I got published

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No, he didn't pay me. And he's a conservative, running his own, little paper from southern New Mexico. And I respect him and I guess he respects me.

This is, pretty much, stream of consciousness, with very few edits. It was a comment to the Rio Grande Foundation, a local branch of the "Liberty Central" Judge Thomas' wife is tangled in.

At first, I just said, "boy, when you're wrong, you're really wrong," which exasperated Gessing, who's never replied to one of my comments at RGF before. He wagged his finger and told me to be more specific.

Well, all this poured out of me with such unexpected passion.

And guess what? Not ONE person at RGF contested me!

The Weekly Alibi in Albuquerque, a free paper of the political elite, gentrified liberality, would not accept it as anything but a 300 word maximum letter to the editor. I didn't know what to cut and asked for help. They ignored me.

So, I made it a blog entry and posted a link to it in national publications' stories on the labor problems in Wisconsin. I got HUNDREDS of views. I got DOZENS of "likes" on Facebook and i didn't even follow up on the responses from all those publications. People from Alternet, Mother Jones, Time Magazine. . . came to my little blog to read my thoughts on union busting toward privatization! HUNDREDS! I told the Alibi, and they STILL won't reply.

I'm just a "crack pot?" Uh, huh.

Like I said, this is a conservative paper. I don't think I'll have the nerve to read comments there!

Yeah, a commentary by me, the "crazy," "weird," "ugly," embarrassing "crack-pot." And I sincerely believe I'm right.

http://www.nmpolitics.net/index/2011/02/we-need-more-protection-for-workers-not-less/

the REAL "death panels"

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Saudacity of Hope!

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Saudi Arabia March 20th. Be there if you can!


to Ahmed, Egyptian, living in Canada, can't wait to go home
Ahmed, if you do NOT translate a bit of this, I will hunt you down and beat you purple! No, no, no. but I'm so frustrated. I saw 2 things that scared me: 1 Israeli flag pic with what looks like one of those shoulder rockets firing on it and a map of Israel with expanded borders??? PLEASE tell me this is a pro-democracy demonstration FOR Saudi Arabia and not some vendetta move on Israel! if it's the latter, we'll have world war three. and game over. ----------------------------------------------------------------
ok, "thugs lechery" is a little scary, because I'm wondering how much more sexually repressed Saudis could possibly be before their heads explode. So, I will try to think good thoughts that this just means corrupt people without morals.

Now,... what I really wanted to know, and it MAY be real, because I see the phrase in there, "men AND WOMEN" of revolution.

I'm SOO keeping my fingers crossed that, whatever happens with these young people who are tired of waiting for it to fall out of the sky, that we're talking gender equality here.

And I guess I have to find that google translator thingy. I didn't know it existed.

But, am I kind of understanding this now???

---------------------------------------------------
I'm crying so hard I can't see what I'm typing. must send this on to my old women's studies professor. this is a dream

-------------------------------- 

 

to Kate, the women studies' professor

 

ok, maybe you will .... believe this.

March 20th. Non-violent pro-democracy demonstrations called to liberate Saudi Arabia.

My buddy from Egypt just found English language translation of the demands:

these are the Saudi protesters demands so far:

quote
The People want to Reform the Government Campaign

To support the right of the Saudi people and their legitimate aspirations:
1 – a constitutional monarchy between the king and government.
...2 – a written constitution approved by the people in which governing powers will be determined.
3 – transparency, accountability in fighting corruption
4 – the Government in the service of the people
5 – legislative elections.
6 – public freedoms and respect for human rights
7 – allowing civil society institutions
8 – full citizenship and the abolition of all forms of discrimination.
9 – Adoption of the rights of women and non-discrimination against them.
10 – an independent and fair judiciary.
11 – impartial development and equitable distribution of wealth.
12 – to seriously address the problem of unemployment
end quote

Because of al Qaida's drain on sympathy with and patience for Sharia law, the young people of SA have no interest in it. They want democracy and civil rights, freedom of speech and government accountability. Yeah: secularized SA governance. Yeah, that.

NOTHING about this has hit any major news outlets yet. It's all Saudis and Arabic speakers, discussing it in blogs, and at social network sites.

Kate, I think you're going to get a nice surprise. I think something I never would have dreamed possible is about to happen in Saudi Arabia.

would you like me to keep you posted?

I'm thinking I might be very busy for the next month! YAY  You can tell anybody you wish about this. it's not a secret. It's a paradigm shift.

Y'know what? I think the planet may survive!

-----------------------------------------------------

to Ahmed

I'm 55 years old. I never thought I'd see these things. Now, believe me, Obama is not my favorite person right now. but my dog, HUGE populations of folks who'd never voted before registered to vote for him: Blacks, poor, young . . . i never... ever thought I'd see a dark skinned President of the USA with a NON EUROPEAN NAME. The first summer after he was elected, I got this fluke scholarship to attend a conference in washington dc. Mind you, I live in serious poverty, three thousand miles away, never been there before, all expenses paid. WEEKS before I went, I planned to sneak away on the last day, find the Lincoln Memorial and stand on those steps where Dr. King had stood, and Marian Anderson ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_Anderson ) sang: In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused permission for Anderson to sing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall. At the time, Washington, D.C., was a segregated city and black patrons were upset that they had to sit at the back of Constitution Hall. The District of Columbia Board of Education also declined a request to use the auditorium of a white public high school. As a result of the ensuing furor, thousands of DAR members, including First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, resigned.[8][9]

The Roosevelts, with Walter White, then-executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and Anderson's manager, impresario Sol Hurok, then persuaded Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes to arrange an open air Marian Anderson concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.[8] The concert was performed on Easter Sunday, April 9, and Anderson was accompanied, per usual, by Vehanen. They began the performance with a dignified and stirring rendition of "My Country, 'Tis of Thee". The event attracted a crowd of more than 75,000 of all colors and was a sensation with a national radio audience of millions.[10]

And, from where I stood, through the trees and marble buildings, 3 blocks away, I could see the White House, with Obama inside... not cleaning, cooking, building or serving something, but LEADING the wealthiest nation on Earth!

