Of  the many things I noted in the movie, Avatar, is that the evil bad man is a shoot first US Colonel.  He is a money-over-humanity male character from Earth. while the Pandora and leading women characters,  play peacemaker or defender roles.

A female soldier dies trying to save the Na’vi, after changing her mind during her mission. She says, “I didn’t sign up for this,” and sick of the brutal murdering rampage, surrenders her life to protect the “savages” she was ordered to kill.

A female Na’vi, Mo’at, is the spiritual leader.   On Earth, women are forbidden to represent some religions.

The lead female, Neytiri, is a teacher, warrior, lover, and upholder of tradition.  She also falls in love with someone outside her tribe. That man, a cross between an Earth male and an native of Pandora, immerses himself in native ways and finds them not only better than his home planet, but worth fighting for.

A female is the scientist.  Augustine is compassionate, open minded, believes in learning the ways of a people rather than changing them.

A female is seen sobbing behind the MEN in Power, as they watch “Home Tree” blown up.

It has been reported that the character, Colonel Miles Quaritch, who drives the destruction of Pandora natives, whom he refers to as “savages”, is not how the US military views itself.

And today, the US military sent troops to Haiti instead of the food and medicine sitting in docks in Miami.

And in Massachusetts, it has been forseen that the man running to replace Senator Kennedy, rather than the woman, will be elected.

Earth remains unchanged.

There’s been much confusion over my lifetime over which tribes are my ancestors. Word of mouth over the generations has it that I’m Cherokee both maternally and paternally. I identify most with the Cherokee woman who married a French Canadian in the 1700’s. In my heart, I know her.

The other bloodlines, I’m told, are Shawnee, Blackfoot and maybe others. These are my mom’s side. It’s obvious that Native American blood runs on the maternal side of my family tree, as so many of my relatives and ancestors look “Indian”. According to my mother and aunt, who have searched for years to find a paper trail to a tribe, it was custom to destroy records of Native Americans by the Christian Church. My personal history has been erased.

Long before I heard that, I was angry. Interestingly, I have a son who is also angry. Whenever one of us hears of injustice to Native Americans, we grieve. When he learns American history in school, he comes home with questions that come from an emotional place.

You don’t have to be a full blooded Native American to connect with them on a Soul level. I’ve had visions and experiences that prove to me that I am related. But they are mine and I know that most people can not believe me; including some Native Americans who insist on being full blooded to “count” as one of them.

This story, New Age Tragedy in Sedona: Non-Indians in the Sweat Lodge, in the news recently, caught my eye because it points to an issue long held by many Native Americans. They feel as though, and in my opinion rightly so, that everything has been taken from them. Their land, their customs, their way of life, their ancestors, and now their most sacred practices such as the sweat lodge.

So-called “New Agers” have conducted sweat lodges for years. They use it for purification purposes. Some are taught and guided by someone from a tribe but many are simply done incorrectly. Such was the case of the one in Sedona in which two people died.

The article brought up some interesting points.

First of all, there’s the question of the relationship of Indian religion to American culture. Non-Indians have been making a lucrative business out of the appropriation of Native ceremonies for years. Ray’s weeklong event in Sedona cost each participant more than $9,000. A search of any number of Web sites advertising these “Indian ceremonies” will turn up sweat lodges that average over $100 per event, and four-day “vision quests” going for around five hundred dollars, “all meals included” and “Visa and MasterCard accepted.”

Indians all across the country are upset, saying white people stole the land, killed the buffalo, and now want to steal the religion. The trouble is that most indigenous people in the Americas identify as Christian. Even the Native American Church, that features peyote as a “sacrament,” is incorporated as a church and uses the Bible as part of the altar display.

I’ve never known a sweat lodge that wasn’t free of charge. The same goes for dancing, drumming and practicing any number of traditions. There was always a tremendous humility that we felt and for me, trying to reconcile who I am today with who I feel I am as Soul.

I have friends who devote themselves to providing provisions for reservations and assisting wherever they are needed. It’s hard for me to have sympathy for “wealth creation guru James Arthur Ray”, who exploits Native American ceremony.

It is said that many Native Americans are angry at those who would rob them, imitate them and otherwise dishonor their culture. I understand and feel this with you. My hope is that some of them remember that some of us Remember and want peace. We reach out for what is familiar and true to us. We no longer look like full blooded tribe members, but should that matter?

Did you not learn from what was done to you?

When President Obama won the Nobel Peace prize, I was just as confused as everybody else. But, it didn’t take long for my confusion to turn to anger over the remarks made throughout the United States. So many people felt he didn’t deserve the honor.

I struggled to listen to certain people, most of whom I know to be Republicans, vent fury and fire. Some felt the choice of Obama was strictly politics. I don’t agree with that at all. Many want the “war President”, Mr. Bush, back and any President who hesitates to go to war is not President material.

Again, I strongly disagree. One way to peace is by breaking down barriers. This is what President Obama has been doing. The very fact that he is not a white man is blasting to hell the white male ego dominance stance. Finally, we voted in someone who looks like the other part of the US population. Women are still blocked from the office of the President. I think its because men feel a woman will not go to war.

My Republican friends were furious that someone who had not performed any act of peace could win the Nobel Peace prize. They refuse to see what Obama has been doing by negotiating with other leaders and coming to agreements that result in the laying down of weapons. Even Cuba and Russia are listening and not balking at the USA.

