http://www.zenlala.com/ The weblog of Sara Hickman: singer, songwriter, angel en sara@sarahickman.com Copyright 2009 2009-06-23T21:37:00-08:00 http://www.genecowan.com/blog/index.php/zenlala/permalink/and_now_a_response_about_the_f_word_and_the_w_word/ http://www.genecowan.com/blog/index.php/zenlala/permalink/and_now_a_response_about_the_f_word_and_the_w_word/#When:21:37:00Z Hey Sara, I read your web log about being banned from Uncle Calvin's for saying "fucking war". Well, I wish I had been at that show so I could have gotten up on the stage and agreed with you because the war in Iraq is a fucking war based on lies that has cost many lives and billions of dollars. I went to see Butch Hancock at Uncle Calvins in March. His new CD is almost nothing but anti-war songs. I don't remember him saying fuck but it would have been OK if he did. I will contact Uncle Calvins and tell them I'm not offended at the thought of you saying fuck of fucking war on their stage or anywhere. I know Bill Nash a little and don't see him as getting upset about that. I hope I see you perform soon and we can talk. One more thing before I go: war is fucking bad but fucking is good, Baylis 2009-06-23T21:37:00-08:00 http://www.genecowan.com/blog/index.php/zenlala/permalink/the_life_of_artists_and_the_reality_of_the_game/ http://www.genecowan.com/blog/index.php/zenlala/permalink/the_life_of_artists_and_the_reality_of_the_game/#When:20:24:00Z June 12, 2009 Darknet: Echo Artist clients face imminent web shut-down When news broke in April that Echomusic of Nashville (popularly known as Echo) was being closed by parent company Ticketmaster Entertainment, it wasreported (all too briefly) as a story of some 60 lost jobs on Music Row. What hasn’t been reported is that early next week, on June 15-18, between 100 and 200 echo clients – most of them small or mid-level, independent or indie-label bands and artists – will see their websites go dark with no refunds and no ability to transfer their sites seamlessly to another host. The echo platform, touted by the company for years as a unique integration of web site, e-mail list, merchandise sales and fan connection tools, was built on an architecture so proprietary and one-of-a-kind that sites “powered by echo” must be re-built from scratch. This is according to current and former Echo employees, as well as artist managers who are currently scrambling to rescue their artists’ vital presence on the web. “It’s shocking,” said the manager of a prominent Americana singer/songwriter who has at least a three-year relationship with Echo. “You’d think with all the years and money he’s put in they’d maybe go not the extra mile but just the extra half mile. . . We’re really being left with no options.” Clients were formally notified in mid May that the sites would go dark on June 15-18, but managers and artists are reporting that web designers and hosts need 60-90 days at a minimum to code and launch sites. Some, like country singer Travis Tritt, have already posted placeholder “under construction” pages. Others are routing their domain name to a MySpace page. Echo employees have been working overtime to walk clients through a seven-step process that will put them in a position to re-build their websites elsewhere. Those clients are on their own for the unanticipated costs of the changeover, which run from a few thousand dollars up to $10,000 or more. Moreover, the investments clients made in their echo sites, which are regarded as among the more expensive in the local market, as well as their monthly maintenance and hosting fee (averaging $300/month but running up to $1,000/month), are said to be unrecoverable. Why is this happening this way and happening now? Well that’s where this gets really interesting, because it actually has to do with one of the most far-reaching developments in the music business – a set of mega-transactions taking place far from Nashville. Indirectly, it’s Irving Azoff’s doing. Briefly, Azoff, one of the most powerful and wealthy managers in the history of rock (the Eagles are among his clients), recently presided over the merger of his company Front Line Management Group with Ticketmaster. Simultaneously, Ticketmaster has announced plans to merge with Live Nation, the concert promoter formerly known as Clear Channel’s market-dominating SFX. In other words, Azoff is about to assume corporate control over the management of most of the biggest-grossing musicians in pop music, most of the venues in the U.S, and the titan of ticketing, the much loathed Ticketmaster. And for those who haven’t been following Nashville music business news at all, Echo was bought out by Ticketmaster in 2007 