tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88350122511674937842024-03-14T07:59:46.941-07:00Observations from Melinda's WorldWith Indicated CommentaryMelinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.comBlogger157125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-83264432411338949672017-03-15T11:55:00.003-07:002024-01-11T08:49:23.467-08:00Ending Slavery with Appropriate Disincentives <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"In the 19th century, the international community came together to declare slavery an affront to our common humanity. Today, governments, civil society and the private sector must unite to eradicate all contemporary forms of slavery, including forced labour. Together, let us do our utmost for the millions of victims throughout the world who are held in slavery and deprived of their human rights and dignity."</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Message for the International Day</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">for the Abolition of Slavery</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2 December 2014</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">In Support of Ending Global Slavery:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Proposal to End The Invasion of Non-Muslin Majority Nation States by an</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Invading Force Masquerading as a Faith</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Marriage as defined by the adherents of ISIS is slavery. Young girls and women are delivered into the condition in which the 'husband' controls their actions and property by marriage in which they have no choice. Today, women are being sold into slavery and as ‘wives,’ without their consent, making this another form of slavery.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Enslaved by this form of 'marriage' violates the actual rules set down in the Koran. These women and girls are forced through threat of inhuman punishments to carry out duties which they do not freely choose. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> There is little or no recourse in the laws of the forces which have adopted these practices and errant systems of law. These practices ignore the content of the Koran and in any case individuals are required to follow the law of the nation in which they are resident. No exception should have been made for adherents of the ISIS.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Using this mischaracterization of 'marriage' ISIS has created the means for culturally invading nations which offer plunder to be stolen. The plan follows the tactics used by Edward Bernays, admitted to in his book, “Propaganda.” A perusal of the Manifesto for Women provided by the leadership of ISIS dispels any doubt as to the horrors awaiting women so enslaved. See Sections from Manifesto on Women, issued by ISIS.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Taken in its totality the invasion targets the benevolence and freedom of nations being invaded as a covert act of war, using women and children as the battering ram behind which participating men hide. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The claim what is practiced is a religion serves also to hide the transfer of wealth, exploited from women and their tethering children, which are essential to carrying out the take over of free people in the Western Nations. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Therefore be it resolved:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Because slavery and human trafficking is prohibited across Europe and most of the Western World and ISIS hinges on enslaving women and exploiting their labor, which is then consumed by their supposed 'husbands,' who are, in fact their owners, we call for the following steps to be taken to end this threat to the civilized world.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>All men with wives either now living in Western Nations or asking for entry for any reason will be held to the following agreement as a condition of residence in their host nation. Men promise and commit to honor the equal and separate human and legal rights of women in accordance with the laws for the Nation in which they reside. Having so affirmed, the participating Nation shall limit political asylum to those willing to also affirm, recognize, and guarantee such performance. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>All men seeking political asylum in Western Nations with a wife and or children, shall be denied entry unless and until they sign a binding contract guaranteeing they will honor the equal and separate human and legal rights of women usual for that nation. The wife and children will be separately asked and allowed to sign an agreement stating they will follow the laws of the hosting nation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>All single men seeking political asylum in Western Nations shall affirm by binding agreement they will honor the separate and equal human rights of women usual for that Nation. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The penalty for violating this agreement will be loss and transfer of all holdings, property, funds and other assets, to the woman held in slavery or woman harmed by their actions. The man will then be expelled from the Nation to his originating location. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The assets will be rendered to the woman, who by this decree be legally divorced and have full and complete custody of all children of the marriage. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Any attempt to harass, harm, or otherwise violate the rights of the divorced woman or the children by either the former owner or anyone acting in his stead will result in a life sentence with no parole in an institution able to ensure escape is impossible. All assets owned or held by such individuals will be forfeited and paid to the victims of the acts. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In the case such parties attempt to hide assets with extra-territoriality services for the seizing of assets will be made available by various means, including authorizing privateers to enter the offending jurisdiction to seize assets held by either the men in question of those assisting them, be these banks, holding companies, foundations, individuals or nations harboring these slavers. