"Progressive Radio Network Mitchell J. Rabin, Mondays @ 6pm(EDT") - Spirit-in-Action & Sacred Stewardship of our Country & Planet
October 11, 2011
By Mitchell J. Rabin
The world is beginning to percolate with people speaking out and standing up for what they believe. One can do these in any number of ways---through art, theater, media, writing, business and of course, marching and demonstrating. An increasing number of people, largely due to overwhelming frustration and in no few cases despair, are taking their concerns and upset to the streets. This is happening big-time down in Wall Street in the Big Apple in the Occupy Wall St. Movement, which is catching fire across America and now other parts of the world. I've heard that hundreds of "Occupy Cities" are occurring as the wounding upset of outright theft and criminality, thinly disguised as corporate banking "business-as-usual" is being called out for what it is.
The exercise of First Amendment rights protected by the Constitution, which is said to be protected by the sanctity of God, is often a healthy and beautiful exercise. Some police in NYC, however, apparently beg to differ. There have been a few incidents of mass pepper spraying, largely of peaceful women, wholly unprovoked and one of the largest arrests in U.S. history last weekend occurred on the Brooklyn Bridge of around 700 people. In general, the good news is that the demonstration, now completing its third week, has been significantly peaceful, friendly, open to newcomers and affecting world change and attention. The goals of the gathering are coalescing and its purpose gathering coherence. As the focus comes together, so will its power to effect desired outcomes.
This is Democracy-in-Action, which has otherwise become quite marginalized in our society due to numerous causes and for numerous reasons. Suffice it to say here that, as in the classic film Network, people are angry and are saying "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!"
We have been so alienated from our true nature based on the incessant pressure upon us to conform to a societal zeitgeist that is not humane for so long, people are simply breaking free from the spoon-fed propaganda given us since infancy about what "the world is about", and we're witnessing the dissolution of belief systems, becoming but puddles one after another, on the increasingly wet floor.
It's great to demonstrate on Wall Street about a whole system that is poised against the People, but it's another thing to be highly pin-pointed about a desired outcome and something so salient and specific as the closure of an unnecessary and highly-dangerous nuclear power plant positioned all of 19 miles from one of the most concentrated populations on the planet, yes, right here in the Big Apple and all the surrounding areas within a 200-mile radius to be conservative.
Gary has done several radio shows on PRN recently regarding the potential dangers that arise from nuclear power plants in general, but upon solar flares hitting? Disaster. There is no possible preparedness on a mass scale that could be put in place for what would occur. Individual preparations for sure, but our government, federal, state or local, would be caught with their pants down.
The fact is that the very existence of nuclear power plants is like toying with homocide. They have no place in civilized society, not today, when there are so many proven energy alternatives. Oh the lobbyists don't like that idea and seek to downplay it, but the cat has been out of the bag for decades. Europe, as usual, is far ahead of us, with Germany and Scandinavia, also as usual in some domains such as these, leading the way.
Fukushima apparently wasn't enough for most people, let alone Americans, to really 'get' the seriousness of this dire situation of having a world populated with nuclear plants. It's as though our entire society has Alzheimer's. So let's wake up from the slumber my friends, and do what we can to join, mind-in-belly and heart awake, Gary and others in front of Governor Cuomo's office at 43rd and 3rd Ave. tomorrow, Oct. 9, at noon.
I have known Gary for a long time and I've watched him gain momentum like never before. He is spearheading this effort to get that plant closed, which can result in saving millions of people's lives, and I believe he won't stop until it's accomplished. But this effort is for us all and we all need to contribute to this end in some way.
Demonstrating, writing, calling, sponsoring TV commercials, organizing meetings, rallies, writing letters to the newspapers and on, are all ways of stewarding an outcome that serves the people and planet.
If you can get there tomorrow, or if you're on Wall St., pick another demonstration on the Activist Menu Saturday and have brunch at 43rd and 3rd Ave.
Spectra Pipeline is Coming to Town & it Ain't Santa...
Do you know what I'm talking about? Do I? What's the reference you ask, no not to Santa, but to the Spectra Pipeline? First, a few questions:
1. Do you live in NJ or NY? 2. Do you live in the West Village? and 3. Do you value your life?
If you answered Yes to 1 or more of those questions, you ought to make it your business to learn as much as you can about the specter of the Spectra Pipeline coming to your neighborhood! and attend the public hearing scheduled for Oct. 20 in the West Village.
The meeting will be held Thursday, Oct. 20th, 7pm, at P.S. 41, Greenwich Village School Auditorium, 116 West 11th Street NYC 10011.
If you cannot attend the hearing, please download the sample comment letter and mail it to FERC before Oct. 31st: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/41163777/FERC%20letterDB.pdf Please spread the word and ask all your neighbors to do the same.
You may also comment online at the FERC website: FERC: Help – How to Submit Comments via eComment (Use Docket #CP11-56-000). It is also highly recommended that you become an Intervenor on the project, in order to have the legal standing to bring suit, should FERC approve the project:http://dl.dropbox.com/u/41163777/How%20to%20Become%20an%20Intervenor.pdf
Like a great film, this is not to be missed! Because it has everything to do with your future and its safety, that is, if you answered just one question above in the affirmative.
To learn more about the Spectra Pipeline, go to www.abetterworld.net under Environmental Articles to learn about the Sane Energy Project. It is the plan that is underway, to build a 30' pipeline under the Hudson from NJ to NY via the West Village which will carry hydro-fracked gas. So it's two disasters for the price of ten! The danger of this pipeline is incalculable. It corrodes in water. The company building it has been cited for very serious violations recently and over time. We won't hand our lives over to corporate interests hell-bent on making short-shrift of our home for some speculative venture because it's on us!
There is no time to waste here. Speak to your neighbors about this. This involves the pipeline and fracking, a process of injecting terribly harmful chemical contaminants deep into the earth with water pressure to break through 500 million year-old shale formations to liberate likely small quantities of gas and forever pollute our water table. Get these guys some useful work!
But in the name of your Spirit-in-Action and the wise and prudent acts of Collective Sacred Stewardship, show up in some way, in your way, to support these most important ventures. Become part of the solution.
