Sunday, June 30, 2013

Christian Comments on the Irresistible Attraction


Just in case we'd forgotten it, here's an update from last winter's news story.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/06/29/iowa-court-reconsiders-case-involving-dental-assistant-fired-for-being/

Woman, age 32, has been doing good work for ten years. She’s married. Man, age 59, makes flirtatious remarks, which woman hears as jokes and answers in kind, because the idea that older people still have the same hormonal feelings and dramas that they do is not something young people usually like to think about. He’s also married. They talk about their families at work. They mention their families, and exchange a few flirty jokes, in e-mail. His wife sees the e-mail and goes into a panic spin, because who hasn’t read about a man leaving his wife for someone young enough to be their daughter, and these days people will still speak to those men, socially. He doesn’t even want to have sex with the woman, but can he give up teasing and joking about it? He tries. He can’t. His wife demands that he fire the woman “for being an irresistible attraction.”

Comments on this story show that, without knowing what the woman looks like or how she dresses, a lot of people pictured Cameron Diaz in a skimpy camisole and stretch-to-fit miniskirt.

Reality check: I’ve seen this kind of situation develop when the man was an 80-year-old patient and the woman was a 59-year-old nurse, 5’2”, 160 pounds, baggy smocks, slacks, bifocals, white shoes, white hair pinned up in a bun. Some Irresistible Attraction out there may look like Cameron Diaz for all I know, but it wouldn’t make much difference if she looked and dressed like Whoopi Goldberg...in Sister Act.

There is something about a person who works well with you. Something about the attentiveness, the synergy, the philia love (which is actually the kind the New Testament writers told wives to cultivate toward their husbands). What people who work well together feel is love. Sometimes, usually but not always if they’re the same sex, occasionally if they find each other really repulsive, people can love each other in this way and never want to do anything but go on working together. More often..they may be able to listen to reason and say no to the physical attraction, but sooner or later they notice that a physical attraction is there.

Ms. Irresistible Attraction said, “It wasn’t even sexual harassment. I saw him as a father figure.” Oh, right. I believe that. I really do. The first year or two, she sees him as a father figure. Then one day something goes wrong between her and her husband, and she is shocked, just shocked, to realize what kind of thoughts about this father figure are coming to mind. At thirty-two, she doesn’t see this coming? Maybe in Iowa. I’m told people grow up more slowly there. My husband was older than I was; for the first year or two I saw him as a sort of uncle figure, too, before he became a friend, and then a partner. He wasn't married. Nor was I shocked.

But I’m not at all comfortable with the idea that she can lose her job, that if her husband isn’t well paid her children could suffer, merely because she has this inappropriate attraction thing going with her employer.

Because these people consulted a pastor first, before the firing and the lawsuit, let’s consider the situation in moral terms. These people are Christians. Does the Christian church have a specific policy for situations like this?

It does, although a Protestant pastor might be pardoned for not knowing what that policy is. The church that found it necessary to develop a policy for dealing with inappropriate attractions to co-workers was the Catholic Church, with its long tradition of delegating jobs to nuns and priests who are expected to work together and treat each other as relatives while both are celibate. Historically there have been a lot of inappropriate attractions between nuns and priests. And the church has a contractual obligation to both of them; if they do the right thing and confess the attraction as a sin, neither of them can be fired. What they can be is transferred to different positions so that they don’t see much of each other any more.

Since these people in Iowa are Protestants, they may have more spiritual truth, but they don’t have the massive corporate structure of the Catholic Church to rely on. Since the boss is self-employed, they don’t even have the structure of a private corporation.

And I do empathize with the wife. As a relatively young widow I’ve talked to a lot of men who weren’t even friends and working partners, who said things like “My wife is old and sick, and we don’t do things together any more.” Then if I ask more questions about the wife, “old and sick and we don’t do things together” turns out to mean “three weeks older than I am, and in better condition actually, but she didn’t feel like coming out to wherever it is that I met you.”

In the case of one co-worker, though, the wife really was over seventy, disabled, and not expected to live through the winter. And her younger husband didn't look like a father figure to me, either. If this hadn’t been one of the first few men I met as a widow, I might have been tempted to take the non-Christian position—“Stick her in a nursing home and have fun with me!” But I thought about him, unselfishly, and said, “Being widowed is bad enough without adding guilt to it. You have to do whatever you can do for her, resolve any problems you’ve had, tell her you love her every day...”

She did live through the winter. At last report she was still alive. And has she ever thanked me for not wrecking her home? Hah. Well...if  I, in my late forties, had become involved with some thirty-year-old kid, and if I had any suspicion that he was telling other bright young things about the “older woman” in his life, would I go out and thank some thirty-year-old chick for turning him down? Hah. I suspect I’d be saying, “Sensible child. Now go and find some other young man, preferably one from a different state, or better yet a different country, and stay away from my husband.” Just like the dentist's wife.

But...if an inappropriate attraction has been identified at the stage where only the man is even aware of it, Christian morality does not allow the woman to take all the punishment for it. The dentist’s wife may have feelings of wanting to slap the dental assistant’s face, but what she needs to do about the dental assistant is help her find a different job, preferably a better one.

That’s help, not dictate. The dentist’s wife, and the dentist, can’t just sit around blathering. “Since we’d like to stay in Iowa, Jennifer, why don’t you look for a job in New York, or would you prefer Seattle?” Maybe they can mention New York and Seattle in their private prayers at home, but when talking to the dental assistant they have to stick to actual, serious job offers.

Wife: “Jennifer, I know you do good work, but I’m getting paranoid about you working with my husband. Would you consider being my assistant?”

Dentist: “Jennifer, just for the sake of my wife’s peace of mind, I’ve recommended you to eighteen other business owners in the neighborhood, and Dr. Smith would like to talk to you about a position...”

If the inappropriate attraction had gone further and become a real embarrassment, I could see even fellow members of the church getting involved. I’ve seen that happen. In one small-town church I used to know, gossip started when some old hag thought two Sunday School teachers were shaking hands too enthusiastically, and because both were active senior citizens whose spouses looked and acted much “older,” the gossip really got out of hand. How to put out the flames of scandal before anyone was badly burned? Call in the next parish! “Please, can you offer either Brother Smith or Sister Jones, but not both, a more exciting opportunity to serve...” It turned out that Mrs. Jones actually lived closer to the church in the next parish, and she’s been making real contributions to that church for twenty years now.

That’s what a church is for. Kick the “irresistible” dental assistant away from the susceptible dentist, by all means, but make sure you kick her up stairs.

Off-Road Wheelchairs

Some day, I hope it's fifty or sixty years into the future, I'm going to want an off-road wheelchair. By then maybe they'll have designed even better ones:

http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/2880838.html

I'm not leaving the Cat Sanctuary, I don't want our road paved, and I would like not to have to ask anybody to push me up and down our definitely "off-road" dirt-and-rock road.

Republicans Needed in Danville, Virginia

Not all Tea Parties are affiliated with the Republican Party, but this one is (announcement shared by Patricia Evans):

"

2013 Republican ticket: Cuccinelli, Jackson and Obenshain

Let's go win, and win big!


We will have a table/tent at 2 events in Danville coming up in July and we need volunteers to man the table for 1-2hrs at a time.

July 4 at the Crossing: 6-9pm

July 12-13 Tractor Pull at Fairgrounds 5:30-9:00 each night

Also I still need volunteers to come in the office to make phone calls and knock doors.

If you can help, please contact:


Josh Puccio at  434- 466- 5329  or email  jpuccio@rpv.org    
          
                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
Sticker (Bumper)

--
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."  - Thomas Jefferson   Virginia Tea Party Patriots  www.virginiateapartypatriots.com   Danville Patriots   http://danvillepatriots.com/  "

Fair disclosure: Although I live a long way from Danville, I've been planning to vote for Cuccinelli since 2011. However, if I had been undecided, the ad that popped up alongside this e-mail would've pushed me to vote for Cuccinelli.

Why? Because Yahoo is selling "targeted ads." Ads aren't just popping up on the screen the way they do on television. Somebody at Yahoo, even if it's only a computer, is reading my e-mail and trying to match these ads to keywords in my e-mail. That's always an icky, nasty, creepy thought, and would turn me against just about anything advertised on Yahoo these days.

All people marketing anything should remember: I don't like ads. Period. I believe that things worth buying don't need much advertising. If what you're selling can't be advertised as a brand on a sale sheet from a local supermarket, then the more you spend to push it, the less I'm going to want it.

