The Plan

a

Harm Reduction Manifesto

by Theo Cedar

Welcome! "The Plan" is offered as an inspired set of possible solutions to the most pressing problems of our time. My hope is that if we attempt to bring these ideas into reality, as "social experiments", the results will be that we are closer to creating a world that we would most want to live in, that some of the greatest threats to our survival and quality of life will be rolled back, and that, on balance, there will be more benefit than harm arising from our choices. I hope my work provokes compassionate action and thoughtful response on the part of my readers. Blessings.

2. De-legitimize and reduce all scapegoating in the world by finding ways to transform the scapegoating activity through love, service and ego-transcendence.

3. Reunite actions with their consequences; tax net-harmful activities sufficient to pay for all downstream negative consequences. Incentivize desired beneficial actions

4. Decriminalize drugs. Enact a moratorium on all prison construction (proven failed social experiment). Push programs that flesh out the humane and preventative component of fighting crime, not just the punitive ones (i.e. promote humane rehabilitation and social reintegration of as many violent criminals as possible, as well as prevention through teaching of good parenting, nutrition and the fostering of economic justice.)

5. Prioritize all existing criminal penalties according to real offenses and harms to property, human rights, health and quality of life (instead of pseudo-moralistically based prohibitions against mind-altering drugs, skateboarding, exposed female breasts, and consenting sex acts). Analyze all personal and collective behaviors according to objective cost/benefit analysis.

6. Downsize (or convert to nonviolent forms) the U.S. military by one-half every twenty years, and reinvest that money into the Arts/Culture Economy and into humanitarian aid to the world's most volatile breeding grounds of "enemies".

7. Initiate a new "Marshall Plan" to rapidly phase-out reliance on fossil fuels and phase in Free Energy and other sustainable energy technologies.

8. Practice "namaste" by presuming, recognizing and affirming the innate divinity of all beings.

9. Reduce human suffering by reducing both death rates and birthrates. Tax the auto industry, the oil industry, the alcohol industry, the gun industry, the tobacco industry, the chemical industry, the Catholic Church, the pharmaceutical industry and the food industry sufficient to pay for the massive annual death rates caused by their products or dogmas; subsidize the same industries to adopt more benign products and practices. Initiate worldwide educational campaign to support family planning and population control.

11. Study the Great Tradition of all the world's most spiritually enlightened teachers, as currently exemplified by Adi Da Samraj.

Whereas, clubs, venues and night life are threatened and underserved in the Bay Area. In the East Bay alone we have seen the closing of the Klub Kaos in Fremont, Niles Station, the Omni, the Heinz Club, the Berkeley Square, and the Formula Club in a few short years.

Whereas, night life is underserved by mass transportation. BART discontinues service at midnight, while drinking legally continues at the clubs until 2am. (It appears that AC Transit has restored late night service from S.F. to Oakland)

Whereas, the delivery technologies for home entertainment have undercut live music. Cable, VCR's, Computers and Television have kept potential audiences at home. Everyone concerned with the state of live music and entertainment must be prepared to take direct measures to compete with home entertainment.

Whereas, bands experience discrimination in the workplace, specifically in where they can rehearse. Local landlords routinely discriminate against musicians who seek to rent industrial space. Musicians are forced into practice facilities that charge an average of $1.50/sq. ft. and that are not adequately soundproofed, while industrial space is commonly available for $.50/sq. ft. to other businesses. Issues of noise are not legitimate grounds for property owners to discriminate against musicians because soundproofing can usually be built by the musicians for about $1,000, and scheduling agreements about when to play can be written into leases.

Whereas, bands are restricted in their access to advertising. Haight St. in San Francisco, and many other urban areas have outlawed or restricted the posting of flyers to advertise shows, which is a legitimate and necessary venue for bands to develop a following through direct appeal in the commons and on the street. Cities have not given musicians adequate recourse through the construction of kiosks and posting areas for handbills.

Whereas, alcohol is used as an excuse and tactic to segregate the youth from the most vital expression of their own rightful culture, namely live shows. The drinking age in California means that most clubs restrict or prohibit access of people under the age of 21 into the small and medium sized clubs. This represents the loss of a huge potential market for bands who desperately need as large an audience as they can possibly get, especially in the early years of their development.

Whereas, major record labels take their profits out of the community that created the bands that they are profiting from. The music business makes billions of dollars in the US but they don't nurture and support the place that the music comes from. The Bay Area has produced a disproportionate number of world class bands for over thirty years, yet our success and productivity has not translated into support for musicians and the live music scene. Clubs should receive direct support from the record industry.

Whereas, musicians are the last to receive grants and corporate welfare. Our tax money goes to pay huge timber, oil, automotive, and mining corporations in subsidies, and research and development, and the clean-up of their toxic follies, while musicians get nothing. Musicians should get public money to meet their economic needs at least in proportion to the amount of financial benefit and taxes they generate for the economy at large.

Whereas, musicians are inadequately organized. Musicians unions have been dormant for a long time. Musicians should not forget that there is power in a union.