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The problem for effective action when dealing with perpetrators who raise extra-territorial issues was dealt with by Congress issuing Letters of Marque and Reprisal during the American Revolution. A similar approach is still possible as the practice is outlined in the United States Constitution, Article One, Section Eight, Powers of Congress. To quote: “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States...To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> During the Revolution, most of the action taken against British shipping, according to Edward Stanton McClay, author of “The History of American Privateers”, 1898 by Doubleday & Company this aspect of the conflict was handled privately. McClay recounts the following: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There were 792 investor-owned privately-armed ocean crossing American Privateers that captured over 3,100 British Empire vessels 1775 – 1781. The Continental Navy and State Navies and Privateers totaled 64 and only 3 were left operable by the end of the Revolutionary War. Those investing in the Privateer ships were, in large part, ladies investing 20-dollar gold pieces in the ventures stock to purchase vessels, hemp rope, gunpowder and cannon. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> During the War for Free Trade and Sailor’s Rights 519 American Privateers captured, again, over 3,100 British Royal ships. There were only 23 Navy tax-supported ships 1812- 1814. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is unfortunate these facts were previously lost to history but the effectiveness of this private approach to property and personal rights reclamation, supports an approach which uses private means for action when governmental means would complicate matters. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">While there are far more Federally funded ships today the US government, it does not carry out collections for private parties, raising the option of, again, using Privateers. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">America has a history of protecting international traffic on the seas and keeping land and sea lanes open, emphasizing captures and the sale of goods, instead of merely inflicting harm. Today, this might take the form of lawyers, and adjudicated approaches with mercenaries to enforce women’s individual rights. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We suggest, in accordance with these Constitutional historic practices, that legal attorney Privateers will be compensated 33%, while Military Privateers will be compensated with 66% of the funds recovered, by historical precedent in Admiralty Courts.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>International Property Title Insurance Companies’ Courts could be ramped up to handle the case load in lieu of governmental courts, thus freeing taxpayers from the financial cost, which in the instance of Nations, may not be compensated.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> This practice for repossession of property, wrongful insemination, and recovery of children, will be carried out by contract between the hosting Nation Privateers, the victims being assisted, and third-party courts to ensure no piracy occurs. Upholding the Rights of Women is essential to ending Slavery around the world. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>If it strikes you this proposal is extreme pause to consider this. Half of humanity is vulnerable to injustices including slavery, abuse, ransom, kidnapping, theft, fraud, rape and the loss of their lives in the name of someone else’s ‘honor.’ This is systemic violence endured by at least half a billion women in Muslim, Christian, Shinto, Animist religions which have captured various governments, must be ended, so humanity can establish peace between all people. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Since other governments cannot, or will not take action; then it is up to free women and their allies to assume the challenge of organizing to throw off the acceptance of organized violence everywhere. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We can change the world, establishing freedom and peace for all of us. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Contact Melinda Pillsbury-Foster for more information</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">themelinda@gmail.com</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://www.wiipj.org/">Women’s Institute for Individual and Political Justice, Inc</a>. 1997-</span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-71557681952719648402016-02-09T06:41:00.000-08:002024-01-11T08:48:56.383-08:00Events from Melinda's World <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(Originally written for Ced<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ar Slope Story, title<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">d, "FBI Surveillance again makes a WIFI appearance - Noticed at 5:45am today, February 9, 2016)</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span>And a history lesson of interest to those following unfolding events. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In
this area, as you might imagine, there are few wifi connections
available. We account for two here, the first Harriet, named for my
great-grandmother Harriet Foster Pillsbury. Harriet was a descendant of
at least nine of those accused of witchcraft during the 1692 Trials
held in Salem. Salem paid reparations for these wrongful prosecutions,
the theft of property, and wrongful death in 1711. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This
marks the only time in history when anyone admitted to having violated
the rights of individuals so accused. But since that is not nearly as
exciting as viewing these mostly staunch and committed
Congregationalists as imps of the occult that is not generally known. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">While the original 'accusers,' including</span> Abigail Williams<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> were young girls who are now generally believed to have become exciting by the fortune telling of the Indian slave</span>, Tituba. The girls involved were 12 and younger. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Adults
