August 28, 2000
Subject: The Activist Compilation: Many Feedbacks, Useful Information and Beautiful Words + Rich Countries Offer Empty Promises to the World's Poor + Petition to Ensure Asian Human Rights are Not Ignored at a coming UN World Conference + Rainforest Site Petition + Australian Military to be given more powers + Swami to Offer "Absurdification"
Hello everyone
If you are ready and willing to get active in helping to change things in the world, you have plenty to choose from in this special "Activist Compilation".
Pass it around!
Jean Hudon
Earth Rainbow Network Coordinator
http://www.cybernaute.com/earthconcert2000
P.S. A special and heartfelt thanks to all those who contributed their kind comments and inspired words for this compilation, especially this first one below...
From: Art4tibet@aol.com
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000
Subject: The Grand Canyon of Our Lives
With love,
Ronit
The grand canyon of our lives
as i approached the vast, spacious view of the grand canyon, i began to feel
it- my heart stopped, my breathing slowed and my mind quieted- for an eternal
moment, i disappeared into the Oneness of the Cosmos.
merging into the river of Spirit, the river of creation, i became the source
of it all. i was the sky, i was the sun, i was the earth, i was the rain
that sourced the river that created this magnificent work of art. in that
eternal moment, there was no time, no space, no form. there was only a
continuum of nothing and everything.
returning to my body form, my mind and my emotions, i experienced the
interconnection of all that Is. i realized that there is no object or
subject, no out there or in here, no life or death. There is only Spirit~~
and that everyone and everything is the manifestation, the reflection, of
this spirit.
this awareness brought forth yet another insight. since all is part of
Spirit, then all is governed by Spirit's creative essence. The essence of
the river that created the grand canyon then, is the same essence which
resides in each and every one of us. the river did not intend to create the
grand canyon, it merely flowed with its true nature, and in the process, the
grand canyon was created.
what if we wake up to our true nature and be guided by its essence?
what if we recognized and embraced our Oneness with the Whole?
what if we didn't perceive obstacles, barriers and problems, rather just flow
through, between, around, under or over the illusion of separateness?
what would the grand canyon of your life look like?
what would the grand canyon of our collective lives look like?
ronit herzfeld
From: "Lisa A Chaplin" <purplepower@purplepower.screaming.net>
Subject: Thank you
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000
I'm sorry to bother you, I know you are very busy. But after reading all of your e-mails for the past year, I feel it is about time that I said thank you for changing my families live's. I have a girl of 5, and your infomation about food additives and GM foods has changed the way I shop dramatically. Next week I start a new job (home care assistant- you persuaded me to help more in the community) which will mean that I am home in the evening to cook the family's dinner. Before this my husband and daughter were eating microwave meals because he couldn't cook. From now on, we will all be eating home cooked, organic and home grown and loved food.
All of the little nuggets of alternative news I receive I pass on to people I meet. We will eventually make an impact on the world so large that the government cannot ignore it. I don't expect to see this in my lifetime, but by teaching our children about peaceful, unpolluting and undestructive living we will give them the gift of life in a harmonious community.
Thank you for inspiring me to actually be who I deep down want to be.
Lisa Chaplin (now vegan content person)
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000
From: jmb@pp.kolumbus.fi (JMB Oy)
Subject: choose to...
Dear Jean,
Thank you for all the great news and knowledge we
are able to receive due to your endless
enthusiatic work, which is a blessing itself.
Much Love,
Marjaana Beddard
Finland.
From the book What is Lightbody by Archangel Ariel,
channeled by Tashira Tachi-ren
Choose to see the pure Soul within all beings,
even thought they may not see it within themselves.
Choose to honor the sovereign reality of all beings,
even thought their words or actions may hurt you.
Choose to transform through ecstasy and Grace,
even though drama and trauma may seem more natural to you.
Choose to live in this miraculous Now moment,
evern though nostalgia , regrets and fear may entice you to not
be Present.
