Fight Crime, Hug A Kid

Look at this thug, he MUST be a criminal!

Last winter I went out for a Sunday afternoon walk and I activated my Neighborhood Watch system. As I walked down the street, phones were ringing from house to house until the lady at the end of the street said, "STOP, I KNOW HIM!" Why did they think I was a criminal? Because of the green knitted cap I was wearing — it was a Christmas gift from a coworker, and apparently it makes me look really EVIL!!!

I was spared the county jail that afternoon, but many of my fellow Americans aren't so lucky. See, the U.S. puts more of their citizens behind bars than any other nation in the world.

The United States has the highest prison population rate in the world, some 686 per 100,000 of the national population, followed by the Cayman Islands (664), Russia (638), Belarus (554), Kazakhstan (522), Turkmenistan (489), Belize (459), Bahamas (447), Suriname (437) and Dominica (420).

What country has the lowest prison population per capita? Why, it's the Faeroe Islands, a Danish possession northwest of Scotland and east of Iceland. According to the data, they had 9 people in prison at about the same time the U.S. had nearly 2 million people behind bars. What does this mean? Do we have tougher judges? Do we have more bad people? One answer is that we have LOTS of nonviolent drug offenders behind bars, and many of these are minorities.

Why do we have so many drug offenders in this nation? Are the laws too harsh, or do we have more people getting stoned? The Yellow Canary believes that both the high incarceration rate and high percentage of drug offenders are the side-effects of our sick and dysfunctional society.

We have millions of people who are disenfranchised and angry at a system that benefits the few at the expense of many. The subtle racism, slanted laws, and the stresses of our unsustainable society all have their effect.

I know a gentleman in New York City who is a respected civic leader in his community. One day at a Kiwanis meeting he was complaining about the crime, and a fellow member pulled him aside and said, "What are you going to do about it?" Well, he did do something about it. For many years he has worked with the New York Athletic Club as a wrestling coach. He is providing positive activities, building self esteem, and working with young men who may have otherwise turned to crime.

The typical answer to crime is to buy guns and put burglar bars around your house, and perhaps add a security fence. Politicians will scream about the "three strike" rule or hiring more police. And while these sound nice, they are only addressing the symptoms to a far greater problem.

The solution to crime begins with volunteering as a Big Brother or Big Sister, working with youth at your church, coaching a sports team, or working at a community center. My favorite program is the Sierra Club's Inner City Outings, which takes children from the inner city out on camp outs and hikes. The attention they receive from adults, the discovery that they are part of a big natural world, and the joy of accomplishing tasks like setting up a tent all have a positive impact. If you don't have time for a youth organization, at least donate money or volunteer with their fund-raising efforts.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, invest in your own children, or if you don't have kids invest in your nieces and nephews. The Canary believes this is the single, most effective way to fight crime. Here are a few tips:

• Love your children unconditionally.

• Be responsible. If you brought kids in the world, NEVER cop out on them or then you become the criminal.

• Spend tons of time with your kids, even if they drive you crazy. Don't neglect your kids by spending all your time trying to make more money to buy more "stuff." Some criminal will probably steal it all anyway.

• Try not to divorce, and if you do, don't make that an excuse for being a lesser parent. According to two different sources, 52 percent of all marriages end in divorce.

• Stay sober. A child is entitled to an adult that is not drunk or high all the time.

Now, this is certainly not a foolproof program, but it's a good start. And I'm not saying my children are perfect because they are not — and neither am I. But at least I am trying.

I have worked with youth both at churches and at my last job, and I cannot overstate the impact that divorce has on a kid. It is traumatizing, so please don't put them through it. Such devastating experiences can have a lifelong impact, which can start the downward spiral that leads to crime.

Right now our U.S. society is ailing badly and the first step to health is restoring the family. There are many reasons why the family — the core unit of our society — is so endangered. Some folks say it's the Devil and a sign of the Last Days. Or they say the family is broken because of Hollywood and worldly influences. But I say — once again —it's because people FAIL TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY for their marriages, their lives, and their children!

"While it may be alarming to discover that born again Christians are more likely than others to experience a divorce, that pattern has been in place for quite some time. Even more disturbing, perhaps, is that when those individuals experience a divorce many of them feel their community of faith provides rejection rather than support and healing. But the research also raises questions regarding the effectiveness of how churches minister to families. The ultimate responsibility for a marriage belongs to the husband and wife, but the high incidence of divorce within the Christian community challenges the idea that churches provide truly practical and life-changing support for marriages." — George Barna, Barna Research Group

Not Utopia, Just Survival

That be me at the very back.

It's been nearly a year since my trip to Ecuador. I sure do miss the wonderful, warm people there. While the indigenous people I met are dirt poor, I assure you that they have feelings, dreams, and hopes just like you and me. They want nice things and a better life just like we do. The 12+ million people of Ecuador are my brothers and sisters.

But the state of their country grieves me. The country is desperately poor, heavily in debt, and has a high birth rate. Industry exploitation is harming the nation, especially in the beautiful east where the rainforests are getting scalped. Ecuador's elite, who are in cahoots with foreign corporations, rob the country of its natural resources, with little regard for the workers or the environment. The government is infested with corruption, and civil unrest is common. In 1999, the country faced a major economic crises that was so bad that they gave up their currency and started using U.S. dollars.