But this ad for the Democratic Party candidate is particularly icky because the People of the Burro have managed to figure out that I'm a woman (duh) and so, in their view, the statement that Ken Cuccinelli opposes abortion counts as negative advertising. In their view, no woman could possibly oppose abortion too.

In real life, this issue is much too complicated and too icky to be used to polarize voters, or any group of voters.

I think women have a right to choose whether or not they want to be pregnant. I think women need to make that choice before there's any chance of their becoming pregnant, and communicate it clearly, and enforce it in a more reliable way than merely buying some product that this web site wouldn't advertise in any case. So if women are "choosing" abortion, something has obviously gone very badly wrong, and I don't really want to know about it. They're entitled to their choices. I prefer that other women not ask me to pay for any of their choices...including abortion, and also including food for babies they can't afford to bring up, actually. We don't hear nearly enough about a woman's real choice--to "Just Say No" to any risk of unwanted babies.

Meghan McCain said in her first book that "it's so easy not to get pregnant." She's right. She's also younger and hotter and richer and better known than I am, which makes her more likely to be chosen as a role model by young girls. She also can afford to maintain a web site without signing a contract to avoid vulgarity such as mention of body parts. All young girls wondering what choices they have are hereby referred to Meghan McCain.

So, Ken Cuccinelli opposes abortion. Surprise? That ethnic-cultural stereotype you weren't going to make turns out to be applicable to him? Some people of Italian descent are Catholic? This is news that you need to annoy people by jamming up against their e-mail? I don't think so.

I also don't think Future Governor Cuccinelli is going to succeed in doing a great deal to prevent abortions, in his capacity as governor. He can rant about them, which many voters, like me, won't like, and which may reduce his popularity. Or he can be quiet about them. State governors can't overturn Supreme Court rulings, and if state governors did manage to make it hard to get an abortion (or do whatever else) in one state, they'd merely encourage travel to other states. So I think the choice that will do most for Ken Cuccinelli's career will be to talk about topics that are a little more relevant to the overwhelming majority of Virginians, to nearly all men and to the majority of women voters who are over age 35, rather than abortion.

And I also think that it goes beyond "burro" all the way to "jackass" when people who rally around that emblem assume that all women want, politically, is tax-subsidized abortion. I have told Democrats this since the 1980s and I'm tired of saying it. These people just don't learn. I should vote for someone advertised as One Of The Party Who Just Don't Learn? ???

Memo to Democrats: real donkeys aren't that stupid.

What do women want from our government? I mean, real, full-grown women who know how and when to say no. (And who aren't unlucky enough to find out that what we're hoping to bring up as a child is going to be, say, born without a head--now if that had happened to me I'd feel entitled to ask for a subsidized abortion.)

Well, some of my e-friends want less red tape to interfere with their small business ventures and working from home. Lower taxes is also something many women want. These things used to be Republican rallying cries, but in the present century they've not been a priority for Republican candidates, which is why we have a Tea Party Movement. Anything Future Governor Cuccinelli can do in the direction of cutting red tape and taxes would be counted in his favor.

Privacy and property rights are also prime concerns of several women I know. In the current administration I can't imagine how Democrats might try to address these concerns, but still, even so, trying to recapture the votes they've lost on these issues by blethering on about abortion feels to me like adding insult to injury.

Women I know generally are in favor of peace. Since this web site works from a presupposition that the President and the State Department have information we don't have, I won't go into details about peace with whom, on what terms, but I will say that the reason why we have a President Obama is that virtually all women like peace.

Women also tend to like justice, although our definitions of justice have huge differences in priorities. Personally, for reasons regular readers already understand, I think ensuring that contractual obligations are met, workers are paid, and rightful heirs receive their rightful inheritances is a much, much higher priority than any attempt to extend the benefits of marriage to same-sex couples could hope to be. I think the real benefits of marriage are a gift from God to just a few couples who get their own acts together while single and thus focus completely on making each other glad that they've become couples, and government has nothing to say about that. I think the merely legal benefits of marriage should be available to all people on equal terms, and legalizing same-sex marriage is a long step away from where most of us are actually going to be at the ends of our lives.

And, based on their correspondence with me, I'd guess that priority number five for women who e-mail would be children. (Not necessarily our biological, adoptive, or even foster children; if we don't have those we have nieces, nephews, students...) Again, there are some differences of opinion about the priority issues that need to be considered on behalf of children. I think school choice, whether that's interpreted as freedom to operate public schools or freedom not to attend public schools, is a high priority; some Tea Parties think school choice is a low priority or even something they don't support. I think freedom from any form of dependence on tax-subsidized handouts, or even on private church-managed handouts, is also a high priority for women who want to give children a fair chance in life; some people (often kindhearted people who've never thought much about the issue) think keeping the handouts flowing is a high priority.

Women aren't a single-issue voting bloc, and as I forget whether Phyllis Schlafly or Gloria Steinem said first, expecting all women to vote the same way makes as much sense as expecting all men to vote the same way.

But, whatever we vote on, and why, at least even the People of the Burro could remember that nobody actually wants abortion.

Rabbit Disaster Plan?

What would you expect a stage magician's disaster plan to be for his partner, the rabbit? Dave Urbanski provides proof that employees of the U.S. Department of Agriculture have never put on a show featuring a trained animal:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/29/hare-brained-usda-reportedly-orders-childrens-magician-to-produce-disaster-plan-for-his-rabbit/

"Rabbit stew" is a smart-aleck answer; trained rabbits don't hop into a person's garden every day. Anybody who's trained an animal to perform on stage knows the correct answer. If animal(s) is/are resting in a safe carrier, the carrier leaves the building with you. If not, the animal leaves the building in your arms. Duh.

I can see the need for a formal plan for evacuating a whole troupe of trained animals--especially if they're big nervous animals like horses--but one rabbit?

Sounds like a computer program was involved. Check out the URL for this page. Here's what shows in my browser...

"http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=[string of digits]/more code"

But I'm guessing that what shows in your browser will be something about "looting-by-mounties." Referring to a news story that popped up in Friday's e-mail, about which I considered posting a link here and then remembered that the site referenced has Google +, so all I needed to do was post a comment there. (What the Mounties admitted doing was entering houses from which people had been evacuated and removing things they thought might appeal to looters. Supposedly they'll return all the loot when they decide it's safe for the homeowners to go home. The homeowners were, at the time of writing, saying they wanted to go home right now.)

Phenology: More Elderberries

Elizabeth Barrette shares pictures of her elderberry blossoms and other plants:

http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/2882038.html

I'm surprised by the echinacea; around here they start after the first of July.

Friday, June 28, 2013

Phenology: Elder Blossoms

Phenology for 6/28/13: Temperatures in the 70s and 80s, humidity in the 80s and 90s. It's not been a good week for getting anything done outdoors. Heavy rains have stripped off whatever fruit the orchard might have had to offer. More humidity means more tree loss, more progress of fungal blight; population growth for some species (mostly not species anybody particularly wanted), population declines for other species (many of them valuable to humankind).

Only two buck moth caterpillars in the orchard this summer? All local moth and butterfly populations are in decline this summer. Species that are normally abundant have become rare. I've seen only two Desmia moths--most years, by this time, there are dozens--and one Haploidea bipuncta and maybe half a dozen Tiger Swallowtails.

Lots of leaves are turning orange and yellow. In August that can be a sign of an early spring or a dry summer. In June, when it's been a wet summer so far, it's a sign of fungus infections that can eventually kill trees.

The water table is really rising in response to this latest round of thunderstorms. Today I found a terrapin in the yard. I left it alone, dashed out to the Friday Market in Gate City, caught a ride up to Wise, and on the way we passed another terrapin in the road. Yes, the driver got out to make sure the animal safely reached the other side of the road.

Flowers: although bright orange butterfly bush and day lilies are blooming too, the predominant color of the wildflowers I see seems to be pink. Red clover, crown vetch, mimosa, pink and red roses, queen-of-the-meadow...and of course there are still some blue flowers like chicory and lyre-leafed sage (which doesn't look like the herb sage, nor do the leaves remind me of lyres, so go figure; that's what Peterson's Field Guide says it's called). And white flowers like white clover, daisies, and Queen Anne's Lace.

Blooming on the banks above the railroad tracks this week I saw some white flowers that looked like Queen Anne's Lace on steroids. The railroad company sometimes sprays poisons along the tracks, and herbicide residues sometimes cause the next growth of weeds to reach abnormal, alarming sizes, but no, these flowers aren't Queen Anne's Lace; they're elder blossoms, or "elder blow," nature's promise of future elderberries.