Whereas, musicians receive inadequate assistance in the areas of marketing and business. Music is a grand vocation that an individual must support in addition to her day-job and her relationships. Musicians need all the help they can get in the areas of marketing, advertising and business.

Whereas, musicians in particular and artists in general suffer from prejudice and a full-frontal economic attack on the arts in the United States. The National Endowment for the Arts in the richest and most powerful country in the history of the world hovers around $90 Million, a per capita expenditure of thirty-six cents per year. A great many in Congress are attempting to eliminate the NEA. Public School music programs have been decimated and eliminated throughout the country.

Whereas, musicians are penalized in their day-jobs and their financial status. Many musicians live in a state of severe financial insecurity because they are not granted leave to tour, or because they are turned down for jobs because of their appearance or lifestyle. Musicians often lack health insurance, and insurance companies generally will not grant policies to musicians who want to insure their equipment.

Whereas, musicians have fulfilled their cultural and creative obligation with flying colors in the United States. In the United States during the Twentieth Century, musicians have never failed to create constant economic expansion and continual creative breakthroughs of global effect and significance. Not a half-decade goes by without revolutionary musical advancements on multiple fronts. Blues, Gospel, Show tunes, Swing, Jazz, Rhythm and Blues, Soul, Rock and Roll, Funk, Psychedelia, Ambient, Disco, Country, Folk, Techno, Hip-Hop, Industrial and on and on. In fact, America's single greatest claim to cultural genius lies in its music.

Whereas, Bay Area Musicians create jobs. From the smallest bar, where musicians draw more clientele into that establishment, who buy drinks and support the workers and owners of that establishment, to the equipment stores, recording studios, rehearsal facilities, sellers of entertainment news, promoters, lawyers, record stores, record labels, and all other businesses that benefit directly and indirectly from the labor of local musicians, the local economy derives benefit from bands at all levels of popularity.

Whereas, musicians create irreplaceable value spiritually, culturally, and emotionally for the masses. In addition to the previously mentioned jobs, musicians also create joy and emotional release for all humans. We also create justice, because music has always been one of the first and only environments where the races could freely mix. First it was jazz, now it is raves. Musicians must take up the banner of "Jobs, Joy, and Justice" in their campaign of self-defense.

Whereas, musicians help to create community. In a culture that glorifies suburban alienation and consumerism, musicians form groups together and extended clans. Bands offer potential models and experiments in social cohesion.

1. We must create a clearinghouse or Political Action Committee in the Bay Area to collect human and economic statistics about local musicians and the local music business, and to lobby the powers-that-be on behalf of musicians' and audiences' interests. Without hard-core market information, musicians can not fully take up the fight on their own behalf.

2. We must create solidarity with the youth by developing Rock-and-Roll school curriculums. We should affiliate directly with Middle School, High School and College age people by creating more all-ages venues, having bands tour the schools, and by recruiting youth to help market the bands. Youth could thereby gain real-world skills in how to operate and nurture small-businesses while lending direct support to their comrades-in-arts.

3. Everyone connected to the music business in the area should contribute directly to improving the infrastructure and social climate for musicians and nightlife. Organize Rock Unions or advocacy groups.

4. Start a 24 hour youth multiplex in downtown Oakland.

5. We need a local musicians chat room on-line so we can all share our experiences, grievances and insights. See the bandsummit website and sfmusician.com

Here is a new system for companies to form and propagate; this system seeks to balance the freedom of capitalism with the obligations of community.

1. Small groups of people join to form a business by unanimous mutual consent. All assets and capital are owned by the members of the group.
2. Any new member can only join with unanimous consent of the group.
3. Ownership of the business is mediated through shares.
4. If the company becomes successful and grows to a point where personal and non-vertical management becomes impractical, the group will ceremoniously divide into two or more new businesses.
5. Each of these new businesses will have fundamental decision-making independence from each other excepting in one specific area. All owners of the mother company will own shares in all the offspring companies. As companies continue to divide and propagate, they continue to funnel some of their profits to the share-owners of the mother company. This is an incentive to early participation in the system.
6. Flexibility in terms and conditions of continuing to own shares.
a. Continuing to provide your own personal labor will be the way to own the most shares. ( Labor is the ultimate currency of value in this system.) Full membership in a group may take several years to attain after various trial periods have been seen-through. Having achieved full membership, an individual will receive some percentage of their original share ownership for the rest of their lives whether or not they ever work again.
b. Terms under which an individual can sell some of their shares. (An individual can never sell all of their shares, because they must maintain the minimum necessary to receive a living wage.)

7. Barter of goods and exchange of education and training is encouraged among groups.

8. Temporary sabbaticals and inter-group mergers are encouraged.

9. Groups and alliances of groups will bypass the need for medical insurance companies by purchasing their own hospitals that are mandated to provide lifetime care to share owners. Culturally "appropriate" retirement communities will also be purchased.

