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I've always thought Pink rocked! She should go on tour with the Dixie Chicks. I'd be first in line to buy a ticket!!

Pink rocks. And Kimmel rocks too for having her on when the other stations said no:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t8qrLZFvpU&mode=related&search=

She is such a strong woman, and the idea of her with Dixie Chicks, I'm in.

Hard work? What a joke ! Ya Pink really has a tough job ! Everybody who has it tough can blame it on Bush. All the whoes of the world are Bush's falt of course. Hurricane Katrina was Bush's fault. No child left behind, ya we don't need to test our kid at school, it might upset them ! We need a real roll model again like Clinton !

No, Brian. Not ALL of the world's woes are Bush's fault. But MANY current problems and dangers staring us in the face are clearly a result of his administration's actions or inactions (as most of the planet believes) - but hey, ultimately it's our fault for voting in the most intellectually inept and least qualified President perhaps of all time. Oh, wait....we DIDN'T vote him in, now did we?

I don't really care what the rest of the "Planet" thinks my one world government friend, oh that's right Mr. sore loser Gore should have been our President/Prophet ! Or maybe we should have elected "D" student Kerry !

Hi Brian - thanks for demonstrating what the rest of us find painfully obvious - you support an administration (and political party) of corrupt, self-serving, warmongering oligarchs who "don't really care what the rest of the Planet thinks".

Well, I would think that's a huge problem you've got right there, "my friend". Not caring about the lives, concerns and beliefs of the rest of the world is dangerous and is going to get us further and further into trouble as time goes on. How you aren't cognizant of that is beyond me.

Last time I checked we still are the US of A and are not dictated to by the rest of the world or the UN.
Clinton didn't wage war?

That's right, the USA takes no crap from anyone - we'll bomb whoever we like, diplomacy be damned! Shock and awe, we're #1! We'll use 40% of the earth's resources, devouring gas in our giant Hummers and Tahoes, because its a God-given right for the best country on earth. Now, back to Rush Limbaugh...

If he is so inclined, Brian, I'll let Sean take you apart on the war comment.

Brian:

How can you possibly equate what Bill Clinton got us into compared to the current war?!?!

Also, isn't it obvious that we have only been a superpower for a relatively short period of time and "the leader of the free world" for even shorter than that. A major re-alignment could very well happen in our lifetime. Do you think it does us any good to wage war, continue to use up a disporportionate amount of resources, insult the cultures and beliefs of others, ignore international law and protocol, etc., etc. and at the very same time, try to bury our isolationist heads in the sand and say we aren't part of a larger, global community. I feel your attitude is reckless and unconscionable.

Well I agree we are the best country on earth ! Try hauling a family of 4 around in a Toyota Prius ! And what every you do don't get into a crash because you won't survive. We only try to bomb people who kill women and children and those who cut peoples heads off on the internet.

Oh, we better not piss of the Islamic fundementalists because they might be in charge soon ! I don't mind insulting a culture of death. Which is what islamic fundimntalism is. What "international law" have we violated? What country do you support if not the US?

Yeah, but funny about bombs, huh Brian? They don't always land on the intended target, now do they.

Yes, Tyler, please get Sean in here. He probably has some statistics about how many innocent women and children we've killed in order to "bomb those who kill women and children".

Brian - is this really your argument?!?!

Brian - I was too flippant in my response above. All joking aside, the Bush-Cheney administration's actions have been catastrophic for the United States and the international community. I can't argue with someone who sees everything in black-and-white. Have a great beekeeping day.

Forget the Middle East just for a moment. Do you think it does any good to alienate China, India, The EU, etc. Do you travel, Brian? Do you realize how much hatred there is out there?? Much of it is understandable and justified. I LOVE this country but am not proud of the way we are currently participating in the world arena. Life isn't all black and white, you know. You can still love the country you live in but ask (demand) that it act better.

I'm curious, Which country in the world is the most loved? We are hardly alienating China, we are thier biggest trading partner, we are creating millionares everyday in China.

Great question, Brian - one study show the UK is #1, and the United States comes in a distant 10th.
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=29824

Don't believe everything you hear from Hannity, O'Reilly and Limbaugh.

Our growing trade deficit with China is an entirely different topic, and one that is NOT favorable for the American economy.

Don't forget Mark Livine, Jerry Doyle, and all the others ! Have a good IT day Tyler !

