NewYorkCentral

I am impressed and interested. I am with the opposition. I feel like the neo-cons have to have a network deeply entrenched in American society and I speculate that yours is the network they are using. Your secrecy doesnt help my paranoia. To be welcome in this open forum makes me feel better about your organization. Thank You.

I look forward to reading more about your views and goals.

I represent the Rainbow Family of Living Light. Our people were attacked a few weeks ago in WY. Troops armed with pepper-spray, tasors, pepper-balls and rubber bullets attacked a camp where they knew they would find the majority of the children. It was a camp called Kiddie Village for parents and children. It is a camp geared toward childrens activities and day-care. There were many other camps that they could have raided. I believe they were attempting to force a violent response by hurting children.

There was not a violent response. The Rainbows chanted and screamed and played drums but did not retaliate. People were dragged away. Children were gassed and hit with rubber bullets. False news reports justified the violent attack in the press. People trying to keep angry Rainbows a distance away from the police were hit repeatedly with rubber bullets. People leaving were checked for welts and arrested if they had been hit.

The Fed GVMT has declared martial law against the Rainbow Family. They dont even get trials. They are arrested and go through some sort of new process. They are forced to show up and sit outside a garage turned courthouse for days without food, water or a toilet. This is bizarre but true. In America this is happening.

This is the same Rainbow Family that help set up a massive relief center after the hurricane Katrina in MS. They have a bus on the way to help flood victims. The Rainbow Family is an open Americana gypsy society. They have spread internationally. There is a Russian Rainbow Family and this years World Gathering will be held in China. I ask you, what that is not good in a culture spreads to every corner of the Earth? Maybe the Americana gypsy is not the enemy? Maybe the GVMT should detente the agenda they have against them?

When the state of TX put a fire ban on just the one county that the Rainbows were in I was there. A vet from three wars (WW2, Korea, Vietnam) kept people warm by gas but it was too little for the number of people. Some women and children stayed on a bus with a woodstove. Many people were very cold. We built a fire on water and we were asked to put it out. We built a garbage bag wall to hide the light but a police officer found it one morning while creeping through the woods and ticketed one man who claimed it was his fire. A Vietnam vet had to go to the VA hospital. Too much time on the keg and sleeping on the cold hard Earth without a fire. A day after they lifted the ban they burned a few acres up the road. This is how I learned that a fire-ban can be used to hurt people.

When they attack the Rainbow Family they are attacking their own family. Cutting off the nose to spite the face. We are an American tradition. Our sacred holiday is the Fourth of July and our Mecca is Bethel, NY. We are the institution that protects the drifter and the wayward. We accept the outsiders. We are a church, a political agenda and a spiritual humanitarian effort. Truth will never surrender.

Bob

Mystic knight

There is no doubt that the U.S. gov't and others for that matter does not treat it's vets right. It is quite shameful. On the surface, it seems that your organization does good things, but are you telling us the whole story? Where does your $ come from? Does your organization do anything illegal or immoral to raise funds?

Perhaps the U.S. feels you are a cult. Are they acting objectively and in a moderate way or are they acting on fear with extremism? You guys claim to protect the poor. Maybe that offends their capitalist sensibilities. Who knows. This is the first I have heard of your organization. If there is injustice going on try to document it and get it on the net. The use of cell phone videos can be your best friend.

Freemasons are made up of Neo-cons, democrats, environmentalists and many other political stripes. Here is a reason why we try to limit political discussion. For the sake of unity.

NewYorkCentral

The Rainbow Family is not really a veteran’s organization. For some reason vets are attracted to it. It is kind of a convention for outsiders, hippies and drifters. There is no real organization. People are drawn together by a common thread at the gatherings. They live by a few simple rules that deal with respecting every person at the gathering and respecting the forest.

Grumpy was the veteran I spoke of earlier. Fought in three wars. He was 70 when he joined. He was in his 80s and dieing when I met him. I just saw a video of him online from about 1989 with his red pit-bull, Rosey. He said that he was on a fishing boat full of catfish and it was late in the day. He saw a fire on the beach. He thought it was strange that here in the middle of no-where he would see kids dancing like Indians around a fire. He realized that some of the hippy girls were nude so he got closer. They waved him in. An hour later, before he had a chance to think about his fish, it was cooked, cleaned and served. He didn’t know any young people in his life that would cook and clean a fish. Living like the Rainbows do in the forest is not hard for a man who lived half his life in some base-camp or another. He had a house in TX and cars and trucks and boats but he was lonely. He brought out a Chevy conversion van and slept on a bed in the back with his dog. I say something must be pretty special for Grumpy to choose the road and the National Forest over his house in TX, although I don’t believe he missed very many hunting and fishing trips back home. He taught me how to tan a hide like the Indians did. He made drums from the deer-hide and logs.

