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TODAY, for Standing Rock :: A Global Synchronized Prayer with natives, spiritual teachers, and you!
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 04 Dec '16

04 Dec '16

WATER IS LIFE ~ MNI WICONI! Ellie elliestock(a)aol.com Greetings, Friends, Join us today, Dec 4th, for a Global Synchronized Prayer with Standing Rock. Thousands will pray around the camp's sacred fire joined by over 72,000of you from around the world in over 40+ countries! United in solidarity. Today at 10:00am CST at the central Sacred Fire that has been burning continuously since the camp started Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th generation holder of the White Buffalo Calf pipe, will lead interfaith prayers alongside 50+ spiritual leaders who have flown in from all over the world. Theywill then walk together to the front lines where the violent attacks occurred only days ago and at 2:00 pm CST hold another interfaith prayer session which will be shared with you via a facebook livestream at this linkand also on our broadcast website. Starting at 10:00am CST there will be guided prayers available here: www.praywithstandingrock.com/broadcast You are welcome to listen to the prayer and then pray/meditate in your own way. We are honored to share that our partner organization United Religions Initiative has sent a delegation to Standing Rock that arrived two days ago which includes representatives from 32 different faiths. Alongwith nearly 1,000 prayers from 54 countries from the URI global interfaith community, the delegation will also bring their version of sacred waters to Standing Rock: two vials of water, that have been collected from 162 sacred sites worldwide. This project has been 10 years in the making,and includes water from the Nile, the Ganges, the Amazon, even Joan of Arc's well in France. This sacred water will be presented to the Standing Rock Tribal Council for all the water protectors gathered. Together our vibration will lift the spirits of those Protecting the Water while inviting the people looking down from the other side of the razor wire to pray with the world. Broadcast Access Here You may join usby finding a local event near you, tuning in to the broadcast through your computer or smartphone, or pray/meditate in your own way. At the Oceti Sakowin Camp at Standing Rock our team is meeting with the tribal council, indigenous youth representative groups, and dozens of partner organizations on a daily basis to ensure our Global Synchronized Prayer is in collaboration with, and approved by the Tribal Council. Other ways to support: Click here to join our facebook event and invite yourfriends! Click here to donate to projects on the ground Click here to read about how to be a culturally conscious ally Click here to donate to sign thepetition to Obama This week of prayers and meditation is one way we say Thank You as one human family as we standtogether to protect, heal, and nourish the sacredness of life. Pidamiyapi (Thank You inLakota), Pray with Standing Rock Team P.S. With gratitude andtrust we stand strong in our mind, body and spirit and are able to amplify it out into the world as we unify to protect what is sacred. Culminating on December 10 (United Nations Human Rights Day) our coalition of organizations will be supporting Standing Rock protectors by hosting multiple online live-stream events, along with localevents around the planet. Our website with interactive map is a hub for individuals and organizations to find each other and grow our global community towards a sustainable future that honors our many diverse cultural traditions. www.praywithstandingrock.com PO Box 4449 Santa Rosa CA 95402 USA Unsubscribe | Change Subscriber Options

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Re: [Dialogue] [Oe List ...] Attention: STANDING ROCK Update
by via Dialogue 04 Dec '16

04 Dec '16

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Attention: STANDING ROCK Update
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 03 Dec '16

03 Dec '16

STANDING ROCK UPDATE Hi Folks, In November, Carleton and I and another colleague from St. Louis went to Standing Rock in support of the Water Protectors. We had a chance to connect with Salvatore Caruso and Dianne McCabe who were there at the same time, supporting families in the Sicangu (Rosebud) Camp. We also had a chance to meet with Sheila Johnson who was working in the Medic Camp. The Army Corps of Engineers is now reviewing the permit for the Dakota Access Pipeline to continue to drill on ACE maintained land and under Lake Oahe/MO River. They might not make a decision until January. DAPL sued to continue drilling. The judge said he might not decide until January. There have been a couple additional clashes between the prayerful Water Protectors and the militarized police, DAPL Security, and National Guard.--water cannons spraying the Protectors in sub-freezing temperatures, forces using rubber bullets, concussion grenades, ear-piercing L Rads, mace and pepper spray. Over one hundred were injured. One college young lady might lose her arm. President Obama has been silent. Also, the Army Corp of Engineers has given Oceti Sakowin, the largest camp, also originally permitted to be on ACE property, an eviction notice, effective December 4. The Water Protectors are resolved to stay to protect their land and water. In the meantime, the harsh winter snows, winds and freezing temperatures have blanketed the camps. Sunday, December 4, 2,000 veterans are scheduled to arrive at Standing Rock to support the Water Protectors. The Water Protectors have declared December a month on actions on behalf of Standing Rock and all places threatened by environmental degradation and destruction. Below are listed some ways you can continue to support the Water Protectors and monitor the situation: 1-Pray with Standing Rock--tomorrow, Sunday, December 5 is a national prayer with Standing Rock. (see info below) 2-Contact N. Dakota officials, the Army Corps of Engineers, and President Obama 3-Divest from fossil fuel companies and banks that support the Dakota Access Pipeline and Energy Transfer Partners 4-Continue to be updated on what is happening there and share via social media. BEST SOURCES FOR CONTINUED INFO AND UPDATES: -Native American Media source--check section on Standing Rock articles: Indian Country Today Media Network - Official Site indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com Indian Country Today Media Network is your essential Native American news and information site offering superb online services in the areas of education, business and ... -Standing Rock/Sacred Stones Camp facebook tracking: https://www.facebook.com/CampOfTheSacredStone/?hc_ref=NEWSFEED&fref=nf www.noDAPLsolidarity.org Plus FB/googling Standing Rock 5-Contribute financially. There are many ways to contribute. If you want to contribute via the Presbyterian Church (USA), use the addresses below. Contributions: Can be mailed to: The Synod of Lakes and Prairies 2115 Cliff Drive Eagan, MN 55122 Note on check: Dakota Access Pipeline Account #2087 or given online or by check through Presbyterians for Earthcare/Presbytery of Northern Plains: Donate to supplies for Standing Rock Make a donation through Northern Plains Presbytery 6-Go to Standing Rock, but be prepared for the harsh weather and be self-sustaining and contributing. After the information on the Day of Prayer is a beautiful prayer sent by the Genesis Farm that leads into Standing Rock. Genesis Farm is an Ecologica/Earth Literacy Center in Blairstown, NJ, led by Sr. Miriam Mc Gillis. If you are interested in a report from my trip, you can email me. We hope for a just, peaceful and sustainable resolution to this situation. Thanks for your continued concern, care and action. Ellie Stock elliestock(a)aol.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pray with Standing Rock - to register: https://praywithstandingrock.com/home Dear Friends, Thank you for joining tens of thousands around the world as we pray and meditate with Standing Rock, taking a stand for protecting what is sacred, together. Our first Global Synchronized Prayer was Nov 26th where thousands gathered worldwide at community events to pray and meditate together and over 280,000 prayed and meditated with our broadcast. Click here to listen to our November 26th prayer led by indigenous leader Ivan Looking Horse. Our second Global Synchronized Prayer will be December 4th at 10:00am CST. Click here to find your local time! The Broadcast will be available at www.praywithstandingrock.com/broadcast Our facebook event has updates and photos from on the ground team! Please invite your friends who would be honored to positively impact the momentum of Standing Rock. This is how we say Thank You as one human family while we stand together to protect, heal, and nourish the sacred foundation of life. Thank you for joining. The Pray With Standing Rock Team Genesis Farm December 2, 2016 Perhaps Paradise was never lost. Earth can’t be lost. She can be desecrated and abused. She can be diminished severely in her beauty, health and creativity, yet still endure. Prophets, poets and wise people from earlier times also mourned the loss of people, lands and things they loved. They did their best to explain the mystery of change. Especially difficult change that brought a sense of loss. Maybe they told stories about loss that helped them to cope. Maybe some of them thought Earth was originally a magical Paradise where there was no loss. Then, a serious event happened which caused Earth’s very self to be degraded causing everything and everyone with it to undergo the same fate. A sense of Paradise was lost. Maybe there was a sense that Earth needed to be redesigned and re-engineered to create a better Paradise. Hence, hard work and perseverance gave birth to industrialization, eugenics, war, genetic engineering, nanotechnology, robotics, artificial intelligence, torture, and bullying. Maybe at some depth of soul, the eight billion of us in this human generation knows better. Maybe Earth is Paradise. Maybe humans are sensing that the older stories need to be re-examined. Maybe the prospects of leaving Earth to go to Mars are producing some hesitation. And anxiety. Mars? Maybe the indigenous wisdom arising at Standing Rock is an uprising of common sense, sanity and compassion for the planet. Maybe the clear vision, love and courage in the people realistically facing the loss of their water is stirring something deep in all of us. Perhaps we are looking into the severe differences being played out over the implications of some of those older stories. Maybe that is why so many countless people at Standing Rock, day after freezing day, are aligning with the common sense and love for life still enduring at the depths of our collective soul. Perhaps we are remembering our own indigenous wisdom. Maybe it has just been forgotten and neglected, but never lost. Anymore than Paradise. Perhaps it has taken the awful brutality done to those crying out to protect the waters of our planet, for the rest of us to gaze into the shadow of our nations’ soul, our collective self, and say: No more. No more. We all live close to the waters that we drink. Water is life. Every water basin is a “shed” holding water. A watershed. No people in their right mind would poison or contaminate it. Common sense knows better. Let us begin with the Missouri River. Here’s how: Write, call, petition President Obama to permanently halt the Dakota Access Pipeline through the sacred lands and waters of the Standing Rock Sioux. http://lakotalaw.org/?gclid=CNm1-ojy1dACFZJMDQodcGgDeQ Contribute to the Standing Rock Winter Encampment http://www.honorearth.org/ Be prepared to defeat a fracked gas pipe coming your way before it does. http://earthjustice.org/features/campaigns/fracking-across-the-united-states Divest in Fossil Fuel Companies https://350.org/divest/ Write to Pope Francis, asking him to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery https://1drv.ms/w/s!AkhNLVylX0V5gRnrFeN_ZOOHhMGB Come home to a sense of place, to the bioregional possibilities of the place where you live. Think small, think local but carry the whole planet in your soul. We can help to restore it, one watershed at a time. https://1drv.ms/w/s!AkhNLVylX0V5gRsnwiKreMZbUENl Explore in every way possible the insights of a new evolutionary story of the origin of the Universe, Earth, life and human life with all its racial, religious, gender and cultural diversities. But consider especially the possibilities you will unleash within yourself by enrolling in https://www.coursera.org/learn/thomas-berry Click to view this email in a browser If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please reply to this message with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line or simply click on the following link: Unsubscribe Genesis Farm 41a Silver Lake Rd Blairstown, New Jersey 07825 US Read the VerticalResponse marketing policy.