Brian:

I was speaking hypothetically about how possible major re-alignments are quite feasible in the near future. If China, say, were to more closely align with Europe (who from what I can see is losing patience with us every day) or India or The Middle East, etc. who's to say what the consequences would be for us?

I offer this up simply because there are so many like you out there who think we are going to be the "king of the hill" forever. You can't even begin to conceive of life being any other way. I'm sure, for example, many citizens of the U.K. thought similarly at the very same time the sun WAS setting on their British Empire.

no there there ...

the video that is.

some more shoppers expressing the SAME consumer mindlessness as the bush administration, and their fake 'democratic' opposition.

zero consciousness of the sacred ways -- of respect for culture and nature, of the world dialog, the wisdom of the native elders, death of Mother Earth.

in "so few words" more American zombie speak ...

I still think she rocks! And very courageous after what happened to the Dixie Chicks.

Brian: You are an old scared crow without a brain and this is not your Oz. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, zombie.

The f.acts are not important to this moron. He needs to be 'right'. That is the bottom line. Facts are irrelevant and easily ignored... eh NoBrain?

I will never go near your fascist pesticide ridden honey.

Brainless, I don't agree with Brian, but you've resorted to childish name- calling, which does nothing to further discussion. A little decorum, please.

No pesticides in our honey, bees don't like pesticides, it kills them. I'm just bringing my opinion which you don't happen to agree with. I happen to like most of Pink's music, and I really liked the Dixie Chicks first album.

Lisa, your desire for moderation and respect is worthy, in other circumstances. But "discussion" and appeasement of the absolutely indefensible, factually wrong, morally reprehensible line taken by Brian and his ilk - parroted directly from the White House - is what has gotten the U.S. to the sorry state we are in. Take a listen to Attorney General Gonzalez in his testimony today - my God, the nation's chief law enforcement officer is a complete boob, bobbing and weaving like the worst Tricky Dick impersonation imaginable.

The fact is, these people are amoral, ignorant, incompetent morons who have brought this country nothing but disaster. We will be fixing their mess for at least a generation. If we ever recover.

Democrats and others trying to maintain "decorum" and be rational with these people are part of the reason we are where we are today. Moderation is not a virtue when faced with extremist ideologues like Brian, and the extreme danger they represent. "Moderation" and "mutual respect" and "decorum" feeds them - its what allows them to continue destroying our country and the world. Their leaders use fools like Brian as a cheering section, as their enablers, and we do nobody any favors to indulge any of them, least of all ourselves.

The people Brian supports are criminal monsters, and should be treated as such. And as for Brian, Nuremberg had some salient lessons for how to view him.

Meanwhile, if Brainless doesn't want to buy Brian's or anybody else's "pesticide ridden honey", he is free not to. There is nothing childish about withholding your dollars from someone who uses them to support evil causes that you oppose.

Correction - I'll take Brian at his word that there are no pesticides in his honey. And maybe he can tell us whether he donates to these evil Republicans.

When you hear one defend the right, you hear that mornings talking point releases to all republican outlets to be regurgitated by it's elite's down to it's sentries. It's sickening. It did work for along time, partly because Democrats coward and didn't make a united stance against the ilk that was taking over the republican party. The only thing that will save the republicans is the democrats exposing the ilk that controls them, pushes them out of power, that will lead to a realignment toward, I hope, what the party used to stand for.

You people are scary

I'm really sorry to hear that Brian is still a Bush supporter. I thought the only people who still supported this administration wore pointed hoods or Nazi armbands. Possibly wild eyed, Tim LaHaye reading armageddonists too. You know, the fascist 20+% that has always existed in this and most other countries. The ones who think that human beings, at their core, are evil and that they are all only out for themselves. I've met Brian, and he doesn't strike me as being a member of any of these categories. Perhaps there's a fourth group of Bush supporters: white males who will not, under any circumstances, admit that they were completely taken in by this administration and it's demonstrably bankrupt conservative agendas that have been ruining this country since Reagan. Their ridiculous "free trade" economic policies have been destroying our economy and the middle class even through the Clinton Administration. (Clinton is the second best "Republican" president we've ever had after Teddy Roosevelt). Apparently this fourth group believes that by simply shutting their eyes to reality, they will not be wrong. It's time for them to wake up and smell the carnage. We need to make it okay for these people to admit their error and come back to the side that actually cares for people in this country who make less than $500,000.00 and year, otherwise known and the "bottom" 99% of the population.