I remember the night Obama won. I saw videos from around the planet of people celebrating that MAYBE America was FINALLY getting her spit together and changing.

And Ahmed, I remember Egyptians, dancing and jumping and laughing and waving Obama shirts and just so tickled.

I remember that! And I think you believed it could happen, right from that moment, in your country. And then it spread.

And now, I'm having hope and believing in change again.

WE ARE THE CHANGE WE'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR

 

------------------------

To Renaldo, a Gay Navajo friend

guess what? you're never going to believe this. Saudi Arabia has scheduled a pro-democracy demonstration for revolution! They want civil rights for all, including women. I haven't asked about queer people yet; they don't know me very well. ...They want government reform, free speech, transparency. They're not a bit interested in Sharia law.

March 20th. Vernal Equinox. My wedding anniversary and the day my daughter should have been born. Spring. Saudi Arabia! can you IMAGINE????

Rio Grande Foundation calling for end to collective bargaining in New Mexico!

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My comment to Rio Grande Foundation's call to end collective bargaining in New Mexico and support Governor Walker of Wisconsin "Stand with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker"  :

Why SHOULDN't workers have collective bargaining, the behind-closed-doors process by which civil service workers, including teachers, secure pay, health, and pension benefits? These are your fire fighters, the people at the sewage plant, the EMS, the police, jail guards, teachers, custodians. These are working people who are trying to feed their kids and not get killed on the job. They are the infrastructure of the community!!

Why is the Tea Parody so invested, all over the country, in gutting unions, taking away workers' protections and rights?

My guess is it's the same model as private prisons: contribute to local politicians' campaigns, give them a little cash under the table, insure the politicians give the McPrisons tax incentives to build in local communities (in other words, outside corporations, who will take their profits OUT of the communities, sucking up resources and infrastructure FROM those communities without paying their fair share) and being PAID BY TAXPAYERS to provide a "service," not at a rate less expensive than that community could have provided it, but probably at cost PLUS, just like the Halliburton tape I posted here "Halliburton - Screwing the Same Troops They Profit from in Iraq"  ).

In the case of prisons, corrupted law enforcement officers will make sure the McPrison factories are full with the surplus population that cannot find living wage jobs, imported from all over the USA, to areas so remote, their low-income family members can't possibly visit them, know their conditions or maintain family and parental ties.

These McJobs the local government will have to contract for, once the unions are busted, will be low paying, low skilled, subsistence jobs. Working people will HAVE to apply for food stamps, WIC, HUD and medicaid, because they won't be able to pay for everything they need at such low wages.

Private contracting companies would provide: fire, ambulance, police, education, libraries, clerical . . . basically, at TAX PAYERS' EXPENSE, private companies would control the infrastructure of towns, municipalities, counties and even major cities, all over the country. We would no longer have any say, as citizens, as to how our tax money would be spent. We would not be able to maintain a decent standard of living for our citizens.

And almost ALL of the profit would go to CORPORATIONS and WALL STREET, sucked OUT of our communities.

WHY is it OK to make one's profits as a PARASITE ON THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!?

Your corporations have taken most of the decent jobs overseas; you're gutting our educational system, so we can't even COMPETE economically.

And now, in your last ditch efforts to make more and more and more profit, you are, finally and ultimately, literally sucking the LIFE BLOOD out of the very taxpayers your damn corporations FEED off of!

The LARGEST federal welfare program in the US is CORPORATE WELFARE!

Hell, the tear gas used against the Egyptian people by their own government comes from US companies, paid by the Egyptian Government: MONEY SUPPLIED by TAX PAYERS, in the form of foreign "aid!" FIFTY percent of the Egyptian people are illiterate; there is NO money for schools, but weapons, bought from US corporations? SURE!

I have NO heat, running water or sewage. I'm seven miles from the nearest loaf of bread and there's NO public transportation! And you want to take away my low income heating assistance?? I almost DIED this winter!

But having an 8 hour work day, weekends, sick pay, collective bargaining, medical benefits, protections from exploitation and abuse: THESE are "socialist," I suppose???

I don't WANT my EMT trained by McAmbulance!

I don't WANT the Rio Grande polluted until it kills people!

I want to live in a place where kids can learn, fires get put out, people are good to each other and care about each other because they're members of the same community, with each others' best interests at heart.

When we privatize EVERY damn job EVERYwhere, we'll be living like those poor workers in freaking CHINA!


WHY are you NOT going after DEFENSE CONTRACTORS? THEY are the welfare queens!

Don't you CARE that your grand children are going to be buried in garbage, toxic waste, poisons, carcinogens???

What we need is MORE protection for MORE workers, not LESS! This insane union busting is going to turn the whole damn country into one of those maqiladoras in Mexico!

=====================
now, go to Weekly Alibi, they have a facebook page, and ask them to PRINT that, without restricting me to the 300 word maximum for letters to the editor! It's the local Albuquerque free paper. dinks won't publish that.

"We are Anonymous" Operation: The World

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_%28group%29 

Obama Elephant

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end of life choices

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I'm not prone to appreciate any time the State becomes involved in intimate, personal decisions: marriage, gender assignment, reproductive rights, health and medical decisions, death. I'm very Libertarian in this view: people need to decide what is right FOR THEM, without pressure or need for approval from the State. The State's role in right to die issues is ONLY to assure that the individual is NOT being exploited, abused, etc. and that the facilities are sterile and operated by trained personnel.

Kevorkian's operations, even assisting suicides out of his VAN!, set the right to die movement back twenty years.

I absolutely believe each person has the right to choose end of life.

But I have qualifiers here, too.

I ABSOLUTELY do NOT trust psychiatry; it's turned into sanctimonious pill pushers under the influence of Big PhRMA lobbyists. So, I don't know who or how this would be done, but we must make sure the person chosing end of life is not suffering from major depression or some other altered state that will pass with time, support and alternative ways of thinking about life.

