Author: diane101

Well Hi everyone, I have been participating a bit more lately and I have come to realize that there are many more folks on here everyday that I do not know, so I thought it time I did another Welcome to Booman and tell us about you diary.
Now I know a lot of you have done this before, but the new ones have not had the benefit of reading about you, so please do participate once again and tell us a bit or a lot about you.
It would also be nice if you told us how you found your way here in the first place, I know how we like to reminisce about old times.  So, have you enjoyed your time here.
Anyway if your new or old, hop right over and fill us in on you.
BTW so all can see, Here is a picture of Manee and Dena(Iraqi) I posted earlier.

And my lovely hummingbird!

come on now ya’ll,… write.
So welcome to the site, all yee people.

Hey this is going to be a no frills cafe, just use your imagination, ok, maybe I can garner up a pic.

So who’s gonna pick the first topic or bring one from the last diary.

Yesterday I felt it totally…yes it was the Kerry thing and yes it drove me right to the bottom.  The question is why?
I have been trying to figure out why I had this reaction on the heels of all that has gone on in this election season, which to many of us has gone on for not a few months, but over 6 years.  There has been no respite or release from this in these past years, just sometimes it’s better news, but mostly it is bad news.

I guess the reason is that the recent debate over Kerry’s remarks has brought out all the rancor over 2004, with the old tales being resussiated and polished to give new breath to old saws that divide this country.
Yesterday, it became so unbearable I had to tear myself away from nonstop cable news, cspan, blogs, etc. to watch some old movies, history channel or anything else I could find to divert me.  

Oh sure, I had my times when I just had to take a peek to see where the story was at the time, but all in all I tried to keep my distance.  Then this morning, on my radio station that is on all night, I awoke to the discussion of Kerry and that sent me over the edge again.  

Bottom line is I want this election to be over so we can get on with things, or start to fight the voting discprepancies, which are sure to come….but let the election be over, please.

On another note Dena (Sangreal79) our Iraqi friend here in Kansas on the Fullbright, had her first taste of Free Speech….seems that fundamentalist, fire and brimstone, evangelical preachers have come to U of Kansas and the result has been hilarious to hear Dena tell it and I wish she would, while knowing she doesn’t have the time, I will try to relate at least some of it.
The first travelling ‘preacher’ came  a week ago, he started to speak in the central area of the school commons, spouting hate for all gays, non Christians,  sex and all manner of things as you can imagine.  Dena was there at the beginning sitting on a bench, trying to do a little studying and watched it unfold.  Students started to gather, hastily making protest signs, bringing bags of condoms to throw into the air, bags of eggs to throw at this man, which apparently had no effect as he continued to rant.  Dena’s observations were many but the primary thing she saw in the whole deal was that there was no violence, in other words, no one died.
Then Mon. there was a new preacher, this time he hated everyone and everything, including Iraqi’s and wanted them all dead, including most of the middle east it seemed. Next she saw a young woman stand up to the man in a very emotional way, tears streaming down her face as she spoke saying “how can you talk this way about Iraqi’s, and so on.  Dena approached her to give her a hug and the woman was surprised until Dena spoke up and said “My name is Dena and I am from Baghdad.”  

Immediately, she was welcomed and given much attention and caring.  Dena in time became so emboldened she made her own poster and stood there next to the preacher man holding her protest sign…Well I cannot tell you how excited she was to have participated in her first protest, something she would have never done in Iraq.  So there you are, draw your own conclusions, but I see much hope there, because as bad as it is here, as bad as it may become, it still looks like freedom to at least one person who has come here from the middle east.

So what’s on your mind, what are your thoughts about this election and are you exhausted?

We have a tradition on this site of periodically posting these ‘tell us’ diaries, although it’s been quite awhile since I have done one.  Therefore I thought it high time I did so again.
The purpose of these diaries is to give new members a chance to tell us about them, old members to update or just add a little to inform the newbies about who we are.
So please take this opportunity to post a little something, new and old members alike, about you.

