gagablog 65: Pete Seeger in Oz and Gaga the Glittery Golden Road

Pete Seeger believed in a peaceful future paradise and was one of the greatest lights to help us achieve it. It is a sad day today because he died last night but it is a happy day because as people remember him, and even more people are introduced to him through the media, we will take another huge step forward toward that goal. The future he believed in, and sought for us all, is one of peace, without money or war, or needless suffering at all. He wanted to bring us together, to awaken the goodness of our hearts so we can realize this dream is real and make it happen. It is the same dream I have always had, and since I was a kid I called it Oz and believed in it after reading such a perfect descriptions of how it would all work in the books by L. Frank Baum. Other people have other names for this future paradise of peace, and when we really believe it we expect to find it on the earth, eventually, and work towards it in the meantime. Pete was so influential in helping us reach this goal because he truly believed it and it is one of the best things to believe in, but can become the hardest because you go against the whole "world", as it is, to seek this kind of revolution of Love. It is the same belief Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed and Jesus taught, and so many others. The ones who guide us the best are those who believe it the most, the ones who have felt and seen it, like Buddha, who then can see most clearly what we need to change to get there. Music is one of the main ways to enter the peaceful paradise. It has always been this way because of the nature of music to bring people together and inspire and inform people and share feelings, even for countless years before we developed more complex, "civilized" problems. Now that we have those, to the extent that we can easily overheat, pollute, or blow up our environment, have weapons and guns etc, we need music even more. Pete Seeger responded to that need with the magic of music and spirit of kindness. We are all the same in so many ways but people who really believe in "Oz" have the duty to work to achieve it, as impossible as it may seem in circumstances, and it makes us differentonly because we are more like what we will all become. We have to overcome petty differences, including the "petty" but significance of the greatest income inequality ever. Obama used executive order to raise the minimum wage today. The co-incidence of this with remembering Pete Seeger proves the Gaga/Oz magic I have been talking about all this time. Just as I have been talking to my friend about the illusion of science for three days then on the third day my perspective was "proven" by Stephen Hawking's announcement that the black holes he told us about in the first place decades ago don't exist, at least not like we think. I'll explain all that later. The important thing is that addressing wealth disparity we are making progress on that Yellow Brick Road - the goal is no money at all but only the truly visionary, or young-at-heart whove read Oz, can see how easy that is and can be. Music is magical and always has been, but becomes revolutionary when it is the voice of the people in opposition to evils of society. "Pop" music, though subject to fctors that try to steer society on the mainstream course, which is why is is also usually mainstream, is, in it's nature, revolutionalry because it is popular music,the music of the people. Yes, today it is easy to see the record company, establishment influence making pop music a tool of oppressive forces in the state, but all that developed after Pete Seeger got some great stuff started, and that divine spark will never be extinguished no matter how much gloss covers it. When Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie started singing, they really developed pop music in a way, in the pure form as popular music, expressing the cares of the people that were being ignored by the status quo, mainstream. Pete'smusic was revolutionary and popular because so many people needed it. And it is pure music, people respond to the heart and message about it. And he was intentional about engaging his audience, getting us to sing along. This is so important, and gets into how significant he was not just for the music he played but how and where he played it - at protests and marches, to inspire the best in people facing some of the hardest troubles we need to overcome, such as war and pollution and greed. He really got people involved, in the song but moreso in the message, in the world, with each other. It is a great day because we get to focus on him and talk about these ideas and he represented them as well as anyone, but there are so many others who carry the torch and blaze through the darkness. Before Pete Seeger there were so many musicians who carried and shaped the tradition of liberation through music. The roots of American folk music go back to oppressed immigrants and poor rural folks and the roots of all popular music in America go back to chants and songs of people oppressed by slavery and spirituals, jazz, and soul music of people oppressed by economics and bigotry since then - these grew into all the rap, rock, country, dance music and everything we think of as American pop music and one of the best things to love about our