Homeland Security

Nearly hidden in the introduction to Obama's acceptance speech was a single sentence by Senator Durbin that alluded to an issue that I have been concentrating on for the past few weeks. This relates to the loss of personal liberty by US citizens in the name of increased security. I've written on this topic repeatedly in recent weeks. This morning I looked deeper into Obama's website to see what the candidate has to say about this issue. Here is the statement quoted directly from the website:

Barack Obama believes that we must provide law enforcement the tools it needs to investigate, disrupt, and capture terrorists, but he also believes we need real oversight to avoid jeopardizing the rights and ideals of all Americans. There is no reason we cannot fight terrorism while maintaining our civil liberties. Unfortunately, the current administration has abused the powers given to it by the USA PATRIOT Act. A March 2007 Justice Department audit found the FBI improperly and, in some cases, illegally used the PATRIOT Act to secretly obtain personal information about American citizens. As president, Barack Obama would revisit the PATRIOT Act to ensure that there is real and robust oversight of tools like National Security Letters, sneak-and-peek searches, and the use of the material witness provision. 

This is a statement that I strongly support. It provides a good balance between the need to protect us from terrorist activities while, at the same time, protecting us from unwanted and unneeded government intervention into our private lives. I would invite you to look into the statements of John McCain on this subject. Does he have a similar sensitivity to the loss of personal liberty by US citizens?

A Wonderful Night

After putting up with over 30 minutes of petty, Rovish, McCain campaign videos today (I watched them twice—can you believe it!) the evening came and I had little expectation about what was to unfold. First, there was the dramatic entrance of Ted Kennedy into the hall and his strong, impassioned speech, then Michele Obama's speech that hit a home run in my opinion. All to be capped off by the kids talking impromptu with their dad via the big screen. It was a night that gives me hope.

Sure, I know that even now, there are elves in the Rove camp cooking up small-minded stuff to fill the minds of a sedated population, but just for tonight I have hope that truth will prevail over lies and misrepresentation. Just for tonight.

Later: Yes, just as I predicted, the Rovian elves are very busy creating their usual brand of trash. Its all there in this New York Times article. CLICK HERE

Republican Swift Boating

Many people I talk with here in Santa Fe, NM say that they can't believe that the Republicans can win yet another presidential election, given the complete failure of the Bush administration over the past eight years. I have news for you if you believe that.

I've just watched over 30 minutes of the ads the McCain campaign are going to put out in coming days and they are very effective in distorting and trivializing Obama's positions. Never mind the flood of ads that will come from the shadowy groups that have helped to distort previous elections. Those will be even dirtier, I'm sure. But here is a quick rundown of the official ads that the McCain campaign has approved:

Several ads intercut the high points of Obama's speeches with cuts of Charlton Heston as Moses parting the Red Sea. The effect is to ridicule Obamas ability as a public speaker.

Several ads take little 5 second sound bites from various Obama speeches to create the impression that he is constantly changing positions. These are intercut with red screens accusing him of twisting his positions to fit the occasion.

One shows a woman holding a Hillary sign and saying that since she is not available that she will vote for a proven leader. With this she shows that she is holding a McCain sign beneath the Hillary sign. She then says its OK to switch parties.

The McCain ads seldom point to Republican positions on how to move our country beyond its current dire situation, and those that do distort McCain's positions, such as the ad that intercuts McCain with footage of wind generators. Never mind that McCain has consistently opposed alternative energy research and development. Some ads even claim that McCain will bring policies that protect the environment.

I recommend that you go to the McCain website and watch several of these TV spots. The first few are not as hostile and slanted as the later ones. The "Roving" begins with the Moses parting the Red Sea video and it just gets worse from there. CLICK HERE to view the spots.

All this is taken right from the Carl Rove playbook, which advocates taking an opponent's strong points and turning them against him. These tactics are effective unless the deception is constantly pointed out so that people see them for what they are. I'm doing what I can. What can you do?? We don't need another four years of Bush/McCain policies in this country.

Friday, August 29 Update. I just checked into the John McCain website again and there, shortly after his new congratulatory spot that is getting all the play today are the same Rovian attack ads that intercut Obama with Moses parting the Red Sea. This is a clear indication that they intend to pursue those Swiftboating tactics as the campaign rolls forward. Watch out for attempts to derail the campaign from central issues such as the economy and the war.

