Ignobility

It's been a while since I wrote something..

Today, the remains of Richard III were found in a parking lot in Leicester, England. He was the last English monarch to die in battle; he was killed at the Battle of Botsworth Field on August 22, 1485. This was the battle that put the Tudors (Yes the overly sexed up nobles that you see on Showtime) in power. A pivotal moment in British and world history..

But a parking lot, really?! A king deserves better....heh

It has been a while since I have posted.

I have been musing about the role of the Goddess in the United States. In my head at least. I came across an interesting essay on the subject today. I wanted to share it.

http://www.realitysandwich.com/goddess_we_trust_americas_spiritual_crossroads

Enjoy, you fine folk!

Thanksgiving....

I'm about to eat Thanksgiving dinner....

How did this become a holiday? Only in America does the extermination of an entire race of people who lived in sync with the planet became a day to indulge in gluttony and consumerism in the extreme?

Only in the United States of America folks.....

European Union?

I went to Europe last August. To Ireland, actually. Which means I had to use Euros.

Euro coins are fun to look at. There's minting for all the different countries in the European Union: Ireland, Italy, France, Germany, Greece, ect. But the Euro, the whole concept of a European Union, that's in trouble now. Mostly because of the Greek threat of sovereign default.

Many people have been questioning the relevance of the EU in light of the recent debt crisis in several of the EU nations. People say in the press and in casual conversation that the EU was inherently a flawed model. It might be a reasonable assumption, considering you have about 27 different countries all with the different languages and cultural moires. Many of the cultural differences are responsible for the economic state of each country right now. The Greeks and Italians, traditionally a laid-back, vibrant people spent much of the money infused into the European economies when the EU was created on social welfare, while a country like Germany, which traditionally has a rigid work ethic, invested more heavily in its industry and manufacturing base. Some critics call the EU model unworkable because of different national sensibilities.

To those critics, I say, do you remember the hundreds of wars fought across Europe over centuries because of religious conflict, territorial disputes and the like? An economic union like the EU is designed to keep conflicts like World War II from ever flaring up again, for countries on this motley continent from ever trying to kill each other. And in the age of a global villiage, instant communication and the like, wouldn't a common currency make more sense? Will a political union in Europe, like here in the United States, ever be created. I don't know, its food for thought. But money squabbles have the nasty potential to turn into gun battles, and Europe has seen enough of that.

The Once And Future King....

"It is written in the stars, child, that only a king who comes of two royalties, one royalty of the Tribes who follow the Goddess, and one royalty of those who look to Rome, will heal our land of all this strife..."

--The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley Chapter 2, page 6

If the above passage seems like I'm citing Scripture...well, that's because I am. My own Holy Writ. The above book was very special to me, at a time when I was waking up to my spiritual nature.

This passage, I believe, is Viviane, The Lady of The Lake, the Queen of Avalon, (and a sort of avatar of Branwen) speaking about the forthcoming British king (Arthur), Arthur, while his story originates in the post-imperial Dark Age hellhole that is Great Britain, comes truly alive in the courtly romances of the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries, where he and his Round Table knights are held up as paragons of virtue, truth and justice.

I needed to write about this this morning after I saw a disturbing clip on YouTube. Said clip was footage of the various crackdowns on OWS across the country, and the resulting brutality, with a voice over of an Obama speech where he's talking about the human rights violations in Syria, the Arab Spring, and the importance of basic democratic rights.

I think the point of the video was to show Obama as being a hypocrite of sorts...the title was OBAMA YOU FASCIST SCUM (which personally I don't think was as warranted; Obama certainly, I wouldn't consider a fascist...but like every Administration, he becomes a scapegoat with things turn sour.)