involved noticed that since these were capital offenses the property of
those accused could be seized without even bringing them to trial. The
names of those accused over the year period began with vulnerable women
living in poverty and ended with the wife of the Royal Governor, Sir
William Phips, who was appointed Governor of Massachusetts
just prior to the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The
first action taken by the accusers, the adults at least, after Governor
Phips called the whole thing off, was to rush to the Governor and beg
his protection from the just retribution which, they said, would soon
follow. The Governor refused and no such retribution ever took place. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But
a long lasting impression had been made on the accused and their
families. It would be five generations before there were any marriages
between the descendants of the accused and their accusers. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Many
prominent members of the Transcendental Movement were descendants of
the Accused. My family included abolitionists, activists for the rights
of women, educationists and more, all descendants. The accusers appear
to have produced a significant number of politicians, as opposed to
those who serve their communities locally with little or no
compensation. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I
came into this story while visiting the North Andover Historical
Society in the early 90s. I noticed the number of deaths taking place
in my family lines in 1692 and asked if there was a plague that year to
account for this. The two librarians said they had never seen so many
of the accused in one person's genealogy. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This
subject had never been discussed when I was young, though Harriet, who
received her M.D. from the Women's Infirmary of NY in 1880, was fondly
remembered. A life-long supporter of the rights of women she died in
1917 never having been able to cast a vote. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Today,
what was once South Andover purchased the right from the original
Andover, MA for $500. Harriet attended Bishop, which is now part of
Phillips Andover Academy. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So
much still be be accomplished, you know. The Equal Rights Amendment
still has not been ratified and human slavery remains rampant around the
world. These problems, and others, need to be resolved. I try to do
my small part. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And may I recommend the work of Andrew Kreig, a respected journalist who started the <a href="http://www.justice-integrity.org/faq/896-beware-of-wrong-conclusions-from-new-cia-disclosure-on-oswald">Justice Integrity Project</a> and wrote <a href="http://www.presidentialpuppetry.com/"><i>Presidential Puppetry</i></a>,
the book which brought the assassination of John F. Kennedy by the CIA
out of dismissal as 'conspiracy theory, and into the mainstream
acceptance of a growing number of Americans. </div>
<h4>
</h4>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-42013561290120661762015-06-12T03:26:00.002-07:002015-06-12T03:26:43.649-07:00No. 152 – June 11, 2015 – The Families of 9/11 Want to Know. Do you? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by Melinda
Pillsbury-Foster </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Having lost
people they loved to the horrific deaths viewed on television as the
Towers fell, the families of those who died demanded to know who was
responsible for the attacks. Although the event is now nearly
fifteen years in the past the question remains open. But is it? </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Andrew
Kreig, attorney and independent journalist in Washington DC, today
published an article outlining the political use made of the issue,
beginning with the sequestering of a report written in 2002 which
many believe would, if made available, answer many of the questions
still lingering. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Kreig's
article, titled, “<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.justice-integrity.org/faq/844-rand-paul-2-other-senators-id-financers-of-9-11-hijackers">Rand
Paul, 2 Other Senators: Expose Finanicers Of 9/11 Hijackers</a>,”</span></i></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></i></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
outlines the attempts on the part of
Paul and his co-sponsors Senators Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and
Ron Wyden of Oregon, to achieve passage of a bill which would make
the information public. Announcement of the attempt took place at a
June 2 press conference on Capitol Hill which was attended by members
of the 9/11 families.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The report, which is said to document
the role of Saudi Arabia in funding 15 of the 19 terrorists
responsible for the attacks is only 28 pages in length, but versions
available are so heavily redacted as to render them meaningless.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Former Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) stood
with Paul at the news conference on the 2<sup>nd</sup>. Graham
co-chaired the 9/11 Joint Committee, co-authoring the report. At
the time, in 2002, the three-term senator was also chairing the
Senate Intelligence Committee.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Children of the 9/11 victims, some of
whom were babies at the time, are now demanding the release of the 28
page report as well.
</div>
<br />Clearly, the identities of those who funded the terrorists
remains relevant today, along with the reasons why such information
would have been denied to the public for so long. America went to war
over the issue of 9/11. Without funding, most believe there would
have been no terrorist attacks possible.
<br />
Americans were lead into a series of wars based on information
which the Bush administration knew to be false at the time the war in
Afghanistan and Iraq were sold to the American people as necessary to
stop terrorism.
<br />
We now know Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction.
Saddam Hussein, a former American CIA asset expressed willingness to
leave Iraq, if paid. Do Americans want the facts? You bet they do.
And they want it now.
