Be A Patriot--Seek the Truth

It amazes me how through out history if our leaders confess their beliefs in God, we believe in our leaders and all they do.  We speak of our forefathers like Eisenhower and Truman arguing that they were all God loving men as though we knew them personally, as if their beliefs made them better leaders, better men, nearly perfect in all they did, when in fact they were merely humans and they all took calculated risks in the name of America and its people.

Maybe their faith helped them to get a good night's sleep, but history shows us that they committed some mighty inhumane and ungodly deeds.  Next time you think you have to tell the rest of us how you shall support George W. Bush, I want you to ask yourself this one question.  Are you willing to accept the blame for the dead civilians who had no weapons in Bahgdad or our children who lost their lives or their body parts(even their minds)?  Think awhile before answering because when its all said and done, I'd like to add your name to the list at the World Trials for war crimes.

These are my sons and I can't imagine living without them.  I cannot imagine them taking an innocent victims life. What is happening in Iraq is a hell America and England have perpetuated in the name of OIL and slick Defense Contract profits.  I'm not willing to trade lives for either.

Marriage No Longer Serves The Two Parties Involved

Some say marriage was for procreation but that is totally untrue.

Facts About Marriage

1) Marriage was not necessary in order to pro-create; it was practiced as a type of social welfare to protect children by giving them parental and tribal identification thus holding both parents and tribes accountable for the offspring.

2)  Marriage became a form of bartering, securing men their fortunes, property and power through the dowrys of wives or one rich wife.

3) Much later, the popular concept of love became the reason to marry.

4) Some, because of religious devotion (priests, monks and nuns) were forbidden to marry in the flesh.  Slaves were originally forbidden to marry because they were property not people.  The last 15 states were forced to end a law protecting ethnic heritage by allowing mixed couples to marry.  That was on June 12th in 1967.

5) In America marriage is now limited to one husband and one wife with incest forbidden, once again to protect the offspring.  Where marriage was recently thought to belong to those who wish to procreate, many engaged in marriage have no intention of every procreating.  Still, it is intended to help guarantee offspring medical and physical benefits.  Parents are supposed to be accountable for their offspring until that child reaches the age of 18 years.  The wives are also provided for in word at least, unless the popular prenuptial agreements were in place prior to becoming married.

6)  Marriage is a legal and binding contract with only one legally allowable escape clause--Death!

7)  People who are in love but not married are denied rights they would have from a marriage in the case of pension plans and veterans medical benefits, even the Px use.

Problems surrrounding marriage today.

1) Doesn't control adultry or the birth of children that are produced from it.

2) No guarantee of a better life for the child brought into this world.  Check out Foster Care facts.

3) In 2001, for every 1000 people, 7.8 marriages were performed (15.6 people) while 4 divorces were performed (8 people).  That looks like half of all new marriages end up in divorce--something like that.  Overall, one in four marriages end up in divorce.  Divorce, the breaking of a contract has become our number 2 Gross Domestic Product and depends largely on the redistribution of wealth, a great loss financially for the married couple going their separate ways.

4) Many families who do not subscribe to marriage are denied pensions as I previously stated, not just gay partners, but all unmarried partners.  Even in states where there are Domestic Partnering laws and Common Laws or Civil Unions, there is a chance couples will be denied some of the rights married people have, such as visitation rights in the hospital ward's trauma units.

Conclusion

Yes, marriage changes through time and no matter how we legislate it, the original purpose to protect the offspring is nullified.  Spousal rights have been dilluted. 

All the current debates on the matter including Gay marriages take our minds off the issues our government doesn't wish us to push--domestic partnership reformation.

Marriage isn't a right; it's fluff.  So fight-fight-fight and you too can obtain a contract easily broken, but if that is what it takes to get a piece of your pie, then bon appetite.

If I could choose my family...

You know, the world of politics is interesting enough, the world of law too, but the little understood world of economics is the most interesting of all to me.  One of the most brilliant men living today in the world of economics is George Soros.  He knows the ins and outs of a sound portfolio but he also knows the consequences regarding human rights. 

I lost my parents at the age of 17 and up till then, we had discussions on the above topics around our dinner tables and also while we took drives to and from places.  I've gone all these years feeling somewhat stunted, stuck back in my teen years when it comes to the understanding of these issues.  It's really difficult to find people who will help grow me. At the age of 46 I find George Soros and Gore Vidal to be the best informed people of our century.  Pablo Neruda died or he would have been included on that list of giants.  If I could ask anything, I'd ask that George Soros would be my adopted father so he could teach me the ins and outs of ethical and unethical investing--investing with a conscience.  I'd ask for Gore Vidal to be my grandpapa so that I'd become much better at watching the actions of corporations and politicians in this world today.  I'd love it if Pablo had been my uncle.

Where are the great minds of today--the untainted minds that will take up the cause of these gentle giants after they have departed?  How I wish I were one of those great minds.  How I wish...

Here is a picture of the man I'd choose to be my mentor, my grandfather, if it were possible to pick and choose my family's replacements at the dinner table.  I love you Grandpapa Vidal.

I nearly forgot!  In the writer's chat the other night, folks were discussing classics they were forced to read in school.  Not one mentioned John Steinbeck.  We all had to read Grapes of Wrath, a most brilliant and timeless piece.  Here is one of my favorite quotes from that body of work. "Now farming became industry, and the owners followed Rome, although they did not know it.  They imported slaves, although they did not call them slaves: Chinese, Japanese, Mexicans, Filipinos.  They live on rice and beans, the businessmen said. They don't need much.  They wouldn't know what to do with good wages.  Why, look how they live.  Why, look what they eat.  And if they get funny--deport them."

Enjoy your coming week, folks.   Love and peace to you.  This week's bumpersticker is No you can't have my rights.  I'm still using them.

Where’s The Joy?

By Chelle Stockman

 

            Ah, I remember way back when—when school was fun and the teachers had joy.  They knew they had something wonderful to share with us and that for the most part we would get it.  How did they know this?  They knew how to give tests.  Those tests told them where our strengths and weaknesses were.  I seemed to get all the tough teachers, at least one in the bunch every year was a teacher most kids warned us about. “Watch out for Rathjens, she is strict and takes no bulldookie off of anyone.”  “Look out for Vincent, he works ya to death.”  “You don’t want to get Botta.  He yells so much that you will wet your pants.”

            I got them all and let me tell you, I’m so grateful I did.  They taught me so much!  Mr. Botta taught me that math can be fun and if I didn’t behave he would throw a ball at me and expect me to have the answers to the questions.  Well I was hep to him.  I liked having the answers so I’d disrupt my neighbor while he asked the question and I was prepared for the ball.  I’d catch it, yell the answer out and immediately sail it back to him.  Boy those were the days. 

It was Miss Rathjens that I most loved.  Yes the golfer lady was a toughy.  No one, I mean nobody could pull the wool over her eyes.  She knew her kids, all thirty-three of us.  When she handed us our tests back, we would all be shamed at the red marks on them.  She would tell us to not be upset.  In her hands she held a list of all who missed the questions.  She would say to one of us who had a red mark, say me for instance, “Chelle will you read question number one please?”  I’d read it and she would say, “could you tell me why you answered the way you did?”  I’d tell her my reasons and she was always encouraging but would point out where I had gone wrong.  She would then tell us the correct answer and where we could find it.  We would go to that page and lo and behold, the teacher actually knew what she was talking about!  Imagine that.  She would work hard to make sure we all were on the same page because you see, she didn’t believe in leaving anyone behind.  We made her proud and she had an obvious joy when she taught us.  I’m glad I had this tough lady and I wish there were more like her these days.

We had these reading assessment tests, you know the kind, those bubble tests.  Before she turned them in to be handed off to the districts or states she would make her notes to see where “her” kids were.  In the fifth grade she broke us up into reading groups.  Some were put into mythology, some into remedial reading, and some into speed reading.  She found it easier to work with groups in this case and because of it, I became a speed reader with a higher level of comprehension.  To this day, I have a great love for reading.  Thank you Miss Rathjens!

This was the norm in my day; larger class rooms, discipline, and teachers who evaluated the tests to determine where their students were.  We were their treasure and we knew it.  The teachers had a greater freedom in teaching methods than the teachers do today.  They had less restrictions placed upon them by the state which allowed them to personally oversee the aptitude of every student.  This method makes better sense to me because who would you say knows their students better, the teachers who have the kids day in and day out; or some estranged board of education? 

