Many anti-this or anti-that activists exist in a muck of reactionary rhetoric. Rather than practicing compassion for those around them they respond with ridicule ever believing there is only one way to think. The very notion of understanding is something this group either lost after childhood or possibly never had at all. Sadly, this type of thinking is prevalent around this country and leads to the blindness that allows us to consume and destroy in disregard. These “normal” people are apparently the privileged ones always in position to label and judge those around them. Somehow prescribing to the notion that anything is normal, which is simply a ruse put forth by those who control “normalcy”, is considered better than being open minded and thinking for oneself.

These “normal” people like to turn the tables on the persecuted and act as though their seeking of rights somehow causes them to lose their. In this vein there is currently a push to make July “heterosexual month.” The idea is that if homosexuals get to have pride parades and celebrations then heteros should get to as well. The only problem with this is the fact that heterosexuals are not persecuted and beaten to death for their choice of a partner. While it is somewhat different we see this same reaction by white to Hispanic and black groups meant to help bring them up from the racism whites have put them under for so many years. Many people seem to believe that minorities, quite by miracle, been elevated up to the same position as whites. This, of course, while being very saddening, is quite absurd.

What makes those in the majority react this way? Are they afraid that their ideals, ones they themselves did not even create, will be harmed if others are allowed to live as they want to? In terms of race, will the minority finally become the majority and take as much or more than those that once held that position? Are we so imbued with the competitive mind that everything has to be an us versus them? So they’re the team from Timbuktu and we’re the team from Normalcy?

There is little intelligence in a lack of empathy for others. The inability to allow others to live as they see fit is on some level a failure of one’s own psyche. I’m thankful that so many of today’s youth are questioning the simple-minded construction of the past. That old mentality allowed us to accept others as less than ourselves creating sub and slave classes. it’s the same mindset that allows us to torture animals because they ‘taste good.’

I hope that those celebrating “heterosexual month” are very proud of themselves. It would be great if they also found a way to reduce the rate of divorce amongst heteros. That seems a little more positive to me.

This is a beautifully written post from American Wetback. It comes at a the same time I’m reading a book titled Sacred Earth by Arthur Versluis which expresses the same sad situation. We are hoarders, consumers, destroyers. We believe that this beautiful planet was created for us to take from never stopping to understand that we are stripping its very soul. When we strip the Earth’s soul we also destroy our own. No electronic gadget can match the beauty of a tree, or the wonder of the ocean. Connected to the Earth we are connected to the spirit, to the world beyond the one we’re currently in.

Death is only the beginning of life beyond the physical Word.
World that doesn’t care about anyone or any full of apathy.
Apathy that surrounds the people in power who have control of the masses.
Masses that idolize empty heroes of vanity and propel them to god like proportions.
Proportions that are always skewed because the hungry go hungry and the fat get fatter.
Fatter than life because they have control of the few that starve for them.
(full post)

Every little tragedy on television is met with an “oh my” and often some money is sent to those helping. But what about the tragedies we ignore every day? We have dogs, cats, gerbils, and snakes as pets and though they are very much like pigs, cows, chickens, and lambs we would never eat them, but it’s ok for these animals to be tortured for food their entire lives because they taste good. And the sick insanity of it all is that they don’t taste good. Why would there be half a grocery isle dedicated to marinades and spices if flesh was a tasty dish in and of itself. One’s desire to consume something once living with blood and emotion in its body drives their ignorance to suffering.

And scholars can’t see past their slick metaphors and acknowledge this suffering even when they’re supposedly out to help save us from the big bad corporations. Not to pick on her, but Barbara Ehrenrich, In This Land is Their Land speaks about corporate greed all while fantasizing about taking a ham with her on the plane for fear of a lack of food at her impoverished destination. Let’s face it. I’m not the one that needs saving. It’s the helpless, the hopeless, the other.

We pass by the homeless fantasizing about their devious ruse all while they live it up in mansions paid for by our pity. They secretly sip champagne during the hottest parts of the day smiling under their practiced posture of sadness. If you are in another camp you may simply hate them for not working. You have a job and you can barely make it yourself. How dare they ask you for money. Hopefully you’re neither of these, but we know this mindset exists. I’m as guilty as the next.