What did strike me was something that I've been aware of for months; Obama, at least to my view, wields his power weakly, ineffectively. When his campaign was in full swing, and during his Inauguration, people were hopeful, looking forward to a better future, that this New Guy was gonna run shit better than Dubya and rebuild the good will and trust with the international community that had been pretty much fucked by certain "Unilateral" actions. (Gulf War II, anyone?) When New Guy got into office, he began cleaning house, installing new Cabinet members and pretty much sending the message that there was a New Sheriff in Town.

With Obama, I think people were expecting FDR redux. What they got instead was Jimmy Carter, part II. Carter, this was the guy in the Oval Office when I popped out of my mommy's belly. His claim to fame was the Camp David Accords, the a peace signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on September 17, 1978; the move  led directly to the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty, and resulted in Sadat and Begin sharing the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize. Carter's tenure as President was a time of continuing inflation and recession, as well as an energy crisis. (This was around the time of the Arab oil embargo) He ended up losing to Ronald Reagan in 1980 in large part because of the Iranian Hostage Crisis.

Carter was held up as an idealist but also as a weak, ineffectual executive by many of his critics. His heart, it seemed, was in the right place, but good intentions don't always win votes. Obama, he too, it seems, genuinely wants to help the American people, but appears to be hesitant on using his political will. Witness the debt ceiling debacle that cost the U.S. its AAA credit rating by Standard & Poor's, caused a shit-storm on Wall Street (and made me miserable at work!) Bill Clinton was interviewed by some news outlet , I forget which one, but he had stated that that would have immediately used an executive order to get an extention in place if Congress could not stop squabbling. I was very angry when I read this piece. I wanted the President of the United States to fulfill his role as Executive, Commander-in-Chief. Obama, man up!

I wanted my President to be PRESIDENTIAL. THIS is the proper use of power; one of the most basic traits of an effective leader is the ability to recognize situations where quick, decisive action is required and to swiftly make a move.

I think Obama's done some good. Passing health insurance reform, that's good (Though we'll see what the Supreme Court has to say; they are set to argue some key provisions of the law. How he handled Libya, that's good. We went in with our NATO friends (BILATERALLY, hear that Bush?!) to help a people in a genuine fight for freedom from a tyrant (Per my earlier post...this is where war is unfortunately necessary) and quickly handed off the ball.

Maybe Obama is trying to play both sides of the aisle (With a Republican-controlled Congress, perhaps he has too). But I think he should take a harder line. The GOP, basically wanting to skull fuck the common man every chance they get with tax cuts for the rich, that's not okay. He's been quiet about OWS, from what I gather, perhaps fearful he's going to make enemies with the Republicans and certain conservative Democrats; the GOP already wants to rip the Obamacare law to shreds...and he's gotta make nice with the party in control of the legislature if he expects to get any shit done. But police forces all over the country brutalizing people for exercising their Constitutional rights? That's not okay. Maybe if the president could show the people that he's sensitive to their concerns and make some genuine moves to change things, it would help the movement, perhaps pacify its more radical elements and steer it in a constructive direction, and shore up his own political standing. You have an opportunity here Mr. Obama. More so even, an obligation. That's great you want to support democracies in the Arab world. But help out your own people first. Help out the people that made you the Leader of the Free World by the very process you claim to support.

Remember that oath: "To support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States"

Because its under serious threat now. I think of men like King Arthur and his knights these days, who want peace and goodwill between all people, but who are willing to fight for it when necessary. Obama could learn some lessons from the Tale of the King Who Was and The King Who Shall Be...

Freedom is Not Free...

My mother was wearing a "Go Army" shirt on yesterday with this slogan. "Freedom is not free." And then I went by a friend's house, and I see this again on an American flag. Synchronicity, you think? In any case, this concept has been on my mind a lot the last few weeks.

I'm trying to follow a path, a spiritual, vocational path. To enter the priesthood. Which is sort of how this blog came into being. I'm following Branwen, a Welsh literary heroine whom many believe was at one point a Goddess of Britain. She represents a few things, among them love and marriage, but one of her main attributes is to be a representation of a nation's Sovereignty.