Santa Fe Indian Market

This morning is the opening of the annual Santa Fe Indian Market. Elyn and I walked over to the Plaza for the opening ceremonies and to see some of the wonderful art, jewelry, and crafts that are featured there. To be there at 7 AM for the opening prayer we left the house at 6:30. Thousands of tourists are in town for the market and the area several blocks around the Plaza is crowded with booths and people. We saw license plates from all over the country. The Indian Market is known all over the world and people often return year after year to purchase the best in Native American art.

The ceremony opened with an elder from the Hopi Nation saying an extended prayer that moved smoothly from Hopi to English and back again. He blessed us all with his eagle feather covered with corn pollen. Then the Black Eagle Singers from Jemez Pueblo performed the flag song, the warrior’s song, and several other numbers from the plains indian tradition. This group of some dozen men and one woman are the best drummers and singers I have heard. Their precision and spirit is amazing and they deserve the Grammy that they have been awarded. To be able to walk from our home to participate in such a wonderful event is a real privilege of living here in Santa Fe.

We walked home, passing by the new Virgin de Guadalupe statue that has just been dedicated. This statue is next to the historic Santaurio de Guadalupe, which is only about four blocks from our home.

One amusing and telling event was the introduction of the Black Eagle Singers by a member of the group. He named each singer, telling his relationship with him as he went around the group. It was only after the next number that someone in the group reminded him that he had not introduced the woman in the group. He took the mike again and gave her an introduction. We learned that she was also a member of his immediate family. As telling as this little gaff is, I remind myself that a generation ago no women were ever allowed to sing in the drum groups. I believe that women came in when there were not enough good male singers to make the groups function. Plains Indian singing is very high pitched and puts much strain on the male voice and they can’t keep it up for long periods of time. Adding women, who can sing in their normal vocal range, makes for security in the singing. These singers and drummers are simply the best I have ever heard and their performance brought tears to my eyes and hair standing on end all over my body. Electrifying. 

The Latest Republican Dirty Trick

I just received this email from a person on my other blog. She is using this news to promote voting a straight Republican ticket for the upcoming election. I will take the space to quote the email at some length:

Ever heard of the Bakken Formation?  GOOGLE it.  It will blow your mind.  The U.S. Geological Service issued a report in April ('08) that only scientists and oilmen/women knew was coming, but man was it big.  

 

They reported this stunning news:  We have more oil inside our borders, than all the other proven reserves on earth.  Here are the official estimates:

 

  8-times as much oil as Saudi Arabia 
 18-times as much oil as Iraq 
 21-times as much oil as Kuwait 
 22-times as much oil as Iran 
500-times as much oil as Yemen - and it's all right here in the Western United States.

 

HOW can this BE!?  HOW can we NOT BE extracting this!?  Because the democrats and left wing republicans have blocked all efforts to help America become independent of foreign oil.  

Take 10 minutes and COMPOSE AN E-MAIL,  FAX, OR  good old-fashioned LETTER, TO ALL your friends and associates.  ALERT them TOTHE FACT THAT DEMOCRATS  and "LIBERAL" REPUBLICANS,  have been and WILL continue to OBSTRUCT ALL PLANS to make AMERICA INDEPENDENT of foreign oil.  The ONLY solution is to VOTE ALL DEMOCRATS and MARXIST ORIENTED  REPUBLICANS OUT of office.  If you don't take a little time to do this, then you should stifle yourself the next time you want to complain about gas prices....because by doing NOTHING, you've forfeited your right to complain.

So, did Democrats and Marxist Oriented Republicans get your attention? It did mine! What is the truth of these claims? I’ve done some checking online and, yes, there are very large reserves in the Bakken formation and they have been known since 1953. The oil companies have not tapped these reserves because the cost of production has been too high to make them profitable. No Democrats or “Marxist Oriented Republicans” have been behind that. If you believe we are sitting on a gold mine (or oil mine) here just click on the URL below and you can invest your hard earned money.

CLICK HERE

COMING NEXT WEEK a Bridge for sale cheap in greater New York City, but only if you vote a straight Republican ticket this election!

The Noose Tightens

My morning paper carries a headline on the front page, “Feds tracking citizens’ U.S. border crossings.” The article goes on to describe how the federal government is creating a data base on all border crossings by U.S. citizens and plans to keep details of these crossings for at least 15 years, making the records available for “criminal and intelligence investigations.” This program created by our Department of Homeland Security (Doesn’t that agency just make you feel more and more “secure?”) to keep tabs on all of us to find out just what we are about. I can hear some of my more conservative friends saying, “Well, if you have nothing to hide it won’t be a problem.”

