America the Whore

They is public high rises. Well, we gotta put everyone somewhere.

Yankee Ingenuity? My foot

All my life I've heard all this talk about America being successful because of our talent, our brainpower, and our hard work. Maybe that was once true, but in the last few decades, there's only been one way that we mainly create wealth — we feed our open land to the developer mongrels. We convert land into houses, stores, warehouse, and industrial complexes. Lots of people get rich, and these are the people who influence the government, so everything is cool.

And America grows, like a big bloating monster. Our liberal immigration policy, our denial of the need for sex education in schools, and our downright greed keeps our favorite industry exploding in growth — construction. As the construction sector thrives, it trickles money into every other economic sector. See, we cannibalize our own land, and everyone makes money. Farmer John sells his farm to some developer with alligator skin shoes, and then Farmer John buys a Lincoln and visits Hawaii. Hell, everyone's happy.

Like a big Hoover vacuum, that wonderful construction industry sucks in mass legions of foreign labor to lay the sod, lay the bricks, and dig the ditches. White America loves this, but then they don't. White America doesn't like all the "different" people moving into their neighborhoods, so they flee to the outer suburbs, and the foreign labor is needed to build their yuppie getaway communities.

Our great gift and asset in this country is our beautiful countryside, yet we are whoring our land away and not giving it a second thought. This is land that once provided the world's breadbasket, and land that provided habitat for a vast array of wildlife. But who cares, because this whoring business is making us MONEY!



We ARE genius because we know how to tear apart our own country.


Let's pack America with people

Three states — Florida, California and Texas — would account for nearly one-half (46 percent) of total U.S. population growth between 2000 and 2030, according to Census Bureau state population projections released today. Consequently, Florida, now the fourth most populous state, would edge past New York into third place in total population by 2011; California and Texas would continue to rank first and second, respectively, in 2030. These three states would each gain more than 12 million people between 2000 and 2030. Arizona, projected to add 5.6 million people, and North Carolina, with 4.2 million, would round out the top five numerical gainers. As a result, Arizona and North Carolina would move into the top 10 in total population by 2030 — Arizona rising from 20th place in 2000 to 10th place in 2030 and North Carolina from 11th place to seventh place. Michigan and New Jersey are projected to drop out of the top 10. The projections indicate that the top five fastest-growing states between 2000 and 2030 would be Nevada (114 percent), Arizona (109 percent), Florida (80 percent), Texas (60 percent) and Utah (56 percent).
— Press Release, Spatial News.com, April 22

Now, I'm not opposed to immigration. It's just that if there was more equity in the world, the migration flows wouldn't be a problem. But right now, millions are pouring into the United States to help fuel the construction industry. They are doing the hard and dirty work of building White America — building the new shopping malls for the whoremongers.

Then there's the cute babies

Of course, there's no sense in building a bunch of golf communities and McNasty restaurants if you don't have lots of people. Thus, our government and its religious and corporate masters, continue to push pro-fertility policies. Millions of babies are needed for the economic war machine. No wonder our Republican-controlled government opposes abortion — those little babies are needed.

Then, to really stoke the flames of the conservative masses, the GOP turns abortion into a moral issue, while at the same time they cut Title X (reproductive benefits for low-income women) and they push the unproven Abstinence Only programs (probably knowing full well that at-risk teens are still going to have sex whether or not they get a wait-till-marriage lecture at school).

See, this whole thing is cleverly engineered. The Karl Roves and other behind-the-scenes manipulators know how to work their voter base. They know that promoting family planning services would REDUCE abortions. But abortion is a nice hot button for single-issue voters that has continually played well for the GOP.

What are you trying to say, Canary?

I'm saying that growing population, and converting forests, pastures, and farmland into brick and asphalt is BIG BUSINESS. I'm saying that it's no coincidence that we have the highest fertility rate among Western nations. For the government, babies mean tax base, for corporations, it means profit, and for organized religion, well, it's an opportunity to energize congregations with saliva-throwing lectures about "values."