Sovereignty, a quick-and-dirty way to define that is the right of a nation to govern its own lands, its right to exist and for its people to govern itself independently.

Most nations, for better or worse, as part of maintaining Sovereignty, have a standing military. And, for better or worse, using a military has been part of human existence since we were running around in caves with torches. Fighting, war, that's an unpleasent part of human existence.

Luckily, we 21st century moderns have gotten better at resolving our differences globally through talking rather than shooting at each other. The United Nations is a great example.

Sometimes though, war is an unpleasant necessity. I don't think anybody could have settled with Adolf Hitler over pints of Hoegaarden in 1930's Berlin. 

Other wars, like the invasion of Iraq in 2003, were fought for less noble purposes (oil, Bush the Younger wanting to settle the score for daddy, Bush the Elder) But the people that go in, decide to give their lives up and do service for their country, I think they always deserve respect, no matter your politics. I've always felt this way.

I have to do a community service project as part of my Votary (priest) training. I've given strong thought to doing work with veterans. It fits, working, serving people, who themselves in a powerful way have served the Sovereignty of the U.S., our national interest. More so, these men and women come home after making great sacrifices in the field (being parted from family, losing a limb, carrying unseen wounds in panic attacks, PTSD and other afflictions) and many times return to an uncaring and apathetic public.

I watched a documentary in May, around Memorial Day, (interesting because Branwen tends to show Herself to me in signs and symbols around this time) where a group of WWII vets were hanging around Normandy, specifically, around lots and lots of graves. And they said it, these Servants of Sovereignty. 

"Freedom isn't free." To quote another oft-used line, "All gave some, some gave all."

Freedom is not free. These individuals pay a high price at times, for all of us at home. And I'm going to find a way to give back.

A Dysfunctional Family

Quarrels, squabbles between mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, cousins that aren't resolved in a healthy way....little tiffs that erupt into all-out fist-fights...classic signs of what goes on perhaps in a dysfunctional family.

Nissyen knows this. A tiff between relatives causes war between two countries. But he always worked as an actor for Peace.

"Of the two other sons of Llyr's wife, Penardun, the mother of Manawyddan, one was called Nissyen, and the other, Evnissyen. Nissyen was a lover of peace, and would always "cause his family to be friends when their wrath was at the highest," says the Mabinogion, a Welsh text that's one of my own wisdom books.  We really need Nissyen right now.

I walked to work this morning in the middle of a massive march by Occupy Wall Street on the NYSE. People protesting, but other people railing against the protesters. "Occupy a desk! Get a job! Move to Washington!" And so forth.

I was saddened. Much has been written in the press about the United States' declining influence in the world. I think everyone agrees that our country is in serious trouble.

It was this sentiment of virulent divisiveness that literally tugged at my heart strings as I walked to work. You see it on the streets, in mockery about Obama, or some other political figure on news site commentary, about policies concerning immigration, and so forth.

There's a lot of discontent right now. And it's my feeling that this American family of 50 States, that's trying to find itself in a rapidly changing world, right now is dysfunctional. We hold to that motto: "Out of Many, One," that out of many different peoples and ethnic groups, we become one nation, one family.

Sure, we fought and squabbled before. Any historian can tell you about the Civil War, and of the men that marched at Gettysburg, Manassas, or a hundred other battlefields can explain how the USA became much stronger by almost tearing itself apart. And maybe this movement is the first step toward the country gaining new strength.

I would say this though: the stakes are higher. In the 1860's, the U.S. was still a backwater place, the center of the world then was London or Paris. Now, the United States is a world power, a major actor on the world stage and it commands a tremendous amount of influence on global affairs.


The world's in trouble. Climate's changing, economies are weak, the old ways of doing things aren't working anymore and new structures have to be built. One could argue that its part of the process of change. The U.S prides itself about being a leader in the global community. But how can it do that when it can't figure out who and how it should do the chores in its own backyard?