Main Stream Media Is Missing A Wall Street Story

No major news outlet is covering "Occupy Wall Street"!  You might call your favorite news station and ask why.

My Friend, Billy Bones

Billy cheers up so many of my mornings.   

We share coffee, conversation, philosophy, music and hugs. It's not that I start out in a bad place; but Billy has a way of cheering people up, no matter their mood.

This morning he shared a song he has been working on for the last week:

RFID Tracking Used on Children in Texas Schools

Tracking devices used in school badges

Two districts are first in the area to use ID tags that raise privacy, security concerns

By JENNIFER RADCLIFFE
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Oct. 11, 2010, 10:00AM

Jerry Baker Chronicle

Sixth-graders, from left, Jacorey Jackson, Deante' Maxey, Casandra Hernandez and Kamryn Jefferson, all 11, wear special tracking badges at Bailey Middle School in Spring.

Radio frequency identification — the same technology used to monitor cattle — is tracking students in the Spring and Santa Fe school districts.

Identification badges for some students in both school districts now include tracking devices that allow campus administrators to keep tabs on students' whereabouts on campus. School leaders say the devices improve security and increase attendance rates.

Read the entire article here.

I have family raising children in the Spring district and look forward to their insights and comments.

In light of my last post, I would like to ask for people's opinions on the RFID program in the Spring and Santa Fe school districts and ideas about how to create something to impact our communities and the planet in a positive way.

Fluoride in the Water - Good For You?

Hey Austin!

Did you know that the water in Austin is fluoridated?

Join us in our efforts to remove fluoride from the drinking water in Austin.

When the City Council made its 1973 decision to add fluoride to the public water supply, it used data that is now known to be false.

Communities across the US are recognizing this public health debacle and are voting against fluoridation. Inform and mobilize Austinites to seek the end of water fluoridation of the city water we use to drink, cook, and grow our food.

Please inform yourself, then phone to share what you have learned with those who represent you.

Mayor Lee Leffingwell: (512) 974-2250

Mayor Pro-Tem Member Mike Martinez: (512) 974-2264

Council Member Chris Riley: (512) 974-2260

Council Member Randi Shade: (512) 974-2255

Council Member Laura Morrison: (512) 974-2258

Council Member Bill Spelman: (512) 974-2256

Council Member Sheryl Cole: (512) 974-2266

Please visit:

www.fluoridefreeaustin.org

www.wearechangeaustin.org

www.theaustinfreepress.com

www.tagtexas.org

Our Girl

She sees things her way

It's all beauty and power

Ignoring the cries of

Those who loved her

Those who served her

All, eventually incarcerated

Attracted by her beauty

Enchanted by her riches

Imprisoned by her greed

Fear not. All is not lost

The path is love, forgiveness

Honor, integrity and justice

G20 Protests 2009 Pittsburgh

What Forced Vaccinations?

I have numerous acquaintances and readers who believe there is no push for forced vaccinations. I would like to agree, but cannot. Below, I offer up two videos for your consideration and an ad for a health workers' protest in New York.

The first is Judge Andrew Napolitano commenting on the unconstitutional bill in Massachusetts that will allow the governor to declare an emergency and "allow" police to force their way into your homes to vaccinate you:

The second is of Charlie Crist who has filed a law suit regarding Florida's forced vaccination statute and has mentioned the Governor in that suit.

Here's a rally poster for Health Care Personnel who are opposed to mandatory vaccinations.

Vaccines? No Legal Recourse!

(Photo: Wired.com)

On June 15, 2009, Secretary Sebelius signed a declaration under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act to extend liability immunity against tort claims to individuals and entities involved in all stages of 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine development, testing, manufacture, distribution, prescribing, administration, and use.

Liability immunity means that there is no legal tort claim that can be pursued in state or federal court. Individuals and entities that receive liability immunity under the declaration include manufacturers, distributors, States, locals, Tribes, and other entities that supervise or administer a vaccination program, and health care professionals or others authorized under State law to prescribe, administer, and dispense vaccines (Including police and military forces), when they are carrying out activities in accordance with the conditions stated in the declaration.

Think I am making this up? Here's the government's link.

One way the government can prevent situations like the video of my last post. Just say no one can be held responsible for crippling and killing Americans.

Are You Kidding Me?

Staying at a hotel the other evening, I received a complimentary copy of USA Today (Fri., Sat., Sun. edition Sept 11-13, 2009).

They posted, on the front page, results of a survey given by TripAdvisor. The question was: Should congress place size limits on carry-ons?

54% of respondents replied yes

46% of respondents replied no

Are you telling me that it has gotten to the point that 54% of traveling

Americans believe that Congress should even consider such a ridiculous notion? Please tell me it was an anomaly in sampling and that USA Today was just trying to drive more traffic to the story about "Representative" Lipinski.

What do you think? Am I way off the mark?

Neighbor Has the Wrong Idea? Turn Them In to the Whitehouse!

I have been making an effort to focus on and post primarily photography, music, poetry and the like lately. However, I read an article by Macon Phillips on the White House blog (Ironically titled "Facts are Stubborn Things") on Tuesday and have been stewing over it since. Macon is the White House Director of New Media.

(Photo:Zbigniew Bzdak/McClatchy News)

According to comrade Phillips:

"There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov."