for a reported $25 million. (Sara adds: FUNNY HOW NONE OF THE ARTISTS WILL RECEIVE ANY OF THOSE MONIES. YES, I THINK IT IS WRONG.) So to use a strained metaphor, Echo, launched ten years ago as arguably Nashville’s most progressive digital music marketing company, became a flea on the back of a dog being eaten by a bigger dog. And a money-losing flea to boot. While Ticketmaster showed some patience in trying to let Echo be Echo from Nashville and find its way to profitability while growing rapidly, the new company appears to have been in no mood to be nice to Music City or echo’s longstanding clients. There are more specific injustices here worthy of investigation. Echo insiders knew for weeks that the shutdown of client websites was coming but were forbidden by higher-ups to disclose it until the 30-day warning in mid May. Numerous clients were also informed that a revised accounting of their fee schedule revealed sales tax that had not been disclosed on the front end. One artist manager said she was informed that unless she paid a previously unknown tax bill of $900, Echo would not allow her access to her artist’s digital assets, e-mail lists or transition services, and she doesn’t appear to be alone. (Sara aside: ODD HOW THE ARTISTS PAID TO BE A PART OF THIS AND HAVE TO PAY MORE EVEN THOUGH THEY RECEIVE NO COMPENSATION AT THE SELLING NOR ASSISTANCE IN THE ALLEGED "TAX BILL".) Furthermore, it was hard not to notice that while Echo the local start-up of the late 1990s was a refuge and service provider for many independent, non-star-trajectory artists, the Echo of recent years (especially post Ticketmaster) focused on big-time clients like Rascal Flatts, Kanye West and Alicia Keys. In a triumph of inequity, some 20-30 of Echo’s largest clients are slated to remain in the Echo system, managed from Los Angeles. Insiders say that it goes even deeper than that; when recent mega-clients signed on to Echo, at least some had the $20-30,000 fees for their web design and setup WAIVED IN EXCHANGE (emphasis mine) for an ongoing share of revenue generated through ticket and merchandise sales. This arrangement, according to sources, was not afforded to mid-level clients, who paid cash up front. (Sara adds: THIS IS, ONCE AGAIN, PIRACY AT IT'S HIGHEST LEVEL. AND, YES, I THINK THIS IS INCREDIBLY WRONG AS WELL. I'M HERE TO TELL YOU THAT MID-LEVEL ARTISTS AND UP AND COMING ARTISTS DESERVE THE SAME RESPECT AS ARTISTS WHO HAVE "GONE ON AND MADE IT". IN FACT, I THINK ARTISTS SHOULD HELP ONE ANOTHER...ESPECIALLY THOSE IN POWER TO SPEAK OUT AND DEMAND IT.) The larger tragedy here is that just as a new generation of artists were challenging the dominion of a calcified record label system and its decades-long chokehold on career development, tour support, radio play and national album distribution, along comes another, unanticipated near-monopoly (Sara adds: Uh...let's just call it what it is: A MONOPOLY!) with vertical control over the most lucrative and influential parts of the music business – touring, ticketing and management. And then that company, through a few orders from on high, is able to dismantle a company that at one time carried many of Nashville’s hopes for a self-determined, locally-controlled digital music infrastructure. There’s a precedent for this parable. In the late 1990s, Gaylord Entertainment, which had built The Nashville Network (TNN) from its origins into one of the most successful cable companies in America, sold the network to a company it knew and trusted. That was Westinghouse, a diversified corporation that had for years been TNN’s marketing partner. Little was to change, they agreed. TNN was still producing programming from Nashville, and Westinghouse was supposed to give the network access to new advertisers and larger amounts of capital to go to the next level. Then, abruptly, CBS bought Westinghouse and then Viacom bought CBS. And to Viacom, TNN was the flea on the dog. Voom, it was absorbed into Viacom’s MTV Networks and the entire Nashville production operation was shut down, throwing hundreds of TV people out of work. And TNN had its name and format changed twice in two years – first to The National Network, and then to Spike TV, as un-Nashville a network as exists today. One wonders if this is Nashville’s fate – if its most successful entrepreneurs are inevitably destined to lose control. It’s enough to make one wonder how Music City will negotiate this new and unfathomable music business. SARA RESPONDS: I'd just like to say that everyday I struggle to answer emails, write on Facebook, answer mail, help my family, find time to be creative, work on bookings, drive to gigs, find money for gas