Choose to be a blessing to the World and All Life,
even though circumstances may encourage you to harden your
heart.
Choose to love others,
even though it may seem naive.
Choose to love God with all your being,
and know that this is all that is really required.
Choose to live Heaven.
- Aliyah Ziondra
From: "Leti Guerra" <letiguerra@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Green Files #11 : ACTION ALERT - Caiapos of Brazil
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000
Hi,
A big thanks for all the informative emails - both the uplifting ones
and the not so uplifting ones.
Regarding the Action Alert on the Caiapos of Brazil, I thought this might be
of use for all those out there that have no idea how to contact the
embassies and consulates of Brazil.
I found this at www.embassy.org/embassies/br.html
The Embassy of Brazil in Washington D.C. is at:
3006 Massachusetts Avenue
NW, Washington DC 20008
Tel: (202)238-2700
Fax: (202)238-2827
Email: webmaster@brasilemb.org
URL: http://www.brasilemb.org/
The Ambassador of Brazil to the US is: Rubens Antonio Barbosa
And worldwide addresses/websites of Consulates and embassies of Brazile can
be found at: http://www.embassyworld.com/embassy/brazil.htm
I hope this helps.
Peace,
-leti
From: <ute.roehl@hetnet.nl>
Subject: RE: selection process
Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2000
Please allow me to ask dear Jean, whether you just gather up and send information or if you filter letters and subjects as to only send out what you want to come up for?
Thanks and greetings,
Ute
MY REPLY WAS
I *try* to read as much as possible what I receive and then pick what feels
the most important, when possible I bring together what is related and
sometime I have time to add a comment. But if something does not ring true
of useful, I don't include it.
Does it answer your question?
Jean
THEN UTE REPLIED:
Through this initiative of yours as such a certain idea comes up about the
person providing all the information. Glad with your formulations. Yes, you
answered my question.
I hope you can also provide information on the fact that the solution of
today's problems and deep sufferings only can be found through a kind of
world government, which does not govern with power but with keeness, wisdom,
tolerance and so more... which clearly means that we still are on quite a
distance to such a body. But we are in the process of creating it....
Sometimes 'Jean' stand for man, sometimes for women. What in your case?
Kindest regards,
Ute
REPLY: Jean is a male name in French speaking Quebec
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000
From: Jeff Gordon <jeff.gordon@wellnow.com>
Subject: The UN et al.
Hi, Jean --
> THIS WHOLE LETTER IS A VEILED ATTEMPT TO UNDERMINE THE UN AND PROMOTE
> NATIONALISTIC EFFORTS WHICH HAVE ALLOWED THE US GOVERNMENT TO PREDOMINATE IN
> WORLD AFFAIRS. What right does the US have to rip off the rest of the world;
> to squander our common heritage; deplete the earth's resource base; and
> destroy our children's future.
Your friend -may- have landed on a truth, here, with the idea that
negative publicity about the UN is one more "divide and conquer"
technique, being employed by someone, somewhere.
However, these words suggest a lack of full awareness of the complete
"back channel" story about how the world is being run already. Anyone
who can frame the thought, "What right does the US have..." is still a
layer or two removed from what, apparently, the truth of the world's
operations really has been.
But let's set that aside for the moment. Strong, quiet rumors say
there has -already- been a significant change in how the world is being
run; that it occurred within this current year; and that the results of
this change will, sooner or later, be coming to public awareness. More
than that, I cannot say right now; but it gives hope that the upcoming
gatherings in New York may take a different direction than perhaps
originally intended by some.
It's a good time to "let go, let God", as very few things are as they
appear, right now, and human judgments of them are likely to be
erroneous.
CLIP
As long-buried facts continue to come to light in these days and thanks
in large part to Internet, it's a logical first reaction to feel rage
and suspicion at discovering our whole world has been manipulated for
one motive or another. Thus, a logical first reaction might be for
"justice, with vengeance" (Old Testament approach).