10. Some groups may decide to put a limit on how much personal profit from shares any individual may ever possess.

11. Group alliances will form their own lobby groups to address, among other things, the issue of taxes paid to the State or Federal Government. Since many services that the government is supposed to provide from tax money will now be substituted with what the groups provide to their own members, some tax relief may be in order.

12. This system of organizing businesses will extend into every form of commerce, and ultimately into the educational system as well.

13. Different tiers of commitment to the System. Tiered system of share ownership based on number of hours worked/ number of projects completed/ number of people served.

14. An assessment process for all waste created by Groups, and computerized inventory of waste and excess capacity for the purpose of barter and redistribution.

17. There are built-in systems to steer profit towards the enhancement of basic life needs.

18. The Social System is constructed in such a manner as to encourage individual success and realization. Accomplished, successful, high share owning people will have a higher valuation on their hourly labor, but they must still give their personal labor in order to own the maximum possible shares. Ownership without labor always results in smaller number of shares owned.

Ecological destruction and corporate welfare are well-known liabilities of our ranching policies in the West. But during the 19th century, ranching performed an important function in the growth of American Empire as well. The Westward movement of cattle ranchers assisted America's rapid territorial expansion on the continent, and represented a major front in the American colonial imperative over the Indians and their territory.

Given the relatively minor economic contribution that animal production on public lands has afforded the nation, we must look for another reason why the federal government has almost always unquestioningly supported ranching interests on public lands. One of the original reasons for this governmental support arose from the country's security interests vis-à-vis the Indians. Ranching gave American colonists in the West private property entitlements on the scale of thousands of acres per individual. If each white rancher had private control over very large areas of land sufficient to profitably graze cattle on marginal land, then each individual rancher was an efficient means for claiming vast territory for the US, and thus a beach head in the gradual territorial domination and removal of the Indians.

The shadowy genocidal urge to remove Indians by force from their own land was then followed by a desire to eliminate native predators and native plants from the land. Most people don't like to bring up their genocidal legacies in polite conversation, but we did it, we're guilty, and we know it. And that legacy of genocide, unfortunately, lies right at the heart of ranching's history in the Western US

Note - Over 2/3 of the 444 million acres (1.8 million km2) of cropland in the 48 states are planted with livestock feed (56% for beef cattle).~ 80-90% of all grain grown in the US is used to feed meat animals (p.364 of 91J1).~ 40% of all US farm produce, including grain, is fed to livestock (p.364 of 91J1)

Note - In the US, where people eat more meat than in any other country in the world, cattle and other livestock consume over 70 percent of all grain produced. And what about US grain exports? Sixty-six percent of all grain exports goes to feed livestock rather than hungry people.

Topsoil depletion has been the cause for the demise of many great civilizations. It is believed, for example, that the Sumerian civilization was partly destroyed because of desertification due to topsoil depletion. Today in the US, 85 percent of the topsoil lost from cropland, pasture, rangeland and forest land is directly associated with raising livestock. According to Alan Durning of the WorldWatch Institute, it costs about 35 pounds of eroded topsoil to produce one pound of feedlot steak. To replenish the lost soil, however, is not easy. Scientists believe it takes between 200 and 1,000 years to create one inch of topsoil under natural conditions. It is estimated that the direct and indirect costs of soil erosion in the US alone exceed $44 billion a year.

There is a war in the natural world between two different principles. The first principle is that humans can alter or use the natural world in any way they wish. The other principle is that nature is good in and of itself and should be disrupted by humans little or not at all.
Some say that the natural world is best used as a source of wealth and profit. I say that any further human encroachment on the remaining natural areas of the Earth that result in significant losses to their integrity or diversity of species is no longer tolerable.
What then is humans' place then in the world? To commune with it respectfully whether as an individual or in groups, with negligible degrading or destructive impact.

A Picture of the Future

American cinema past and present has suffered from the repressive censorship of sexuality that has massively compromised the quality of cinematic art, as well as categorically excluded a vast dimension of the human experience, full and realistic sexuality, from being richly portrayed in cinema. Too often, the camera shies away when real sex starts to heat up in the story line. This lends the impression that portraying sex is not artistically important to the story, or not valid simply as a representative aspect of universal human experience.

Depictions of graphic sexuality have been relegated to the artistic ghetto of commercial pornography, which suffers from less-than-world-class production values and malnourished narratives. Meanwhile, ultra-realistic and graphic depictions of human violence and mayhem are cheerfully delivered to us by the truckload, with the benign approval of the current ratings system.

I am through being deprived of a vivid and rich legacy of human sexuality in the movies, and I propose a solution. It is archaic and absurd for any central government body to have the sole authority to decide for all communities what is appropriate for all of us to view. Instead of the current centralized ratings system, any concerned group or individual (say, the Christian Right, Feminists, Gays and Lesbians, or your cantankerous Uncle Gustav) could publish their own rating of each and every movie offering stalking the subconscious of America, and have literature from these groups available at every theater, or on the web. You could consult your own handy little movie-bible of moral turpitude that reflects your interests and beliefs, and prudently guide yourself to the appropriate entertainments. No more hassles with government control of cinematic art, because the people can assume responsibility for their own cultural self-policing, and navigate for themselves the various viewpoints being offered in our marketplace of ideas. See you at the movies.

