I warned you all. I said I was going to explore MOJO further . I did.
You're going to look at the following and SaY "WHAT?!?" My odder art elicits responses like that sometimes... Last night I had to 'get the lead out' for this project, and at least one other with a deadline (I'm going to return to that project in a very few minutes.)
I wanted to be on time for KosArtists and Apasionados of KosART. Thanks to Stormbear Saturday Morning Political Cartoon even has a banner now:
Out of the black field of potential, collaged out of the STUFF of magical things: red felt, feathers, beads, ideal words and images, into the light comes MOJO:
UPdate Sunday Morning:12/10/06: MOJO for Henry WAXMAN.. contact information has been added to this diary so YOU can to send MOJO to him. KEEP the LEAD OUT (of our air). Contact our leaders!
The other day I diaried MOJO to gather intelligence on the matter. You see, I had no Idea what MOJO really was. The term comes from a HOODOO charm in African traditions, that is said to draw love or good luck to the holder. According to WIKI, a mojo bag is traditionally made out of red felt. There are mystical powers attributed to it.
The power of MOJO, I believe comes from focused positive intention. Smart Choices are made when we think about things in a positive light. It works on the law of attraction, which basicly says 'like attracts like'. So, if we focus our energy on war, we'll get more war energy. If we shift our focus to peace, that is what will be drawn to us.
To paraphrase Mother Theresa Of Calcuta
"I will not go to an Anti-war Demonstration, but I will go to a "Vigil for Peace"
I heard this message in film called The Secret.
Some of you might say, "PFFF, that's Polly Anna, just being nice".
I say, "What is wrong with NICE?" Being nice doesn't mean, we do not look at nasty hard things. Justice demands that we do. Truth demands that we look. But we can refine the approach and transform the nastiness, if we have a clear vision of what we want to transform it to.
Here is an example of transforming an issue... OF turning lead into gold. Daisy Cutter did a good job shedding some light on a leaden problem developing with the EPA.. Here's a cut from the AP article she linked:
December 7, 2006 by the Associated Press
EPA May Drop Lead Air Pollution Limits
by John Heilprin
The Bush administration is considering doing away with health standards that cut lead from gasoline, widely regarded as one of the nation's biggest clean-air accomplishments.
Battery makers, lead smelters, refiners all have lobbied the administration to do away with the Clean Air Act limits.
A preliminary staff review released by the Environmental Protection Agency this week acknowledged the possibility of dropping the health standards for lead air pollution. The agency says revoking those standards might be justified "given the significantly changed circumstances since lead was listed in 1976" as an air pollutant.
The EPA says concentrations of lead in the air have dropped more than 90 percent in the past 2 1/2 decades.
So that means we supposed to drop little lead anvils on our heads again? Lead poisoning is not a pretty thing. Lead is so dense radiation doesn't penetrate. Maybe our President has a lead scalp.
But Rep. Henry Waxman (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., the incoming chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, called on the agency to "renounce this dangerous proposal immediately," because lead, a highly toxic element, can cause severe nerve damage, especially in children.
"This deregulatory effort cannot be defended," Waxman wrote EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson.
MOJO for Waxman. He is taking a stand against stupidity and greed. Let's give Waxman a hand. That's the GOLD PART, your civic Participation!
If clean air is important to you, (DUH, ilyana, who wouldn't it be important to?)
Write a letter of support to Rep. Waxman and copy it to the White House and
YOUR representatives.
Like art, the framing of issues need Positive Light for best effect. So you letter might say something like:
The standards for Air Quality set forth by the EPA, using the counsel of honest scientists, measurably improved Air Quality. Those are wise Standards. If we are wise, we will let them stand..
Let's turn the light on Marcus Peacock:
More Anti-Environmental Bush Appointments
Bush Greenwatch - Recent Bush League science and environmental moves included nominating Marcus Peacock as new EPA deputy administrator, George Gray for the top science position in the Office of Research and Development, Bill Wehrum as interim assistant administrator in charge of EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, and Granta Nakayama as EPA enforcement division chief.
Why are these guys anti-environmental:
Peakcock -
"Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch, describes Peacock as a conservative ideologue 'with a decidedly anti-environmental regulatory track record.' In the first days of the Bush administration, the White House froze more than a dozen Clinton-era rules related to environment, health, and safety, including rules on arsenic in drinking water, snowmobiles in national parks, and protections for roadless areas of national forests. According to Bass, Peacock was instrumental in the decision to put a hold on rule-making in these areas, as well as a steady succession of budget cuts the White House requested for EPA."
Back to the Associated Press article:
However, on Wednesday night, Marcus Peacock, the Environmental Protection Agency's No. 2 official, approved new guidance to help the agency follow the law in a timelier fashion.
"Starting with lead, we're going to try to dovetail this in," Peacock said of the new guidance, which he said also would help the agency use the most up-to-date science and keep separate its scientific and policy considerations.
The health standards for air pollutants are intended to protect children, elderly and other "sensitive" populations, keep up visibility and limit damage to animals, crops, vegetation and buildings.
Bill Wehrum, who heads the EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, said the agency is "committed to continuing to significantly reduce lead emissions in this country. That's what we're trying to figure out."
That thinking is disingenuiously Reinventing the Wheel. We already know what standards protect the environment. What these guys are trying to do is loosen some more Bling into the pockets of the OIL companies. Do NOT be fooled by the double speak!
more Article:
John Walke, a former EPA lawyer who is now the clean air director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, disagrees.
"The Democrats just took over the Congress, and they're talking about something as dangerous and idiotic as eliminating the national health standard for air pollution?" he said. "It just doesn't add up."
Democrats? If any Democrats are behind this deregulation push, we'd best get behind them and remind them who they answer to.
Who lobbied for this lead assed idea?
In July, a Washington-based trade group for all U.S. lead battery makers wrote a top EPA air quality official to urge that the agency remove lead from its list of air pollutants.
"That is not to say that air emissions of lead should be uncontrolled, or that no steps should be taken to address public health concerns arising from lead use," the Battery Council International said. "But many other regulatory vehicles exist for meeting these concerns."
Get the lead out,
or leave it in?
Answer spout
We will begin
to hold the standards
of a clean air vision
Remind EPA,
of it's stated mission:
The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is to protect human health and the environment.
Back to my MOJO Collage. Some Acknowledgements:
The images and words I used in my collage came from a couple of publications that were and are (one is no longer)excellent resources for examples of POSITIVE ACTION..
One of those was Hope magazine which has gone out of print (If I'd known that I would not have cut up the cover of the only copy I had!) The website and name was apparently passed to new ownership who seems to have F@@ked it up. The copy I cut and cobbled from had excellent articles about activists in it..
Betty Burkes' eye and smile are in the collage, and an image of a braid of her hair crosses out the word WAR.
The other publication, still in print, is YES! Magazine. One way to transform the world is to support such publications by purchasing a subscription :-)
And of course there's the Other KosArtist, Stormbear, who is working with me to create a regular Comic Strip for Kossaks on Saturday morning. Please send out some special MOJO for Stormbear and his Grandmother. Because of a health emergency, he will not be here today.
I have got to go folks! I have a mojo bag to make for a Celebration of my old Creativity Group, the Motley Artists.
Have fun in the comments. Post your own creations!!
If you liked this piece, it would please me to receive your mojo! ;-)
This is cross posted at Choice Changes...