts, the militarily superior side has rarely prevailed in an armed conflict since the end of World War II unless also able to command the moral and legal heights wherein are located the symbols of legitimacy. The political failures of the colonial powers despite their military dominance provides many bloody illustrations of this trend of miltarist frustration that did not exist until the middle of the last century. Because of entrenched bureaucratic and economic interests (‘the military-industrial-media complex’), the experience is denied, military solutions for conflicts continue to be preferred, and futile recourse to war goes on and on.
One further check on the excesses of warfare is supposedly provided by the inhibiting role of conscience, the ethical component of the human sensibility. This sentiment was powerfully and memorably expressed by some lines in the Bertolt Brecht poem, “A German War Primer”:
General, your bomber is powerful
It smashes down forests and crushes a hundred men
But it has one defect:
It needs a driver.
This ‘defect,’ a driver is both a human cost, and maybe a brake on excess, as Brecht suggests a few lines later:
General, man is very useful
He can fly and he can kill
But he has one defect:
He can think.
Of course, military training and discipline are generally effective in overcoming this defect, especially as backed up by the nationalist ideology discussed above, while international humanitarian law vainly tries to give support to thinking and respecting limits. The Nuremberg Trials of Nazi surviving leaders even went so far as to decide that ‘superior orders’ were no excuse if war crimes were committed.
In the nuclear age this process went further as the stakes were so high. I recall visiting the headquarters of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) at the height of the Cold War. SAC was responsible for the missile force that then targeted many cities in the Soviet Union. What struck me at the time was the seeming technocratic indifference of those entrusted with operating the computers that would fire the missiles in contrast to the ideological zeal of the commanding generals who would give the orders to annihilate millions of civilians at a distant locations. I was told at the time that the lower ranked technical personnel had been tested to ensure that moral scruples would not interfere with their readiness to follow orders. I found this mix of commanders politically convinced that the enemy was evil and apolitical and amoral subordinates a frightening mix at the time, and still do, although I have not been invited back to SAC to see whether similar conditions now prevail. I suspect that they do, considering the differing requirements of the two roles. This view seems confirms by the enthusiasm expressed for carrying on the ‘war on terror’ in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
In this period new technological innovations in war making accentuate my earlier concerns. The reliance on drone attacks in Afghanistan (and elsewhere) removes the human person altogether from the war experience, except as in the role of programmer, and even here reliance on algorithms for targeting, removes any shred of responsibility. When mistakes are made, and innocent civilians are killed, the event is neutralized by being labeled ‘collateral damage,’ and an apology is issued but the practice goes on and is even extended. More important is the chilling effect of removing that human presence, both as a person of one’s own nation being at risk and as a source of potential questioning and even refusal. It should be recalled that the anti-war opposition of American soldiers in Vietnam exerted a powerful influence that helped over time finally to bring this failed war to an end.
What is at stake ultimately is the human spirit squeezed to near death by technological momentum, corporate greed, militarism, and secular fundamentalism. This web of historical forces continues to entrap major political actors in the world, and dims hopes for a sustainable future even without taking into account the dismal effects of the gathering clouds of climate change. Scenarios of future cyber warfare are also part of this overall process of destroying societies without risking lives directly. The cumulative effect of these developments is to make irrelevant the moral compass that alone provides acceptable guidance for a progressive human future.
NOTICE: The following 2 videos have actual graphic scenes of revolting, disgusting, fearful, sickening violence, evil, and the depravity of man’s brutality toward man from the Past. This is not for the weak at heart.
If we cannot face the evils from our Past, and learn from them Today, we will be ill-equipped to deal with them in the Tomorrows of the Future if humanity does not change it’s values and ways?
For Now we have Faith, Hope and Love, but the Greatest of these is Love.
1 Corinthianians 13
The following secret video of US forces killing civilians in Iraq is what catapulted Wikileaks to the forefront of public awareness
On the occasion of CanaDa’s 144th Birthday, it is Time to share this vision I see as our National Destiny in the Future.
A MARI USQUE AD MARI was taken from the Psalms of David 72:8: ‘He shall have Dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth’ for we Canadians still struggling on The Plains of Abraham in The Dominion of CanaDa Today.