The amazing and continuing success of local musicians nationally and internationally has not translated into any improvement at the grassroots level for the club scene in the East Bay. A long list of bands from the local area who have fared well, including Primus, Green Day, Rancid, Metallica, Neil Young, and Faith No More, could be matched by a list almost as long of local clubs that have been closed or are on the ropes. The Heinz club and Merchants in Oakland closed. The Omni in Oakland also closed (although it's hard to mourn the loss of a business that engaged in the villainous practice of "pay-to-play"). The Alameda Saloon is so poorly managed that it cannot afford a Monitor system for the bands, or to pay its phone bill. Sadly, the Formula Club closed. The Ashkenaz recently suffered the murder of its owner David Nadel. And now the only local venue that consistently showcases national acts, the Berkeley Square, is closed.

The Berkeley Square offers a telling example of the ills in the local scene. Long is the litany of complaints I have heard from fellow artists about their treatment at the hands of the Square's current management; some of these stories I can corroborate with my personal experience of being teased or threatened with nonpayment for a show my band has performed, or of having our time slot moved at the last minute by the club. Instances of disrespect toward artists is also reflected in the physical conditions of the club. The awning in front of the club has gone unprepared for many years, a gaping hole in the parquet dance floor went unrepaired for many years, and the overall cleanliness has been in a visible state of decline to a point which exceeds what could be considered an acceptable level of "charm" or "ambiance" for a nightclub. (To the club's credit, they did expand the stage and sound system.)

Outward degeneration such as this does not bode well for a club like the Square. Rock clubs are already prone to being the target of the generalized urban frustrations (i.e. violence, drugs, noise and blight) of local residents. As the Berkeley Square gradually slips, it makes itself an easier target to the allegations of local residents, whether or not they are well founded. And it seems that the Square can exploit little sympathy or solidarity among those who should be its natural allies in the fight to save it: the bands.

All of this bears broader cultural and economic significance for a couple of reasons. 1) The Rock music industry in the United States generates 30-plus billion dollars a year. The Bay Area makes a healthy contribution to this industry due to its unusually high endowment of quality artists. And yet this industry would be nowhere without the first tier of rock clubs where bands can receive the only true vocational training that exists in how to be a band, how to perform, and how to deal with business, promotion and money. (Has there ever been a market study to determine how much money bands bring into the local economy?) The decline in the club scene in the East Bay is a danger signal that the foundation of our corner of the music industry is at serious risk.
2) Night life represents an irreplaceable part of the heartbeat of society and civilization. Night life is where we can take off the mask that we wear in the daytime and experience the potential ecstasy of music and its rituals in the company of others. And yet our local night life is starving and underserved.

Night life of the rockin' variety also plays a crucial role in giving the youth something meaningful to do. It is right and proper that nightclubs should also fulfill a role as youth clubs, and yet there is a legal problem that puts the clubs into direct contradiction with this. The legal drinking age for alcohol in California means that youth can not have access to their own music in smaller live forums, because most clubs are overly dependent on alcohol revenues for their existence. In our attempts to protect youth from alcohol we are damaging them culturally, and forcing them to find diversions for their energy that are perhaps less socially constructive than going out to see live music. At the same time, clubs are missing out on a potentially huge chunk of the youth market by restricting youth's access to the clubs due to alcohol. Alcohol presents yet another liability to clubs because of the justifiably stringent anti-drunk driving laws, which mean that patrons who like to drink but don't have a designated driver are thrown on the mercies of the public transportation system at night; and as we all know, BART stops running at midnight.

Now, to all those concerned with these issues, including the bands, clubs and neighbors, I would like to put some ideas for solutions on the table.
a) Clubs, bands and concerned neighbors should band together to create trained volunteer patrols that would actively mitigate litter, noise and social disruptions during show nights.
b) Alcohol-free nights should be phased in at all clubs. Clubs could actively pursue other revenue streams to compensate for the revenue lost from not serving alcohol, including, possibly:
i) Corporate sponsorship. Use the youth audience at shows to good effect by soliciting companies to make available their logos, computer games, t-shirts, food, non-alcoholic drinks, snowboards, etc., etc. For a price.
ii) Do direct outreach to local Colleges, High Schools and Junior Highs to pull in paying youth audiences, by transforming clubs into family oriented environments at least part of the month. Become the kind of club that could be a partner to the public school system; art and culture are after all a part of the education of the youth.
iii) Form a business association among the clubs for everyone's mutual benefit. Share and network business tips, legal aid and good fellowship to help uplift the entire scene. Also, all clubs should have a website on the 'Net.
iv) Clubs should go after grants and public money. Get a little of that corporate welfare.
c) Clubs, bands and upstanding citizens should fund market research studies just like other businesses do, to find out how to better survive and thrive in the marketplace. Do more outreach to the City Council, the Chamber of Commerce, Travel Agents, and the Board of Tourism. And how about a commercial modern rock station for the East Bay?