I also am a disability rights advocate. There's a LOT of discrimination against people with disabilities. Often, when one finds oneself traumatically disabled, one thinks one's life is over, that one will never be useful, productive, contributing, etc. again. And one wants to die. With few exceptions, people with traumatic disabilities need to be encouraged to find new capabilities, beyond the trauma and learn to advocate for their own quality of life, rights to retrain, rights to housing, employment, health care, a physical world they can negotiate without barriers, etc.

So, a State operated euthanasia program is off the table for me. A program by which people can choose end of life with dignity, without being criminalized, that is operated within the State's guidelines for ANY medical care, is fine with me.

I have planned my own end of life. It will not involve any other people. If I can do it, I will just disappear into the desert and the critters can feast on me. I believe in recycling, too

Hello? Is anybody going to do something???

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to my discussion, "What is 98% trying to do?"

Rogi Equality Riverstone

to: Agit pop, who is associated with 98%: I just posted this on the Institute for Policy Studies website. I want you to read it, too. And I want a dialogue. I want my concerns taken seriously. You're turning off voters. I get a lot of "likes" to my comments about focusing on solutions, rather than problems. I think you're taking people's power away from them just like the GOP and Tea Parody are! PLEASE explain how what you're doing helps!
...............................
Are you Democrats? Would you tell me if you were? Are you a think tank? I found you because I "liked" The Other 98%, but am finding them just complaining about problems, but not proposing solutions; finger pointing at the foolishness of the GOP & Tea Parody. I find it useless. I find the slurs against women, people with behavioral health disabilities, transexual people, etc. repulsive. 98's purpose seems to be agitation. So, i went to their website and saw AgitPop, which even has typos on their home page and a Facebook page that talks about "kicking ass," and find THAT repulsive and counter productive, too. We don't learn what to do RIGHT, how to solve problems, how to heal things. It's just whipping up anger, imitating the lynch mobs of the Tea Parody and that scares me and makes me VERY sad. What are YOU trying to do?

 PART TWO

Well, I think I figured out Institute for Policy Studies, who, along with everybody else I asked for info, totally ignored me. Noam Chomsky is associated with IPS and its major focus at present seems to be on the outrageous defense spending & 2 wars, while gutting social programs. There's nearly NO activity on their or Agit Pop's facebook pages.

I am also very much enjoying Anonymous News Network. Yes, that anonymous. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Anonymous-News-Network/114504038619787

Other than that, I stick with local Queer groups, art groups, homelessness groups, etc.

What really chilled me was Rachel Maddow's headline about the non-violent Egyptian overthrow: "It was the Army," to which I replied, "Bullshit. It was the PEOPLE!" which drew quite a few "likes." And I seldom use bad language. What terrifies me about that headline is that I don't think the Democratic party WANTS people to take our own power, as happened in Egypt. I think it's WAY too invested in the status quo and corporate lobbyists to risk encouraging folks to take to the streets and demand our rights.

Otherwise, when Obama became President, that HUGE grassroots and online community of very enthusiastic people, huge segments of populations that never even VOTE usually, would not have been squandered. Instead, we'd have a massive social movement of community volunteers and activists, working for CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN.

All I get from them is Milquetoast emails, whining about this or that social ill they blame on GOP or the Tea Parody, and begging for $5, which they "urgently" need. WHAT???

I guess the most embarrassing thing was when Obama's Fb page posted an ADVERTISEMENT of a link to buy TEE SHIRTS! The President of the United States? Selling tee shirts? The whole world has gone Wal*mart!

Anyway, Robert Reich is calling for a popular movement, but that's just talk. Progressives United for Change is just pointing at the GOP & Tea Parody & clucking their tongues....

I dunno. Maybe after this budget goes through and we old farts and cripples start to drop dead in the streets from lack of social services, maybe then people might become interested. Maybe not. Maybe they'll just recycle our bodies into protein snacks.

Soylent Green is people!

Three

I know; it's like we've all got ADD or whatever it's called. We don't pay attention. I'm guilty of this, too. I can't read everything that appears on my wall and, sometimes, I assume it's about A when it's really about Q or something, so my comment is relevant to what I think, but not what's being said! LOL

What I TRY VERY HARD to do is stay positive. And I DO NOT mean Mary Sunshine. I'm not a cheerleader and I'm not stupid.

But people are soooo frustrated and angry and feel soooo powerless. In fact, I think that sense of powerlessness is what spurs the "trolling" and abusive crap in comments: they just want to know they affected SOMEbody!

What I mean by positive is this: I tell the person who posted the link that I'm glad to have that information, I try to remember to "like" everything I'm actually glad to see. I ignore the stuff I'm not glad to see (game requests, astrology, fortune cookies . . .), rather than rag people about it. And, even if the story is difficult, depressing, negative, etc. I try to understand and communicate that this is important information, and ask "What can we do about this?" I find people are surprised by this question. It makes them begin to think maybe they COULD do something. I get a lot of "likes" for doing that.

I don't like it when liberals, progressives, etc. just point at the jerkwads and sneer. What GOOD does that do??? I don't want to hear the next idiotic thing Palin or Beck have to say! They have PR people and Faux Noise! Why is Rachel Maddow telling me this garbage??? What I want to hear is: WHAT ARE WE DOING TO MAKE IT BETTER?????

They seem not to WANT things to get better! They seem to WANT us angry, frustrated and feeling powerless.

Well, I've seen Egypt. Eighteen days. No violence. They cleaned up the litter WHILE they protested. It still brings tears to my eyes.

And other people have seen it, too, obviously. Look at Morocco, Libya, Jordan, Bahrain . . . It's not as easy as Egypt and Mubarak, who had to listen to US tell him how to handle it. The leaders in THOSE countries don't HAVE to listen to US! And the people are out there, anyway, in the THOUSANDS!