<br />
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-78278143720768906072015-06-05T03:22:00.003-07:002015-06-05T03:22:23.164-07:00No. 151 – June 4, 2015 – The Plains Truth – Santa Barbara Spills 1969 - 2015<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In 1968
Union Oil decided they needs a new kind of PR representative so they
went into local schools to find boy scouts who would like to learn
about the oil business. One young man, named David Lincoln, then
fourteen, was useful to them the next year in the wake of the Santa
Barbara Spill. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The PR
Representative, who also made an unsuccessful run for State Senate
from Compton, took Dave and a few other boys up to Santa Barbara to
watch the clean-up. Young Dave, who had just turned fifteen, did a
series of appearances on radio shows, reading a script he shared
with the show host, presenting Union Oil as a responsible company,
extremely concerned about the environment. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">When Dave
spoke those words he believed them. Men he respected had told him
they were. A quiet boy, Dave enjoyed what he was learning about the
technology of oil drilling. He was encouraged to make working for
oil companies his career, which he did, taking the courses they
recommended at USC, which was nearby for his degree in Geology. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Over the
next 25 years Dave worked for oil companies on seven continents in
increasingly responsible and well paid positions. He began to see
many things which shocked him, but he continued to believe the
industry cared about doing the right thing for people and the
environment. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It was
working directly with Ken Lay, CEO of Enron which changed his mind.
</span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Dave was in
charge of putting a pipeline across the island. Instead of building
this through a pristine forest he tried to persuade Ken Lay to take a
slightly longer, easier route. Lay's sneering comments about the the
damage which would be done to the forest ended in Dave walking away
from a six figure salary and returning to the US. There, he joined
Green Peace, beginning an intense study of how the oil industry
evaded accountability for the shocking damage to life and the
environment Dave knew they were doing. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">As an
insider, Dave was able to expose them. As an expert witness in court
Dave's testimony brought clarity to the systemic cover-ups they were
carrying out to optimize their profits with no concern for human
life. No oil company won when Dave was able to give testimony. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">A showdown
is finally coming. It will take place on the beach in Santa Barbara
County. Get the popcorn ready. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-76815342934809882432015-05-29T02:35:00.001-07:002015-05-29T02:35:08.819-07:00No. 150 – May 28, 2015 – The Ghost of General Smedley Butler<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by Melinda
Pillsbury-Foster </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">General
Butler, the most decorated American military figure of the first half
of the 20<sup>th</sup> Century, wrote a book about his military
service titled,<i> “War is a Racket.” </i><span style="font-style: normal;">
The corporate cabal, which reportedly included a du Pont and
Prescott Bush, asked him to assist in removing FDR from office in
1934, were deceived by Butler's vocal criticisms of FDR, and
unfamiliar with his belief his service to his country had actually
made him an enforcer for the corporations. Smedley was alive to the
impropriety of using America's military might to intimidate small
central and south American countries for the profit of corporations
controlled by these men.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Instead
of handling their problem for these wealthy folks Smedley reported
them to Roosevelt, who was well aware of the hazards of having the
heads of houses of banking which included Morgan as well, arrested.
FDR leaked word of the plan, which would have placed Butler in the
White House, to the press. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">This
resulted in a Congressional investigation which achieved nearly as
much as the Warren Commission would thirty years later. It was four
years before the terrified men would publish their findings, marked
for, “restricted circulation.” Sadly, the General, recipient of
two Medals of Honor, died unexpectedly in 1940, just before our entry
into World War II. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Charges
conveyed by General Butler, which the committee confirmed, included
the information a million people had agreed to join the insurrection
using arms and munitions made available by a close associate of du
Pont, Remington. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Many
of those involved were still the heads of their various corporations
when charges of doing business with German corporations during World
War II surfaced. This continued to be true when departing president,
Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his speech warning Americans of the dangers
they faced during his farewell address to the nation on January 17,
1961.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Nothing
had changed when John Perkins published his book, </span><i>“Confessions
of an Economic Hit Man,”</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> in
2004. Perkins work ensured the continued flow of money from smaller
and weaker nations into the same corporate interests who schemed to
remove FDR in 1933 and who did remove JFK in 1963. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Since
then occupiers of the Oval Office have been much less likely to make
waves, understanding who is really in charge. Choosing between Jeb
and Hillary is just picking between, “chocolate or strawberry.”