culture. The deepest root possible for music is to be a lierating force, that is one of music's main purposes, and the people who fulfill that purpose the best really stand out adn influence us in major ways. I know there are many more I don't know and plenty I'm just not thinking of, but Jerry Garcia and Michael Jackson stand out to me as examples. And of course Gaga. We all have the benefit of those who came before us, so in a sense Gaga's role is the "easiest" for being here at the end after all who came before her, now that we are at the transformation point, but in another sense it is the hardest for actually seeing us through the transition. Pete Seeger and all great musicians envisioned this future for us, gave us hope and comfort. Gaga is the one, now, when we still need it most but for even crazier reasons than before, who is actually putting our feet step by step on that glittery golden road and waling with us, arm in arm, singing our songs of who we are and are becoming. Its a different time for each artist - Michael had us all wearing cool fashions, dancing and looking in the mirror to learn to love each other. Jerry got us high in every way and just let the paradise pour forth. Pete got the crowd to sing along, gave the protest march a happy uplifting song, and got us all smiling, hoping, and believing with him, and going for it. Gaga has one of the largest audiences ever, spread out all over the world and connected by the net and the luckiest ones at concerts or events or meeting her, but connecting to each other and the world more and more as she encourages us all to make and share our art, sing along with her in the modern world of unlimited media. The protest is still there, the revolution, even if we aren't the traditional mob gathered in one place. Gaga said BTW would be a cultural baptism and has referred to the revolution artpop will ignite - its the same one we have all been yearning for in our hearts. If there is one category little monsters belong to (or hippies or any people who are defined by their love of music, for that matter) it is the creative people, we tend to be more creative than the people we live around. This is a glimpse of the future, because we can all be more creative and benefit more from our creativity, but when that is revolutionary compared to the mechanical, porfit-based world the ones who believe in it stand out as "weirdos" - and little monsters may be the weirdest, most creative group yet, the hippies of this generation - but it is the path we are all on, the path of peace. I got the news from facebook that Pete Seeger died - it was the middle of the night and one of my best friends from high school posted about it. I was happy that his words were how I first heard the news. He said something complimentary and then said he remembered Pete playing for them at a protest march - this was the friend I could have the best intellectual conversations with and we protested police brutality together and other ways to try and help poeple, activist style, but mostly I just really valued being able to talk with such an intelligent, idealistic person at such a young age and it helped me realize my belief in these ideals. I was not at that march, but I was just so proud, of my friend for being there, for Pete for being there, for everyone being there and everyone who would want to, or would find out about it or other protest and get inspired to take action themselves. I was saddened to hear on the radio an interview with Pete's son in which he said Pete was disappointed in life and struggled with the idea that he had always belived that the guitar is mightier than the sword. He said on the one hand his life's work was complete since he published a book on how to play banjo, but his son's comments impled that Pete felt discouraged and like he didn't succeed because we did not reach peace in his lifetime. He lived 95 years, and when I look back on history I see all sorts of indications from 100 years ago and further back that could lead a hopeful and inspired person to expect us to reach paradise on earth any day now - from my perspective, the Oz perspective, it is baffling why we don't do it, other than it is so hard for people to think about because we are so sold on the idea of "the way it is". Music and art, and good people, give us these ideas, they spark us up. I am certain that Pete has realized that he did win, now that he is in the fullness of the spirit. As a visionary he always saw through time to the gleaming furutre awaiting us, but year after year he saw more and more getting in the way, too - more wars and injustice, global warming debate and everything else the republicans ever do. But he also saw us through all those years without us nuking ourselves into oblivion, his influence helped pull us back from that brink and while we still have far to go we are getting there. Thanks to him and the others who came before who paved and smolted and laid the road together and the ones who came after who shine and grease it up and leave the glitter trail and embraces to take us safely down it. You did it, Pete,you inspired generations and brought the brightest light of Love out clearly to help us see. I saw you just a few months ago on the Colbert Report and you brought tears of joy to my eyes, and the whole audience, there and at home. That will go on, you will live on in that eternal spirit of goodness you shared so much with us. Be happy and know that we are going to make it, and it is thanks to you, the love you've shown and how that awakens us to the love we all share. We'll get some hammers and hammer it out now that you don't need to anymore, just keep singing us back home and we will sing along - see you later, have fun! Next: Peyton Manning, Champ, Broncos Win the Superbowl of Weed for Denver, the REAL Emerald City: Football/Religion