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12/01/16, Spong/David Felton: Jesus’ call is for us to be whole and real, not religious; loving, not moral and righteous…
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 01 Dec '16

01 Dec '16

HOMEPAGE MY PROFILE ESSAY ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARDS CALENDAR This week's guest author is Rev. David Felten, author and co-creator of "Living the Questions." Dear Jack, When I learned of your stroke in September, I was en route to the fourth Common Dreams Conference in Brisbane, Queensland. Having no details at that point and being a half-a-planet away, I was anxious about having to endure the uncertainty of this news on my own. I needn’t have worried, though. As it turns out, I couldn’t have found myself in a more supportive and equally concerned crowd anywhere in the world. Few people know as well as you the peculiar feeling of being both reviled and beloved around the world. But it seems to me that nowhere are you more respected than in Progressive Christian circles Down Under. I look back with fondness on the inaugural Common Dreams event in Sydney back in 2007. Although it wasn’t your first trip to Australia, CD1 was a seminal event I feel fortunate to have attended. As you’ll recall, when news broke that this “rogue heretic” (that would be you) was once again descending on Australia, the Archdiocese of the Sydney Anglican Church sent out a press release banning you from setting foot on any Anglican property while in their city. This was, of course, the best publicity the organizing committee of Common Dreams could have ever hoped for. I recall the delight (tinged with sadness) you expressed in having your infamy splashed across the pages of The Sydney Morning Herald . While providing further proof to the non-religious that the church (or at least the Sydney Anglican Church) was hopelessly irrelevant in its obsession with the past, your notoriety resulted in interviews and other media exposure that drew a crowd exponentially larger than expected. I remember your presentations being both inspiring and encouraging to a crowd that was yearning for new directions. Looking back, your trademark tenacity in the face of controversy seems to have been one of the catalysts for what continues to grow as a broad and evolving network of Progressive Christians in Australia/New Zealand. And so it goes – all across the globe – a legacy of certainties called into question, death-dealing dogmas called out, exclusive and privileged institutions put on notice. You are at one and the same time one of orthodoxy’s worst nightmares and a cup of cool water to the beloved community of “church alumni/ae” – and all of this with a focus, a grace, and a humility that confounds your critics. Those very traits were foremost in my mind when, as you may remember from last summer, eight churches in our town decided to preach a six-week sermon series on whether “Progressive” Christianity was “fact or fiction”. As the only progressive church in Fountains Hills (one that welcomes the LGBTQ community and shares its space with a synagogue and a Buddhist Center), there was really no doubt in anyone’s mind who this smear campaign was directed towards. As it turns out, the whole episode turned out to be the best advertising campaign we could have never otherwise afforded. The advice you shared with me from your cousin, U.S. Senator William Spong, couldn’t have been more apropos: “The way you really get to the public is by having the right enemies, not the right friends. The friends don’t do you that much good, but the right enemies attacking you really do open up the possibilities.” Our attendance that summer was the highest The Fountains had ever had – with lots of first-time attendees who had never heard of “Progressive Christianity” before their pastors started preaching against it. It remains to be seen what the long-term effect of this episode will have on people’s overall impression of Christians. I fear that for many, witnessing a gang of conventional Christian churches essentially bullying a theological minority was just more proof that the American practice of Christianity is hopelessly damaged and irredeemable. In fact, Jeremy Greaves (the Venerable!) and I were just reflecting on that sentiment earlier today. You might remember that Jeremy is serving as the Rector at St Marks, Buderim and the Archdeacon for his area of Queensland. We were Skyping today about his having been chosen to become the new Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Brisbane. No sooner had the announcement been made than the denunciations began — including enough hateful phone calls that Jeremy is considering changing his phone number! Jeremy said, “It’s strange how people who I’ve never met feel like it’s important to ring me and tell me why I’m wrong. And what takes me by surprise is not that people want to ring me and disagree, but the level of anger, venom, and nastiness. It must be exhausting being that angry. It certainly is exhausting being on the other end of it.” Jeremy’s friends outside the church see this all happening and say, “Really?!?” They’re bewildered because they know the sort of person Jeremy is and don’t care much about what doctrines he holds to be true. It simply confirms the suspicions they’ve had about the church and Christians for most of their lives. So for Jeremy, Jeff Procter-Murphy, me, and so many others like us, you remain a profoundly important role model. Despite all its flaws, its backwardness, and downright mean-spiritedness, we are still drawn to the promise of the “the church" and its potential to be a force for good in the world. We resist the urge to throw up our hands in frustration or sink into a funk of inaction. We have seen in you the example of one who refuses to abandon the church to those who would turn back the clock and leverage the institution to legitimate their fears and prejudices. The challenge for many Progressives, both clergy and laity, is daunting: to stay in the institution and not be broken by it. In you we’ve seen what it takes and are inspired to rise to the challenge. No matter how controversial, it is crucial for those of us who are clergy to follow your lead in translating the often esoteric theological musings of academia into language that is both understandable and relevant to thoughtful lay people. We need to muster the courage to be outspoken social critics, ecclesiastical whistle-blowers, and prophetic voices calling discrimination and injustice what it is, even in the face of a persistent status quo. All the while being able to express a genuinely pastoral ethos in the advocacy of the most radical of ideas. Sheesh. I don’t think you realize how high you’ve set the bar for us. And that doesn’t even begin to acknowledge the challenges posed by our presidential election. What’s a self-respecting Spongophile to do? How do we face the coming whirlwind of priorities, policies, and actions that discredit, disrespect, and cast disdain on the very people and ideals that you’ve spent a lifetime defending? In light of the confusion, fear, vengeance, and violence that seems to have been unleashed in our midst, I ask myself how I can possibly resist the urge to despair. But then I turn to my own personal canon of texts that serve to renew me in challenging times. One of those for me is an excerpt from your talk in Session 12 of LtQ’s series, “Saving Jesus Redux.” In it, you remind us why our mission as followers of Jesus is so crucial in our day: “Those of us who want to constitute ourselves as disciples of this Jesus have a single responsibility and that is to try to build a world in which every person in that world has a better opportunity to live fully and to love wastefully and to be all that they can be in the infinite (variety) of our humanity. And when the world learns that that’s our message -- and we begin to be faithful to that message -- then there will come forth from the disciples of Jesus such a mighty reformation that the whole world will begin to find in the body of Christ life and love and wholeness. That’s what God is all about. That’s what you and I as disciples of Jesus must also be all about. It’s a universal message that transcends the boundaries of that religious enterprise that so often sets us at odds, one against another.” Over and over again, you’ve reminded us that Jesus’ call is for us to be whole and real, not religious; loving, not moral and righteous; inclusive, not hating everybody that disagrees with us and claiming superiority over them. You’ve proclaimed it wherever there are ears to hear: the mark of Jesus’ disciples is to be loving. A call to life. A call to love. A call to be all that we can be. I don’t know if you read the pep talk that President Obama gave his daughters after Donald Trump was elected, but it seemed to be of a piece with what you have said and demonstrated in so many ways: “You should anticipate that at any given moment there’s going