SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW by The Cosmic Messenger

Life's temporal odyssey is full of conundrums but perhaps the most perplexing question remains unanswered until we draw our last breath. At this moment, the uncertainity of death's meaning is inevitability resolved for earthborn residents and the actuality of whether we're sojourners destined for immortality someplace else or our existence terminates forever is clarified. The clash between materialistic explainations fostered by the laws of science and theological suppositions offering hope of an eternal reward are finally reconciled.

Recently the sudden death of a pet cat caused me to contemplate our tellurian purpose, my actions towards the animal and if the time we coexisted together had a spiritual implication for both of us. Misty's loss was like the death of an extended family member. The 14 year bond we shared ended abruptly when she died violently one morning several weeks ago from an attack by a stray pitt bull in the carport of my home.

(1992 - 2006) ..... May She Rest In Peace

Upon discovering her lifeless form I began to experience all the stages of emotional grief an individual associates with the demise of a loved one. As I worked through the pain, my response to the incident was to seek consolation from several of my closest friends by emailing them an account of what happened. Feeling helpless and vulnerable, this was my attempt to regain control of an incident I was in angry denial about. I sensed their forthcoming responses might heal me of the remorse I was experiencing.

The replies were immediate, typically sympathetic as anticipated and spanned the globe. All had domesticated friends themselves. Both my Mom and sister advised finding a replacement animal to fill the listless void of emptiness I was living through. A couple in Rio de Janeiro who've followed my web column in earnest for several years suggested I come visit them to experience firsthand the warm ocean breezes enveloping their beach front home which they felt would exquisitely wipe away my sadness. They had previously asked me to consider the same idea last year after watching global broadcasts describing hurricane Katrina's devastation. Margaux, a correspondent from France and her mate proposed breeding their canine for me which they had lovingly raised from a puppy and were adamant its offspring would provide years of gentle companionship.

However, it wasn't until listening to an unexpected message on my answering machine that I was at last able to make peace with myself and achieve a tranquil perspective about the tragedy.The incoming communication was from a friend presently experiencing a high level of personal tension herself but made time to briefly remind me of the reason Misty had come into my life. Although I didn't save her exact words their substance will remain with me always and I doubt she'd object to me sharing my recollection of what was said.

"I'm so sorry for your loss. You must be feeling terrible but don't forget what you told me about how Misty came to you originally. Remembering this should help ease the pain and give you the assurance needed that your time together wasn't pointless."

Over the years, my friendship with this woman had crossed over from platonic acquaintance to intimate lover and back again but throughout our association we've always provided each other with a type of cerebral sustenance stabilizing our prevailing anxieties whether derived from a political or personal crisis. Being a single mother raising a young son had caused her to share many of her personal frustrations with me for which I offered the best advice I could.

Recognizing my psychological distress over this misfortune she disarmed my anger by asking me to recall that an ICU nurse had given Misty to me while recovering from a medical emergency earlier in my life. The health care provider believed pets have auspicious therapeutic qualities and by caring for them teach humans to supersede their own pain while transcending selfish desires. What my friend really succeeded in doing though was to refresh my memory of the nurse's humanistic concept of life and utilitarian kinship we share with the animals of the planet while residing here.

Although humanism and utilitarianism are philosophical doctrines the dogmatic views each imparts doesn't separate them drastically from the principle teachings of the major western and eastern theologies. Both disciplines acknowledge life's intent represents a form of symbolism offering earth's denizens (animals and humans) guidance to achieve full self realization during their time here. The distinction between the two concepts is philosophy uses logical reasoning to explain the laws of the universe while religion follows moral absolutes. For example, the central precept of scrupulous belief is our actions will be judged by a higher causal agent (God or the Cosmic Spirit ... pick one based on the type of operant conditioning you were exposed to) for the decisions we make during our lifespan. In comparison, utilitarianism advises the choices we make must aspire to achieving the most happiness for the greatest number. Despite the fact humanists reject religion their prevailing concern is similar to utilitarian ideals which is to promote a quality standard of welfare for all. Each of the systems impose values by which our life stories are evaluated at demise. Despite the different approaches, all of these theories agree life has a useful function and the lessons mastered here determine whether our entities become a positive or negative energy force in the universe once our earthly existence comes to an end.

