I started watching this movie tonight by accident and this scene with a melow duette grabbed my attention. They were sitting in a music store, he had a guitar and she sat at the piano. The rest is history. The song was amazing. And a very good movie.

OK, So I haven't been on Gaia in a while or blogged in a while. Life's been busy throwing me struggle after struggle...which has been a great experience of learning & growth (got to look on the flip-side)!

But today I found myself looking at the last time I wrote here, and I wanted to follow up on Coming back to my Hometown with...

Gone Baby Gone to...




and loving it. A good move, a good place, and good times. More to come...

Sarasota, Florida is on the surface a clean-cut wealthy and elegant town, but on the back roads and behind some of the better neighborhoods you'll find hidden areas of slum, where hookers, crack heads and criminals collaborate together to further perpetuate their poor quality of life. If you are already prone to this kind of behavior, you will likely be able to sniff out likeminded individuals. If you are not, you should be careful, as this lifestyle is easy to get sucked into. From living in Sarasota and Siesta Key for most of my life, I have witnessed so many people lose everything in their life due to drugs and excessive/compulsive/addictive partying, and a lifestyle where spending all day cooking out at the beach far outweighs the money they are losing from not showing up to work. It's very sad, but seemingly one of those habits people just get stuck in and can never find their way out of....in my hometown.

I am middleclass...neither wealthy or poor, not at all interested in substance abuse, and make a very fun & rewarding living. Although, I have been known to kick back a few too many naked juices, but that's about it.

What am I doing here? This is the question I keep asking myself after leaving 4 years ago and coming back. Either way, I am here, so I must make the best of it. But I do not think that I intend on staying for long...

It both utterly amazes & fascinates me that when I sit & listen to conservatives, especially Christian Conservatives (Religious Right) talk about politics, is that the only way they know how to get involved is to smear their "opponent", using their Religion to help them choose their political stance. Why is it that they always seem to be "against" something, instead of just "for" something? A personal campaign ran on negativity against something instead of positivity for something. I just don't get it. Well, this is for the "followers"...

THERE is no such thing as a "Christian politics." If it is a politics, it cannot be Christian. Jesus told Pilate: "My reign is not of this present order. If my reign were of this present order, my supporters would have fought against my being turned over to the Jews. But my reign is not here" (John 18:36). Jesus brought no political message or program.

I hope that one day everyone, especially the religious right, actually spends time on issues instead of smear campaigns. Please, wake up.

THERE is no such thing as "Christian politics."
Jesus brought no political message or program.
Jesus was not a conservative. A Republican. A Democrat.
He was an Independent. He listened to the issues, regardless of who brought them.

So, if we were to take a lesson from Jesus, let us not distort it by portraying negative "against the other" political campaigns. Just be positive about your beliefs and who you are "for".

Quick Suggestion: Try changing the name of your groups from "Christians Against Obama" or "Sarasota Against Obama", etc. etc, to something like this...

"Christians for McCain" or "Sarasota for McCain". It's a much more positive message.

It's time for some campaigning...

Campaign musical goodness.

i think more about the future, live more in the present, and learn more from the past.

(cross-referenced from thinq4yourself@wordpress) (post if not formatted nicely)

Today is blog action day, and another important day in speaking some words about the environment. I've been thinking quite a bit since signing up about what to write, when just about every corner of the environmental front is under assault by government, industry, and just plain stupidity among humans. But the other night I was fortunate enough to finally watch Mountain Top Ministry on PBS's Bill Moyers (thanks DVR), which was yet another disturbing piece on Mountain Top Removal (MTR). That made up my mind...

I love mountains. I always have. I've been going to the mountains since I was a wee little lad, specifically the Smokies, the Blue Ridge, & the Appalachians. Being from Florida, mountains were not an every day sighting. You had to drive 10 (or more) hours to see any good mountains, such as in North Carolina which is riddled with these majestic examples of contour, texture, & habitation. That's where my family & I ended up every year a few chosen times a year. The mountains. The Smokies. The Appalachians. We love mountains.

Well, it's a good damn thing we didn't decide to pick West Virginia...because their mountains really do suck (don't believe me?).

A massive dragline, dwarfed by the huge scale of the operation, at work
on a mountaintop removal operation near Kayford Mountain, W.Va
Photo by Vivian Stockman, Oct. 19, 2003

How majestic. Excellent job destroying something that only took 300 million years to create. Well done section 515(c)(1) of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, and thank you President King George W. Bush, Massey, and all ye who defend this practice and continue to rape our 300 million year old mountains in the name of coal. This is the 21st century, why can't you innovate like everyone else has.

What does President Bush have to do with this? Everything. The Bush administration has declared war on mountains and the people who live there. Seriously.

 

Toxic West Virginia

 

So what do you, the average American citizen, have to think about this? It seems you do think about this. A September 2007 survey conducted by the Civil Society Institute found that 65% of Americans oppose the Bush Administration's proposal "to ease environmental regulations to permit wider use of 'mountain top removal' coal mining in the U.S." The study also found that 74% Americans are opposed to the expansion of MTR coal mining in general, and that 90% of Americans agree that more mining should be permitted only after the United States government has assessed its impacts on safety and the environment.

 

 

Christians for the Mountains

 

 

What does Mountain Top Removal look like? As you can see...it's all about the "Former" mountain contour. Former.

 

 

 

i love them mountains (so does woody)

 

Most of the links are inline [click4yourself], so click away and learn as much as you can about this eXtremely important, relevant issue that has everything to do with you, your children, and the future of environmental protection. It took these beautiful mountains 300 million years to create themselves for you to enjoy, so a few hours of education and a few more of action to stop this hideous crime is not much to ask in return. I leave you with this...

 

Mountain Wars

 

Some Useful References
Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition
Wikipedia
(and much more here)

mountain justice summer
vbs.tv (toxic west virginia series)
stop mountaintop removal

Everyone should be recognized for for the things they have done; for we have all had those moments where time stood still just for us, just maybe no one noticed. I don't think that anyone should be excluded from being remembered. Those who build community gardens should be recognized just as much or perhaps even more than the philanthropist with millions in cash donated, the politician with a track history or the activist who is fighting for what's right; and even more so the villagers who stand up to the seemingly all powerful oil company should be recognized, the young son who dies for another's war, and of course our all of our most loved family members.

After I'm gone; I would rather not be forgotten. I am someone who really enjoys the art of being, the time spent creating something, and all of the fruits of labor when truly vested in something. And I really enjoy that when I'm gone, or moved on, that it was me who contributed or created or led the charge or had the idea. So when I'm gone world…please feel free to bask in my glow!

 

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