As long as the people of Ecuador suffer, I suffer too. I worry about them at night. They live in small block homes and have few possessions. Who will take care of them? What will happen when their population doubles in 35 years? How will they survive when their soil is ruined and eroded by the large corporate plantations? What will happen to their coastal fisheries when the herbicides and pesticides from the farms wash into the ocean and kill the marine life? What happens when the Great Amazon Basin becomes a desert?

Do the Americans in their big pickups care? Hell, they don't even care about their own people. As I was walking home today some cowboy in a Ford 150 nearly flattened me. They flick their cigarettes butts out the window, along with their McDonalds bags. I have a feeling they don't care about the people of Ecuador.

When I was there last August, I made a promise to myself that I would come back to help Dr. Lena, Vincente, and the other wonderful people. They are human, just like you and I. Except we live a charmed life and swim in material goods, while they have almost nothing. We are rich, they are poor. But we are all still humans.

Canary, What Do You Think Is the Solution???

All humans must live in a way that it sustainable for the long haul. For starters, I must insist on the following:

• Total, absolute equality for women. Males must stop using "tradition" and "religion" as an excuse to subjugate and marginalize over half the population. Machoism is nothing but immaturity and insecurity. Get over it guys, you are better than NO ONE! And for those who have told me that I have no right to criticize someone's religion, I say that when it hurts individuals and harms the Planet, then I sure do. When Orthodox Jews make their women stand in the rain during Al Gore's visit, or when African tribes practice female genital mutilation, I say that IT IS WRONG without exception.

• In the same vein, there MUST be democracy for all. I recently went through a stage where I thought, "Who are we to assume that our form of government is the only 'right way?'" I now backtrack on this position. Everyone in the world — especially China, Saudi Arabia, and North Korea — must be under democratic government. This is the only way that a human can be truly free. I hear many criticisms about democracy, and I know that our own government is broken. The main problem with democracy is the apathy of the citizens. When people are supportive and have faith in their democratic process, it really works.

The primary elections were last Tuesday and the voter turnout was disgustingly low. It is a sad time in our country. As for Saudi Arabia, the term "monarchy" is a nice word for "dictatorship." Who are we fooling? The people of this country must be freed.

The Canary has spoken .... now he sleeps.

What Are Missionaries Really Saving?

Okay, this is part three in my rant about how the Christian Europeans stomped out the nature-based religions around the world.... The Christian Europeans are all about conquering, converting, and having "dominion" over the Earth, instead of living in harmony with nature and other people.

As I was reading Story Earth yesterday, I came across a passage that was so powerful that I had to stop reading, and I just sat on my front porch in total awe of what I had just read.... The particular story I read yesterday was written by Damien Arabagali, a community leader from Papua, New Guinea. He told about the highly sustainable society of his grandparents — where they respected nature, had their own religion, and lived in relative harmony with nature and other tribes.... Behind them came the resource extractors, who began taking the oil, gas, and gold from the land.

...They come into an area, introduce new diseases, a new religion that is not harmonious with the land or culture, and new ideas.... All of a sudden, their tribal lands become the property of the rich white men, and even when the country is granted independence, the land and resources are then usually controlled by some corrupt government.

The missionaries say they are saving the tribes people from going to hell, but the breach they make into their culture often introduces a new hell. Suddenly, disease is everywhere, communal property is sold, men are forced to leave the community to find work, women turn to prostitution to survive, the soil goes bad and erodes from over farming and overdevelopment, and the downward spiral begins.

...There are more floods, the soil quality degrades, and the wild animals of the forest are shot and trapped until they disappear.

...In the next few years the people will retake their Party, and we can go back to having a healthy two-party system in America. Right now it's essentially the rich and special interests in the Republican Party against the workers and minorities of the Democratic Party.... It is a good system, and when the people and leaders have faith in it, respect it, and support it, it really can and will work well.

Okay, this is part three in my rant about how the Christian Europeans stomped out the nature-based religions around the world. This, in turn, has led to a Westernized global society that seems to have lost its environmental ethic. The Christian Europeans are all about conquering, converting, and having "dominion" over the Earth, instead of living in harmony with nature and other people.

As I was reading Story Earth yesterday, I came across a passage that was so powerful that I had to stop reading, and I just sat on my front porch in total awe of what I had just read. As mentioned in my last post, Story Earth is a collection of essays from indigenous people. The particular story I read yesterday was written by Damien Arabagali, a community leader from Papua, New Guinea. He told about the highly sustainable society of his grandparents — where they respected nature, had their own religion, and lived in relative harmony with nature and other tribes. But then came the missionaries, who started their own "industries" to build schools and hospitals. Behind them came the resource extractors, who began taking the oil, gas, and gold from the land. The rape of yet another beautiful region had begun.

This passage sums up what I am trying to say, and is the essence of my blog and website:

The white man sees man as the highest creature in the hierarchy. We see man as a link in the chain. And the chain is broken. Of course, man is an important creature. But he is also responsible. If he is, according to the white man, the highest creature, man should also bear the highest responsibility. Animals, trees, birds, nature — they all have rights also.

I think nature will pay back the disrespect shown to her. Look around you! It's becoming hotter, drier, more eroded. Here, in Huli country, people are hiding from the sun. They never used to do that before. The land is more barren than ever before. That's why people have to work harder. Look how skinny they are! And because of all this clearing of our forests, we have floods, which we never had before...

