just too bizarre

Subject: just too bizarre

Absolutely Ted. 

And I've met people with holes in their shoes and no food in their cupboard who relate to the super rich.  There is that old adage, Success breeds success. 

Trouble is , their idea of success and mine are world's apart.  Everyone on the merry-go-round wants a shot at the brass ring.  I just enjoy the ride. 

 

Carl Jarvis

----- Original Message -----

From: ted chittenden

To: Blind Democracy Discussion List

Sent: Monday, December 24, 2012 10:24 AM

Subject: Re: just too bizarre

Carl:
Maybe. But keep in mind that small business owners very much side with big business owners, especially when it comes to additional costs and regulations. They, like most of the rest of us, fail to see the long-term consequences of their actions, only the short-term benefits to them that may result if certain actions are taken or not.
--
Ted Chittenden

Every story has at least two sides if not more.
---- Carl Jarvis <carjar82@gmail.com> wrote:
Ted,
some big business owners started as small businesses.  Some.  Amazon,
Wal-Mart, Microsoft spring to mind.  Even Bill Boeing's little airplane
factory on the shore's of Lake Washington blossomed into a world dominating
corporation.
But much of the wealth and commerce in this nation is from very old money.
Money and commerce that was fought over back around 1776.  We forget that
the holders of property and factories and banks are not likely to hand them
over to new businesses.  Sure, a very few make it through, but mostly the
successful small businesses stay around the middle class pack.  And they are
as vulnerable as the rest of us.
The ones that do find a crack and are not taken over by the Old Money, are
embraced and welcomed into the Ruling Class.  And if they ever had ties to
the working class, which I personally doubt, they abandon them quickly for
the "new think" of the Empire.  In reality, upward mobility is as much an
American Myth as is the Self-made man.  Always just enough examples to make
it look possible, if you ignore the multiple bodies strewn along the road.

Carl Jarvis

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: ted chittenden
  To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
  Sent: Monday, December 24, 2012 4:33 AM
  Subject: Re: just too bizarre


  Carl:
  While I mostly agree with your analysis regarding how we look upon
success, I do think that you and Roger have mixed up the cart and the horse.
All big businesses started out as small businesses, and their owners had
many of the same concerns as small business owners of today. One of my
contentions is that we as humans don't change even when the evidence says
that we must. For example, while it is a very good idea for poor people to
save money they have earned for a rainy day, that axiom does not apply to
the wealthy, because they save so much money that not enough is left over to
grease the wheels of the economy. Yet many wealthy business owners started
out as poor business owners and cannot let go of the spending habits they
learned as small business owners.
  --
  Ted Chittenden

  Every story has at least two sides if not more.
  ---- Carl Jarvis <carjar82@gmail.com> wrote:
  Well said Roger.
  And when I talk with small business owners, they often associate with the
  Corporate Empire, the very system that is pulling them down, and defend
the
  laws that will one day close their small business doors.
  But I am not viewed as "one of the successful".  I actually argued this
with
  a boss of my dad's many years ago.  He was the head of the shop for a
large
  structural steel company.  He waived his had around his home, with it's
many
  rooms and expensive furnishings, and to the large picture windows looking
  out across tailored lawns and flowered gardens.  "This is success", he
said.
  "But I am able to be happy and productive without the need for all of
these
  fancy trimmings", I replied.
  Of course we never found common ground for agreement.
  Two years later a shift in company  policies caused a major shift and the
  elimination of the section managed by my dad's former boss.
  He was heavily invested in company stock that became nearly worthless,
over
  extended and unemployed at an age when most men were looking toward
  retirement rather than a new career.
  His wife called my dad and asked if he could come and talk with her
husband.
  She was afraid for him.  His entire identity had been tied up in that job.
  He could not understand how he had failed the company.
  It was only weeks later that he put a hose up the tail pipe of his car,
  locked the garage doors and committed suicide.
  He was only 57 years old, 20 years my current age.
  I wonder if he ever reflected on our conversation and questioned which of
us
  really was successful?
  Do we put our trust in external things, or do we put our trust in
ourselves?

  Carl Jarvis

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: Roger Loran Bailey
    To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
    Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2012 4:57 PM
    Subject: Re: just too bizarre


    I hope he meant to say big business owners. It is in the interests of
the
  big bourgeoisie to get such rulings for small business owners though.
Those
  rulings can then be extended to the big businesses without bothering their
  own legal departments. It also misdirects the struggles of the victims.

    On 12/23/2012 5:47 PM, R. E. Driscoll Sr wrote:

      I thought that ownership of the judges, elected officials and such was
  committed to the invisible corporate owners and operators.   Am I getting
  confused?