I think we might discover, however, if we can arrive together in that
place in consciousness, that -forgiveness- is the most powerful spirit
we could bring to bear on the circumstances we find ourselves living in
today. Let us increasingly choose that spirit.
AGREED!!
Jeff -- http://www.wellnow.com
"There's nothing left in the world to prove. All that's worth doing
is to love one another, using whatever means are available to serve."
From: "John Owen" <jowen@igc.org>
Subject: Rich Countries Offer Empty Promises
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000
From: Mark Weisbrot <weisbrot@cepr.net
July 25, 2000
Rich Countries Offer Empty Promises to the World's Poor
By Mark Weisbrot <weisbrot@cepr.net>
Two-thousand was supposed to be the Jubilee year, named after the biblical concept in which debts are cancelled and slaves freed every 50 years. Last summer the leaders of the world's richest nations announced with great fanfare that there would finally be serious relief for the world's poorest, debt-ridden countries.
That was then, this is now. The G-8 leaders last year were responding to public protests and organizing by advocates of debt cancellation, including the international coalition of Jubilee 2000 organizations, religious groups, the Pope, and other celebrities.
This time around they held their meetings -- with of heads of state from the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, and Russia -- on the remote island of Okinawa, Japan. The bill for last weekend's get-together was a staggering $750 million dollars -- enough to write off the entire foreign debt of Equatorial Guinea or Gambia. The inaccessible location kept the number of protesters down -- except for the tens of thousands of local residents who turned out to demand the removal of US military bases, which occupy a fifth of Okinawa.
A year after the G-8's pledges, and four years since the beginning of their "Highly Indebted Poor Countries" debt relief program, only one of the 41 targeted poor countries -- Uganda, has actually seen any debt cancellation. Meanwhile, the rest are spending more on debt service than on health care or education.
Talk is cheap, and so are the leaders of the rich countries. They want to make it through the Jubilee year with the least amount of debt relief they can get away with. But they are interested in the helping out with technologies that can provide new marketing opportunities for their own corporations. The big new initiative to come out of this year's meetings was a "dot-force" program to spread internet service to the developing world. "Let them eat laptops," was the rallying cry of the rich leaders, and it was music to the ears of corporations like Cisco Systems that sent executives to the summit.
The failure to provide meaningful debt relief makes a mockery out of any Western proposals to help alleviate the AIDS epidemic in poor countries. Sub-Saharan Africa has an estimated 24 million people with HIV/AIDS, and accounts for 83 percent of the world's total AIDS deaths. What good is the $300 million now contributed from international sources to fight AIDS -- a small fraction of what is needed in any case -- when these countries are losing 50 times that much in debt service each year?
Last week the Clinton administration offered a one billion dollar loan program to help African countries buy US anti-AIDS drugs. This is pathetic: a loan, at seven percent interest, to poor countries already buried under a mountain of debt. So that American pharmaceutical companies can sell their drugs at a profit to countries where 20 percent or more of adults are infected with the AIDS virus.
Here are the principles behind our policies: (1) the maximum amount of debt service must be extracted, even if the loans were originally made to corrupt dictators who funneled the money to Swiss bank accounts and (2) generic versions of currently patented drugs (as manufactured, for example, in Brazil) must not be allowed, no matter how many lives could be saved.
It seems that one has to go back to the slave trade to find a policy toward Africa that exceeds this level of greed and callous indifference to human life.
The only bright spots in the last week came from grass roots organizing on the home front. At the prodding of public interest groups, the US House of Representatives passed a bill requiring the World Bank to stop forcing countries to adopt "user fees." These are fees that people have to pay for previously free public services, such as primary education and health care. As expected, these policies have resulted in reduced access to these services in poor nations, including African countries.
And the city of Oakland, California pledged not to buy World Bank bonds, joining an international effort designed to curb the abuses of the Bank and the IMF, and to pressure them for real debt cancellation. The movement, with organizations in 35 countries, is modeled on the successful boycott that helped bring about the end of apartheid in South Africa.