I have noticed over the past decade how little the teachers have in the way of support from their bosses.  Impossible expectations are placed on them because children come to them undisciplined, the state has a criterion for them to meet, and they have 40 minutes to an hour each day to focus their students and meet the state’s expectations.  Gone is the joy of teaching and the kids lose.  We give money to them and then take it away.  We place higher standards on the teachers and students and then don’t back them up.  Something has to change.  We can’t keep raising taxes and shoveling money into a broken system.

In the No Child Left Behind, the tests became more rigorous but what have they accomplished?  Nothing except to measure the level of failure.  Teachers feel a greater sense of ineptitude and so do the kids. The tests are given and the results come back several months later.  Do the kids get a chance to learn where they failed?  Do they learn where they went wrong from taking the tests?  Do they learn the correct answers?  No they don’t.  So the kids only get a sense of satisfaction if they already know the information but for the students who didn’t do so well, they have no way of knowing where they need to improve.  This kind of testing doesn’t make any sense.  We the taxpayers and voters have condoned this; therefore we have failed our teachers and students.  Where is the joy in that?

I’m all for the teachers being allowed to teach their students as individuals.  I’m against all testing that does not allow the kids to find out in every instance where they went wrong and instruct them where to get the correct information.  The kids will respect the teacher who can show them something that encourages them but I’m telling you that they will lose interest if they are constantly being bombarded with their failures.  I’m asking you folks, how can we help restore the joy in our children’s teachers?  Will you help me do this, please?  Our kids deserve it.  All the money and tests won’t improve education because it is only the teachers who can do this. 

If you have any ideas, you can email me at ChelleStockman@aol.com.  Thank you for your concern and your input.

He spoke of the deterioration of covert operations by this administration due to lack of support and funding.

Letter To Mary& My Other Disturbing Thoughts

Well what can we say, Mary?  What about California?  I feel as the New Yorkers do.

Check this out, I was listening to the financial analysts who are all scratching their heads about Bush being re-elected.  They said that the blue states have consistently out contributed federal taxes 4 to 1 over the red states and its the blue states who will benefit the most from Bush's plans while the red states will be hurting more because they rely on the federal subsidies that come from the taxes the blue states contribute but won't be contributing as much of.  They are bewildered as to why the red states don't see this for what it is and they told the blue states to relax because we won't be footing the bill for the red states as we have always had to do.

Still, Mary, this pisses me off.  Taxation should be fair.  I still believe in a flat rate.  I can't allow myself to be happy that as a small business owner I get to get breaks others are deprived of.  When a great portion of our country is required to pay 20 percent or more of their earnings, I get pissed.  That is unfair!  Shit.  I want my Kerry.

Chelle                            MORE DISTURBING THINGS

President Bush was said to be a hero having saved a CIA agent, and a day or two later an assassination attempt was made on his life while at the APEC meetings.  Meanwhile, the plane Papa Bush flies on crashed killing the pilots and personal stewardess to the Bush Family just before it could pick up Bush Sr. for his trip to the APEC meetings.  Hmm  Are any of you seeing a trend here?  I get really pissy when someone tries to kill our leader.  If our leader has sinned, we the American people need to deal with him ourselves; its not the job for some global assassin.  Imagine if our leader were to be killed, the entire world would be screwed.  Cheney would be right where nobody wants him to be.

When Bush Sr was president, Cheney was never out of his sight.  A good warrior when going off to battle keeps his enemies close at hand.  Consider that Bush Sr., a member of the Carlyle Group at the time got into defense contracts for purposes of profits.  The one company in his way continuously was Halliburton.  So, Cheney got to ride the gravy train again when Bush Sr. became our president.  I propose that the 2000 election was totally illegal in order to force Cheney to step down from Halliburton and the only way to do it was to insure he was the Vice President.  Bush Sr is the smart boy of that lineage and Bush Jr., I choose to not think of as evil, but because he is such a reactionary, he is a good tool of those practicing evil ethics.  They play him like a puppet.  Still, as long as Bush is in office, we have some control over Cheney.  Who wins if Bush should die....Cheney and the world will go to hell in his hands.  So you can understand why I'm just a little pissed when I hear that Bush Jr. has made 10 assassination lists world wide.  Pray folks.

A little note:  Don't you think the Bush family is rather like the Ewings on the old show called Dallas?  Why, they even had a Jr.  

America's Greatest Loss

 

Tis The Season To Go Shopping

By Chelle

 

            Like ants crawling over each other, the cars have filled our freeways and the people have filled the aisles in nearly every store.  The season of Christmas means getting out of your house, mingling with strangers, and frustrations mount as we search for the perfect gift to give the people we love.   Every year I say, I’m going to do something for someone who really needs blessings.  Every year, I give gifts to children I’ve never met, toys mostly; and every year I wonder if those children have clothes or food to eat.  My heart is always heavy this time of the year.  I just can’t help myself.

            I began my shopping before Thanksgiving this year because I wanted to get my family out of the way first, take care of your own before you take care of others and all that.  Through the process it became clear to me that what my children need is more discipline and happiness in their education.  How can I make learning fun for them?  How can our teachers do so when they have such restrictions placed on them by the testing standards?  How would I wrap discipline and education in an attractive enough package that my sons would choose to open?  It simply isn’t possible, besides, this time every year people tend to want what they desire and not what they need the most, so my idea of giving is out of the question, at least for my sons it is.

            Reluctantly and with labor, I began looking for clothing that would support the image they wish to project to their peers.  I found this cool jacket with flashy colors that my youngest son would like; bold colors for the bold.  I noticed that it came from Japan. I put it back on the rack.  An hour later, I hadn’t found one article of clothing made in America and went up to the cashier to inquire about American made articles.  This young woman looked at me like I was nuts. I pretended to not notice her lack of understanding and asked, “Are you saying that you haven’t got anything made in America? This was a famous American chain of stores, part of our history, like turkeys and pumpkin pie. 

            Her response? “What difference does it make?”

            “You ask that because you will always have something to sell, but Americans used to be employed making such goods.”  Her eyes didn’t show interest in my politics because the fact was she did have a job in sales and yes she would always have something to sell.  She wasn’t interested because she didn’t think it affected her.

            As I continued my mission to find anything made in America, I remembered the Christmas I got my Schwinn bicycle.  I had had my bike stolen two months earlier and Dad took me out to get a replacement.  We went to a department store and there was a huge selection of bikes to choose from, but only a few were Schwinn or Columbia bikes.  Why was that important?  Dad told me that those were made in America. I looked over at all the pretty bikes with baskets and ribbons, flashy seats and pretty colors.  I asked him where the others had been made.  He told me they were made in Japan.   He picked up a bike and I didn’t get my hope up because I knew something had made my father sad.  I didn’t want to be a part of anything that caused Daddy to be unhappy.  “Half the cost and cheaply made.  It will fall apart but one day they will make better products that don’t.”  He put the bike back and walked over to the Schwinn.  He pulled out his wallet and said, “You’ll have to wait a little longer honey.”  He sure looked sad. 

            “It’s okay Daddy.  I can wait.  Dad?”  I asked him how come bikes from Japan were so much cheaper.  He told me that they didn’t take care of their workers.  He also told me that one day, because low cost items like these would be made so available, workers in America would lose their jobs.  I remember how sad I felt, all those moms and dads, all those people without jobs.  I worried about their children even back then.  When that Christmas came and I got my Schwinn, I was so proud, proud of Daddy and proud of my new bike.  I took care of it because I knew that some worker in America had a job.  It was that simple to me even back then.

            That was then; this is now and I’m a woman on a mission.  For weeks I have gone to every store in our county that had goods my sons might be interested in. I held up articles and commented to those next to me who were also shopping, “Made in Taiwan.   Made in Japan.   Made in China.”  I shook my head and said to any who would listen, “No wonder Americans have difficulty making a living.  Does everyone sell insurance these days?  Where did all the American made goods go to?”  Then I found an article of clothing made in Guatemala.  I don’t know what got into me, but I was so struck by the irony I felt the need to share it with everyone.  The store was rather full and I couldn’t resist the urge to make a statement.  “Look everyone,” I shouted with obvious joy.  I waited till I had the attention of many.  “This is the one thing I’ve found in a week that is made in America. Okay, so it is made in Guatemala, but that’s one of the Americas, right?”  Some folks smiled but everyone went back to shopping.  The lines at the checkouts were long.  It was obvious to me that in our capitalist urges to have something for next to nothing, we had given our present and future to those working overseas.