They are both corporate ice cream, bad for us and America. </span></span>
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-45998245431791448182015-05-21T20:30:00.000-07:002015-05-21T20:30:05.771-07:00No. 149 – Hats, Friendship, and Looking Back<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
by Melinda Pillsbury-Foster
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
In 2002 I had not yet met Mario – and
he had not run into the enormous problem created intentionally by the
mortgage industry to expedite foreclosures, using the housing market
to create derivatives which could then be monetized, becoming an
investment. Mario, whose training is in dress design of all kinds,
solved his own problem and has helped thousands of other people keep
their homes. He is that kind of guy, warm, compassionate, and
determined.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Attorneys pay him to update them on
foreclosures and how new case law is changing the outcome for many.
Mario became obsessive on the subject and devoured law books when he
realized how people were being harmed. Along with telling me about
his work for people facing foreclosure Marion also mentioned to me in
an off-handed way, he makes hats.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
While I know any number of people who
are struggling financially I only knew one other person with a
passion for hats. Naturally, I introduced them. Tonight we chatted
for nearly an hour tonight via conference call. Mario and Maggie got
along like gang-busters.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Maggie once owned a hat shop and loved
being a milliner. She is also in foreclosure herself. So, it was a
very fertile conversation, so to speak. They are now planning a
website to sell hats and help people facing foreclosure. Mario has
shown many people how to handle their own cases. Good things.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Planning out deceptive behavior which
takes people's homes should be a crime. Deceptive behavior is a
problem in other instances as well.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
I had just gotten around to reading
<i>“Rove Exposed,”</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> by James
Moore and Wayne Slater, published in 2006. But the story about Rove
that arrested my interest was the sneak way he orchestrated the sale
of invading Iraq. When it happened it was easy to forget the
details, but in the book, there they were, with dates and who said
what, documented and easy to understand. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">But
Slater and Moore left out the best part of the story. After the
sales job done to persuade Americans Saddam had weapons of mass
destruction in November, 2002 he contacted the Bush White House and
offered to leave Iraq – if they just paid him. For me, the time
line in “</span><i>Rove Exposed”</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
explained why Rove was so anxious to make sure Saddam did not go
anywhere. And Saddam could never speak out.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Imagine that.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-70900581436854240072015-04-30T21:07:00.003-07:002015-04-30T21:07:49.404-07:00No. 146 - April 30, 2015 – Ketchikan, Totem Poles, and Postcards<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by Melinda
Pillsbury-Foster </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Erika, from
the Ketchikan Museum, emailed me using our contact form to ask about
some of the images in their collection from the Gold Rush years in
Alaska. The museum had, she told me, a number of images from Arthur
C. Pillsbury, who had passed through the town on his way up to the
mining fields with his cameras, including the circuit panorama camera
he had designed and built while a senior at Stanford in 1897. He
paused to record images of the totem poles and native people, as they
worked and carried out their every day lives. These shots show the
inside of native homes with the mixture of possessions of their own
making along with objects manufactured elsewhere. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">These
images fascinate people today, showed a world now lost, and many of
them have survived as post cards. While postal cards were in use
from around 1851 the one penny post cards, privately printed, were
only authorized by Congress on May 19, 1898. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The City of
Ketchikan sponsors two museums, one for the largest existing
collection of native totem poles and another for the history of
their community stretching back to its founding in the 1880s to
process the abundant salmon in the offshore waters. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The most
southern town in Alaska, Ketchikan is also the earliest town,
boasting a population of around 8,000 people, making it the tenth
largest town in Alaska. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Today the
Totem Heritage Center serves the town as a cultural center, a
resource for appreciating and continuing the artistic traditions of
the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Grandfather
went to Alaska to record the opening of the mining fields. Once
there, he became fascinated by its native population, caught in a
transition enforced on them by the overwhelming influence of Western
culture. Those images which remain are still compelling today. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">As
Grandfather traveled through Alaska he would sometimes leave a supply
of glass negatives with a local merchant, starting a Pillsbury Studio
to print more cards. Purchased and mailed, these traveled around the
world. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">His
originals were lost on April 18, 1906 in the San Francisco Earthquake
and Fire. So, when one of his images turns up from places you would
never expect each one is precious. And even now the number of
images rediscovered is steadily increasing. I never know what to
expect when I open an email. But it can be wonderful. </span>
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-55518597968525510592015-04-23T23:53:00.003-07:002015-04-30T21:07:03.471-07:00No. 145 – April 23, 2015 – Snow Flakes, Heart Aches and Prayer <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It's not
that there were a lot of snow flakes today – it was having any of
them still with us when Mother's Day is right around the corner and
stories are starting to receive 4<sup>th</sup> of July merchandise.