It's going to take some more stirring at the bottom before the world's poor get anything other than empty promises from the politicians at the top.
Mark Weisbrot is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC.
Copyright (c) 2000 Mark Weisbrot. All Rights Reserved.
Los Angeles Alternative Media Network
From: "Leti Guerra" <letiguerra@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000
Alert: Petition to Ensure Asian Human Rights are Not Ignored
Posted by Anti-RacismNet on Friday August 11
URGENT ACTION
Asian Human Rights Commission Urgent Appeals Program
WORLD CONFERENCE AGAINST RACISM (WCAR): May ignore important aspects of
discrimination in Asia
UA 30/00: Sign Petition to ensure fundamental issues not ignored
On-line Petition: http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/wcar_appeal_eng.htm
The UN World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia
and Related Intolerance (WCAR) is to be held in South Africa in 2001. It is
vital that this conference addresses the entrenched discriminatory practices
in Asia such as the oppression of low caste people in India.
After thousands of years, discrimination against Dalits (formerly called
Untouchables) is still rampant in India and other South Asian countries.
People are prevented from voting, punished for interacting with those of
higher castes and not allowed to drink from the same well as others, simply
because of the family they were born into. Many are beaten or killed because
they do not follow the caste rules. Now that apartheid has ended and slavery
has virtually been deleted from humanity, it is time to address the caste
issue, which is at least as abominable as these other two hideous systems.
There are many other issues related to this Conference - such as the plight
of Aborigines in Australia, the racial and religious violence in Indonesia
and the treatment of minority groups in other parts of Asia - that could
easily be left out of the WCAR since the preparatory process is only
allowing a few issues to be included. Those responsible for these ugly forms
of discrimination will be given the power to prevent the issues from being
discussed, unless the UN widens the agenda during the preparatory process.
You can register your belief that this World Conference Against Racism MUST
address caste discrimination and other forms of intolerance that may be left
out by taking a few seconds to sign the on-line appeal to the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights. Please put the following address in your
internet browser: http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/wcar_appeal_eng.htm
The appeal is available in English, Spanish and French, so please inform
anyone else who you think would like to see the caste system abolished about
this petition.
***
PETITION:
An Appeal to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
RE: World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and
Related Intolerance South Africa, 2001
Fundamental Issues Relating to Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and
Related Intolerance in the Asian Region Need to Be Included in All
Preparatory and Experts' Meetings Leading to the World Conference against
Racism.
As the preparation for this conference is under way, it is necessary to
stress a need for an open process in which all groups and persons suffering
from various forms of discrimination will be able to bring their situations
to the notice of the conference and to the international community.
Asia is the largest continent in the world with a population amounting to
more than 2.5 billion. In this context, it is only natural that there are
very acute forms of discrimination that exist in this vast continent. All
preparatory meetings leading to this conference, particularly those held in
Asia, must provide sufficient opportunity for Asian communities to bring
their grievances to the notice of the conference. The two meetings to be in
held in Asia are the Experts' Seminar, 5 -7 September, 2000, in Bangkok,
Thailand, and the Asia Regional Preparatory Committee Meeting in January
2001 in Tehran, Iran.
In these circumstances it is rather disturbing to see that the themes fixed
for the Experts' Seminar to be held in Bangkok is "Migrant Workers and
Trafficking of Persons, with Particular Reference to Women and Children."
This way of fixing the theme will exclude discussion on all other
fundamental issues. While the topic that has been set is of great importance
and deserves the support of everyone, it in no way exhausts the forms of
discrimination in Asia. In fact, the theme fixed in this way will exclude
the discussion of many vital issues. For this reason, the beneficiaries of
fixing the theme in this way are the perpetrators who cause such
discrimination and political systems that protect such perpetrators. To shut
the door to those groups of persons defeats the purposes of the world
conference and the preparatory work done for that purpose.