Although this web site definitely does not recommend trying to harvest elderberries along a railroad track, the bushes grow well in the wild (almost anywhere they can get sun, and the more sun they get, the earlier and more profusely they bloom). They can be bought from nurseries and planted or transplanted in gardens, where, as Donna Daniels notes, they're likely to need thinning to leave room for other plants:

http://voices.yahoo.com/tips-planting-growing-starting-own-elderberries-8075886.html

They can get quite ornamental, with pink or purple flowers as well as white:

http://www.naturehills.com/bushes-and-shrubs/elderberry-bushes

A person would have to be working from a book with very poor quality illustrations, or none, to confuse elderberry with pokeberry plants, but apparently some people have managed to make this mistake...

http://www.herbalrootszine.com/articles/elderberry-vs-pokeberry/

And Odelia Ivy's blog post about pokeberry illustrates the difference between big wide crowns of flowerets and small, pointed bunches of flowers in a way that ought to be cute enough to stick in everyone's mind...

http://odeliaivy.wordpress.com/2012/08/26/pleasant-poison-pokeberry/



When Veterinary Students Need Supervision

For those already familiar with Change.org, it won't be much of a surprise that I often sign petitions that a school or company change a policy that's obviously not working for somebody.

The system then leads to petitions that I suspect were started by members of the current administration, pleading for more support for some of the controversial federal policies this web site tends to oppose if we have an opinion about them at all...I find it interesting to frustrate the system designers by supporting only the petitions that make sense.

Like this one from Lee Henkel of Riner, Virginia:

http://www.change.org/petitions/virginia-tech-stop-letting-vet-school-residents-practice-without-faculty-supervision-2

I've taken the same cat to two different fully certified vets and received wildly different diagnoses, so I understand that if Lee Henkel's cat had been treated by a licensed veterinarian he might have been incorrectly diagnosed anyway. And all the diagnoses sound serious; even if correctly diagnosed, the cat might have died. Veterinary care involves, at best, a lot of guesswork.

That's why it's important that veterinarians at least have done their best to help--that they show due respect to the person paying the bill. That's where Virginia Tech let Lee Henkel down. No fully qualified veterinarian saw the cat Bertram. Is that the kind of customer relations skills veterinary students need to be learning at Virginia Tech?

Fellow Virginians, if you believe your tax dollars should be used to provide a decent quality of education and assure a reasonable level of competence for the people who will be working for you in another year or two, please sign this petition. One signature per person but you're encouraged to circulate the petition to everyone you know.

Time to Make Demands?

Tea Partiers, wouldn't it be a relief to hear that somebody out there wants you to be more demanding?

Right. It's a marketing ploy. Ron Maxwell wants more people to demand that local theatres show his new movie, Copperhead.

About thirty percent of this web site's readers will be disappointed to learn that it's not about a snake. It's another Civil War movie; internal conflict among beliefs and obligations can be "safely" directed outward through aggressive action as long as it's represented as having happened in a time further back than anybody actually remembers. Northern perspective. The web page has a link you can use, if your computer handles videos well, to preview the movie before you demand it:

http://copperhead.demandthemovie.com/demands

Fair disclosure: Maxwell's character will be grappling with opinions that actually belong to the present century. That's why Maxwell expects you'll demand a chance to take a date to the movie.

A Beach Without Crowds

A beach without crowds can be hard to find. How far north would you go to find one? Blogger CMCMCK shares photos from Orkney:

http://cmcmck.dreamwidth.org/303517.html

I think the puppy pollution might have worked better in the next to last rather than the next to first position. Never mind, Gentle Readers. Keep scrolling down for a virtual walk on an uncrowded, almost unpolluted beach.

Thanks to Elizabeth Barrette for the link.

Atheists Demand Credit for Helping Out

Time's Joe Klein apparently failed to see organized groups of atheists and Secular Humanists working on Oklahoma disaster relief efforts. Thanks to Patrick Nielsen Hayden for sharing the link to Hemant Mehta's list of the groups Klein overlooked:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/06/23/time-cover-story-wrongly-attacks-atheists-for-not-helping-out-victims-of-oklahoma-tornadoes/

Right. Atheists, beneficiaries of common grace, may God bless you and your good efforts.

No, I'm not posting this merely to see any atheists squirm with embarrassment. That's an incidental fringe benefit. I'm posting this because the son of a local family has been living in a shelter in Oklahoma, working with his friends to rebuild the community he claims as his own, and I'd like to remind people out there that people here send them good wishes. Regardless of their beliefs. Or of their ethnic identity...I hope everybody out there who's so proud to claim a Cherokee great-great-great-grandmother has made contact with their relatives in Oklahoma this summer.

A Challenge for Conservative Christians

For conservative Christians, here is your moral challenge of the day: Read Jason Howerton's reports, with screenshots, about Alec Baldwin's anti-conservative rants. (Warning: profanity, vulgarity, and threats of violence seem to be this guy's native language.) Now remember how the left-leaning media have flapped and squawked every time they heard that Mel Gibson lost his cool. Now try to write blog posts, tweets, etc., that treat Baldwin exactly the same way you treat Gibson.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/28/im-gonna-find-you-and-im-gonna-fk-you-up-alec-baldwins-profane-twitter-meltdown/

I know how hard it is, considering that the vaguely conservative actor also happens to be the more attractive man. But try.

Immigration: Don't Agonize, Strategize

Right. Some readers had a really bad day in Washington yesterday...immigration in Congress, same-sex marriage in the Supreme Court. In this post, this web site reacts to Congress's vote on immigration:

The thinking is that all the new immigrants are going to represent the extreme left-wing point of view. Since they've left countries whose governments were further toward the Old Left than ours is, I don't see a path of abstract logic for this thinking to follow, so presumably the people who think this way are thinking of illegal residents of the United States whom they know personally. The only illegal resident of the U.S. I ever knew personally (and I've not seen him in the last twenty years, so don't ask) was a Cuban who thought President Reagan could have been more conservative; he quit talking to me because I was on speaking terms with a few left-wingers.

What I've said on this web site, during the debate, was that I liked what Marco Rubio said in American Son. For those who didn't bother to look it up, what he said there was that this diverse group of people came to the U.S. for different reasons, from different places, under different circumstances, and should be considered on a case-by-case basis.

What I'm saying here, now that we have different laws and they are being considered on bases that are at least different from last year, is that it'll be hard to guarantee that all these immigrants are left-wingers. A lot of them loathe the oppressive regimes they left behind, for good and sufficient reasons, and are likely to support whichever parties and policies are most different from those. The more you hate Fidel Castro, the better most Cuban-Americans of my generation will like you.

Reportedly some other immigrants have no political opinions to speak of and are predisposed, as they form opinions, to adopt those of the people who give them decent jobs. Or they have opinions, but they're young and they're still pulling their worldviews together.

And then there are the ones who don't really want to be U.S. citizens, who defy immigration laws because they think all laws are for prey and they are the predators...theoretically changing the existing law is supposed to make it easier to find and deport that kind, although this web site will wait to see that happen, thanks.

This web site recommends that our conservative readers think long and hard about the middle group--the very young, the uneducated, the inexperienced, the confused, the just plain desperate. Ignorance is a dangerous thing and anyone who pays El Coyote to dump him or her in the desert obviously suffers from ignorance, so people in this category are dangerous all right. How do we neutralize the danger? By educating them. How do we educate people who are too old for prep school and inadequately prepared for college? By getting to know them, working with them, sharing life experiences with them.

Conservative Americans, this is your chance to reach out to a whole new cohort of young people. Become their friends. Let them practice English conversation with you. Invite them to your church or go to theirs. Find out what they're really up against. Share what you've learned about life in these United States with them.

I'd like to share this web site with them. For starters, what about a Spanish page? Would anybody out there care to edit a Spanish page for this web site? I'd like to have one.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Grandma Bonnie Peters Goes to Nickelsville UPDATE

Over the weekend Nickelsville, Virginia, had a Town Festival. A parade, with floats and marching bands. Multiple concerts. Benefit bingo games. Outdoor craft market. Door prizes from here to Knoxville.

I said to Grandma Bonnie Peters, who is a grandma and almost but not quite old enough to be mine, "We ought to go to this and write about it...if only because I wailed last winter about how dangerous the Copper Creek Bridge was, and people out there in cyberspace need to know that the bridge has been repaired and is quite safe now. Just a little bit, well, thrilling. But at least it has two lanes, no snow, and the pavement has been resurfaced."