Personally, I believe the bond that existed between Misty and myself exemplifies a combination of the dictates prescribed by these codes and was intended to test both of our benevolent capacities through our behavior towards one another. From the animal I learned tolerance, diligence, commitment and responsibility. In my role as mentor, I was able to tame her natural wild instincts by caring for her necessities and earning her trust of humans in the process.

Misty's ability to sense love was confirmed by her confidence in me and proof her death wasn't nonsensical. Despite being an animal I feel her spirit lives on, absorbed by the universe as a constructive energy source to offset the adverse influences competing for dominance across the cosmos. My gift to her was to provide a favorable influence to assist her as she travels the space beyond Earth's rainbow.

What will happen to my soul when I die ? Like everyone else I can only speculate but the respect I bestowed on my cat probably improved my chances of a propitious outcome. By exposing it to a kind, caring environment during her life and assimilating the virtues the animal returned to me, we both fulfilled any expectations the Cosmic Spirit might have for us. Since the cat's death, I've moved on from the seeds sown during our time in each other's company to the corporeal and spiritual development of a parakeet. Perhaps the lessons I learned from Misty though will germinate and take root within my psyche to produce another affirmative outcome with this new pet. Nevertheless, the phone message left by my friend still rings true. Being a Mom and a multiple pet owner she already knew what I've discerned from this experience myself.

The time we spend together on earth, whether in the company of other humans or animals affects the natural order of things in the macrocosm. The number of positive experiences we interject collectively into the system before dying will determine its fate and our own.

Her brief words of consolation set me free of any lingering doubts I had about the incident and helped me to focus on the good evolving from it. Thank you for your encouragement. "Happy Mother's Day" to you and all the women who subscribe to my Column.


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GOING BALLISTIC by The Cosmic Messenger

Lately the news realm has been deluged with stories about a impending nuclear conflict on the brink of escalating into biblical Armageddon throughout Iran if the Bush cold warriors follow through on their illegal scheme to seize another geographic portion of the Middle East. Many observers suspect this type of rhetoric is more cowboy talk by the President meant to intimidate Iran's leaders and mislead our own public to boost his slumping poll numbers.

Just as we witnessed in the run up to the Iraq war though, Washington pack journalists seem inclined to accommodate disinformation about weapons of mass destruction without digging deeper into the story for evidence of a covert agenda. Neglected by the national establishment media has been the more imperiling account of how Busheviks have clandestinely tried to orchestrate international consternation concerning seditious uses of nuclear technology by Third World countries to achieve their own objective of world dominance through atomic superiority. Beyond this, the press has failed to deduce for Americans the real threat may not be from a missle attack launched by a rogue nation but the inability of US government agencies to secure existing reserves of nuclear weapons and materials on our own soil.

Fifteen years ago, former US General Colin Powell publicly observed our country must acknowledge in the post cold war era a civic and moral duty to the rest of the world. The subliminal notion inside his statement meaning the US should relinquish its role of global military guardian for such noble, earthly concerns as ending poverty throughout mankind while seeking a more equitable means of prosperity for humanity as a whole. What's transpired since this declaration is worrisome.

Instead of undertaking these appeals, we've seen a gradual re-emergence of the idea that the best defense is through a dominant offense which expands nuclear weapons production and returns the United States to the uncalled-for persona of universal enforcer. This type of pseudo-rationale was greedily embraced by an array of officials within the Bush administration who had former affiliations to the defense industry upon its ascendency to power in 2001. They envisioned conflict in the Middle East whether in Iraq or Iran as an opportunity to implement a partisan doctrine of deterrence through military supremacy. By adopting this tactic both the President and Congress believed they were appeasing the constituencies most vital to them --- defense contractors and their lobbyists who would pay to keep them in office and a gullible public eager to vote for anyone projecting a tough, macho approach to foreign policy conflicts.

With approximately $50 billion in Congressional appropriations already spent on the Iraq war, Republicans have essentially succeeded in achieving the previously described goals but still would like to upgrade the atomic weapons infrastructure of our country, maintain associated R&D facilities and test or develop new weapons systems such as nuclear bunker buster missiles. The President included in his fiscal year budget request for 2005 funding of these projects and was back again in April trying to sway sentiment to authorize production of 125 new bombs annually.