to be flare-ups of bigotry that you may have to confront, or maybe inside you that you have to vanquish. And it doesn’t stop. You don’t get into a fetal position about it. You don’t start worrying about apocalypse. You say, OK, where are the places where I can push to keep it moving forward?’” And that’s really the motive for this note to you – expressing my gratitude (and maybe a little aggravation!) at your having pointed out SO many places that need to be pushed to keep things moving forward. It is downright daunting. But perhaps one of the things I’m most grateful for is your expectation of not just me, but of all of us, clergy and laity alike. It’s a kind of unspoken summons where, in so many different circumstances, you have demonstrated the importance of standing up and speaking out — not just as “professional” public theologians, but as informed lay people in particular. I’ve seen it at work. It happens around kitchen tables and in coffee shops, on long drives and quiet walks where conversations turn to the things that really matter in life – and often those “things” are weighed down by the burden of long obsolete religious ideas and assumptions. Through your books, lectures, and columns, you provide the vocabulary and give permission to ordinary people to struggle, doubt, and even reject the dogma of their birth. You’ve opened new spiritual vistas for them. You’ve shown the power of simply sitting with and encouraging the hurting and the fearful without burdening them with platitudes or the weight of long-irrelevant theologies. And taking all of it together and holding it up to the light, one of your greatest gifts becomes clear: the ability to stir even those who consider themselves the “least of these” into action. Let’s be honest. People cannot not have an opinion about Jack Spong. Whether you’re stirring people up to totally reevaluate everything they’d ever thought they knew or steeling a Fundamentalists’ resolve to maintain the status quo, your life and teachings demand a response. And THAT’S what I’m going for. That’s a legacy worth pursuing. And insofar as I’m able to achieve even the tiniest sliver of that goal, I can say without hesitation that it is all your fault. Working with Jeff to develop Living the Questions has had a lot of unexpected benefits, not the least of which has been your friendship and mentorship. I will always be grateful for your wisdom, your support, and your encouragement. I look forward to connecting with you and Christine in person sometime soon. In the meantime, best wishes to you in your continued recovery. We who seek to live, love, and be all that we can be offer our love and gratitude! With love, David PS: Tell Christine I’m grateful for her encouraging note. She must be taking lessons from you. All it said was, “We hope you are still raising a ruckus!” Tell her she can rest assured, there’s plenty to raise a ruckus about. I’m on it! Thanks to the Rev. Dr. Jeff Procter-Murphy, the Venerable Jeremy Greaves, and Penny Davis, Director of the Arizona Foundation for Contemporary Theology for their input. About the Author David Felten, is a full-time pastor of The Fountains, a United Methodist Church in Fountain Hills, Arizona, he also tries to stay connected to his roots as a musician. You’ll often find him playing in a variety of worship and concert settings. Most recently, David played on some of the tracks of Barb Catlin’s “Living the Questions” CD “The Summons”. David is active in the Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church and has especially enjoyed the opportunity Living the Questions has given him to hone his writing and curriculum-development skills. David is a co-founder of the Arizona Foundation for Contemporary Theology, and also a founding member of No Longer Silent: Clergy for Justice, an outspoken voice for LBGTQ rights both in the church and in the community at large. David has been a guest on a number of local TV and radio programs and has enjoyed becoming something of a regular on KTAR radio’s “The God Show” with host Pat McMahon. David and his wife Laura, an administrator for a large Arizona public school, live in Phoenix with their three often adorable children . Read the essay online here. Question & Answer Tim from Evansville, Indiana writes: Question: In your book, WHY CHRISTIANITY MUST CHANGE OR DIE, are you willing to admit the possibility that Christianity needs to die? Does not the faith of the future have to be a completely new faith? Answer: Dear Tim, You may be right but I don't think so. I will admit that the Christianity I envision for the future will be a Christianity so different that many will not recognize it. Perhaps this means that you and I are saying the same thing. My study of history teaches me that nothing ever really begins as something new. All ideas and even all religious systems evolve out of the past. Monotheism is a gift to the world from that period of time that some call the Axial Age (3000 -200 B.C.E.). It represented a natural step forward out of the polytheistic religions of the past. I do not believe that anyone can start a new religion. I do think that a new Christianity can emerge out of the old. Christianity has never been static. We began in the womb of Judaism in the first century. It was a Judaism that had been impacted by the Zoroastrian religion of the Persians during the period of the exile. It had been influenced by the Baal worshipers of its Canaanite neighbors. Even earlier the Jewish concept of the oneness of God came with Moses out of Egypt where the Jews had been a conquered slave people. It appears that the religious reform under the Pharaoh named Amenhotep IV had attempted to purify the religion of the Egyptians in the name of radical monotheism. Amenhotep was defeated and replaced on the throne by a rebellion led by the priests of the various Gods of the Egyptians and their shrines were put back into business. There is a possibility that the reform of this Pharaoh took root not in Egypt but among the Jews under the leadership of Moses. When Christianity moved out of Judaism and into the Mediterranean world it took on the coloration of the mystery cults and even some of the virtues of the Gods of the Olympus. It also adopted the structures of the Empire. When Christianity interacted with the Renaissance in the late Middle Ages it produced the radical changes of the Protestant Reformation. The Enlightenment of the 18th century gave us an increasingly non-theistic Christianity on one side and a reactionary fundamentalism on the other. Religious systems are always churning, changing, interacting and growing. There is a human tendency to try to stop that process and to feel secure in the conviction that the worshiper now possesses the total truth and no more change will be necessary. That is when religious people begin to make excessive claims like: This is the only true church, Our Bible is the inerrant Word of God, Our pope is infallible. It never works. The "unchanging truth of God" is always changing. Truth keeps exploding. I want us to take the various ingredients of Christianity and ask 'What was the God experience that caused our religious forebears to interact with the culture and knowledge of their day and in the process to write Scriptures, create creeds, develop doctrines and promulgate dogma?' Once we uncover that driving experience then we can try to discern how we might explain that experience in the language of our day. This is why all religious systems are constantly in flux. They either change or they die. An unchanging religion always becomes idolatrous. I want to honor my religious past without being controlled by it. I want the freedom to explore my faith tradition without the institutional put-offs that come with such authoritarian pronouncements as, 'the Bible says' or 'the Church teaches'. So my goal in ministry is to walk inside my faith tradition without being bound by it, to carry on a constant dialogue between my faith and the 21st century which I inhabit, to accept no formulation of God as final, and to walk into the mystery of God every day. That is why I do not think I or anyone else can start a new religion. My hope is that Christianity will continue to evolve until it incorporates so much of the truth of the future that it no longer appears to be bound by the definitions of the past. That will be a new thing, but also a profoundly old thing at the same time. Christianity is finally a journey beyond all words. I intend to enjoy that trip. ~John Shelby Spong Read and Share Online Here Announcements For all of you who have written get well notes, Bishop Spong sends you his warm appreciation. If you would like to send a get well message please sent it to admin(a)progressivechristianity.org and we will forward it to him. In this compelling and heartfelt book, he sounds a rousing call for a Christianity based on critical thought rather than blind faith, on love rather than judgment, and that focuses on life more than religion.