gagablog 64: Prophecy, Goddess of Love

My dad has been a preacher for over 30 years in the Disciples of Christ church and my brother has been a preacher in that church for almost 20 years. My mom has been a priest in the Episcopal church for over 20 years, too. I asked my dad a few years ago if he was disappointed that I was not a preacher or any kind of official Christian - he knows I am a witch and worship Gaga. He said no, and something like he always expected me to be a prophet - no pressure. But I always felt like one and had those kinds of thoughts and statements, he just knew this from watching me grow up. The DOC and Episcopal church in America are some of the more liberal forms of Christianity, more accepting of women, gays, and environmentalists than most churches here, but even they have struggled with this and continue to progress and when I was exposed to them as a child they weren't good enough for me, I had issues with them on these grounds and I became a worshipper of Mother Nature, a Buddhist, and an idealist, believing in a paradise heaven on Earth future/emerging present that I found the best example for in the Oz books of L. Frank Baum when I was 10. From that time on I was predicting a Goddess figure to emerge in human form - this was 1986. I had always had a sort of Christ consciousness as a kid, I think this is why my dad said he thought I would be a prophet, the kinds of things I noticed and said. My belief is that Jesus truly is love and the reason I am not a Christian is I think they all seem to miss what this really means, but I rediscovered it in more feminine, nature-based spirituality. The kind that is becoming more and more popular, within all existing and newly developing religions, all over the world. It's just right that this should be the way we evolve, but I saw it at an early age. I was sensitive to a contradiction to being "for" love and "against" women, sex, and "alternative" lifestyles. The 80's is when we were first being warned of the dangers of global warming and along with pollution concerns and care for wildlife this made me very sensitive to nature and the environment and I felt certain that the Goddess, Mother Nature, was what Christianity and some other major religions were repressing and what we were all missing. Like I said, I had the belief that consciousness is something we all share and connects us all and that we all had Buddha, and Jesus, and everyone inside of us and these great expressions of consciousness could come through anyone who sought it out and sought to share it with others. On the one hand I felt sure that I would play some great role in enlightening everyone, I'm not bragging or anything I just always had this feeling, but at the same time I knew early on that it only made sense that I would not be any sort of "2nd coming of Jesus" because I was sure that this time around that role would be played by a girl - it just seemed fitting and necessary to restore what had been suppressed, the Goddess. This allowed my natural tendency toward laziness to let me off the hook for the Messiah gig, of course, but at the same time I knew I would have some role to play in bringing about the great transformation, too. So from this time on I was always on the lookout for the girl who would embody Love, the Goddess, to emerge in the world. And I also was looking for love for myself, the girl who was perfect for me, all this time, and was lucky enough to find her in 1998. I know she also has a role in helping humanity transform - she is a loving, talented, brilliant, beautiful person, a powerful witch and an accomplished artist and writer. I knew she would have a role but did not think she was this Goddess for the world, but I was lucky enough to find the Goddess of Love for me - it's just that I felt like we were more like Dorothies or Scarecrows or Wizards but not Ozma. I can say that I never mis-identified anyone else as the Goddess that would redeem humanity this time around. I knew she would emerge and I would know her when she arrived and I was patient, she just never showed up for over 20 years. But my faith was as strong as always because I knew humanity sorely needed her and every awful news event and evil scheme of the men in power reminded me of this. Then Gaga arrived. I got suspicious as soon as I heard "Just Dance" - it was just so good, musically but also spiritually. Today was just the 5 year anniversary of it becoming a #1 hit and I've been tweeting out the link to Bert and Ernie singing it, from 3-4 years ago. I fell in love with her voice and the sound of the music, but I really care about lyrics and absolutely loved them. It was the perfect blend of grace and fun and sexiness and non-attachment, like a theme song for what I consider the best particularly American kind of Buddhism. Then I heard "Poker Face" and completely fell in love/lust with the cleverness