and homes to stay in (to save hotel costs), sing til I"m exhausted, go to rehearsals, pay for rehearsal space, mail out product to the wide variety of sites that carry my cds, go to the mom and pop shoppes that still carry music (Waterloo/Amoeba), try to help my community by performing (gratis) for benefits and for other musicians in dire straights, and hope to find a check in the mail from BMI or Sound Exchange or Talent Partners to help me make ends meet. And I'm fortunate, I know. The most insidious part of all this bullshit is that we, the creators, the ones who write and paint and sing, we build the empires like Egyptian slaves for the incredibly greedy bastards who don't care about our broken backs, our bleeding fingers. I'm not sure how dark the world would be without the light of the creative soul, but it would be a bleak, ugly world. And, yet, we make our art because it is our God given right, it is our calling, it is LOVE that leads us to want to share our song. Our music makes you weep when you watch a touching moment in a film, we make you stare in wonder at a painting of a landscape, through photos we capture moments otherwise lost, through dance we show the strength and grace of the human body, through poetry we slam the politics and lies and untruths that must be told or we remind you to notice the grace of the unfolding flower at sunrise. Those who steal and gather wealth off our backs, and shut down sites or music venues or other opportunities for us creatives to be creative, will have a hard time explaining this to God. That is, if they pass through the eye of the needle, first. I'm sick and tired of those who have gifts being treated like "fleas on the back of a dog" (to quote the above article.) It is just WRONG. Wherever morality and ethics went, I pray they return. I pray that people start heralded one anothers' gifts and paying artists living wages and STOP STEALING WHAT DOES NOT BELONG TO ANYONE OTHER THAN THE ARTIST. (This includes downloading without paying (unless offered for free BY THE ARTIST), but don't get me started on that.) Sara 2009-06-23T20:24:00-08:00 http://www.genecowan.com/blog/index.php/zenlala/permalink/dear_friends_celebrate_world_refugee_day/ http://www.genecowan.com/blog/index.php/zenlala/permalink/dear_friends_celebrate_world_refugee_day/#When:03:43:00Z Dear Friends, Celebrate World Refugee Day and welcome our newest Texans to Austin on Saturday, June 20 from 1-5 pm at The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum! This event is FREE, open to the public, and will offer a wide variety of activities for the whole family. This year's World Refugee Day will feature: Sara Hickman, WinoVino, El Tule, a Refugee Fashion Show, a naturalization ceremony, and performances by refugee musicians and dancers from Burma, Iran, Ghana, Burundi and beyond! Free refreshments will be provided courtesy of Catering by Rosemary. Currently, 10 million refugees around the world are under the protection of UNHCR. Less than 1% will be fortunate enough to be resettled in one of the 10 or 12 countries that have a formal refugee resettlement program. For this year alone, the US is planning to accept and resettle a total of 75,000 refugees. In Austin alone, we expect to resettle at least 600 refugees -- families from Iraq, Burma, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Afghanistan, Nepal, Somalia, Ethiopia, the Congo, and Burundi. Refugees living in Austin are legal, international refugees brought to the United States by the Department of State because they have been persecuted in their home countries. The US government only provides for short term assistance -- all refugees are expected to be self-sufficient within 2 to 4 months of arrival regardless of their level of education, English speaking capabilities and exposure to western society. Refugees can apply for their permanent residency one year after arrival and are eligible to become citizens as soon as five years after that. To celebrate this transition, a naturalization ceremony will be taking place during the World Refugee Day for refugees who are becoming U.S. citizens! Please join AAIM, The Bob Bullock State History Museum, Caritas of Austin, Catering By Rosemary, I ranian Christians International, Multicultural Refugee Coalition, Center for Survivors of Torture, and Refugee Services of Texas as we honor the unique journeys of refugees living in Austin. See you this Saturday, June 20th! Love, Sara AAIM Board Member and Lu Zeidan AAIM Refugee School Coordinator 512.386.9145 ext 12 luz@aaimaustin.org 2009-06-19T03:43:00-08:00 http://www.genecowan.com/blog/index.php/zenlala/permalink/it_was_the_love/ http://www.genecowan.com/blog/index.php/zenlala/permalink/it_was_the_love/#When:13:23:00Z More foolin' around with Jason as I learn how to do more stuff so I can post more videos/photos on my blog! http://jasonmolin.net/newspaperandtrumpet/2009/06/it-was-the-love/ 2009-06-18T13:23:00-08:00 http://www.genecowan.com/blog/index.php/zenlala/permalink/ha_ha_ha_me_the_night_elektra_discovered_me_in_kansas_city_1989/ http://www.genecowan.com/blog/index.php/zenlala/permalink/ha_ha_ha_me_the_night_elektra_discovered_me_in_kansas_city_1989/#When:23:41:00Z 2009-06-17T23:41:00-08:00 http://www.genecowan.com/blog/index.php/zenlala/permalink/sitting_here_with_mr_molin/ http://www.genecowan.com/blog/index.php/zenlala/permalink/sitting_here_with_mr_molin/#When:23:33:01Z Figuring out how to make things more organic. And this is one of the images from NEWSPAPER AND TRUMPET that Jason and I are working on as Carol and David. See? Doesn't that make sense? 2009-06-17T23:33:01-08:00 http://www.genecowan.com/blog/index.php/zenlala/permalink/the_quote_that_reminds_me/ http://www.genecowan.com/blog/index.php/zenlala/permalink/the_quote_that_reminds_me/#When:12:26:00Z "There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. ... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others." Martha Graham to Agnes de Mille 2009-06-12T12:26:00-08:00 http://www.genecowan.com/blog/index.php/zenlala/permalink/they_are_locking_up_parents_and_children_this_must_stop/ http://www.genecowan.com/blog/index.php/zenlala/permalink/they_are_locking_up_parents_and_children_this_must_stop/#When:21:51:01Z STAND IN SOLIDARITY TO END IMMIGRANT DETENTION Vigil and Rally at T. Don Hutto Detention Center Taylor, Texas Saturday, June 20th (World Refugee Day) 12-1pm Congregate at Heritage Park; 4th & Main Sts 1-2pm: March to T. Don Hutto Detention Center 2-4pm: Vigil and Rally For more information, please contact: Jay J. Johnson-Castro Sr. (830) 734-8636; jay@villadelrio.coma 2009-06-11T21:51:01-08:00 http://www.genecowan.com/blog/index.php/zenlala/permalink/war_is_sin_by_chris_hedges/ http://www.genecowan.com/blog/index.php/zenlala/permalink/war_is_sin_by_chris_hedges/#When:11:51:00Z Back after 9/11, I posted in a newsletter that our going to war was wrong, that it would last longer than the Vietnam war, and that there needed to be new ways to deal with one another as human beings submerged in critical, unyielding problems. I was bombarded with letters from angry men (not a single one from a woman) who told me I was unpatriotic or didn't know what I was talking about, that I should stick to singing and keep my mouth shut. It was a wierd feeling, to be verbally slapped for speaking out against the mayhem, atrocities and longevity of something so heinous, but I continued to speak out. I was banned for three years from Uncle Calvin's in Dallas for saying from the stage, "The world has gone fuckng crazy" when I referred to the recent Presidential announcement we would be going to war. What I said was not said in jest, and, certainly, it was not said to antagonize anyone. It just came pouring out of my mouth, as I sat there on stage with two other musicians, one other who had also used the "f" word, yet I was singled out and denied a place to perform until I apologized to the church and audience. (Which, I did, in a letter.) For three years, I was not allowed to perform at a place I had loved and cared for and raised money for and laughed in and wept in for over 10 years----this church, the very place where I believe God most undoubtedly expects us to be OURSELVES, the very person and heart He/She created us to be!---because I had offended people by using the word "Fuck" but not the word "WAR". A sign was put up in the green room for all musicians/performers to read and agree to: no payment would be given if any foul words were said from the stage. I believe, contractually, you also have to sign off on this warning, as well. Yet, there was no sign warning about the sin of war. No sign encouraging others to use their noodle and ask folks to think about the long term affects and consequences of violence worldwide., even though that is what folksingers do night after night.... I've always assumed the word "fuck" refers to the act of sexual intercourse, rather aggressive intercourse, and I dare say, over the course of my life, I have engaged in lovemaking that, at times, was playfully rough but never harmful. I laugh, now, when I think of my two dogs, many moons ago, who got stuck in my back yard after much passionate howling, who I realized had become painfully stuck, and I had to help release from one another, who immediately licked not only me in gratitude upon their