the death of Dog

All documented on FaceBook. Weird. But I got some moral support, in real time.
====================================
Rogi Equality Riverstone
Dog  is dying. At first, she wanted to hide. But I put her on a leash and  sat with her in the yard, surrounded by goats, Weasel (my other dog) and  baby chicks, and she liked it. Now, she's in the back bedroom. It's her  idea. She's in final stages of hearworm; has been, since she chose to  move in last year. more

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:16:45 -0700Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:16pm about an hour ago

Condolences from Tree hugger

Rogi Equality Riverstone
She  knew she was sick when she moved in and so did I. She has run all over  this "neighborhood." She killed all my ducks, geese and chickens last  year, and I think she killed one of my cats. Didn't eat them; just  mauled them. I let her stay anyway.

She's  breathing hard. She was fighting it: startling, trying to find some  place where breathing wasn't difficult, pushing up on her front legs and  extending her neck for a clear air passage. Now, she's lying down.

She's  afraid of people, has scars all over her face, her eyelid is slashed.  So, she never was much for making eye contact with me.  But she's been  looking into my eyes, concentrating on her breathing. And she's watching  me type this right now. I won't get into bed until it's time for her to  go. It seems to comfort her to be able to see me.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:21pm about an hour ago

Rogi Equality Riverstone
To my surprise, with a little assistance, she climbed up into the bed just now. She's gasping; respiration slow, lying down
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:24pm about an hour ago

Rogi Equality Riverstone
I  think this is it. be back later
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:26pm about an hour ago

Tree hugger blessed us and is tearing up

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:28pm about an hour ago

Rogi Equality Riverstone
She's  calm. She knows. She's watching me. She has Weasel on her right and  Ivan, a cat, on her left and me in front. she never slept in a bed b4  she lived here.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:31pm about an hour ago

Rogi Equality Riverstone
I  just tell her she's a good dog. I never trained her, but she learned  that. I told her soon, she can go play with all those birds and the cat  she killed, plus my nanny goat, Nilly.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:33pm about an hour ago

Rogi Equality Riverstone
Bunch  of feral dogs, including Dog, started hanging out after Nilly died,  because I couldn't bury her properly and they wanted to eat her. Nilly  turned into dogs and wild things.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:34pm about an hour ago

Rogi Equality Riverstone
Dog  will turn into crows. There's a nesting pair that hangs out here,  collecting sticks and catching things to eat. I live on a couple of  acres of frontier.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:35pm about an hour ago
 Tree Hugger's Consulting likes this.

Rogi Equality Riverstone
Even though she's gasping, she's starting to lay her head down.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:37pm about an hour ago

Rogi Equality Riverstone
She's just tired of the effort. She's not in distress or panicking.  She's just tired.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:38pm about an hour ago

Rogi Equality Riverstone
It  was very sudden. Earlier today, she was trotting all over the  neighborhood, as usual. This evening, she came in the yard, acted very  distracted, vomited and started gasping and foaming at the mouth.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:39pm about an hour ago

Rogi Equality RiverstoneThat was about an hour ago.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:39pm about an hour ago

Tree Hugger made a heart.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:40pm">about an hour ago

 Randy said :(
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:40pm about an hour ago

Rogi Equality Riverstone
It's  ok. Dog had a GREAT life for a year. She ran the whole show, for the  first time in her life. She slept in a bed. Nobody hit her. She ran  free. She slept outside or in, as she chose. She ate bites of steak,  turkey, bacon, cheese.... whatever i eat, they get a sample. She walked  me to the mail boxes everyday with Weasel and the goats. She had fun and  peace. I wish that for everybody.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:43pm about an hour ago
Tree Hugger's Consulting likes this.

Rogi Equality Riverstone
even the assholes. maybe especially them.
Tree Hugger's Consulting likes this.

Rogi Equality Riverstone
I've  midwifed lots of animals during death. There's a point at which the  "person" disappears and the mechanics of the body take over in a last  ditch effort to remain alive. It's AMAZING how tenacious life is. Dog  isn't there yet. She's still here, still lucid. Just resigned and so  tired. Calm.
 Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:46pm about an hour ago

Rogi Equality Riverstone
Actually,  oxygen deprivation is a kind way to go. The brain just trips out. It's  soothing and pleasant. I know. My mother strangled me to unconsciousness  on several occasions.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:47pm about an hour ago

Rogi Equality Riverstone
Once you stop resisting, it's pleasant.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:47pm about an hour ago

Rogi Equality Riverstone
I  turned the light on. It's till light out, but her vision will be one of  the first things to go and I don't want her to be frightened.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:48pm about an hour ago

Virtual (((Hug))) from Tree Hugger
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:49pm about an hour ago

Rogi Equality Riverstone
I keep thanking her for being a good friend.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:49pm about an hour ago

Rogi Equality Riverstone
 ...even if she killed those others. She was scared, hungry, over-stimulated, threatened....she never tried to harm anybody once she settled in. In fact, the baby chicks are in the yard for the first time today. she smelled some butts and their food, but didn't snap or get aggressive. It was just a new bunch of family, to her.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:51pm about an hour ago

Rogi Equality Riverstone
Dogs cry.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:51pm about an hour ago

Rogi Equality Riverstone
Lots of fluid in her lungs; I can hear it. Had a little panic spell, but we're ok now.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:53pm about an hour ago

tree hugger gave me a compliment

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:55pm about an hour ago

Rogi Equality Riverstone
Ain't my 1st time at this dance.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:56pm about an hour ago

Jane says she thanked me.