As the fixing of the themes for such meetings are done by the organizing
group of the conference based in the United Nations High Commissioner's
Office, it is necessary that they take necessary steps to avoid the
exclusion of any form of discrimination practiced in the region from being
discussed. This particularly applies to entrenched forms of discrimination
affecting millions of people.
In terms of the forthcoming Experts' Seminar in Asia, this means that either
the theme of the meeting should be changed or, if that is not possible for
any reason, to make allowance for discussion of all issues relevant to the
world conference, despite the narrow limits set by the theme of the seminar.
Therefore, we urge the United Nations High Commissioner to take all steps to
avoid exclusion of vital issues of discrimination in Asia from the
forthcoming Experts' Seminar in Asia. We eagerly await a positive reaction
on this matter from the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights.
***
To sign please send a reply to this email, ie. to , with the words.... "Sign
WCAR Petition" ....in the subject line.
AHRC UA Index: 000809 9 August 2000
AHRC Ugent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission
Unit D, 7th Floor, Mongkok Commercial Centre,
16 - 16B Argyle Street, Kowloon, HONGKONG
Tel: +(852) - 2698-6339
Fax: +(852) - 2698-6367
E-mail: ua@ahrchk.org
Please contact the AHRC Urgent Appeals Coordinator if you require further
information or to make requests for further appeals
AHRC has an Urgent Appeal Programme which operates around the clock. AHRC
issues urgent appeals on behalf of persons or groups of persons whose human
rights have been violated. All urgent appeals released by the AHRC since
late 1997 can be accessed at our website:
http://www.ahrchk.net/appeal/index.html
At last a sensible way to petition!
Sign The Rainforest Site Petition, which will be delivered to the United
Nations Commission on Sustainable Development this Fall 2000. The
petition urges the UN to enforce the international community's political
and legal commitments to protect the rainforests. All you have to do is
click on the link below to sign up - and don't forget to pass this
e-mail along to all of your friends:
http://www.therainforestsite.com/rbt/TRSPetition/r061322
IF THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH AUTHORIZING THE KILLING OF PEOPLE IN DEMOS IN AUSTRALIA, THEN SOON ENOUGH IT WILL BECOME THE "NEW STANDARD" EVERYWHERE!... THE NEWS SAID TODAY (Saturday August 26) THAT A PLOY BY BIN LADEN'S MEN TO BLOW UP A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT NEAR SYDNEY DURING THE OLYMPIC GAMES WAS THWARTED IN NEW ZEALAND WHERE PLANS TO EXECUTE THIS TERRORIST ATTACK WERE ALLEGEDLY FOUND. IT IS CONCEIVABLE THAT "THEY" (READ THE ELITE'S HENCHMEN) HAVE MADE UP THIS WHOLE LUDICROUS STORY AS AN EXCUSE TO FORCE THROUGH THE ADOPTION OF THIS "Defence Legislation Amendment" BILL IN AUSTRALIA. THE NEXT SEATTLE III BRAWL BETWEEN PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATORS AND DARTH-VADERESQUE POLICE FORCES COULD THEN TURN OUT TO BE MUCH MORE UGLY... AND BLOODY!
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000
From: "Amethyst Freeman" <rainbowgold@angelfire.com>
Subject: Re: Australian Military to be given more powers
Dear Jean,
If possible would you please network this very important information on the Earth Rainbow Network. It concerns new powers that the Australian government is pushing through (without public debate) to give the Australian Military powers to even shoot to kill..even in civilian demonstrations if they deem it necessary. One would wonder why..as Australians in general have been disarmed?
Quote also see below:(The most disturbing measures, however, are those contained in Section 51T on the use of "reasonable and necessary force". In essence, the section will allow military personnel to shoot to kill. They will be permitted to cause death or grievous bodily harm where they believe "on reasonable grounds")
Obviously these powers are been brought in for the Olympics, but there is no talk of them being removed after the Olympics finish. We also have the World Economic Forum here in Melbourne in November and there will be protest as it involves the WTO elite.
