We have a Raging Grannies group here in Bloomington, Indiana. The last time I saw them sing was at a protest to the widening of a highway that I helped to organize. (Our protest got swallowed by the fed’s DOE engineering juggernaut that continues to massage consumer car culture in an age of peak oil, peak everything.)
I know of several other granny groups, and all of them hold a wonderfully humorous attitude while singing for deadly serious causes. As a coming crone myself (I founded two “crone” magazines: Crone Chronicles (1989-2001), and Crone, in (2007 – ), it may be that only us old ones can view the current horrors worldwide with both compassion and detachment. And perhaps we can help others move into that same expanded frame of mind and heart.
I cultivate the paradoxical attitude of being both alive to the horrors and full of love for all the players in the drama, “good” and “bad.” In this way — and by cultivating yoga, chi kung, tai chi, and other physical practices — I remain open to the flow of universal energy. By consistently drawing from the zero point field of endless, infinite possibilities, I (mostly!) avoid burn-out.
Nothing less will do. We need to learn how, not only to match, but ultimately to overwhelm the seemingly superhuman stamina and staying power of those who would use their corporate fronts to wreck the Earth and all who call her home.
Thanks to opednews.com.
By Michael Shaw (about the author)
August 14, 2011
http://santacruzraginggrannies.com/ruth-hunter-on-the-raging-grannies/
Raging Grannies at the Jobs Not Cuts Rockin’ Event by Greg McKenzie
(This Event was sponsored by Moveon.org. The photo was taken by Greg McKenzie)
The first time I heard about the Raging Grannies was about 5 or 6 years ago when they went to the Capitola Army Recruitment Center and were arrested for trying to enlist (in place of our youth) for the war in Iraq. On Wednesday, August 10th, 2011, I had an opportunity to not only meet these bold ladies, but sing with them at the “Jobs Not Cuts Rockin’ Rally” on the pavilion of the Santa Cruz City Hall near Congressman Sam Farr’s Office on Center Street. The rally was a direct response to, as David Swanson put it, this “devil’s sandwich” of a deal concerning Obama and the new “super congress” that now dictates mandatory cuts to programs to balance budget deficits, most of which accumulated from decades of trickle down economics(beginning with Reagan) and the disastrous Bush tax cuts to the rich(extended twice by Obama), Also the endless warfare requiring increased defense spending that costs tax payers 51 cents of every dollar in taxes we pay to the general fund. Meanwhile, American jobs are lost overseas to corporations that are rewarded in subsidies and tax breaks for doing it! As the infrastructure continues to crumble, billions of your dollars are given to those who have no intent of rebuilding it. They are the very people who created and even encouraged this current economic crisis. They own most of our politicians and they give not a damn about the average American citizen.
The rally, sponsored by Moveon.org and other progressive organizations, supports the Contract For The American Dream, which is a far cry better than what either the Tea Party and their GOP allies or Obama (who is eyeing corporate campaign finance) could come up with. In fact, under this new contract, deficits would be balanced by simply making the rich pay their fair share in taxes and by enacting a single payer health care system(Medicare for all) that would lower overall costs by eliminating the greedy insurance and pharmaceutical middlemen who presently suck up most of that money. It would also create competition among the insurance providers, forcing them to lower costs to remain competitive. It would open the doors for bulk purchasing with the pharmaceutical corporations, which would result in cheaper prescription drugs for everyone. The contract title(its heart and soul) had been manifested in part upon Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous 1963 speech-“I have a dream, it is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.”
The Contract’s provisions are as follows:
- INVEST IN AMERICA’S INFRASTRUCTURE
- CREATE 21st CENTURY ENERGY JOBS
- INVEST IN PUBLIC EDUCATION
- OFFER MEDICARE FOR ALL
- MAKE WORK PAY
- SECURE SOCIAL SECURITY
- RETURN TO FAIRER TAX RATES
- END THE WARS AND INVEST AT HOME
- TAX WALL STREET SPECULATION10. STRENGTHEN DEMOCRACY
Seems a whole lot better than the Ryan(Norquist) plan doesn’t it?For those unfamiliar with that abomination, it can be found here, though you’ll have to read between the BS:http://www.roadmap.republicans.budget.house.gov/
Essentially the GOP plan is the opposite of The Contract for the American Dream. It privatizes Medicare and Social Security while producing even more cuts to social programs and more tax breaks to the rich. Nothing in there about rebuilding infrastructure, ending wars, creating good paying jobs, securing Social Security or preserving Democracy. Only “stay the course” as depicted by George W Bush at an even faster, more damaging rate than his installation.
As for the tea party, with all their money and influence(ala Koch brothers and Grover Norquist among others), all their media supported lies and all their twisted ideology, we have real people on our side like The Raging Grannies! Also teachers, firemen, policemen, nurses and other workers who have lost their jobs or who will lose their jobs if this economic disaster is allowed to continue. Our event was only one of many, vibrant events that happened yesterday across the country in hundreds of towns and cities. Imagine an event with hundreds of thousands of people, altogether and converging upon one spot, Washington, DC. It is on its way if we make it happen! We must make it happen if we are ever to preserve a reasonable future for our kids and grandkids. My guess is the Raging Grannies will get there and if they can do it, so can we all!