            I went to my closet and noticed that nearly everything I owned was made everywhere but in America. I began tossing out clothes I loved but felt I could do without.  They are sitting bagged next to my door, ready to go to the needy.  From now on, I’m going to purpose myself to buy only items made in America.  If they cost me three times as much, I’ll do as Dad did, I’ll save for them.  I don’t need two in every color.  I can do without.  I’ve found a few items in catalogs that are made here, but haven’t solved the problem of what to get my sons.  Maybe I’ll buy them their driver’s training and call it quits.  I can’t package that, but what am I supposed to do?  I feel especially convicted and responsible for the loss of manufacturing jobs here at home.  I wonder what happened to the philosophy of “Take care of your own before you try to help others”.

            It is apparent to me that because foreign made goods are so available, we Americans think it is acceptable to allow those jobs to go to other countries while we suffer the losses here at home in the name of saving a buck.  While the Christmas season is upon us, it is obvious; tis not the season to buy American.  Maybe in a few years, we can turn that around and give ourselves the gift of a sound economy.  Happy shopping folks.

Wonder how Van Morrison knew?

Wonderful Remark by Van Morrison

How can you stand the silence
That pervades when we all cry?
How can you watch the violence
That erupts before your eyes?
How can you tell us something
Just to keep us hangin' on?
Something that just don't mean nothing
When we see it you are gone
Clinging to some other rainbow
While we're standing, waiting in the cold
Telling us the same old story
Knowing time is growing old.
That was a Wonderful Remark
I had my eyes closed in the dark
I sighed a million sighs
I told a million lies - to myself - to myself

How can we listen to you
When we know your talk is cheap?
How can we ever question
Why we give more and you keep?
How can your empty laughter
Fill a room like ours with joy
When you're only playing with us
Like a child does with a toy?
How can we ever feel the freedom
Or the flame lit by the spark
How can we ever come out even
When reality is stark?

That was a Wonderful Remark
I had my eyes closed in the dark - yeah
I sighed a million sighs
I told a million lies - to myself - to myself
Baby to myse - e - e - elf

Simplify Taxes and Bring Manufacturing Back To Us

We are told by the experts that tax reform will be complicated because we can't even figure how to use the tax base in order to garnish income.  What is a tax base and how is it created?  Quite simply, a tax base is comprised of three areas: spending, saving, and investing (capital gains).  The problem in America is that we are required to pay over twenty percent in taxes on our net worth which is easy to fudge if you have enough earnings, but difficult to pay if you don't.  What would a Fortune 500 company have to pay if they paid 20 percent? They must have at least a billion dollars to qualify for this.  Twenty percent of a billion is...two hundred million dollars.  Consider that there are no less than 400 companies who fall into this category in America.  How much revenue would that be?  That would be eighty billion dollars!--annually!  Of course, the corporations would never allow that so why do we, the mid level and low level income earners, allow that?

ALEC and Heritage House tell us we need economic freedom but with rates like that and higher, how can we have the kind of freedom they speak of, the freedom to have a decent retirement that we pay for, medical care that we pay for, livelihood that we pay for?  Why are those doing business, selling goods to us, why aren't they held accountable for the same rate of taxation?  They make enough to hide it, getting far more deductions and taking advantage of many more loopholes we aren't able to because we don't have the financial freedom to do so.  Look, how many of us have extra cash to stash in offshore banks tax free???

Taxation should do two things, encourage business to provide jobs here in America and to secure the economic well being of our country.  The fear is that if we tax companies too highly, they will do business elsewhere--they already do.  We are told to relax that our American companies overseas hire Americans but they hire executive level Americans as a rule and hire locals to that country for the jobs we once held here.  Another trick of our government is that those Americans working and living overseas pay taxes in the countries they live but are also forced to pay taxes at a higher rate than we do to our country.  Jamaica, the Phillipines and the United States are the only countries who do this, but that is another matter of unfair taxation practices I don't wish to address at this time.

I propose:

1) 80% of consumer goods sold to Americans should be manufactured here in America by companies employing Americans.  These companies should be accountable for a 1% tax rate on quarterly audited gross receipts.  I did say gross, not net.

2) No more than 20% of goods sold to us should be imported ,and what an import is,needs to be redefined.  Companies who don't have brokering, packaging, and shipping plants, headquarters, are to be considered foreign companies and they should pay a high tax to sell goods to us, prior to selling it to us (20% import fee).  In cases of brokering such as coffee and bananas which would be exempt from import fees, those who have headquarters here in America, or have assembly and shipping centers here, they should be taxed 1% on all gross earnings.

3) Interstate commerce taxation needs to be done away with.

4)States need to garnish taxes too, a flat rate of 1/4% on all gross earnings.  States will also garnish a flat rate of property taxes on business and housing.

5) Sales taxes will go to cities and counties accordingly with no more than 5 percent on goods sold but not on services.

6) Companies should have recycling facilities including saline plants to reuse contaminated water in the case of alluminum and steel facilities, etc.  Plus sediment sites need to be set up as well.  If the states want the business they should look into footing some of the bill in order to keep their states green.  It can be done, it won't be cheap, but it must be done to get our jobs back here in America.

By imposing a flat tax on everyone from major corporation to the little guy we will level the field of responsibility.  It will simplify taxes in that there will be no deductions allowed (except in the case of wages and if that is the case, we must make sure that at least 80% of all employees are granted full time status).  People would be responsible for their own benefits packages unless the companies want to compete for qualified people by offering benefits as a perk to come work for them, but they should not be deductable for the company who does this, only the wages paid.  We have become far too dependent on the state and federal government for subsidizing our health care and social security.  This is partly due to the loss of jobs in America and the expense to own a small business which has difficulty competing for goods at a reasonable cost when corporations import those goods back to us at such a cheap cost.

In order to handle the taxation problems we must have jobs available that provide us a living wage, not a minimum wage and since corporations today have slithered off to other lands and avoided paying a fair share of taxes, it is time to make them pay for selling back to us.  I'd just as soon they leave us indefinately so we can claim the facilites and reopen them to employ our own workers.  We are smart, we can make our industries more environmentally friendly.  The middle class American and the Small business owners shouldn't have to foot the bill and if this continues, other countries will own our debts.  Oh, yeah, they already do.  If we begin soon, and impose the flat tax on gross earnings, our country will be out of its several trillion dollars debt in under four years. 

I say, before we try to help the others, lets heal our own sickness.  We shouldn't try to do it simultaneously or we will all lose out.

"Beware The Ides of March" Shakespear, Julius Ceasar

So we are told Osama bin Laden has a nuclear weapon he intends to use on America and he intends to do so sometime between now and the end of 2005.  Osama, a scholar and genious has a penchant for the written word and a fondness for William Shakespear.  He isn't fond of Britain, however.  Nor is he fond of America.  It is my guess that bin Laden will send a message to the Lion, "We will break your spirit and kill your baby lamb."  The lion is England and England's baby lamb is America.

So we wonder when this will occur.  March.  March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb; I just hope it won't be for the last time.

Queen George

Voltaire said, "Love truth, but pardon error."

Our president has declared that the American people, through our vote, have sent him a mandate for another four years.  I choose to believe that not all who voted for him were stupid as they are accused of being and therefore conclude that he recieved a pardon, not a mandate.  Yet Bush is truly an Elizabethan in his techniques.  Like Queen Elizabeth I he sets out to create divisions and fuel each other's disdain for one another while forcing all sides to come to him for resolution.  Nobody was quite as good at it as was Queen Elizabeth...until George came along.  They share the philosophy of divide ut regnes (divide in order to rule). 

Bush proves Barry Goldwater's assertion is correct: "A government that is big enough to give you all you want, is big enough to take it all away."  So through our huge expenditures for war, and padding of defense funds, truly  Bush has succeeded in taking it all away for generations to come.  Some shout, "Four more years!"  The others cry out, "Four more generations!"

A Taste For The Kill  

When the films of our marines were finally seen in our homeland of America by those who hadn't gone to foreign websites for their news, Americans expressed their disgust and even spout out verbage of hate for the one soldier they say shot an unarmed Iraqi man who was already wounded.  What our citizens did not know is that while this troop was working its way up to Fallujah to relieve the troop who was engaged there, they did come under fire and when the soldier's friend went to move the freshly dead body of the insurgent, he was blown up and another soldier along with him.  The body was booby trapped. 

