March for Science

Yesterday, Earth Day 2017, was March for Science; a protest of the current administration's anti-science stance. The current administration denies global warming, has gutted the EPA.

As a degreed scientist, you'd think I'd be right out there marching, right?
Wrong!

Because I have worked in the field, both non-profit & for-profit, I know that scientific research in this country is not "pure."

There are 2 ways to get money to fund your research - the government (NSF, NIH, NIMH & others) or corporations. Each has their own agenda. If your research will not, or does not, give the desired results -- you will not (continue to) get funding.

This is the truth in America.

There are no "Let's study this and find out what's what" grants.

Every administration has its priorities. Every corporation has its agenda. The research that gets funded are those projects most likely to produce the results the big-wigs want publicized.

When global warming/climate change was 1st being investigated, there were 2 research groups. The other think-tank that produced very different results than those that are now generally accepted and have been formalized by the IPCC. They got shouted down, or quietly moved off the media.

I remember. I was waiting to see what the consensus would be, between 2 large, well-respected groups. I assumed the scientific method would prevail. It didn't. Hysteria & fear-mongering took over. Whatever result got the biggest headlines got publicized.

Do you know, since the 1970s, there has been a push to get US citizens out of our cars? Even back then, people were advocating reducing our dependence on foreign oil. Some wanted us to spend money on developing American oil. Others simply wanted us to reduce the use of petroleum products - from any source.

Public transportation was touted. Economy cars, compacts & sub-compacts sprang into favor. Gas economy, better mpg (which seems to have topped out at 36mpg, but that's another story). That kind of went by the wayside when SUVs came in -- suddenly, everybody wanted big, tough vehicles again. $4/gal gas seemed to slow that tide.

In recent years, gasoline prices have dropped. I personally think that was an economic power-play on Obama's part after Putin's bullying tactics in Ukraine. The US closed off markets for Russian oil, Putin's economy collapsed, American consumers rejoiced, without understanding how that happened. (PS: I admire that Putin paid off his IMF loans & kicked the banking cartel out of his country. His tactics, however, remain decidedly non-humanitarian.)

Through the years, I keep thinking 2 things: 1) Dictators hate a mobile population; and 2) We absolutely need to get off the oil standard if we want to keep our freedom.

Oh - climate change? Whatever you think causes it, it's here, and we have to figure out how to live with what's coming.

Science? Good stuff. Get the government out of it.

The Faceless Fuck

Sex "doggie style" allows a man to get a faceless fuck. He doesn't have to look at a person, doesn't have to think of anything except his dick and a wet hole.

How many times have you ever gotten a reach around? How many times has he said your name while he was screwing you from behind? Or is it all "Oh baby; oh baby"? Ever kiss your neck?  Or does he grab your neck (or your hair) & hold you down?
Not you at all -- just some pussy.

Anal sex is about your pussy being too loose. And again - ever get a reach around? Does he touch your breasts while he's pumping your ass? Your clit? Or does he just hold onto your hips and go for the gold?

Faceless fuck. You're not involved at all.

A friend of mine posted on Facebook his disgust at finding expressed breast milk bottles in the fridge at work. He was very denigrating, used the phrase "teat secretions" and compared the milk to other bodily fluids such as urine, blood or semen.He didn't feel like he should be exposed to the sight.

My 1st thought was to agree with him, these are results (and the known action that produced them) that should be hidden. Then I stopped myself and asked where that thought had come from. Instantly, I knew it came from our male-dominated society, which requires all bodily functions of the female, other than sex or beauty, be kept out of sight. We don't pee, we don't fart, we don't shit, and breast-feeding is a private activity.

I saw a vision of Crusaders wiping out a village, pulling babes from their mothers' arms & killing them, throwing the women down & raping them; then laughing about how they're in shock, crying and "leaking."  Beating them for their emotions and their bodily functions.

I got angry. I got very angry, especially when I realized how many centuries this has been going on.

Pregnant and nursing women, and infant/young humans, require protection.  The majority of men understand & accept this. Our "leaders" and their bullying troops use that vulnerability to ascend to power. With their mouths, they praise the sanctity of motherhood and children, but their actions expose the lie.

A woman and her brats -- excluding the man who co-created those "brats" and put her in that position of need & vulnerability.

All the societal rules, meant to protect initially, became a means of oppression. From my Feminist Philosophy course, back in the 80s: The police (mostly men) and the judicial system (mostly men) are there to protect you from criminals --- (mostly) other men! Closed loop system. Catch-22. Please the men or suffer the consequences.

Economic equality & birth control are the greatest emancipators of women.