      On 12/23/2012 1:59 PM, Frank Ventura wrote:

  Ted, ditto that is exactally what I was thinking. I think no matter what
  happened to that lady the court was going to rule against her. It is the
  small business owners that own the property and the judges.

  -----Original Message-----
  From: blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org
  [mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org] On Behalf Of ted chittenden
  Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2012 10:54 AM
  To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
  Subject: Re: just too bizarre

  If you stop and think about it, the ruling from the Iowa supreme court is
  what many businesses, particularly small businesses, want to hear. The
  people who start and run these businesses by and large believe that
because
  they own the business they started, they have every right to hire and fire
  whoever they want and for whatever reason they want. In other words, what
we
  have here are greedy individuals coming up against a world that demands
that
  they act less than greedy in some circumstances, and they try to find a
way
  to force the system to accept that their individual and property rights
  superceedes all other rights.
  --
  Ted Chittenden

  Every story has at least two sides if not more.
  ---- Carl Jarvis <carjar82@gmail.com> wrote:
  Claude,
  The reason does not matter.  This so called man should have had control
over
  his urges.  If he does not, he at least should be able to be a man and
admit
  it, rather than foisting the responsibility onto the woman's head.
  If I were a woman, I would not like being in a relationship with this weak
  wimpy.  Send him to one of those countries where the women are "protected"
  by covering them from head to toe.  And let him only work on camel's
teeth.

  Carl Jarvis
    ----- Original Message -----
    From: Claude Everett
    To: 'Blind Democracy Discussion List'
    Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2012 10:28 PM
    Subject: RE: just too bizarre


    Hmmmm!!  I wonder if he was rebuffed by this woman and that is why he
  fired her.

    Claude Everett
    "First of all:  what is work?
    Work is of two kinds:
      first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface
  relatively to other such matter;
     second, telling other people to do so.
      The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and
  highly paid."
    From The collection of essays "In Praise of Idleness" by Bertrand
Russell






  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    From: blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org
  [mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org] On Behalf Of Roger Loran
  Bailey
    Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2012 5:20 PM
    To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
    Subject: Re: just too bizarre


        Yes, here is another possibility that strikes me as the very most
  likely. I remember Tom Snyder once saying that every time he walks down
the
  street he falls in love a dozen times per block. Putting aside his loose
use
  of the word love I understand just what he meant. There are a lot of
highly
  attractive women out there. I am sure that most every married man is
exposed
  to those attractive women every day and that does not in the least
endanger
  their marriages, even when they happen to work with those highly
attractive
  women. It is taking action on the attraction that causes problems with the
  marriages. I hate to sound like I may be blaming the victim, but it has to
  go two ways too. If he tried to act on his attraction and it was rebuffed
  then the woman had nothing to do with endangering his marriage and if he
  kept on  trying to act on his attraction she might have had a case for a
  sexual harassment suit. I would expect that she might have capitulated.
  There is an old piece of advice that goes around that says that you should
  never seek sexual gratification in the same place that you get your
  paycheck. It is also put as never date a coworker. The reason is that if
you
  do it is likely that you will carry issues in the relationship into the
  workplace and that, by itself, can be very uncomfortable. It doesn't have
to
  be, but it is likely. Then, if you happen to break up you are faced with
  having to come to work every day and face each other. If you do date a
  coworker, though, then never, ever, under any circumstances date your
boss.
  Not only are you likely to bring issues from the relationship into the
  workplace, but what happens if you break up under that kind of
circumstance?
  The likelihood is that you will also be breaking up with your job. I would
  suspect that the woman in question made just that mistake. It is also
likely
  that the wife found out and the boss had to make a choice between his
  employee and his wife and the wife won. All of this would go far to
explain
  why the firing would have been an effort to save his marriage. Admittedly
it
  is speculative, but, like I said, marriages just do not become endangered
  just because the husband is around attractive women. If that was the case
  then no marriage would last long at all.

    On 12/22/2012 6:08 PM, R. E. Driscoll Sr wrote:

      Good theory.  Any other possibilities?

      On 12/22/2012 2:26 PM, ted chittenden wrote:

  Claude:
  I think it more likely that the dentist's wife finally got a chance to
look
  at his employee and threatened him with divorce if he didn't get rid of
her.
  --
  Ted Chittenden

  Every story has at least two sides if not more.
  ---- Claude Everett <ceverett@dslextreme.com> wrote:
  Hmmm!!  She worked for him for ten years and the Dentist just now decided
  that she was a threat to his marriage?  Did he have a sight saving surgery
  that awakened his vision?