Thank you for your help.
Love and Light,
Amethyst Freeman
EMERGENCY ACTION ALERT 23/8/2000
TROOPS IN THE STREETS? AUSTRALIAN MILITARY TO GET SWEEPING NEW POWERS
Australian Green Party bulletin
http://www.greens.org.au/
With no media attention or public discussion the Howard Government
is using the Olympics to justify sweeping new powers allowing the
military to suppress domestic unrest in Australia.
The Defence Legislation Amendment (Aid to the Civilian Authorities)
Bill seeks to establish the legal and political basis for using troops to
suppress political disturbances, seriously undermining the centuries-old
principle that the armed forces should not be mobilised against the civilian
population.
The Bill was passed through the House of Representatives in one day
(June 28) virtually unnoticed with the country in the grip of GST mania, and is
due to be voted on in the Senate by the end of August in time for the
Olympic Games.
Under the pretext of ensuring public safety during the Olympics, the
government and the Labor Opposition have combined to rush through the
legislation which will permanently and fundamentally change the military's
role.
The Bill authorises the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister and the
Attorney-General to advise the Governor-General (the Commander-in-Chief of
the armed forces under the Constitution) to call out military personnel to
deal with "domestic violence" that is considered a threat to the nation or
one of Australia's states or territories.
The words "domestic violence" do not refer to violence against family
members or in the home. It is a vague and undefined expression derived from
s.119 of the Constitution, which was intended to cover civilian disorder
that the state police forces prove incapable of putting down.
Today, the term "domestic violence" is widely interpreted to mean more than
just "terrorism" and can include strikes, political demonstrations or riots.
Already the term "terrorism" has been used by police and security forces to
encompass protests such as those planned for the World Economic Forum in
Melbourne in September. It is possible that "domestic violence" will be
interpreted to include protests at the Olympics or the WEF.
Section 119 of the Constitution provides that the federal government shall
protect each state against domestic violence, but only on the application of
the state's government. Section 51A of the Bill goes well beyond the
existing s. 51 of the Defence Act 1903 (Cth), which is based on s. 119 of
the Constitution. The new section will allow a military callout where the
three ministers are satisfied that domestic violence is occurring "or is
likely to occur" that will affect "Commonwealth interests" (also undefined),
regardless of whether there is a request by any state or territory
government.
Section 51B retains an existing proviso in s. 51 that a state government
cannot request reserve forces for use in an intervention to deal with an
industrial dispute, but no such restriction applies to the use of the armed
forces to protect Commonwealth interests. Nor is there a restriction on the
use of the permanent military when requested by a State. Section 51G will
prevent military personnel being utilised to "stop or restrict any lawful
protest or dissent" but that limitation is for all practical purposes
meaningless. Almost any political demonstration can be rendered "unlawful"
by refusal of official permission (such as NSW's new Olympic security
legislation).
Once deployed, the military forces will have wide-ranging powers under
Sections 51I to 51Y to seize premises, places and means of transport; detain
people; search premises; and seize things. If the three ministers declare a
"general security area" these powers will be expanded to provide for wider
searches, including personal searches; the erection of barriers; and the
stopping of means of transport. If a "designated area" is declared, the
powers will increase further to stop and control movement; and issue
directions to people.
The most disturbing measures, however, are those contained in Section 51T on
the use of "reasonable and necessary force". In essence, the section will
allow military personnel to shoot to kill. They will be permitted to cause
death or grievous bodily harm where they believe "on reasonable grounds"
that such action is necessary to protect the life of, or prevent serious
injury to, another person, including the military personnel.
