Garberville Friday Clock Protest

Stood under the town clock in a town
That's four blocks long, holding up
National Geographic featuring rising seas
Due to global warming...now that's hot!

Congressional candidate Andy Caffrey showed
Videos two blocks away, featuring polar ice
Melting and it's a catastrophe approaching
Irreversibility at noon August 21,2017

Green Fuse editor Paul Encimer enjoys being
Off the internet and in the streets, dissenting the
Stupidity of a failed civilization, and I'm right there
Too, calling for a new one based on spiritual reality

Six of us made up today's protest...Where are the
Radical environmentalists in Southern Humboldt?
One passerby says that they're trimming their marijuana
Another says they've taken jobs and are raising babies

Where is everybody?  Paul says that we'll go around and
Maybe the mystery of where the radical frontline here has
Gone will be solved...maybe they're all sitting in trees...
Maybe I need to chant OM by the Eel River, in the breeze

Craig Louis Stehr
27.IX.2013

Congressional Candidacy Responds to Earth in Crisis

September 20th marked the grand opening of the Caffrey for Congress 2014 campaign headquarters in Garberville, CA.  

Andy Caffrey for Congress 2014 

Campaign Headquarters

446 Maple Lane, Garberville, CA 95542

Telephone: 707-923-2114

Email: staff@CaffreyForCongress.org 

Web: CaffreyForCongress.org

   The event went for twelve hours, featuring videos about global climate destabilization, the current political crisis in Syria, a radical environmental critique of the ecological situation, with discussion about organizing strategy and what needs to happen in response to an accelerating implosion of ecosystems, plus the medical uses of marijuana.

    Andy Caffrey’s message is that a voice in congress is critically needed to represent the radical activist approach on behalf of a world in crisis.  He is the only candidate in District 2 who has the experience, and is not beholden to any vested interests, and who consequently will push for effective systemic change immediately.

    Throughout the day, friends and the curious came by to watch videos, enjoy prepared food and coffee, and discuss environmental and peace & justice issues.  There were not nearly enough visitors, and money donations were minimal.  The campaign needs to raise $500 right away to secure the rented campaign HQ space.

    We discussed the reasons for the lower than expected turnout.  Those present concluded that the general public is weary of huge planetary problems, the fact that the economy is hopelessly depressed due to bankruptcy from years of warfare, and this has led to citizens not being responsive, and instead, keeping themselves distracted from serious social matters.

    There was analysis as to where the forces for social change are in District 2, having in years past been so visible.  Earth First! in northern California was discussed, the question being asked where their large scale presence is now.  Why have peace & justice protests gotten smaller?  Has the social conscience become dysfunctional?  

    Why did the weekly Friday protest in Garberville draw only four people?  Where are all of the activists?

    This led to a conversation about the decline in personal spiritual cultivation.  A suggestion was made to encourage individuals to get centered, and then being fully mindful, answer their spiritual calls to action.  Another view expressed is that we need to primarily be committed to this, and know that Divine intervention will take place if necessary; examples of recent Divine intervention worldwide were noted. Throughout the afternoon and early evening, we debated the degree of relevance of conventional political organizing versus radical activism versus Divine intervention.

   All agreed that the presence of the Caffrey for Congress 2014 campaign HQ is crucial, and a weekly Wednesday 7PM Bioregional Conversion community meeting and Thursday 7PM political videos are scheduled.  A primary concern is the fragmented activist community in District 2, and therefore the campaign HQ space is available for individuals and groups to do presentations.  This will ensure that the present fragmented situation is overcome, and a return to the days of strong community solidarity and the circle of concern be realized once more.

    It was the belief of all of the grand opening attendees, that this is most important, and everyone who shares our view is invited to make contact and be involved.
--Craig Louis Stehr, (craigstehr@hushmail.com and http://craiglstehr.blogspot.com)

Andy Caffrey for Congress 2014 Campaign Headquarters
CaffreyFor Congress.org
446 Maple Lane, Garberville, CA 95542
Telephone: 707-923-2114
Email: staff@CaffreyForCongress.org

Serenading the Texas Governor with Protest Songs

Enjoy Occupy Austin and I singing protest songs at the Texas state capitol to Governor Rick Perry, to ensure that we all keep the civil rights that we have left!

Message from Leander, Texas

Warm spiritual greetings,  I am finishing up a stay turned personal spiritual retreat at an artist's compound near Austin, Texas. 

I have enough money to get myself to Washington D.C., to be involved in direct action politics, and beyond that, do spiritual rituals and other practices to counteract the ignorant, hopeless energy of the United States federal government.  I need cooperation...I need a place to go to when I get there...I need others for solidarity...I would appreciate it if you would appreciate this, and respond to this, since I need to make plans for an involved future, soon.
I believe that we need to make something happen!  
I'm ready, 
Craig Louis Stehr

At Beth's Place

Three travelers on the no-path take refuge On the front porch of an Austin area artist's Compound (near Lake Travis), in its construction phase

Everything here is big, just like the Lone Star state's Website says it is.  Huge sky with puffy white clouds Slowly, and I mean very slowly, drift past the front porch.