I'd like to share with you what has been shared with me from a few fellows who didn't quite do so well when they returned home from Viet Nam.  To a soldier engaged in war, its a kill or be killed programming.  As long as they are shooting at some percieved enemy (real or imagined) and are making those kills, they can rejoice.  Quite simply it means they killed a man and live because of it.  In times of war, they live and return to us because they have killed.  Hopefully they will return home soon.

They have been deprived of the nurturing  they grew up with, sent in to do a job like encryptionist, but ended up shooting others, picking up body parts and putting them in body bags, then tagged the bags.  They are promised daily that the job they came to do will happen.  Every day they believe it will happen.  Instead of dwelling on the fact that only killing is going on, they join in willingly  to kill.  Of course...war affects each individual quite differently so this isn't a cut out for every one of them.

Show mercy, America--to our soldiers.  We made them what they are.

Painful message to my brothers and sisters.

Some of my sisters and brothers in the Lord have put me in a rock and a hard place, so first, I'd like to take a moment to explain how some who oppose the right to choose are compassionate helpers who work at Christian abortion counseling centers.  They help to restore the women back to a place where God can heal them.  This is truly a great thing in my opinion.  So I whole heartedly am proud of these sisters and brothers.

There are, however, brothers and sisters who haven't taken the time to understand the message of our Lord Jesus.  These are also the ones who say everyone must go through Jesus or they will go to hell without realizing the Jews were given laws for their salvation and the Islamics were given their directives for their salvation, something Christians cannot claim.  We were merely grafted in between these two olive branches, the half brothers--seeds of Abraham.  We were given as Gentiles the uncommon salvation through the messiah who is Jesus.  Jesus extended his arm of grace to us and called us to love our enemies, extend mercy without partiality, and forgave every sin with one exception--the blaspheming of the Holy Spirit. 

This is important to what I have to say to my brothers and sisters who are in error because it brings me great pain to have to correct them.  But since we are in the same family, I'm obligated to do so.  You see, God gave humans something quite special; he gave us free will, the ability to choose to come to him of our own free will, not to come to him because some law said we had to.  God waits for us to choose the path we will take.  On every path we will encounter sin (the formidable teacher), suffering and pain, amongst other things kind and unkind.  When we are humbled, in pain, suffering from our sins and we call out to God, he says, "I'm here."  We then choose to cry out our reality and invite our healing.  God sends his most Holy Spirit to comfort and teach us.  None of this can happen if we are enslaved by laws regarding a forced morality.  Morality isn't something we are to legislate.  In fact when someone showed Jesus a coin with Ceasar's picture, he looked at it with disgust and declared as he tossed it back to the gentleman, "Render unto Ceasar what is Ceasars.

So my dear well meaning but mistaken brothers and sisters, I submit to you that by saying we must follow a moral form of legislated governing, we are stripping people of the gift God gave us, the gift of free will; and therefore, are denying that the Holy Spirit is able to save us from our demise.  This my family is denying the power of the Holy Spirit to meet the individual heart where it has gone, where it is at.  I'd like to throttle you all as you accuse Arlen Spector of being pro-murder and pro-abortion.  That is a lie! Stop lying this moment, repent of this sin.  There was no such bill ever that said proabortion or promurder.  Arlen is supporting the woman's individual rights to make a choice, something none of us should have to do since God guaranteed it.  Arlen feels the government shouldn't enforce private moral issues for individuals, that that is an intimate matter between they and whomever they believe in.  He is prochoice not pro anything else that goes on with that.  I ask you brothers and sisters, do you accept the salvation Christ offered to you?  If you say yes, then you murdered Christ.  Fear not, he is more than capable of forgiving you and he has. 

Now to the rabbi of the rabbi's you said, "Arlen Spector has stolen the civil rights of the unborn.  The unborn have been cheated out of their civil rights by Arlen Spector."  You sir, are in error.  In order to have civil rights, you must first be born and then secondly, you must be living.

I'm so sorry for having to scold you all, but believers are commanded to educate other believers who could be approaching the irreversable effects of error.   Do not deny the power of the Holy Spirit, accept the gift of free will that our creator teaches us through.  Selah--Amen.

Oddball conversations with my friends.

Louise had tint on her hair and I showed her the comment Thomas Jefferson made which appeared a few blogs down.  "Great quote," she said "He was a prick, though." I asked her why she said that and she responded,"Let me search my gray matter. It'll come to me."  A few moments passed and asked her again."Something about a Black woman."

"You sure you don't mean Benjamin Franklin?"

"No but he was probably evil too."

"George Washington?"

"He was evil."

I felt so silly having this conversation with her, tint cap on her head and all, but I reminded her,"You know, our founding fathers were seen as terrorists, insurgents of their day."

"By whom," she asked with an indignant clucking of her tongue.

"By the English, Louise."

"Impossible!  They invaded us!"

"Yeah, just like we invaded Iraq."  Our eyes met and grew large because we had hit on an irony.  We had only meant to engage in our typical beauty shop conversation but the truth hit us at the same time.  In retrospect, it was funny, but true none the less.

Friday, we were talking about women's rights because I joined N O W.  Sabrina, the client of mine with a tint cap on her head said, "We need to bring freedom to the women of Iraq."

Her sister said, "They need to bring themselves freedom, we had to here."

"You ladies see on all our news shows how women are rarely at the demonstrations and battles?"  They shook their heads in unison.  "Why do you suppose that is?"  There was a little bit of weak speculation and they both agreed that neither had the answer.  They assumed the men had not been taught to respect their women. So I pointed out another possibility.  "They rely on their women.  They keep them hidden by the soldiers and foreign media because to expose their women means they too would be in danger.  If we attacked and killed their women instead of them, there would be no more Islamic message.  The women are the breeders of their message and like drone bees, they protect their queens, the mothers of the living."

They agreed but I got this awful sinking feeling in the pit of my tummy.  I'm not willing to kill the women to end the war.  The idea seemed so sinister to me. I'm a mom too. <sigh>  That's all for now.

Now Magazine ran a John Sayles Article--Check it out.

John Sayles If Christians can steal the GOP, lefties can move in on the Dems BY John Sayles

Politicians are only as good as we force them to be forget the post-election excre ment on how the Democratic party needs to reach out to fundamentalist voters and find a "moral position'' people can identify with. What? Let's become less tolerant? More homophobic, more racist? How's this for a moral position? Thou shalt not lie, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not kill. It's always popular politics to attack liars, thieves and murderers (and even better if you're not one yourself).

But you can't oppose a mess of a war by claiming you would have made less of a mess of it. And you can't tell the truth about the Middle East without mentioning our policy with Israel and years of support for repressive regimes in the Muslim states.

Segregation was presented as a moral position until we got it out of the legal codes. Now it's just a by-product of the alleged free market system.

Worried about abortion rights? You should be. But if the anti-abortion crusaders are willing to lie down in the middle of highways, chain themselves to fences, picket abortion clinics, shouldn't people on the other side of the issue be prepared to do the same? It isn't comfortable. It isn't fun. But if you believe, you believe.

What if the right to have an abortion were on the ballot in those so-called red states? Or a bill to charge doctors who perform abortions with murder? Always the chance that you might lose, but it certainly would be a motivating factor to get off your butt and pull the lever.

Pretty much half of the people who voted don't want to go where George Bush and his gang want to take us. This is not a bunch of cranks and sore losers. It's important to remember that any inch we give up through cynicism, apathy or mere laziness is an inch that will be twice as hard to win back.

Know your enemy. People who take away your liberties, the services you've fought and paid for, your standard of living, your public lands and utilities, have stolen from you just as blatantly as if they came into your house and robbed you with a gun. The bribery and extortion they've used to do this is only "legal'' because they've been able to get away with it. Television and radio networks that conspire with them to do this are your enemies as well. Buy nothing that can profit them (preferably in an organized boycott), and let the world know about it.

If you're a "content provider," try not to work for them. Corporations that control politicians who sell us out, who rape America and the rest of the world and give nothing back, need to be identified, their methods revealed, boycotted, publicly hounded.

The people who voted for Bush are familiar with direct mail. How about some campaigns sending them the news, with names and numbers of their civic leaders who are robbing them? Class war should have an economic face, not just a "cultural'' one.

Ask yourself what you might be doing to accommodate or encourage the current system, how you or your business may be helping the IMFs and WTOs ravage American and foreign workers. Then stop doing it.