What is the cause of this? I think it's greed. Something in humanity must be evil in itself. The ruthlessness and selfishness in a struggle for survival. The institutional organizations, big companies, and corporate bodies have become dehumanized. Profits at all costs, regardless of what that leaves behind.

—Damien Arabagali

While most missionaries mean well, are they doing more harm than good? They come into an area, introduce new diseases, a new religion that is not harmonious with the land or culture, and new ideas. An argument could be made that they are simply an advance vanguard that "softens" the population and prepares them for the resource extraction companies that come behind them. They teach them submissiveness, to believe without questioning, and other attributes that corporations love. Before long they are being marched into the mines or sent to sweat and slave on large plantations. All of a sudden, their tribal lands become the property of the rich white men, and even when the country is granted independence, the land and resources are then usually controlled by some corrupt government.

The missionaries say they are saving the tribes people from going to hell, but the breach they make into their culture often introduces a new hell. Suddenly, disease is everywhere, communal property is sold, men are forced to leave the community to find work, women turn to prostitution to survive, the soil goes bad and erodes from over farming and overdevelopment, and the downward spiral begins.

An incredible irony is the healthcare that missionaries bring into villages. Once the clinics are opened, the death rates of the community, especially among children, go way down. But then the human population skyrockets. Young people are suddenly clearing more forests for farmland and firewood. There are more floods, the soil quality degrades, and the wild animals of the forest are shot and trapped until they disappear.

Most missionaries do not acknowledge the need for teaching contraception in their clinics. In keeping the great Double Standard alive, they tell the villagers that God determines how many children each woman should have. But don't they play "God" themselves by eliminating most of the childhood diseases? Now, don't get me wrong — improving child health is a fantastic accomplishment. However, any faith-based program that improves health but ignores family planning is doomed to fail. They may be giving apparent relief to one generation, but the suffering will only be compounded in the next generation. In many Third World nations, human population is skyrocketing, often in areas where natural resources are already overburdened.

When I hear about missionaries going overseas, I often cringe. Are they working WITH the community or against it? Are they setting the stage for the community's ultimate destruction, and perhaps the destruction of the entire world? I often wonder. How much of the work is temporal and "feel good," and how much of the work is long-term and sustainable?

So, Yellow Canary, are you a Democrat or Republican?

Philosophically, I am a Republican because I am a strong believer in personal and fiscal responsibility. But since 1995, the GOP has completely betrayed their own principles. The once-great Party is a shambles now, overrun by industrialists and extremist Christian predators. In the next few years the people will retake their Party, and we can go back to having a healthy two-party system in America. Right now it's essentially the rich and special interests in the Republican Party against the workers and minorities of the Democratic Party. It is the Masters against the Slaves, and that sucks. The gerrymandering of political districts across the country may be the core of the problem. Right now, districts are made to be either Republican or Democratic, with little middle ground. The moderate politicians have essentially been driven from the political arena. Our American political system is sick and broke, but there is still much hope. It is a good system, and when the people and leaders have faith in it, respect it, and support it, it really can and will work well.

Western Culture Tramples Indigenous People

Just by coincidence, I received an article about the very topic I was writing about last night!!! The article is from my colleague Karen in California, who has become a human rights activist. I met her over the Internet in August 1997 shortly after beginning my Great Journey.

In brief, Karen suddenly left for Thailand a couple of weeks ago to help Matthew McDaniel, an advocate for the Akha people of northern Thailand. The Akha are suffering the same challenges that every other indigenous group around the world has faced — the Western-style invaders are moving deeper and deeper into every forest and jungle of the World, and when they come they bring their dysfunctional and unsustainable culture with them. Population pressures and the continual drive for natural resources is affecting every human on this planet, even in the most remote places. These faraway communities live sustainably for thousands of years, until they are typically destroyed by Western ways.

As a result of his activism, Matthew McDaniel has been deported from Thailand. A couple of weeks ago, Karen went to the country to try and get his pregnant wife and children out. She is facing a lot of red tape and bureaucracy, but she is the type of person who gets things done, and I know she will succeed. The following paragraphs reflect exactly what's been on my heart the past few weeks:

They call me Ah-Piew. It could mean 'Hey you' or something less complimentary, but judging from the hugs and tears at the bus station as I see the grandparents off - back to their village to tend to their rice - it must mean something much nicer.

I call them - the Akha hilltribe people and the other tribal and indigenous people - 'the canaries of the world', refering to the old expression, 'canaries in a coal mine'. It is the Akha, along with many other tribal and indigineous peoples, that have a sustainable way of life. The Akha have terraced farms and have been in one location for up to 80 years. It is their simpler life that is sustainable on this planet. Ours, with our modern agriculture (i.e. oil-based fertilizer), and our extensive transportation infrastructure, was built up on a fossil fuel economy. Instead of using our wealth wisely, saving most of it for future generations, we have foolishly spent it until now we are having to wage wars resulting in the deaths of millions of people, to protect what we have become used to - the 'American Way of Life'.