Rogi Equality Riverstone
I  almost forgot the baby chicks. They'll want to go to sleep soon and i  need to explain their bed to them. It's an upside down storage tub with a  hole in it, over some padding and a heating pad. They were living in  the bathtub for a week, but they're too big now. You should have seen  them flap their little wings and scamper and jump. They needed exercise.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:58pm about an hour ago

Rogi Equality Riverstone
Well, Janie, It ain't the ritz, but we do ok

Laura says she's sorry and that Dog is going to a dog place with fun things...

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 6:59pm about an hour ago

Jane says it sounds perfect.

Rogi Equality RiverstoneI also forgot to bring in FattyWattyKittyKatty, who was peering at me from the top of her cat basket in the yard.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 7:04pm about an hour ago

Rogi Equality
Breathingirregular now. I'll have to watch for panic.Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 7:05pm about an hour ago

Bruce says it's an animal's instinct to hide while dying, so as not to be pestered by predators, so she must feel safe and he called me kind.

Rogi Equality Riverstone
Not really, but thanks, Bruce.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 7:08pm about an hour ago

Rogi Equality Riverstone
twilight.  Chicks right outside the tub, drinking and eating from dishes, making  occassional anxious sounds. Dog is in her corner of the bed with her  head on her teddy bear, looking out the window. I can't even hear her  breathing anymore, and it was very loud.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 7:14pm about an hour ago

Rogi Equality RiverstoneBaby nanny goat, Nilly, standing on top of their goat house, looking in window at Dog.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 7:15pm 59 minutes ago

Rogi Equality Riverstone
Dog has her nose pressed against the window. Interesting
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 7:15pm 58 minutes ago

Rogi Equality Riverstone
Dog  is gone. The body is alive. she just looked out the window and went  away. she doesn't hear me calll anymore. very shallow breathing. she was  sucking her whole abdomen in to get air. Not anymore.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 7:17pm 56 minutes ago

Rogi Equality Riverstone
I need to attend the body now while it dies. I don't want pain from thrashing.Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 7:19pm 55 minutes ago

Rogi Equality Riverstone
my best friend is a hospice worker who attends the dying. I could do that.
Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:19:57 -0700

Rogi Equality Riverstone
\five seconds and more between respirations. that's a long time, compared to a few minutes ago
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 7:22pm 52 minutes ago


Rogi Equality Riverstone
I  put Dog on a pillow in the yard and put the chickens away. I don't want  her to lose control of her bowels & bladder on my bed. She's too  far gone to notice now.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 7:30pm 44 minutes ago


Bruce thanked me for sharing and says it should be documented for folks who don't know about death. He thinks some cart the animal off to a vet to get rid of a problem, not all. He speaks of his own animal friends and hopes they die peacefully with him. He believes heaven and hell are a state of mind.

Bruce asked me to message him when I get time and wants to know in what way I am not kind, and to compare philosophies.



Ella is sure i'm kind.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 7:43pm 30 minutes ago
Rogi Equality Riverstone

In  the last moments, I loosely covered her head with a clear, plastic bag  (I want them to see, if they can; it reduces distress) and tucked it  into her collar. That way, she was breathing her onw CO2, instead of O2,  and she passed without struggle  or heart attack. I'm too wiped to take her out for the crows tonight.  Besides, it's almost dark, and there's prickles, trash and who knows  what out there. So, she can stay in the yard, on her pillow tonight. I  learned the bag trick from an assisted suicide website: the only place I  could get accurate info on euthanize. I keep sedatives and a hypodermic  here, but she didn't look like she needed that; she needed to  transition naturally: get used to the idea. I would only drug in a case  of severe distress. Well, that's that, then. Guess I can go ahead and  climb in bed now. The skiy, as she died, was full of pewter clouds. The  sun was down, but the clouds glowed  rich, iridescent papaya flesh  color. I've never seen that color in the sky before. Dogs can't see  color. So, I looked for both of us. Tomorrow, she begins her process of  turning into baby crows.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 7:56pm 17 minutes ago


Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 8:07pm 7 minutes ago
You like this.

Rogi Equality Riverstone
It's  a mating pair. I see them out there, gathering sticks and hunting  little critters to eat. We don't get many wild things here; we're 400  feet above the water table; the river's about 2 miles from here, down  hill. There's no native threes and sparse vegetation. It's open, high  desert prairie with fierce winds. So, the birds, a few lizards and some  field mice are just about it. I haven't even seen evidence of snakes. I  heard coyotes once, but never again. I think they came too close to a  stinking feed lot, hidden back in the hills so the environmental types  (like me) won't bitch about it. I suspect they got shot. It's rugged out  here. That's why the land is so cheap and why mostly very poor people  live out here. Like me.

How the machine that's killing us works

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Who’s Really Behind Recent Republican Legislation in Wisconsin and Elsewhere? (Hint: It Didn’t Start Here)

March 15, 2011

A Study Guide for Those Wishing to Know More

I think y'all better get yer sh!t together over there at Dem headquarters, Danny.

This is a very well planned, precision machine, rolling through the country, state-by-state. It's been in the planning stages for a long time. It's brilliantly financed.