President Bush scared the hell out of me. His mission was to invade any country that was not like ours, change their culture to be like us and in the name of protecting our country, put up barriers against old allies. The man loved nothing more than to bully world leaders. He lied to us about the reasons we went to Iran. He had no communication skills. Anyone who is good at detecting bull shit had trouble tolerating him.

My fear now is that those who live and breathe hatred and war will attempt to kill President Obama. He stands out as the agent for change. We need to be country that is respected by other countries rather than hated. Obama can do this. He thinks before sending anyone to fight. Life is something he obviously values, whereas I never had the sense that President Bush valued anything but his own skin.

It may be the Nobel Peace prize was given at an odd time. Perhaps there was nobody else with any vision and goals for world peace. It hurts to know that those who believe he didn’t deserve it will not support his efforts towards peace. For them, it is more important to rant and rave about everything he is doing wrong. These people, in my opinion, don’t wish for peace. They don’t know how to work towards it. They don’t want it.

I can’t understand why.

There is no middle ground. None. Dehumanize anyone who holds a different viewpoint, and then make your opponent or anyone who disagrees with you seem as filthy, evil, and depraved as you possibly can. Then pitch this image to the masses, distilled down into a few slogans and sound-bytes. Repeat these slogans and sound-bytes often enough, so that it’s akin to mass hypnosis. Maybe draw up some big posters and banners… When the movement grows big enough, make a flag! Continue to seed and sow those images into the mass consciousness, and then further paint anyone who agrees with you as noble, strong, righteous, and tell them that God is on their side.

This is how crusades, genocides, and world wars are begun.

The news this week is about yelling. It’s about being rude. And the most amazing thing is that each time someone has an outburst, it was a man who felt a public apology would make it all better; like a boo boo on their knee.

It’s a real statement on the state of consciousness of the United States when certain people feel justified in throwing shoes at a US President, shouting “You lie!” during a joint congress gathering, and interrupting a young singer as she tried to accept her award.

My beef isn’t that we shouldn’t forgive people who make stupid mistakes. What worries me is that there seems to be this new sense of PERMISSION to act like an idiot. It’s as if there’s no longer any impulse to respect persons in authority. Leadership has always been a “teach by example” achievement, and yet today’s leaders are more inclined to show their mere mortal status. In one case, it was clearly Mr. Big Shot stealing the moment from a new talent. Kanye West claimed the death of his mother was the emotional driver behind his on-stage outburst while Taylor Swift was making her acceptance speech at the Video Music Awards.

Mr. South Carolina Republican Congressman illustrated that throwing a tantrum is some new leadership quality and by golly, he has a lot of public support for it!

I don’t accept what’s happening and am truly alarmed that so many Americans find nothing wrong with leaders and famous people acting in ways that would have had me grounded without dinner if I’d pulled a stunt like they did.

The rest of us regular people on the planet have lost loved ones too. You deal with it. If you have any common sense at all, you know enough to not spread your misery to others. Or if you do, you share with close friends and family who know you and can offer support. Rushing up on stage as West did was a public display of selfishness in an environment where the ego rules. He must have thought he was pretty hot shit to come up on stage, take the microphone away from a young rising star and tell the world he likes someone else’s video better.

When Rep. Joe Wilson shouted “You lie!” we all heard it on TV. I was shocked. It didn’t matter who did it. What was incredible was that it happened at all. These men, and a few women, are called “lawmakers”. If any one of us regular people had yelled like he did, we would have been escorted out of the room and arrested. So why is it okay for people who make our laws and decide how we live to show bad manners? For what possible reasons are we expected to support them when it’s obviously okay to be rude and obnoxious?

Not only was his outburst pathetic, the entire Republican party display of frowns, folded arms, reading hand held devices, sitting during standing ovations, not clapping in any show of support, waving documents in the air, calling out with verbal feedback during a televised speech and their overall obstinate energy was fascinating to watch.

I was taught to be polite and listen with an open mind. If I disagreed, I was to keep my mouth shut unless invited to speak and again, always show respect. Are these lessons I grew up with a thing of the past?

Arrogance and stupidity among Americans is growing. Thousands of people marched on Washington for a “Tea Party” demonstration. I’m all for peaceful demonstrations but when the cameras were on, interviewees said they were there because they stood by Representive Joe Wilson! So now there’s an entire political party that feels proper behavior is yelling the loudest and being the most abrasive in public. That ought to go over really well in negations with other countries.

The true test of leadership is being able to continue in the face of bigotry, hatred, and enormous negativity. That President Obama does this every day is remarkable. For the USA to become stable again, things have to change and he knows it. The old ways no longer work. Its incredible how many people, from positions of authority to me and you, are unwilling to try something new. Even when the present way of doing things is literally killing citizens, talk of new ideas is shot down or someone starts a myth about the government killing people to save money.

I’m sick of the so-called apologies. When you’ve made a Class A fool out of yourself to a worldwide audience, there’s no excuse. These people knew the world was watching and they took advantage of that. Claiming to not be responsible for your actions due to a personal issue or emotional moment is not an apology. It’s an excuse. It’s showing how retarded these people are in their thinking; believing they can get away with this behavior.

What I want to know is what Mr. Shoe Thrower, Mr. You Lie Mr. President and Mr. Music Ego are planning on doing to help our country do better. Tantrums are for babies.

Grow up.