All of this gradual tightening of the web of government surveillance is part of the reason that I’m considering moving outside the U.S. for the long term. No, I have “nothing to hide,” but I have an uneasy sense of the creeping fascism that is decreasing our freedom of movement bit by bit. Remember how we always thought of our country as “the land of the free and the home of the brave?” Well, I don’t doubt our bravery, but I believe that our freedom is nearly lost at this point. The changes have been so gradual and the reasons given so persuasive that the population has taken little note of the changes.

I know you have heard the story of how you can cook a frog by simply increasing the temperature of the water so gradually that the frog never notices until it is too far gone to jump. That is where I believe we are at this point. The water temperature is increasing little by little and we will sleep through the cooking of our liberties. Then this country will just be a dictatorship along the lines of many countries we look down upon and condemn. I notice that our government only condemns foreign dictatorships if they would like to invade them. Others get a pass and we hardly notice their human rights abuses.

So, who has access to these records? Federal, state, local, tribal, or foreign government agencies along with courts, attorneys, news media, and the public “when there exists a legitimate public interest in the disclosure of the information.” Homeland Security is trying to exempt the database from some provisions of the 1974 Privacy Act, including the right of citizens to know whether a law enforcement or intelligence agency has requested his or her records and the right to sue for access and correction of his/her personal records. 

A legitimate question you might want to ask of all candidates for public office, from the president on down, is what, if anything they would do about this creeping loss of personal freedom.

The water temperature is rising. Do you feel it yet? Don’t wait until you can’t jump.

Those Multinational Corporations

I can’t resist quoting and commenting on Ronni Bennett’s blog Time Goes By. Here is another quote:

Corporate Accountability
• One of the issues not much addressed so far in this election cycle is lack of corporate accountability, exacerbated by many policies of Republicans in general and the Bush administration in particular. Here’s a ruefully amusing video on that topic titled Insurance Company Rules. [1:42 minutes]

By the way, don’t pass up that video. It is worth your viewing time. That there is a total lack of accountability for corporations in this brave new world goes without saying. Governments seem to be unable to police corporate practices, partly because the lawmakers are on the corporate payrolls, and partly because corporations are larger than governments. They are “multinational” which means, if you haven’t been watching, they are not controlled by ANY government. If the going gets rough in one country they simply move to another one that will welcome them with open arms.

My question is: “Who are these evil multinational corporations?” The answer, unfortunately, is that they are US. I just looked at my A. G. Edwards monthly statement and there, nestled in the portfolios of the mutual funds that hold my life savings are a good cross section of these multinational crooks. My broker has been doing his job of making my nest egg grow (or at least not lose as much as the market as a whole).

I’m sitting here struggling to find a good closer for this little rant and the only thing that is coming is the hackneyed saying “we have met the enemy and they are us.” Tired, but true, and the best I can come up with at the moment.

Just Two "Johns"

In a note on the blog Time Goes By this morning Ronni Bennett asked the following question:

"Will someone explain to me why John Edwards is being crucified for philandering while an actual presidential candidate has been given a pass for cheating on his crippled wife with an heiress 20 years his junior and then divorcing his wife to marry the heiress who bankrolled his political career?”

I don’t have a good answer to that question except to say that the corporate media are clearly in the Republican’s pockets and there is much manipulation going on all around us. My advice is to avoid the corporate media as much as you can. They are skilled at fogging our minds and we seem to be unable to resist being taken in by the “entertainment” they provide. So the next time you are reaching for the TV remote curb that addiction. Go on the web where there is a ton of misinformation and outright crazy stuff, but the corporate media haven’t found a way to take control of this medium. At least the truth has a chance to be heard in the welter of this confusion.

As for the two John’s (interesting that prostitutes call their clients “Johns”) unfortunate inability to keep their pants on, I just refer you to my previous piece called Membership Has Its Privileges.

Another Far-out Healing Technique

Those who have taken the trouble to read all of this blog know that I much prefer alternative methods to scientific medicine whenever I can avail myself of it. That is not to say that if I had an automobile accident I would go to a homeopath rather than the emergency room. I recognize the skills that mechanical medicine has perfected in patching up the human body after severe trauma and I respect those abilities. 