It's summer and the air is hot and the ground is real dry
Hummingbird feeders are visited, and a circling hawk
Is watching us.  Nobody is moving...only this writing pen
Moves...everybody is slouched into the comfortable
Wicker furniture, following an evening of soft partying
It is quiet here, save for the cooler air which streams through

I took an outdoor shower this morning surrounded by
Red cardinal birds, which are sharing the compound with
A dozen cats, all scampering around over and under
The picnic table, as I got revived from the early morning heat
By clear southwest hill water at the shower station

Hooray for friends!  This would be impossible except that
We all made friendships along the life highway,
Proving that everything good just keeps increasing in value;
Key to removing the hellacious enigma of postmodernism
We create our collective social reality together
Every day.  The result may or may not be "society",
But it's cohesive right now on Beth's front porch

OMing on the outbreath, I watch backing being glued
To an art sculpture, some sort of moonscape looking 
Surface that fits together puzzle-like, maybe destined
For the bottom of an aquarium, this witnessed by two new friends
And one true comrade and fellow traveler on the no-path
As three clouds have now fused, and are barely moving
Past us, like a huge pearl colored ship in the sky

OMing on the outbreath, we are encircled by trees on the surrounding
Hillsides, we sit at the bottom of a shallow bowl in the bush,
The main house is in a Texas forest, grasshoppers are many
But the rattle snakes and scorpions are few; there is
An intensity hereabout that balances the pervasive calm

I glance at my wristwatch, observing that the time is 4:20 PM.
Where did the slow moving day go?  Everything changes here
Just barely, but yet the morning has disappeared altogether
And the afternoon might be next.  It looks fairly stable
Right now, but insect noises are beginning further down
In the trees, and this signals the oncoming of the evening

OMing on the outbreath, OMing on the outbreath...


Craig Louis Stehr
31.VIII.'13
Leander, Texas

Mentings from the Maharaj

Jnana yoga master Nisargadatta Maharaj 

Instructed that reality lies solely in

What is prior to consciousness, and thus

Everything else is a dream appearance

Which has no actual basis, and this includes

A perceiver of the third dimensional dream

Appearance, which proves that nothing has

Ever happened.

Craig Louis Stehr

31.VIII.'13

Leander, Texas

Notations on the No-Path

Washington D.C. streets are still, humid air is everywhere
The resounding echo of two hundred Occupy protesters
Chanting "Whose streets?"  "Our streets!" is now unheard
Traffic drones by the Capitol building, Supreme Court steps
Are empty once more, the shadows have also left

The federal sinkhole within the beltway looks weighty
Airplanes, limousines, taxis, tour buses, all head for the center
With the Washington monument being the central point
And the rest of the district radiates out from it

Three temples have abandoned the region
Three occupiers, three moving temples of light,
Are on the road, seeking way stations on the no-path,
Resting today in Fort Worth, Texas (which is keeping its wealth)

The present is bright and the future is unknown
Tibetan lamas call this "braving the path of the wandering yogi".
I don't know what Chenrezig's compass reading is this afternoon,
But I would advise him not to follow any ley lines
Leading toward the federal sinkhole within the beltway

Clouds drift past the house in Fort Worth
A large orange butterfly flutters overhead
Summer flies alight on this writing tablet
Money arrives on Wednesday, automatically deposited

The journey without destination is renewed
Green energy ensures mobility in the situation
With time aplenty for new creative writing
Today and every day; we are beginning to understand!

What is very important is "writing down the bones"
Sending out the message of the instant to the
Global audience.  There is power in the immediate
That does not wait, much like lightning bolts

This is what creative writing is: a continuous flow of 
Electricity that emboldens and uplifts, charges the
Individual reader and leaves the writer unharmed,
Delivering messages from a nameless source which
Has no limit, wellspring of knowledge and bliss

The message source, the message, and the messenger 
Are unaffected, yet the philosophic current continues
To go out to internet websites, newspapers, magazines,
Recited on the radio, posted onto blogs, and emailed far and near

A continuous stream of primordial energy manifests
Literarily and is transmitted around the world, then
Copied, microfilmed, archived, and filed away
In a box at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.

It is there, according to some estimates, 
Forever!  Or at least until the end of the
Kali Yuga, when everything is dissolved
Back into the originating source, prior to creation,
Demonstrating the inherent emptiness of all phenomena

So the writing goes on and on and on, impelled by
An electrical impulse that manifests as a thought form,
Which becomes words that form sentences which
Convey a critical message, instructions to be carried out
On the earth plane, in accord with a divine plan,
Prior to everything, prior to the third dimension itself,
Continuous, unstoppable, a powerful current like a river
Coming down from the mountains, just flowing endlessly
Toward the sea, enlightening all, enlivening all,
Serving all but beholden to none, this river
Performs its task perfectly, and without effort, it shines. 

Craig Louis Stehr
Unnamed Emerging Artist Compound
Leander, Texas