  Claude Everett
  "First of all:  what is work?
  Work is of two kinds:
    first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface
  relatively to other such matter;
   second, telling other people to do so.
    The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and
  highly paid."
  >From The collection of essays "In Praise of Idleness" by Bertrand Russell

  -----Original Message-----
  From: blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org
  [mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org] On Behalf Of Miriam Vieni
  Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2012 6:51 AM
  To: 'Blind Democracy Discussion List'
  Subject: RE: just too bizarre

  Ridiculous!

  Miriam


  ________________________________

  From: blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org
  [mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org] On Behalf Of joe harcz
  Comcast
  Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2012 8:04 AM
  To: blind democracy List
  Subject: just too bizarre



  NATIONAL BRIEFING | MIDWEST. Iowa: Court Upholds Firing of Woman Whose
Boss
  Found Her Attractive. By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. A dentist acted legally
when

  he fired an assistant that he found attractive simply because he and his
  wife viewed the woman as a threat to their marriage, the Iowa Supreme
Court
  ruled

  unanimously on Friday. The all-male court said bosses could fire employees
  they saw as an 'irresistible attraction,' even if the employees had not
done

  anything wrong. Such firings are not unlawful under state law because they
  are motivated by feelings and emotions, not gender, wrote Justice Edward
M.

  Mansfield. A lawyer for the dentist, James Knight, said the decision was a
  victory for family values because Dr. Knight fired Melissa Nelson to save
  his

  marriage. Ms. Nelson's lawyer said the court failed to recognize the
  discrimination that women see routinely in the workplace. These judges
sent
  a message

  to Iowa women that they don't think men can be held responsible for their
  sexual desires and that Iowa women are the ones who have to monitor and
  control

  their bosses' sexual desires,' said the lawyer, Paige Fiedler. Ms. Nelson,
  32, worked for Dr. Knight for 10 years..






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Colonialism and the Green Economy The Hidden Side of Carbon Offsets

Subject: Colonialism and the Green Economy The Hidden Side of Carbon Offsets

Sylvie and All,

This is heartbreaking, because there is no way I can reach out and fix it.  Millions of us could, if we chose to. 

We are just one more natural resource to the rich and powerful as they jockey for dominance. 

Carl Jarvis

----- Original Message -----

Subject: Colonialism and the Green Economy The Hidden Side of Carbon Offsets

Colonialism and the Green Economy The Hidden Side of Carbon Offsets



By Daniel C Marotta and Jennifer Coute-Marotta



Truthout, Sunday, December 23, 2012



http://truth-out.org/news/item/13477-canary-in-the-smokestack-the-human-toll-of-trading-carbon-for-lives-and-livelihoods?tmpl=component&print=1



Nueva Colombia is a coffee growing hamlet straddling the border of a natural
protected area within the Sierra Madres of Chiapas. A cloud forest of
incredible biodiversity, the area is one of the few remaining homes of the
Quetzal bird, revered by the Aztecs and Mayans alike.



Although some market-based strategies to mitigate global warming do benefit
some communities, they more often serve as a cheap way for the world's
biggest polluters to avoid true ecological reforms and deprive people who
can least afford it of their livelihoods, their land and their homes.



Eleazar Graciliano Lopez Roblero is an inquisitive man with a farmer's
frame, thick, curly hair and staunch hands, who wore a collared shirt and
carried a small red notebook with a pen keeping his page. He referred to it
a few times, but for the most part he was jotting down notes while the
interpreter organized his translations. His wife, a reserved woman with a
serious demeanor, sat next to him in the large room that served as their
bedroom and living room while his children milled about.



In the courtyard, his sister was preparing a chicken and his niece was
cooking tortillas over an open fire. Roblero is the secretary of Nueva
Colombia, a tiny village of less than 200 people nestled in the Sierra
Madres of Chiapas, Mexico.





'Coffee is everything', according to Mr. Roblero. Nueva Colombia had been
subsidized by the Mexican government to reforest half their lands. The
Mexican government, in return, controversially obtained the rights to the
carbon sequestered by the growing trees.



Nueva Colombia, a coffee growing hamlet resting on a small plateau on an
otherwise steep mountainside, has unwittingly been catapulted to the
forefront of the battle against climate change. Roblero's land, like
everyone's in this village and others nearby, was granted to his family
during the land reform program after the Mexican Revolution. Before that,
they were landless peasants working for a German landowner. The people of
the region produce coffee on the border of a protected natural area called
the El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve. A mountainous cloud forest of incredible
biodiversity, El Triunfo is known not only as one of the few remaining homes
of the Quetzal, a bird revered by the Aztecs and Mayans, but also for its
potential to mitigate climate change through carbon sequestration.