The story is that the Vietnam vets became mountain-men in the years after the war and then found the Rainbows in the mountains. Many Rainbows have a military background but it is a nonmilitant organization.

Funding is volunteer. Everyone brings what they can. Many wealthy people donate considerable amounts of left-over and second goods. The trucks for the relief center in MS after the hurricane were donated by a huge strip-club in FL. The food came from every organization imaginable. The real gift that the Rainbows brought to MS was organization. Someone said “ No gas, electric, running water, phone, cable. Sounds like a Rainbow Gathering.” They saw potential in devastation. After 36 years the Rainbow Family is realizing that it must have a greater mission to help humanity. I would like to start the Rainbow Church of Bethel based on Rainbow ideals and charity. I understand that Bethel (which the Rainbow Family claims the Woodstock site in Bethel NY as its sacred Mecca) means “house of God”. I see that John McCain comes here to serve $10,000 plates of food at a fundraiser. I walk to the pizzeria down the street and hungry ethnic children are asking me for some pizza. I want to see the Rainbow Family set up kitchens and feed the children. I could feed every hungry person in this city tonight for $10,000.

As far as whether members do anything illegal or immoral to raise money I would have to say, No. The membership is so loose that checking the morality of members is pretty much impossible. The Rainbows have handed a murderer on the run over to the authorities duct-taped up in a tarp. The Rainbow Family is not a commercial entity so it doesn’t raise money. Any money donated is quickly spent on bulk food generally. The Rainbow mindset breaks down occasionally and things get bad but generally elder wisdom rules. I remember that a biker had illegally shot a red wolf pelt (not there as guns are banned). The biker was drying it on a rack and a bullet hole was visible in the hind end. The biker was a Bandito and challenged the hippies to make him remove it. He was one Bandito against the entire Rainbow Family. He was removed from the gathering for disrespecting the forest and the people.

Like you our power also is derived from our unity. The GVMT may feel we are a cult but cults have agendas and control of its members. The Rainbow Family agenda is feeding a lot of people with what they have at hand. People are free to come and go. Some hippies get into that strange religious stuff about how the US is Babylon and they are Gods twelve tribes but to be honest they spend most their time arguing back and forth with hippies who say America is not Babylon. All things considered I would say that very few hippies buy into that sort of rhetoric. Most are however very serious about the native American rituals they perform and their spiritual connection to Earth.

There are many videos of this incident that I described and others available on YouTube. Cameras are powerful tools when combined with the Internet. There is video and witnesses emerging that say the authorities light a fire near a gathering in 2007 and refused to allow the Rainbows to fight it with buckets.

You say the freemasons “try to limit political discussion”. That doesn’t seem very enlightened to me. I thought the Enlightenment was about the freedom to have political free will. I knew masons do not like to talk politics but I thought it was only with outsiders. All the Rainbow Family does is sit in the woods and talk politics and we have more unity than most. IMHO you should seriously rethink that position.

If you have neo-cons in your organization then I have to ask you in all honestly. Is freemasonry opposed to fascism in any form? Americans are afraid and angry yet it is in our nature that we not live in fear. Whether fascism really exists is irrelevant to the fact that American anti-fascist resistance is growing. We will only accept a world GVMT by consent and not by conquest.

Thank you for reading and responding to my thread.

Bob

Mystic knight

The political discussion or lack thereof is a simply guideline to keep from falling into disharmony. On these "wild west" forums for example we engage in political discussions all the time.

Yes, Masonry is opposed to fascism. Hitler persecuted the Freemasons. We remember that persecution of fellow brethren by wearing a blue forget me not lapel pin. There is every political stripe and occupation in our organization.

NewYorkCentral

I appreciate that you are opposed to fascism and I remember that you were one of the groups persecuted by Hitler. I ask you. If an internal political group were to become fascist would you betray those brothers or would your order demand that you help fascists to avoid prosecution? Very many people are concerned that a New World Order is code for a new modern fascism. Many people are saying that they took an oath to protect this country from enemies both foreign and domestic. Many people are claiming to be with the resistance (including myself). These corrupt politics of the last decade have pushed people towards an American anti-fascist resistance party. We read about REX84 prison camps built around the country and I suggest we destroy the camps before they ever load them with American civilians (they have already been used in Seattle). In fact I demand it. If you remember a concentration camp was not always associated with Hitler. It was the Boar War and the American Civil War that saw the first concentration camps. The sick effect of total war. Camps where men, women and children are concentrated together so that disease and starvation can spread among them.

Tinker

You don't represent me brother. Represent yourself.