"That needs to be on the Internet," she agreed. "But do we really want to spend three days at a Town Festival?"

I agreed that maybe three days of a Town Festival was more for kids, or couples, or maybe tourists, than for people who had Real Jobs to do. In a write-up I drafted but did not post here, I'd noted that you could spend most of all three "Nickelsville Days" being entertained in Nickelsville, if you really wanted to. Starting, of course, with Friday Market in Gate City, you could then move on to Friday Afternoon Market in Nickelsville. Between the towns, you'd want to make a brief detour to take in the Creation Kingdom Zoo. (Fair disclosure: the web page didn't work for me just now as well as GBP said it worked for her.) Then in the evening the concerts would begin, and then on Saturday morning you'd go to the picnic breakfast, parade, and so on. But how much would you need to be paid to spend three whole days being entertained?

Well, I had a couple of jobs to wrap up on Friday, thanks just the same. However, some children GBP knows in Tennessee got hold of this itinerary, and on Friday they turned up in GBP's driveway, with their mother, demanding a local guide to the Zoo.

"So where is the write-up?" I said.

"My computer isn't working and my hand still gets tired easily and I had my Real Job to do," GBP said, "but we liked the Zoo. It was almost like visiting a farm, only with more unusual animals. The kids have been to Knoxville," which foreign readers may not know is a city known for its zoo, "and they liked the Creation Kingdom Zoo. They have a web site where you can see pictures of all the animals."

As of today I can't, but I'll take her word for it.

UPDATE: Next day, same computer center, different terminal, the web site works fine. As a sample, here are the rules for a kid-friendly zoo...

"
It is our responsibility to make sure that all of our guests and residents remain safe at all times. Creation Kingdom Zoo is known for going the extra mile to make sure you get great views and photos while not making the animals uncomfortable. We respectfully ask that you follow these rules.

 
Never, ever trust Dexter the monkey. He is a total thief with no shame.
 
Do not tell Dexter where you live.
 
Never cross over any barrier to get closer to an animal.
 
Do not throw anything at the animals and this includes food.
 
No outside food or drinks will be alllowed in the habitat areas.
 
No drink straws are permitted.
 
Do not let small children stand on fences or go under them.
 
Rope barriers are not designed to hold weight. Do not sit on these.
 
Be sure to keep an eye on your little ones at all times.
 
Our zoo is set on terrain that is sloped. Please watch your step.
 
You may feel free to give designated animals food purchased at the gift shop.
 
Some animals may come close enough to touch. Do so at your own risk.
 
No outside animals are permitted in the zoo, other than approved service dogs.
 
Do not let the birds climb on you. They may steal from you and also bite.
 
Please place trash in designated containers.
 
Report any safety issues or rude guests to the staff at the front gate.
 
Have fun at all times or we will tell Dexter where you live.
"

Alice Cooper, Bible-Believing Christian?

So he says. Though wasn't there some story about the source of his stage name having a hard time convincing people she was a Christian, too...before the name "punk," there was "shock rock," and a man who used a woman's name (and really strange makeup) was the epitome of it.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/27/10-more-hollwood-actors-and-performers-who-are-bible-believing-christians/

Does this web page really have anything to add to Billy Hallowell's celebrity gossip story? Yes: last week, local (Tennessee) police had to apologize for detaining a guy who looked a lot like Alice Cooper, on suspicion that his personal paraphernalia might have been illegal drugs. The way the Kingsport Times-News wrote up the story, it sounds as if the man's looking like Alice Cooper was more the real issue than his possessions looking like drugs.

Is there more than a prematurely "old" person's maundering in this post? Does this page have anything to say to people who don't remember the acts and image that made Alice Cooper famous, and continue to create problems for people who look like him? Yes, indeed. Attention young people who are thinking about doing something on the wild side to get attention...tattoos, name changes, a disturbingly strange look or performance, etc. The day may come when these decisions draw far more attention than you want to a time in your life that, when that day comes, you'd just as soon forget.

Walter Williams on the Washington Redskins

What he said. I don't know whether Walter Williams has any Native American relatives. I do, so I get to share this: they've never given me a hard time about the name or logo of the Redskins. Only about the team's actual scores, and why anybody still bothers wearing their colors any more...

http://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2013/06/26/bit-by-bit-strategy-n1626321/page/full

Seriously, it's not about whether changing their name, or anything else, could earn another Super Bowl for the Washington team. It's about the people who are screaming for change to be forced upon them from outside. If Ward Churchill feels so deeply hurt by the name "Redskins," why doesn't he just save up his money, join forces with anybody out there who feels the way he does, buy the team, and change their name to something that sounds both more intimidating and more representative of modern Washington? The Washington Traffic...now that's scarey. The Washington Red Tape...ah yes, this could definitely be done. So why isn't Churchill doing for Washington what Art Modell did for Baltimore?

How to Cool Your Work Area

Where I am, it's not the 80-degree heat that might kill you, it's the 80-percent humidity. Unfortunately, this quick'n'easy do-it-yourself cooling device won't dehumidify the air at all. For those who are actually dealing with extreme heat, however, Mike Opelka shares a cheap and simple way to cool your work area:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/27/can-you-really-beat-the-heat-with-a-20-d-i-y-air-conditioner-we-give-it-a-try/

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Police Fail to Defend Home Owners

If you were considering buying a house in Florida or California, be warned: Police in these states won't even back you up if you defend your home from burglars.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/25/84-year-old-fl-gun-owner-shoots-at-robber-after-several-warnings-now-police-are-investigating-him-for-a-possible-crime/

Oh that poor, pitiful thief...now nobody could have expected him to drop the stolen goods and run before anybody shot at him, could they?

Is Your Car Spying on You?

Did you know that new cars are coming with "black boxes" that can be used to document things like speed, seat belt positions, and brake positions...and might be used against you if you wanted to shade the facts in traffic court?

How bad is that? Isn't it good if anything, including a mere car, helps keep a driver honest?

Wait a minute. What else are these cars recording?

http://www.capitolhilldaily.com/2013/06/edr-car-black-box/

Monday, June 24, 2013

Cat Sanctuary Update for 6/24/13

As I headed out this afternoon Heather reminded me of a Cat Sanctuary tradition. Feral-born Polly, Heather's great-grandmother, made a particular point of resting her head on my hand or knee while she nursed her kittens. Heather's mother and grandmother did this too, in their turns; Heather's sister Irene and aunt Ivy did it this spring.

Heather, who chose to give birth prematurely in hope of adopting one of Candice's new kittens this spring, has no surviving kittens of her own. Irene and Ivy integrated their litters when they were about a month old and have shared parenting duties, including Heather and allowing their kitten-free sister Iris to baby-sit as well...but what Heather reminded me today was that she hadn't rested her head on my hand while nursing the surviving kittens yet. (She did this during the hours when her premature and adopted kitten were alive.)

So we did that. Then I came to the computer center and found this story on Yahoo:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending-now/evidence-dog-mourning-loss-friend-174031345.html?vp=1

That animals mourn isn't even news any more, but the reference to a dog burying a dead dog friend reminded me of one of the more unusual things Candice did. Regular readers may remember that we lost Bisquit and some kittens during the same week when I was suffering the effects of pesticide exposure. Candice survived. During that week I noticed a kitten missing, and then saw a tiny burial mound with Candice's distinctive polydactyl paw prints in the dry earth that completely covered the missing kitten. Candice was thirteen months old and hadn't seen humans bury another animal before this incident. So was burying the kitten (one of Bisquit's, not her own) an instinctive act, or had Bisquit, who had seen me bury other animals, shown or told her what to do? Who knows?

Might as well mention this here, too, in case people want to move from the short to the long list or vice versa...this year's surviving kittens are partly Manx. Their father looked like a normal cat whose tail might have been shortened by accident, but most of the kittens were born with short tails or none. Two of them have that "trundling" walk. None has extra toes. Since they're not pedigreed but merely have a dysfunctional gene, I am recommending early sterilization.

Phenology for 6/24/13

Michelle Malkin called it "Supermoon"--this weekend's full moon being unusually close to Earth--and so it was. Beautiful bright moonlit nights. I sat up late and enjoyed them.

Weather has been balmy: highs in the eighties, lows in the sixties, but too humid to suit me.

Insects: extremely high populations of all sorts of gnats and several species of tiny beetles, including but not limited to carpet beetles, thriving on the warm damp weather.

