Moments of Awareness

From an article posted at NPR during the October 2016 trial of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupiers: "'Especially if Hillary Clinton is elected, all of our rights will be taken away,' [John] Lamb said." Mr. Lamb was referring largely to land use rights, but the conversation is really about rights in general. Clinton, had she been elected, would only have cared about land use or any other rights to the degree that caring would further her political future, and would've done exactly, and no more than, what she had to to get elected to a second term, meaning a lot of foot-dragging on the issue until it went away or until she was forced into the appearance of making some choice. That choice probably would've had no real effect on anything of import, as politicians by and large avoid doing things, especially in their first terms as president, that might cost them votes. Trump, on the other hand, most likely sees visions of a Trump-branded west...

Given the nature of the programming on FOX - having consisted since the network's inception of shows that no other network would've touched at the time - it seems very likely that their news broadcasts were intended to be taken as farcical. Who says comedy doesn't carry a social impact?

'Empowerment' connotes that that power must be given from some outside source, so we've got to ask ourselves some questions in order to make that happen. To wit: To whom was our power given? Power is inherent to the entity from which it arises and cannot be taken without consent. By that token missing power must have been and continue to be given. Without knowing to whom there'll be no getting it back. When? Was there a contract? What are the terms? Why? Power might be given in order to facilitate the efforts of another in creating or building something, or to absolve its holder of responsibility for its use, or because the generator thereof has been left vulnerable, or left itself vulnerable in the case of any entity we'd call sentient and accountable, to theft (where it's assumed that power is a limited commodity to be hoarded rather than freely distributed and consumed wherever necessary). Where? If power is being stolen or a system isn't...

We at MOA would like to warn well-meaning cat companions that catnip may get their cat(s) high. Behaviors that, in the ~50% of cats susceptible to the evils of nepetalactone, may be brought on by this dangerous drug include but are not limited to: Dangerous, even irrational jumping, biting, or scratching. Chasing of non-existent prey. Laughter (on your part). Sleepiness. Please protect your cats (kittens under six months of age should not be affected, but neither should they be exposed) from the dangers of this psychoactive substance, and avoid the 'nip. "Just say no to 'nip."

The feminine is called upon to submit because in submission is the ultimate power; the power of the universe is unleashed only when it is allowed. The masculine has its own power - equal and opposite - in harnessing the energy released in that moment of surrender and channeling it into infinite possible outcomes. At the heart of the reaction between the two is a moment in which each is perfectly balanced with the other - submission and control - and in that moment these energies know one another intimately, the male and female, the positive and negative respectively, creation and destruction, matter and energy, and on and on ad infinitum across every duality in (or outside of) existence. And a universe is born, and everything in it consists of some combination of the two, generally to fluctuating degrees. Matter is reduced to elements by energy and rebuilt again using different forms of energy into any number of things until the energy of that initial reaction is exhausted and ...

" Ammon Bundy Asks Oregon Occupiers to Go Home, Lawyer Says " It's not the article I find ironic, just the headline. Seems like it read, "Oregon Asks Ammon Bundy's Occupiers to Go Home" just a few days ago.

We here at MOA always say we don't want a revolution, but rather an evolution. Revolutions, usually violent, take us by nature back to where we started, while evolution moves us forward. Revolutionaries become dictators and despots, so sure are they that their way is the only right one, while evolutionaries show us more of our full or a different potential (albeit both positive and negative), with no more or less desire to push their own agenda than the average non-evolutionary type. This action in Oregon is a good example of why we say that, and it's the revolutionary nature of the thing that's likely driving the FBI's (apparent but not actual lack of) response. This occupation isn't a spur-of-the-moment protest-turned-riot, a sudden uprising requiring a swift, indubitable, resolute response to bring the violence to a close and get on with productive dialog (if such is to be the case). Instead, this is the fourth premeditated, organized action of its kind by thi...

... that the armed men occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge are pawns of the current administration, their actions designed to ensure a Democratic victory in November, but there's no room for humor in our current social climate so we won't. (Oh wait, we just did!) All joking aside, there are right and wrong things happening on all sides of the issues at the center of the current occupation situation in Oregon, because there are humans on all sides of those issues. With regards to this case, many people who live in the rural West have at least one story (some have many) of a rancher - themselves or a friend or acquaintance - who held out when the government tried to buy them out for some reason and were subjected to sometimes years of harassment and abuses of power, some even jailed as terrorists, meaning they could be held indefinitely or at least until their ranches could be seized through foreclosure if nothing else. One can only judge the veracity of a s...