| Mastication Live |
The magical word of the day is BITE. As in animal bite. I was bitten by a yellow cat with a bum leg. After the bite, I figured that the magic of the bite would turn me into that cat. Or at least make my arm turn into something like his leg. A deformed twisted leg. Think poor Quasimoto. I was thinking about my karma. Justice was being served to me, from a previous wrongdoing? Oddly enough, the day before the bite my comrade Michael George and I and his lovely comrade Raymond were arguing. He was saying that pit bulls are the devil's spawn. That they are used and trained by the CIA, that they are born vicious and manipulated by unknown forces. More talk of conspiracy theories continued as Ray and I were extremely agitated by Michael's ignorance no less "the door being closed" to his mind!. Raymond had a pit bull who was his best friend and his mother used it as a blackmail item, and eventually got rid of the dog hurting this young man to his core. I know the woman at PETCO who has saved 6,500 pit bulls in her life and vouches for their beauty, intelligence and loyalty to man. All I know is that from a Buddhist point of view, I respect everything and everyone. From the piece of paper flying in the air, to the guppy in the tank, to the pit bull in the street and to me, man is the one responsible for the pit bulls reputation. Human beings, you, him and me have to be responsible and blame is not to be pointed to anyone but ones self. Not in a self-hating way, but simply to stop, think, analyze, not react and figure things out. People like the star football player Michael Vick who is alleged to have tortured pit bulls, driving them insane and then get off on watching them tear each other apart has to look at the dark shadow that lurk inside. Thinking this person finds "bliss" in this bloodbath must be questioned and analyzed. I am sorry to say, cause and effect always gets ya! No matter what, there is justice for all of us. Like it or not! Everything we do, from kindness to compassion, from murder to torture to spitting at someone is weighed up in your body, in your spirit and in your chakra energy system. All of it! You can't hide from your actions, nor your thoughts. It all equals out at the end of the day, month, year or lifetime! You will always get reflected back to you what you deeds have been and yes, even your thoughts. It ALWAYS comes back. It comes back in the form of suffering. This suffering takes on the form of disease, cancer, car accident, family downfall, just picture things going "bad" from one extent to the other. You can't get away from it. So I digress, I believe pit bulls are divine, like all life, like all dirt, plant, tree, cat, moose, ...all on this earth is divine, all life is divine. All animals born like all humans born are pure. They might come with their baggage from previous lives and are here to reconcile and make things better in the bigger picture but their heart is not born blackened and tarnished and stained. And a poor pit bull who didn't do anything to anyone as a puppy and is trained and beat and bloodied, tortured to be fierce, is a victim. As the child that is not wanted even in the womb, born into a mess, given up for foster care and suffers in the dark dreaming of some form of love and hope and parental system. People are the cause of this neither the dog nor the child. An animal is innocent. People are responsible for what they do. Animals and children are used in this society as a scapegoat instead of man looking within himself, not god, not his mother, not his wife, but rather HIMSELF or HERSELF. Most humans contain this trait of arrogance, that comes from a sense of entitlement, (especially Americans!) that they are "better", that they are "stronger" that they can "conquer" the world, the beasts, so these so-called "stronger" humans destroy everything around them to feel more power and to continue their quest for dominance. Man has dominion over the beasts and the lower forms? The sad thing to this all is that at the end of the day, these are the most insecure, most tragic of humans that think this. Because there is nothing behind their eyes and their spirit except delusion and disaster and misconceptions of what it means to be a human on this earth! Don't you look upon someone as humble as a Gandhi, with more respect and reverence because this person uses what is WITHIN to serve, to aide, to give and this is their STRENGTH? Not me me me me? The strength that exists inside all of us! Why can't we use this part of ourselves, developing it, focusing on it, rather than focusing on war, on beating animals and children and wives, acting like we own the child or the dog or the world, rather than developing nuclear bomb technology, ammunition, weaponry, etc. And I can hear you say "because the terrorists hate us and want to kill us". And I will say to you "so who has the guts enough, to stand back and say ENOUGH!!" Look at the IRA in England and Ireland! Look at the words NEGOTIATION, DISCOURSE, DEBATE AND DIALOGUE! Look at the guts it takes to stop and think and analyze and break the out of control spiral of FEAR and PARANOIA. It was