It made me very happy to see a little kid in Wisconsin, holding up a protest sign that said, "Walk like an Egyptian."

It's time to learn to take our power, our beautiful country and our lives back by ourselves. Peacefully, but firmly. It's ours. And if we love it, only WE can save it!

All the budget cuts in this new budget, but coal, oil, etc. get subsidies and tax breaks?????? We can't trust THEM to care about OUR interests.

So, I learned how to make a tear gas mask today out of a soda bottle and how to wash tear gas out of human eyes and what to wear in the streets to protect the body and head and what to bring as a shield and what to put in a first aid kit. Just in case.

We have GOT to listen to each other! NOT to Faux Noise. NOT to MSNBC. We have got to really study, really learn and REALLY LISTEN! I sincerely believe that, under all the propaganda and hostile rhetoric, we fundamentally want the same things!

World Homeless Day 2010

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you guys, go to the YouTube page, give it a thumbs up and write a supportive comment. It has NOTHING!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf1M2sUhmjs

It's not easy, being Green.

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A facebook friend is angry that the Democrats are not showing leadership on the jackass moves by the Governor of Wisconsin. She calls it pathetic and wants her campaign contributions back.

I replied:


Next time Michael Moore tells me how stupid and naive I am for voting Green, I'm gonna knock that damn baseball cap right off his pointy head!

For which she called me stupid.
Jan, that's the lame excuse they always give us. I call it the Chicken Little argument. The Dems are just as corrupted by corporate interests as the GOP. All one has to do is look at the current administration's policies:
*Queer-bashing prea...cher prays at Obama innauguration
*GMO crops planted in wildlife refuges
*Obama talking "clean coal," which, during the campaign, he categorically scoffed at as "ridiculous."
*Two wars, costing US taxpayers a trillion, still raging on
*Domestic spending cuts that can quite literally kill me
*No cuts to defense spending: contractor corporations getting fat at taxpayers' espense
*Guantanamo still open
*Promotion of nuclear power as "clean"
*biodeisel, subsidized, that is outrageously escalating food prices world wide
*Ms. Obama in bed with Wal*mart and other corporations with terrible track records re: environment, health, labor, etc. in her campaign for organic (we'll see) foods

I am not stupid for having personal integrity, even though that is a popular notion in politics, including Democrats. There is no two party system in this country; there is a corporate lobbyist system and it is killing all of us.

My vote is a message, even to the Democrats AND Republicans, that business as usual is unacceptable.

The system is sick, corrupt and lethal. I cannot support what does not support me.

  I am also very disappointed that people can no longer have debates on critical issues without ad hominum attacks.

"Stupid" is a useless word. If I have behavioral health issues that make me unable to learn or comprehend, it is a slur, just like a racial slur, a condemnation and a stigma. If I do not, it is dismissive. You don't have to listen to me because you have decided my intelligence level and education are so low that my position is not relevant.

As a matter of fact, Jan, I do have a behavioral health issue; I have brain injuries and PTS, so I resent the use of epithets regarding intellectual disabilities. On the other hand, I have an IQ of over 150 on the Stanford Binet scale, which ain't half bad, considering I'm not the upper class, white male to whom the test is geared.

I have reached my decision on this issue after tremendous and painful soul searching. I knew, when I made this commitment, that people like you, whom I admire and respect, would not approach me likewise. It is painful and difficult, but I have to do what I think is right, no matter WHAT abuse, ridicule or rage is hurled my way.

I do not think I am wrong on this issue and your reaction, not response, reaction, simply reinforces my position.

If we cannot agree to disagree respectfully, further conversation is a waste of time.

Yes, Moore came to Albuquerque and called Green Party members, who were in attendance, "stupid and naive." He encouraged all in attendance to jeer and boo us, to laugh at us and to hate us. I spoke with a few of them after the "lecture" and our consensus agreement was that his arguments were not strong enough to convince us of our deluded state and that attacking us in such a way, especially since he's a former Green himself, was just insulting, but not illuminating.

New Mexico is Dixiecrat, or was, until that bagger Martinez got elected Governor. Had the Democratic Party in this state practiced real democracy, I doubt she would have been elected. But Richardson was too busy with Pay to Play schemes and palm greasing for that.

Lip service to liberal ideals is useless, if all it does is get a few cronies administrative positions in grant-funded programs that only provide social "services" to a fraction of a percent of those in need.

There's no interest here in voter registration or education. If the poor in this state, who are the VAST majority, and are rural and are truly suffering, were not elbowed out of the process, but treated with respect and dignity, the Democratic Party could reign supreme and everybody could have a better quality of life. But we are seen as a threat, as pests, as unattractive to tourists and are ghettoized into dying hamlets in the frontier (it's too remote to be called even "rural") or into the slums of Albuquerque.

And the democratic process is stunted at every turn. It is nearly impossible for a 3rd, 4th, etc. party to run in elections here. If the Democratic Party is so strong, so powerful and so righteous, it wouldn't need to be afraid of open discussion with other parties.

The Democrats have squandered a vast, grass roots and online community of people who overwhelmingly voted for Obama: people who NEVER voted in large numbers before. That enthusiasm and organization could be, right this minute, channeled into an intelligent and passionate workforce of common citizens who could change public policies on local levels and invest volunteer hours and funds into community projects. Yet, whenever I receive an email from the old Obama campaign, it's about asking me to donate five dollars to this or that concept and I just hit "delete."

They want us to sleep. They want us passive, discouraged, intimidated and apathetic.

Ex-CIA Analyst Ray McGovern Beaten and Arrested as Hillary Clinton Talks about Freedom

 

Did you see that guy from Veterans for Peace get beaten up by security at Hillary Clinton's press conference about the Egyptian democracy movement, the attempts by Mobarak to silence the people, cut off internet access, etc? They beat him very badly. He's a veteran. He's seventy-five years old. Clinton just looked away and kept talking.