A non-profit organization will be established to collect funds from other foundations, grant organizations, philanthropists, sponsors and state, local and federal government to provide grants to worthy rock bands who met certain selection criteria.

A peer-review system would be established of qualified music industry professionals who would review the grant requests of each band to determine their suitability for the grant. The grant would then enable those bands to take their career to the next step by allowing them to purchase better equipment, as well as promotional representation and materials, business consulting services, and to take time off from their day-jobs to tour and build their fan base. A percentage of the bands future profits could be directed back to the Rock Band Grant Fund.

Proposed: that legal means be made available for people under the age of 18 who have successfully navigated an authentic rite-of-passage process to become legal adults with full adult rights, privileges and responsibilities, including all sexual rights.

1. Sexual acts on the part of consenting legal adults that do not involve violence or theft/damage to property fall outside the jurisdiction of all state and federal laws, as a matter of universal principle.

2. Universal sexual rights fall in part under the jurisdiction of the Constitutional right to freedom of religion (as the breach between religion and sexuality is healed).

3. Virtually all anti-prostitution, anti-sodomy, anti-adultery, anti-homosexuality, anti-oral sex laws, etc. would be abolished in every state in deference to the Universal Human Right to Sexuality, whenever no violence against person or harm against property takes place.

4. Public sexuality will be permitted in certain prescribed public areas, not subject to abridgment by any local or greater authority, as long as visual curtelage is maintained so as not to subject non-consenting individuals to involuntary exposure.

5. Tribal and community sanctioned forums will be established that provide rite-of-passages for youth who desire and have met the qualifications for initiation into full adult legal status.

6. Adults in the community will publicly vow not to do violence, sexual or otherwise, to any youth. Adults will publicly vow to allow children to speak their truth openly in their company without punishment, rejection or blame.

7. Qualified adults will be allowed to provide sex education to pre-rite-of-passage youths in prescribed situations, when certain laws and responsibilities are accepted by youth and adult.

8. Internet and other avenues will be available to youth as an alarm if any sexual or other abuse is caused to youth by other youth or adult.

9. Mentoring infrastructure established to give youth personalized guidance in myriad of life skills not adequately or appropriately covered by public school system. Mentoring and successful rite-of-passage is required for youth to become legal adult before age 18.

10. Atmosphere of openness and tolerance to replace taboos against candid sexual discussions between adults and children.

11. Statutory rape redefined to allow for consenting sex between adults and those under 18 who have successfully negotiated their rite of passage..

12. State laws divest themselves of all remnants of Christian anti-sexual taboos and pseudo morality that impinge upon universal human rights.

13. Rites of passage under this system are and must always be open to all faiths and cultures.

14. Pagan culture given full rights to celebrate and declare publicly the universal human rights to pleasure whenever it is nonviolent and does not impinge on the rights of others.

15. Voting is mandatory as a responsibility of adult initiation into democratic society. Consistent voting participation is rewarded; poor voter participation is penalized.

16. Sexual taboos are exposed as mechanisms of covert sexual abuse, judgment and low self-esteem. In place of taboos comes mentoring, candor and openness to effectively teach and instill all the potential consequences of adult sexuality, positive and negative.

17. Adults will publicly recognize the sexual autonomy, rights to pleasure and self-worth of initiated youth. All children are raised and encouraged to speak their truth to any adult at all times without punishment, rejection or blame; all children are taught and encouraged to state their boundaries to any adult and have those boundaries respected by all adults. All taboo topics of discussion are now tolerated, and no child need ever feel inhibited or ashamed to inquire openly about any sexual issue, nor to be afraid to speak up if s/he has been sexually or otherwise violated by an adult.

18. Public legitimization and acceptance of human sexuality is vitally necessary to curtail the channeling of individual and mass libido into violence. Responsible sexuality is practiced as a violence reducer.

19. Moral judgments should be based solely on actual mental, physical, emotional and spiritual consequences, not on outdated Christian traditions.

20. Public monies heretofore spent on enforcement of anti-sexuality laws should be spent on mentoring, sexuality education and rites of passage.

21. Anti-incest laws should be redefined to prosecute abuse but not consenting acts between legal adults.

I propose the creation, here in Oakland, of a 24 Hour Youth Multiplex, a large structure and garden area downtown that is open to all ages and open all the time.

The 24 Hour Youth Multiplex would feature 2 live stages, where rock bands, dj's and hip hop and rap artists could perform at all hours. There would also be a large chill area, where people could relax and socialize, eat organic vegetarian soup at any hour of the day, and enjoy quieter music.

The educational section of the building would include multiple computers hooked up to the web and an onsite tech support person and computer skills teachers. Adjacent to this would be a lecture hall, where teachers, leaders and educators of all different kinds would address the youth. Among the many topics covered would be how to run a small business, nonviolence training, harm reduction, drug use and sexuality, spirituality and meditation, nutrition and health, sustainable energy and food, music and art history, local politics and activism, etc., etc.