While the event in Big Sandy was unfortunate, the attack on the Rainbow Gathering has been downgraded. Previously Gatherings were declared and emergency, which brought in special FEMA control over the entire state apparatus, from police to hospitals. Now it is regarded as an 'incident' which brings out a standard troop of LEOs to watch it. There is a long-standing relationship between the Rainbow Gathering and the Forest Service LEOs that goes back to the very first Gathering.

This has nothing to do with Neo-Conservatism. John Ashcroft himself signed off on the Utah Gathering, or at least decided that the jurisdiction belonged to the local Forest Service and not to the AG's office as the local Utah Fed AG was trying to push it up. Thus the Utah Gathering happened because the local jurisdiction signed off on it. At that Gathering a lot of people were pissed off because a brother Garrick signed a gathering permit. They did not like the fact that he appointed himself, "Representative", as there are no Representatives of the Rainbow Gathering and no method by which Representatives can be appointed.

Tinker

NewYorkCentral I am glad you came here to discuss your grievances and do so in such a respectful manner. Many of the ideas you put forward are a bit of cultural mythology about Freemasonry. I sat around the fire discussing these same ideas on July 6th.

Freemasonry has first and foremost been about engendering Brotherhood amongst men who share a common morality. Part of the reason for the downplaying of politics is so that the brotherhood can come first. Many people in Masonry as you well know are involved in politics at every level, from the local level, to the church, to the state, to the federal. They are Democrats and Republicans, Tories and Labour. There are also Actors, Chefs, Lawyers, Dancers, Ministers, Rabbis, Doctors, Chiropractors, Massage Therapists, Acupuncturists, Financiers, Network Administrators, and any number of other professions. Masons strive for a more just and more moral society. That is what unites us.

And just so you know, politics does come up in conversations between lodge brothers. There is just a form of politeness that puts brotherhood and communion before secular concerns.

The Rainbow Gathering has much to offer and teach society, but it's "Gypsy Americana" as you so aptly put it is not a model that can be translated to the rest of society. What is accomplished at a Rainbow Gathering is nothing short of astounding, and I would recommend everyone go who wants to see how much can be accomplished with how little.

NewYorkCentral

Right On. Youre right I knew I couldnt represent the Rainbow Family. I guess I was being dramatic. No one represents the Rainbow Family. The fact that there are Rainbow masons kind of blew my mind too. I think thats great. I am at a loss for words to describe what the hippy is in America. Some say the CIA created hippies but we know hippies have always existed at least as long as a mass culture has existed. It is very much Americana. Every kind of blues, jazz, folk, rock, blue-grass, country tradition that can be played acoustic might be heard. Hippies rap themselves up in the American flag more than a used car salesman running for office. There is a transiant street culture in America that blends in with this thing as well. In the end you have something that us kids called "Tour". Tour is an American tradition as the open road is an American tradition. It is the Cannonball Run aspect of it all that adds to the fun. As vast as America is Rainbows always find each other. I am in this forum to ask that people think about the Rainbow Family. I would like to see a detente between the GVMT and the Rainbow Family. I would like to see kids free to go on tour if they are drawn to it. No one gives up the comforts of home to be a drifter unless they really mean it. We say "its in the blood". Its great to hear from you and thanks for responding. I am glad you had a good time at the gathering in the end.

Bob

Tinker

Glad to blow your mind. It was actually at a Rainbow Gathering where the seed of Masonry was implanted in my mind.

NewYorkCentral

Wow, who would have thought? I can see it though. Each call one another brothers and are about some mysterious light. Although living light may just mean living light (weight)? One of the great mysteries. Each are about shared ideals and positive values. They are both social clubs in a sense. I can see the connection.

I am a hippy. I spent years just drifting around when I was young. I learned to hitch-hike. I learned to live from a backpack. The Army doesnt have anything on me. I learned to sleep-fight. It was 90% hell and 10% glory. I survived weather and criminals. No one would give up a life to "live the life" unless they are looking for something. When I was on tour I saw the agenda first-hand. I didnt object to the way they treated us at the venues as it was a circus. It was when I put on a pack and walked and was abused daily by the police for it that I became concerned. It is nearly illegal to be a drifter in American it seems. If it were Europe it would be wonderful. In America its daily stops and searches. I only briefly knew the Rainbow Family. I have been watching them for a few years online. I have seen an escalation on the side of law enforcement towards the Rainbows. I feel like they are the carnary in the coal-mine of liberty and that is why they are my cause celeb. I am a Rainbow but you know that doesnt say a lot about my connection to their outfit. Its kind of like being a member of the Polar Bear Club (but crazier). I havent been to the a gathering since Bethel 1999. I want to buy Mike Nimans book about the gatherings. Have you seen it?

Bob