Silly me. I had no idea it was the White House's responsibility to track all opposition to their programs. What if it is something other than fearing corporate health care designed by those we accuse of destroying the current system? Are there other addresses for other offenses? What if I disagree with bombing a country that our Congress and Senate never authorized? What if I ask about the destruction of the product life cycle? How many dissenters are being tracked? Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

(photo:NiceDeb)

Since people opposing this plan are "spreading disinformation", we should turn them into the White House staff? Macon and his buddies can't keep up with everyone who is opposing it, so we need you to report your friends, relatives and neighbors to the White House so that we can knock down any dissent. The "New Media" policy appears to be to turn in fellow citizens who have dissenting political opinions from the White House.

Debates about health care, finance, defense, security and privacy will continue to rage. I just hope that our leaders find a way to participate in the discussion without spying on constituents or asking them to turn each other in for their beliefs. (My civics teacher in high school had called Russia's (1980s) government tyrannical and overreaching for instituting such policies.)

Pope Calls for "World Political Authority"!

Anyone else just have a shiver run down their spine?

Photograph by: Vincenzo Pinto, AFP/Getty Images

"VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict on Tuesday called for a "world political authority" to manage the global economy and for more government regulation of national economies to pull the world out of the current crisis and avoid a repeat."

Read the entire article by Philip Pullella of Reuters here.

Obama's Preventive Incarceration Speech

President Obama has called for the creation of a legal system that will allow for the indefinite detention of people that our non-fascist Homeland officials might deem dangerous in the future...AND he did this standing in the presence of the original Constitution of the United States!

That's right, you don't need to commit a crime or even be charged with a crime.  

Is anyone really surprised?

This is the same Constitutional scholar, Barack Obama, that told the American people that FISA is necessary and, by default, the 4th amendment is not. 

Thank you for being diligent, Rachel.

Happy 90th Birthday Pete Seeger

My apologies for being  12days late to recognize your birthday, Pete.  You have been an inspiration to me since the first time I heard you sing...I believe it was on PBS in the early 1970s.  

To my best recollection, this is the very first Pete Seeger tune I remember hearing.  Strangely, it makes me feel warm and hopeful.  

For fans of the show "Weeds", here's the original version of "Little Boxes":

May you always be accompanied by peace, love and harmony.

Military Police at Kentucky Derby

I retrieved these shots while surfing through new AP photos of the Kentucky Derby on Yahoo and Google, respectively.  I suppose that posse comitatus does not apply in Kentucky?

Rick Perry Flashing the Peace Sign

I thought this might be a good time to share a shot I captured of Rick Perry as he has been in the news so much lately. 

 

He's not really flashing the peace sign...He was enumerating points in his speech and I caught this as he was speaking of his second point.

The News and Ron Paul

This illustrates where we are with "news" in the United States.  I am not going to take a stance (other than my quotation marks), but would love to hear your point of view.  I have listed the "news" anchors responses to Ron Paul's words below the clip.

Mark Haines: "This is not going as planned"

ErinBurnett: "No it is not"

MarkHaines: "We were told that there would be a very limited number of opening statements, and it seems to be getting out of control."

ErinBurnett: "Here’s what we forgot, everybody is taking this live, you know what that means? Why would they miss an opportunity for free air time?"

MarkHaines: "We’re going to take a commercial break and get them out of the way, so that when something really substandard [hahaha-think he meant substantial] is happening, we don’t have to interrupt them."

Open Thread

Is skateboarding a crime?

Creation Cannot be Contained

You may have noticed a dramatic reduction in the number of political entries on my blog recently.  We have filed for our permanent residency in Canada and I am focusing on creation and growth.  We plan to open an art studio when we land and I plan to continue in the healing arts.

stone by stone, pavement consumes. 

swallowing what we know,

swallowing what we need.

layer upon layer, webs of contact

promising food, freedom, safety.

the promise becomes the problem.

stone by stone, pavement consumes. 

swallowing what we know,

swallowing what we need.

poles shift. the universe shrinks

and folds on itself,

connecting reason and rhyme

stripped, layer by layer.

creative energy and love sprout

food, freedom and safety.

sprout by sprout, pavement is consumed.

creation cannot be contained 

and provides what we need.

Paper Ballots Are a Must!!!

Please ask for paper ballots when voting!!!

The first video is a full length film called "Hacking Democracy". It is a documentary I hope all my readers will watch. I sent it to all my friends and family back in May and hope that everyone has watched it and acted on what they discovered.



Here's an interesting video where an election official is showing how to recalibrate a machine and trying to make justifications for the vote switching that has been occurring. It is completely counter-intuitive that we would allow anyone to attempt to recalibrate a machine mid-election. We need to rid ourselves of this system in which there is no way to possibly go back to verify the results of an election.

You can find out more at Black Box Voting, The Brad Blog and Video the Vote.

Morning Music - Kresling on School Loans

This video gets a "Wow" rating. "The Beast That Swallows Its Young" by Matt Kresling. 

It is a very creative and original video.  

Love to have people's input on this one.

Denton Police Force Goes Paramilitary?

In my research about a TX arrest, I visited the site of the Denton Police Department.  I was interested to see what they had to say as I attended NTSU (now UNT).   I was dismayed to see another example of marketing a paramilitary police force.   Denton is a college town of about 80,000 with two universities, UNT and TWU. 

This is the only photo on their homepage:

The paragraph under the photo begins: 

"These are exciting and challenging times for public safety service delivery and we seek to meet those challenges by creating new and different ways to better serve our customers."

Is Osama Bin Laden hiding in Denton?  What is their intent in posting this.  Is this how they want to be seen now?  Someone thinks this is good PR for them?  No one has gotten upset about this in a city filled with college students?  

Is this what serve and protect has come to look like in your town?

Where have all the sheriffs gone?

Am I just being too sensitive about all of this?  Am I blowing things out of proportion?