A Native American Source of Inspiration

Part of my ancestry is Cherokee. My paternal grandmother, Ruth, was born on the Sisseton-Wahpeton Reservation in South Dakota a long time ago. As part of my sobriety program, I subscribe to daily meditations from White Bison. If you are looking for inspiration, I recommend this source. Here is one I like. Contact information is at the bottom of this post.
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Elder's Meditation of the Day - November 23

"We're sitting on our blessed Mother Earth from which we get our strength and determination, love and humility-all the beautiful attributes that we've been given. so turn to one another; love one another; respect one another; respect Mother Earth; respect the waters-because that's life itself!"

--Phil Lane, Sr. YANKTON SIOUX

Our entire point of view can be altered by making one change to align with the principles of the Great Spirit. Let's say we decide to become respectful. As we become respectful, our attitude will change. We will automatically draw into our lives knowledge about the other principles of the Great Spirit such as love, appreciation, trust, beauty, peace of mind. By focusing on these principles, we will let go of selfishness, self centeredness, self pity, dishonesty and fear. You focus on respect, you get respect; you focus on love, you get love; you focus on the Red Road, you get peace of mind.

Great Spirit, let me learn the lessons of respect.

Contact us:
White Bison, inc.
6145 Lehman Drive Suite 200
Colorado Springs, CO
80918

E-mail us:
www.whitebison.org
info@whitebison.org
Phone : 719-548-1000
Fax : 719-548-9407

Adoptions from the Heart (A Real Pro-life Option)

I support the right of women to control their own bodies and to make the choice they believe to be right when faced with an unwanted and unplanned pregnancy. Sometimes some so-called "pro-lifers" seem to throw out "alternatives" like they are easy, simple, and easily accessible. I just happened today to find this interesting program. It is a program that does not seem to be wedded to any extremist agenda. In fact this program has some sets of prospective parents who are not traditional. I welcome this.

So, if you find yourself with an unwanted pregnancy but choose not to abort (remember, this is your choice), you might want to take a look at this organization:

http://afth.rtrk.com/
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Catholics United

I grew up Catholic. I left the church and eventually Christianity decades ago. But I always have some affection for Catholics. It was in part for me part of an ethnic identity. Although my ethnic heritage is mixed (Portuguese, Cherokee, French, English and more), my father's first language was Portuguese. I remember fondly our family going to Portuguese Catholic celebrations and feasts.

So, I sometimes notice what is going on with Catholics, especially progressive and thoughtful Catholics. Catholics United is one of those organizations that caught my eye in this recent election. I have already posted content from one of their campaigns on how we can do our best to reduce actions against life. I think most Americans are like me. I support the right to choose, believing that a woman's body is her own; yet I experience qualms about this matter.

It is so easy to see so-called "pro-life" groups as caring only about "the unborn," ignoring the "already born." There are so many issues of lost lives (war, capital punishment) and of life quality issues (poverty, malnutrition, lacking health care). Those are usually ignored by the so-called "pro-life" groups.

Catholics United is a notable exception. They genuinely care not only about life after birth but about reducing the conditions that lead to more not less abortions. I encourage all who truly want to reduce abortions and to care about the quality of life after birth to visit this web site:

http://www.catholics-united.org/

Faith and Public Life

I am a strong supporter of the separation of church and state. I oppose any effort towards establishing a theocracy here. I do not regard our nation as a Christian nation. I support the right of all to choose their faith or to aver they subscribe to none. Even more I look forward to the day when we can elect a non-Christian as president.

All that said, I do think that faith is an important and integral part of the private and public lives of our nation and its citizens. I have principles that come from my faith and guide (not dictate) me in the choices I make as a voter and as an activist. For more than two decades faith as a factor in how we engage ourselves in public life has been extremely one-sided, at least in public view and dialogue. For some years now there has been a growing groundswell of people of faith who do not share the one-sided views that have held the spotlight.

I want to encourage my readers to learn more about this growing dialogue and community. Please take a look at this web site:

http://www.faithinpubliclife.org/

Yes, We Can!

Barack Obama is our next president! Hooray!

Dress Code on Election Day: WWJD?

A friend, who is another Deaf American for Obama, asked if I would mind sharing this image he created. I think we all agree that number one on Election Day is casting our vote. I will pull my jacket over the buttons. But this is an amusing and thoughtful take on this matter.

Thanks to Aubrey Sparks for this contribution!

Protecting our votes

There has already been a steady stream of actions in various parts of our nation to suppress voting turnout through some clearly illegal actions, using intimidation and false information. In some places letters have been distributed door to door or mailed saying that due to a higher than expected turnout that Democrats will be voting on Wednesday, November 5th, instead of Tuesday. This is false information designed to keep Democrats from voting. It behooves all of us to be informed. You and I might be clear about our rights as voters, but we may run into others who are not. So, I encourage all to review the following:

For some good basic information:

http://www.protectmyvote.org/
http://www.mypollingplace.com/ and
http://govote.org/

For anyone who is turned away from voting for whatever reason (and do not accept those reasons as valid just because someone official-looking says so), here are a number of hotlines:

National Voter Assistance Hotline:
1-(866) Our-Vote / 1-(866) 687-8683 for English and Español

The ACLU hotline number is (804) 644-8080.

The NAACP number is (804) 321-5678.

SEIU Voter Hotline: 1-877-SEIU-VOTE (1-877-734-88683 ... yes, an extra digit).

Common Cause Voter Hotline: 1-866-MY-VOTE (1-866-698-6831).

Velvet Revolution Voter Hotline: 1-888-VOTE-TIP (1-888-868-3847) .

DNC Voter Hotline: 1-888-Dem-Vote (1-888-336-8683).