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"Journey Reflection" Most Read Blog Posts (November)
by John C via Dialogue 30 Nov '16

30 Nov '16

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11/24/16, Spong/Matthew Fox: A New Christianity, a New Prayer Bishop Spong Style
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 24 Nov '16

24 Nov '16

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Bishop John Shelby Spong</p> <p>In his book <em>A New Christianity for a New World: Why Traditional Faith is Dying & How A New Faith is Being Born</em>, Bishop Spong addresses multiple issues worthy of further consideration especially because the coming year 2017, marks the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation and Spong is rightly calling for a Reformation today.<span style="font-size:12px">(1)</span> I suppose it is worth mentioning that I have been doing the same as in my book <em>A New Reformation: Creation Spirituality and the Transformation of Christianity</em> which contains the 95 theses that I pounded at Luther’s church in Wittenberg at Pentecost season in 2006 in response to Cardinal Ratzinger making himself pope, a practice I repeated five years later at Cardinal Law’s Basilica of Maria Maggiore in Rome on a Sunday morning in protest of his cover-up for pedophile clergy in his previous assignment as archbishop of Boston.<span style="font-size:12px">(2)</span></p> <p>Let me highlight one of Spong’s important insights for a New Christianity by interacting with the chapter from his book entitled “<em>But What About Prayer</em>?” (Chapter Eleven). Spong speaks of how his understanding of prayer underwent a deep metamorphosis as he moved out of a theistic understanding of God. Following are some of his observations:</p> <blockquote> <p><em>I struggle to think of God in non-theistic patterns while I continue to be a praying, worshiping Christian… Somehow prayer and liturgy are the places where the non-theistic God-concept most obviously collides with the religious security system erected by the worshipers of the theistic God…To whom do we pray? is at the heart of questions asked by those considering abandonment of theism… I get the impression that many believers think of prayers as adult letters to Santa Claus. (Page 190)</em></p> </blockquote> <p>Spong invokes Paul’s admonition to “pray always”- an admonition also found in Luke’s gospel which goes like this:</p> <blockquote> <p><em>Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’ And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to the chosen ones who cry out day and night? Will God delay long in helping them? I tell you, God will quickly grant justice to them.” Luke (18:1–8).</em></p> </blockquote> <p>In creating a story about “praying always and not losing heart” the words justice and injustice are used by Jesus over five times in a short paragraph. Paul too used the term “pray always” on a number of occasions.</p> <p>So what is prayer? If we see it as “talking to God,” it makes no sense. Talking all day long to God would justify putting you in a padded cell. Spong is offering a parallel observation when he declares that “theism is dead… But theism is also a security blanket with which we are loathe to part.” (Page 192)</p> <p>But if prayer is about demanding justice and working for justice then “praying always” makes all the sense in the world. Justice and the quest for justice seize our lives and dictate our values and work, our allies and enemies, our struggle and our learning all our lives long.</p> <p>Like Spong, I feel that how we understand prayer lies at the heart of our theological and spiritual identity. In fact, my first book was dedicated to the question raised in this book – what is prayer? In that book, with the unlikely title of <em>On Becoming a Musical, Mystical Bear: Spirituality American Style</em>, I defined prayer as a “radical (or deep) response to Life” and I name two of our deepest responses to living are our YES (our mysticism, our falling in love with life); and our NO, our resistance, our standing up for justice and against injustice. I still hold to that definition for prayer today forty-three years later and the Gospel passage I just cited I think is saying the same thing.</p> <p>To stand up for justice is to “pray always” and to listen deeply to the beauty and awe that life offers us daily is also to “pray always.” Consider Standing Rock; Black Lives Matter; Sister Dorothy Stang who was murdered eleven years ago in the Amazon because she stood up with the peasants of the land against the rape of the rainforests and the abuse toward peasant farmers; and she paid the price of a martyr. BUT she was not just about justice; she was about love; she loved the rain forest and the earth and the peasants whom she refused to abandon. I know because she was part of our master’s program in Creation Spirituality and she wrote about her passion for the earth. She would often dance in the forest that she loved so much. “Greater love than this no person has, than to lay down their life for their friends.”</p> <p>Who are our friends? What/whom do we truly cherish and would we stand up to defend? Those questions lie behind the depths of our prayer and the directions our prayer takes us. Rabbi Heschel says that “praise precedes faith” and it is clear when dealing with justice that love precedes justice for we defend what we cherish. Furthermore, love follows on justice for justice is not an end in itself but a resetting of the table so that more people can experience the depth of their love of life and the joy and beauty that life can bestow on all beings.</p> <p>It is this dialectic of love or mysticism and of spiritual warrior-hood—defending what we love—that constitutes authentic adult spirituality and adult prayer: It is our deep Yes and our deep No, therefore our “radical (deep) response to life.” I am in full agreement with Spong and other mystics through the ages (Thomas Aquinas, Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart and Howard Thurman among them) who understand God as Life. We are all mystics and prophets. Our deep response to life is our prayer.</p> <p>Writer E. B. White once said, “I wake up in the morning torn between savoring the world; and saving it. This makes it hard to plan the day.” Yes, savoring is our contemplation, our mysticism; saving it is our prophetic work of sacred activism. We need both. Our prophetic work must come from a deep place, a place of prayer therefore and NOT from an action/reaction response of our reptilian brains. There’s enough of that going around. If we are ever-deepening lovers of life (mystics); and defenders of life (prophets or sacred activists), then we are a people who “pray always” and we can “take heart” in trying times.</p> <p>Spong proposes turning to more mystical traditions to find a deeper understanding of prayer and speaks of meditation, contemplation and “centering prayer.” (Page 193) Here we are speaking of the Via Negativa, the letting go and surrendering that is part of that journey into an unknown God, into darkness, into the depths of unknowing. His call for “a new definition of prayer” is what I have been about in my writings and my educational programs ever since I wrote my first book (whose title has sobered up a bit in the most recent edition of the book which is simply: “<em>Prayer: A Radical Response to Life</em>.”) Rightly does Spong criticize those understandings of prayer that propose that we can “manipulate and control God by receiving a payoff.” (Page 194) Meister Eckhart observed the same thing when he said many people love God like they do a cow—for the cheese and milk they can get from it. But, said Eckhart, “truth does not long for any kind of commercial deals.”<span style="font-size:12px">(3) </span>We must learn to live and work and love, says Eckhart, “without a why.”<span style="font-size:12px">(4)</span> And this applies to prayer also. Spong is in good company.</p> <p>Spong also proposes that the “second coming” is meant to be “the same God who was present in Jesus who comes again into our world in us and through us… Can we dare to embrace the possibility that we ourselves might be the second coming of Christ?” (Page 194) This is exactly the thesis I laid out in my book <em>The Coming of the Cosmic Christ</em>— if we are other Christs- which is what we are called to be- then the second coming is our coming alive and real, deep and committed both to a radical love of life and to a deep defending of life, thus to both our deepest mystical and prophetic selves. As we undergo this deepening on a daily, a yearly, a seasonal basis, we are changed and history might be change through us. As Spong puts it, “change in who I am brings change in what I can do.” (Page 200)</p> <p>~Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox</p> <p>About the Author:</p> <p>Matthew Fox holds a doctorate in spirituality from the Institut Catholique de Paris and has authored 32 books on spirituality and contemporary culture that have been translated into 60 languages. Fox has devoted 45 years to developing and teaching the tradition of Creation Spirituality and in doing so has reinvented forms of education and worship. His work is inclusive of today’s science and world spiritual traditions and has awakened millions to the much neglected earth-based mystical tradition of the West. He has helped to rediscover Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Thomas Aquinas. </p> <hr> <p><span style="font-size:12px">(1) John Shelby Spong, <em>A New Christianity For a New World: Why Traditional Faith is Dying and How a New Faith Is Being Born</em> (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001).</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12px">(2) I tell the fuller story and list my theses in <em>Matthew Fox, A New Reformation: Creation Spirituality and the Transformation of Christianity</em> (Rochester, Vt: Inner Traditions, 2006). And I include the Rome event in <em>Matthew Fox, Confessions: The Making of a Postdenominational Priest</em> (Berkeley, Ca: North Atlantic Books, 2015), 379-380.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12px">(3) See Sermon 32: “Driving Merchants Mentalities from Our Souls: Economics and Compassion” in <em>Matthew Fox, Passion For Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart </em>(Rochester, Vt: Inner Traditions, 2000), 451.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12px">(4) See ibid., 202-212.</span></p> <p>Read the essay online <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…">here</a>.</p> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top"> <div style="color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;text-align: left;"><hr> <h2 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Question & Answer</h2> <p><span style="font-size:18px">David from Jamaica, W.I. writes:</span></p> <h4 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 22px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;"> Question:</h4> <p>If the Virgin Birth is not true, then how could Christ, in his completely human conceived state, accomplish salvation for mankind?</p> <h4 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 22px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Answer:</h4> <p>Dear David,</p> <p>Your question assumes that it was the Virgin Birth, which made Christ divine. I think it was the experience people had of meeting God in Jesus that created the narratives of the Virgin Birth. That tradition represents a primitive first century attempt to answer the question how it was that God got into Jesus so that people could have a God experience with Jesus. It is interesting to me that only Matthew and Luke resort to this explanation. Paul says only that Jesus was "born of a woman, born under the law." Mark says that God entered him at the time of the baptism when the heavens opened and the Spirit descended. John says he was the pre-existent Word or Logos, and described him in the Johanine text on two occasions as "the son of Joseph."</p> <p>It is fascinating to me to note that the portraits of the most divine Christ in the New Testament are drawn by Paul, who appears never to have heard of the miraculous tradition of Jesus birth and by John who dismissed the virgin birth tradition in favor of the pre-existent Jesus.</p> <p>The deeper question you need to raise is who is God that we experienced the divine presence in Jesus? But that would take longer than a Q & A column will allow. I do cover that in great detail in my book, Born of A Woman: A Bishop Rethinks the Virgin Birth and the Place of Women in a Male Dominated Church.</p> <p>~John Shelby Spong <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Read and Share Online Here</a></p> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top"> <div style="color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;text-align: left;"><h2 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Announcements</h2> <span style="font-size:18px">Join Bishop John Shelby Spong as he takes us on a journey to the times of Jesus’ birth ... click below image to purchase book.</span> <div style="text-align: center;color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;"><a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…"><img align="none" height="400" style="width: 266px;height: 400px;margin: 0px;border: none;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;display: inline;" width="266" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/a892aa7e-9d4…"></a> </div> Bishop Spong continues his recovery and wants to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. If you would like to send Bishop Spong a get well note please sent it to <a href="mailto:admin@progressivechristianity.org">admin(a)progressivechristianity.org</a> and we will forward it to him.</div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center" valign="top"> <table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="aolmail_templateFooter" style="background-color: #FDFDFD;border-top: 0;"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top" class="aolmail_footerContent"> <table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td colspan="2" valign="middle" id="aolmail_social" style="background-color: #FAFAFA;border: 0;"> <div style="color: #707070;font-family: Arial;font-size: 12px;line-height: 125%;text-align: center;"></div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" valign="middle" id="aolmail_utility" style="background-color: #FDFDFD;border: 1px dashed #d3d3d3;"><div style="color: #707070;font-family: Arial;font-size: 12px;line-height: 125%;text-align: center;"><div class="aolmail_vcard"><div class="aolmail_adr"><div class="aolmail_street-address"></div></div></div></div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" valign="middle" id="aolmail_utility"><div style="color: #707070;font-family: Arial;font-size: 12px;line-height: 125%;text-align: left;"></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></center><center><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" id="aolmail_canspamBarWrapper" style="background-color:#FFFFFF; border-top:1px solid #E5E5E5;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="top" style="padding-top:20px; padding-bottom:20px;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></center></div> </div> <style type="text/css">#AOLMsgPart_2_d0e3f49c-05d5-4d73-a52f-b9d92a4bebce td{color: black;} @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .aolReplacedBody table#aolmail_canspamBar td{font-size:14px !important;} .aolReplacedBody table#aolmail_canspamBar td a{display:block !important; margin-top:10px !important;} } </style>