The Whore of Babylon...
"For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries."
— Revelations 18:3, Holy Bible

Canary sezs: At them big fancy churches, no one wants to admit who the Whore of Babylon really is.

Narcissistic Christianity - Is there A Problem Here?

Oh boy, let's live the American lifestyle. Let's buy big
houses, big cars, move to the suburbs, and go to a
fun church with lots of "programs."

"And again I say to you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."
— Quoted by Jesus Christ, conveniently forgotten by material-addicted Americans


"To keep me from becoming conceited ... there was given me a thorn in my flesh ... to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).
— Apostle Paul, also forgotten by the money-worshippers


I find it puzzling that those who are so quick to ruthlessly and harshly judge me seem to conveniently forget their own dogma. See, I grew up in church too, but I kind of got a different take on Christianity. The one thing I admire most about my Jesus Christ was His beautiful humility. Jesus owned nothing except a tunic, robe, sandals, and a walking staff. Yet, today's American Christians seem obsessed with owning their trophy house, SUV, big-screen TV, and whatever else they can go into debt to buy. When I see giant vehicles with a fish on the back, when I see their mega-million fancy church buildings, when I see their golf course lawns, and when I see them pack the malls during Christmas season, I'm just wondering where the hell is the humility?

The Prayer

Family members and friends have called me "jaded and cynical," but, come on, am I really? Here I am living in a culture that is full of selective ethics, paradox, and hypocrisy. And when I question this, I'm called a cynic??? My sister recently called to say she was buying a trophy house, a house she can barely afford. "We really prayed about it," she said. Wow? Is God now telling people to buy trophy houses? Is He telling people to go deeper in debt?
Again, where is the humility?

As I have grown older, the American obsession with comfort, wealth, and buying "things" has come to disgust me. This is not about Christianity. And don't give me that crap about God has blessed you with wealth. I don't believe for a second that God rewards people with money. Hello, doesn't anybody get it? The entire ministry of Christ was about the heart, not the wallet, and not politics. If you are to be blessed, it will be a blessing of joy, grace, internal peace, and an overwhelming feeling of love — not a high definition TV or a new Hummer!

White Flight

Where I live in metro Atlanta, white flight continues as the White People continue to move farther out into the farmlands to create their little bedroom communities, complete with McMansions and a strip shopping center at every corner. Why would white Christians want to flee the Blacks, Mexicans, and other immigrants? Shouldn't they seize this opportunity to witness to diverse peoples? What is particularly troubling is to see churches packing up and moving out with them. If a church was really Christian, shouldn't it stay put and develop ministries to reach out to these newcomers to the community? I know of two churches who have done just that — they ran. Once in Heaven, will Christians still be running away from people who are different than them? And then I hear people say, "But the crime is bad." So, what are you doing about it?

The irony is that these people of color are humble, just like God wants us to be, and have a wonderful sweet spirit about them. Yes, my town is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse, but I have made the decision not to run. I would much rather live in a community of poor, humble, and diverse people rather than to move to the boonies and exist in an artificial, double-standard, yuppie, sprawl, hell.

So...

The pursuit of wealth is a self-consuming, selfish, and destructive habit. Yet, many conservative Christians will go to extremes to justify their narcissistic and hypocritical addiction to materialism.

"Narcissism is the pattern of traits and behaviors which involve infatuation and obsession with one's self to the exclusion of others and the egotistic and ruthless pursuit of one's gratification, dominance, and ambition."
— Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Another Canary Martyred

Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis's comments during a speech in San Diego, remarking that "it's fun to shoot some people," in reference to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, are appalling. At a time when the United States military is trying to win hearts and minds in both countries, and when Iraqis think that American forces are trigger-happy, his words are counterproductive. For our troops who are dying every day, making war sound like a sport is beyond distasteful.
— Marla Ruzicka, February 5, 2005



Marla Ruzicka, 28, a great activist for the people,
died in a car bomb blast in Baghdad two
days ago.


