November 2017 – Engaging Peace

Remembering JFK: Voices from a Smoldering Grave

Posted on November 22, 2017November 29, 2017 by kathiemm

MEMORIAL PROSE POEM

by Anthony J. Marsella

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), President of the United States of America

I.

I cannot rest, My spirit rages; Incomplete truths, lies — remain. My grave smolders!

I seek escape, From casket, eternal flame, defamation, Contrived by scrupulous minds, Penned by stained hands.

Conspiracy! Protection for villains, Safety from condemnation. I was assassinated!

A grievous, immoral, illegal act! Complicit forces: Government, military, corporations, criminals! No remorse, forced tears, false sympathies; “Your Daddy was a great man, Caroline!”

Fear of contention: End wars, reduce military, Prosecute criminals, Restore national identity!

Accept faults, Confess errors, Compensate victims, On your knees, America!

Democracy disguised! Secret State, Shadow State, Deep State, No State; Cabals, factions, sects, cliques, clans, tribes, Parties! Plots, plans, intrigue – cowards –conspiracy!

II.

In death, I remain: Timeless beacon, Truth image, of truth, Hope symbol!

Evil continues! Relishing roles, Celebrating deceit, Valorizing schemes.

Know this: From each grain of earthydust, I will continue to speak, Silence impossible!

III.

What madness possesses you? What fury grips your mind? What passions drive you, Justified betrayal!

You kill your own, Oblivious to consequence, Hardened to suffering, Grinning demon in morning mirror!

Patriot Act, DHS, NSA, FBI, CIA, DEA . . . Acronyms cover vile purpose. You crave dominion; My God, you are evil!

My assassination insufficient? Family deaths: Brother? Son? Lovers? Each death whetting appetites, Pleasuring for more?.

Plausible deniability! Cover: National Security! No fear! No constraint. No limit to menace.

IV.

Eisenhower saw, warned, escaped. Shocked by knowledge and participation, His image now safe! Kansas!

Johnson burdened by graves he dug! Carter repentant for Christian compromise . . . Reagan, smiling, failing, vomiting. Nixon, mad with paranoia.

Clinton caught by semen splashes, 1. H. W. Bush enamored with elites, oligarchy, Skull & Bones; 2. W. Bush, “You are with us, or against us.” He is both! Obama, election promises, lived lies!

These our leaders! Cry America! Shout enough! They please: War machines, coffin makers, gold collectors!

Libraries, shrines, sacred places to preserve names. Marble slabs inscribed words, images, reputations. Keep alive presidential cults, designed to mollify, Penance for sin! Atonement for lies!

I claim no special sanction, Beyond my mapped death! Dismiss me if you will, Flee, if you wish, from hypocrisy!

Know I walked corridors of power, Know I stood amid whispered gatherings, Know I tolerated secrecy; For this, I suffer in death!

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa. “Oh my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you . . . “ I learned, too late, lessons of betrayal, I learned, too late, trials of victimhood.

No longer! I speak now for those killed, Home and abroad, young and old, Across time and place. Memories cannot be bought!

V.

Fascism thrives! Who won? Homeland, Fatherland, Empire, Kingdom, Amerika! Uber Alles! Deaths in vain! Surveillance, archives, fusion centers!

Drones, robots, androids! You defile warriors! You dishonor soldiers. You glorify war, dismiss death!

I am cold in bone and body, Shriveled from age and decay, Scattered dust on coffin floor, Guarded by impervious flames.

Like John’s Brown body, I smolder in my grave, When will it end? We are fodder!

Words rise from flames: You command, kill, destroy for naught; Ask John Brown’s Body! “. . . Truth goes marching on!”

Anthony J. Marsella

November 22, 2017

Beware Resurgence of Deadly Diseases, Part 2

Posted on November 21, 2017 by kathiemm

By Kathie MM

In my last post , I described causes, contexts, and symptoms of a major form of social pathology—racialopathy. Racialopathy is a subtype of a much broader social pathology—ethnicopathy. In all cases, the carriers of the disease tend to be the group with greater power within a social context, and the victims of the disease are the less powerful groups.

In the United States, the carriers tend to be extremely rich white men (who pass the pathology on to many others, male and female) and the victims tend to be men, women, and children of color—the designated scapegoats for social unrest.