On Friday a Spring Azure butterfly (they're often the first butterflies of spring, but this was the second of probably three generations this year) perched on my shoe and fanned its wings as if it were saying "Write about me." Later in the week I will.

I saw the first Haploidea bipuncta of the season on Sunday. I've not actually seen great numbers of moths, butterflies, or caterpillars this year...except on the Internet, where I've been immersed in nasty ones for a week. Phew. So far I've only actually seen two stingingworms this summer. That's plenty. I want to think and write about other things now.

Right. Birds: sparrows, wrens, chickadees, the Cat Sanctuary's resident cardinals.

Flowers: butterfly bush, vetch, clover, pink roses, daisies, Queen Anne's Lace, chicory. Lupins. I don't think lupins are native here but they adapt easily and thrive.

More Opposition to Common Core Curriculum

From Karen Bracken:

"
This is an extremely well done video about the road Common Core is taking education.  Pay close attention to the part in which they discuss putting children into groups and building a curriculum for them.  I believe they will use data to cluster children so they are guaranteed to achieve in their cluster……….thus drastically closing the achievement gap and making it appear as if we have conquered the education problem with Common Core.  It will also serve to career path these children.   Can you imagine what group Dr. Carson would be placed if this were used when he was in school??
 
EVERYONE you know needs to see this video.
 
Karen Bracken - I WILL NOT COMPLY - WILL YOU?
www.americadontforget.com 
The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests”- Patrick Henry
To fix "THE SYSTEM" We must become "THE SYSTEM" - k. bracken
"The change we seek has always required great struggle and great sacrifice." - Barack Hussein Obama
"The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, speaks of slaves and masters. And intends to be the master." - Ayn Rand "

Obama Rebutted in Ireland

Warning: Although this video playlist is in English, it comes from a foreign country and is not constrained by any loyalty to the United States whatsoever. I was able to watch about four minutes of the video; I can't hear what the speakers are saying (because I'm at a public computer center where I have to mute the sound). I don't know these people, their background, how well they understand American Democracy or what sort of alternatives they're offering to the ideas they reject. Nevertheless, on some ideas they do seem to agree with this web site...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SX58vqcEU0&list=PLfrlsC1yJ2dRhut7y3j3eFSRzJnJpXuBz

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Tina Trenner Targets Bigotry at NBC

Three credits are in order: Karen Bracken sent me a Breitbart article by John Nolte and its accompanying e-mail from Tina Trenner.

Since Nolte's article can still be found on Breitbart, let's just quote a few lines here to indicate the tendency of the article:

"The whole idea behind this edit was to make it look as though Republican congressman Pete Sessions was claiming that giving food stamps to the poor meant you were giving food stamps to rapists and child molesters. In other words, poor people are criminals.

As you can see, though, what Sessions really said and meant was the exact opposite.

Since NBC News has begun this regular practice of deceptively editing audio, video, and photos in order to make Obama's political critics and foes look bad, the rest of the media as a whole have hardly bothered to notice. "
Breitbart links:

For John Nolte: http://www.breitbart.com/Columnists/John-Nolte

Nolte's article (quoted above): http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/06/21/Number-Seven-NBC-News-Caught-Again-Selectively-Editing-Video

Cited in that article: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/05/04/NBC-News-Again-Caught-Selectively-Editing

And: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2012/12/06/Zimmerman-Sues-NBC-Over-Malicious_edit

And: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/06/21/msnbc-edits-congressman-make-it-seem-he-said-food-stamp-recipients-ar#ixzz2Ws6eenzE

And: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/05/02/Daily-Beast-Dumps-Howard-Kurtz

And: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/02/28/Rogues-Gallery-Journalist-Side-with-obama-over-woodward

Nolte's conclusion: "You see how this works? If you err in a way that hurts the left, the media targets its own for total destruction. But if you maliciously and intentionally commit journalistic malpractice in service to Obama and the left, the media hardly manages a shrug."
Now Tina Trenner's e-mail, edited for formatting only:

"
Subject: NBC does it again...

Date: June 22, 2013 3:51:40 PM PDT

Reply-To: Tina Trenner <tina.trenner@sbcglobal.net>


Hi Everyone.....
Please read the attached then watch the video and you will get what I am doing. It's critical to stop this malfeasance . Please get on board with me. We have to fight for our free press like we are fighting all the other problems. NSA, IRS,Common Core, anti gunners, Benghazi, Ocare... Sad to say but the Progressives have infiltrated every nook and cranny of this nation . Obama was the firing mechanism/ trigger that has open the gate for  the hounds from Hell... Check out my website to see what we are doing to stop this exact type of lying. This kind of  Yellow Journalism is straight from our Soviet style propaganda machines and it  is everywhere.  NBC is the most obvious. We need to take them down a few pegs. Right now!!! Before the next election.
I cannot do this alone... Thanks too those of you who have already responded . You've joined the fight...but we need way more people on board.  Please e-mail this out to everyone...Go on my website , read the plan and if you agree we must  stop NBC...Join me. I would say help me give NBC a black eye but they do that to themselves everyday. We just want the truth back in the news.
I need 3 things from you...Download and file complaints with your  local NBC affiliates and send me a copy, donate a few bucks to the cause, and tell all your friends and associates. Send this to everyone you know.
Stop NBC from lying!!!!!
Tina Trenner
Battle Born PAC
 
 

Buck Moths: Reader Reaction

This is very interesting: someone who will here remain anonymous e-mailed me about last week's articles about the Buck Moth family...in defense of stingingworms.

I've been tempted to share the whole e-mail exchange as an example of how cognitive dissonance works. The person--I think this is a good opportunity to use "person," as Marge Piercy did, as a non-gender-specific pronoun--has looked up these animals in a book and seen that some Hemileuca species are rare, possibly threatened. So person thinks they need to be protected. There may actually be some ecological niche Buck Moths fill in some places, although in Virginia, where they were locally extinct for many years, they were absolutely not missed. Person hasn't shared specific information on the value of the species. What's been debated has been the identity and toxicity of our respective pests.

What I'd like to share with readers is that this person claims that "if you touch them" (referring to Hemileuca nevadensis) "it feels like you've touched a nettle leaf." Now I have been blessed with warnings, caution, and good luck, so I've never actually touched one of what I'm guessing, based on last week's research, are Hemileuca maia. What people who've touched them have said, and what's abundantly documented on the Internet (type "Hemileuca maia" into a search engine), is that if you touch one of these things it feels as if you've been simultaneously stung by anywhere from ten to fifty bees.

Maia and nevadensis look very much alike at all stages of their lives--they merely live in different places and eat different things--and some of the scientific literature refers to "the maia-nevadensis complex" as possibly just varieties within one real species. There must be some difference between maia and nevadensis to account for their being classified as two distinct species, and it's not apparent to the eye. Is it apparent to the hand? Are nevadensis really less harmful than maia?

There's also the question of how common the things are. Like other insect populations, within my lifetime Hemileuca maia populations have expanded to meet the expanding food supply. Scott County, Virginia, exhausted its scanty supply of coal long ago and then sold off nearly all its oak trees. When I was growing up the dominant tree species was tulip poplar (which grow faster than oak or maple), the dominant tree-feeding insect was the Tiger Swallowtail butterfly, and fall foliage lasted for about a week. Now there are more oak trees on the mountain, foliage lasts longer, and we're seeing lots of new insects...unfortunately including Hemileuca maia.

"Could it be that you're seeing a different, more common caterpillar?" It could not. I didn't major in entomology at college, but I did research and write up the major differences between Malacosoma americana, Lymantria dispar, and Hemileuca maia back in the 1980s. For me these caterpillars are no easier to confuse with each other than they are with salamanders, or walnuts, or anything else that's about two inches long. They can certainly be described in words that make them sound alike, but the shapes are completely different. Nothing else really resembles the Hemileucas.

How common have they become? This year I've seen two. One year the orchard was really badly infested with six stingingworms. Trust me on this, Gentle Readers: some other species may (hypothetically) be easier to tolerate, but one of Hemileuca maia is too many. People won't pick their own fruit if they've heard that somebody else has found one!

Really large numbers are reported in New Orleans because the streets there have been lined with oak trees for a long time. We're not seeing that kind of population explosion in Virginia--yet--because oak trees are still only one of several competing species in local forests. When we get oak-dominated climax forests, then we'll have even more trouble with stingingworms. We could end up having to carry umbrellas every time we went outdoors, as people in New Orleans reportedly do, because fat, clumsy caterpillars are raining down from the oak trees. Or we could have more sense and maintain more of a variety of trees.