By calculating the amount of carbon captured from the atmosphere and stored
in growing forests, carbon credits are generated. One ton of carbon is equal
to one carbon credit. Interested companies and institutions can then buy
those credits through a carbon market, thereby offsetting their greenhouse
gas emissions. The practice, which creates a financial incentive to conserve
forests through the marketization of trees' natural ability to store carbon
as biomass, is called Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest
Degradation (REDD).



One of the fastest growing international mechanisms for combating climate
change, it is based on theory that a ton of carbon sequestered by a forest
in the Global South is identical in function to a ton prevented from leaving
a smokestack in the Global North. However, the logic becomes suspect when
one considers the burning of fossil fuels as an injection of greenhouse
gases into an otherwise closed system known as the carbon cycle. Although
some carbon offset projects do good for local populations, they more often
serve as a cheap way for the world's biggest polluters to avoid true
ecological reforms and continue on with business-as-usual.



A Surprising Realization



A REDD project has been in existence in the coffee region buffering the El
Triunfo Biosphere Reserve since 2008. Managed by Conservation International
and in partnership with Starbuck's Coffee, the project creates carbon
credits by growing trees as a shade cover for the coffee farms dominating
the first slopes of the Sierra Madres. Starbuck's buys the shade-grown
coffee, which conforms to their Coffee and Farmer Equity (CAFE) practices,
while participating farmers receive a subsidy to make up for the lower yield
shade-grown produces. The subsidy comes directly from the Mexican government
which, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization,
controversially obtains the rights to the generated carbon credits.





Since Hurricane Matthew in September of 2010, the village of Nueva Colombia
has been without medical facilities or school teachers. Jaltenango, the only
town in the area and over four hours away, is where the mobile hospital unit
is now stationed.



In 2010, seeing other communities benefiting from doing something they
already do, Nueva Colombia asked to join the program. Yet, since the farmers
of Nueva Colombia already produced shade-grown coffee, they were ineligible
for the program. In response, the Mexican government decided on a novel
approach - subsidizing the farmers of Nueva Colombia to completely reforest
half their lands. Incidentally, all the lands allowed into the contract were
lands used to grow corn for personal consumption.



For two years, the people of Nueva Colombia received this subsidy and laid
fallow the lands agreed upon. Then, in July of 2012, they were visited by
officials of the Mexican forestry agency. They were informed that they'd no
longer receive the payments for reforesting their lands, and worse, that
they still couldn't plant on them either. Doing so would be illegal, they
were told, since the lands are now a part of the El Triunfo Biosphere
Reserve.



In August of 2012, we visited Nueva Colombia and talked with Roblero. He
thought we were there for another reason, but after some prodding and
bringing the subject back to reforestation, he told us of how his lands were
seized by his government. Surprisingly, he expressed confusion as to why he
and his fellow farmers were being subsidized to reforest in the first place.
He had never heard of REDD or the carbon market, nor the ways in which
carbon credits were generated and what they were used for. We apparently
were the first to do what is supposed to be done under REDD protocol and
international law - tell participants about what a REDD project does, and
why. He couldn't believe it, and as the discussion turned serious and his
disposition indignant, he told his children to go to the courtyard.



Sustainable Rural Cities



Roblero thought we were there to discuss a housing development that is under
construction in Jaltenango, the only town in the region, at the eastern base
of the Sierra Madres of Chiapas. It is more than four hours from Nueva
Colombia. At 197 acres and with 625 identical houses, the development will
nearly double the size of Jaltenango. It is one of five Sustainable Rural
Cities (SRC) built - or in the process of being built - in Chiapas.





After Hurricane Matthew in 2010, the Mexican government convinced some
families to give up their land in exchange for a free title to a house. They've
been living here since, waiting for the SRC to be completed.



All the families in Nueva Colombia and people from nearby hamlets are slated
to move to the SRC when it is completed by the spring of 2013. The Mexican
government has offered them a title to a house for free, and at the same
time, has been dispatching officials to the various communities to inform
them of the natural hazards of where they are living. A construction worker
at the SRC site stated he was told his community was in danger of plummeting
to their deaths when the ground they live upon breaks from the rest of a
mountain, and that Nueva Colombia is in danger of a catastrophic flood.



In fact, in September of 2010, Nueva Colombia did flood and was affected by
serious mudslides. Since then, the community has used the money from the
reforestation subsidy to pave roads and create a drainage system.



But from that incident, the Mexican government convinced many families to
give up their land in exchange for the free title to the house. They've been
living in a makeshift tent city in Jaltenango ever since, waiting for the
SRC - which they were told back then would be ready in six months - to be
completed.



In addition, many people left Nueva Colombia after the flood when the
Mexican government did not allow the teachers or the mobile hospital unit to
return to the village, Roblero said. The community has been without medical
services and a functioning school for two years now. It was obvious to him
that his government has wanted residents out of the area, but it wasn't
until we explained the carbon market that he put all the pieces together.