It has a rabid astroturf Tea Parody that doesn't have to obey campaign finance laws, it's theocratic, it hates women, people of color, people with disabilities, the homeless, the poor, Queers and anybody not fundamentalist xian (not Christian; there's no Christ in them).

It is determined to cut off ALL independent media outlets, including public and community broadcasting, it wants to close ALL colleges and universities funded by tax dollars. It is anti-science, anti-union anti-environmentalist. MOST of the new crop of Tea Parody reps. DO NOT BELIEVE IN SCIENCE!

It is cruel; it is full of hate; it is superstitious. It bullies. It insults and it ridicules.

And ALL of it is designed to turn the USA into a giant walmart/private prison/private security war machine, using OUR tax $ as corporate welfare, taking away citizens' right to control even local communities, once private corporations operate all public sector jobs.

And the Democrats aren't ready. And the Greens are sitting on their asses. And we're going to lose the last vestiges of democracy in the wealthiest nation on Earth.

And what will they do, once all of us are "service" workers, in jail, at war or perfoming non-unionized Mc Jobs? How will they fund their machine then?

They're already eyeballing India and China, the rising middle class there. THEY can fund the corporate welfare, once the USA is reduced to a serfdom, a banana republic and an undeveloped nation.

So, what are the Dems going to do about this? Brian Colon is going to banquets and plays at Popejoy! 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

 

I want to add a word of caution here at the end. In posting this study guide, I do not want to suggest that I think it is illegitimate in a democracy for citizens who share political convictions to gather for the purpose of sharing ideas or creating strategies to pursue their shared goals. The right to assemble, form alliances, share resources, and pursue common ends is crucial to any vision of democracy I know. (That’s one reason I’m appalled at Governor Walker’s ALEC-supported efforts to shut down public employee unions in Wisconsin, even though I have never belonged to one of those unions, probably never will, and have sometimes been quite critical of their tactics and strategies.)  I’m not suggesting that ALEC, its members, or its allies are illegitimate, corrupt, or illegal. If money were changing hands to buy votes, that would be a different thing, but I don’t believe that’s mainly what’s going on here. Americans who belong to ALEC do so because they genuinely believe in the causes it promotes, not because they’re buying or selling votes.
This is yet another example, in other words, of the impressive and highly skillful ways that conservatives have built very carefully thought-out institutions to advocate for their interests over the past half century. Although there may be analogous structures at the other end of the political spectrum, they’re frequently not nearly so well coordinated or so disciplined in the ways they pursue their goals. (The nearest analog to ALEC that I’m aware of on the left is the Progressive States Network, whose website can be perused at
http://www.progressivestates.org/
but PSN was only founded in 2005, does not mainly focus on writing model legislation, and is not as well organized or as disciplined as ALEC.) To be fair, conservatives would probably argue that the liberal networks they oppose were so well woven into the fabric of government agencies, labor unions, universities, churches, and non-profit organizations that these liberal networks organize themselves and operate quite differently than conservative networks do–and conservatives would be able to able to muster valid evidence to support such an argument, however we might finally evaluate the persuasiveness of that evidence.

"You:" One of the BEST rants on politics

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YOU 

***

                            It Can’t Happen Here. No, Really. I’m Totally Serious. And Stuff.

  

  How do I know “It” can happen here? Because Obama is doing pretty much the same things Bush did, and in some cases, more than Bush did, and there is only token outrage from “the left” for his continued practice of atrocity, continued erosion of our Constitutional rights and guarantees, and total dedication to moneyed interests poorly masked as weak-kneed, ineffective bipartisanship. Most polls show high Democratic approval for the President. And it turns out most Dems are as fiercely delusional about Obama as Repubs were/remain about Bush. All of this, of course, leaves the door wide open for some truly vile stuff from future puppets/Presidents. Since we’re letting Obama continue Bush’s master work, we’re really giving the current power structure and how it is being utilized a big American “thumbs up.”

***

                                              Your Values – In Practice – Suck.

 But in practice, American/Christian values SUCK. Homelessness, wealth disparity, war, intolerance, poverty, violence, and a demand for the only actionable manifestation of Christianity, outside of its loud and constant proclamation as superior to any other system of values in every way, to be decidedly and single mindedly “Old Testament” in flavor… ”Leaving the Christ out of Christianity – America℠ Brand Christianity Will Keep You Feeling Smug & Superior – And Minty Fresh!! Get Yours While Supplies Last!!”
So where has the practice of these values/this value system led us? Does it make you proud, how these values have performed? Do you hope your children reap similar results for their futures, for their lives? Do you want them to practice these values themselves? If you do…well, you may as well stop reading. Otherwise, how about trying something different?
Forget your Christian values. Forget your American values.
How about we give HUMAN VALUES a try instead? How about that? Sound good?? Anybody? Anybody at all?

***

                                                         What Is A Revolution? 

 

America has culturally fractured into many disparate tribes, who, practically stated, hate each other’s stinkin’ guts, and do not regard these other tribes as “true” Americans. We are no longer united in cause or belief, for each tribe seeks dominance over the other, and because geography plays a generally declining yet increasingly complicating role in this tribalism, we’re all mixed in together, pulling communities and states into constant turmoil as various tribes gain power and attempt to codify (and thereby force) their tribal beliefs onto everyone within their reach.  No unity is possible in this scenario, and thus, no peace, and no real chance for meaningful change as tribes continue to war with each other for cultural dominance, to the exclusion of all other considerations. The only unity we still exercise as a nation is conspicuously cowardly fear. So, what do you think? United we stand? Or maybe sit? Or fall…really far?