The emperor here also wears no clothes. And people on Facebook are saying, "Walk like an Egyptian." I sincerely hope we can.

parachutes, facebook, goat houses

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Kate,

I still can't find any place to live, anywhere in the state. I look every day.

 

So, I made a work camping flier, posted it on facebook, craigslist and a few classifed newspapers in the state. When I find someone on Craigslist who's looking for housing, I send it to them I have 2 interested parties; one won't be here 'til June, though.

So, I'm cleaning up the yard & house so it won't look dumpier than necessary. I burned weeds this week and set my own shirt on fire (I was squatting too close to a tuft of grass and it was a shirt big enough for three of me), but at least I can walk around now without constant attacks by mean, little prickly things. And the goats love the ashes. And I'm betting things will sprout from seeds being heated.

I bought some parachutes and yards & yards of fabrics to make shade over the travel trailer and a twelve foot wide yard I'm fencing on the north side, by the door. I plan an outdoor kitchen for warm weather and don't want goats around. Plus, I'll need to open the door for air circulation and because my girl cats won't use the animal door (really, just an access compartment for jacks, etc). And I do NOT want any goats sneaking in here!

Yes, parachutes. I got 2 "U.S SPECIAL FORCES MC-4 HALO PARACHUTE. CANOPY ONLY. NO LINES OR HARNESS. COLOR: FOLIAGE GREEN. 11-1/2 FEET X 27 FEET. 370sq.ft. LINES CUT. CONDITION: USED GOOD."

They're rectangular, 2 layers: flat on the bottom, scalloped on top to catch more air and form "ribs," for stability. If I sew the 2 flat sides together along the length, I'll have a canopy twenty three feet wide by twenty seven, long. The trailer is thirty.

That's why I got two five foot round 'chutes: to make up the foot and a half difference on each end and slope down to shade the windows there.

I bought 3 other fabrics: silver lame, to sew over the the 'chutes for sunscreen (I got 25 yards of sixty inch-wide at about a buck a yard). I got some printed cotton purple stuff with Spanish and English words on it: surprise, applause balloons. That will go UNDER all the rest, over my yard, for color and extra durability. And I got 10 yards of Dia de Los Muertos oilcloth to wrap my fence, for privacy. It's purple with black silouettes that look like paper cut outs of skeletons riding bicycles, birds, flowers, etc. I hate having people drive by and stare at me, so this will give me some privacy and protection from wind.

No landlord this month. If he comes next month, I'll give him a hundred fifty for Jan, Feb and March. Rv storage is about $35 a month in these parts. I have NO toilet anymore. It split in the last cold spell when it got to fifteen below zero one night. So, I pee in the trailer commode and use my washing machine (out in the yard, north side of trailer) water and a series of tubes and pipes to dilute urine on south side of trailer and flush into flower, not food, bed. I'm back to pooping in a paint bucket with a toilet seat lid on it and plastic bag inside. There's a hole on the north side of the house where I'm burying it.

If I can't move, I have to make the best of staying, but save to move as well, just in case.

Roseanne, one of my neighbors, is picking me up to go shopping tomorrow. It's after Valentine's day and I want to buy cheap chocolate to freeze for cooking.

I just bought ten pair of men's fruit of the loom boxer briefs for twenty three dollars on eBay. I can't wear "panties;" they're too tight on my torn labia. Men's have a testicle pouch, so they don't touch me while I'm working or sitting, so don't hurt. They cost five bucks a pair in stores. I bought my last 5 pair five years ago and they're almost transparent now. I will have to have underwear in the summer; it's too damn hot to fool around. I can get "diaper rash" very easily, especially without daily showers, if I'm not careful.

Mentally and emotionally, I'm pretty even. Too busy planning and solving problems to freak out.

Had a dream about you the other morning. bunch of kids, just having a ball and me in the middle of it, and you on the side just watching and smiling.

Animals are well. BUilt the goats a shed from my old bunk bed frame, surrounded by mattresses, foam padding, etc. Made a "sky light" from an old storm door for the roof plus some sheet metal. put the dog houses inside and Nilly's television cabinet on one end. they all have couch pillows and are off the frozen ground. They are, as Willy has always loved, exactly outside the window by which I sleep at night. For some reason, every place I lived except one, Willy and Nilly always slept right outside my bedroom window. And the one place they didn't they were very unhappy. Fortunately, we weren't there very long, just a few weeks.

I'm VERY much enjoying my Facebook connections. My latest friend is Egyptian. He lives in Canada now; left because of Mubarak; can't wait to get back home and dig in. Sweet guy. I have a French friend, a few African friends, quite a few Native Americans, a Turkish feminist who broadcasts radio from Florida, Navajo drag queens, Democratic party organizers in Albuquerque, I get messages from the Dali Lama's site, daily quotes from Janis Ian, who actually replies to stuff..... I'm friends with Lucia Chappel of the Pacifica radio show, This Way Out. I'm ALL over public and community radio, i read lots of magazines and papers. I talk with people at news outlets.. I mean real conversations. I have a more active social and activist life, lying here in bed with a pile of cats and dogs, than I had when I was in Los Angeles, and I feel more effective. Oh, I hear from Jeanne Cordova and a bunch of the old timers. had to "unfriend" Robin Tyler, though; she's just too.... cynical? bitter? perpetually insulted by everything? Before I unfriended her I said, Robin, I hope you find a creative outlet for your anger, like you used to find in comedy.

i'm glad i'm not in the big city! the Queer rights communities seem to be attacking each other. out here, if you find another queer, no matter HOW screwed up you think s/he is, you hang on for dear LIfE! we need each other's support in rural America. we can't afford to be so picky.

This is a very long email. I'm stopping now.

I love you and tell everybody I say hi.

If I Had a Trillion Dollars

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Institute for Policy Studies Capitol Hill Briefing: How Would You Spend $1 Trillion?

Come to see two short award-winning videos by youth on what they would do with the money already spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

At this congressional briefing and screening view two four-minute compelling videos that chronicle how the filmmakers – and the people they interview – would spend the more than $1 trillion already spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The filmmakers will engage in a discussion.