From St. John’s Newfoundland & St. John New Brunswick, to Quebec in the Spirit of John The Baptist, to Victoria, British Columbia, to Whitehorse in the Yukon and the True North, we have inherited a vast and rich land Blessed by God.
CanaDa is a very special place that has brought people here from every Nation on earth to build a new representative model of Democracy and Freedom for the world together on The Plains of Abraham.
The world is at war with itself while the Old World Order is in rapid decline as the Prophets said it would be at the End of the Age.
We have a place where diverse cultures, languages and Faiths can live in relative Peace and Harmony as the Family of Man and Children of God.
Calgary, Alberta
From:
Prime Minister/Premier ministre(pm@pm.gc.ca)
Sent:
January-02-09 1:27:39 PM
To:
ray joseph cormier
Dear Mr. Cormier:
Thank you for your warm holiday greetings.
This special time of year is an occasion for celebrating our blessings with family and friends and for looking ahead to the promise of the new year with hope and excitement.
My family and I would like to offer our best wishes to you and yours for a joyful holiday season, filled with health and happiness.
Stephen Harper
>>> From : ray joseph cormier Received : 31 Dec 2008 08:22:32 PM >>>
Dear Prime Minister,
I appreciate your Office acknowledging my Christmas message. As we enter
the time of the Lord 2009, I hope you will share in the Vision I just
posted on Facebook. Happy New Year.
Peace
Ray Joseph Cormier
You wrote38 minutes ago
I think Canadians from every Nation on Earth, including every Muslim I met
or worked with, embody most of the positive characteristics so many of you
have articulated here. I also think Canadians have a fate or destiny or
calling or whatever other similar word one could use. As I´ve stated in
other topics, the fact our National Unity struggle is rooted in the
Plains of Abraham, I see as a material representation of a Spiritual
reality that is not yet seen, realized and actualized.
Being the only Monarchy at the Top of the Americas in the New World, I see
as a material representation of the Spiritual reality of the
Kingdom of Christ the King, the example to the rest of the World as we enter the time of trial and tribulation.
The Canadian Coat of Arms A MARI USQUE AD MARE comes from a Psalm of David mentioned above & below. So far I have been alone believing this, and I can´t just snap my fingers and make it a reality. I view these material things we can see as Spiritual symbols and Signs of a special role God has in store for CanaDa.
The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the middle of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, you know.
Again he said to me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O you dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD.
So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.
Then said he to me, Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus says the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
Then he said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: WE ARE CUT OFF FOR OUR PARTS.
Therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: THEN shall you know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, says the LORD.
The word of the LORD came again to me, saying, Moreover, you son of man, take one stick, and write on it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write on it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall be come one in your hand.
And when the children of your people shall speak to you, saying, Will you not show us what you mean by these? Say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand. And the sticks whereon you write shall be in your hand before their eyes.
And say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, where they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all: (CanaDa/Quebec)
Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore. Ezekiel 37
Dem Bones, Dry Bones or Dem Dry Bones is a well-known traditional spiritual song, used to teach basic anatomy to children, although its description is not anatomically correct. The melody was written by African-American author and songwriter James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938). Two versions of this traditional song are used widely, the second an abridgment of the first. The lyrics are based on Ezekiel 37:1-14, where the prophet visits the Valley of Dry Bones[1] and prophesies that they will become alive by God’s command. Wikipedia
Concerning the Old World Israel
Jesus said to them, Did you never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I to you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits of it.
This means don´t just talk the talk, but walk the walk with the talk. Everything is possible with the Spirit of God.
Post #59 1 reply Darrin Duell replied to your post
What a beautiful though Ray. Canada; Paradise lost. Sort of gives us
something to pull for, don’t it.
Post #60 You replied to Darrin’s
Thank you, Darrin.
Canada Cana Da
At the Marriage Feast at Cana, Jesus said to them, Fill the water pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, Draw out now, and bring it to the governor of the feast. And they bare it.
When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not where it came from: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, And said to him, Every man at the beginning does set out good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but you have kept the good wine until now.