However, this reader reaction has motivated me to add another caterpillar species--that's not actually likely to be confused with tent caterpillars, gypsy moth larvae, or stingingworms by actual Virginia residents, but that does seem to be what the defender of nevadensis has in mind. "Black Bear" caterpillars are big, all-black relatives of Woolly Bears. They look as if they might be pests, but they're not; they eat mostly lawn weeds and, if you touch their stiff prickly hair, as I've done a few times, it feels like touching a wire brush. I'll try to get more information about them onto this site before we start seeing them in Virginia, between August and March...the "bear" caterpillars hibernate through the winter and come out for snacks on warm afternoons. "Bear" caterpillar hair can raise a mild allergy-type rash if sensitive human skin is exposed to it for a while, as can short human hair, but there is no way these animals could be confused with stingingworms either.

Meanwhile, what's the real inside story on Hemileuca nevadensis? How many Western readers have been stung by these things, and to what would youall compare the experience? I don't know, and I hope never to find out firsthand; that's what the Internet is for. If you know someone who's handled this species and can rate their sting as worse or less bad than nettle leaves', please share the information with this web site. As always, if you have trouble using the comment space below, feel free to e-mail Saloli.

The Top 200 Conservative Blogs

We didn't even make the top 200! (Well, Freedom Connector did--the official site for the Constitutional Civil Libertarians is supposed to be at Freedom Connector.) I am crushed. Although Terresa Monroe-Hamilton calls this "Obama's real enemies list" (tongue in cheek), a few of these blogs aren't even based in the U.S. However, if you're here for the politics, you'll want to check out all 200 of these bigger and better political blogs...

http://noisyroom.net/blog/2013/06/23/the-presidents-real-enemies-list/

This web site particularly recommends:

#4. www.theblaze.com (don't we link to something there every day?)

#13. http://nationalreview.com/ (e-home of Jonah Goldberg)

#23. http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/

#37. http://michellemalkin.com/

#193. http://www.larryelder.com/

This web site also reminds you of warnings that some of the really popular sites at the top of the list attract trolls by the truckload, are frequently hacked, and may even deliberately send out spyware, just because they're so dang busy.

This web site, further, admits that this web site has never even heard of the majority of these other web sites, and will now wipe the egg off its face and try to remind itself to check them out.

Christians, Where Do You Stand on Freedom?

Susan J. Knowles' title sounds like a line from an old gospel song or spiritual, to me, but I can't place it...

http://noisyroom.net/blog/2013/06/23/christians-where-do-you-stand-on-freedom/

No points for guessing that this short article is meant to lead into the book advertised at the end.
But you might not have guessed that Knowles also helps people publish and market songbooks:

http://www.worshipsong.com/songbooks

Friday, June 21, 2013

Triolet: Blue of the Evening

Another poem from Robert O. Adair:

http://voices.yahoo.com/the-blue-evening-12188459.html?cat=42

Audit the IRS Rally: The Video

For those who wanted to spend four hours urging our government to audit the IRS, but couldn't get to Washington on Wednesday, Terresa Monroe-Hamilton shares the full videotape. Almost four hours! Dedication, yes...

http://noisyroom.net/blog/2013/06/21/audit-the-irs-rally-full-event/

How Big Government = Bad Government

TV's Rick Harrison explains how government that's allowed to focus on demanding that somebody make expensive renovations to a private building fails to address questions like sentencing violent criminals...

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/21/pawn-stars-rick-harrison-alleges-shocking-miscarriage-of-justice-in-speaking-out-against-big-government/

This happens, people. And in Maryland, if you can convince somebody that you own a house and get them to take out a loan to pay four times what the house is worth, Big Corrupt Government will uphold the claim of the "good faith purchaser" against that of the rightful owner who is actually living in the house.

My husband's ex-wife, who didn't pay for our home, had never been invited to our home, had never been inside our home, had never had her name on the title to our home, and had used a forged document no (unbribed) sixth grade teacher would have accepted to get a copy of the title to our home, was able to get a "good faith purchaser" to buy our house. That's why my financial security has not been grounded on the rent from that house, as my husband intended it to be, today. Maybe I was a fool to uphold my stepson's and nieces' claims on those of my husband's bank accounts he had intended to leave to them, but I was just plain robbed outright of our house...and Big Government stood by watching it happen.

Everybody in the local bloated government offices was too busy saying "That's not my problem, you need to talk to somebody else," for anybody to notice that a precedent was being set. Has this precedent been investigated and changed? Not that I'm aware of. If any of you readers are not, in fact, gentle people, and would like to make money fast, just go up to Maryland, find a recent obituary for someone whose last name looks like yours, get something notarized and photocopy the notary's seal onto a separate page, forge a document identifying yourself as a relative or guardian of the deceased, and sell the home of the deceased. If the price is inflated enough, no official person will even investigate your documents. You don't need to bribe the people who ought to investigate the documents. All you have to do is take advantage of Maryland's humid summer weather and the natural desire of bureaucrats to reframe as many problems as possible as "Somebody Else's Problem."

Personally I wouldn't have called Virginia a fascist state--yet--but I think Virginia should profit from Maryland's example. Big Government needs to collect Big Money to sustain itself...enough that Big Government loses track of what, exactly, government is for. Good government needs to watch its own weight, trim the fat, and keep itself efficient.

Godless Girl Guides?

Breitbart reports that British and Australian Girl Guides ("sisters" to U.S. Girl Scouts) no longer pledge "to serve God, my country, and mankind," although American Girl Scouts still do.

Of course, it's no longer news that Girl Scouts allow known lesbians to serve as troop leaders...by the way, what can parents do if they don't want their children spending time every week with a homosexual Scout leader, male or female? Duh...they could volunteer. Both Boy and Girl Scouts have been pleading for troop leaders (who are not paid) for years.

I think the lesson to be learned here may be: If Christian parents don't remain active in youth organizations, then youth organizations are likely to be co-opted by anti-Christians. As is currently happening to the Scouts. Ernest Thompson Seton and Juliette Low are tossing in their graves...but then, although "progressive" meant something more reasonable back then, they were "progressives."

Charlotte Iserbyt Questions Congress

Charlotte Iserbyt has found an interesting piece of federal law, and invites everyone to ask their Senators and Representative about it. If you're on her or Karen Bracken's mailing list, you may already have received this document, formatted for printing in Word. Here, for others who want to use it, is text suitable for pasting into Word and re-formatting:

"
(return address)

(date)

The Honorable Senator/Representative  __________
(address)
City, State   Zip Code

The Honorable Senator/Representative ___________,

In 1952, H.R. 7249, Public Law 82-495, 66 Stat. 549 was passed and codified into law.  Page 7 of this law (66 Stat. 556) includes the following language:

 SEC. 111. No part of any appropriation contained in this title shall be used to pay the salary or expenses of any person assigned to or serving in any office of any of the several States of the United States or any political subdivision thereof.

SEC. 112. None of the funds appropriated in this title shall be used

(1) to pay the United States contribution to any international organization which engages in the direct or indirect promotion of the principle or doctrine of one world government or one world citizenship;

(2) for the promotion, direct or indirect, of the principle or doctrine of one world government or one world citizenship.

I have been unable to find where this language was codified into law, incorporated into the United States Code (USC);  nor have I been able to find where this language was repealed.

Does this language still exist in the USC?  If so, where?  If repealed, when was it repealed and by the passage of what law?

Thank you for your help in this matter.

Sincerely,

/sender's signature/

(senders name)
"

Smart Meters Used for Surveillance

From Karen Bracken:

"
Gee and we were promised this would not happen.  Hmmmmmm.   There is no chance we are being lied to now is there?
 
Friends,
I guess we knew the mining and monetizing of our personal data would be on the way. It has now been confirmed.
http://emfsafetynetwork.org/ California has been ground zero for many nefarious government/corporate plans such
as the roll out of smart meters and regionalism (Agenda 21). This is likely the model for the rest of the nation.
You won't see this in the newspapers here. Please send it far and wide.  

California Public Service Commission Confirmation:
http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/NR/rdonlyres/1AAFED95-3F3F-4296-B4B6-8CB8E6704CC1/0/SDGEAnnual_Privacy_Report_2012.pdf

----- Forwarded Message -----
To: protecting-people-from-electrosmog
Sent: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 00:08:42 -0000 (UTC)
Subject: Smart meter surveillance use confirmed
Smart meter surveillance use confirmed
Posted on June 20, 2013 by admin
Today the San Francisco Chronicle confirmed utilities are giving customers smart meter data to the government and third parties.  Reporter David Baker writes, “Phone records and e-mail aren’t the only kinds of personal data that government agencies can collect on Americans.  They can look at your home’s energy use, too.  And that information can be revealing.”