***

                                What Do We Do? What Do We Do? What Do We Do?

 

But, through no fault of their own, the Founders screwed us – and badly. They did not – and truly, could not – account for the Fourth Power of government as it exists today.
Money.
It is power, it is privilege, and it is a force used daily as a means to an end by our various governments, by corporations and businesses, and by ourselves individually and collectively. And it is completely and noticeably unaccounted for in our Constitution.

There is one obvious fix for this problem, but unfortunately it runs contrary to the collective American ego, and well, pretty effectively neuters predatory capitalism.

1.  Have a maximum economic standard. I’m not going to fill this one in for you –think it through.
2.  Have a minimum economic standard based upon human values. Again, the benefits are obvious.
3.  Forget elections – instead of a complicated, expensive, always vulnerable system of electing people to serve - everybody serves. Like jury duty, we all serve a term as representatives of the People.

***

But We Won’t Start Again, Will We…?

Stop. Participating. In. The. System.
Just stop.
Every action you take within the system (work, school, bills, church, shopping, etc.) all feed the system which is in total and complete control of this country – and you. The best revolution we could stage would not require violence – just the withdrawal of our consent, and the will to go cold -turkey on our addiction to an apathetic, self-centered, egotistical, arrogant, childish, wasteful, wasted lifestyle.

***

But…I’ll Miss American Idol! And Facebooking! And Cheeseburgers! 

And (Gulp!) Internet Porn!

Yup, you sure will. You’ll miss everything you are so comfortably addicted to – and you and yours will be at great risk from the uncertainty the overthrow of any political system entails. Food, basic services, water, security – the certainty of these will be compromised by any real revolution. Are you risking more than our Founders, who pledged and risked “their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor” to show us the way forward? Perhaps, perhaps not. But the fact that you fear such, demonstrates the next point.

 

***

YOU – Yes YOU! – Are A Pathetic COWARD. No, I’m Not Sorry. 

And Yes, I Do Mean It. Really.

 

 Organized weekend protests? Sure thing. Send a little cash to a group that will fight by proxy for you? Why not? Take any form of meaningful, sustained personal risk for the sake of us all? Good God, NO!!
How could this happen here? By small steps, by apathy, by a selfish desire for someone else to take the risk, to make the leap, to fight the fight - you want all the benefits of a fair and equal society, but you are too cowardly to act on its behalf. YES!! You ARE a miserable coward, and I base this view not on your words, but on your complete lack of action to do anything about it BEFORE it all came to this. Now, things will be worse…and what will you do differently tomorrow? You already know – NOTHING. For you are a true blue, through and through, American coward - and you KNOW it.

***

Your Pen Is NOT Mightier Than A Sword. 

Unless It Is A Light Saber Pen. Which It Decidedly Is Not.

Your outrage is getting old. Your constant bitching, hero worship, ego masturbation, cowardly fear and TOTAL capitulation to your own APPETITES, is getting very tiresome. Yes, I understand how righteous you are, how masterful your ideas, how moral your sacred Vote’s end result, how constant your fight, how deep your understanding, how gracious your giving, how perfect your soul.
What I don’t get is your utter FAILURE to do something – ANYTHING – about it. Here we sit, despite all you’ve “accomplished” with your awesomeness.
Words have a definite limit to their power, and then people must act. So WAKE the hell UP! HELLO??!!! IS ANYBODY HOME??? MCFLY??? HELLO???
We. Must. Act.
But, of course, we won’t.

***

Final Note.

We ALWAYS know the truth of ourselves. Always. You’ve said to yourself, “I knew better, I knew I should not, but I did anyway.” How can such a thing be? If we are brave enough to be sincerely self-honest, there can be no hidden truth within us, which is not accessible to our conscious minds. Johari Window my ass – WE KNOW. We always know. I get that you want to make a difference, and I know you do your best with what you have. After all, you are still reading this after what I’ve written above – this tells me much. But you need to decide if your efforts, continued within the confines of a broken system, will ultimately lead to the new direction we must take, before we are swept fully into the new direction we are already taking.  And make sure you know what’s in it for you, before you decide your current actions continued are altruistic.
I am not a diplomat; this is not some high school popularity contest. I don’t care if I’ve hurt your precious feelings – if I have, what I’ve stated likely applies to you – so grow a pair and deal. For those with flamethrowers loaded and ready to justify their cowardice by angrily bleating against what I’ve expressed here – have a blast! – even as such inconsequential flaming demonstrates precisely what I’ve laid out above, as does my own contribution to the general madness.
As a young Simpson once said, the ironing is delicious…
PEACE!!