I can analyze this 2 ways. I can see it as a way to remove power from women and make them dependent on men for their very lives.  Or, I can see it as a way to control other men.

This is terrorism, pure & simple. This is bullying - bullying 51% of the human race.

My 1st question is: Why is it so necessary to keep women from power? Even the Church, supposedly a Spiritual Entity, does everything it can to keep women at a lower level of spiritual empowerment.

Another thought -- this is a way to control production. If you control those who produce the next generation - the most valuable commodity in the world -- you control everything.

But why, then, does the same power structure devalue children so much? Why do they condone armies killing children, selling children into slavery?  Ah!  They want to control the children - control the next generation.

Power & control.

Terrorists and other thugs "win" because they do outrageous, unthinkable things before anybody can defend against them -- like snatching a schoolgirl off a bus & beating her half to death.  People are so frightened by the raging violence of their actions that they don't/can't stand up to them or stop them.

How is this any different?

Superstition & Miracles

Heard the song "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder. It got me thinking. Is the "germ theory" superstition? Do we stay well if we wash our hands/keep things clean because we believe we will? If we believed that bacteria & viruses had no power over us, would disease end?

Perhaps we simply give germs a temporary home, acknowledging that they are living beings, a spark of the Divine just as much as we are. Perhaps we're not meant to die because of them, but simply enable them to live, also. 

A philosophy I follow states that we humans have collective agreements that capture us and affect our lives. We believe, collectively, that as we age, we deteriorate. So we do. And if we want to disengage from that collective belief, it's very hard, since it surrounds us, and we've incorporated it into our "knowing" since childhood.

So, the song suggests religion & science are both based on superstitions - believing in things we don't understand.

Then I saw a picture on Facebook that said - we all are Enough. We are all, each & every one of us, a Miracle.  And I saw, for a second, the Earth sparkling with powerful Miracles, on the beach, in the cars, at desks, in stores, rocking babies, pounding nails, laying bricks. Is this how God sees the world? All of us Miracles He has Created, the entire planet sparkling with miracles? Bigger question: Do any of us realize what miracles we are, what power that gives us?  Even bigger question: Can I keep that in mind as I go about my day?  Each & every person I encounter is a miracle, created by God.

We bind ourselves in chains of superstition. We are actually powerful miracles.

Dream

I had a dream. I've been asking God/Source/HP/Universe to tell me what I'm meant to do. I just don't think CallCenter is the be-all of what I'm meant to do. So, I've been trying to be open to suggestions from my soul. These days, I don't remember much of my dreams. But one scene from this one has stuck with me in living color.

So, I'm sitting someplace with my peeps -- family, friends. Can't remember who exactly, but people I knew, trusted, felt comfortable with.  And I hear a voice in my head say "You are a demon-hunter."  One part of me simply accepts this "Yes. The other part of me says, "What?!?" Then I see I have a manila envelope in my hand. I draw the papers out, and they contain information about who my next target is. I skim them, but don't really read them.  I look up, and realize the papers are talking about the group of men sitting across the lounge/bar from me/us. They are them - demons.  Look like regular guys to me, young adults, full of themselves, putting down all around them, looking forward to a wild time wherever they're going. one, the leader, is a taller, athletic-looking blond.

Demons?

I watch them, measuringly, observing. The blond looks around, notices me watching them and seems to recognize ... me? what I am? my mission?

They call our plane, and we fly to NY, where we catch a cruise ship going to Reyjavik, London, then out to the Baltics.

Dream ends.

I remember thinking "How am I supposed to fight demons? I'm a short, fat, 59yr old woman. Out of shape, untrained in weapons of any kind." And something settles within me, knowing I will have what I need, become what I need, when the time comes.

It's an election year again, and, as usual, people's vituperativeness about political choices amazes me. Don't we live in a country where we are encouraged to be our own self? Think for ourself, develop our own opinions? Why, if I think differently than you, does that make me stupid, or selfish, or .... fill in your epithet of choice.

Feels like bullying to me.

Whatever happened to "agree to disagree" ? Or being a member of the "loyal opposition"?

The True Eden

While listening to Lionel Ritchies's "All Night Long" -- I had an insight. I understood where the cultural meme that you must work hard in this life came from.  

The line from the song was "Throw away the work to be done" and I thought -- well then how does anything get done? And I thought about primitive cultures, Amazon tribes, South Sea islanders -- how do they function? I realized they live in places where one can go out into the environment & gather what is needed pretty easily (comparatively). Then I thought about being cast out of the Garden, and God saying "You shall eat by the sweat of your brow." -- which has always been the "proof" that we have to work hard. 

Then I realized -- it's only because we left the presence of God that things got hard.  If we live in God's grace -- living is not hard.