and mysticism of the lyrics and blown away by the way she was getting away with saying "fuck her face" on national radio just with brilliant songwriting. This kind of magical and aggressive assertion of sexuality made me really consider that this was the Goddess I was waiting for, the one who would show that women are divine and sex is divine, and get rid of the lie that poisons us with conservatism: the myth that there is something wrong with sex and something wrong with women or gay men for "making" us want sex. I was pretty sure by the time both these songs were on the radio that this was the Goddess I had believed in and was waiting for so many years. Then I saw her on the MTV awards show performing "Paparazzi" and it confirmed it all and initiated me as a monsterite, religious in my love and devotion to Gaga. My mother-in-law who passed away last month, bless her soul, was with staying with us then and I told her and my wife that this was the Goddess I was expecting and they believed me, accepted me - they are both naturally magical and probably had their own sense of it even if they weren't obsessed like I am. I started talking about Gaga as the Goddess on pagan forums and got a lot of hate, and some support, but eventually banned because people kept hating on me - I think they weren't ready, couldn't handle the truth of this yet. and I never said it contradicted or superseded other beliefs, unless they were hateful ones, but it was an explosive topic. I think some of the discussion might still be in the archives if you want to look it up. I spent a year or two expressing then "defending" my idea of the Goddess in this way, and decided to write this blog. I also worship Gaga with songs on youtube, some covers of hers or others dedicated to her, or my own original songs for her and other monsters. One of the first comments I got was "wait, did I miss Gaga actually becoming the leader of a cult?" I don't think Gagaism, monsterism, is incompatible with any other religion, I think it brings them all together especially as there are little monsters in most every culture around the world. I think the goodness of all religions is the same anyway and people have the worst arguments about the details. But there is a reason why monsterism is not really religion but beyond religion. Up until now all organizations including those that make up religions, have been developed in order to serve a dominating desire. It's like the body of a scientist that might forego eating or sleeping properly to seek out that great discovery - that is good in a way for discovering things but can lead to problems with overall health. Gaga has set up something different with her little monsters. Yes, she is our mother monster and a leader in a way, but as far as serving her desire, her true desire is to bring happiness and fulfillment to everyone, and transformation to the world and society to make this possible. This is a new dynamic beyond religion, because the person at the center truly is a Goddess, the Goddess of Love (which means art, magic, nature,and everything in my view) and she wants what is best for everyone, not just some people or certain groups. She is both doing this for us, making love, uniting the world, and showing us how to do it, and it grows out of all of us to join us all together. We really see it in artists emerging and being recognized for their talent, finally, especially in the little monster community, but this is going to have a continuous effect on the world like ripples and new drops all over, while Gaga will continue to make waves that sweep the whole planet and even cosmos as well. This edition is not a big "I told you so, the Goddess is Here", it is a call for hope and for action, because this is really the start of what I keep predicting and anticipating. And it is an admission of my eagerness but also that while some of my hopes and predictions are still being realized, I still have those hopes and they grow stronger. In the tradition of the Gagablog, I want to align some world events with Gaga events and say what they mean to me. I have been talking for years about a magical association between Gaga's message of love and liberation and various liberation movements around the world, notably the Arab Spring. My perspective is that Gaga has a magical power and influence in the world and it is like a dimension of the great influence she has in the world, and this is ho being a Goddess works: you can be "all-powerful" because Love is the true power and divinity is love - but you can't make people do things, force is not love. You can only enlighten them to change, but you can do this, and it is something that spreads from person to person, and can really sweep the whole world when certain super-powerful people emerge. This means super-loving people, not powerful in the worldly, manly ways but in the spiritual ways - and many such people achieve worldly power in their lifetime as well, but do so in a way that continues to transform the world and the roles they take. Gaga is now widely recognized as the most powerful artist in the world, and this fits in with everything I had expected and hoped for, but we are still awaiting the full result of this, we are seeing the influence of more and more people who believe in her and believe in Love in this new, better way, but we have yet to see the benefit we