Nelson Mandela who said after 9/11 that Americans have the most incredible opportunity to do something tremendous at that moment! I believe he was talking about dialogue, debate and discourse, not bombs and revenge. Mandela who with Archbishop Desmond Tutu worked on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. And lets also look how many times Palestinians have said, WE WANT TO TALK, WE BELIEVE IN THE STATE OF ISRAEL, WE WANT PEACE. But this does not get media air play! Statistics show 45%, (maybe more) of Palestinians want peace and do recognize the state of Israel. The majority of Palestinians believe these words!! John Pilger mentions this in a recent talk in Chicago. He mentions that Hamas has been changing its agenda but American media refuses to expose this no less even investigate this if this is true or not!! I do believe this is where keeping things volatile, in "everlasting war" is in the best interest for America and its hegemony in the Middle East. And this is where the question of why is violence, war, hate and greed the trend as opposed to peace, dialogue, negotiation and more peace. Peace isn't profitable? I digress. But if AMERICA keeps ramming, and pushing and smashing, and bullying and threatening to invade, to bomb, destroy non-stop mantra.... Never ever stopping!! Do you wonder? Sadly, this last statement represents the collective majority/spirit of AMERICA. We need to go into other country's to dominate and to create "regime change" because WE ARE THE BEST and WE ARE THE DEMOCRACY of the world and we know everything! And we will bring this to you, the uncivilized lot that you are! Sadly, there is something called karma of a country, and cause and effect does come to America. Sadly, once again the majority have no idea of America's history and actually all the terror we have imposed on people of other countries from Nicaragua, to El Salvador, to Japan, to Indonesia... blah blah (we have gone into 55 countries, regime change or coup in 50 years1) (Also read DEVILS GAME, by Robert Dreyfuss to study America's history in the Islamic world since 1850's). Since the Second World War
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
China 1945-46, 1950-53 Sadly, this is our society where we beat and maim and torture a pit bull and when it loses the fight we throw it against the wall, we hang it or we electrocute it, because it wasn't FIERCE enough! Ok, and then there are the sad people of China and their appetites. (I enclose the article). Noah's Ark' of 5,000 rare animals found floating off the coast of China
· Cargo of abandoned vessel destined for restaurants
Jonathan Watts in Beijing The Guardian Endangered, hunted, smuggled and now abandoned, 5,000 of the world's rarest animals have been found drifting in a deserted boat near the coast of China. The pangolins, Asian giant turtles and lizards were crushed inside crates on a rickety wooden vessel that had lost engine power off Qingzhou Island in the southern province of Guangdong. Most were alive, though the cargo also contained 21 bear paws wrapped in newspaper. According to conservation groups, the haul was discovered on one of the world's most lucrative and destructive smuggling routes: from the threatened jungles of Southeast Asia to the restaurant tables of southern China. The animals were found when local fishermen noticed a strange smell emanating from the vessel, which did not have any registration plates, on Tuesday, the Guangzhou Daily reported. When coastguard officials boarded the 25-metre craft, it was reportedly deserted and stripped of identification papers. They found more than 200 crates full of animals, many so dehydrated in the tropical sun that they were close to death. The animals - which weighed 13 tonnes - were taken to port, doused with water and sent to an animal welfare centre. "We have received some animals," said an office worker at the Guangdong Wild Animal Protection Centre. "We are waiting to hear from the authorities what we should do with them." According to the local media, the cargo included 31 pangolins, 44 leatherback turtles, 2,720 monitor lizards, 1,130 Brazilian turtles as well as the bear paws. Photographs showed other animals, including an Asian giant turtle. All of these south-east Asian species are critically endangered, banned from international trade and yet openly sold in restaurants and markets in China's southern province of Guangdong, which is famous for its exotic cuisine. The accidental discovery highlights the negative impact that the growing power of Chinese consumption is having on global conservation efforts. According to wildlife groups, China is the main market for illegally traded exotic species, which are eaten or used in traditional medicine. Pangolins are in great demand because their meat is consider a delicacy and their scales are thought to help mothers breastfeed their babies. As a result of demand, the pangolin populations of China, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have been wiped out. With traders moving further and further south, the animal is declining even in its last habitats in Java, Sumatra and the Malaysian peninsula. It