My suggestion for the people on the post is to step back and look at the above posts topic. You'll quickly notice that there is no one siding with Brian. This doesn't mean that there aren't readers out there that share his support of this insane regime, just that they don't even have the courage of their convictions to come to his aid.

By the way, the honey that Brian's bees make is good.

I was reading the first three threads which were poetic and artistic. I was thinking they were quite beautful and different from the usual political ones I engage in. I'm a poet at heart and was thinking about what I could contribute.

Then I came upon this thread, and noticed how many comments were made, in contrast to the few on the three opening threads. Politics sure is a hot item judging by the number of hits. It indicates to me that politics is where it is at, as I've argued many times on this Post. Politics is an art, too, and has an inherent beauty. The dark side of politics is what scares people away, or simply turns them off so they don't participate. That's sad.

I've never seen this group. Are they Pink or Punk? Reminds me of the Three Graces. Such beautiful womem with a poignant message. The Dixie Chicks are likewise awesome womem. I love them, and see in them a deep political symbol. They sure touched off a firestorm among pale males and their co-dependents. I noticed the male guitarist supporting them. He's a symbol of a real man, who has no trouble taking a back seat to womem.

I believe womem are the superior sex. Man came from womem. Until society faces that fact of nature, we will have these endless sex wars. Nothing in nature is absolutely equal and so with the sexes. All wars have a sexual underbase which makes the phrase "war of the sexes" so telling.

Bush is also a symbol so it doesn't do much good to Bush bash. The real problem is what the symbol points to. The "hard work" the song points to is the uncovering of the patriarchic emperor who clothes himself with wall upon wall of defenses against love of womem and nature. Per the song, he's a "lonely boy," despite all his trucks and toys.

"Mr. President, take a walk with me." Honor your inner womam. The Chicks and the Pinks [?} stand with "head held high" and with their body language, speak truth to power.

Spk, as per form, has some perceptive comments. He refers to "shutting eyes to reality," which is the opposite of active truth seeking. He points out that our problems are also with liberals such as Clinton. In fact, I have more problems with liberals who are deceptive and cowardly than I do with out and out rascals like the bushites. Phony liberals stab you in the back after shaking your hand. Red necks aren't above that but they don't hesitiate to stick it in right from the front.

Spk is right to qualify the statement that "no one is siding with Brian." Brian is saying what many in Ojai think. I like Brian's comments because they get out in the open what is usually not expressed in polite company. Brian has the same need I do to express himself about what he thinks is worthwhile. I have a different take on what is good for Ojai and the U.S. If we keep engaging in conversation and work through the emotional charges, it will lead to deeper understanding.

This might be a good opportunity to inform the community that I have founded a third party called the Red Brown Blue party which supports The Lover Government. The present government and republicrats do not come anywhere close to meeting my needs. Other parties like the Greens are too narrow in their focus and not strong enough in their intellectual powers to confront the "evil" that is destroying our world.

The RBB uses a symbolic womam [that is purposely spelled by the way] as its artistic and spiritual centerpiece. The Three Graces referenced above need to take on the triumvirate of money-sex-power and the patriarchic old boys' club. A womam's consciousness is needed to cut to the quick which is a problem for men who are fixated on a boy level of development. A whole lot of education is required, and the last place such education is to be found is in the main stream media or in our schools, of which most are in fact agents of patriarchy.

That's why I need outlets such as this Post. Some fear that I am planning to hijack it. Not to fear. Tyler is aware of the danger and can handle it.

namaste my children,

ask any of the women in your village why the dialog here is dominated by politics and argumentativeness.

a forum where women are in the minority, and thus others stay away from the unwholesome character of the speakers and their intentions.

in my home country India it is much the same, the media and religions and economics and government attentions all focused on the masculine and combative.

as example!

http://www.tribuneindia.com/

come into your whole left and right minds, little ones, and there find your hearts!

Hi Chidvilasananda:

I'm curious to know what you find unwholesome about a strong (and yes, sometimes heated) debate on topics of such vital importance to our country and the rest of the world?

Are you talking about just this thread or the Ojai Post in general?