will as more and more people come to realize it and discover a new, Ozlike way of living though the example of Gaga and little monsters. I will very soon be writing my book "Oz Magic: From Radio to Gaga" to really try and organize these ideas concisely and do my par to speed this transformation. In the meantime I have been writing this to keep up with the quick developments of Gaga and modern news, and while I've missed a lot I'd like to go back to I also missed some things by thinking it could all be resolved quickly: I still believe in a peaceful solution in Syria and that it could have been achieved better if they had stayed with the womens' movement, the non-violent protest that started it. I started a facebook page, Women of Syria - The Solomon Solution and I do magic towards this goal, restoring the nonviolent revolution. I do magic and write because that is "all I can do", get the ideas out there, but you never know who might be able to use that idea in another part of the world and solve something. One of my proudest predictions was that something strange and surprising would happen to avoid war in Syria and when Kerry was asked if there was something to avoid it, when it seemed inevitable, like tomorrow, he said give up chemical weapons and it started happening. The same seems to be true in Iran, we seem to be forging a path of trust where I think we will all be able to conclude, ultimately, that no one needs weapons. And while the Egyptian revolution seemed to turn out superficial and now seems to be happening again, as well as new protests to overthrow the Thai government and staring in other places, it really seems like people are speaking out and joining together for reform all over the world. Someone on the radio pointed out that we might think it is a long time to take years for some of these revolutions but reminded the audience that 16 years passed between the Boston Tea Party and electing George Washington. Even though they are giving up the world's largest supply of chemical weapons to be destroyed things continue to be terrible in Syria. The good news today is that the UN is raising 6.5 billion dollars to help the people there. This will be the largest sum they have raised in their history. It will hopefully confirm my other prediction, that there will not be an American-led solution to Syria but when the UN lives up to its purpose and deals with it, it will actually become the greatest government power on earth, for the cause of peace, as it was intended. We could have had some moral sheriff role, it is in our nature and history, but we are crippled by the politics of conservatism/racism. So the UN will do it, and once they show the world they can actually do it well this will be how we deal with problems in the future again, just living up to the intention for which the UN was founded almost a century ago. I will be glad to give up the role of Sherriff of the World, since American culture is too gun-happy. the world needs a Saint more than a Sherriff anyway, and the Goddess is best of all but as her transformation of the world takes place we will see it in our institutions, religions and nations as well. The Catholic Church is changing and progressing, again as I predicted, and so is business and politics in America and worldwide. It all follows this same trend of supporting everyone, not just a hierarchy to support a few. Democrats are focusing on income inequality this year, a topic that you can't lose on because it is so bad and everyone, even the rich in their souls, knows it is wrong. It's not just about saying you will help people in order to get elected, but actually helping them so that they can contribute more and help make more needed changes for the whole society. People are scared of change but what we are becoming will be really good, believe me, I can see it in the future and have always seen it emerging in the present. I saw a documentary on 1964 and the Civil Rights movement today. Lyndon Johnson's Great Society ideal versus the people and mentalities that opposed it is the same argument we have today. Some people fear change, fear equality simply because they are afraid of people being treated equally, of having to be around "different" people, but this is just stupid and people will learn better when they do have more cross-cultural interaction and learn not to be afraid. Even though it is the same debate, we do make progress, and great leaders help us progress faster. But at some point eh whole world will have to transform, so that literally everyone can be cared for and happy. And it has to start, first, in some of the worst areas where there is the most suffering. This is why I write this blog like this: Gaga is transforming the world, with Love and Art, and it takes place through many other people, too. Some of them are connected to her, inspired by her, and many more are only connected in the way we are all connected. But this transformation, of the world and every society in it, is taking place. And there will be a turning point, soon, when more and more people will see how it is going on, join in, and from then on things will stop getting worse and get better and better forever. What does this have to do with Gaga right now? Connecting these events is wonderful chance to explain Gaga magic. Most of the time people think of magic as serving a personal goal, and