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HAPPPY BIRTHDAY, TIM!
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 22 Nov '16

22 Nov '16

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TIM! We celebrate your being YU! Thanks for all your work on the list serves and your tips about organizing emails--info management, an ongoing challenge. Ellie elliestoc(a)aol.com

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Fwd: [Eco-Dharma] Support this deep practice in the face of legalized violence
by Raymond Caruso via Dialogue 21 Nov '16

21 Nov '16

Dear friends: Here’s how you can choose to act out your care for this brutal support by the state of ND. See below. Thx. Salvatore Caruso > Begin forwarded message: > > From: Kritee <kriteek(a)gmail.com> > Subject: [Eco-Dharma] Re: Support this deep practice in the face of legalized violence > Date: November 21, 2016 at 1:20:34 PM MST > To: eco-dharma-sangha <eco-dharma-sangha(a)googlegroups.com> > > I wanted to add one more older but powerful video (Video <https://www.facebook.com/NowThisNews/videos/1211952152228240/?pnref=story> from Nov 1st) and this crucial link on whom to contact to protest against the atrocities that happened last night. http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/dial-a-cop-20161031 <http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/dial-a-cop-20161031> > > How to Contact the People Sending Militarized Police to Standing Rock > Have a question about the militarization of policing near Dakota Access pipeline construction? Here’s who to call, starting with Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier. > > <https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http://www.yesmagazine.org/peo…> <http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http://yesmagazine.org/people-power/dia…> <http://plus.google.com/share?url=http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/di…> <http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/dial-a-cop-20161031/sendto_form?ica…> > Emily Fuller <http://www.yesmagazine.org/@@also-by?author=Emily+Fuller> posted Oct 31, 2016 > There have been a lot of questions surrounding the influx of military style troops and equipment to the Standing Rock Sioux tribal area in North Dakota. In August, North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple declared a state of emergency in response to the growing Dakota Access pipeline protests, and Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier has invoked the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, calling on police resources from six surrounding states. > On Thursday, police executed a particularly violent sweep of a camp. > On Thursday, police executed a particularly violent sweep of a camp that left structures destroyed, more than 140 people arrested, cars impounded and others burning on the side of the road. The highly militarized response—armored vehicles and heavy weaponry—was recorded by many people caught in the assault. > Across the nation, there have been solidarity actions to protest the police response. When word spread that police were allegedly using Facebook to monitor those gathered at Standing Rock, a campaign was launched Sunday encouraging Facebook users worldwide to “check-in” at Standing Rock and share that status publicly. The campaign seeks to confuse police by flooding social media with check-ins from all across the globe. According to CNN today, hundreds of thousands of people have already done it; although the Morton County Sheriff's Department has denied using Facebook to monitor the camp. > The questions many are asking range from why a private pipeline company warrants a seven-state security force paid for by taxpayers, to why President Obama has not stepped in. > Here is a list of officials from the involved states, plus the county and city police confirmed by news reports, to have sent troops and equipment to North Dakota. Questions can be directed to these people. (This list was last updated on Nov. 21, 2016). > > > North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple > > 600 East Boulevard Avenue > Bismarck, ND 58505-0100 > Phone: 701-328-2200 > Email: http://www.governor.nd.gov/contact-us <http://www.governor.nd.gov/contact-us> > https://www.facebook.com/NDGovDalrymple > <https://www.facebook.com/NDGovDalrymple>https://twitter.com/NDGovDalrymple <https://twitter.com/NDGovDalrymple> > > > Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier > > 205 1st Ave NW > Mandan, ND 58554 > Phone: 701-667-3330 > Email: kyle.kirchmeier(a)mortonnd.org <mailto:kyle.kirchmeier@mortonnd.org> > https://www.facebook.com/MortonCountySD/ <https://www.facebook.com/MortonCountySD/> > > > Morton County Commissioners Chairman Cody Schulz > > Email: cody_schulz(a)hotmail.com <mailto:cody_schulz@hotmail.com> > Phone: 701-391-9698 > https://www.facebook.com/CodySchulzForMortonCountyCommission <https://www.facebook.com/CodySchulzForMortonCountyCommission/?fref=ts> > North Dakota Congressional Delegation: > > > Sen. John Hoeven > > Bismarck Office > U.S. Federal Building > 220 East Rosser Ave. Room 312 > Bismarck, ND 58501 > Phone: 701-250-4618 > Washington, D.C. Office > 338 Russell Senate Office Building > Washington, D.C. 20510 > Phone: 202-224-2551 > https://www.facebook.com/HoevenForSenate > <https://www.facebook.com/HoevenForSenate>https://twitter.com/SenJohnHoeven <https://twitter.com/SenJohnHoeven> > > > Sen. Heidi Heitkamp > > Bismarck Office > 228 Federal Building > 220 East Rosser Avenue > Bismarck, ND 58501 > Phone: 701-258-4648 > Washington Office > SH-110 Hart Senate Office Building > Washington, DC 20510 > Phone: 202-224-2043 > https://www.facebook.com/SenatorHeidiHeitkamp > <https://www.facebook.com/SenatorHeidiHeitkamp>https://twitter.com/SenatorHeitkamp <https://twitter.com/SenatorHeitkamp> > > > Rep. Kevin Cramer > > Bismarck Office > 220 East Rosser Avenue > 328 Federal Building > Bismarck, ND 58501 > Phone: 701-224-0355 > Washington, D.C. Office > 1032 Longworth House Office Building > Washington, DC 20515 > Phone: 202-225-2611 > https://www.facebook.com/CongressmanKevinCramer > <https://www.facebook.com/CongressmanKevinCramer>https://twitter.com/RepKevinCramer <https://twitter.com/RepKevinCramer> > Law enforcement agencies sending troops and support to Morton County: > > > Cass County Sheriff Paul D. Laney > > Cass County Courthouse > 211 9th Street South > Fargo, ND 58103 > Phone: 701-297-6000 > Email: https://www.casscountynd.gov/Pages/EmailUs.aspx?Department=sheriff <https://www.casscountynd.gov/Pages/EmailUs.aspx?Department=sheriff> > https://www.facebook.com/CassCountySO <https://www.facebook.com/CassCountySO/> > > > North Dakota Highway Patrol Superintendent: Col. Michael Gerhart > > Headquarters Office > 600 E Blvd Ave, Dept 504 > Bismarck, ND 58505 > Phone: 701-328-2455 > Email: ndhpinfo(a)nd.gov <mailto:ndhpinfo@nd.gov> > Bismarck Office > 601 Channel Drive > Bismarck, ND 58501-7757 > Phone: 701-328-5590 > Minnesota: > > (After October 31, Minnesota’s contingent of deputies —29 from Hennepin County, six from Anoka County and five from Washington County—left North Dakota, having fulfilled their terms of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact.) > > > Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton > > 116 Veterans Service Building > 20 W 12th