There would also be athletic facilities, such as a skatepark, laser-tag, indoor rock climbing, ping pong, yoga, martial arts, wrestling, basketball and other vigorous but space-efficient activities.

On premises would be a 24 hour health clinic where kids could get health checkups, sex and drug counseling, birth control, blood tests and treatment for minor emergencies.

Present at all times would be teams of adult "Social Directors" who are available to make introductions between people, answer questions, provide conflict resolution, pick up litter, provide informal youth counseling, and altogether insure civility inside and outside of the premises. Their presence reduces the need for police.

Consumerism and markets in the US more or less efficiently keep us supplied with the material things we need to live, but they do not adequately safeguard us from our own tendencies toward violence and fascism. New institutions of democracy must be continually introduced in order to roll back America's tendencies toward violence and fascism. All citizens of any democracy should possess a sober and informed awareness of these tendencies, and a commitment to keeping them at bay and ultimately in retreat. Look for and expect, therefore, continued resurgences of grassroots participation in democracy that extend and improve the great legacy of grassroots social movements from the past (such as the Union and Labor movements, women's suffrage, gay rights movements, the feminist movement, the environmental movement, the black civil rights movement, the cultural revolution of the Sixties, the anti-nuke movement, campaign finance reform, etc., etc.).

But the most important driving force of these positive social movements is an acceleration in the growth of human consciousness. One practice that helps to propel consciousness is the ongoing reflection upon and critical analysis of all of the destructive, violent and harmful tendencies within ourselves and within our country.

We must heal the wounds that we ourselves and others have caused to our sexuality and move toward a practical acceptance of pleasure as a sign that we are properly and fully functioning humans. Exercising your innate capacities for pleasure can easily lead to religious experiences of ecstasy or happiness. Sexuality and religious experience are closely connected within us; exploring this connection is our birthright

If it is true that there will always be a "warrior type" in society, then society must develop more nonviolent roles for military and police to play, in order to phase out violence as an answer to conflicts and problems in the world. In this light, we should re-adapt all of the "stations" of the warrior creed to nonviolent expressions or forms, beginning with the following stations:

1. Vigilance (bearing witness, intelligence gathering and intelligence dissemination)
2. Loyalty and teamwork
3. Honor and glory
4. Preparedness and training
5. Action and intervention
6. Risk and sacrifice
7. Command and Control
8. Chain of Command

What would the nonviolent form of each of these expressions look like? Nonviolent Warrior culture developed on this basis would allow the formation of nonviolent police and military brigades that do not use deadly force. Nevertheless, the unique flavor and qualities of warrior culture would be maintained, even as the warrior culture is progressively purified of its use of violence.

Military and police institutions would gradually change their missions to less violent and destructive purposes, such as environmental restoration, feeding and assisting homeless people and refugees, engineering new sustainable energy delivery infrastructures, re-engineering transportation infrastructure to reduce fatalities and injuries, disaster relief, engineering upgrades to broadband information delivery, treating and preventing disease and epidemic vectors, pursuing white-collar criminals, etc. In these capacities, our warriors would be of true service to the country.

Work on the (W)hole: catchy slogan encapsulates 3 concepts!
1. Realize the Oneness of all and All (the "Whole"); discover how apparently separate things are part of the larger Whole.
2. Expand the "hole" or aperture of one's perception
3. Discover the "holes" in oneself, the places where we keep all that is denied, repressed or unconscious
Work on the (W)hole

Clint Vs. the Buddha
The classic ego-based icon of the hero portrays the individual as separate and apart from the landscape (silhouette of solitary Clint Eastwood in a cowboy hat and serape boldly outlined against the desert background), also known as "Man IN Landscape"; the "new" buddhic paradigm is "Wo/Man IS Landscape" where our individual-ness is offered up to God/Nature in willing service, cooperation and sacrifice.

One of the dark aspects of American history is the tendency to suppress or destroy tribal diversity within our borders. But are we to believe that Global Corporatism, Christian supremacy, and materialism are simply going to replace tens of thousands of years of human tribalism? It may stand to reason that rolling back America's darker tendencies would also witness a flourishing and revival of suppressed human tribalism in our midst (for example, the quasi-tribes that form around certain bands and the Oakland Raiders, the Burning Man events, the Rainbow tribe, tattoos and piercings, etc., etc.).

There are at least two basic forms of tribal revival:
1. Rebuilding old tribes that have been suppressed (by reclaiming the culture, practices, and observances of suppressed tribes as well as their missing or lost languages), and
2. the creating of new tribes to meet the needs of our present circumstances. In the case of the latter, we are called upon to creatively imagine what we want the forms and values of our new tribe(s) to be. Following are some initial thoughts...

A tribe is based on a mutual commitment to lifelong trust and friendship
as well as to mutually fostering healing, truth and understanding within each of us
as individuals, and amongst us collectively.