And now it is the Akha and other tribals and indigineous who have become oppressed by those with the wealth and power - their traditional lands and their very culture are being threatened. They are threatened by rich Thais who want their land and their hot springs for mountain retreats; by the government who wants their land to plant pine plantations, to replace the vast teak forests that have all but disappeared from Thailand; and by the border skirmishes between Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand. In other parts of the world, tribal people are pushed off their land when dams are built, or when oil or gold is discovered on their land. The Akha, when moved to other lands, usually inferior lands, cannot feed their families. The women, with their husbands in jail, often have to resort to prostitution just to feed their families.

They are also caught up in the so-called 'war on drugs'. They are near the 'Golden Triangle', where Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand meet, and where gold and drugs have been traded since the British introduced opium to the area in the 1800s. Opium is now a traditional palative for the ailments of old age. Opium users have a place and function in Akha society, but not in Thai society. A large number of Akha men are now in prison for various drug offenses, many without a proper trial, many undergoing beatings or shock treatments as a way of 'rehabilitation'. Last year over 2,000 Akha were killed outright by the Thai police, without a trial.

And then they are also victims of well-meaning (and some not-so-well-meaning) missionaries, who put the Akha children in Christian boarding schools and tell them their language and their culture and their parents are no good. Much like what was done to Native American children during the last centrury.

So now Matthew McDaniel, the champion of the Akha people in the Chiang Rai (Thailand) area has been deported. He had no chance to get his Akha wife, 7 months pregnant, and 3 children, out of the country. That is why I am here, because I believe in what Matthew is doing. I am pushing the paperwork needed to get Ah Chooh (MeeChooh), the mother, and Ah Soh (4), Mee Daw (3), and Ah Tsah (2) on a plane to the U.S. - hopefully a month before the baby comes. There is a serious concern that if the baby is born in a Thai hospital, the mother will be sterilized against her wishes. For more details, see www.akha.org ,

This all ties in with the book I'm currently reading, titled "Story Earth: Native Voices on the Environment." It is a collection of essays by natives from the Americas and Pacific Islands. The overall theme is the same that Karen mentioned above: Human societies lived for thousands of years without plundering and destroying the environment that sustained them. But when the Western culture arrives, their worlds are turned upside down and their communities decline. Is this really progress?


Story Earth: Native Voices of the Environment, by Inter Press Service

The Loss of Nature-Based Religions

Rather than living WITH nature, our attitude for the past 500 years has been to dominate and exploit our Natural World. From the beginning of the Industrial Age, such an attitude has caused major environmental problems, and if we don't change our ways soon, I feel like we're heading for the grand finale of our existence.

...Regretfully, the three major Abrahamic religions — Christianity, Judism, and Islam — appear to lack a strong environmental ethic, and most of society has followed their example.

...“God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

Rather than living in harmony with our world and as PART of the world, folks have taken the "dominion" word out of the Bible and have gone crazy with it.... I will only focus on Christianity here, since that's the religion I know most about.

...If we accept Jesus Christ as our personal saviour, we spend eternity in Heaven, living in our own mansion, enjoying streets of gold, and spending zillions of years "glorifying God."

...And by doing this, they ultimately seal their own fate, the fate of their children, the fate of nature, and the fate of others.

...No, but I believe that we Humans will have a close call, and that we have a lot of learning ahead of us. If I didn't believe we will ultimately survive and prevail, I wouldn't be operating this website.... I am NOT against any religion, I only oppose interpretations of religions that endanger nature, other Humans, and put our future at risk.

...I thought I had made some big discovery, only to find out that religion and industry have worked together for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

...Most of us only know the one faith that came to dominate the Mediterranean and then spread into our homelands.

...Over the centuries, the Christians, the Conquerers, and the Industrialists have all done a good job of marginalizing the early and indigenous peoples of our Planet.

...We are all either controlled or influenced by a belief system that operates on a double standard and forces us to live the one right way — the way of the modern Industrialists and Christians.

...The bottom line is that if we neglect and exploit the world that sustains us in the name of our religion, maybe it's time to find a new religion or at least re-examine how we're interpreting our current faith.

...While some fundamentalists, with the enthusiastic support of industry, continue to push the "dominion" idea, more and more denominations are standing up for environmental protection.

In the last two weeks I think I found another huge chunk of the puzzle to our current world dilemma. See, Western Civilization doesn't have much of an environmental ethic. Rather than living WITH nature, our attitude for the past 500 years has been to dominate and exploit our Natural World. From the beginning of the Industrial Age, such an attitude has caused major environmental problems, and if we don't change our ways soon, I feel like we're heading for the grand finale of our existence.

One thing I've realized is that religion has had an incredible influence on our progression during the past few centuries. Regretfully, the three major Abrahamic religions — Christianity, Judism, and Islam — appear to lack a strong environmental ethic, and most of society has followed their example. Essentially, the three major religions are anthropocentric, which means that Humans are seen as the Center of the Universe. This could be part of the problem, since many folks, especially conservative Christians, are hung up on the word "dominion."

“God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
—Genesis 1:26

Rather than living in harmony with our world and as PART of the world, folks have taken the "dominion" word out of the Bible and have gone crazy with it. They have used it to justify selfishness. "My property rights," is what a lot of traditional folks scream. So, coal miners are blowing the tops off mountains in West Virginia, all the while screaming "DOMINION." I will only focus on Christianity here, since that's the religion I know most about.