is a similar story for many species of turtle, tortoise, frog and snake. Despite China's international commitments to get to grips with this illicit activity, the trade is booming. Border controls are lax, and smugglers know that fines are usually far lower than the potential rewards. As a result, raids and seizures of banned products occur regularly. One recent raid on a restaurant in Guanghzou turned up 118 pangolins, 60kg of snakes and 400kg of toads. Traffic - an organisation that monitors and tries to prevent the smuggling of endangered species - welcomed the fact that China's authorities had reacted swiftly to rescue the animals but said much more needs to be done to prevent similar cases. "Unfortunately, this is all too common. This trade is a far bigger threat to these species than habitat destruction," said Chris Shepherd, senior program officer with Traffic Southeast Asia. "The vigilance on the border has to be improved, cooperation with source countries needs to be strengthened, there should be better monitoring of dealers, and the people violating the laws must be penalised severely." Despite the ban on pangolins, many restaurants offer their meat. The Chaoxing restaurant in Shenzhen said yesterday that pangolin was available but was only suitable for large dining parties. "The animal is very big - about 10kg," said a waitress contacted by telephone. "We serve it in hotpot. That is the tastiest way." According to recent reports in the Chinese media, the price of 1kg of pangolin served in Guangdong or Yunnan is between 600 and 800 yuan per kilogram (between £43 and £50). A Guangdong chef interviewed last year in the Beijing Science and Technology Daily described how to cook a pangolin. "We keep them alive in cages until the customer makes an order. Then we hammer them unconscious, cut their throats and drain the blood. It is a slow death. We then boil them to remove the scales. We cut the meat into small pieces and use it to make a number of dishes, including braised meat and soup. Usually the customers take the blood home with them afterwards." All for a delicacy, someone's torture is another mans elixir for the fountain of youth. And do you think you will get away with this? Yes, I am an advocate for animals, and the aged, and for the disposed, and the homeless and for the ones that people tend to forget because they are weak, because they are vulnerable and because our society wants to make them disappear because it makes us ask questions, it makes us queasy, it makes us uncomfortable and most important UNCERTAIN. People and society don't want to feel UNCERTAIN. They want to KNOW, they want control and they want to make sure that they don't feel bad or ill at ease. Therefore, destroy or "disappear" what you don't like. I recall the commercial as a kid for ROCK EM SOCK EM ROBOTS, and then for GIGANTOR the great Japanese animation, KILL CRUSH DESTROY. This is where we are except this ain't no animated TV show. This is 2007 and this is YOUR LIFE. This is your existence. So why can't we make PEACE trendy? The vibe of war, the camouflage fashion, those obscene HUMMERS. What is that? I still don't get it. Let's drive our TANK out for a picnic darling! Ok, so all this could recall the cold war era of Rebel Without a Cause and The Wild One. But the curious part of that is that was in reaction to the conservative suffocation that most youth felt. Today, there is no outrage, there is no rebellion, at least in America. Rather there is this, "Yeah, bring em on" mentality. "Let's kick some ass". So, I'll make the long story short. Do good things, even if someone spits at you today. Really. Because somewhere, this spit will make you think for the day. Have a bit of humility and see what this spit means in your life. It could just mean, WAKE UP and look at your heart. It could mean "something is coming back at you". Look at your anger, and your hate and your judgment and your hungers and desires and needs, and your life! And step back.... These are the teachings of the Buddha, of Christ, and Mohammed. I know I know I know, what kind of emails I'm going to get... but think about it for a bit. If we can't detox our own lives, purify and clean, accept responsibility for how we live, how do we expect to create a vibe of peace and consciousness in America, no less the earth? And if you need to punch someone, punch your pillow, not the poor dog, because that is where the karmic bite comes in. Knowing MY karma, I'm sure someone is getting their spit ready for me as I write this! Happy bite and happy spit month! Ps: For the people who may be offended by my critique. I'm born in this country and I believe we all have the right to criticize America. Democracy is about dissent, not obedience. Remember, obedience is all about living in a Fascist state. America is about being able to express your ideas, and especially your criticisms. Talk, debate, discuss and be not silent! "Peace in the world must begin first within the heart and purpose and mind of the individual...[for] as individuals change themselves and their interactions with one another, eventually the world cannot help but follow." Edgar Cayce |