Tribes should favor sustainable economic and lifestyle activities. Post-imperialist and neo-capitalist tribes value cooperation and tolerance, and an economy based on the truth of universal inter-connectedness and interdependence.

Personal disclosure and statements of values should be generated by each person so that clearer understanding of commonality in values is apparent during tribal aggregation(s).

Individuals can have various relationship agreements with various tribes, and possess
multiple loyalties to many tribes...Tribes can form different alliances with other tribes.

Tribal regional and nationwide councils will become a new power center in democracy.

The regeneration of tribal rituals includes in some cases the ritual use of mind-altering drugs and plants, such as in the following cases:
1. Coming of age rites-of-passage
2. Death and dying
3. Marriage
4 Conception and birth.
5. Creativity
6. Religious practices
7. Healing

Tribal regeneration affords us a legitimizing framework in which to achieve two concrete goals:

My personal allegiance extends to all humans and all living beings on the planet. I am committed to the liberation and well-being and enlightenment of all persons and beings, as well as to the planet itself, regardless of the religious, tribal, racial or national affiliation of any person or group.

Lovefest

An ongoing series of outdoor and indoor events where musicians, DJ's, families and healers enjoy intentional community and spiritual ritual together. The first Lovefest took place on June 22-23, 2002 near Clearlake California.

Today's automobile designs are instruments of genocide and the death culture. This is so because existing automobile designs cause much more harm and death than is necessary for them to perform their function. Every year around 44,000 Americans die in automobile accidents. No external enemy comes close to causing us as much death and pain and injury as our own car manufacturers and city and highway planners do (as well as our own hostile, distracted or impatient driving habits). As mentioned above, all of us experience every day the fear and stress of being in an environment filled with excessively dangerous cars. This constitutes a form of legitimized terrorism, where we allow our transportation system to act as a form of hazing that constantly reinforces a state of numbness, passivity and tolerance in the public in the face of an excessively destructive and violent system.

Another dire consequence of automobiles is their air pollution. The physical effects of air toxicity from cars are widespread and insidious, including asthma, emphysema, lung cancer and other diseases. But it is even more insidious when you consider that deep conscious breathing is a method of spiritual practice and direct communion with the Divine. When we pollute our air, we complicate and damage the vital relationship with the Divine that we all enjoy through our breathing.

My plan is not intended to be preeminent over all other plans, but to act in complementary concordance with other plans of a similar nature. For example, there is a fortuitous correspondence between the Plan and the Code as put forth by Nellie Fuller, as well as to Adidam as put forth by Adi DA Samraj, Gandhi-ism, and Buddhism. I employ a system that I call "values mapping" to illustrate the parallels between my and other similar systems by aggregating certain terms within different systems that are pointing to similar concepts.

For example, I use terms like "prejudice", "scapegoating", "preventable harm" and "the death culture" which map in a general sense to the terms "racism" in The Code, and "contraction" "ego" "fear" "the illusion of separateness" in Adidam, or "attachment" in Buddhism, to describe that which fundamentally thwarts true human liberation and unfolding. (...to be cont'd)

First I will tell you one of the main reasons that so much war persists. This reason can be understood if you look at all the armies of the world as one large worker's union - the goal of this union is to maintain sufficient employment for the employable pool of warriors. All warriors share this same governing interest, even if they are in armies of countries that are "enemies". They all want to keep their job; and this means they must come up with occasions to fight each other, in order to justify the existence of their jobs. The very existence of violent armies and warriors suggests and indeed requires that wars occur on a regular basis to justify the existence of enough jobs for all the world's violent warriors.

Representatives of this vast international warrior's union enjoy the highest positions of power in the ranks of the governing and corporate classes of the world. They collude with these classes to create an environment which supports the perpetual need for war. (For more supportive information on this, see Noam Chomsky).

If this is taken as a baseline of our current reality, what would be a realistic way to change it? If we add to this the assumption that there will be for a long time to come a large number of warrior "types" in our human population that require warrior "type" employment to give the proper channels and outlets for their unique temperaments, then we realize that it would be impossible to just phase out armies, because those people are there and they need something appropriate to do. So the solution is to create nonviolent armies.

A proposal for an act of nonviolent civil disobedience against the "War on Drugs"

Create a "Safe House", a clinic where clean, reliable doses of every form of illicit drug could be purchased in public. Obviously, this place would be illegal from the outset, but it would represent a bold and powerful public illustration of what we envision as a replacement for the war on drugs. It would also attract a great deal of media attention to the issue and stir up debate and discussion.

To create this event, first a property would be chosen, perhaps a rental property, a donated property or an abandoned property. Various individuals would discretely make available quantities of good quality drugs, including marijuana, codeine, heroin, amphetamine, mushrooms, MDMA, LSD, DMT, etc. Each drug lot would be tested for dosage and purity, and these test results would be published to the public, along with the prices, on opening day.