Winners of the 2010 "If I Had A Trillion Dollars" Youth Video Contest

AFSC and National Priorities Project are proud to announce the winners of the 2010 "If I Had A Trillion Dollars" Youth Video Contest.
Please go to these kids' YouTube links, "like" their videos and leave some encouraging feedback.

First Place

1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii7DSJqHCiYThe money that has been spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have passed the trillion dollars. Those wars have been a WASTE; a waste of money, a waste of trust and a waste of lives. This film is not more than a teenager perspective of how that money could have made a difference if it wasn't spent on those FAILED wars.

Directed and Produced by: Briseida Montiel
Filmed and Edited by: Briseida Montiel
Music: Moonlight Sonata- Beethoven After the Storm- Mumford and Sons
Starring: Bryan Melendez & Manuel Montiel

2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9vOAxcy5rQ
The money that is being spent on the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan reached $1 trillion on May 30, 2010. If placed in the hands of youth what would it be spent on?
Amplifyme's media watch team has some ideas.

Second Place

1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY7VEOPRFVY
For the "If I had a Trillion Dollar" youth video project. Made by Video Vanguards youth: Zeke Foerster, Maya Rivera and Deja Carr



2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVi114dypQ4
Youth video project
Christopher Luchini, Jessica Valdefiena, Allah Parks, and Indasia Summerfield
AFSC United Voices Youth Group
(Portland, OR)

3rd Prize

The Village of Arts & Humanities
(Philadelphia, PA)
"The Trillion Dollar Question"
AFSC, BAY-Peace, Met West High School, Emiliano Zapata Street Academy
(Bay Area, CA)
"No We Can't-$1 Trillion and Counting"

Honorable Mentions

Youth Action Coalition's Video Vanguards
(Amherst, MA)
"If I Had A Trillion Dollars"
Aidan Tharp & Michael Johnson
University of Chicago/Columbia College
(Chicago, IL)
"IHTD Chicago"
E.P. Harney Spirit of Excellence Academy
(New Orleans, LA)
"$1 Trillion, A Brighter Future"
Donald Ung
UCLA
(Fontana, CA)
"Our Education, America's Hope"
Lucy Zhang
Xtech Exploratorium
(San Francisco, CA)
"A Trillion Dollars for Natural Disaster"
Sergio Rico
"Trillion"
Noemi Rivera
Xtech Exploratorium
(San Francisco, CA)
"Cure the Cause"
Hope Street Youth Development
(Wichita, KS)
"One Trill"
Sam Irwin & Aaron Naves
(New York, NY)
"The Public Issue-Trillion Dollar Project"

Special Recognition For

Suggested Use of  $1 Trillion
Quiante Hoggard
Xtech Exploratorium
(San Francisco, CA)
"What To Do with a Trillion Dollars"

Comprehension of $1 Trillion
Sergio Rico
"Trillion"

Courageous Journalism
Human Rights Revolution Productions
(Chicago, IL)
"Human Rights Revolution Production"

Film Technique
Aidan Tharp & Michael Johnson
University of Chicago/Columbia College
(Chicago, IL)
"IHTD Chicago"

Research
Cara Cheng
Xtech Exploratorium
(San Francisco, CA)
"Water For All"
Lucy Zhang
Xtech Exploratorium
(San Francisco, CA)
"A Trillion Dollars for Natural Disaster"

Live Music and Student Art
Kristjan Salasoo
Niskayuna High School
(Niskayuna, NY)
"Salasoo Trillion Dollar Contest"

Original Music and Lyrics
Andru Cairl
(Becker, MN)
"If I Had A Trillion Dollars"
Mark Coats
Xtech Exploratorium
(San Francisco, CA)
"Cancer"
Maxwell Vreeland and Hannah Nixon
Music 1991
"Trillion Dollars"
Morgana Warner-Evans
Mt. Ararat High School
(West Bath, ME)
"Bikes Not Bombs"
Mohammad Malik
Xtech Exploratorium
(San Francisco, CA)
"Trillionaire - Mohammad Malik"

A secular humanist I know is SO anti-Islamic!

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GSHM, WTF??? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taqiyya 

It isn't about being sneaky to be violent; it's about going stealth, in order to survive! Remember, there are huge cultural differences here. I can imagine this being used by Africans, brought to the US in slavery. And I KNOW Jews, traveling with the Spanish, went undercover to avoid the Inquisition! There's a HUGE tradition of Crypto-Judaism here in New Mexico. I have a friend whose whole family thought they were Catholic for several generations, but they had these "peculiar" rituals nobody else seemed to do.

Look, I believe in secular HUMANism. I put the HUMAN ahead of the secular, ok? I live in the real world, where something like ninety percent of everybody is wrapped up in some divinity thing. I don't know why and it doesn't seem very useful to me, in the modern age. And neither does nationalism. I don't think we can afford all this artificial "us/them" crap anymore; it's gonna kill ALL of us.

So, I try to first see the HUMAN, y'know? But I see her without all the bells and smells of religion. And that's not easy for a person who spent the first seventeen years of her life in a fundamentalist, literalist xian church. My whole brain and identity formed around all that hoopty doo; it's not easy to untrain those synapses.

I have friends of all and no faiths. I love them. We don't argue.

Yeah, there are a few Muslim crack pots who have made life really hard on the rest of us, especially other Muslims.

And Timothy Mc Veigh was a xian. So's the Ku Klux Klan, etc.

Frankly, as a mixed race, disabled, low income Queer woman in the USA, I'm a HELL of a lot more scared of white, xian men than I am of Muslims. They've done me the most harm, all of my life. And I know they wish me dead.

I don't think my Muslim friends wish that for me. I think they wish, for my own soul, that I'd convert because, of course, that's how religions tend to work. But we laugh and cut up until soda squirts out our noses and have earnest conversations until the wee hours. Same with my Mennonite friends (talk about a strict and gender segregated religion! go hang out with some "white cap" Mennonites for a few years! I have a lot of respect for those women. I'm just not STRONG enough to live as they do!).