Homeless People Are Freeloaders

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O'REILLY FACTOR: Homeless People Are Freeloaders

I'm homeless. i sometimes eat from dumpsters. I'm rural and isolated, with no car and must hitch hike for groceries a hundred miles, round trip. Last week, a kid who gave me a ride stole $40 from my wallet. I get a hundred dollars' food stamps; $3 per day for food and seven hundred in social security disability. The ONLY time I ever "begged" was when my dog, not me, ran out of food and my check was a week away. Do these people even realize most homeless people are women and children? I'm a 55 year old woman, living without heat, running water or sewage. "Enabling?" What? Enabling people to stay alive? I love these new xian Taliban values! Blame us for corporate welfare! phuque this. The link to me here goes to my Hood Life blog. Pretending to be a stereotype is NOT learning about homelessness. I'm so sick of rich people telling us who we are instead of ASKING!

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MUCH better day today

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Those men who gave me a ride home stole $40 from my wallet last week. That is enough money to either: pay the monthly internet bill, pay all my animals' food for a month or buy a week's worth of very modest groceries. Since that time, several people have volunteered to assist me in purchasing baby chickens for eggs and help me pay my enormous heating bill from last month when it as so cold some nights, an entire bathtub full of water froze solid. The combined amount people volunteered -- I would never have asked -- added up to TEN TIMES the amount those boys stole.
Today, for the first time in 2 months, I went to a locally-owned Mexican restaurant for some home-cooking and actually bought 2 bottles of Pepsi, which I never drink anymore, as it's too expensive and weighs too much to bring home with groceries.

My electric and phone bills are paid and I had enough left over to buy antibiotics for the baby chicks, so they won't get a respiratory infection that is common when confined chicks accidentally consume their own waste (they are living in the little bath tub of my travel trailer, where I can keep them warm enough) and bought a block of salt for my goats.

I even had enough for dish soap, bread, etc. Outside the store, I looked in the dumpster. Employees had thrown away a big, plastic storage container, with lid, full of toys, lawn decorations, socks, potato chips and popcorn that I fed to the goats, a jar of raspberry (my favorite) jam (a fruit condiment, served on toasted bread) and a very tasty, unopened package of beef jerky (seasoned, dehydrated beef with honey and peppers).

So, we all had a party when I got home: goats, cats and dogs. Someone had sent me another twenty dollars, in cash, by mail today.

It was a beautiful, spring day. I took my little dog, Weasel, with me. A neighbor gave me a ride there. And a lady in the parking lot of the store saw me struggling with that plastic tub, asked me if I was ok and gave me a ride home.

I took today "off" from chores and hard work. Stress has been affecting my mental well being, without me realizing it, and yesterday was a very bad day. When I came home from the store, I relaxed in bed and watched films in NetFlix with my cats and dogs. I feel great. 

worst, possible thing

The Good Life

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So, tell me again: Why do we think capitalism is working??

 

Yes, homeless folk have internet

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I do. And these fools online who say, "Well, you can afford INTERNET!" as if internet was a luxury item, like a Rolex or a Porche? Please. My internet went out today. I freaked out. It's my only access to the outside world. I can shop, research what I need to survive, have some social contacts, be useful in the world and sometimes even earn a little money. Without it, I'd be in total isolation, unable to shop for supplies and without the world's largest library. I can't get to the little library here; it's seven miles away and i have no car.

 

Uploaded by UnculturedProject on Mar 24, 2011

"We're like anybody else - the only difference is that we don't have a home" - Eric Sheptock

This is the story of my trip to Washington DC, where I got to visit America's largest homeless shelter. There I got to meet Eric Sheptock. He's an advocate for the homeless and he uses social media to advance his cause. What's amazing is he does this all even though he is homeless himself.

Eric also pointed me towards the DC Central Kitchen where I got to meet the founder Robert Egger. The DC Central Kitchen produces about 5,000 meals a day. They do this by picking up unserved (but safe) food and redistributes them to those in need. They also try and make sure each meal is nutritionally balanced.

What surprised me is that Robert Egger and Eric Sheptock weren't using this as an opportunity to plea for donations. They just wanted their story told - so that's exactly what happened.

Special Thanks To:

Microsoft (Airfare to DC and Scholarship for NTEN)
( http://www.microsoft.com/About/CorporateCitizenship )

NTEN (Arranged Everything with the Shelter)
( http://www.nten.org )

Mark Horvath (Introduced Me to Eric Sheptock)
( http://www.invisiblepeople.tv )

Beth Kanter (Helped Me Get Involved With This)
( http://www.bethkanter.org )

Eric Sheptock
( http://www.ericsheptock.com )

Elgato Systems (Equipment Sponsor)
( http://www.elgato.com )

Operating & Equipment Fund Donors
( http://www.uncultured.com/donations/operatingfund )

This video is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share-Alike License.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0

Just a poster on poverty I made

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25 Chickens in a Bathtub

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1st time, using new camera, new editing software & uploading a "real" video to YouTube, so be kind, ok? This is, basically, a home movie. I'll get better, I promise. Just wanted folks to know the chix arrived healthy & alive, and that I've made them at home. They even have their own heater & lamp. They're "Black Broilers," From Privett Hatcheries in New Mexico: laying chix; I have no plans to eat them. I'll have Xtra roosters, if you want one! Pretty tail feathers, when grown. Thanks to Liz for helping fund the project and Laura, my postal carrier, who isn't really supposed to deliver live animals, but was nice, as I have no car & the PO is 7 miles from my place.
This is my very first, edited YouTube. Just learned to use camera & editing software yesterday. I didn't say it was any good, now did I?