The common conservative viewpoint in Christianity is that we Humans are just passing through. We are here on Earth to learn, make the right decisions, and build our relationship with God. The world is temporary and will get blown up. The real focus should be on the Afterlife. If we accept Jesus Christ as our personal saviour, we spend eternity in Heaven, living in our own mansion, enjoying streets of gold, and spending zillions of years "glorifying God." I've never gotten a straight answer on the term, "glorify." I think it means we will be singing hymns. If we do not accept Christ, we will perish in Hell, where we will swim in a lake of fire, we'll feel incredible pain, but we won't die. This is the way it has always been explained to me in Church.

All of this is fine, but too many people use this Biblical premise as an excuse to shirk their responsibility to the environment. And by doing this, they ultimately seal their own fate, the fate of their children, the fate of nature, and the fate of others.

Will the fundamentalist interpretations of the Abrahamic religions eventually unravel the Human Race and Planet?

Yes, probably. But will we become extinct and destroy the Planet beyond repair? No, but I believe that we Humans will have a close call, and that we have a lot of learning ahead of us. If I didn't believe we will ultimately survive and prevail, I wouldn't be operating this website. The whole purpose for me, The Yellow Canary, is to simply warn about what I see as a Great Danger. I am NOT against any religion, I only oppose interpretations of religions that endanger nature, other Humans, and put our future at risk.

Last year I did a lot of research and even gave a presentation at a conference on the marriage between industry and religion.

I thought I had made some big discovery, only to find out that religion and industry have worked together for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. For instance, there was the feudal system in the Middle Ages, and today we have Ralph Reed, the former Christian Coalition leader and Enron consultant. But the biggest example that comes to mind of the industry-religion connection is the Spanish invasion of South America. Throughout the continent, on one hand the Spanish were sending missionaries to "save" the natives, while at the same time they robbed them blind. In the Quechua society of modern day Peru, the Spanish forced thousands of indigenous people to the mines, where many died.

SO, CANARY, WHAT'S YOUR POINT?

My point is that I'm not so sure the Abrahamic religions have been good for Earth. Throughout northern Europe, including Britain, nature was an integral part of Pagan worship. The acknowledgment of nature in the Pagan religions showed a certain appreciation and respect for the Earth. But the Holy Roman Empire came along and converted Europe — often by force — from naturalism to anthropocentric monotheism. Then, in the following centuries, Europe pushed their religious "enlightenment" on indigenous peoples around the world. Like ancient Europe, the religions of the Americas were ALSO nature based.

There is so much the early Europeans and Native Americans could have taught us, if only we had of listened. But WE were too busy growing our Industrial Society, with Religion serving as the barking herd dog that kept the sheep in line.

As for me, my ancestors come from Britain, Germany, and Lithuania. All three regions were rich in Pagan faiths. So, if you are Northern European like me, it may be helpful to study the faiths of your ancient ancestors. Most of us only know the one faith that came to dominate the Mediterranean and then spread into our homelands.

Maybe if we understood the religions of our ancestors, we could have a better connection to the Earth, as well as ourselves.

Over the centuries, the Christians, the Conquerers, and the Industrialists have all done a good job of marginalizing the early and indigenous peoples of our Planet. We hear terms like Heathens, Witches, Pagans, Barbarians, and Savages used in a bad way. These are terms given to individuals who do not meet the norms of both the early and modern Christians. Again, rather then listening and learning from the nature-based religions, we smeared them.

Now, we are in a predicament. We are all either controlled or influenced by a belief system that operates on a double standard and forces us to live the one right way — the way of the modern Industrialists and Christians. We must buy a car and fill it with Saudi fuel because that's the way our world is built. We must absorb millions of commercials that entice us, and our children, to buy junk, especially at the holiest time of year — Christmas.

The bottom line is that if we neglect and exploit the world that sustains us in the name of our religion, maybe it's time to find a new religion or at least re-examine how we're interpreting our current faith.

Maybe the invasion of Christianity was an unexpected twist in our human evolution that may one day bring about our undoing. Or maybe more and more Christians will begin to acknowledge the importance of Creation to their faith. While some fundamentalists, with the enthusiastic support of industry, continue to push the "dominion" idea, more and more denominations are standing up for environmental protection. Most notably, the Quakers and Episcopalians have passed strong resolutions on protecting the Earth. I have also seen moderate groups, like the Presbyterians, Methodists, and even a rare handful of Baptists, also stand up for God's Creation. This gives the Yellow Canary hope.

The Great Betrayal

It's Sunday night and I'm wondering what everyone else in the world is doing right now. As for me, I'm thinking. I'm thinking about one particular experience in my life that I just can't get over.

There I was, age 15, just a young person trying to figure out religion and life in general. I had a thriving yard mowing business that summer and one of my clients was my pastor. I mowed his yard in the summer and raked it in the winter. Often, he would take me on a 45 minute drive so that I could also mow a retirement lot that he owned. We had long, good talks in the car about his past, religion, and life in general. He loved Royal Ambassadors (RAs), which was the scouting-like program of the Southern Baptist Convention. I loved RA's too, and it was a big part of my life from ages 10-23. I went to RA camp many years, and during that summer of 1975 he was the camp pastor.

That summer at RA camp was really freaky. I remember standing in the archery supply room one evening, and I either had a great epiphany or a divine experience come over me, and a voice was telling me that I would be destined to become a great writer. For years I just brushed this off as nonsense, but it was still unforgettable.

