 A Country Rag
911 Rain of Terror
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...yet the sun continues to rise and we remain --
who has called us to this place of terror
beyond all ever known of the gods?
who has thrown us back to wilderness, cast
us loose on a vast and empty sea?
astonished to be yet washed in radiance....
"among the chosen," The Mythographer of the Sun by David Schenck, Asheville NC
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"Make A Good Move" and "Rule the Sky"
For those who've been persecuted and died for liberty, for the right to live independent and free, with dignity and responsibility, and for those who will, God save and carry you beyond these earthly shades to the dream fulfilled.
"...we were entering some cycles identical to those that hit us during the demise of Vietnam and Watergate, a truly tough time for this country. It does appear those times have arrived. The nature of the energies in play in the U.S. chart in the next few years require great faith, spiritual strength, integrity, and occasional sacrifice to master. One has to know what one's ultimate values are and to stand solidly by those, letting go of superficial values and attachments, slaying illusions, addressing one's weaknesses and vulnerabilities with an open eye so one can build them into strengths. It is the phase of having to be the ultimate spiritual warrior...."
-- Chris Hedlund, Cosmic Telegram
"The terrorist attacks were major atrocities. In scale they may not reach the level of many others, for example, Clinton's bombing of the Sudan with no credible pretext, destroying half its pharmaceutical supplies and killing unknown numbers of people.... Not to speak of much worse cases, which easily come to mind. But that this was a horrendous crime is not in doubt. The primary victims, as usual, were working people: janitors, secretaries, firemen, etc...." Noam Chomsky, On The Bombings, Znet
"...Every day I receive countless email and contact from people who were laid off, abused and lied to by their employers. They tell me that FC is therapy. I've read hundreds of personal emails from people who've lost their jobs, just got married, just had kids, just bought a house, are in financial ruin. They tell me they visit FC and see that they're not alone, they see that it's not their fault...." -- Pud, FC
"...The way out of these loops requires a jump to a position outside of the system, or the introduction of a new element into the system... we may unconsciously play into an unhealthy feedback loop and help perpetuate it by our responses.... sometimes we have to be strong enough and big enough to jump out of a negative system we are in, to 'quit playing the game' or take some move that changes the game into a better one...." -- Chris Hedlund, Cosmic Telegram
We mourn with the world loss of life and
infrastructure suffered over the past few days and the horror children
have seen.
No place, including Israel or Palestine or America, is a home if it's
constantly under attack and in a state of nervous alarm because its
inhabitants, or others elsewhere, are demeaned and degraded to
catastrophic, lethal hostility.
The answer is not terrorism or war, but a concerted effort at distributing
resources more fairly, rewarding people's work with more sanity (for
instance, CEO/worker income ratios), honoring individuals for real civic
contributions (rather than creating icons of rapacious robber-barons),
encouraging dialogue between individuals and countries, and establishing
on-the-ground progress toward survivable living conditions worldwide.
Unfortunately, as our planet now turns, social and economic equity
throughout the world is so out of balance that cataclysmic disruption
becomes inevitable, an uncontainable response to insistence upon
directions of ruthless inequality.
We are all faced with the task of curbing our aggression and greed. We
do not need another tax cut for the rich and corporations to "spur
business investment." We need investment in the people of this country
and the world, in their cultures and skills, in their education and art, in
their health and homes, in their small businesses and the
creation/restoration/maintenance of constructive communities.
And we need population control by individual responsibility not by
World War III. -- Jeannette Harris, Co-Chair, Green Party of Tennessee
"May your kingdom reign"
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"And then it was not enough for them to go astray about the knowledge of God, but though living in a great war of ignorance, they call such evils peace.... And it is all a confusion of blood and murder, theft and fraud, depravity, faithlessness, discord, perjury, clamor at the good, forgetfulness of favors, defilement of souls, confusion of sex, irregularity in marriage, adultery, and indecency. For the worship of the unspeakable idols is the beginning and cause and end of every evil." -- The Wisdom of Solomon 14:22, 25-27, The Apocrypha
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"Behind all dysfunction there is a real function that has been warped." -- Chris Hedlund, Cosmic Telegram
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"If you are saddened by polluted land, water and air; if you have grown weary of representatives that do not represent and institutions that do not serve people; if your heart has grown heavy in the face of distinctions based on power over others -- sexism, racism, classism, homophobia; if you are dismayed with participation in a system that brings untold wealth to the doorsteps of a few by stealing bread from the tables of many; if you are appalled by excuses that place profits before the lives of millions of people with HIV [and other diseases]; if you know in your heart and mind that a just and nonviolent world is possible, and you want to help create it, join ..." the Mobilization for Global Justice
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Auto-cycle through an on-line gallery exhibit of work by
Charles Dyer
For many Appalachians, Ray Hicks is the Jack in the Jack Tales.
"Not many are left to learn the world, how the old people lived. I guess that's why I was put here - to sing
the songs, tell the stories, to let the people know how they are to live off
the bare earth if it ever comes to that again." -- rh
Tales for Ray and Rosa Hicks - A Benefit Performance
Sunday September 9, 2001, at 3PM, Pack Memorial Library, Downtown
Asheville, NC
Tellers: Connie Regan-Blake, Charlotte Ross, Sandra
Gudger, Gwenda LedBetter;
suggested donation eight dollars or more
Or send check payable to the Ray and Rosa Hicks Fund, c/o Connie Regan-Blake, PO. Box 2898, Asheville, NC 28802
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Original material © A Country Rag April 1996, 2001. All rights reserved.
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