Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Inspiration fizzled and my evening was same old, same old.

But how about Arlen Specter's change of party!!? It sadly reflects on how far to the right the Republican party is going. How does this relate to peace? Well, a good democracy has lots of back and forth, give and take. And the narrowing of the GOP makes that party weaker. Ultimately that is bad for the USA. But maybe it will be good for moving the USA to a better position in a variety of policy areas.

And what about the swine flu's origin in the CAFO pork factories in Mexico? Visit Tom Philpott has the story. to read about it. For me, this underscores the importance of sourcing our foods closer to home. This relates to peace thus: it's better for the planet if our food dollars pay for food, not petrolem. And we need a healthy planet for us to live in peace.

Peace, y'all

Molly

Monday, April 27, 2009

Simplicity

talk about uncluttered!!

Simplicity is a core Quaker value. It lets us focus on the important stuff.


Clutter is the opposite. This past weekend the Quaker quarterly meeting I attended focused on "clearing the clutter and caring for what matters: making room for the spirit." I will share some of this.


First the good news: I'm inspired. I will clear some clutter tonight. I think I'll tackle food clutter, and have a bunch to compost and another bunch to donate to the food bank tomorrow.


More to come


Peace, y'all
Molly

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Cuba libre

I want USA to normalize relations with Cuba. I have always wanted this but didn't dare to hope until recently. Our stances versus Cuba is silly. It's wrong. It has unintended and unfortunate consequences. It's hypocritical.

Okay, we trade with China --actually we just pour our consumer dollars into Communist China hands-- because through trade we can influence the Chinese government to treat its citizens better, right? But we can't trade with the communist government just a long swim away from our shores? Hypocritical.

Silly. Lilke we take our toys and only play in our own back yard, but the rest of the planet happily trades with Cuba.

Wrong. It's wrong for the tail to wag the dog, and that's what we do with the Miami Cuban-Americans who are angry with Fidel controlling the foreign policy of the United States of America.

Ineffective. See silly, above.

Unintended and unfortunate - by withholding our trade and our riches, we have given the government a bad guy to blame for Cuba's troubles. It's the norteamericanos! We have strengthened Fidel.

Cuba is the pearl of the Antilles. It's lovely and I am eager to be a gringa tourist there. I am eager to bring eco-bucks there. I want to be neighbors with our, well, neighbors.

I want the US to end its silly, stupid, wrong-headed, ineffective policies against Fidel, and act neighborly to our neighbors.