Months later I began to notice that I hadn't seen the pastor at church in a while, and everyone was real mum about it. I started asking questions and after weeks I had learned what happened: the pastor ran off with the church secretary. Both had left their spouses. This incident triggered a downward spiral in my life. The church started to break down and people began leaving. My parents left. My dad apparently felt that he and our family needed more spiritual discipline, so he made us join a fundamentalist Baptist church. They wanted me to keep my hair short, wear double-knit pants, and carry my Bible everywhere. They were fascists, and my parents got out of there after about 9 months.

All these experiences had the net result of making me cynical. First off, I felt that if people really BELIEVED that all non-believers were going to hell, that every Christian would be banging on doors day and night. It took me from 15 to 21 to unravel the elaborate mind game of religion.

As for the over-sexed pastor, well it forced me to ask hard questions. I started to chip away at the veil of self-imposed ignorance that was placed upon me at birth. Once I started questioning, I could never turn back. The pastor had broken my trust. Sure, people used many excuses to justify it, saying pastors are under particular pressures, or that the Devil works extra hard at destroying the clergy. But shouldn't a pastor also be getting extra help from God? Who is stronger?

Cynicism has plagued me most of my life. I do believe in God and am not cynical or angry at the Creator, but I am highly untrusting of organized religion. Jesus was a rebel against the Jewish institutions that made faith cold and mechanical. And as soon as he died, the Christians simply built a new institution that was just as lethargic. I have a good relationship with my God, but my anger towards man-made religion is something I must continually deal with.

I never saw or heard from the pastor again. The church let his wife stay in the rectory until she could settle her affairs. She was a sweet lady, and the mother of five grown children. Why the clown at the top of this message? She made beautiful clown ceramics and gave one to our family. It sat in our living room for years. The symbolism of that clown was too much. Sometimes I would just sit in the living room and just hold it and look at it. Life is so weird.

Kenneth Lay Indicted At Last

I've been following the Enron scandal with great interest. With all the bad corporations out there stealing, deceiving, and hurting people, it's nice to see some of the bad guys nabbed once in a while. When some dude high on drugs holds up a bank, it makes all the headlines, but meanwhile these so-called corporate warriors in their tailored suits get away with crap all the time.

On Thursday, Ex-Enron Chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay received his long overdue indictment. Okay, this guy was part of a corporate culture that bilked employees out of their retirement, cheated stockholders out of millions, and defrauded banks. The Enron conspirators are among the biggest crooks in U.S. history.

Does Kenneth Lay step forward and take responsibility for one of the greatest corporate crimes? Not really, Kenneth Lay is a weenie. First, in 2002 he refuses to testify to the Senate Commerce Committee and pleas the "Fifth Amendment." I remember him mumbling something about "on the advice of my attorneys I cannot comment." I felt that was disgusting because all these corporations seem to do whatever they want, and on the rare occurrence when they get nabbed they won't even talk.

Then, at a press conference on Thursday he at least took responsibility for the ordeal, but added, "I continue to grieve, as does my family, over the loss of the company and my failure to be able to save it. But failure does not equate to a crime."

In other words, his underlings are running amok cheating, lying, and defrauding, and Mr. Lay admits he's a really bad leader, but he doesn't consider himself a criminal. Hmmmmm.

Now for a little background:

• In 1886 the U.S. Supreme Court decided that a corporation should have the same rights as a living person . Now that was a big mistake because corporations don't have souls or consciences. I see them as giant, lumbering monsters that eat everything in their path. The little executives that work for them often lose their sense of accountability and responsibility. They know it's the corporation that will get fined or revoked. They know that no one can beat up the corporation or throw it in prison — it's like a mythical beast. The little executives also know they have limited liability because THAT ROTTEN CORPORATION DID IT - NOT ME!

• Corporate thievery is nothing new. I remember the Savings & Loan Scandal of the 1980s which bilked the nation between $300 and $500 BILLION. During this same period, burglars cost the nation $3.4 billion. Now burglars are finks too, but who are the REAL criminals in our society?

• All the crimes mentioned above are nothing to compared to the corporations that help to kill people. In 2000, the leading cause of death in the U.S. was tobacco , with 435,000 deaths, or 18.1 percent of total U.S. deaths. Despite a barrage of lawsuits, the tobacco industry is alive and well, and I see their poison for sale nearly everywhere I go. The tobacco industry has set the standard for dirty tactics, and other corporations have learned well from them. One of their favorite tactics is to "attack the science," which is now a favorite maneuver for the Global Climate Change deniers.

On one hand, I know smoking is a matter of personal responsibility, but shouldn't corporations show responsibility too? I'm sure a lot of tobacco farmers in North Carolina and Kentucky will be voting for President Bush because he's a "good pro-life supporter." The irony kills me.

While corporations are often huge, they are often slow and dumb, and they appear very responsive to public outcries. Pro-business candidates scream, "We need to cut back on regulations for business!" But if corporations would only behave we wouldn't need ANY regulations.

So, what do you do? Buy stock in a corporation that misbehaves. Then write letters and speak out at shareholder meetings. Speak up! If we don't get these giants back in their cages, who will???

Okay, time to connect the dots:

"In addition to being one of the single largest financial backers of George W. Bush's political career, Ken Lay can count himself among the president's closest friends. Letters written while Bush was governor of Texas and obtained by Mother Jones reveal that the Enron Corp. chairman regularly wrote Bush and called upon the governor for favors."