uncoupling, but turned to one another and sniffed and licked and jumped around the yard, as if to say, "I love you! Let's get on with our happiness, here, in this green, green world!" (I'm sure they were also thinking, "I love that lady! She sure is nice! Hooray for her! Oh, look! Squiirel!") ... and yet the word "WAR", which I have never been associated with on any level except to march against or sing/speak/write out against, didn't seem to horrify anyone in attendance at Uncle Calvin's that night (mind you I know many people that were there, and they are, also, against war and they do great work in this world). I heard some gasps as the words came, heartwrenchingly, and not angrily, from my unplanned lips, but I immediately recognized it was that recognizable betrayal gasp of, "You've said a naughty, naughty word!", not the gasping communal intake of, "Good God, she's right! War is fucked up! What are we approving our government to do!?" Although speaking out can be altruistic and/or sobering , it is never scarring for me, nor life changing for innocents hearing my words, no matter what the elders at Uncle Calvin's believe.... I've never had to live the following when I speak of war, when referring to the intense, immense and irrehensible act of damning violence, the taking of lives, the destruction of homes and offices and children on fire, mothers dead babies clinging to empty breasts, the starvation and slaughter of thousands upon thousands, and, yet, for me to put these two words together, I was removed from the one seat that has brought me the ability to share my greatest God given gift----the ability to make music and share emotion. So, I wanted to share the following article my friend Patrick Cosgrove sent my way as another reminder that we all have a responsibility to speak out on issues that are important to each of us. No matter the consequences, let those words slip from your tongue, shaking or not, and work towards finding alternatives to war. By the way, for those of you who feel the word "fuck" itself is violent, I've worked really hard to remove it from my vocabulary. And I do ask for forgiveness, which I did many years back, here in my blog, for those I've offeneded, including Uncle Calvin's (do a search) or emotionally hurt along my journey through life. I'm working hard to figure it all out, and I've made mistakes along the way. I'll always make mistakes, but, hopefully, I'll never stop growing from them. And, lastly, I know a relationship with God is a very, very personal relationship. I've always talked openly about my belief that there is a God. For those that wonder why God would allow such horrors, as war or disease, I would like to say that God does not create chaos----man does. We do. Disease, many times, is an end result to how we have overwhelmed our planet, our bodies, ourselves. God is the essence of love, and God is wanting us to come to our senses, to unite in a human understanding, but that takes wisdom and compassion and patience and alternative, new thinking. I still believe we can come to a universal fellowship, I just hope we can come to it before it is too late. In grace and gratitude, The Optimistic Fool War Is Sin Posted on Jun 1, 2009 By Chris Hedges The crisis faced by combat veterans returning from war is not simply a profound struggle with trauma and alienation. It is often, for those who can slice through the suffering to self-awareness, an existential crisis. War exposes the lies we tell ourselves about ourselves. It rips open the hypocrisy of our religions and secular institutions. Those who return from war have learned something which is often incomprehensible to those who have stayed home. We are not a virtuous nation. God and fate have not blessed us above others. Victory is not assured. War is neither glorious nor noble. And we carry within us the capacity for evil we ascribe to those we fight. Those who return to speak this truth, such as members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, are our contemporary prophets. But like all prophets they are condemned and ignored for their courage. They struggle, in a culture awash in lies, to tell what few have the fortitude to digest. They know that what we are taught in school, in worship, by the press, through the entertainment industry and at home, that the melding of the state’s rhetoric with the rhetoric of religion, is empty and false. The words these prophets speak are painful. We, as a nation, prefer to listen to those who speak from the patriotic script. We prefer to hear ourselves exalted. If veterans speak of terrible wounds visible and invisible, of lies told to make them kill, of evil committed