Complacency and distance do not help. Why are gay people marching in San Francisco? Instead, they should go en masse and meet people in those states that want to ostracize them (and where many of them actually come from) and see if anything human can happen.

If you are lucky enough to have money to invest and choose to use or protect it in that way, ask not only how much your money is earning but who else is profiting by the use of it. This is not "political correctness'' (a term that even in the late 60s I only heard used by reactionaries), but just trying not to feed the people who are fucking you over.

If you don't know how to change a tire, you shouldn't own a car. If you don't know how to inform yourself, you shouldn't expect to live in a democracy. The hard message of our recent movie, Silver City, is that we all have to be detectives to know what is going on in the world. That means searching rather than just receiving. It means weighing evidence. It means critical thought.

Yes, this is exactly what the Republican party relies on its constituents not to do, and why the bulk of those constituents will be powerless to avoid the economic beating the Bush deficit is going to lay on them. Information is power only if it is used. Pressure – constant and massive pressure – has to be put on the commercial news media, however embedded they may be, to make sure the muggings perpetrated by those in power are public ones.

It can't be relegated to books or movies produced three years after it's too late. The power of the Web will be used as a weapon by friend and foe. Some of its success as a tool for change will be theability to invade other people's space, to leave the chat rooms filled with like-minded people and go visiting.

Civil disobedience is effective when it is well aimed and has staying power. If you don't trust the military or what the regime in power is sending it to do, don't join it, and do what you can to help other people not have to join it. If you think you're getting screwed, make a stink about it. If you think somebody else is getting screwed and can think of a way to help, do it.

Let's say John Kerry had gone to the working people in the red states and promised them that if they voted for him he'd guarantee them $4,000 a year in extra income and services. Would you have any respect for a person who would give up a deeply held principle (on abortion or any other issue) for $4,000?

Politicians are only as good as we force them to be. The religious right took over the Republicans. Why don't the progressives take over the Democratic party and make a real fight of this thing? If that leads to more regionalism and divisiveness, so be it. You either think these things are worth fighting for or you don't.

Bring it on.

NOW | NOV 11 - 17, 2004 | VOL. 24 NO. 11

The Forum on PBS radio

Letter to KQED Radio--The Forum:

 

       Good morning!

You had Susan Jacoby on today and of course I was listening.  Then again I always listen when I take a smoke break at work.

I am perplexed as to why Gay Marriage is such an issue.  Last statistics I got was that one in four marriages ended up in divorce.  Why isn't the Gay voice (a powerful voice) helping us to address the real issues?  Why are they buying into the carrot of a heterosexual concept being dangled in front of them when they could be helping us all see to it that some important issues are addressed?

Issue: Benefits denied to people who file taxes jointly and share all assets.
Story: Kathy, a stylist renting a space in my salon has a horrid but all too common story to share.  At the age of fifteen she, a practicing Catholic got married to a Catholic man.  Eventually they had two children.  A year after their second child came he took off never to be heard from again.  He had taken all records of their marriage and accounts with him.  She never could locate him.  By the time she reached the age of twenty another man moved in with her, a veteran of the Viet Nam war.  They had a son together, filed taxes together, and shared their assets.  When he was diagnosed with Hep C and got hurt on a job, he was unable to work.  His little Vet's check helped, barely.  The supporting of them fell on her job as a hairdresser.  He was hoping to live long enough to collect his pension from the job he had worked at but that didn't happen.  He died this year.  Kathy, now fifty-six years old, hasn't got help from his pension or his Vet benefit.  In fact, she has no benefits and owes five years of back taxes.  Her son is an adult but she supports the grandchild because as life goes...the son has been injured too.  Where did his father's benefits go?  Why don't they help her?  Is she supposed to die in poverty too?

Problem: We keep skirting around the issues of Civil Partnering which should be allowed.  The subject of Gay marriage is intentionally keeping us from seeing that not only gay folks, but heterosexual folks are denied the right to benefits earned by their partners.  Who keeps all the money put into pension plans???

Instead of turning this into a moral issues from a federal platform, let us please consider the fiduciary responsibilities due to those who share assets and pay joint taxes.
Seeking to redefine marriage as something that produces anything other than a husband and wife steals attention from others who produce jointly.
Thank you.
Chelle Stockman of Vallejo, Ca.  707-655-7073

“I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country.”    — Thomas Jefferson 1812

Next move folks: Find out all the American Corporations and how much they paid in taxes.  Move for a flat tax on net earnings with corporations allowed to deduct wages and benefits paid as long as those benefits are paid to 70% or more.  The flat tax should be no more than 3% for us all on our net earnings.  No deductions for any of us--period.  All corporations manufacturing outside this country will have to pay a 9% tax to sell it back to us, meanwhile small businesses should once again begin setting themselves up to provide goods we currently buy from abroad.  That means we won't have anymore dollar stores and will pay more for our goods.

We must take our credit spending down to almost nothing and start clearing our debts.  If that means you have to file bankruptcy, shore up your homes and vehicles then file.  Buy as little insurance you can and halt your urges to make money off of lawsuits. Let's see if we can't cut our debts in half by four years.  Let us not spend what we do not have.  Pay cash, money orders or checks as often as possible.  Don't invest in the fleeting and indeterminable stock market.  Pull out.  The market is good at the moment so sell out.  If you are healthy, cancel your unneccessary insurance policies, because; the insurance companies are gambling that you won't need the services and you are betting against yourselves that you will.  This will shake up our administration.

Why a national sales tax won't work: large corporations won't have to pay any tax unless they buy their raw materials here and they don't currently do so.

Now, write your representatives from the smallest to the largest administration.  Good luck.  Keep me posted.  I'm with you and have already started.

Bush's words to us about the Iraqi people in 9-20-01

Bush says the regular font while my comments will be bold.

We are not deceived by their pretenses to piety. No, sir, but your followers are deceived by yours. We have seen their kind before. Every time you look in the mirror. They are the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century.And you are their benefactor.  By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions -- by abandoning every value except the will to power -- they follow in the path of fascism, and Nazism, and totalitarianism. Bush, you really should step away from the mirror for awhile. And they will follow that path all the way, to where it ends:  in history's unmarked grave of discarded lies. (Applause.)  Yes sir, your rats will follow you their pied piper.  Trouble is, you all take the rest of us with you, mon capitan. 

Two Declarations of War by Regime Leader, George W. Bush

Sept.20th, 2001, Bush declared the first of a series of wars--this one against terrorism (illegal  to do by the way).  He said, "We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place, until there is no refuge or no rest.  And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism.  Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." And the audience applaused.  How many of you remember that speech?

Nov. 4th 2004 Bush said plenty so pay attention. "Coming from a campaign that offered clear policy choices," Mr. Bush said: "When you win, there is a feeling that the people have spoken and embraced your point of view, and that's what I intend to tell the Congress.  I'll reach out to everyone who shares our goals," said Mr. Bush, who 24 hours earlier had promised to try to win over those who voted for his Democratic opponent.

"I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it," Bush said a day after a decisive victory that also saw the GOP gain seats in both the House and Senate.
Contending Americans have embraced his conservative agenda, President Bush pledged Thursday to aggressively pursue major changes in Social Security, the tax code and medical malpractice awards, working with Democrats if they are receptive and leaving them behind if they're not.

I see this as a preemptive maneuver against half the American people--any and all who do not agree with him. What he really has said is, "Either you are with me or you are with the opposition."

His Elizabethan ways are to pit two factions against one another and he effectively did this to the Republican and Democratic parties.  So if you have noticed how polarized we have become, you can blame it where it belongs, squarely on the shoulders of George W. Bush.  Just as Queen Elizabeth used to do, Bush will then be called on to resolve our party differences which means we will all have to go to him for resolution.  And we will, because few read this blog, few know their history, and few are willing to believe that any one American can be so diabolical "oh, no--never an American."  Just so you know, if the man doesn't succeed in getting us to beg him to resolve our differences, he will launch a war against a bulk of us just as he did to the Davidians in Waco, Texas.  Know your history and from now on, know who you are dealing with.  A special thanks go to those who voted for Bush.  Your wisdom is a noose about my neck and the necks of those I love.

1st of 500plus topics-letter to local papers and reps.