However, I am in charge of the care and maintenance of this body while I occupy it and I try to make intelligent decisions about what modalities I will subject myself to. My criterion is the so-called Hippocratic Aphorism “Do no harm.” (By the way, this is not the so-called Hippocratic Oath that all MDs are required to take. Click on the hot link above to read more about it.) I make any medical person aware that he/she is just part of a team that I choose and direct as I see fit. If a doctor is not comfortable with being a member of my team I don’t go back.

But I digress. I have been allergic to cats, dogs, and horses for many years. The allergy has been so severe that I haven’t been able to stay in any house where there is a cat for more than a half hour without using my asthma inhaler before entering the place. 

Several weeks ago a friend recommended to Elyn that she go to a chiropractor who does allergy desensitization to get rid of some of her many food allergies. The technique the doctor uses looks pretty much like voodoo medicine to me. It involves a lot of muscle testing and pounding certain areas along the spine with the portable jackhammer that some chiropractors use to do adjustments. This is an electric gadget that delivers repeated blows on either side of the spinal column. The patient holds small quantities of the substance he/she is allergic to while the doctor tests muscle response and delivers the blows to the back. Quite frankly, I was more than a little skeptical, but Elyn was hot to try it. After the first treatment, which was to clear her allergy to three foods, including garlic I watched her eat garlic laden foods without any allergic reaction. The next week three more foods were chosen and she seems to be free of any allergic reaction. I had promised that if her treatment was successful I would go in for treatment of my cat, dog, and horse allergy.

Well, today was the day that I made good on that promise. We took in plastic bags with the hair from two of the more offensive cats I have encountered among our friends. (The cats themselves are fine kitties but they have set my asthma off every time I have visited their owners.) After the half hour of muscle testing and back pounding the doctor proclaimed me clear of those allergies and sent me on my way. I could hardly wait to test the results so we called one of the friends and asked if we could come over and test out their cat. I have just returned from a two-hour visit without any allergic reaction whatsoever. I did not use my inhaler before going, and I purposefully chased down the cat (who is very shy) and stroked her fur repeatedly and brought my hair covered hands to my face to breathe in the essence of cat spit. It has been several hours now and I feel no asthma symptoms, no itching and watering eyes, and no sneezes. Amazing. I can’t remember how many years it has been since I actually petted a cat, but it must have been at least fifteen years. We have a neighbor who has three dogs and I’m looking forward to testing myself with those guys in the next few days. There is a local historic ranch where I’ll be able to test out the horse allergy before I declare the entire treatment a success. It may be voodoo medicine, but the results are very impressive so far. I’ll keep you informed.

Tech Time

I've been very  busy these last days preparing our computer system for Europe. It must be portable and very stable, so the Mac Pro and its 23-inch big screen had to go. I sold it this morning. The two laptops are nearly prepared to take over all our activities, with the addition of two palm-sized hard drives, a memory upgrade for the MacBook, and a CD/DVD drive for the Mac Air. The Airport Extreme Base Station arrives tomorrow, to be made the center of our wireless system and the hub for our very portable printer (an HP). When all this is in place we will have the system for Europe. Then I can take down the big Xerox laser printer, the MacMini, and the photo printer and scanner that form the printer center for the larger system. 

There has been much thought going into this system and much planning for backing all our thousands of important files. The files are on DVDs in our bank box so they will be safe from all harm. I'll be glad to have this tech time finished so I can get back to having fun and sleuthing out how our government is making life less and less easy for us in the US.

Stick with me and I'll hope to come up with something interesting to read in a few days.

The National Information Consortium

I continue to research how the federal government impinges upon our privacy and restricts our freedom of movement. The latest line of inquiry concerns the privatization of governmental record keeping. I have come upon the NIC, based in Olathe, Kansas. NIC stands for National Information Consortium and they bill themselves as the “people behind eGovernment.” They are a thriving company that went public on the NASDAC in 1999 and have revenues that have risen from $16.1 million in 1999 to $85.8 million in 2007. What do these folks do? They are the leading provider of outsourced eGovernment portals. They “build and manage official government Web sites and eGovernment services for 21 states and hundreds of local governments in the United States.” It all sounds pretty innocuous doesn’t it? So what sort of things do they do? Here is a list of their business services: 