Smart meters are a surveillance tool, best described by Jerry Day in this video- which has reached over 1.7 million viewers.  And now we have proof that if you have a smart meters on your home, your privacy: what you do in your home, or if you're not home, when you cook, watch TV, or  if you get up in the middle of the night is provided to third parties for “legal” purposes when requested.  The smart meter data when analyzed  shows a detailed pattern of your life.
The Northern California ACLU writes“transparency reports filed by the California utilities companies and obtained by the ACLU of California show that a significant amount of data about the energy use of Californians is also ending up in the hands of third parties.  In 2012, a single California utility company, San Diego Gas & Electric, disclosed the smart meter energy records of over 4,000 of its customers. “
The “privacy” rules, adopted by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) allows disclosure of smart meter data for legal purposes, or pursuant to situations of imminent threat to life or property.  San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) disclosed the records of 4,062 customers. PG&E disclosed 86 and SCE disclosed one.
“In 4,000 of those [SDGE] cases, the information was subpoenaed by government agencies, often in drug enforcement cases or efforts to find specific individuals, according to the utility. The other 62 disclosures came as the result of subpoenas in civil lawsuits.  Some of the released information focused solely on billing information, account addresses and other data that could be used to locate an individual.” David Baker- SF Chronicle

According to the ACLU “a single legal request can potentially result in the disclosure of millions of customers’ records.

 
Karen Bracken - I WILL NOT COMPLY - WILL YOU?
www.americadontforget.com 
The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests”- Patrick Henry
To fix "THE SYSYEM" We must become "THE SYSTEM" - k. bracken
"The change we seek has always required great struggle and great sacrifice." - Barack Hussein Obama
"The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, speaks of slaves and masters. And intends to be the master." - Ayn Rand"

Can Virginia Be Called Fascist?

Actually, I think the whole political trend of the current and the past two administrations has been fascist. (That's right, new readers...Clinton and Obama did a lot to give more power to Big Business, W Bush did a lot to give more power to Big Government, and the effect is less freedom and more poverty for private people.) So, with only the disclaimer that the language here is Patricia Evans' and not mine, here's an informative document from the Southern Virginia Tea Party. I'm not even trying to fix the formatting, because some people find the bold type and extra colors easier to follow. My intention here is not to bash any elected officials but to educate them:

"Please take the time to read this. There is a lot here that you need to know. Virginia ranks as one of the most fascist states in the country and we all need to understand why. When Gov. McDonnell and our legislators promote schemes as good for jobs and business, they don't mean through free market capitalism and private property rights. Both political parties are legislating fascism.

Where Communism seeks to substitute the state for private ownership, fascism seeks to incorporate or co-opt private ownership into the state apparatus through public-private partnership. Thus fascism tends to be more tempting than Communism to wealthy interests who may see it as a way to insulate their economic power from competition through forced cartelization and other corporatist stratagems...power structures external to the state are also potential allies of the state, particularly if they serve to encourage habits of subordination and regimentation in the populace, and so the potential always exists for a mutually beneficial partnership; herein lies the fascist strategy. -- From Liberalism vs. Fascism by Roderick Long editor of The Journal of Libertarian Studies. This paper was delivered at the Mises Institute Conference on Fascism, Learn more about The Economics of Fascism here: 
http://mises.org/media.aspx?action=category&ID=82


"The citizen in the Fascist State is no longer a selfish individual who has the anti-social right of rebelling against any law of the Collectivity. The Fascist State with its corporative conception puts men and their possibilities into productive work and interprets for them the duties they have to fulfill." - Benito Mussolini


“to remold the entire American system” into a centralized one run by “a system of labor-market boards at the local, state and federal levels” where curriculum and “job matching” will be handled by government functionaries -
Marc Tucker, president of the National Center on Education and the Economy

Virginia Legislating Fascism

Conjoining government with private corporations is commonly referred to as ‘crony capitalism,’ ‘public-private partnerships,’ ‘corporatism’ and now ‘Benefit Corporations.’ and 'Advanced Manufacturing.'  Governors and State Legislatures who enact the Benefit Corporation Legislation either condone the transformation of America, or they are ignorant sheeple who are too dumb to hold elected office:

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell signed legislation that made Virginia the fourth state to allow stock corporations to become Benefit Corporations (B Corps).


Governor McDonnell signed HB 2358 on March 26, 2011 and the legislation took effect on July 1, 2011. The bill had unanimously passed both the Virginia State Senate and the Virginia State legislature.
From Agenda 21 and "Benefit" Corporations By Tom DeWeese: http://redstatevirginia.com/2011/11/agenda-21-and-benefit-corporations/
There is a new kind of corporation being developed through Public Private Partnerships to destroy free enterprise –it’s called “benefit” corporations, a legislated brotherhood of business where favored businesses get to go to the front of the line for permits, licenses and opportunities merely because they agree to advance the principles of Sustainable Development and Agenda 21.  Virginia has passed Benefit Corporation legislation making it part of the states corporate legal system, which permits companies to pursue social missions ( UN Agenda 21 ) without fear of shareholder litigation.

Governor McDonnell Announces Formation of Commonwealth Center for Advanced Logistics Systems ( fascism, from U. N. Agenda 21) 

Collaborative Partnership Brings Business and Government Experience Together with University Expertise  to Transform Logistics Operations: 

The Commonwealth Center for Advanced Logistics Systems (CCALS) http://www.ccals.com/  This public-private alliance is an extraordinary collaboration between business, government and world-class universities, all focused on a singular mission: transform industry by improving the complex system of technological, mechanical and human factors that enable logistics. CCALS will allow industry members to influence the curriculum and workforce development programs at participating universities. To foster a collaborative research environment, the CCALS facility is expected to include computation and large-scale data mining laboratories.  Industry and government members direct the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Logistics Systems agenda.

Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing ( fascism, from U.N. Agenda 21 )

http://www.ccam-va.com/2013/03/25/commonwealth-center-for-advanced-manufacturing-unveils-new-research-and-product-development-facility-during-grand-opening/

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell has helped further Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing research and manufacturing goals. The Prince George County, Va., facility was completed in late 2012.  CCAM is a public–private collaborative research center that undertakes research critical to the surface technology and advanced manufacturing industries.

From Agenda 21, Chapter 34: Transfer Of Environmentally Sound Technology, Cooperation And Capacity-building 
http://habitat.igc.org/agenda21/a21-34.htm
                             
                                                                                                   Establishment of a collaborative network of research centres:

...establish demonstration centres which are linked with the national institutions, in close cooperation with the private sector...through the involvement of both public and private enterprises and research facilities, as well as funding for technical cooperation among programmes... This should include developing links among these facilities to maximize their efficiency in understanding, disseminating and implementing technologies for sustainable development. Support should be provided for programmes of cooperation and assistance, including those provided by United Nations agencies, international organizations, and other appropriate public and private organizations.                                                            

The Advanced Manufacturing scheme was created, developed and endorsed by John P. Holdren, Obama's most radical Science Czar:  http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ostp/pcast

On July 17, 2012, the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership Steering Committee, working within the framework of President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) led by John P. Holdren and co-chaired by Andrew Liveris of Dow Chemical and Susan Hockfield of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, outlined recommendations for spurring investment and positioning the U.S. for long-term leadership in advanced manufacturing.  The Committee’s report, Capturing Domestic Competitive Advantage in Advanced Manufacturing, has been endorsed by PCAST, led by John P. Holdren and Eric Lander, President of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT.

From FrontPageMag / Discover the Networks, Obama's Biggest Radical: John P. Holdren
http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=34198

John P. Holdren is a globalist who has endorsed "surrender of sovereignty" to "a comprehensive Planetary Regime" that would control all the world's resources, direct global redistribution of wealth, oversee the "de-development" of the West, control a World Army and taxation regime, and enforce world population limits. He wrote:


 "The post-Cold-War world needs a more powerful United Nations, probably with a standing volunteer force -- owing loyalty directly to the UN rather than to contingents from individual nations."