in our name, we fill our ears with wax. Not our boys, we say, not them, bred in our homes, endowed with goodness and decency. For if it is easy for them to murder, what about us? And so it is simpler and more comfortable not to hear. We do not listen to the angry words that cascade forth from their lips, wishing only that they would calm down, be reasonable, get some help, and go away. We, the deformed, brand our prophets as madmen. We cast them into the desert. And this is why so many veterans are estranged and enraged. This is why so many succumb to suicide or addictions. War comes wrapped in patriotic slogans, calls for sacrifice, honor and heroism and promises of glory. It comes wrapped in the claims of divine providence. It is what a grateful nation asks of its children. It is what is right and just. It is waged to make the nation and the world a better place, to cleanse evil. War is touted as the ultimate test of manhood, where the young can find out what they are made of. War, from a distance, seems noble. It gives us comrades and power and a chance to play a small bit in the great drama of history. It promises to give us an identity as a warrior, a patriot, as long as we go along with the myth, the one the war-makers need to wage wars and the defense contractors need to increase their profits. But up close war is a soulless void. War is about barbarity, perversion and pain, an unchecked orgy of death. Human decency and tenderness are crushed. Those who make war work overtime to reduce love to smut, and all human beings become objects, pawns to use or kill. The noise, the stench, the fear, the scenes of eviscerated bodies and bloated corpses, the cries of the wounded, all combine to spin those in combat into another universe. In this moral void, naively blessed by secular and religious institutions at home, the hypocrisy of our social conventions, our strict adherence to moral precepts, come unglued. War, for all its horror, has the power to strip away the trivial and the banal, the empty chatter and foolish obsessions that fill our days. It lets us see, although the cost is tremendous. The Rev. William P. Mahedy, who was a Catholic chaplain in Vietnam, tells of a soldier, a former altar boy, in his book “Out of the Night: The Spiritual Journey of Vietnam Vets,” who says to him: “Hey, Chaplain ... how come it’s a sin to hop into bed with a mama-san but it’s okay to blow away gooks out in the bush?” “Consider the question that he and I were forced to confront on that day in a jungle clearing,” Mahedy writes. “How is it that a Christian can, with a clear conscience, spend a year in a war zone killing people and yet place his soul in jeopardy by spending a few minutes with a prostitute? If the New Testament prohibitions of sexual misconduct are to be stringently interpreted, why, then, are Jesus’ injunctions against violence not binding in the same way? In other words, what does the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ really mean?” Military chaplains, a majority of whom are evangelical Christians, defend the life of the unborn, tout America as a Christian nation and eagerly bless the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as holy crusades. The hollowness of their morality, the staggering disconnect between the values they claim to promote, is ripped open in war. There is a difference between killing someone who is trying to kill you and taking the life of someone who does not have the power to harm you. The first is killing. The second is murder. But in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the enemy is elusive and rarely seen, murder occurs far more often than killing. Families are massacred in airstrikes. Children are gunned down in blistering suppressing fire laid down in neighborhoods after an improvised explosive device goes off near a convoy. Artillery shells obliterate homes. And no one stops to look. The dead and maimed are left behind. The utter failure of nearly all our religious institutions—whose texts are unequivocal about murder—to address the essence of war has rendered them useless. These institutions have little or nothing to say in wartime because the god they worship is a false god, one that promises victory to those who obey the law and believe in the manifest destiny of the nation. We all have the capacity to commit evil. It takes little to unleash it. For those of us who have been to war this is the awful knowledge that is hardest to digest, the knowledge that the line between the victims and the victimizers is razor-thin, that human beings find a perverse delight in destruction and death, and that few can resist the pull. At best, most