​We are gentle people-- heartbroken people
Caught in the midst of a seemingly endless violence.
 
Snipers – provocateurs creating violence, fan the flames of fear.
 
This cannot be the way into our future.
I want to take to the streets
Not only to protest fear or to protest violence…
 
But to speak up for peace, compassion, deep listening – and sanity.
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation? (The Hopi Elder)
 
​We are all caught in this senseless web of violence –
that does not reflect our deepest values.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for your leader.

​Have you ever wondered why “developing” nations are still mired in great poverty although they have received enormous amounts of aid for infrastructure? Or why the United States is engaged in an endless stream of small wars and conflicts? And, after we bomb and destroy any country our next budget item is reconstruction? 
Meet John Perkins:  a former “Economic Hit Man” whose job was to help U.S. intelligence agencies and multinational corporations cajole and blackmail foreign leaders into serving U.S. foreign policy and awarding lucrative contracts to American business.  That system has spread to now become the dominant means of business and government within the U.S. as well.
John’s book, New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, puts the pieces of the puzzle together so that we can understand “corporatocracy” -- how businesses serve the wealthy and continue to impoverish the poor through systemic blackmail, assassinations and more.
Defense spending facts:  Military spending is projected to account for 54% of all federal discretionary spending; and, the U.S. spends more on defense than China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, United Kingdom, India, France and Japan – COMBINED!