Bush's principal selling point to win acceptance has been to depict existing weapons inventories as decrepit and in need of modernization. Portraying Iran as a imminent threat to the nation's security with the potential of delivering lethal rockets against the population has become the latest way to frighten citizens into supporting more pork barrel expenditures to defend against an unwarranted threat. It's the type of visceral logic we've come to expect from an Administration who dismisses valid evidence contrary to its aspirations. This despite recommendations by ranking members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that without supporting intelligence to verify Iran's intentions, diplomacy would be the best action to take.

As with Iraq war spending, the President's request for additional funds to regenerate the nuclear industry is more about pay back to campaign donors in the form of make work contracts for weapons producers and industry scientists rather than any serious attempt at keeping the world safe from deadly conflict. Worse, protecting our existing atomic infrastructure is treated as an afterthought, only necessary to fulfill the aim of expanded arms construction instead of protecting the homeland.

Independent organizations such as the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) have warned for several years America's nuclear industry from weapons depositories to reactor sites is unsafe and pose significant hazardous risks to nearby populations due to either human error or terrorist attack. Despite these admonishments the Department of Energy (DOE), National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Homeland Security (DHS) and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have been unable to devise a plausible, coordinated solution to the dangers presented by these threats. As recently as April 17, both the DHS and NRC publicly acknowledged security contracts awarded to foreign firms such as Wackenhut to protect America's sensitive nuclear facilities were a gamble after the British firm failed mock terrorist attacks. As a consequence, DHS relieved the firm of its contractual duties and awarded responsibility to a Virginia company. Peter Stockton of POGO commented, "the sensitive nature of protecting the country's critical infrastructure should lead the government to think twice about handing security contracts over to any foreign entity."

Although transferring responsibility for defense of the country's nuclear enterprises back to a private, domestic business organization might have political appeal in the wake of the Dubai Ports controversy, it still doesn't guarantee whether key materials such as uranium and plutonium fundamental for making an improvised bomb can be safeguarded from falling into radical hands if they were to successfully take over an American facility storing these elements. In testimony before the House Armed Services Committee April 6, POGO's Stockton advised that the Department of Energy should immediately follow through with a series of steps to shield the public from danger by having lethal components spread over 13 US storage sites brought together in a single system.

A POGO "investigation has found that disposing of excess nuclear materials and consolidating remaining materials in fewer and more easily-defended locations could save the government billions of dollars over three years while also better protecting the public from nuclear terrorism," says Stockton. "In this post-9/11 world, it is unconscionable that we continue to store plutonium and highly-enriched uranium – the nuclear material most attractive to terrorists – in WWII-era buildings, some of which are even built of wood. This material is stored at great cost to the taxpayer and some of the sites are in highly-populated areas." In his April funding request, Bush admitted this was a problem but proposed a longer time span for the merger until 2030 and asked the appeal be contingent on retrofiting the U.S. nuclear weapons program.

Rather than building new weapons systems or expanding the US armory, it's our citizens who should be going ballastic at this latest underhanded attempt by the Bush cabal to transfer their tax dollars to political patrons who will benefit more than them from an ideology propagandized on falsehoods. Some independent analysts are now projecting costs for the Iraq war could exceed $1 trillion before American troops are brought home. That's an expensive price tag for a military mission whose purpose has cryptically shifted without explaination from fighting terrorists to defending freedom in foreign countries where it's in American oil companies interests to do so. Taxpayers should be asking federal leaders how many textbooks that money could've bought for their children or whether national health care might have been purchased for everyone at this price ?

Keeping America free means having leaders who citizens can rely upon to give them accurate information in a crisis rather than inventing delusive scenarios to accommodate a political vision. Wouldn't it be nice if those in charge of our nation's destiny applied this precept when the issue of nuclear security came up for discussion ? Since the Department of Energy is ultimately responsible for crafting policy in this area, maybe we should pressure Congress to direct the DOE to have weapons scientists refocus their efforts away from fabricating more sophisticated war toys we don't need to devising methods of safer, cleaner energy production for the 21st century.

Better yet, make this idea conditional for Congressional reelection in the Fall.


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