Street > St. Paul, MN 55155 > Phone: 651-201-3400 > https://www.facebook.com/GovMarkDayton > <https://www.facebook.com/GovMarkDayton>https://twitter.com/GovMarkDayton <https://twitter.com/GovMarkDayton> > > > Hennepin County Sheriff Richard W. Stanek > > 350 South 5th Street > Room 6 > Minneapolis, MN 55415 > Phone: 612-348-3744 > Email: sheriff(a)hennepin.us <mailto:sheriff@hennepin.us> > > > Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges > > City Hall > 350 S 5th Street Room 331 > Minneapolis, MN 55415 > Phone: 612-673-2100 > Email: http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/mayor/contact/index.htm <http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/mayor/contact/index.htm> > https://twitter.com/MayorHodges <https://twitter.com/MayorHodges> > > > Anoka County Sheriff James Stuart > > 13301 Hanson Blvd NW > Andover, MN 55304 > Phone: 763-323-5000 > Email: sheriff(a)co.anoka.mn.us <mailto:sheriff@co.anoka.mn.us> > > > Anoka Mayor Phil Rice > > 2015 First Ave > Anoka MN 55303 > Phone: 612-702-8442 > Email: philrice(a)ci.anoka.mn.us <mailto:philrice@ci.anoka.mn.us> > > > Washington County Sheriff William M. Hutton > > 15015 62nd St. N. > Stillwater, MN 55082 > Phone: 651-439-9381 > Email: sheriff(a)co.washington.mn.us <mailto:sheriff@co.washington.mn.us> > > > > > Wisconsin: > > > Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker > > 115 East > State Capitol > Madison, WI 53702 > Phone: 608-266-1212 > https://twitter.com/GovWalker > <https://twitter.com/GovWalker?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>https://www.facebook.com/governorscottwalker <https://www.facebook.com/governorscottwalker/> > > > Marathon County Sheriff Scott Parks > > Marathon County Courthouse > 500 Forest St. > Wausau WI 54403-5554 > Phone: 715-261-1200 > Email: sheriff(a)co.marathon.wi.us <mailto:sheriff@co.marathon.wi.us> > > > Indiana: > > > Gov. Mike Pence > > 200 W. Washington St. > Rm. 206 > Indianapolis, IN 46204 > Phone: 317-232-4567 > https://www.facebook.com/GovernorMikePence/ <https://www.facebook.com/GovernorMikePence/> > > > Lake County Sheriff John Buncich > > 2293 N. Main Street > Crown Point, IN 46307-1854 > Phone: 219-755-3333 > > > Munster Indiana Chief of Police Stephen Scheckel > > 1001 Ridge Rd > Munster, IN 46321 > https://twitter.com/munsterpolicein > <https://twitter.com/munsterpolicein>https://www.facebook.com/Munster-Police-Department-623099214436141 <https://www.facebook.com/Munster-Police-Department-623099214436141> > > > Schererville Indiana Police Chief David A. Dowling > > 25 E Joliet St. > Schererville, IN 46375 > Phone: 219-322-5000 > https://twitter.com/scherervillepd <https://twitter.com/scherervillepd?lang=en> > > > Griffith Indiana Police Chief Greg Mance > > 115 N Broad St. > Griffith, IN 46319 > Phone: 219-924-7503 > https://www.facebook.com/Griffith-Indiana-Police-Department-526691684035932 <https://www.facebook.com/Griffith-Indiana-Police-Department-526691684035932/> > > > Hammond Indiana Police Chief John D. Doughty > > 509 Douglas St. > Hammond, IN > Phone: 219-853-6544 > https://www.facebook.com/hammondpd <https://www.facebook.com/hammondpd/?fref=ts> > > > Michigan City Police Chief Mark Swistek > > 1201 E. Michigan Blvd. > Michigan City, IN 46360 > Phone: 219-874-3221 Ext. 305 > Email: mswistek(a)emichigancity.com <mailto:mswistek@emichigancity.com> > https://www.facebook.com/MCPD46360 <https://www.facebook.com/MCPD46360/?fref=ts> > > > Indiana Department of Homeland Security > > Executive Director: David Kane > > 317-232-6139 > dkane(a)dhs.in.gov <mailto:dkane@dhs.in.gov> > > > District 1 Coordinator: Angie Cloutier > > 317-519-6761 > acloutier(a)dhs.in.gov <mailto:acloutier@dhs.in.gov> > La Porte County Sheriff John T. Boyd > > 809 State Street > Suite 202A > La Porte, IN 46350 > Phone: 219-326-7700 Ext. 2406 > https://www.facebook.com/LaPorteCountySheriffsOffice <https://www.facebook.com/LaPorteCountySheriffsOffice/?fref=ts> > > > Jasper County Sheriff Terry J. Wisner > > 2171 North McKinley Avenue > P.O. Box 296 > Rensselaer, Indiana 47978 > Phone: 219-866-7344 > https://www.facebook.com/IndianaJCSO <https://www.facebook.com/IndianaJCSO/?fref=ts> > > > Newton County Sheriff Thomas Van Vleet > > 304 E Seymour St > Kentland, IN 47951 > Phone: 219-474-3331 > https://www.facebook.com/Newton-County-Sheriffs-Office-590519011044153/ <https://www.facebook.com/Newton-County-Sheriffs-Office-590519011044153/> > > > > > South Dakota: > > > South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard > > 500 E Capitol Ave > Pierre, SD 57501 > Phone: 605-773-3212 > https://twitter.com/SDGovDaugaard <https://twitter.com/SDGovDaugaard> > > > South Dakota Highway Patrol Superintendent Col. Craig Price > > 118 West Capitol Avenue > Pierre, SD 57501 > Phone: 605-773-3105 > https://www.facebook.com/SDHighwayPatrol/ > <https://www.facebook.com/SDHighwayPatrol/>https://twitter.com/SDHighwayPatrol <https://twitter.com/SDHighwayPatrol> > > > Wyoming: > > > Gov. Matt Mead > > Idelman Mansion > 2323 Carey Ave. > Cheyenne, WY 82002-0010 > Phone: 307-777-7434 > https://www.facebook.com/governormattmead > <https://www.facebook.com/governormattmead/?fref=ts>https://twitter.com/GovMattMead <https://twitter.com/GovMattMead> > > > Laramie County Sheriff Danny L. Glick > > 1910 Pioneer Avenue, Cheyenne, WY 82001 > Phone: 307-633-4700 > Email: dglick(a)laramiecounty.com <mailto:dglick@laramiecounty.com> > > > Wyoming Highway Patrol > > 5300 Bishop Blvd > Cheyenne, WY 82009 > Phone: (307) 777-4301 > > > Wyoming Highway Patrol Administrator Col. Kebin Haller > > Phone: 307-777-4301 > http://k2radio.com/six-wyoming-highway-patrol-troopers-helping-authorities-… <http://k2radio.com/six-wyoming-highway-patrol-troopers-helping-authorities-…> > > > Nebraska: > > > Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts > > P.O. Box 94848 > Lincoln, NE 68509-4848 > Phone: 402-471-2244 > https://twitter.com/GovRicketts > <https://twitter.com/GovRicketts>https://www.facebook.com/GovernorPeteRicketts <https://www.facebook.com/GovernorPeteRicketts> > > > Nebraska Emergency Management Agency > > 2433 N.W. 24th Street > Lincoln, NE 68524-1801 > Phone: 402-471-7421 > > > Nebraska Emergency Management Agency Operations Section Manager Earl Imler > > Phone: 402-471-7181 > Email: earl.imler(a)nebraska.gov <mailto:earl.imler@nebraska.gov> > > > Ohio: > > > Gov. John Kasich > > Riffe Center, 30th Floor > 77 South High Street > Columbus, OH 43215-6117 > Phone: 614-466-3555 > https://www.facebook.com/JohnKasich > <https://www.facebook.com/JohnKasich/?fref=ts>https://twitter.com/JohnKasich <https://twitter.com/JohnKasich> > > > Ohio State Highway Patrol Superintendent Col. Paul A. Pride > > Columbus Metro Post > Columbus, Ohio 43209 > Phone: 614-466-2660 > Columbus District Headquarters > 2855 West Dublin-Granville Road > Columbus, OH 43235 > Phone: 614-799-9241 > Email: wwwohp(a)dps.ohio.gov <mailto:wwwohp@dps.ohio.gov> > > > Ohio State Highway Patrol Spokesperson Lt. Robert Sellers > > Phone: 614-752-2792 > https://twitter.com/OSHP > <https://twitter.com/OSHP>https://www.facebook.com/OhioStateHighwayPatrol <https://www.facebook.com/OhioStateHighwayPatrol> > > > Federal level decisionmakers: > > > President Barack Obama > > 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW > Washington, D.C. 20500 > Phone: 202-456-1111 > Email: president(a)whitehouse.gov <mailto:president@whitehouse.gov> > > > U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Commanding General: Lt. Gen Todd T. Semonite > > 441 G Street NW > Washington, DC 20314-1000 > Phone: 202-761-0011 > https://www.facebook.com/USACEHQ/ <https://www.facebook.com/USACEHQ/> > > > Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of Army (Civil Works) > > 108 Army Pentagon > Washington, DC 20310 > joellen.darcy(a)us.army.mil <mailto:joellen.darcy@us.army.mil> > (703) 697-8986 > > > Attorney General Loretta Lynch > > United States Department of Justice > > 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW > Washington, DC 20530 > Tracy.Toulou2(a)usdoj.gov <mailto:Tracy.Toulou2@usdoj.gov> > > > U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell > > 1849 C Street, N.W. > Washington, D.C. 20240 > Phone:202-208-3100 > Email: https://www.doi.gov/feedback <https://www.doi.gov/feedback> > https://www.facebook.com/USInterior <https://www.facebook.com/USInterior> > > > Emergency Management Assistance Compact Program Director Angela Copple > > PO Box 11910 > Lexington, Kentucky 40578-1910 > Phone: 859-244-8217 > Email: acopple(a)csg.org <mailto:acopple@csg.org> > > > North Dakota Department of Emergency Services > > P.O. Box 5511 > Bismarck, North Dakota 58506-5511 > Phone: 701-328-8100 > > www.nd.gov/des <http://www.nd.gov/des> > > > > On Mon, Nov 21, 2016 at 12:59 PM, Kritee <kriteek(a)gmail.com <mailto:kriteek@gmail.com>> wrote: > Dear all, > > I hope that all of us have taken the time to watch videos coming out of Standing rock last night. Over 400 Water protectors who were stuck - partly be design - on a bridge and could not move were attacked by police for over 6 hours last night - with freezing water cannons, tear gas, rubber bullets, concussion grenades that injured over 160 people and sent at least one elder into cardiac arrest. County Sheriff spread the false news that water protectors started fires when there is video proof of how fire got started and how Native people were putting out the fires started by Police. > > Things to do: > See this very short TYT video to get a sense of what happened. LINK <https://www.facebook.com/TYTpolitics/videos/1778411889073185/?pnref=story> > Spread the word that Water protectors didn't start the fires. See one of the much longer videos from Kevin Gilbertt <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXrO-hFD-YE> (see at 1 hour 11 min to see projectile fired into water protectors from police and national Guard. It catches ground on fire and while the water cannon is being used to soak peaceful water protectors another group of water protectors stamp out the fire to prevent it spreading. This shows the story of water cannons to put out fires to be untrue.) > Sign this Petition in support of prosecuting County Sheriff: https://actionsprout.io/674D32/initial <https://actionsprout.io/674D32/initial> > Visualize this as a deepest form of practice: For me, this is one of the deepest form of practice where one stands up for what is based on not othering anyone but acting out of connection with all being and all elements that make our precious life possible. Where one doesn't shy away from what is right in order to have a false sense of temporary security. Where we honor our deepest convictions by acting on them. Where we maintain non-violence in the face of legalized violence. Take my bows, water protectors! My feeling is that more of us need to be ready to either engage in this form of practice or at the least support this kind of practice which goes beyond just bearing witness to past trauma. > Follow the news and share it...Example: from Democracy now: > Standing Rock: 100+ Injured After Police Attack with Water Cannons, Rubber Bullets & Mace > In North Dakota, more than 100 Native Americans and allies fighting the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline have been injured by police, who attacked them with rubber bullets, tear gas, mace canisters and water cannons in freezing temperatures Sunday night. The attack was on a bridge near the main Oceti Sakowin resistance camp. It began after the water protectors attempted to clear access to the public bridge, which has been blocked by authorities using military equipment chained to concrete barriers. Medics on scene say multiple people were shot by rubber bullets. > > Leland Brenholt: "My name is Leland Brenholt. I’m a medic here at Oceti Sakowin. And we have seen at least four gunshot wounds, three of them I know of to the face and head. Rubber bullets. Right now we’re trying to keep people warm. We’re trying to get them decontaminated, and treating all kinds of different wounds. People have been hit with canisters in the chest or the leg and that sort of thing." > > Water protectors say the police also fired rubber bullets at journalists, shot down drones being used to document the attack and fired flares which ignited grass fires. Legal observers with the National Lawyers Guild said multiple people temporarily lost consciousness after being shot. Witnesses say one elder also went into cardiac arrest and was revived on scene by medics. Both the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe sent medical first responders. This is Angela Bibens, a lawyer with the Red Owl Legal Collective, speaking in a telephone interview recorded by Dallas Goldtooth Sunday. > > Angela Bibens: "Right now we’ve seen people who have been maced. They deployed 20 mace canisters in a small area in less than five minutes, to the point where people have lost bowel function. At least one seizure has been witnessed at the front lines by our legal observation team. There have been people vomiting from the exposure to the mace. The water cannon has been mixed with the mace, and so even our legal observers have been exposed and are trying to deal with that while they’re doing up their notes. And canisters were shot at the medic area at the front line. There is at least one woman who has a broken kneecap. At least one elder went into cardiac arrest and was revived through CPR at the front line by medics." > > Bows, > Kritee > > -- > Kritee, Ph.D. > Senior Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund <http://www.edf.org/> > Zen Teacher (Sensei) Boundless in Motion <http://boundlessinmotion.org/> > Email kritee(a)boundlessinmotion.org <mailto:kritee@boundlessinmotion.org> Twitter @KriteeKanko <https://twitter.com/KriteeKanko> > > > -- > Kritee, Ph.D. > Senior Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund <http://www.edf.org/> > Zen Teacher (Sensei) Boundless in Motion <http://boundlessinmotion.org/> > Email kritee(a)boundlessinmotion.org <mailto:kritee@boundlessinmotion.org> Twitter @KriteeKanko <https://twitter.com/KriteeKanko> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Eco-Dharma-Sangha" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to Eco-Dharma-Sangha+unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com <mailto:Eco-Dharma-Sangha+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com>. > To post to this group, send email to Eco-Dharma-Sangha(a)googlegroups.com <mailto:Eco-Dharma-Sangha@googlegroups.com>. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/Eco-Dharma-Sangha <https://groups.google.com/group/Eco-Dharma-Sangha>. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>.