CITIZEN SERVICES

• Transportation

• Income & Property Tax Filings

• Legislative Tracking

• Homeland Security

• Elections

• Courts

• Recreation and Outdoors

• Database Searches

• Property Records

• Police & Law Enforcement

• Fee Payments

BUSINESS SERVICES

• Driver's License and Vehicle Registration Systems

• Ethics and Elections Reporting

• Secretary of State Business Filing Systems

• Corporate Record and Business Name Searches

• Professional License Renewals

• Transportation Compliance Systems

• Criminal Justice Searches

• Database Searches

• Employment & Taxation

• Electronic Permitting

• Business Registrations

Health License and Case Decision Notifications

Wait a minute! What is Homeland Security doing on that list? And what is “Elections” doing on that list? I hope I’m just being paranoid about this, but here is what worries me the most—as a private company NIC is not subject to the open records laws that apply to governmental entities. They don’t have to tell citizens anything about what they are doing. True, the governmental agencies they serve have to disclose information to us, but my recent skirmish with the drivers license folks here in New Mexico doesn’t give me much confidence. 

The man Elyn talked to in the Compliance division of the Motor Vehicle Division assured her that the private company they deal with to produce the new high tech drivers licenses doesn’t collect all our information. He seemed sure of that. Well the NIC site lists among their services a system where “authorized users can search driving records as well as titles, liens, and registrations online for specific business purposes.” How can they do that if the NIC isn’t collecting the information from all the state agencies? How I read this is that NIC is selling our private information to businesses and governmental agencies and making a nice profit. What businesses buy their information? Maybe Homeland Security? I will continue to look into this matter. 

What Elders Can Do for Democracy

With the elections coming up in November we elders should play a major role in reestablishing democracy in the United States. If we are retired, we have a precious commodity—time. I know that I find my days filled to the brim, but when I compare my life to the younger generation, who are working 40+ hour work weeks, taking care of children, and trying to find some time for recreation, I have a lot of time. Of course, we don’t have the boundless energy of the younger generations, but there is much that we can do that doesn’t require a lot of energy output. For one thing, we can take the trouble to inform ourselves on the issues. An excellent source to start with is a blog called Time Goes By. Each Sunday, there are informative pieces collected from many blogs and most of these pieces have hot links to good sources of information. 

Making sure that the elections in our home districts are fair and honest is another worthwhile activity. I would urge you to download the Toolkit 2008 from a group called BlackBoxVoting.org that gives five ways you can help protect the elections this year.

Needless to say, there are many ways that election results are falsified, including lack of  paper documentation which makes recounts impossible, keeping citizens from voting, and allowing persons to vote who are not qualified voters. Who profits by these illegal practices? As a life-long Democrat I’d like to say “The Republicans,” but the truth is it is the dominant party in any jurisdiction that is the winner. We will remember the Democrat machine in Chicago that originated the line, “Vote early and vote often.” We know that people rose up from their graves to vote straight Democrat tickets in Chicago. In recent years, since the Republicans have been the dominant party in the US, it has been the Republicans who have been the worst offenders. If and when we Democrats take over we will have to watch for Democrat shenanigans.

Here are links to four organizations you can join to determine what you can do this November. Black Box Voting, Election Defense Alliance, Voters Unite, and Voter Action. Just click on the names to go to their sites. I strongly urge you to take on one or two tasks that fit your personality and energy and get out and help to make this election one we can be proud of.

Real ID Again

We have been discussing the issue of drivers license renewals going to Washington, DC for federal oversight under the “Real ID” provisions of Homeland Security. Elyn decided to call he local (New Mexico) Department of Motor Vehicles to see what is going on.

After going through several persons who gave incomplete and misleading information, Elyn was transferred to the “Compliance Division” and talked with a person named Anthony. He explained that the State of New Mexico is using a private company housed somewhere in or near Washington, DC (the location of this company is secret and even state officials don’t know where it is, what it is called, or any information about it). Elyn was assured that they weren’t collecting data for themselves or the Feds (do you believe that??).

Anthony went on to explain that the current system is NOT Real ID and he said that the Real ID system may never go into effect (which doesn’t agree with the Homeland Security website). It is clear to me that we are gradually moving to a national ID system and I sensed uneasiness on the part of the state official we spoke to regarding this trend. (I was listening in on Elyn’s call at her request.)