Why do we ignore obvious suffering? Why do we let others con us into projecting our fears and troubles onto others less fortunate? What creatures are less fortunate than animals? Wouldn’t it make sense that we should protect them? Even for those that do care for animals there are hierarchies Why do we pine for the beaten baby seals while ignoring the baby calve spending its life in a cage? So many refuse to wear fur but have no problem consuming steak.

In my view all living things must be respected. This is as true for migrants as it is for sharks and hens. In humans we often see the worst in those that are forced to endure suffering their whole life. How is an animal any different. When you eat them you are eating their pain and suffering. This causes our bodies to react by bearing disease.

The problem with anything is not the problem itself, but the mindset that let it occur. It’s time for a change in mindset – one where all living things are allowed proper rights and proper respect.

It’s good to see the proposed end of no-match letters, but I believe Schumer underestimates the many undocumented workers in this country not to mention the many students waiting for the DREAM Act.

Schumer: Immigration bill to be ready by Labor Day

By SUZANNE GAMBOA – 3 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The lead Democrat steering an immigration overhaul through the Senate said Wednesday he expects to have a bill ready by Labor Day that is more generous to highly skilled immigrant workers than those who are lower skilled and is tough on future waves of illegal immigration.

As human beings we have many universal problems we must deal with. However, few need quite as much immediate attention as the fact the some feel they have the right to hurt and control others. What causes a human being to contract this disease. The desire to hurt others is indeed a terrible malady and sadly the cure is so simple and within reach. Treat other as you would like to be treated yourself. What is so difficult about that?

More men victims of human trafficking
By SUSAN CARROLL
Copyright 2009 Houston Chonicle
July 6, 2009, 8:25AM

His jeans hide a cigarette burn on his thigh, and a jagged scar that runs up his shin. It is a reminder, he said, of the day he escaped a remote ranch in Texas where he was held captive by a group of four human traffickers.

The desire for power is one that causes great suffering both in the individual seeking it and in the target for their jagged spear. A constant desire to control and take exists as a hole that can never be filled. The more one takes the more one wants. How to we confront this evil? How do we deal with this evil when it confronts us?

He said he was forced to work without pay for five months, picking vegetables at gunpoint. He was beaten and raped and burned with cigarettes, he said.

I believe compassion is the only way. It is a force much greater than guns and must longer lasting. I hope that someday others will begin to believe this too so we can realize a world where men and women are kidnapped, forced into slavery, or taken advantage of.

“Human trafficking exists because it is very profitable,” Conde-Vazquez said. “It’s a low-risk business for the traffickers because they are not dealing with merchandise they have to safekeep — they are dealing with human beings. In that sense, it’s lower risk than dealing with drugs or weapons.”

I’m not sure why this periodical felt it necessary to state “suite accuses a woman” rather than “suit accuses a legal assistant”, but either way here’s another example of the undocumented being taken advantage of. From dressing up as officers to taking money for non-existent legal help and finally the fact that they have to live in hiding, undocumented immigrants have much to fear in the country that is supposed to be the “land of the free.”

Suit Accuses Woman of Immigration Scam
By Pamela Manson

The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 07/06/2009 06:41:16 PM MDT

The Utah State Bar has filed a lawsuit against a legal assistant who allegedly posed as a lawyer while taking money from undocumented workers who were seeking to become legal residents of the United States.

While the issues of immigration still pound on and the need to write compassionate pieces to bring about positive change are very much needed I want to take a few posts to write about animal rights. Having become vegan a little over five years ago I have come into a state of consciousness where I find it very difficult to believe it is ok that others eat flesh. For me the struggle for animal rights is just as real as the struggle for human rights and in many ways the two are welded together. Do so many fail to address animal rights because the struggle for human rights is just too great? Doesn’t it make sense that compassion for animals would lead to compassion for human beings?