Subj: Sample letter for ssi identity  Date: 11/3/2004 6:52:10 AM Pacific Standard Time From: GoddessOf7Worlds To: GoddessOf7Worlds

November 03, 2004
Rochelle


Senator Barbara Boxer

Dear Senator Boxer,

I held off writing this letter, a matter of importance to me, due to the pending outcome of this election.
I was hoping to wake to a president who would at least listen to me, but woke in disappointment to the same leader who hasn't done so.  So I need you to represent my growing concerns.  I've decided that I'll be writing my representatives often because the list of concerns has grown sharply in the past two years.

With regards to The Right To Privacy Act of 1974, I was under the impression that our social security number wasn't to be used as a form of identification, nor were we to be denied services if we did not give it out. Why is it that to get and use insurance, our social security number is required?  I'm unable to get or use medical insurance without it.  Why is it that I'm unable to get a driver's license or auto insurance without giving out my social security number?  If I want to employ usury measures in the form of lending or investing, why must I use my social security number?  Oh, I'm aware that they won't pass this information along to those outside their given organization, but whenever I call to get information on my telecommunications, internet services, utilities, credit cards and insurance; I'm asked to enter my personal identification by entering the last four digits of my social security number.  When a live voice comes over the phone, I'm asked once again for my last 4 digits.

Though the people on the phone  who service these companies sound truly American, they are not Americans, so not only am I giving out valuable information I supposedly am protected from having to give out, I'm giving it to a stranger in another land.  With the outsourcing of our jobs hanging over our heads like a dreary cloud, would you say it is prudent to be giving such sensitive information to strangers?  I've read much of the Patriot II and even issues of child abuse appear.  Wouldn't you agree that the possibility of identification duplication (theft) falls under Homeland Security?
Thank you,
Rochelle 

Same Song, Same verse-A little bit LOUDER and a whole lot WORSE

In 2000, I went to bed thinking Gore would be our president. I woke to Bush.  Soon, I'll go to bed but it doesn't look like I'll wake to Kerry.

Therefore, I'll be busy for the next four years.  Unless you can help our country by becoming an activist, I won't have the opportunity to speak with you.  I'll be missing you, my friends.  I have a lot of research to do and already have a few who are willing to get busy with me. 

The process will be extensive and even the book I was about to start researching for, will be put on hold.  I feel awfully sorry for my husband because it will be as though he doesn't have a wife.

The rough plan.

First I'll outline the overview of the problems we face because of the way our current administration has bungled things. I'll see what other potential catastrophes pop up.  When I compile the lists, I'll snail mail to aproximately 200 senators and members of the house.  I'll also be on the telephone hoping to meet my California representatives in order to carry some of our concerns to them and they in turn, to Washington D.C..  Wish me luck.

From there, I'll review the problems of various states and also of cities within those states.  I'll write to these representatives and inquire what they plan on doing about it.  If I have help from the locals within that region, the task will be more personal and easier to handle.  Wish us all luck.

How I wish that you all would take a proactive stance, but seeing as how the vote has come down, I realize you are confident that everything is going your way.  So it isn't for the nearly 57,000,000 voters out of the 109,000,000 plus voters that I do this: it is for the remaining 52,000,000 plus voters that I'll be trying to help.  Their voice was heard by me and it cries out to be heard by our administration.  The rest of you have been heard already.  But know this;  should things not turn out for you as you had hoped, join me in making your voice heard, too; and wish us all luck.  Good night folks.

Peace and rest before resting in peace.

The Privacy Act of 1974- Social Security Violations

You go to the bank to open an account, you have to give your social security number or you are turned down.  It isn't illegal to ask for the number nor is it illegal to give the number but it is illegal to be denied service for not giving your social security number.  You go to buy auto insurance and are asked for your social security number and if you don't give it you will be denied insurance.  You go to the Dept. of Motor Vehicles to get your driver's liscence or I.D. and are asked for your social sercuity number.  You won't get your indentification if you don't fill in that spot nor will you get your license if you don't have insurance (at least in California).  Also, to get your kids enrolled in school they must have social security numbers. In fact, just about everything we do from taking out loans to buying medical insurance is denied to us if we refuse to be indentified through our social security number.

Now, let us look at outsourcing.  For the past couple of years, you call up to find out your balance on anything from telephone company records to your credit cards or you require help for your internet accounts and phone service you are apt to have heard a foreign sounding voice. Recently these foreigners have undergone training to use American diction. They got tired of the Americans being rude to them because the jobs that Americans once held, now are going to those around the world.  If that doesn't piss you off, maybe this will( and it should).  In order to get help from these American sounding foreigners you must indentify yourselves.  How is this done?  The last 4 digits of your social security number.

Outsourcing is troublesome, yes but are you comfortable with people in other countries knowing your social security information????

I sure as hell am not!  Please start writing your congress and senators, your assembly and the opinions of the people.   Get the word out and if you think outsourcing is a problem know that the real problem is a homeland security one in the worst way--our entire life's movement (from birth to death, now) is in the hands of foreign countries.

One more thing about Social Security.  Don't let this president or the next president tell you that our Social Security is a growth industry based on investments or that the S E C  should have anything to do with it.  Social Security was always a federally implemented program that by law could never be privatized(no federal program, not even the Postal Service can be privately owned.).  It is a pay as you go deal.  Todays people who pay into the social security are paying for those who are using it today.  Tomorrow's payees will be paying for tomorrow's users.  As long as our population grows and our jobs match that, we shall never run out of social security.  Our social security numbers were meant to only identify us as payees and recipients of Social Security-period!  It is illegal to use our numbers as identification purposes in any realm if we make that known.  Be angry.  Do something about it.  Don't stop no matter what road blocks are put before you.  I'm on your side.  I won't stop you.  I'll walk along side you, and write along with you, speak to you and listen to you.   Let's start here.   Let's begin now.

THE PRIVACY ACT OF 1974, 5 U.S.C. § 552a -- As Amended

The following section originally was part of the Privacy Act but was not codified; it may be found at § 552a (note).

Sec. 7(a) (1) It shall be unlawful for any Federal, State or local government agency to deny to any individual any right, benefit, or privilege provided by law because of such individual's refusal to disclose his social security account number.

(2) the provisions of paragraph (1) of this subsection shall not apply with respect to--

(A) any disclosure which is required by Federal statute, or (B) any disclosure of a social security number to any Federal, State, or local agency maintaining a system of records in existence and operating before January 1, 1975, if such disclosure was required under statute or regulation adopted prior to such date to verify the identity of an individual.

 

Migration To Winter

By Chelle Stockman

 

            Outside the ravens announced their presence and with tails swishing up and

down, the squirrels occasionally paused to watch me throw nuts on the grass below. I love the cooler mornings and I love waking to the poofy clouds or the misty morning fog.  Moistened leaves weep silently before hitting the ground.  I’m reminded of my walks with my sons in their earlier years.  We would gather leaves and look at their veins beneath the microscopes.  I could mourn the lost innocence of their pre-grammar school days but just as the glowing colors of autumn show richness of hue, my heart warms in anticipation of what they will become.

            Suddenly, high up above, nomads in flight; the geese made their journey to their next destination singing their song before winter moon shines down upon us all.  My heart began to dance and I realized that life is coming full circle.  While autumn signals the dying off of earth’s bounty, I was filled with an incredible awe.  Though the air had a chill, I was warmed from the inside out; my heart a hearth of brilliant embers; and in an instant, the geese were gone.

            On my drive to work, I opted to listen to music instead of the normal political rhetoric I dine on every day.  Even the music has mellowed rich with resonant sound; no blaring banging summons forcing me to drive faster, work harder, or be more than is expected of me.  How odd it is that when the music is slower, it becomes more intense; and so it was with me.  I found myself slowing down and by the time I got to work, I was focused, yet overcome by a potent serenity. Out of the fogged morning, I was rewarded with uncommon clarity.

As I walked through the door where I work, the day seemed to pause, softening the task load I was greeted with.  Just as autumn signals the harvest of the fruits of labor, I plowed easily through the last set of bills with money left over for the first time in a long time.  All this past year’s toiling yielded proceeds to be stored for the coming lull during the winter months.  For me spring was an unkind genesis but thankfully, autumn has terminated the hellish beginning allowing me to enjoy a kinder conclusion.

So many people I know love the spring.  To them it means pretty flowers and birth, a transformation from the blighted landscape of the winter; while most loathe that winter which forces them indoors, sequestered from the bustle of life.  Depression overtakes many during the winter months and some panic as early as autumn because they know winter is only a few months away.  For me, autumn is sobering.  My senses are no longer sullied by the commotion of spring or the sweat of summer because for me the real living of life and the savoring its fullness begins in autumn. It is a time of reverence, not mourning. It is the end to hurried bedlam which inspires resplendent reflection upon what was and what no longer is and thanksgiving pours from my soul as I leave all my toiling behind.