A comfortable and dignified environment would be prepared with lots of space to sit, socialize, meet and, of course, procure the desired drugs. On the premises, educational and harm-reduction information would be made available to inform everyone of the potential positive and negative consequences of each drug, as well as information on how to reduce the potential harm of each drug. Also, referrals to drug treatment, detox and counseling would be available. Health care workers and counselors would also be present during the hours of operation.

Everyone who agrees to participate on the first day of businesses, including clients, is aware of the potential of arrest and prosecution, but they are prepared to assume this risk in the spirit of non-violent civil disobedience.

Discrete inquiries are made to local and international press before opening day, with the intention of not tipping off local police beforehand. On opening day, the doors are thrown open and clients are invited in only if they are willing to sign a disclaimer that they are participating with full knowledge of the consequences and hold the organizers non-liable. Press from everywhere descends on the event, anticipating the arrival of the police. All participants are encouraged to display only the most polite and respectful behavior, especially to the surrounding neighborhood. Business is handled in a professional manner, and all people are encouraged to follow a path of openness, mutual help and healing, honesty and truthfulness, and the most responsible use of the drugs that they can manage.

At this point, the ball is in the police's court. How long will they wait before making arrests? How will they conduct themselves? What will be the outcome of all the ensuing court cases and public opinion? Will this act be copied at other locations around the world? It soon becomes obvious that the people who conducted the event(s) displayed exceptional courage, and their examples of personal sacrifice helped to sway public opinion on the issue of ending prohibition against drugs.

The Street Drug Safe House shows us the necessity for mind altering drugs to be safely dispensed in a socially convivial and dignified atmosphere, where people can openly help each other with harm-reduction and addiction treatment, end the existence of the drug black market and all the violence and police involvement it spawns, and allow users to obtain pure known quantities of their drug(s) of choice, thereby reducing overdoses, poisonings and hospital visits.

The imperative to reduce person-hours behind the wheel of steel weapons filled with toxic, explosive fuel.

When we turn our harm-reduction gaze toward the passenger auto, we see a murderous technology that is allowed to run rampant over the lives of humanity. In America each year, upwards of 44,000 people lose their lives to automobile accidents; hundreds of thousands more survive with more or less degrees of bodily harm. And many tens of thousands, injured or not, suffer horribly in their conscience for being directly the cause of someone else's grave auto-related injury or death.

Added to this is the moment-to-moment stress we all feel, consciously or not, when we get behind the wheel and take our lives and the lives of those around us into our hands. Added to this is the stress of trying to get somewhere through an unregulated mass of too many other autos, resulting in the shocking waste of human health and time and mental energy known as commuter traffic. Added to this is the noxious, health destroying pollution that cars produce every time they are used. Added to this is the severe political liability our country suffers through its dependence on fossil fuel supplies from dangerous, unstable countries in the middle-east, drawing us into chronic, ruinous warfare. And all for the sake of the privilege and convenience of being transported where we like when we like.

Added together, these shocking liabilities comprise a cumulative stack of pain and suffering that is morally untenable for anyone seriously committed to harm reduction. The privilege of free travel has to be balanced against the cumulative harm caused by the presently popular method for solving the transportation problem. If a foreign enemy attacked the United States and murdered 44,000 American Citizens, chances are good the elected officials would see fit to allocate tens or hundreds of billions of dollars to build up our military and pay for a new war. And yet somehow we've been convinced to be mass-desensitized toward the mass murder caused by our transportation system, even when the vast majority of the death and harm caused is PREVENTABLE.

We are therefore committed and obligated to undertake a program of reducing auto-related deaths and injuries by ONE HALF EVERY TEN YEARS.

The money that companies pay to advertise their product or brand underwrites values beyond merely reinforcing profits and purchasing decisions in the public. Many advertisements today include subject matter that extends beyond the content presented by the product being sold. This additional subject matter can serve several functions. One is to enhance interest in the product through association with another subject that the public finds interesting or sympathetic. Another function is to repair or improve a compromised moral standing that the product is suffering from (witness the evil Chevron ads, "People Do"). A third function is to voice values that the product manufacturer has, and wishes to promote to the public.

In these cases, the advertising dollar is doing double duty, and making more efficient use of the public attention that is being purchased with it. This means that an ad about detergent can portray values about specific moral or social issues that are arising within society.

Proposed: a method to restore creeks and streams in residential areas to a degree of purity that would enable children to safely drink the water from them.

Elementary school kids would be given test equipment and sampling apparatus necessary to test their local creek water for unhealthy amounts of giardia, e coli, toxic metals, pesticides, petroleum byproducts, lead, and other poisons and pathogens. They would analyze creek water at various points and use their findings to inquire with residents and businesses within the creek watershed to find out if they may be a point source of harmful materials. These people would be confronted with kids bearing lab results and be asked to confess any environmentally damaging activities, and if necessary, to discontinue those activities.

When all necessary changes have taken place, and the water tests clean, a celebration ritual takes place where the children ritually drink and play in the water.

Hey, let's get this DEBATE Cranked UP!!!