The idea that animals are beneath us is a construct of many years of indoctrination. In the past eating animals was easier than growing food because growing food takes time and care. Killing an animal just takes some sort of weapon and the desire to kill. It is a quick and effective way to find sustenance. Generally we pine that things which take time and care offer the greatest reward. So it would seem that looking after your crops would provide a greater source of completion and satiation. One becomes one with the earth and the elements counting on each to provide the proper environment for their nourishment.

The need to break out of cycles is one we’ve been engaged in for some time. In this country we’re still battling against racism and the idea that dark-skinned people are somehow less than their light-skinned sisters and brothers. The need to take this same approach with animals is very real and should not be ignored. Choosing to allow factory farming and the torture of animals for clothing and food is simply another mindset we must break. It is no longer ok to ignore the cries from the slaughterhouse. It may sit in some desolate part of Oklahoma, far from your ears, but the screaming happens every day. Millions and millions of animals are killed for our consumption each year.

I believe it’s time for all people working in rights organizations to take a holistic and comprehensive approach to rights in general. Why is it ok to ignore the issue of animal rights? This is a question I would like to ask everyone involved in the struggle for human rights?

With the atrocious and disturbing murder of Brisenia Flores we can see the direction anti-migrant groups are headed. What is gained from living in such a violent world? The tragic irony is the “patriots” call immigrants invaders yet they’re the ones busting into people’s homes. If you perceive you are being invaded it is due to a lack of compassion. We are all of this world. We are all one people.

Hate Crimes Rise as Immigration Debate Heats Up

By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 16, 2009; 6:33 PM

U.S. civil rights leaders said today that an increase in hate crimes committed against Hispanics and people perceived to be immigrants in recent years “correlates closely” to the nation’s increasingly contentious debate over immigration, faulting anti-immigrant rhetoric in the media and extremist group mobilization on the Internet.

In 1945 William Durant brought us this wonderful declaration.  It is well worth reading, absorbing, and taking as your own mantra. 

Our main task is to reduce the causes of racial animosity. First by recognizing that we are all guilty. Which of us has never uttered a word of racial hostility? Let us resolve never to do it again. Let us watch our own conduct, and by our moderation, our modesty, our good will, given no handle or excuse to racial division. Let us burn the second half of this Declaration into our hearts, and make a sacred vow, here and now.

Declaration of Interdependence – William Durant
Human progress having reached a high level through respect for the liberty and dignity of men, it has become desirable to re-affirm these evident truths:

* That differences of race, color, and creed are natural, and that diverse groups, institutions, and ideas are stimulating factors in the development of man;
* That to promote harmony in diversity is a responsible task of religion and statesmanship;
* That since no individual can express the whole truth, it is essential to treat with understanding and good will those whose views differ from our own;
* That by the testimony of history intolerance is the door to violence, brutality and dictatorship; and
* That the realization of human interdependence and solidarity is the best guard of civilization.
* Therefore, we solemnly resolve, and invite everyone to join in united action.
* To uphold and promote human fellowship through mutual consideration and respect;
* To champion human dignity and decency, and to safeguard these without distinction of race, or color, or creed;
* To strive in concert with others to discourage all animosities arising from these differences, and to unite all groups in the fair play of civilized life.

ROOTED in freedom, bonded in the fellowship of danger, sharing everywhere a common human blood, we declare again that all men are brothers, and that mutual tolerance is the price of liberty.

cross posted from The Sanctuary

By The Sanctuary Editors

Three things immediately shock the conscious soul upon learning about the murder of Luis Ramirez. The simple manner in which he died is the first of those.

Ramirez, a father of three, was beaten to death in the streets of Pennsylvania by as many as seven young men who were at the end of a night of drinking. The motive? Judging by the slurs heaped upon him along with the many blows to his body: apparently nothing more than being out at night while Mexican. The teens who ganged up on Ramirez came upon him walking with a young woman, reportedly his girlfriend’s sister. Obviously bringing threat, they asked him what he was doing out at that time of day. Then they set upon him. In the end it was a final hard kick to the skull which left the 25-year-old father convulsing on the concrete with fatal brain damage. Post Continued…