 

the superstitious mobs are coming to destroy the library of Alexandria again

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An Anti-Science Mania Takes Over GOP

Being vocally anti-science has become a defining mark of a current style of politics, an intentional ignorance that recalls the Scopes Monkey Trial, argues law professor Robert Benson.

They are challenging challenging facts and reality over propaganda and confabulation. Truth is in the way of total corporate take over, since the Citizens United case. Anti-intellectualism is necessary to total corporate take over of the country. It's not just evolution or global warming; it's women's right to our own bodies; it's LGBTQI civil rights: both of which rouse the rabble, distracting them from the real take over, when they, too will be silenced. Carl Sagan warned of the mobs of Alexandria thirty years ago. We did nothing to prepare, nothing to prevent the library from being stormed again, Hypatia torn apart again, the volumes destroyed again. I was so touched by the citizens of Alexandria during the Egyptian reform demonstrations: they formed a human chain, holding hands around the rebuilt library, protecting it from looters. We need to do the same. And we need to do it NOW!

Alexandria youth 'protecting library from looters'

"Director of Bibliotheca Alexandrina issues message of thanks to young people he says are defending building from 'thugs'"

Egypt's Jewel Of A Library Reopens, Thanks To Demonstrators

When Egypt's army asserted itself during the country's recent unrest, a main goal was to protect historical sites. But when it came to the Library of Alexandria, the demonstrators protected the building themselves — by forming a human chain around it.

kill the unions

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Those “Poor” Unionized Government Workers

 Yes, let's privatize the bus companies, so local communities have no say in how our public transportation works, hold our entire community hostage to an outside corporation, and watch our tax $ leave the community, to make more jerks on Wall Street mega wealthy, while they have an "individual's" right to free speech and can buy all the politicians, so there's no democracy left tor anybody, all because ONE bus driver, in ONE town, showed up drunk. But, you have your marching orders: destroy unions, so we're all begging for any job, under any conditions, at any rate of pay, while our families are held hostage to insure our compliance. Brilliant manouver in corporate take over of the USA. Corporate socialism forever!

Japanese woman concerned for my safety

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A very nice Japanese woman, whom I met on FaceBook, right after the earthquake, is very concerned for my safety.

my reply:

Mieko, I don't need to live in some place where I'm "taken care of;" I just need adequate housing. The Weekly Alibi, an Albuquerque paper, just did a piece a month or so ago: there is NO affordable housing in New Mexico, ANYWHERE. And I am looking all over the state. I need a home. I need my independence. I'm better off out here, using a paint bucket as a toilet, than I would be if social workers knew about me. In fact, if the local "authorities" knew how bad my living conditions were, they'd condemn the property as unfit for human habitation, evict me IMMEDIATELY, kill all my animals and abandon everything I own out here for my neighbors to steal. THAT is how social "services" work in the USA. I am better off, keeping under their radar.
 

The landlord tried to force me to move out, so he could sucker some other poor slob into paying rent for this dump. So, he phoned in an "anonymous" report to Adult Protective Services. He said I was "crazy." He told them I have no sewage, heat or running water. He told them I can't take care of myself and need to be "inspected." I've never told a soul out here, who knows where I live, that I don't have sewage or water. I'm not stupid. So, I know it was the landlord.

WITHOUT NOTICE OR A WARRANT, APS showed up at my house to "investigate" me. My constitutional rights to privacy were instantly stripped from me BECAUSE someone phoned in a RUMOR that I was "crazy." I HAD to allow them access to the property, the house, my refrigerator, my bathroom, everything! WITHOUT A WARRANT TO SEARCH!
 

I explained the circumstances, talked them down. They know I'm not "crazy." They also know they can't do a damn thing to help. They made a few luke warm promises and gave me a phone number. I called five times to follow up on those promises. I left voice mail. They never called back.
 

I won't go to food pantries or anything because they are run by fundamentalist babble thumpers and I am Queer. I will NOT set foot in their facilities! I use my food stamps, very carefully, and stock up enough food so that, by now, if I had to, I could probably live 2 months off the stuff I got when it was very cheap, and bought as much as I could afford. I even have a twenty pound turkey in my little freezer.
 

I don't want their false promises; that breaks my heart. I don't want their sarcasm, condesencion, snottiness. I don't want their prejudices. When you're poor, you're supposed to be stupid and I'm not. And I don't know how to ACT stupid, so they get pissed off at me, because I understand what's going on. This intimidates the hell out of them.
 

What I need is a cheap place to park my camper trailer, put up my fencing, grow my garden, milk my goats, eat my chickens' eggs, volunteer at the radio station in Gallup and be left the hell alone. Working on it every day.

Stupid protest sign of the day

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this wins for the stupidest thing I've seen all day. And I saw Ann Coulter say radiation is good for us! and in English, no less! I thot they had to write in Arabic to read the Koran without translation. And, yeah, WHAT did the "o" in democracy ever do to them? They want demcracy, instead???

 

As for me, I'm with these guys:

stop the stigma

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The discussion was on Ms. Coulter's most recent, outrageous claims:
Ann Coulter tells O’Reilly: Radiation is ‘good for you’ | Raw Replay
I wonder if anybody will refute her citations of evidence SCIENTIFICALLY, not rhetorically. I'd really like to hear a concise, layperson-friendly analysis of her claims. Do I think she is a troll? Yes. Do I think she is dangerous? Absolutely. Do I think she is making this up? I'm not so sure. 