The Roblero family said they were not willing to move to the Sustainable
Rural City, and became more resolute in their decision once we showed them
pictures of the development. Cornell University conducted an analysis of the
program, citing countless faults. In every house in the Jaltenango SRC, for
example, were two children's rooms, each barely larger than the small bunk
beds inside, with a thin, shoddily built wall that did not go to the ceiling
between them. The roofs were made of aluminum and, unlike traditional
house-building practices in the area, there was no space between the roof
and the tops of the wall to let out the hot, humid air.



The women of the family were especially taken aback by the massive power
lines that divided the SRC, and the buzzing sound they emitted, which could
be heard from any corner of the development. Truthout interviewed an
engineer of the housing development. He stated that it was the UN that
decided on the housing plans and the materials used, and that it is in line
with the UN Millennium Goals.



Roblero can't help but see a connection between the Sustainable Rural City
and the Mexican government's desire to generate as many carbon credits as
possible. All the communities slated for relocation are at least partially
within the boundaries of the El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve, which was created
in 1990.



He was never afraid of the warnings of the officials who come every so often
to warn of the natural dangers of the area, stating there are many
communities all over the world in a worse position than they are in. But
Roblero said he and his family will not leave their land, even if their
government tries to use violence to relocate them.



Canary in the Smokestack



The Mexican government is receiving funding from The World Bank, the UN and
other multilateral institutions to create a national REDD program. The
objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of national-scale REDD programs
on efforts to conserve ecologically intact forests of the Global South.



However, trees as a canopy for coffee farms or plantations of palm trees for
biofuels - both of which are currently generating carbon credits in Mexico -
hardly resemble a forest. Currently, all REDD contracts in Mexico are for
five years. On average, however, individual REDD projects have a contract
length of 30 years. What happens then?



Truthout interviewed Jose Carlos Fernandes Ugalde, the financial director of
Mexico's national REDD program. He refused to respond to several questions,
including this one What happens when the farmer, whose livelihood depends on
the reforestation subsidy, no longer receives that subsidy, and the area
reforested during the contract no longer has an economic value





One section of the SRC. Every front and back yard will contain an orange
tree, the fruits of which will supposedly benefit the community through
their export. Note the irony of clear cutting this area in order to generate
carbon credits through reforestation in another area.

Mexico plans to shovel the credits it is generating now into the carbon
markets in June of 2013. The country sees itself as a future leader in the
nascent green economy by becoming a top supplier of carbon credits for the
Global North. At an average of $6.20, quite a few credits will have to be
generated to make it economically worthwhile.



As part of this strategy, California, whose cap-and-trade system for
reducing emissions statewide goes into effect in January of 2013, is
building the legal framework to eventually buy carbon credits specifically
from Chiapas. The first of its kind, this deal will solidify into REDD
practice the human rights abuses inflicted upon the people of Nueva
Colombia, including the possible forced evictions once the otherworldly
housing development is complete. Thus far, this is the only international
source for carbon credits California is considering using as an acceptable
way for its companies and institutions to offset their emissions. If
accepted, it would be upon the backs of the farmers of Nueva Colombia that
California, one of the world's worst polluters, is dumping its
responsibility to mitigate climate change onto.



As stated in the Framework Document of the United Nations REDD Program, REDD
projects have the potential to lock up forests by decoupling conservation
from development. It also states that asymmetric power distribution [could]
enable powerful REDD consortia to deprive communities of their legitimate
land development aspirations.



Truthout interviewed Tamra Gilbertson, one of the founders of Carbon Trade
Watch, which provides research on environmental policies and climate justice
with a special focus on carbon trading, forest issues and land rights.



Gilbertson said her research has confirmed the reservations expressed in the
UN-REDD Framework Document. She had this to say As REDD develops into large
government programs in the Global South, the negative impacts on local
communities seen in individual projects to date will become
institutionalized in both governmental policy and through REDD protocol. The
lack of accountability then becomes entrenched within a framework that
violates human and indigenous rights for the sake of so-called 'sustainable
development.' This is the way REDD will work as it, and the cap-and-trade
systems and national programs it is merging into, continue to grow in
popularity.



We should consider this the canary in the smokestack.





The sun had risen and eventually dried up the clouds rolling through the
valley. On a walk to the coffee farms, amidst impassioned discussions of all
that could be and has been stolen from these resolute people, beauty was
still to be found.