In addition to that I have a little update on our Iraqi friend, previously known as ‘Diva’ and now she is a member of the site under the name of Sangreal79.  anyway Sangreal just turned 28 on Firday and our wonderful member Kansas and her friend Andi in Kansas treated her to a wonderful birthday party and get together in Kansas City over this past weekend.  Sangreal reports to me that she was overwhelmed with this plus all the wonderful things that Bootribbers and their extensions have done for her since she arrived in the US.  
She is a member of the site but has not had time yet to write anything, but I have hopes she will in the near future, when she has a break from her studies.. Just let me finish by saying that she is in awe of how this online community has rallied around her and she feels very special as well as grateful for all the attention.

Ok, now on to you all, lets hear about you.
BTW hugs and love to all.  

Recently Glitterscale wrote a diary on Booman asking if we wanted to do a group project as follows:

I have been watching What the Bleep again.  And I thought we might try an experiment, if you all are game.  We have the internet and our connecting pcs that can act as conductors of our intentions.  

We are all connected in this community with multifold desires – 1) to affect change in the world, 2) make that change peaceful, 3) speak truth to power.

I thought it a good idea and offered my help and Shirlstars did as well.  Thinking of it for this past week, I have kind of refined it down to asking anyone who reads these words to offer a meditation, prayer, thought or whatever is most comfortable for you, directed towards Peace and a Change in this government and in the world.

I thought the easiest thing would be for readers to each day at 12:00 noon, wherever in the world you are, think of what the world could be like, how you would like it to be. Then project that thought outwards, to those in high place, those in government, through the keyboard into the internet and out to all, like little peacebots.

I know we are all concerned about the upcoming election, even if our votes will count or be counted, or counted correctly…from what we hear and know about the machines, that is looking less hopeful as we march up to election day and already we hear the stories from primaries about the malfunctions and incorrect counts.  So maybe this is one thing that those of us unable to get out and do the various things required for an election, can do to positively effect change.

Let me know what you think of this plan, will you join in, will you be a part of it.

This following was added by Shirlstars:

Thoughts and intentions have energy, like energy attracts like energy. This works. Make this really simple, I think it would work best if just everyday at noon we each took a couple of minutes to focus on PEACE. If you wish to spend more time and imagine more details, that is up to you, but not necessary. Just feel peace, take a couple of deep breaths and feel peace. . .imagine it. Then breathe it out all over the world.

Peace. . . . . . .and so it is.

This only works if you keep the negative out of it. It needs to be positive. So think PEACE.

Hugs and Blessings of peace to all,
Shirl

Derek, saw this diary on Village Blue and posted the following, which I think ties in perfectly with this project.

Here you are Diane — a forwarded letter about a synchronized world peace meditation On Thursday:

Global Meditation 21 September, 2006 — International Day of Peace

I am very happy to announce that Findhorn will participate in a unique global ritual for peace 21 September, 2006 in honour of the International Day of Peace.

From 3.30-4.30 pm GMT, groups will gather in our sister community of Auroville (India), the Findhorn Community (Scotland), and the California Institute of Integral Studies (USA) for a sacred ceremony that will be linked via web-cam. The ceremony will also be broadcast live over the internet to a global audience who will be able to participate from their own homes.

The Gaiafield Meditation and Prayer Vigil 2006 is a pilot project to test the effectiveness of internet communication technologies to link groups around the world for global meditation events. The Gaiafield Project aims to support greater networking between the many existing groups that share the vision of bringing together hundreds of thousands of people for global meditation and prayer events.

To Participate Live, contact:

California Institute of Integral Studies
8.30-9.30 am local time
contact: david@gaiafield.net

The Findhorn Community
4.30-5.30 pm local time
contact: gaiafield@findhorn.com

Auroville
9-10 pm local time
contact: wim@auroville.org

To Participate Online
The free live audio and flash file broadcast will be available at this website www.gaiafield.net at the above times. If you are unable to attend a live event, please visit www.worldtimezone.com to determine when the broadcast will be in your time zone.
Please join us in whatever way you are able.
May Peace Prevail on Earth.

Radiating love and light and peace,

Mattie

So there you have it, please join us!!!! I have located this global time converter site here, which can be used to find local time.

It’s been a terrible week for me, the problems the US is facing has been swirling and twirling around my head all week….this diary is the result.