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Fwd: [Eco-Dharma] Support this deep practice in the face of legalized violence
by Raymond Caruso via Dialogue 21 Nov '16

21 Nov '16

Dear friends: The suffering has intensified at Standing Rock as of last nights horrific legalized violence of our most cherished indigenous friends. We witnessed the event last evening with a direct feed which lasted one hour with over 1 million on line to witness. Please read this then take what ever action is appropriate for you on the 2nd email I will send immediately. These are courageous people who are acting on our behalf to protect safe water for everyone. Be well. Stay resilient, Salvatore > Begin forwarded message: > > From: Kritee <kriteek(a)gmail.com> > Subject: [Eco-Dharma] Support this deep practice in the face of legalized violence > Date: November 21, 2016 at 12:59:40 PM MST > To: eco-dharma-sangha <eco-dharma-sangha(a)googlegroups.com> > > Dear all, > > I hope that all of us have taken the time to watch videos coming out of Standing rock last night. Over 400 Water protectors who were stuck - partly be design - on a bridge and could not move were attacked by police for over 6 hours last night - with freezing water cannons, tear gas, rubber bullets, concussion grenades that injured over 160 people and sent at least one elder into cardiac arrest. County Sheriff spread the false news that water protectors started fires when there is video proof of how fire got started and how Native people were putting out the fires started by Police. > > Things to do: > See this very short TYT video to get a sense of what happened. LINK <https://www.facebook.com/TYTpolitics/videos/1778411889073185/?pnref=story> > Spread the word that Water protectors didn't start the fires. See one of the much longer videos from Kevin Gilbertt <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXrO-hFD-YE> (see at 1 hour 11 min to see projectile fired into water protectors from police and national Guard. It catches ground on fire and while the water cannon is being used to soak peaceful water protectors another group of water protectors stamp out the fire to prevent it spreading. This shows the story of water cannons to put out fires to be untrue.) > Sign this Petition in support of prosecuting County Sheriff: https://actionsprout.io/674D32/initial <https://actionsprout.io/674D32/initial> > Visualize this as a deepest form of practice: For me, this is one of the deepest form of practice where one stands up for what is based on not othering anyone but acting out of connection with all being and all elements that make our precious life possible. Where one doesn't shy away from what is right in order to have a false sense of temporary security. Where we honor our deepest convictions by acting on them. Where we maintain non-violence in the face of legalized violence. Take my bows, water protectors! My feeling is that more of us need to be ready to either engage in this form of practice or at the least support this kind of practice which goes beyond just bearing witness to past trauma. > Follow the news and share it...Example: from Democracy now: > Standing Rock: 100+ Injured After Police Attack with Water Cannons, Rubber Bullets & Mace > In North Dakota, more than 100 Native Americans and allies fighting the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline have been injured by police, who attacked them with rubber bullets, tear gas, mace canisters and water cannons in freezing temperatures Sunday night. The attack was on a bridge near the main Oceti Sakowin resistance camp. It began after the water protectors attempted to clear access to the public bridge, which has been blocked by authorities using military equipment chained to concrete barriers. Medics on scene say multiple people were shot by rubber bullets. > > Leland Brenholt: "My name is Leland Brenholt. I’m a medic here at Oceti Sakowin. And we have seen at least four gunshot wounds, three of them I know of to the face and head. Rubber bullets. Right now we’re trying to keep people warm. We’re trying to get them decontaminated, and treating all kinds of different wounds. People have been hit with canisters in the chest or the leg and that sort of thing." > > Water protectors say the police also fired rubber bullets at journalists, shot down drones being used to document the attack and fired flares which ignited grass fires. Legal observers with the National Lawyers Guild said multiple people temporarily lost consciousness after being shot. Witnesses say one elder also went into cardiac arrest and was revived on scene by medics. Both the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe sent medical first responders. This is Angela Bibens, a lawyer with the Red Owl Legal Collective, speaking in a telephone interview recorded by Dallas Goldtooth Sunday. > > Angela Bibens: "Right now we’ve seen people who have been maced. They deployed 20 mace canisters in a small area in less than five minutes, to the point where people have lost bowel function. At least one seizure has been witnessed at the front lines by our legal observation team. There have been people vomiting from the exposure to the mace. The water cannon has been mixed with the mace, and so even our legal observers have been exposed and are trying to deal with that while they’re doing up their notes. And canisters were shot at the medic area at the front line. There is at least one woman who has a broken kneecap. At least one elder went into cardiac arrest and was revived through CPR at the front line by medics." > > Bows, > Kritee > > -- > Kritee, Ph.D. > Senior Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund <http://www.edf.org/> > Zen Teacher (Sensei) Boundless in Motion <http://boundlessinmotion.org/> > Email kritee(a)boundlessinmotion.org <mailto:kritee@boundlessinmotion.org> Twitter @KriteeKanko <https://twitter.com/KriteeKanko> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Eco-Dharma-Sangha" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to Eco-Dharma-Sangha+unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com <mailto:Eco-Dharma-Sangha+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com>. > To post to this group, send email to Eco-Dharma-Sangha(a)googlegroups.com <mailto:Eco-Dharma-Sangha@googlegroups.com>. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/Eco-Dharma-Sangha <https://groups.google.com/group/Eco-Dharma-Sangha>. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>.

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Re: [Dialogue] Dialogue Digest, Vol 56, Issue 17
by Jaime R Vergara via Dialogue 17 Nov '16

17 Nov '16

the militarization of the state in support of the energy companies against peaceful water protectors The alarm in here is the fact that the archaic structure of medieval military remains as the only "disciplined" method of organizing and running society. It also harkens to fealty to national sentiments and obediences at a time when the planet has gained a global earthrise consciousness versus the adherence to nation-state loyalties. Standing rock is a microcosm of the struggle to assert human sanity in a world preoccupied with getting the bottom line of corporation wealthy, and the push for individuals to be on the top of the heap. Still, the mandate cannot be an external demand, either constitutionally or religiously. I decide, and so does everyone else, on how to behave, and the areas of wisdom, lifestyle and symbol in the Cultural Pole of the Social Process is very instructive. To protest militarization requires an alternative model, and as Dianne and Salvatore continue with their protest, the need to propose something else becomes imperative. I am considering turning back my leased vehicle at the end of my second year contract (it was signed for three years) and get a bicycle, though at 71, pedaling up a hill to the community college will be an effort, and that might just be my sustenance for the next 4 years. I might just consider moving into the area since the folks who run my building are constructing a complex in front of the College. My editors "variation" column today affirms that the sun is still up. Amen. wangzhimu2031 earthrise consciousness, a gift; earthbound commitment, my choice yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate! in all, celebrate! -----Original Message----- From: via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> To: dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> Sent: Fri, Nov 18, 2016 4:12 am Subject: Dialogue Digest, Vol 56, Issue 17 Send Dialogue mailing list submissions to dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/dialogue-wedgeblade.net or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to dialogue-request(a)lists.wedgeblade.net You can reach the person managing the list at dialogue-owner(a)lists.wedgeblade.net When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Dialogue digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Robert F. Kennedy Visits Standing Rock Today : explains exactly why the Dakota Access Pipeline is being pushed so hard. (Raymond Caruso via Dialogue) 2. Robert F. Kennedy Visits Standing Rock Today : explains exactly why the Dakota Access Pipeline is being pushed so hard. (Ellie Stock via Dialogue) 3. 11/17/16, Spong: Does the Religious Faith of a Supreme Court Justice Matter? (Originally posted June 10, 2010) (Ellie Stock via Dialogue) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2016 14:23:50 -0700 From: Raymond Caruso via Dialogue <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net> To: litibu(a)yahoogroups.com, Order Ecumenical ICA-USA <dialogue(a)lists.wedgeblade.net>, Mountainstream Sangha <mountainstream(a)groups.facebook.com>, eco-dharma-sangha <eco-dharma-sangha(a)googlegroups.com> Subject: [Dialogue] Robert F. Kennedy Visits Standing Rock Today : explains exactly why the Dakota Access Pipeline is being pushed so hard. Message-ID: <1D37FA43-6801-4ED2-A0ED-DCDB75EAC866(a)igc.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > Dear friends: > > If you want to get a look at some very enlightening words on why the pipeline at Standing Rock ( and all pipelines) hear his words as he connects all the dots on this process and what?s at stake > > Cut and paste this website: > > https://www.facebook.com/CollectiveEvolutionPage/videos/10154695434748908/ <https://www.facebook.com/CollectiveEvolutionPage/videos/10154695434748908/> > > In addition, here?s what we did yesterday?. > > Yesterday in Boulder Dianne and I took direct actions with several hundred protectors to : > > 1) Stand with about 300 other cities that were asking the Army Corp of Engineers Not to grant the pipeline easement to go under the Missouri River at SR. Waiting for a decision in next few days. > 2) Others in our ecodharma group protested at Wells Fargo bank to bring awareness to the banks investment in the pipe line. > 3) Simultaneously, the Boulder County Commissioners were taking professional testimony and resident testimony on the issue of lifting the moratorium on fracking in Boulder County. Several hundred people were there and some gave testimony. Salvatore gave his . > > Our advice is to get involved at any level in your community?s on local environmental issues. The faster we can get thru the transition to alternative energy sources the healthier we and the planet will be. > > What we?ve witnessed at Standing Rock after 3 visits and daily contact is the militarization of the state in support of the energy companies against peaceful water protectors. This is a portent of what is to come across the country as fracking and oil extraction continues unabated with state/governmental support. > > Remedies: > ?non violent direct action at the sites > ? dis- investing in Banks that invest in these activities > ? class action suits/ > ? promoting alternative non fossil energy sources locally > ? big time reduction in fossil fuel usage in our personal lives ( conservation). > > Stay safe. Be alert and resilient, > > Dianne & Salvatore > >

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