The immediate Roblero family. Like the rest of the community, they didn't
understand why they were being subsidized to lay fallow half their lands.
Against REDD protocol, they were never informed about the carbon market or
the concept of carbon rights.

the mighty mississippi

Something else I was thinking about when reading this article, how long before we are in such a crisis that it begins to effect the Ruling Class?  I predict that when that happens, they will not open their purses to us.  They will open their troops guns on us. 

What is the tried and true way of ridding ourselves of pests?  Pesticide.  We sure don't want to share our food with the local vermin. 

The Ruling Class feels the same about us. 

 

Carl Jarvis

 

----- Original Message -----

From: joe harcz Comcast

To: blind democracy List

Sent: Monday, December 24, 2012 5:07 AM

Subject: the mighty mississippi

Cargo Continues Moving on the Mississippi River, but Perhaps Not for Long. By JOHN SCHWARTZ. The Mississippi River is still open for business -- for now.

January is another story. A Midwestern drought has brought the river, one of the world's largest navigable inland waterways, to water levels so low that

they threaten to shut down shipping. The Mississippi, which handles some $7 billion in trade in a typical December and January, is expected to be closed

to navigation between St. Louis and Cairo, Ill., when water levels dip toward the nine feet of depth that is necessary for most tugboats to clear the river

bottom.. Those who ship goods up and down the river have asked the federal government to do two things: destroy rock formations known as pinnacles in Southern

Illinois that hinder navigation when the water is shallow, and release more water from reservoirs along the upper Missouri River. The Army Corps of Engineers

has begun meeting the first request, using excavating equipment to break down the formations. Officials said the work should take 30 to 45 days. Getting

the corps to release the water has been more difficult. The corps has rejected requests for large-scale water releases from the upper Missouri, saying

it does not have the authority to use that water to aid navigation on the Mississippi. Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, applauded that decision

and called it 'unlawful' to release water that states like South Dakota need and use. He said that his region, too, has suffered 'significant negative

impact' because of the drought. The Waterways Council, a group that lobbies on behalf of inland carriers, operators and ports, had initially warned that

traffic would come to a halt by Monday. But so far, the water levels have dropped more slowly than expected, in part because of small water releases by

the corps. A coalition of businesses involved in trade along the Mississippi and sympathetic lawmakers have asked President Obama to order the water released.

It would cripple our national economy to shut down the Mississippi River,' said R. D. James, a Missouri farmer and a member of the Mississippi River Commission,

which manages uses of the river with the corps. But without action from the president, Congress or the courts, the water will stay behind the reservoirs

of the upper Missouri. When they get a little water in those reservoirs,' Mr. James said, 'they don't want to give it up. It could soon be too late to

prevent a partial closing. Water takes two weeks to make its way from the upper Missouri River reservoirs, and predictions released by the corps over the

weekend suggest that without substantial rainfall, the water levels could dip below nine feet by Jan. 11. With the threat of a shutdown ahead, farmers

might decide to hold their grain instead of shipping it in a more expensive manner, said Gregory L. Guenther, a farmer and corporate consultant. Since

farmers tend to pay for the coming year's supplies like fertilizer with those sales, they will have to borrow instead, and 'that means paying interest

on it. Transporting goods by rail is a less attractive option, Mr. Guenther said, because shipping and storage facilities that use the river are not necessarily

near rail lines, and rail capacity is limited. Altogether, shifting transportation modes would drive up prices, he said, adding, 'Rail is not the answer.

Rick Calhoun, the president of Cargo Carriers, a part of Cargill, noted that carriers were already loading barges to a lighter weight to deal with the

water depth, which also ends up raising costs. We put less product in the barge, it takes longer to get there, and we use more fuel per barge,' Mr. Calhoun

said, adding, 'We're going to be running into very difficult issues. Col. Christopher G. Hall, the commander of the St. Louis district of the corps, said,

'We're doing everything that we possibly can to keep that channel at the authorized depth so that they can continue to operate. Intense dredging, tweaks

and luck have helped push the crisis 'to the right' on the calendar, Colonel Hall said, but it is unclear how long that will last. The low water conditions

could persist into the spring, when it generally rains more. Steven L. Stockton, the director of civil works for the corps, said, 'The only long-term solution

is more rain. PHOTO: Chunks of limestone being removed from the Mississippi River last week in Southern Illinois. (PHOTOGRAPH BY U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS,

VIA REUTERS).

 

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the church, raising it's ugly head

Once again Religion raises it's Ugly Head. 

But of course it's not religion in and of itself. 

Just as Stalin and his bully boys called themselves Communists, so do various groups of self serving, closed minded Cultists call themselves Christians. 

We can call ourselves anything we choose..  But that does not make it so. 