My tears and broken heart go out to Canary sister Marla Ruzicka, founder of the Campaign for Innocent Victims of Conflict (CIVIC). At great personal risk, she had spent the last years of her life conducting surveys of civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan (known as "collateral damage" in military terms).

As reported on National Public Radio, Marla used her own personal savings to finance her first trip overseas, where she would go door-to-door to assess civilian losses. Her work inspired Congress to appropriate $10 million in aid to victims in Iraq. In Afghanistan, she worked with the human rights organization Global Exchange, where she helped pressure the U.S. government to provide funds for Afghan war victims. Prior to these projects, she worked for USAID.

I guess what really touches is me is that while most Americans are watching TV and stuffing their faces with Big Macs, Marla gave her life to help others, probably knowing that she was in great personal danger. She had courage, and she wasn't just talk — she did incredible things in her short life.

I wonder if I have the courage of Marla in me. I wonder if I would risk my life to help others like she did. Few people would. I think about all the overweight, sloppy lazy, judgmental people in my country. Tonight they are waiting for the peas to sizzle in their TV dinners and they aren't even thinking about Marla. They don't even care — they are more upset about gas prices going up and the red wine stain on their carpet.

To Marla: you dedicated yourself to help others and ease the suffering of your fellow humans. While providing aid and easing the suffering of innocent civilians, you died a most horrible and violent death. Thanks, Marla, for setting an example for all of us. Thank you for showing courage.

Okay, America, get back to your ham sandwich, Mountain Dew, and Sex in the City reruns. Sorry to interrupt your evening with my little outburst of sorrow.

The Legacy of the Pope

"Of course there are also a very few people with genuine consciences who still call themselves Americans, but they really would be better off just calling themselves humans. Forget the national label. Let evil people call themselves Americans as they goosestep down the street for The Homeland. Patriotism is primitive tribalism. Nationalism is nothing more than collective egocentricity."
— From the freespeech.org network


Hello to everyone out there in TV land! It's been two weeks since I blogged — sorry to keep you hanging. During this time Terry Schiavo's feeding tube was removed and the Pope died. Both events provided raw meat for a bored and shallow press.

I'm not sure what to say about the Schiavo case — I mean, who really wants to die? But at the same time, what's the point of living in a "vegetative state." The husband was the legal guardian, he made the call, and it should have ended there. As for all this talk about "Culture of Life," give me a break. That is the most selectively used and hypocritical term I've ever heard.

As for the Pope, he mirrors religion as a whole — he did a lot of good, but his brutal "Culture of Life" positions will ultimately do more harm than good. Opposing condoms for people at-risk for AIDS in Africa, buying hospitals in the U.S. and then cutting off their family planning services ... well, what may seem like a Culture of Life now is really a Culture of Death. The long-term effect of human overpopulation will cause far more deaths and suffering in the long-run, yet the Pope and the upper echelons of his organization oppose ANY type of birth control.

Not to mention the refusal to ordain women — that sends out a message of ancient caveman male superiority. Nothing else. As for the glazing over of priestly pedophilia, well, I'm thinking that there may be a little problem with the entire institution.

"[The Vatican] also disseminated misinformation claiming that condoms could not stop the AIDS virus and condoned the burning of condoms in Catholic churches in AIDS-racked Africa."
— Caryl River, Women's News columnist

So, I commend the Pope for his social justice work, opposing the death penalty and Iraq war, and for reaching out to Jews and Muslims. These attributes make him a great spiritual leader. But, again, his War on Birth Control negates this good. My uncle died of AIDS in 1994, and I can tell you it is a horrible disease. And because of the Vatican's policies, many more in Africa have and will experience this horrible fate. So, when I hear the term "Culture of Life," this is what I think about. I also think about the dreadful future that our religious institutions are creating for us.

Yellow Canary