I believe that it behooves all citizens to keep a careful watch on what our federal government is doing. It is our patriotic duty to do so. We should be able to ask for information and be given accurate and complete information by any government official we speak to. I don’t trust anything I am hearing about this matter. I am quoting Elyn’s email to me exactly as she sent it:

Just talked to Anthony at 476-3229, the supervisor for compliance at NM MVDivision in Sta Fe, who says: the driver's license ID info is sent to a private agency in Washington, DC--he doesn't know the name or location--in order to avoid the problem of breakins and theft of ID materials/equipment from local field offices and MVD Expresses. NM and 21 other states participate in this. CO's been doing it for 6 years. So the MVD sends the driver's license info to this unnamed secret agency and they make the license there and send it back to you. It isn't REAL ID (yet) but it is a step towards compliance if that happens. He says that they don't send ALL your info--and the secret agency doesn't have a central computer gathering all of it. Anthony can search other states' MVD records to see if you have a license issues but this secret agency can't. At least he doesn't think it has access to that kind of information. He was quite upset about all the misinformation I'd been given (this a.m. when I called the MVD I was told the info was sent to Washington State and that they did searches there among other states' records....) and talked to the supervisor of the phone bank to get that kind of misinfo stopped.

Real ID

Elyn applied for a drivers license extension today. She expected to get her new license on the spot, as we have in the past. The clerk informed her that the new license would take up to forty-five days, since now the applications have to be sent to "Washington."

Being the snoop dog I am I've uncovered the latest move by the Department of Homeland Security toward requiring all of us to carry ID cards (will tattoos be next??) The program is called Real ID and you can read all about it at the following address CLICK HERE. The Department goes to great lengths to explain how all this is making us safer, but I am wondering "Safer from whom??" From the government being able to track us around like so many caged animals? Not likely. Notice that the HSD website doesn't mention that they are processing all the drivers license applications in the country, which is what they are doing.

Wait! I just received a signal on my embedded transponder. Now I know that everything is OK and they are just trying to protect us! (Watch Video.)

The Future of Voting in the US

Hacking Democracy

I am seriously concerned about the possibility of the 2008 elections being rigged. This can happen in various ways. If you want to become part of the solution I can suggest a number of things to do immediately. Go to Black Box Voting http://www.blackboxvoting.org/ and download their free Tool Kit 2008: A Pocket Guide to Election Protection. This booklet outlines five things you can do to protect the election in 2008. Please be a good citizen and arm yourself with this free booklet.

You can also inform yourself about the problems by viewing the Emmy-nominated HBO documentary called Hacking Democracy. Go online at: http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/hackingdemocracy/ to view the preview and find out how to view the entire film. Since there are not current viewings scheduled you can go to http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hacking+democracy&search_type=&aq=0&oq=hacking+dem and view the program in nine segments. I have personally viewed all nine segments and can report that Diebold voting machines can, and have, been hacked to fraudulently report election results. I STRONGLY urge you to take the time to view this program.

My own personal work involves getting as many voters registered as possible. Many people have been turned away from the polls in the past because they were not informed of voting requirements such as ID cards, the need to renew voter registration. If you don’t want to sit at tables and register voters yourself, PLEASE do check to see if your voter registration is still valid. Call your county clerk’s office to check this out and to find out what you will need to bring to the polls. Now, since you have taken all that trouble, GO AND VOTE. (Sorry for the shout, but I think it is really that important.

A Weekend Retreat

I’ve been away at a weekend retreat and haven’t had time for blog updates for the most part. I’ve been getting home in late evening and I check up on the blogs and do what is necessary for routine upkeep.

This retreat was called Breathing Alive and centered on the work of Reshad Feild, a British mystic, teacher, and musician. The retreat was to introduce a new edition of Feild’s book by the same title. Much of this work is somewhat familiar because Feild traveled in many of the same spiritual circles I have been involved with, including the Sufi Order International, and the Mevlevi order, which is known for the turning of the so-called “whirling dervishes.” We engaged in very deep meditation and breathing practices, learned the fundamentals of the turn, and held several Dkirs (Sufi chanting practices involving chanting sacred names). Our weekend was enriched by the presence of a cook from the Feild group who served us wonderful, nutritious meals that he prepares as a spiritual practice. I really enjoy being with persons of the Sufi persuasion because they are so open and loving. While it was clear to me that I have moved beyond Sufism as my primary spiritual practice, it was good to revisit those territories.