Such a comprehensive Planetary Regime could control the development, administration, conservation, and distribution of all natural resources, renewable or nonrenewable...not only in the atmosphere and oceans, but in such freshwater bodies as rivers and lakes...The Regime might also be a logical central agency for regulating all international trade...The Planetary Regime might be given responsibility for determining the optimum population for the world and for each region and for arbitrating various countries' shares within their regional limits...the Regime would have some power to enforce the agreed limits. (p. 943.)
Part of the power wielded by this "Regime" would be in the form of a World Army. He wrote that the United States must destroy all its nuclear arsenal. But this would not render us defenseless against Communist aggression. "Security might be provided by an armed international organization, a global analogue of a police force...The first step necessarily involves partial surrender of sovereignty to an international organization" (p. 917, emphasis added).

John P. Holdren's Advanced Manufacturing scheme:

                                                                    

Obama: Invest in manufacturing / Advanced Manufacturing Partnership

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57742.html
                             
                                                                              
Obama launched the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, which aims to bring together the manufacturing industry, universities and the government. According to the White House, more than $500 million ( taxpayers money ) will be invested in the program, which was created from recommendations made by the president’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology led by John P. Holdren

Corporatist Obama to mix Business and Government via tax dollars “Advanced Manufacturing"

http://www.conservativeactionalerts.com/2011/06/corporatist-obama-to-mix-business-and-government-via-tax-dollars/
In his weekly address released Saturday, President Barack Obama called for a campaign of “nation building here at home,” citing as an example of what is needed to rebuild the American economy an initiative he announced Friday to “invest” tax dollars in what he called a “partnership” between the federal government and an initial group of 11 major corporations.
The administration’s corporate partners in this venture include Caterpiller, Corning, Dow Chemical, Ford, Honeywell, Intel, Johnson and Johnson, Allegheny Technologies, Stryker and Proctor and Gamble.
Obama is not seeking new legislation from Congress to authorize his government-corporate partnership program–which he is calling the “Advanced Manufacturing Partnership”–and he did not say how the corporations in the partnership had been chosen.
“The President’s plan, which leverages existing programs and proposals, will invest more than $500 million to jumpstart this effort,” the White House said in a statement released Friday.
“Even though we’ve turned our economy in the right direction over the past couple of years, many Americans are still hurting, and now is the time to focus on nation building here at home,” Obama said before explaining the partnership in his Saturday address.
In addition to the 11 corporations, the administration also picked a small group of universities to participate in the government-corporate partnership. These include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Stanford University, the University of California-Berkeley and the University of Michigan. The White House did not say how these universities were selected.
In a speech in Pittsburgh Friday announcing the government-corporate partnership program, Obama said that in American history such partnerships have often led the way in enterpreneurial breakthroughs.
“Throughout our history, our greatest breakthroughs have often come from partnerships just like this one,” said Obama. “American innovation has always been sparked by individual scientists and entrepreneurs, often at universities like Carnegie Mellon or Georgia Tech or Berkeley or Stanford. But a lot of companies don’t invest in early ideas because it won’t pay off right away. And that’s where government can step in. ”
The largest single element of the partnership program, as described in the White House statement, will have the Departments of Commerce, Agriculture, Homeland Security, Energy and Defense spending an estimated $300 milion in tax dollars to “co-invest with industry” in the development of products including “small high-powered batteries” and “alternative energy.”
“Starting this summer, the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, Agriculture, Commerce and other agencies will coordinate a government-wide effort to leverage their existing funds and future budgets, with an initial goal of $300 million, to co-invest with industry in innovative technologies that will jumpstart domestic manufacturing capability essential to our national security and promote the long-term economic viability of critical U.S. industries,” said the White House statement. “Initial investments include small high-powered batteries, advanced composites, metal fabrication, bio-manufacturing, and alternative energy, among others.”
In his weekly address, President Obama explained his view that “nation building here at home” means government “investment” in education ( Common Core, see more below ) and infrastructure, as well as in the development of technology–including the kind of “clean energy” technology that will be one focus of his new government-corporate partnership.


In the U.S. today, we see private corporations joining with the Federal government and doing its bidding. Think of Obama and GE, Facebook, Google, Monsanto, banks, major utility companies and many other large corporations. Liberal CEOs who have jumped on the Progressive bandwagon are just as dangerous as the Progressive politicians we elected into office.
Unfortunately these corporations are in our homes and our lives through the products and services we use… and those that Obama’s government forces down our throats (e.g. the SMART meter that monitors and records energy usage in our homes every minute of every day; hazardous light bulbs that are now mandated; Facebook that now monitors us and our children through facial recognition and more).
Brief Lesson for Governors and State Legislators:
Fascism:
Where socialism sought totalitarian control of a society’s economic processes through direct state operation of the means of production, fascism sought that control indirectly, through domination of nominally private owners. Where socialism nationalized property explicitly, fascism did so implicitly, by requiring owners to use their property in the “national interest”—that is, as the autocratic authority conceived it.  Where socialism abolished all market relations outright, fascism left the appearance of market relations while planning all economic activities. State ministries, rather than consumers, determined what was produced and under what conditions.
Fascist governments are different from communist ones in that fascists, in theory, support the right of labor representatives (labor unions) and corporate representatives (CEOs, company presidents, etc.) to negotiate - through a system called corporatism- while communism calls for complete economic control and ownership of the economy. In fascism, the country is considered more important than any one person, group, liberty or provision. The government tries to control all areas of life, including work, school, and family life. It is very important to fascists that all schools in the country teach children that the state is the most important thing in the world.
 
Wall Street Journal, Common Core Education is Uncommonly Inadequate
 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324659404578503561386927962.html

Common Core recycles a decades-old, top-down approach to education. Its roots are in a letter sent to Hillary Clinton by Marc Tucker, president of the National Center on Education and the Economy, after Bill Clinton’s presidential victory in 1992. The letter laid out a plan “to remold the entire American system” into a centralized one run by “a system of labor-market boards at the local, state and federal levels” where curriculum and “job matching” will be handled by government functionaries

The Common Core Straight Jacket   http://www.teapartynation.com/forum/topic/show?id=3355873%3ATopic%3A2561429&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_topic

Common Core is not a plan to produce a new generation of citizens who understand the values on which the nation was based and built, but rather one that focuses on job skills to the detriment of civics, economics, history, the arts, and traditional values. It is a system for serfs, not citizens. It is yet another example of how progressives view people as mere instruments of the state and how they have used the schools to indoctrinate and train them for that purpose.
“As long as government owns and operates ninety percent of the schools in the United States, we have no right to expect that fewer than ninety percent of students who graduate will be socialists.” The result of the two Obama elections are testimony to that.  “If we can return to a free-market education system, we can solve most of our political problems.”

Corporatism:
“Theory and practice of organizing the whole of society into corporate entities subordinate to the state. According to the theory, employers and employees would be organized into industrial and professional corporations serving as organs of political representation and largely controlling the people and activities within their jurisdiction. The classes operated as guilds, or corporations, each controlling a specific function of social life. 
Benito Mussolini:  

If a formal architect of fascism can be identified, it is Benito Mussolini, the onetime Marxist editor who broke with the left as World War I approached and became Italy’s leader in 1922. Mussolini distinguished fascism from liberal capitalism in his 1928 autobiography p. 280:
"The citizen in the Fascist State is no longer a selfish individual who has the anti-social right of rebelling against any law of the Collectivity. The Fascist State with its corporative conception puts men and their possibilities into productive work and interprets for them the duties they have to fulfill." - Benito Mussolini
Mussolini was among the founders of Italian Fascism, which included elements of nationalism, corporatism, national syndicalism, expansionism, social progress, and anti-socialism in combination with censorship of subversives and state propaganda. In the years following his creation of the Fascist ideology, Mussolini influenced, or achieved admiration from, a wide variety of political figures.

The fascist leaders’ antagonism to communism has been misinterpreted as an affinity for capitalism.  In fact, fascists’ anticommunism was motivated by a belief that communism was its closest rival for people’s allegiance. As with communism, under fascism, every citizen was regarded as an employee and tenant of the totalitarian, party-dominated state. Consequently, it was the state’s prerogative to use force, or the threat of it, to suppress even peaceful opposition.
From Library of Economics and Liberty: http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Fascism.html And from Gulag Bound: http://gulagbound.com/20648/legislating-fascism-six-states-one-city-are-now-full-on-fascist-with-more-to-come/

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"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."  - Thomas Jefferson  Virginia Tea Party Patriots       www.virginiateapartypatriots.com   Danville Patriots http://danvillepatriots.com/   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyqTlje8RxQ "