While the Bible is filled with accounts of strife and wars, it is also a Book with an underlying message of Love, Peace and Inclusiveness.  As a practicing Jew, Jesus grew up with all of the stories of His People's tribulations.  But He chose to talk about caring for the People, not excluding them or butchering them, or even forcing them to bend their knee to His God.  Just go forth and do to the least of these, etc. 

So it's time we called these liars out.  They need to be told in public that they are not Christians, or Believers in anything but their own selfish beliefs. 

Jesus reminded his followers that all who cried, Lord, Lord would not enter the Kingdom of God. 

Jesus was a man who was self contained.  He knew who he was and was not intimidated by others.  He was into giving, not denying.  His hands reached out to lift up the down trodden, not to batter them deeper into the mire. 

Most religions have become institutions, and as such they spend their energy defending themselves.  I have very little respect for most religions, but I have great respect for Spiritual People. 

Carl Jarvis

 

----- Original Message -----

From: joe harcz Comcast

To: blind democracy List

Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2012 4:03 AM

Subject: the church of hobby, lobby and martel?

Supreme court justice says company must follow morning-after pill rule Associated Press WASHINGTON - Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Wednesday

denied a request to block part of the federal health care law that requires employee health-care plans to provide insurance coverage for the morning-after

pill and similar emergency contraception pills. Hobby Lobby Stores and a sister company, Mardel Inc., sued the government, claiming the mandate violates

the religious beliefs of its owners. In an opinion, Sotomayor said the stores fail to satisfy the demanding legal standard for blocking the requirement

on an emergency basis. She said the companies may continue their challenge to the regulations in the lower courts. Company officials say they must decide

whether to violate their faith or face a daily $1.3 million fine beginning Jan. 1 if they ignore the law. Attorneys for the government have said the drugs

do not cause abortions and that the U.S. has a compelling interest in mandating insurance coverage for them. In ruling against the companies last month,

U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton said churches and other religious organizations have been granted constitutional protection from the birth-control provisions

but that "Hobby Lobby and Mardel are not religious organizations.

 

 

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it's all our fault

Yes, it is true that those guns do not fire themselves.  We can't blame the manufacturers any more than we can blame the manufacturers of cluster bombs or land mines.  Like a loaded gun, they just lay around until some human being steps on them or picks them up. 

So, the problem is not with the gun, land mine or cluster bomb.  It is with us.  We humans should not be picking up loaded guns, land mines or cluster bombs. 

And try to stay out of places where un-manned drone bombs might drop.  They are also harmless unless they connect with some careless people. 

And on the local front, those 40 thousand or so killed in traffic accidents each year in America, they would still be alive if some human being had not been behind the wheel of the killing machine. 

Fires are not to blame for burning down homes.  It took a human being...unless God tossed down a lightning bolt, to fan the flames. 

Yes, it is actually a people problem.  Get rid of people and we would no longer have wars, climate changes, starvation, or bag ladies. 

Since
Cathy and I actually came through a Time Warp, we'll be here after the Purge.  Life will be so, so much better. 

 

Carl Jarvis

----- Original Message -----

From: Claude Everett

To: 'Blind Democracy Discussion List'

Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2012 8:44 AM

Subject: RE: [New post] To the media and anti-gun politicians: A primer on what is and what is not an assault weapon

There are even some children who have no conscience, or feelings of remorse, put one of these in their hands and you will have a mass killing of which you will have never seen.

 

Claude Everett
"First of all:  what is work?
Work is of two kinds:
  first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface relatively to other such matter;
 second, telling other people to do so.
  The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid."
From The collection of essays "In Praise of Idleness" by Bertrand Russell
 

 

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From: blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org [mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org] On Behalf Of R. E. Driscoll Sr
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2012 7:09 AM
To: Blind Democracy Discussion List
Subject: Re: [New post] To the media and anti-gun politicians: A primer on what is and what is not an assault weapon

May I please point out that the mechanism reported below must also have an operator.

On 12/27/2012 5:37 AM, joe harcz Comcast wrote:

Claude my point is it doesn't even have to be turned fully auto for it to have a huge rate of fire and a lot of killing power especially if one has extended clips with ease of re-loading.

 

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Claude Everett

To: 'Blind Democracy Discussion List'

Sent: Tuesday, December 25, 2012 11:32 AM

Subject: RE: [New post] To the media and anti-gun politicians: A primer on what is and what is not an assault weapon

Dick and all, All that I have read other than the garbage that Dick has recently posted is that: the difference between the Legal Semi-Automatic and Automatic weapons is their firing capability, and there are kits that can alter a Semi-Automatic into a fully Automatic weapon.