William Cullen Bryant said, “Autumn, the year’s last loveliest smile.”  So powerful is autumn’s smile it shall carry me through winter’s solitude.  Yes, thankful I am for what this season gives to us; in all of its splendor, the most promising reprise.  Happy days of fallen leaves to you all.

The Man of Careful Decision

Imagine if you will a huge chair, like the one that sits at the Lincoln Memorial.  Imagine a man who greatly resembles Lincoln sitting in it and looking down.  What is he looking at?  Well, below him is a table with a glass of water on it.  On one side of the table is a world leader, a man with a great following and on the other side of the table is another man who wishes to be a great leader.  He has many different people gathered around him who basically are there to protest the world leader who possesses the great following. 

The world leader declares, "This glass is half full.  We are on our way!  We can do it.  We have what it takes and there will be no stopping us."  His following cheers and exalts their leader.

The man seeking to be the leader rebutts, "This glass is half empty.  What we once had has been used up and there is nothing left to sustain us.  Surely there will be nothing left of us when you, oh great leader, are through."  Those in his company were jeering at those on the other side of the table and screaming, "Restoration! Restoration!  Viva la revolution!"

From the giant chair, the man who resembled Lincoln looked at the leader to his right and said," You look at this glass and declare its half full."  He then looks to the left at the man who wants to be leader and says, "You see this glass and declare it to be half empty."  He then says after thinking for a moment, "What I see is a glass on a table with some water in it.  We have what we have and we must build from there.  Perhaps I could listen to you from the left and empty it; out with the old and in with the new.  I could also, after emptying it out, listen to you on the right; only I'd ask that we build this nation together--no more they against thems; we would never have to decide whether a glass with some water in it was half full or half empty again."

This is how I see Senator John Kerry.

No sense in being caught off guard

My friends who have taught me so much and those who I continuously discuss various globals subjects with, this is my morning thought.  I've said it to you all before that if we were to cut out pics of each of our leaders and stick them up on a wall, it would make the mafiosa look like boy scouts.  This morning my vision included the new alliances and their double talking promises to each other as being a coup to control the masses of this world.  We are being shepherded and rounded up by the current world leaders.  If they really had our best interests at heart, the problems we face in regards to civil matters, health care, and economics would be addressed.  Instead, we are all engaged in homeland and foreign security matters.  The leaders have no problem using intelligence forces to accomplish their goals, but when these forces find out who is really at the helm, their covert identities are exposed and then they come under fire for not doing their jobs effectively.  This is bullshit, my friends. 

I wish the secret service would pre-empt the group of global thugs who are perpetuating this war and all the other attrocities which lead to these wars.  The Putins, Cheneys, Chirocs(wishywashy putz), and Bushs need to be handcuffed and gagged for the next ten years.  These are the real thugs.  After what Bush has said about Putin, I see Putins endorsement and Bush's willingness to exploit that as a threat to our nation and to Russia.  They are subliminally issuing us a threat, "Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists."  Anyway we choose to go sounds like a losing proposition to me.

Watch for the next endorsements and go study everything you find on both sides, the fors and the against articles.  Lets formulate some scenarios together, shall we?

What would happen if...?

The interest rates are going up and the 27% I pay on Advanta credit card isn't high enough?  You know, the rates were supposed to go up three months ago nationwide, but the current administration asked them to hold of for a few months.  Because I gambled and subscribed to Usury practices (buying stuff on credit) I'll not survive an interest increase.  My water bill is going up 50% and our energy just increased 18% meanwhile I pay $2.35 per gallon for gas and that is today.  Who knows how high it will be next week.  I owe in the higher 30,000.00 range and my hubby lost his job a year and a half ago, with no insurance; its killing me.  I need dental work but cannot afford it.  Forget about going to the doctor. If I get sick, it will be easier to die.  I'm ashamed I took risks during a time when this administration was hell bent on concentrating on bringing "freedom" to other countries. Uh huh.

I'm thinking of getting rid of all things that require I use a bank; pay cash and pay as I go. This is kind of what Kerry wants to do for our nation.  I think I'll start putting it into action today.  I wonder how many others in this nation are facing a debt like I have?

What if.... we all took our cash out of the bank, shored up our home loan situations and paid our vehicles off?  What if....we all decided to file bankruptcy?  What message would that say to our government?  You want a civil revolution; there's the answser.  Imagine what that would do to the interest rates which are due to go up the moment the election results are in?  Sure it would displace workers who work for banks.  Let them do as I do and use their talents to earn a living.  If just 20 % of the nation decided to do this, it would have a horrendous impact on our country.  Imagine, we would still have cash to buy what we needed and still make our house notes.  What we wouldn't have, would be money going out for the purpose of giving lenders power over our lives and our vote.  This would be a tremendous move and would require bravery on the part of Americans.  But more than likely what would happen is that Americans would be afraid they would never get credit again.  I say "So what?"  Prices would have to be lowered.  More folks would barter for goods.  Less taxes would be paid and therefore we would be less likely to enter wars in the nameof "blessing" others.

Americans are simply not that brave or we would have done this already.  The rich would be stuck making up for the losses and the poorer folks would stand a much better chance.  In order for something like this to work ,it would require that we never subscribe to Usury practices ever again.  Pay as you go sounds magnificent to me.  If we are to make an impact on our government we should lead by example.  If we buy on credit, our government will too.  It's a radical thought, I know, but hey; up to now, we have failed.

The sun rose without being seen.  The smoke from the fires and the morning Bay area fog have married to blot out our warmth.  The past month, two months, have been surrealistic, like something a grand daughter of Dante' might paint. 

The truth I've found lately comes through the twinkle of one's eyes and the warmth of one's smile.  The spirit of the people have taken over the radiance of our sun for a short time, rendering the wall that seperates us impotent.  If the sun cannot reach us, we will reach the sun.  Be blessed as you provide warmth for others and recieve their warmth in return.  Amen.

Listening isn't enough, but it's a start.

The social problems internally in this country are still falling upon deaf ears as our youth seek ways to avenge attrocities perpetuated against their friends and loved ones.  Their situation, anger and grief, build to a capacity our inner cities and barriors cannot contain. I recall a time in 1972 when conditions down in Watts, California had quieted on the surface because of heavy policing but built beneath the surface, fear, anger, and the call for either obedience or revenge. 

 I was fourteen then and had gone on a search for Nachos--a new bag of chips from Frito Lay.  Up north we had them in all our stores, but in Southern California, they could barely be found.  I left a gathering to go jogging with the intent of stopping at every opened liquor store until I came upon them.  I ended up 45 minutes later in a liquor store in Watts.  There they were on a huge display near the door.  Delighted, I screamed, "Nachos!"  Everyone inside turned to me, mouth agape.  I made my purchase, hung out with them and used their restroom.  I asked them how to get back to Long Beach on foot as I wasn't from the area.  They were quite concerned and insisted they buy me a cab ride back to my destination.  Stubbornly I refused the collection they had taken up for me.  I said, "Just point me in the right direction. I'll get there."  What I didn't know is that I was a white girl with long blonde hair in a black city where there were heavy racial problems.  I'm a northern gal and grew up in a mixed society where things of a racial nature were not addressed openly.  We got along because we had found some common ground.  Back then, children like myself did not buy into the reasons for racial strife.  They existed, but we simply responded differently than the bulk of our country and differently than we do now.

By the time I was eighteen, I found myself walking in an area of Los Angelos where many ethnicities were present.  The only white folks I did see were alcoholics lying in their own vomit--bums.  I was just strolling along when I came upon two groups of young men with their guns drawn.  Suddenly I realized it was just they and me.  Everyone else, whores and drug-dealers seemed so far away.  These guys were happy to see me and called me racial names and told me to prepare to die.  How does one prepare to do such a thing?  I sat down and they ordered me to stand to which I remember replying, "I'm about to die.  I'd prefer to do so sitting down."  I asked them if they would allow me to take time to think of my family and wish them well as I would never see them again.  They joked, said I was one brave honky slut.  I looked up to a dude whom they called Snippy.  He was the one who would be issuing me a bullet.  We had gone from brass-knuckles and knives to guns in such a short time, I remember thinking. 