I don't want to hate or be mad at anybody. That's WHY I'm a HUMANist.

Maybe I'm just naive, but I don't think so. I'm old. I'm all crippled up. I have rotten, black, broken teeth. I'm fat. I'm ugly. People think I'm peculiar because I'm smart. Some are scared of me; some harass me. Quite a few abuse me. So, it's not like I haven't been around the stupidity of humans most of my life.

I guess I have to believe in something, so I try to believe in life, and humans. Am I in the wrong group?

warning to low income, homeless on public computers

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Hardware keyloggers discovered at public libraries

 

Public libraries in Manchester, England, have been advised to keep their eyes peeled for USB bugs after two devices were discovered monitoring every keystroke made by every user of affected PCs.

According to local media reports, the small surveillance devices were found attached to the keyboard sockets at the back of two PCs in Wilmslow and Handforth libraries.

The devices - which look similar to USB drives - capture all keyboard activity, meaning that if everything you type (such as when you log into your email, book a holiday, check your bank account or make an online purchase) can be gathered by a returning criminal for later exploitation.

VIDEO: Library PC bugging scam explained

Hey, Tea Parody? Why don't you protest THIS spending?

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Joelle, the global warming deniers use junk science to hide behind the fact that corporations, who pay for propaganda like this, do not want to comply with environmental OR labor regulations and be responsible citizens and stewards of the planet. The main reason poor people are poor is because corporations exploit the poor, a la private prisons, forced and slave labor, filthy and deadly working conditions, etc. The planet is covered in filth and is dying. If we do not hold corporations' feet to the fire and make them accountable for the destruction and suffering they cause with their greed, the planet will die.

Speak to the people on Navajo about the permanent destruction of their lands with uranium and coal mining. Cheap labor is no longer necessary; corporations have robots.

We are surplus population, shunted into ghettos, reservations and prisons to die or, better yet, to be sucked dry with payday loans, corporate gifts that are tax-write offs, paid by tax payers, private prisons that are tax-write offs, paid by tax payers and fodder for Big PhRMA as we are "diagnosed," in clinics paid for by tax dollars, so we can be medicated: chemically restrained.

Tax payers sent foreign aid to the Egyptian government, who bought arms and the tear gas they used against their own citizens from US corporations. Tax payers dole out fortunes for corporate welfare, then scream about "socialized" medicine at Tea Parody rallies, where they don't even clean up their own litter, because someone else should be paid to do it: socialism. The Egyptians cleaned and washed their streets as they protested. You won't see Tea Parody do that.

We are being used. And you believe them.

I've seen the aftermath of a Tea Parody rally: garbage all over the streets. Those brats hate socialism, but expect someone to be paid to clean up after them?

Tear gas: bought by Egypt from US companies, with US TAX DOLLARS in the form of "foreign aid" to the Egyptian government! THIS is why our own government is going BROKE! You want a Tea Party? END excessive defense spending and get the hell out of countries that have done us NO WRONG! WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN!

Action Alert: Oppose 18% cuts to HUD budget

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Dear Friends:

The U.S. House of Representative's Appropriation's Committee has proposed cutting the Transportation, HUD, and Related Agencies (THUD) Subcommittee’s FY11 budget by 18 percent. This would mean significant cuts to HUD's budget. If HUD had to sustain this level of cuts, households which are currently housed through HUD programs would lose their housing. HUD would need to cut funding for affordable housing and programs that people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness rely on - including the Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8), Public Housing, Continuum of Care and Emergency Shelter Grant programs.

Please take action! Write your Congressman a letter or call him and let him know that these cuts are unacceptable. Your letter should be addressed to the Congressman but either emailed or faxed to the staff person in his office who works on housing issues. If you call, you should ask to speak to the staff person who works on housing issues. The appropriate staff person and contact info is listed below. Attached is a template letter.

Representative Martin Heinrich

DC Phone: (202) 225-6316

Legislative aide assigned to housing/homelessness issue: Maya Hermann

maya.hermann@mail.house.gov

Fax: (202) 225-4975

Representative Ben Ray Lujan

DC Phone: (202) 225-6190

Legislative aide assigned to housing/homelessness issues: Andrew Jones

Andrew.jones@mail.house.gov

Fax: (202) 226-1528

Representative Steve Pearce

DC Phone: (202) 225- 2365

Legislative aide assigned to housing/homelessness issues: Kate Schmucker

Kate.schmucker@mail.house.gov

SAMPLE LETTER:

[DATE]

Dear Representative [NAME]

I am writing to let you know my organization is very alarmed about the House Budget Committee’s plan to set FY11 spending caps for domestic discretionary programs at FY08 levels, which has led the House Appropriations Committee to propose cutting the Transportation, HUD, and Related Agencies (THUD) Subcommittee’s funding allocation by 18 percent.

[Provide brief description of your organization]

These cuts would reduce HUD’s share of the THUD budget, which means that many very low-income households in your district would lose their housing or will be unable to secure safe housing. These cuts would essentially place the largest burden on those who have been most impacted by the worst economy of our lifetimes at the very time more and more people need help.

[Describe the impact such cuts would have on the people you serve or share a specific story of how this would impact a household you know. Describe the impact the recession has had on people’s need for affordable housing in the Congressman’s district]

HUD programs must be funded at FY10 levels at a minimum. Three HUD programs must be funded at higher than FY10 levels to prevent households from being evicted from affordable housing:

• The tenant-based Housing Choice Voucher program requires more than $900 million over FY10 levels for renewals.
• The project-based rental assistance program requires more than $655 million over FY10 levels for renewals.
• The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants requires more than $190 million over FY10 levels.

Cutting funding for HUD programs punishes those who have been most affected by the recession, even though these people did not cause the recession. I urge you to protect funding for those housing programs that help the people most impacted by the recession keep and secure housing.