Do you find Pink combative and unwholesome because she challenges the President of the US and the politics of his administration through her music?

I am under the impression that quite a few women participate in The Ojai Post (although it would be hard for anyone to really know for sure with the abundance of pseudonyms). I am a woman and don’t think I am less feminine / more masculine because I engage in a political argument or discussion. It is a personality trait (and not one of gender) to "speak" my mind (and perhaps become somewhat combative in the process) when I disagree with someone who I feel is publishing something reckless and dangerous.

Thank you for your wisdom Teacher. I am honored to be your child.

I asked the women in my village why the dialog here was dominated by politics and argumentativeness, but all they said was "dialog where?"

I said "The Ojai Post."

Then I asked the women in my village to help me stop associating with the unwholesome character of the speakers and their intentions here. The women in my village said, "good idea, you waste way too much time on that Ojai Post. Why don't you do something productive, like make some money? Or something?"

So now I have been trying to come into my whole left brain with my right brain for an hour now, but I still haven't found my heart. I think its still in my chest.

Perhaps I misunderstand the teaching? Please enlighten?

Such a clever move, Long Time. Infantile reversal: 2 points.
Polarity 101: Adult/Child.
Objective: safety.
Sub corollary: control vs. passivity.
Anonymous sincerity level: 0

I was being honest and sincere and truly wished further dialogue, Serpent. Did my post come off differently? I apologize if it did. I'm sorry but I don't completely understand your message. Could you de-code?

it is not big money that has bled away the heart of the Valley ... though money per se would be much closer to the truth.

there is no more evil, nor less good, in a developer or a soldier or a lawyer, politician, banker, doctor ... than in the working-class consumers and shopkeepers everywhere around us.

each are doing their best to better our world, and their perceived self within it.

whether we steal a trillion dollars from the marketplace, and ravage millions of acres of land, and send thousands of office-workers to their graves -- with the intent of saving tens of thousands of others --

or we abuse one child, poison one garden, buy one more car --

it is equal unhappiness.

~~

there are thousands and millions of awakened teachers, elders, spirit-guides planetwide who have enlightened to a billion times greater wealth - of moderation and mindfulness, balanced multifaceted radiance -- kept whole and centered in each and every day in the perspective of the feminine and the masculine, by participation in many cultures, students of the ancient (aboriginal, native) ways of harmony with family and forest -- and in reverent prayer, selfless homeage, service and devotion to the divine wilderness of creation ... life aka nature.

this is not only our future, it is the greatest, most self-fulfilling, caring and nurturing, violence-free, of tomorrows ...

I am finding more and more reasons for loving Ojai in the comments of the OP, which is the best kept secret of the literati innernet. For years, Ojai was a best kept outernet secret, until big city moneybags spotted gold in them thar valley hills, and we got visitors from Jersey M's and 27,000 subways. The fox guarding the Ojai chicken coop and sheeple pen fell asleep at the wheel but he heard the subway train and now wants to jump on board before it leaves the station bound for Jersey with Ojai money.
Ok, so I'm not a comic but I tried.

I linked to the India post. Hey, what a small world. I agree that there is an inherent contradiction in mental males speaking for heartoriented womem. I'm one who is trying to get clean from the head trip addiction and head down to the heartland. I am a womam inside, or as Jung put it, I have an anima, like an animal womam inside roaring to get out. Don't let us head trippers intimidate. I personally believe womem are the superior sex, and therefore can sit in their sacred circle and enjoy the silence. I have founded the Red Brown and Blue Party to create The Lover Government which has a symbolic womam [sic] as its artistic, political centerpiece.

If I understand Millenium's art, he is saying we are all equal in the cosmic eye. I suppose from that level it looks like it but down closer in nature nothing is exactly the same. Vive la difference. Womem are equal but a little more so, as Pink and the Chicks prove to the bushleaguers.

Translation for Long Time

You made an excellent point. The dynamics of this interaction exposed a classic polarity: child vs. adult
Anonymous was being disengenuous and patronizing. He felt intimidated by your insight-light (most cockaroaches are).
Your sincerity is apparent and your vulnerability endearing.

gad! the Ojai Valley's in the midst of a spiritual crisis -- where is Brian when you need him?

send drugs and money, guns and lawyers, doctors and social workers! we desperately need help!

just where is this all leading to?! ??