[Someone called Ann Coulter "insane." sigh.]

David, I sincerely hope you are not so reactionary as to be calling me "insane" for suggesting we apply critical thinking and scientific reasoning to Ms. Coulter's claims, as, if they are false, they ought to be exposed. And the word, "insane" is an epithet against people with disabilities. Can you not articulate your position clearly, without putting your boot on the necks of innocent disabled people whose lives are hard enough, not only due to their particular challenges, but more severely, because of the stigma, harassment and abuse they receive because of such prejudice and ignorance?

[clarification: he's calling Coulter "insane"]

David, thanks for clarification. As a person with behavioral health challenges, I strongly urge you to find more precise language than words like 'insane' or 'crazy" and the like.I think another adjective that might apply could be "irration...al' or just 'bogus." That way, it helps remove the scorn and stigma from those of us with disabilities who are treated very badly. What I'm asking is no different than asking someone to find a better word than "blind or deaf," to describe someone who's too stubborn to see or listen. People with disabilites are not necessarily stubborn, irrational, etc. any more than the general population. And people with behavioral health disabilities, by the way, are no more prone to acts of violence or, in this case, phenomenal arrogance, as the gen pop. thanks.

[he asks what i have in common with Coulter] Would you say "she talks N!gger?" of course not, unless you were ignorant enough to actually believe African Americans behave in irrational, arrogant and unreasonable behaviors, as a population norm. HOWEVER, people ARE that ignorant about disabilities, particularly behavioral health disabilities, and use slurs, stereotypes and epithets about us constantly. What I "have in common" with Ms. Coulter is that people use slurs and epithets. In Ms. Coulter's case, i don't know if she has any behavioral health disabilities, so calling her "insane" does not stigmatize her, it stigmatizes me: Nothing I say has validity or importance and can be sloughed off as delusional. Therefore, I am immediately silenced, scrutinized, suspect and stripped of my civil rights. That won't happen to Ms. Coulter. In my case, it is why i am destitute, homeless, in total isolation, rejected and in danger. You can learn more about the rights of people with behavioral health challenges by typing "anti-stigma +mental health" into your search engine. Here is a very interesting analysis of stigmatizing people, and how it is used to dehumanize them, in order to justify controlling, abusing and dismissing them as not human.

[at which point, he begins "diagnosing" Ms. Coulter]
David, I also resent armchair psychiatry, branding, labeling. It is further stigmatization and is not your place. Thank you for making it clear you have an irrational prejudice against people with behavioral health challenges, that you demand your right to keep you boot on my neck, and that you are too arrogant to learn something that would contribute to civil rights. I now know what YOU and Ms. Coulter have in common. This is a civil rights issue. It is vital to the quality of life, in fact, the very LIVEs of people with disabilities, that you raise your consciousness, and those of your fellows, on this issue you so arrogantly dismiss. I am not wrong to ask people to treat us with dignity and respect, any more than was Dr. King. Very sad, your demanding I stay in my ghetto.

The US is "broke" and bombing Libya?

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Coalition launches Libya attacks

We can't afford to fund a national treasure like public broadcasting, especially NPR. RIGHT?

The US is broke. That's why we're cutting social welfare programs to poor folks here. That's what they tell us, anyway. I nearly froze to death, no superlatives, last month in coldest temperatures on record. I was declined Low Income Heating Assistance, which would have purchased enough fire wood to keep me comfortable. Instead, I am being notified my electricity (and, therefore, my internet: my ONLY access to the outside world) will be cut off at the end of this month, unless I pay ONE THIRD of my monthly income. I do not have the money. Neither does the US government. Money for just ONE of those missiles could probably keep this entire community warm for the rest of our lives!

And what about Yemen, Bahrain, "Saudi" Arabia?

they want you stupid

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This is not funny. A group of secular humanists on FaceBook felt differently. Here's my reply:
SHE IS NOT DUMB! She was a POOR woman with KIDS to feed, and says so, in the tape! GOOD education is for affluent people in this country, more often than not! In a sense, she IS "retarded" (a slur, by the way, against people with intellectu...al disabilities) if you use the term, "socially retarded, or intellectually retarded." She did NOT have the opportunities YOU had! That isn't an excuse to feel smug and superior! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO IMPROVE EDUCATION AMONG POOR PEOPLE?? And another thing, that "mental hospital" crack is cruel and prejudiced against disabled people! SHE WAS POOR! YOU HAVE no excuse for YOUR ignorance!

Here's why the Tea Parody can't spell, can't think, has such a narrow view of reality, wants to cut teachers' benefits, wants to cut off funding for Public Broadcasting


Next time you think a teacher doesn't deserve pay, dignity and benefits, listen to this.






Now, who's going to stop them?

apologists for outmoded corporate monopolies: far worse than radiation leaks

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this has got to be one of the creepiest bio pics I've ever seen. And I'm not just saying that because I can't stand Nancy Drool here, which I can't. EVERYBODY's trying to get their fifteen minutes of fame on the backs of the Japanese these days!