The horrific event of 9/11 was bad enough with the deaths  and destruction of that awful day, but the five years since has brought us far worse in just about every area I can think of, all of it because this country decided to take an “offensive” approach.  An offensive approach or an act of revenge that first of all led us to attack Afghanistan.  Why did we attack Afghanistan, because we thought Bid Laden was hiding there and the Afghan’s would not turn him over to us, even though they said they did not know where he was and could not comply.  So we invaded that country at great cost and resulting in the loss of many lives, soon a destabalized country which now is descending into an even worse state than when we invaded as I write this…

It was not long before that act of revenge was not quite enough for the bloodthirsty hawks in Bushco’s administration so what brilliant idea did they come up with next, oh while we are at it why not knock off Sadaam in Iraq, take over that country and really put revenge in full force there.
Now years later, the tally in the hundreds of billions, the decimation of our military almost complete, the lives lost almost approaching the loss of the World Trade Center, the lives lost of Iraqi’s most likely in the hundreds of thousands, devastation as far as the eye can see and more, much more to come, with no end in site.
These acts of revenge served in many ways to lead to the reelection of a man most unsuited for the job of leading a country in any case, but definitely unsuited for leading a country into war which we know full well after seeing the management he has provided.
This also led to the greatest deficit the world has ever known, with China our potentially biggest threat holding the notes.
These act of revenge has led us to torture in Iraq, to now considering laws to make that torture legal, to the complete scorn and derision of this country in all parts of the world, to abandon many of our rights and freedoms and to deny all those captured any rights at all.  No matter if they were innocent or guilty.
Our country is now in shatters, our people go without health care or decent incomes, gas prices are many times higher than pre war, our elections a sham, our leaders bereft of leadership, our ports weak and vulnerable, our people divided worse than ever before, our whole country weak and vulnerable and on and on.
Now we are faced with probably the most important election in the history of this country, most likely our last chance to oust the lying, liars, an election we have no faith in whatsoever to be fair or accurate.

So here we are now, about to observe the day 9/11 once again, our Pres about to lay wreaths on all the sites on that day, and to give a speech to us in the midst of the showing of a movie giving a fictional account of it all and the contents of which are designed to blame it all on Clinton.

Are we safer now? That is the biggest joke of all time.  Bin Laden in his wildest dreams could not have come up with a plan that would so devastate us as we have done to ourselves.  This is what revenge has brought us and so I would ask, was it worth it.

I can only dream of what life, our country, our world would be like today if we, our nation had never sought this revenge, but I doubt that any other path would have brought us so low.  Thanks Mr. President, thanks Mr. Cheney and Rumsfeld, thanks Congress, thanks to all the citizens who thought it a worthy endeavor and who kept this man and these people in office.  Thanks a lot.

I’ll end this with a quotation “Revenge is mine, sayeth the Lord.”  The bible thumpers should have paid attention to that.

I’ve said my piece, what say you?
Village Blue

“The Only Thing to Fear is Fear Itself”, words spoken by a former President of these United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Too bad we can not have a president at this time who will speak these words, and not only speak the words but mean them.

I am sick to death of all the media, the administration and it’s henchmen constantly talking about the dangers, promoting the endless and neverending fear.  

I realize what they are doing and why….it’s plain as day…we all do; make us all fearful, then tell us that the only ones who can keep us safe are the Republicans, in hopes that we will forget what is going on in Iraq, forget the failed war, forget the ineptitude of this administration.  We will be so fearful that we will happily give up all our freedoms, our rights, our votes, our very nature of governing, in this country founded on the principle of governing “by the people and for the people”.

It all sounds familiar doesn’t it, we think back to 2004, same scenario, same playbook.  Paint the Democrats as weak, paint the Repubs. as strong.  But a thinking person cannot not help but notice these issues only come to the fore when it suits their cause.

I am writing this late at night because I cannot sleep after days of 24/7, about 9/11, about Al Qaeda, about Gitmo, about all the plots foiled, about tortured prisoners, and on and on… oh I am fed up to the top of my head with all of it.