Evidence for ethnicopathy abounds elsewhere, and has taken “non-racial” forms; a few examples:

White Christians (Catholics) versus White Christians (Protestants), which played out violently long before “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland .

Black (Hutu) versus Black (Tutsi) in Rwanda .

Muslim (Shi’a) versus Muslim (Sunni) in the Middle East (and elsewhere) .

Buddhist nationalists versus Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar .

Although these examples of ethnicopathy involve gruesome amounts of violence, ethnicopathy, like racialopathy, can take less violent forms—for example, disparaging, stigmatizing, and denying rights to “the other.” These less blatantly violent forms of oppression may be a form of “ethnic cleansing,” as when White authorities in the US, Australia, and Canada seized indigenous children to “educate” them for productive work (often virtual slavery).

In the last few generations of your family, have there been any examples of ethnicopathy?

If so, did they get resolved? If so, how?

Have you ever participated in any activities designed to reduce racialopathy and ethnicopathy?

If so, what is your view of the success of those activities?

Check in again after the holidays for suggestions as to how to tackle this epidemic–and please send your own ideas and experiences!

Beware Resurgence of Deadly Diseases, Part 1

Posted on November 19, 2017December 6, 2017 by kathiemm

by Kathie MM

You have probably read about the resurgence of long-suppressed infectious diseases such as malaria and typhoid fever. Drug-resistant forms of malaria are reaching epidemic levels in Asia and drug-resistant forms of typhoid are doing the same in Africa.

Bad news. But there is even worse news in the U.S. and other Western nations. An old and deadly type of pathology appears to be approaching epidemic proportions, but efforts at prevention and cure are miniscule.

Causes, symptoms, and contexts of racialopathy:

Causes of racialopathy: Various forms of fear, often linked to misinformation, miseducation, greed, and power-mongering; transmutations of fear into hatred not unusual.

Racialopathy pathogens: Fear of loss of power, of presumptive superiority, of ability to define and enforce “rights,” of assurance that only you and people like you have the “true” religion, the best customs, the valid beliefs, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Racialopathy social contexts: Racialopathy pathogens flourish in particular social contexts and emotional climates that vary depending on political, economic, and psychological conditions; for example, are relationships characterized by cooperation and tolerance or by and divisiveness? Is the dominant mood of the times friendly and optimistic or is it hateful, punitive, and distrustful?

Symptoms of racialopathy: Hatred of people based only on the color of their skin; threatening, cursing, or attacking others based solely on their “otherness.”

Prevention of racialopathy: Inoculations–measured exposure of vulnerable individuals to those feared “others”–can be helpful as can changes in the social climate (often accomplished in democracies through elections and other political processes).

Experiences with racialopathy:

— Have you ever been stricken with racialopathy? How did you treat it?

— Are you a caregiver for a victim of this dread disease? How do you deal with it?

— If you have this problem in your family, have you found it to be contagious?

For ideas on prevention and cure, tune in for upcoming posts.

Engaging Peace vs. Lemmingcide

Posted on November 14, 2017December 10, 2017 by kathiemm

by Kathie MM

Engaging peace. For what purpose should we engage peace?

To resist violence. To prevent violence. To end violence.

Violence is life-shattering, life-destroying.

Peace is life-affirming, love-affirming, future-affirming.

Right now life on Earth faces the most violent assault since the Ice Age, which wiped out not only dinosaurs but also countless other life-forms.

I am not talking about nuclear bombs or neutron bombs or drones or weapons of mass destruction, although all those threats are real enough, terrifying enough.

I am talking about the program of mass murder, mass suicide, and mass genocide that human beings have undertaken through their wholesale destruction of the life forces that sustain them.

What elements made it possible for the original life forms on Earth to evolve? Water, a tolerable level of sunshine, oxygen or carbon dioxide depending on the species, shelter, and nutrients.

What do we need today if we are to survive? Water, a tolerable level of exposure to sunshine, oxygen or carbon dioxide depending on the species, shelter, and nutrients.

What are we doing to the elements that sustain life? Poisoning them. Destroying them. Making the earth uninhabitable for many plant and animal species that can include our own.

More than 15,000 scientists from more than 180 countries have recently issued a warning about the catastrophes that face us and the steps that can be taken. Read and take steps

Nobody has the right to participate in this suicidal process.

I will be writing more on this subject.