Just before I saw this on FaceBook, I saw a video by some nutritionalist, I guess, telling people what to eat to protect themselves from radiation exposure. Uh, huh. And then, she pulls out a HUGE bottle of suppliments, wags them at the camera, and says, "Come on down to my office, and I'll sell you . . ." to which I replied, And you're donating the proceeds from these sales to relief efforts in Japan, of course, because nobody wants to be suspected of exploiting a massive catastrophe for personal profit, like Limbaugh, Beck et al have done, right? I'm a bit sick of ghouls, sycophants, hangers on, snake oil salesmen, religious and political fanatics, predators, parasites and garden-variety JERKS making hay over Japan. NOT ONE of them is encouraging their fellows to DONATE TO RELIEF EFFORTS IN JAPAN! So, before we proceed further into this, I will tell you to DONATE TO RELIEF EFFORTS IN JAPAN!

"God" won't hear your pleas. So, get up off your knees, rolling up your sleeves and HELP THE JAPANESE! ~Rogi Riverstone 03/11/2011
nonbelievers giving aid to Japan: http://givingaid.richarddawkins.net/

Those things that are far worse than a radiation leak

“When Americans talk about energy policy, we are blind. Worse than blind, stupid. Worse than blind and stupid, intentionally so.”
I couldn’t agree more. The fact that the first electric and steam-powered automobiles, created at the same time as the internal combustion engine, withered on the vine is testimony to the corporate interests of the oil industry. Had they been allowed free market to develop, we might have a very different scenario today, sans oil, coal and uranium, which are killing us.
“conniption”
Definition of CONNIPTION: a fit of rage, hysteria, or alarm What a condescending way to depict legitimate fears of the Japanese people that they will be exposed to lethal radiation!
“First, it made the Japanese prey to people who are trying to use an anti-nuclear agenda rather than deal with Japan’s problems.” [emphasis mine]
What sort of conspiracy theory is this? Why is it, when one disagrees with “conservatives” (who actually conserve very little and squander very much), one is accused of an “agenda,” as though one has been plotting a secret, underground userpation of the nation (“Gay agenda, Socialist agenda, feminist agenda, anti-whatever-you-are-in-favor-of agenda”)? Have you attended these clandestine cells, or are these the wild fantasies of one too insecure in his own position to permit the courtesy of allowing an ideological opponent to clearly speak his or hers, lest you actually learn something?

“The closest to an energy policy this nation has found is really an anti-energy policy pushed by the “green” political agenda. Not only is this not an energy policy, it has no real standing because “green” technologies rely upon traditional energy sources for validity. For every wind farm there must be a traditional source of power standing by for when the wind stops. Wind and solar as a mainstream energy source do not make energy sense.”
You answered your own question, in part, about wind, as solar can supplement, as can geothermal and a good number of alternatives, besides. The days of energy monopolies and public hostage-taking by ONE source of power per community are over. We need to develop cooperative, not competitive, capitalism, for this to happen. That is why mouth pieces for existing corporations come up with these outlandish and outdated statements like yours. If monopolies hadn’t stifled free market capitalism in the early 1900s, who knows how much further advanced we would be in battery storage, wireless energy transmission, etc? Remember: it was oil companies’ corrupt influence on Los Angeles politics that lead to the ripping up of the Red Cars in the mid 20th century. And there’s that paranoid word, “agenda,” again. Yours is a political agenda; why is it wrong for others to have them, as well? Is it because, in your short-sighted apologia for antiquated and outmoded corporations’ dominance, you can’t possibly see the opportunities for many free market industries that don’t involve brown, grey and black politics, environmentally speaking?
The overall lesson in Japan, though, is being missed by most people. While it is appropriate to have some concern about the nuclear power generation,
The overall lesson that is missed about Japan, sir, is that more than 17,000,000 people’s lives and health are in imminent jeopardy as a result of this catastrophe, on top of all who died and were maimed in the NATURAL catastrophes that proceeded them. It is MORE than appropriate to have a great deal of “concern” about an outmoded form of energy that produces waste that is highly toxic for very many years. In fact, the entirety of humanity ought be outraged that so many lives are at risk for profit.
The Japanese are tremendous innovators and they are, culturally, homogeneous. They are tremendously hard workers, do not whine, work for the community good. THEY will find a solution, for all of us, out of the morass of dinosaur thinking about capitalism, competition vs. cooperation, monopoly vs. collectivity. They will show us the way past a system that is outmoded and impedes human progress, a system which you so weakly defend.

Good news from Japan

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Tea Parties! Dear Tea Parody, since you hate the USA and our President, Constitu...tion, Bill of Rights, Separation of Powers, Separation of Church and State so much, why don't y'all hop on the next plane to Japan and clean up that power plant for 'em. They've suffered enough already and don't need nukes workers dying, too. bye!

Would you like to see some wonderful news, about how brilliant, courageous, tireless, selfless, loving, helpful and inspiring we can be? Look at THESE photos! These workers, are the most important people on the planet right now, especially the nuclear reactor workers. Feel good about humans now?? 

 Japanese emergency workers

A doctor in Japan whose hospital was hit by the tsunami has witnessed the birth of his son.

Japanese doctor's baby miracle

Cat Island Survives

 

Loyal Dog in Japan 

 

"God" won't hear your pleas. So, get up off your knees, rolling up your sleeves and HELP THE JAPANESE! ~Rogi Riverstone 03/11/2011
nonbelievers giving aid to Japan: http://givingaid.richarddawkins.net/