What, I ask, is wrong with talking to these people, to these countries, what is wrong with diplomacy.  No they tell us, these war mongers of ours,  “they hate our freedom and that’s why they want to kill us and we simply can’t talk to them.  We cannot talk to Iran, we cannot talk to Korea, or Syria and anyone that doesn’t suit us. We can only invade and bomb, torture and kill, those we do not like.
Well it seems pretty clear to me that it’s not our freedoms these people hate, but our policies.  They have said so, over and over, but that is not what is heard from these governing men, what we hear is “they hate our freedoms”.  
Maybe, just maybe, “They” hate us for invading Iraq, for our depleted uranium tipped weapons, our cluster bombs, our endless shooting and killing all that do not agree with us, our shock and awe, our descimation of Faluga, of Baghdad of all the past bombings and killings…. Our bases in the middle east, our siding always with Israel, our not stopping or even condemning the recent war with Lebanon and Israel, our selling of arms, including the wonderful little cluster bombs and other arsenals to Israel that children are now picking up and dying from.
Some say it’s about the oil, I don’t know.  What oil has this war in Iraq gotten us, none.  What oil will a war with Iran get us, none.
Thousands and thousands of Iraqi’s have been killed in Iraq, no one even knows the numbers and they rise every day as do the deaths of our own soldiers, but yet they say, more killing is needed, more bombings of innocent people everywhere the insidious fingers of the US reach.  Hold them without charges, without rights, without trials, they say, besides they are living in comfort in Gitmo.

Well I simply cannot stand it anymore, I simply cannot stand the thought that this President and his administration are once again raising the fear level in the minds of the American people so that they can retain their power and go out and do more killing.

Something has to be done, something must be done.  But what, we cannot even trust that our votes will count, because they control the very easy to program or hack,  Diebold voting machines.  

I wish I had the answer, any answer to all these things, but I don’t, I can only ask the powers of the Universe to come to our aid and save us, that is all I can do…Pray.

I will end this by saying the only thing we have to fear now is our very own government.

What are your thoughts are you on overload too?

As we approach this election season we are inundated once again with propaganda designed to make American’s fearful once again with regard to the so called “War on Terror” by the Republicans, who it seems have nothing else to tout as a success, but is it?  We are seeing a great deal of rewriting of history right now and this movie seems to be particularly odious in it’s framing and intent.  See the link at the bottom which takes you to a letter on the Act for Change website, to be sent to the President of ABC asking them not to show this film.
Anyone remember the “Swift Boat” movie, coming out right before the election in 2004 regarding John Kerry?  Do we want this to happen again…..We need to take back this country from those who are doing it more harm than the ‘terrorists’ ever could.

ABC: Tell the Truth About 9/11
On September 10th and 11th, ABC — which is owned by Disney — is planning to air a “docu-drama” called “Path to 9/11,” which is being billed as “an objective telling of the events of 9/11.” In fact, the film was written by an unabashed conservative who twists the facts to blame President Clinton.

In fact, the list of counterterrorism initiatives undertaken by the Clinton administration is lengthy and comprehensive. Regrettably, the record shows that most of these efforts were watered down or abandoned by the Bush administration when they came into office. History will also record that President Bush was the one who received — and while on vacation, chose to ignore — a Presidential Daily Briefing on August 6, 2001 entitled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US.”

ABC’s new six-hour film was apparently screened in advance only to conservative bloggers and journalists — and received extensive praise from none other than Rush Limbaugh. ABC is advertising the film as being “based on the 9/11 Commission report” — yet also admits that it’s a “docu-drama,” in which writers and producers are free to invent and distort facts. Former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke has already completely refuted one of the key scenes of the movie.

It’s simply stunning to think that as this fall’s election approaches, a major television network would devote six hours of prime-time programming to air such a slanted and inaccurate program. There is simply no way that a conservative writer, with an anti-Clinton axe to grind, should be allowed to use public airwaves to broadcast a gross distortion of the truth — especially on the anniversary of the worst day in our history.

Call to action:
Send a message to ABC asking them to cancel the show.

Update [2006-9-6 14:28:25 by diane101]: fOR A DIFFERENT APPROACH, Kahli posted this link
to ask ABC to post disclaimers with the showing of docudrama.

Hi everyone, finally my timing is good for posting a cafe.  

Welcome newcomers! Please introduce yourself

Come on in!

Coffee & Tea under the window, platters of treats on every table

Newspapers are in their regular spot next to the door

I can’t believe I posted this before Andi this morning, surprise, I am up late and finanlly was on Booman at just the right time, yay….

Hi everyone, finally my timing is good for posting a cafe.  

Welcome newcomers! Please introduce yourself

Come on in!

Coffee & Tea under the window, platters of treats on every table

Newspapers are in their regular spot next to the door

Please recommend (and unrecommend the Cafe/Lounge from yesterday)

May the 4’s be with you