Both the government and the Labor Party have claimed that the Bill merely
codifies the law that already exists. But the purpose of this section is to
shield military personnel from actions or prosecution for assault, false
imprisonment and homicide. As legal commentators have warned, without such
legal protection, soldiers could, for example, face murder charges if they
killed someone in the course of quelling a civil disturbance, even if they
were acting under superior orders.
In recent years, police killings of civilians have become commonplace in a
number of states, with the police authorities invariably claiming that the
killings were required for self-defence. The Bill will see the same power
extended to troops, armed with even more deadly weapons, operating under
conditions of serious domestic unrest.
There are significant questions about the constitutionality of aspects of
the legislation, more importantly, however, the bill will be a further
increase in the para-militarisation of policing in Australia and a
significant further step by the military into domestic politics.
In 1978 the Fraser Government used the pretext of the Hilton Bombing and
counter-terrorism in constructing a new national security apparatus based on
extensive intelligence-military-police cooperation. Now the Olympics are
being used as justification for further strengthening of this apparatus and
its grip on civil society. Already the Olympics have been the pretext for
increased funding and resources for the military special forces, sweeping
new phone tapping powers for ASIO and unprecedented powers for police and
security in NSW, this bill if passed will be another significant erosion of
our civil liberties.
Act Now
Write, Ring, Fax or Email
John Howard, Parliament House, Canberra, ACT, 2066
Tel: 02 6277 7700, Fax: 02 6273 4100
Kim Beazley, Parliament House, Canberra, ACT 2066
Tel: 02 6277 4022, Fax: 02 6277 8495
Email: kim.beazley.MP@aph.gov.au
Meg Lees, Senate, Parliament House, Canberra, ACT 2066
Tel: 02 6277 3991, Fax: 02 6277 3996
Email: senator.lees@aph.gov.au
Call media contacts, ring talk back and make a noise about this fundamental threat to our civil liberties.
For more information: Damien Lawson 0418 140 387
The Greens Maillists - http://www.greens.org.au/
110,000 visits per month & growing - visit Australia's premier progressive
political site
From: "Goldrobe" <goldrobe@prodigy.net>
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000
Swami to Offer "Absurdification"
For years people have been asking the Swami if he has any
"disciples" and for years the Swami has insisted that he has
no followers because he gets paranoid when he thinks he is
being followed. Nonetheless, he has been looking for ways
to encourage and empower others to practice the ancient art
of Fu Ling -- using laughter as a tool to enlighten up their
own lives, and the lives of those around them. And one of the
best ways to multiply healing laughter is to celebrate those
moments when laughter leads to breakthrough -- what the
Swami calls moments of Fool-Realization. You know, the
times we find ourselves laughing at our situation in spite of
it all, those embarrassing moments where we realize God is
laughing so hard we would be fools not to join in. Sometimes
the Universe will create a farce-field just for our benefit, and
we remember that life is a situation comedy and we are just
having an episode.
Says the Swami:
"You know, for years I taught Absurdiveness Training, and
at the end everyone received Absurdification from the Swami.
Well, I have decided to reinstitute that policy. If you send me
a true and unpublished story about how you became fooly-aware,
committed a random act of comedy that contributed to someone
else's fool-realization, or added to the laugh force on the planet,
I will send you a playful certificate suitable for framing that
indicates you have been officially Absurdified by the
Swami. Put this in a prominent place.
Then, whenever irregularhilarity strikes, use it as a reminder that
you have had a moment of fool-realization. And you know what?
You are still the same fool you were then. All you have to do is
realize it, and you are fooly-realized once again."
So please email your stories of "Fool-Realization" to the Swami
at swamib@saber.net, or write him on the outernet c/o Lite Headed
Productions, 400 W. Third St., Suite D-144, Santa Rosa, CA 95401.
If we use your anecdote on our site, you will receive a playful
certificate denoting you have been Absurdified By the Swami.
Have a great month ... and may the FARCE be with you,
Steve Bhaerman
http://www.beyondananda.com.
Copyright 2000 by Steve Bhaerman