 

Claude Everett
"First of all:  what is work?
Work is of two kinds:
  first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface relatively to other such matter;
 second, telling other people to do so.
  The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid."
From The collection of essays "In Praise of Idleness" by Bertrand Russell
 

 

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From: blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org [mailto:blind-democracy-bounces@octothorp.org] On Behalf Of R. E. Driscoll Sr
Sent: Tuesday, December 25, 2012 8:00 AM
To: 'Blind Democracy Discussion List'
Subject: Fwd: [New post] To the media and anti-gun politicians: A primer on what is and what is not an assault weapon

N.B. This helped me understand a little more about automatic weaponry.  It may be of value to others so I am forwarding the article.  It takes a little time but I found it well worth my effort.
R. E. (Dick) Driscoll, Sr.

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	[New post] To the media and anti-gun politicians: A primer on what is and what is not an assault weapon
Date:	Tue, 25 Dec 2012 15:25:57 +0000
From:	We the People <comment-reply@wordpress.com>
Reply-To:	We the People <comment+eql_ztoj-nm5uwxkrw_tg6lm@comment.wordpress.com>
To:	llocsirdsr@att.net

jcscuba posted: "Comment by Jim Campbell, Citizen Journalist and Patriot. The media and politicians in our country frequently make their living deceiving We the People based primarily on their political agenda.  In an attempt to provide them with correct informati" Respond to this post by replying above this line New post on We the People To the media and anti-gun politicians: A primer on what is and what is not an assault weapon by jcscuba Comment by Jim Campbell, Citizen Journalist and Patriot. The media and politicians in our country frequently make their living deceiving We the People based primarily on their political agenda.  In an attempt to provide them with correct information we offer the article below. That's my story and I'm sticking to it, I'm J.C. and I approve this message. Background Information on So-Called 'Assault Weapons' PDF Download of this Fact Sheet Fact Sheet Fully automatic assault rifle used by the military. What has erroneously been termed an "assault weapon" is a semi-automatic firearm (Modern Sporting Rifle) that fires just one bullet with each pull of the trigger (versus a fully automatic firearm -- machine gun -- which continues to shoot until the trigger is released). Looks are deceiving, a semi automatic rifle, not an assault rifle Specifically, legislation has incorrectly defined an "assault weapon" as a semi-automatic firearm that can accept a detachable magazine and has two or more of the following cosmetic features (it is these cosmetic features that distinguish the firearm from other "non-assault weapons."): Above, a San Jose (Calif.) police officer effectively explains the differences between fully automatic military rifles and semi-automatic military look-alike rifles and why there is confusion about them. Radio personality Tom Gresham speaks to journalists about tactical rifles during a seminar at the Professional Outdoor Media Association's annual meeting. The seminar, sponsored by NSSF, provided writers with a hands-on introduction to tactical rifles. Many media members said it was their first experience with the rifles and came away with a new understanding of these frequently misunderstood firearms and accurate information to provide in columns and stories. --------------------------------------------- WRITER'S GUIDE Aim for Accuracy: Take a look at NSSF's online Writer's Guide to Firearms and Ammunition for facts, data, examples of common inaccuracies and a complete glossary of firearm- and ammunition-related terms. • A folding or telescoping stock • A pistol grip • A bayonet mount • A flash suppressor, or threads to attach one • A grenade launcher None of these features figure into the criminal misuse of firearms, regardless of their appearance. SEPARATING FACT FROM FICTION There is a tremendous amount of misinformation surrounding the issue of so-called "assault weapons." Below are several of the more misleading allegations related to these firearms followed by corresponding statements of fact: Claim: A commercially-sold "assault weapon" is a machine gun and has no place in civilian hands. Fact: A so-called "assault weapon" is NOT a machine gun or automatic firearm. Automatic firearms were severely restricted from civilian ownership under the 1934 National Firearms Act. A so-called "assault weapon" is functionally no different than any other "legal" firearm. These guns fire in the same manner as any other semi-automatic firearm (one shot per trigger pull - no spray firing), they shoot the same ammunition as other guns of the same caliber and are no more powerful. What differentiates a so-called "assault weapon" from other guns is cosmetic; for example, the type of stock on the gun, which makes the conventionally operating firearm look more like a military firearm. (more below) Read more of this post jcscuba | December 25, 2012 at 7:25 AM | Tags: automatic law enforcement and military, conservative blog network, Government Lies, MEDIA COVER UPS, semi automatic or fully automatic, semi available to the public, what is an assault weapon | Categories: To the media and anti-gun politicians: A primer on what is and what is not an assault weapon | URL: http://wp.me/pG2rx-iDX Comment    See all comments Unsubscribe or change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://dancingczars.wordpress.com/2012/12/25/to-the-media-and-anti-gun-politicians-a-primer-on-what-is-and-what-is-not-an-assault-weapon/ Thanks for flying with WordPress.com

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