Sincerely,

Where's the Heat

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laurenreichelt | February 07, 2011 | 3 likes, 0 dislikes

Rio Arriba Residents Roast Governor of New Mexico Over Gas


YouTube comments:

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...1)Gathering enough gas from the ground 2)Storing it for processing 3)Processing & Treatment 4) to Compression stations 5)At the city gate Adding Odorant (smell for a gas leaks) 6)finally Your home. Since rolling black outs in west TX occured, the gas was basically "all used up". It takes time to gather and process more, have enough to build pressure & send it through. Depending on your Gas Company & your location, gas piping can run differently. So some will get gas and some will not...
misteemonk 19 hours ago
misteemonk 19 hours ago
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Transforming a natural gas, usually CH4 from wells to the burners in our homes is not easy. Taking natural gas out of the ground, changing it to a usable form & transporting it, is complicated. Although it takes a flick of a switch from the company or in your home to turn it On/Off, lots of "behind the scenes" activity goes into delivering natural gas to your home.
misteemonk 20 hours ago
misteemonk 20 hours ago
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I like this interview and im glad the community gathered to have their questions asked. I also give the Governor a lot of credit for taking time out to be there. She is not just in a small political position where she can make appearances everywhere. BUT.. just as we all have our own professions and know how things work in our world we can't try to guess on what should or should have been done.We are not professionals in the natural gas industry, nor is the governor to be under questioning.
misteemonk 21 hours ago
misteemonk 21 hours ago
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The residents roasted the governor? I didn't see that. I saw the governor being involved and trying to answer the questions brought to her by the Rio Arriba residents. Bill Richardson would not have even shown up. This is the fault of the NM gas company not the governor. The gas infrastructure in place now has been in place long before she got into office. Interesting that Debbie Rodella didn't have time to talk so she could settle her own interests.
bikemanmark 1 day ago
bikemanmark 1 day ago

Donald Duck Meets Glenn Beck in Right Wing Radio Duck

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rebelliouspixels | October 02, 2010 | 5,287 likes, 228 dislikes

A re-imagined Donald Duck cartoon remix constructed using 50 classic Walt Disney animated shorts from the 1930s through 1960s. Donald's life is turned upside-down by the current economic crisis and he finds himself unemployed and falling behind on his house payments. As his frustration turns into despair Donald discovers a seemingly sympathetic voice coming from his radio named Glenn Beck.

Will Donald's feelings of disenfranchisement lead him to be persuaded by his radio's increasingly paranoid and divisive rhetoric? Or will our favorite Disney duck decide that this voice is not actually on his side after all? Watch and find out!

• Listen to Glenn Beck's response on his radio show to this remix video:
YouTube via stopbeck.org - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHHByF...

• Better yet check out ikat381's remix of Beck's response using Mickey Mouse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbjjTL...

This transformative remix work constitutes a fair-use of any copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US copyright law. "Right Wing Radio Duck" by Jonathan McIntosh is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 License - permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.

• Please link back to my website: http://www.rebelliouspixels.com
• English captions are now working in case you're not fluent in duck-speak

• Learn about fair-use at the Center for Social Media: http://centerforsocialmedia.org
• Learn about transformative works at the OTW: http://transformativeworks.org

• Useful Media Matters archive of Glenn Beck clips: http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/
• Partially inspired by Noam Chomsky on the Tea Party: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2zYaK...
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Jonathan McIntosh
http://www.rebelliouspixels.com
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

List of Cartoons used:
• Window Cleaner - 1940
• Lucky Number - 1951
• Symphony Hour - 1942 (Mickey Mouse Cartoon)
• Put-Put Troubles - 1940
• Donald's Dilemma -1947
• The Autograph Hound - 1939
• Duck for Hire - 1957 (Wonderful World of Color)
• The New Spirit - 1943
• Donald's Dream Voice - 1948
• Cured Duck - 1945
• Donald and the Gorilla - 1944
• The Volunteer Worker - 1940
• Moving Day - 1936 (Mickey Mouse Cartoon)
• Donald's Crime - 1945
• Donald's Cousin Gus - 1939
• Donald's Nephews - 1938
• Home Defense - 1943
• Donald's happy Birthday - 1949
• Canine Casanova - 1945 (Pluto cartoon)
• Father's Day Off - 1953 (Goofy cartoon)
• Mr. Mouse Takes A Trip - 1940 (Mickey Mouse cartoon)
• Donald's Penguin - 1939
• Daddy Duck - 1948
• Lion Around - 1950
• Der Fuehrer's Face - 1943
• Self Control - 1938
• How to Be A Sailor - 1944 (Goofy cartoon)
• Duck Pimples - 1945
• The Eyes Have It - 1945
• The Three Caballeros - 1945
• Thru the Mirror - 1936 (Mickey Mouse Cartoon)
• Donald's Day Off - 1944
• Spare the rod - 1954
• Donald in Mathmagic Land - 1959
• Mickey's Christmas Carol - 1983 (Mickey Mouse Cartoon)
• Donald's Double Trouble - 1946
• The Trail of Donald Duck - 1948
• Clown of the Jungle - 1947
• Early to Bed - 1941
• Donald's Diary - 1954
• Chef Donald - 1941
• Straight Shooters - 1947
• Aquamania - 1961 (Goofy cartoon)
• Golden Eggs - 1941
• No Hunting - 1955

Audio only:
• The Riveter - 1940
• Donald's Camera - 1941
• Hook, Lion & Sinker - 1950
• Blame It On The Samba - 1948
• A Good Time for A Dime - 1941

Radio Audio:
• The Today Show - NBC (Fat cat's radio)
• The Alyona Show - RT America (Fat cat's radio)
• The Glenn Beck Program - Premiere Radio Networks (Donald's radio)
• Glenn Beck - Fox News Channel (Donald's radio)
• Glenn Beck - CNN (Donald's radio)