Peace in the Mideast ... Well

The Yellow Canary has used up hours of brainpower trying to solve the Israel-Palestine crises, but this one's a real toughie. But if everyone in the world put their collective heads together we could likely come up with some crazy out-of-the-box solution.

Needless to say, this conflict is a source of constant unrest and uneasiness in the Mideast and is one of those "root causes" that create a climate for terrorism. Worse yet, the violence is deeply unsettling and it upsets me deeply.

Last night, I spent the evening reading articles about the issue and learned a few things that I'd like to share:

• I've always wondered how large Israel is. For being such a small nation, it really takes up a disproportionate share of the news. Think of the nation as a long sliver. If placed over Florida, it would run from about the southern tip to about the panhandle but would be only the most inner part of Florida.

• For about 400 years, the land was pretty barren and was considered a part of southern Syria under the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Turks were defeated by the Allies in WWI, which left no one to rule the province. So, the area became a mandate under the rule of Britain, who named the area Transjordan.

• Around 1880, Jews began moving into the area from around Europe. After WWII and the Holocaust, the Jews felt they would never be safe until they had their own homeland, and they began migrating to the area in large numbers in 1946. In 1948 they declared independence, which did not settle well with their Arab neighbors. The Arabs declared a "Holy War" (they seem to do that a lot) and attacked the little nation from all directions. Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Egypt all joined in the so-called jihad, but the feisty Israelis beat them all back.

• Since the 1940s, there has been continual unrest and war in the area, especially the big wars in 1967 and 1973. Each time the Israelis have sent the Arabs back in full retreat. In 1979, Israel made permanent peace with Egypt, and gave them back the Sinai Pennsula. I remember this as a young college students — the Camp David Accords were one of the greatest accomplishments of the century. Good work, President Carter!

• Now, herein lies the problem. When you look at the map, Israel is an oddly shaped and small country without the West Bank. The country grows really slender in some places. Mainly for security reasons and also for religious, economic, and population reasons, the Israelis have numerous settlements in this little hunk of land that juts into their country. The Palestinians, like the Israelis, want their own state too, but without much of the West Bank, they really don't have a chance at realizing their dream.

• I can sympathize with the Palestinians for resisting the occupation of their lands. I know Americans, and I know me, and if we folks here in Georgia were occupied by a foreign power, we'd probably resist anyway we could. However, their use of terrorism against civilians is totally unacceptable.

• I can sympathize with the Israelis for wanting to at least widen the corridor between the ocean and West Bank. Having been attacked countless times by the Arabs, it is a security thing. Israel is entitled to security.

Now, I'm sure both sides could spend hours telling me about all the injustices that each nation has committed against the other. I've already heard quite a few. There is a lot of hate, bad blood, and religious claims that make things even more complex.

Solutions:

• The U.S. could donate a swath of land in Arizona for Israel to relocate. I have flown over the state and there is plenty of unused land. Desalination plants could be used to provide fresh water.

• We could borrow an idea from the Japanese and use dredging and filling to bring out the coast of Israel. In turn, they could relocate most of their West Bank settlements.

• The presidents of the U.S. and Russia could relocate their offices in Jerusalem and say, "We are going to stay here until you work this out, and every day we are going to help promote peace." This would send a powerful message to the world, and other leaders could join them and just stay there until peace is achieved.

• We could provide desalination plants for Jordan and Syria. In return, they would give up some border lands for the Palestinians.

I do not think a dual state will work, and I don't think Palestinians can have a real state with so much Israeli intrusion in the West Bank. But all sides need to talk, keep talking, and the world community needs to show resolve in solving this issue. This conflict is a real friction spot for the entire world and until we can settle it, long-term peace for the region and the world will remain impossible to achieve.

When I was a kid one afternoon another boy was threatening to pound me on the bus. I replied, "Why can't we just be friends?" He wasn't amused, but at least he didn't beat me up. But my friends on the bus called me a coward. I just never saw the point in fighting. As I look back, I'm proud of myself for walking away from that fight. I've always felt that fighting is basically pointless.

Journalists Ain't Really "Liberal"

As a former newspaper reporter I go nuts when I hear terms like the "liberal media," "liberal bias," and "liberal elite." I worked as a news reporter for a medium-sized newspaper, and I can tell you this: WE AIN'T ALL THAT LIBERAL. We really do try to be fair, objective, and unbiased — it's a professional integrity thing with us.

The problem we face is that as reporters, we are exposed to all different types of experiences coming from all directions. When we put it all together, we often have a really broad perspective on life that the average person doesn't see. It's a real neat thing — it's like standing in a ranger tower above the tree line and we can look around and see treetops for miles. It's exhilarating up here, but just because we are up high doesn't make us "elite" or "snobs." We are just doing our jobs.

The second thing is that we are trained to ask questions, and a good reporter questions EVERYTHING. Our job is to get the TRUTH to our readers in a fair and balanced format. Sometimes people don't like what the truth says, so we are accused of bias.

Also, people often aren't truthful with us when we interview them, so that makes us a little cynical and untrusting, and we just end up asking tougher questions. Other times, we know that folks are trying to use us, and we are no dummies because people try to use us every day. Sure, some folks could afford to put their message in a paid advertisement, but everyone knows that an article appears much more credible than an ad, so individuals are ALWAYS trying to get ink. This makes us even more cynical. A lot of times this cynicism leaks through in our writing, despite our best efforts to be objective, and folks perceive our cynicism as a "liberal slant."