Snippy said to me, "We scored big time, you dumb honkey."  He also said other stuff to which both factions began a line of dialog I tried not to pay attention to. I was scared and sad, more sad than scared.

I said in kind of a question, "You have some kind of message. If this is what you must do to make people aware, I hope my death won't be in vain.  I hope this time you will be heard so that others don't have to die."  I was shocked at my words.  Where did they come from, I had wondered.

More chattering in both Spanish and ghetto rhetoric.  One of the hispanic guys pulled my hair back and looked down into my eyes forcing me to look in his.  He said they were going to do things to me before they killed me.  I'll save you the details. "What do you have to say to that puta?"

Never breaking eye contact I said, "If this will help your sisters, daughters and mothers get through the things they suffer and get their message out, then you must do what you must do.  I only ask that you allow me to pray in silence for a moment.  I'll be quick."--something like that.  Time stood still and as I sat "indian-style" on the stinky asphalt; I prayed.  I can remember hearing some commotion and when I finished praying, no one was around.  I got up and slowly walked to the corner of the nearest building, peeked around the corner and nobody looked at me.  I walked and kept walking until I came upon a cleaner, tidier phone booth.  I made a call and was picked up by my family.  I was delivered out of their pain, their suffering; and what became clear to me was that I had to get their story out.

Their story still isn't being heard and one reason is that our voice has become a partison skirmish, pale in comparison to the plight of our people.  I found over the years that children raise guns in anger, in desperation, and have become so inflamed they haven't got time to think things through.  My rescue that day was one that was borne by a simple maneuver.  They were heard.  Someone heard them.  Now, I find myself yearning to do more than just listen.  What I'll do, how I'll do it, I don't know.  I only know, I must start somewhere.  Pray for them folks.  Pray for me as I attempt to get out their message.  Pray for us all.   Thank you. --chelle aka lana

Email to Joe

Morning!  I'm researching something terribly diabolical that goes to Bush wanting to get Putin first and Sadam secondly.  I'm exploring the possibility that Putin got word and manipulated us into going after Sadam rather than him...and the possibility that he used French, German, Russian, and a minor amount of American industrialists who funded Sadam which left a paper trail luring Bush there instead.  This raises a huge question: Who really was responsible for the World Trade Centers? 


Love ya, Joe.  ********  from Chelle

Define yourself.

1) Spirit  2) Human  3) Member of a family 4) friend to friends 5) Wife  6) Mother

7) Active voice   8) Prayer warrior 

Through all this ,what fuels me is knowing without doubting that the hand of grace extended to me through my Messiah is what sustains me here and when my body dies.  This is by no virtue of my own.  I'm an American because I was born here and have no desire to live elsewhere.  My patriotism stems from the Constitution itself--kill it and my patriotism will be snuffed out. 

I believe in freedom both to believe in God and also to live under the precepts of our land while we are in this abode known as earth.  I believe that to live as spirit and as biological lifeform, we must seriously carry out our freedoms with carefully considered responsibility or pay the consequences on earth for the lack thereof.

Still, it is through grace and mercy that I'm delivered and so its only natural that I must extend the same to others.  This is my calling.  This is who I am.

Elegant Inspiration

By Lana Wolfe

 

Sneakers on foot, suits neatly pressed, hair barely combed and makeup not yet applied; a great portion of our females fight through commuter pathways to get to their jobs every day, five days a week.  There was a time when women wouldn’t go out of the house without full makeup.  You might see them in grocery stores with curlers in their hair with elegant scarves adorning the curlers, but never would you find them without makeup.  There was an air of the feminine everywhere there were women.  Today women work every bit as hard as do their male counterparts and rarely do they take time to revel in the fact that being a woman is wonderful; its splendid; and its appreciated by those who notice.

 

Anymore, once we exit our prom stage and graduate beyond our wedding nights, the call to elegance gets further down our list.  Few attend the opera anymore and even those who do are going far more casually than they once had in the previous decades.  When I worked for Farouk Systems, an ammonia free hair coloring company, I dressed in style.  I was called upon to represent our field in high fashion and good taste.  We were celebrated a few times a year in the most splendid way and were required to dress in formal evening attire. The gentlemen were magnificent to behold and the grace of our women was noticeably majestic.  Ahh, those were the days.

 

I get it.  Our fast paced world of multi tasking efforts requires a more functional mode of dressing and we work so hard that most of us rarely have the time or energy to go anyplace that requires us to get decked out.  I had stored my formal gowns long ago when I took leave of Farouk Systems to write my first book.  Never had I expected to get called upon to attend another formal gig.  I thought surely my favorite dress, one I got years ago from Helen Lyells, and all 5 of the others I possessed, would have to be passed down to a daughter in law.  I stored them safely in a rental place with salon supplies I need only seasonally.  They now are hidden from view at the very back of the storage.

<o:p> </o:p>

It just so happened that my girlfriend from the mountains was asked by her cousin to come sell T-shirts he had made for his class of 64 high school reunion and she chose me to assist her.  The catch?  We had to dress formally.  I panicked as this was a last minute gig and I remembered exactly where I had put my formal gowns.  The thought of digging them out and having them cleaned at the dry cleaners brought me down.  I thought, I could go buy one but immediately felt guilty.  My work schedule was tight and the locker was closed by the time I got off work so the day before our event, I headed up to the Gateway Plaza.  In less than ten minutes I found the perfect gown at 80 percent off.  I paid a paltry twenty bucks for it.  I dashed back to the salon in time for my next client with my treasure.  Everyone thought it was beautiful and wanted to see me wear it.  I said, “Tomorrow.”   I didn’t have the time to model it. 

 

The next day came, the day of our event, and Jenny called me to tell me her car had broken down and she still needed to get a dress.  I dashed back up to Ross and found another gown which was marked down to twenty-two bucks.  What luck!  I bought those and some hose.  I got ready and as I watched myself transform from an average looking working woman into a beautiful woman, my eyes watered.  I couldn’t remember the last time I ever looked so stunning.  I felt utterly and completely feminine.  My mind wandered to Jenny hoping she would arrive on time so we could replace her dress if she didn’t like it.  I had chosen a pink for her.  I’d never seen her in pink but when I saw the cut of the dress, the way the fabric caressed and moved, I thought, “She will be spectacular in this.”

 

Much to my disappointment, Jenny arrived two hours late!  She was disheveled and her hair looked terrible.  I’ve got no words to describe my dearest friend.  I ordered her to the shampoo bowl, dressed in formal attire mind you.  I shampooed her twice with a colorizing shampoo and a companion conditioner.  Her hair was so dried out with grays jutting out everywhere.  From there I blew her dry and coiffed her quickly.  I tossed my makeup bag at her and she began her makeup process.  We joked and I admired her transformation.  As she began to warm up to the idea that we were going someplace dressed up beyond what we are used to, I began to relax.  We laughed and were like little girls with butterflies in our tummy.  I brought out the dress and she was awestruck.  She put it on and it was my turn to be shocked.  I turned her to the mirror.  The salon was hushed as everyone had departed.  The sound of her breath at the site of her own beauty brought tears to both our eyes.  It had been such a long time since our truly feminine side had been viewed.  I told her, “This dress is my twenty-two dollar gift to you.”  I said now that I’ve proved dressing with style doesn’t have to cost a lot, we should make sure that we do something like this no less than three times yearly.

 

“But Lana, we don’t have anywhere to go that requires we do this.”

“Nonsense, Jen.  I want you to remember this empowering feeling you have at this very moment.”

She looked at me with her dazzling blue eyes as though she were expecting me to hit her with my fairy god mother wand. 

“We will find somewhere to go.  Besides,” I said, “since when do we have to have an excuse to dress our best?  I’d go to a Giant’s game like this if I wantedto feel like I do at this moment.”  She laughed of course because she knows me so well and she knows I’d do something like that.

We discovered that dressing beautifully can bring a real elegance to our being, an elegance I now find myself thirsting for.  I’m telling you ladies; please find time to do something, anything that allows you to look your best.  The ritual was precious in itself but the reward was all the attention we grabbed selling her cousins T-shirts.  Everyone and I mean all of them were complimentary. They too were smashing.  This one simple reunion transported me into the movies back in the 40s.  Such glamour I’ve not seen in a long long time.  I was inspired by the elegance that stared me down in the mirror and I’ll remember to make time for myself like this again—soon. 

Celebrate in elegance as often as possible; come to appreciate yourself for the transition you are able to make from work into the world of glamour.  You are worth it.  Go all out. Have fun!