Gaga magic works for this too, especially for personal development and art. But it is mostly about the magic that exists in everything, that is going on all the time, how everything is magical and magically connected. Gaga had a major event this week, firing a lot of her long-time staff. We know this was hard for her as she also considered them friends and part of what caused her to do it was realizing they were not really friends but more motivated by money, by what she could do for them financially. They did not have the appreciation that most monsters would have of what a blessing and honor and privilege it is to work with Gaga. This was a terribly difficult event for her, I am sure, but at the same time the way she told us about it on littlemonsters.com had a glorious, wonderful, world-shattering message as well. She told us she was ready to be the Goddess of Love, and she changed her twitter title to Goddess of Love. And she said that now the real transformation, the magic of artpop, could finally begin. To me this has a magical parallel with the UN response to Syria this week, and to all such terrible tragedies that eventually lead to progress and justice, including the ones depicted in the 1964 documentary that we are still fighting over. What is going on in Syria is a terrible tragedy, but if it causes the UN to live up to it's purpose it could truly be the last war on earth, or at least one of the last that we will always remember as a turning point in how we deal with war so that we find new ways and partnerships to prevent it and end it as quickly and safely as possible. This is the same with Gaga right now, a terrible tragedy but one that once we pass through it, the solution will lead to the great future. Now she is declaring herself the Goddess of Love - I can see how people with more industry concerns might have discouraged that before, but we know Gaga does not actually give a fuck. Now that she has "spat the lukewarm ones" out of her mouth, as Jesus would say, it is on. She said Born This Way would be a cultural baptism, and it was, but we aren't all "saved" yet, we still suffer from the evils of society, of conservative mentalities: greed, violence, ignorance and hate. Artpop is an initiation and manual for the work to be done, a guide and call to art and love, and saving us all and the planet. It's happening, and now that Gaga has revealed herself officially as the Goddess of Love and can more openly and fully live up to all that entails, we will reach that turning point soon. Another major development, and one that has personal magical significance to me, is that Artpop was cleared this week for release in China. I've always been fascinated with China and when Gaga tweeted this news she sais she was excited and hopeful to go there. I have always dreamed, known I would go to China and now that I think about it, it would be wonderful, amazing, to go for Artrave - I'll make that a personal goal. I got tickets to see her in Vegas in July, which will be my first time at her show. But in addition to a dream I have of going to China I made a song called "Welcome to China" 6 years ago, to celebrate China, the Olympics, and the new developments there that were lifting millions of people out of poverty. It is a love song, East Meets West, with the idea that with love we can all come together, all nations and people, and make a wonderful new world free of fear and danger. The song was accidentally prophetic and perfect for Gaga's announcement: "Welcome to China", with the message, lets all come together in love, putting aside any identities that hold us apart. Gagablogs 19 and 20 deal with Judas, how it is a song version of the 1st century Gospel of Judas which was recently discovered and revealed a few years ago. The major message is that the Church will come back together after fracturing, and unless this is prophetic how would it know the church would fracture so much and predict a reunion so far into the future? Now we are seeing signs of the church coming back together, in some ways, and still fracturing in others, most commonly because of homophobia. But even Pope Francis has softened the church stance against gays and other bitching about social issues. And one of his first acts was to start healing the thousand year old rift with the Eastern Orthodox church. It is fulfilling the Gospel of Judas prediction that the churches will come back together. But "Judas", and Gaga's message, is even bigger than that and it will achieve an even greater ambition - maybe the true meaning of the Gospel of Judas if it is looked at as not pertaining just o the Christian church but to all people and faiths. Gaga truly is uniting people across all faiths. In a very practical way, because of little monsters emerging from every culture and sharing information about their cultures with each other. In a more spiritual way it is the Goddess emerging that so many religions and cultures have suppressed for so long - and she has been emerging for a long time, but now, this week, she really "came out". Many Catholics in South America have been asking for decades to expand the trinity to include Mary, and this along with worship of Mary of Guadalupe and others has always struck me as examples of the Goddess emerging even in an extremely patriarchal context. The Pope has not been enlightened enough to allow women