of us become silent accomplices. Wars may have to be fought to ensure survival, but they are always tragic. They always bring to the surface the worst elements of any society, those who have a penchant for violence and a lust for absolute power. They turn the moral order upside down. It was the criminal class that first organized the defense of Sarajevo. When these goons were not manning roadblocks to hold off the besieging Bosnian Serb army they were looting, raping and killing the Serb residents in the city. And those politicians who speak of war as an instrument of power, those who wage war but do not know its reality, those powerful statesmen—the Henry Kissingers, Robert McNamaras, Donald Rumsfelds, the Dick Cheneys—those who treat war as part of the great game of nations, are as amoral as the religious stooges who assist them. And when the wars are over what they have to say to us in their thick memoirs about war is also hollow, vacant and useless. “In theological terms, war is sin,” writes Mahedy. “This has nothing to do with whether a particular war is justified or whether isolated incidents in a soldier’s war were right or wrong. The point is that war as a human enterprise is a matter of sin. It is a form of hatred for one’s fellow human beings. It produces alienation from others and nihilism, and it ultimately represents a turning away from God.” The young soldiers and Marines do not plan or organize the war. They do not seek to justify it or explain its causes. They are taught to believe. The symbols of the nation and religion are interwoven. The will of God becomes the will of the nation. This trust is forever shattered for many in war. Soldiers in combat see the myth used to send them to war implode. They see that war is not clean or neat or noble, but venal and frightening. They see into war’s essence, which is death. War is always about betrayal. It is about betrayal of the young by the old, of cynics by idealists, and of soldiers and Marines by politicians. Society’s institutions, including our religious institutions, which mold us into compliant citizens, are unmasked. This betrayal is so deep that many never find their way back to faith in the nation or in any god. They nurse a self-destructive anger and resentment, understandable and justified, but also crippling. Ask a combat veteran struggling to piece his or her life together about God and watch the raw vitriol and pain pour out. They have seen into the corrupt heart of America, into the emptiness of its most sacred institutions, into our staggering hypocrisy, and those of us who refuse to heed their words become complicit in the evil they denounce. Chris Hedges, who spent nearly two decades as a war correspondent for The New York Times and other newspapers, is the author of “Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle,” due out in July. His Truthdig column appears every Monday. 2009-06-06T11:51:00-08:00 http://www.genecowan.com/blog/index.php/zenlala/permalink/from_kim_richardson_on_facebook/ http://www.genecowan.com/blog/index.php/zenlala/permalink/from_kim_richardson_on_facebook/#When:21:55:00Z I had to copy this so more people could read it. This about sums up the entire issue of marriage for me in one fell swoop. Exemplary points. Love, Sara The following was written by Kim Richardson: If marriage is a holy union between a man and a woman, and by holy I mean religious, then: why are atheists allowed to marry? why are people allowed to marry without any religious ceremony? If marriage is for children to grow up in a home where they can be cared for by a man and a woman: why is divorce legal? why isn't there a movement to make it illegal? isn't it the biggest threat to marriage? why aren't people who create children compelled to marry? why aren't childless married people compelled to create children? why are there so many children in the foster care system? why are divorced parents allowed to keep their children? Does freedom from religion exist if law abiding citizens are denied equal rights because one religion disagrees with those rights? Religion is a protected choice. IF homosexuality was a religion that believed marriage to be a union between a man and a man or a woman and a woman, would it be protected? If marriage is a religious union, why does it involve the state at all? There is no state involvement in a baptism, or a bar or bat mitzvah. Why is marriage different? What if marriage wasn't a state issue? What if all adults were able to join in a civil union or domestic partnership? And marriage was a religious ceremony held separately by people who practiced religions that believe in it? 2009-05-29T21:55:00-08:00