Tuesday, September 12, 2006

2006-09-11

The anniversary of 9-11-2001 dawned rainy and gray and did not depart from that mood all day. After Morning Offering Jim watched the raindrops fall and went to sharpen his blades! By doing what he could do, he had a productive day. However there was no mowing! He pronounced himself ready to be a magician for the rest of the week, as the rain is supposed to intensify tomorrow and even continue the next day.

I finished up the first chapter of The Choice 101 and when I had done what I could to polish it, I sent it off to the Hays. They had just sent another contribution which enables me to go on working on this project, as their donation pays for an L/L Research admin, Gary – who does a spectacular job – and a bookkeeper, Lynn, who is working hard and getting more experienced each day. Good news from Lynn: she found a job! And perhaps she has also found a roommate, which enables her to afford a nicer place to live by far. I hope that is a good sign for Carmen and Travis, who are also looking for jobs that will enable them to stay in Louisville and attend our meditation meetings.

In the afternoon I had an appointment with bladder specialists, as Dr. Aboud felt I might have a condition involving the bladder wall. According to tests done today, I probably do have something called interstitial cystitis. I congratulate Aboud for being an excellent diagnostician while regretting this diagnosis. If it is so, it means that I have managed to acquire another chronic diagnosis of something doctors cannot treat. They can throw medicine at the symptoms but the condition has no cure. The one bright spot is that treating this condition may ameliorate symptoms that I thought were strictly gastro-intestinal.

I will persevere. I do not care what challenges face me in health as I work on this project. If necessary I will dictate the book onto tape, which I can do lying down. Now that I have figured out how to focus through these symptoms, I believe I can carry on regardless, as the British say. And as my buddy, Helen, says – Yer dern tootin!

I came home to greet Ed A, who has been at several Gatherings and is a good friend of Gary’s. He has come up from Tennessee for a visit with Gary and soon was off to have a bite to eat and meet Valerie, Gary’s girlfriend.

After getting all my new prescriptions handled and new appointments recorded, I edited on an expanded version of our last channeling of last season, the May 28, 2006 session. A listener who had heard the channeling via our podcasting of it had recorded it. Our own equipment had broken down and we had lost most of the session. This new transcript gives us a shot at preserving the entire session. Since we have never before lost a session like that, we are most grateful for the save!

I had not gotten far with that editing when Jim called bath time. After a most refreshing whirlpool, we watched Amy Goodman’s 9/11-related news broadcast. She had the makers of Loose Change (http://www.question911.com/), a documentary on 9/11 which raises all kinds of questions dear to the hearts of conspiracy buffs about the disaster, and the editors of Popular Mechanics on as well. They have just put out a book called 9/11: Debunking the Myths. The address where you can see more about that book is (http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/defense/1227842.html). It was a fascinating show, watching them debate the issues. Goodman does not know all the answers, and neither does anyone else, although both the movie group and the debunking group rather thought they had the answers down pat.

I think this tangle is worth a UPI article from me and I’ll work on that Wednesday morning. Conspiracy buffs in general have tremendously good things to offer. They poke and probe at difficult material and some of what they find is very persuasive in revealing a secret agenda known only to those in power, and quite other than the official version of what happened. On the other hand, the faults of these conspiracy experts showed up clearly in the show. The mavericks creating Loose Change were brash, youthful and possessed of a rudeness which made no sense and hurt their case as they presented it. They seemed impulsive and shallow in their research. One does not call a careful, cautious, savvy editor like David Dunbar a liar without incurring a loss of respect from the audience. Clearly Dunbar was not lying one little bit. He may have mistaken the inference of his facts, but the hallmark of this gentleman was his careful research.

Were we deceived about 9/11? We all rather feel we were. Much that has happened since then can be regretted. Our role since then, as Americans capable of terroristic acts aplenty ourselves, can further be regretted. The entire situation can be regretted. And yet here we are. The great challenge to us all is how to love each other through this tangle as we patiently undo the knots.

Mick and I had a late supper and the Gaia Meditation and ended the evening doing book orders and then snuggling with Sedgie.