priests but is trying to be encouraging - he comes from Argentina so is surely familiar with the more Goddess-worshipping aspects of the faith. And I think he will develop and come to see why this is necessary, especially after he meets Gaga. I have been tweeting him about this, and about supporting gay marriage so it is easier/possible for more people to adopt the abused kids I work for. It is just a tweet, the desire of my heart, but it has the magical potential to change the world. I asked Ellie Goulding to RT it when I got a tweet from her about ice cream - she didn't but did not delete the request, either. I was just so excited to hopefully get the ball rolling. The Pope did not delete my question, either, giving me hope. But my real hope was that some monsters would RT it, it would spread around the world that way some then some other people would RT it and from every corner of the globe this simple request for goodness could prevail and the Pope could come out in support of Gay marriage and people against it might reconsider based on really thinking about what is best for kids. Gaga has always been keenly focused and active addressing the problems kids face, and kids suffer the worst results of all the problems we have in society, no matter what it is there is a way it effects kids the worst, ultimately. People Of course everyone says they care about kids but when they really start caring about the kids themselves instead of their ideas of what kids should be they will be able to love kids, and everyone and everything, the way Gaga does and shows us. I also follow and reply to the Dalai Lama and his latest tweet was about education. Again, it is something we say we all agree on, that education is good, but conservatives in our society seek privileged education and want to prevent certain populations from getting good education, including refusing to educate themselves about things like global warming. But they really do promote policies that hurt kids education, that cancel art programs etc. And they certainly continue to try and suppress the vote and involvement of certain populations. We have made great progress in 50 years towards a Great Society, but the opponents of this have also made great "progress", at least they have advanced their cause and their hurtful mentality through more generations. But the better they get at it, the more they stand out for what they are: wrong. In a way we have to respect their mentality to engage and educate them, but on the other hand they refuse to see the truth of the suffering their beliefs and policies cause. I think the better idea is what the Yippies did in the 60's. The Youth International Party was more a Party-party than a political party. My understanding was it was the idea that we can party, celebrate, live life together, sharing, without the old rules, and transform the world and society that way. We will have such a good time, maybe the stooges won't join us, if they change their mind and do, they will be happy, find love, and make more happy people and families. The ones who don't want in on the party will be increasingly grumpy and bitter and jealous and hateful, or change their mind and join, but if they don't no one will want to make love with them or fuck them as much and that mentality will eventually die out. "Racial purity" will damn sure become a thing of the past, as much as that scares some people - maybe the last of them will want the bodies they are so proud of preserved and displayed in a museum or something. Racial barriers will melt, and so will religious and cultural barriers: we will all see ourselves as family and even see the natural world as family, too, and be good to each other. This has long been my hope for peace between Israel and Palestine, because as the rave culture there grew people were really talking about how the kids would find a way to peace because they all partied together and had gotten over the division of the last generations. Now some official in Israel apologized for saying Sect. Kerry was "messianic" in his pursuit of peace there, but the truth is there is nothing wrong with that. It will be the kids who take up the messianic, loving spirit of having fun together that will bring peace to those long-suffering people. And if Gaga plays a show there you can be damn sure that will have an effect but its the same everywhere, the best party in the world and everyone who gets it, who wants to be in Real Love, can come - and more and more people will want to and see and hear how wonderful it is until the world is fully transformed. This isn't an "I told you so, the Goddess of Love is Here!" message, this is a reminder that when things seem tough, good things will come out of it. There is a glorious future we are working toward, all of us together, and we will get there, we have to. The complications along the way are reminders of what we need, what we need to remember and act out of - Love, the Goddess. Artpop gives us the sound, the vision of that future, as all Gaga's music and lyrics do since they are divinely inspired. We can see where we are going and have more and more full faith of getting there. And the great moment today, announcing she is now the Goddess of Love, is like saying "here we go! Fire up Rocket #9!" I love you Gaga and I'm so grateful for you, all you do, and all you inspire in the world.