But I'm telling you, this questioning thing is like letting the genie out of the bottle. Once you start questioning, you tend to question everything. It's like you've just entered Alice's Wonderland or Dorothy's Land of Oz, and you're exploring a fourth dimension, and each question provides a little more light. You start digging into psychology, science, and history, and then you start seeing the "root causes" behind human behavior and world events. But if you make too much mention of the background or setting, then you are called a "liberal fink." If you mention the Bush's long-time relationship with the Saudi royal family in your article on the War Against Terrorism, well, you are just a rotten reporter for even bringing it up.

Our editors make sure we "dumb down" our articles so that we don't piss off advertisers, readers, or the publisher's golf buddies. So our job is extremely political. The goal of most reporters today is simple: don't make anyone angry. Oh sure, you can do a little cosmetic digging to look like you are an "investigative" publication, but don't dig too far.

People like Michael Moore, an independent filmmaker and Greg Palast, a BBC correspondent, are not slaves to media politics like we are, so they can be a little more BOLD and TRUTHFUL than your average journalist. But, these lone renegades of truth are few and far between. The rest of us must worry about some organization boycotting us or a big advertiser pulling their ads, and we are indirectly reminded each day that journalism is ABOUT MAKING MONEY, and that's really the bottom line. There aren't a lot of philanthropic, idealistic media outlets left in our country. Most of the press is now owned by big chains. Sure, they're both conservatives and liberals in the media, but rest assured they are kept on leashes, and they are only there because the readers like them. And the liberal media outlets can run advertisements for granola, while the conservative outlets can run ads for hair replacement systems, so everyone is happy.

Also, the same thing goes for the "Hollywood liberal elite." They ain't really all that bad. They have just traveled a lot, talked to a lot of people, and see things in a different perspective. And unlike us yard dog journalists, they actually have the freedom to speak their minds.

The Grasshopper and the Earth

Here I am in my brand new, little green Ford. I am driving to work for the first time when all of a sudden this green grasshopper jumps out from a gap in the side of the dashboard. I never saw him because he blended in nicely with my GREEN dashboard. Before I know it, I realize I am being attacked by an ANGRY, freaking crazy, red-eyed, maniac.

He's jumping all over my face and trying to kill me as I swerve all over the road trying to keep him from going up a nostril. I scream, "What is wrong, what are you trying to do?"

Much to my surprise, the angry grasshopper replied, "I'm getting REVENGE for what you have done to the planet, and not to mention, what you have done to yourselves."

I knew this wasn't going to be a typical day, since I've never come across a talking insect. "What are you talking about?" I asked, I vibrated and shuddered, due to the fact that my car was off the road.

As he rested on my glasses frame, he stared straight into my eyes. "Look man, you people have bulldozed millions of acres in the southeast U.S. alone. You are sticking up stores, homes, and warehouses on every spot you can find. You are flattening north Georgia. This land sat undisturbed for millions of years, and then the Native Americans came here and lived in harmony with this land for 10,000 years, but then you come and flatten this land in THREE DECADES!!!!"

I could tell the grasshopper was really pissed, so I didn't dare move, and by this time my car was meandering in an open field. "But growth is GOOD, it brings in jobs and it's good for the economy. That's what politicians tell me all the time."

The grasshopper bit me on the nose, just as my two right tires went over a hill, and now my car is tilted and almost airborne. "And I have one other comment to make," the grasshopper said. "You are all FAT."

"WHAT?" I protested, as my car went through a thicket.

"You've gotten lazy. Look at your young American boys — they are dressing mannequins at Abercrombie & Fitch. Who does the landscaping, roofing, fast food, and other hard work? It's not your kids — they are all working retail. It's the immigrants who do most of the sweat work in this country. You are importing labor to do your dirty work, and then people COMPLAIN about the immigrants. And all the while, Americans of all ages are suffering from obesity — a disease of affluence."

"What? Are you questioning the American way of life? Don't you know if you do that you are unpatriotic, a Communist symphathizer, a freedom hater, and a generally rabid human being."

"But look man," the grasshopper said. "People think freedom means it's all about them. But it's not. Freedom is about having the freedom to make responsible choices. Don't tell that to the pro-life folks. Don't tell that to industrialists, the land-hungry developers, and the SUV owners. Don't tell that to the gun owners, because guns are a symbol of 'individuality and freedom.'"

"WHAT?" I said, "Are you a crazy grasshopper?" By this time my car was stopped in the middle of a grassy field.

"I don't hate America" the grasshopper replied. "I just think you all are SICK. This is a sick country. It is full of humans who only care about their immediate comfort and they can't see into the future. What's worse, they have lost their connection with nature and the planet that gives them life. Yet they scream about 'traditional values' until they froth at the mouth, and if you question them, you are not only anti-American, but a sinner too."

Having made his last comment, the grasshopper wished to talk no more, so he jumped on my shoulder, down my arm, and out the window. As I saw him hop away through the grass, I looked up to see a huge sign that said, "FOR SALE - WILL BUILD TO SUIT." That is exactly what's wrong with America — we've "built to suit" at the expense of everything, and everyone, else.

Yellow Canary