Of course, I'm from California and there we expect winter to last
maybe a weekend. So I watched the snow flakes drift down for a while
trying to make it to the ground. Our lives are like snow flakes,
you know. Living can be tough, even when gravity is working with you
instead of against you. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">For all of
us life is uncertain. Good and bad, things happen. That is one of
the reasons I signed up to pray.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">At St.
Peter Church we have a Cycle of Prayer. Pat Hazeltine sends out the
names of people who need our prayers and we send those prayers out to
God for them. It is a wonderful experience to know you are not
alone. As you pray, others are as well. We connect and grow. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">There was a
time when requests came in over the telephone, now we receive these
via the internet. So sometimes I open my email box and there is a
Prayer Request waiting for me. I always open them first. You never
know what you will find. Sometimes you know the person; sometimes it
is a complete stranger whose life you will touch – and it does not
matter. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">As
Christians we know we are One in Christ and so praying for someone we
will never meet, holding them in your mind and heart as you reach out
for them in prayer, matters. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">There are
no rules for prayer. You pray for those who have died, those left to
mourn and those struggling with the problems to which each of us are
subject. Prayers are given for those who have made it through
surgery and those facing any kind of hardship you can imagine. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Praying
always makes me feel closer to Christ, that ineffable presence which
is always there if we will put aside ego and receive Him. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Prayer
brings insights to your own life as well. The act of praying breaks
down the barriers within which life builds even without our knowing
it. Prayer has become a path to self-discovery for me, and for
millions. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Snowflakes
and prayers. Unexpected blessings releasing us to more fully love
one another. </span>
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-67860167356880016672015-04-17T02:33:00.002-07:002015-04-17T02:33:24.812-07:00No. 144 – April 17, 2015 – Bushnell, Zenger, and the Shot Heard 'Round the World<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">His last
name was Bushnell, and if his voice had not been raised during jury
deliberations in 1670 William Penn, who had defied the Crown and
preached his Quaker faith, would not have lived to found
Pennsylvania. Many in Ashtabula have roots in the former colony east
of here, which he named. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Bushnell
and his fellow jurors were confined and fined for their temerity when
they defied the royal mandate to find Penn guilty. The lives of Penn
and his friend, Mead, hung by two dissenting votes.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The judge
sent the jury back three times to reconsider their verdict saying, <i>“a
verdict that the court will accept, and you shall be locked up
without meat, drink, fire, and tobacco....We will have a verdict by
the help of God or you will starve for it." </i></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">It
took a writ of Habeas Corpus to free the jurors, Penn and Mead. Penn
came to the colonies and so was Pennsylvania founded. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">The
English tradition for the Common Law and the rights of the people to
defy the dictates of authority again influenced the writing in 1735
during the trial of John Peter Zenger, who had defied the Royal
Governor of New York and published the truth about him. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Zenger
languished in prison for eight months before standing trial. But the
publication of his newspaper continued, overseen by his wife. </span></span>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Words, the truth, are the first
defense against oppression. Disinformation and the suppression of
truth destroy freedom. The Founders, who were certainly aware of both
precedents, Penn and Zenger. They understood the nasty tendencies of
government to use its power to stifle dissent and the truth. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The ratification of the Constitution
hung in the balance as Mason traded with Madison and the deciding
factor was the inclusion of the Bill of Rights that secured to each
of us guarantees for the limitation of government power. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It is the ideas thus enshrined that
connect us to the truth of America's Mission Statement. America is
made up of people who are, themselves, the government. The truth
matters. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Today, it is the suppression of the
truth by authorities by redaction, evasion and deceit again threaten
the essential freedoms won for us by our ancestors. We need the
facts because truth is the foundation of freedom.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">April 18<sup>th</sup> marks the 260<sup>th</sup>
anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Get the truth,
it matters to each of us.</span><br />
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-18864252622434251222015-04-10T03:22:00.001-07:002015-04-10T03:22:03.053-07:00No. 143 – April 9, 2015 – Family History, Family Pride <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">By Melinda
Pillsbury-Foster </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">My cousin,
Peni Jo Renner, wrote a book last year about a mutual ancestor,
Rebecca Eames. Titled, <i>“Puritan Witch - The Redemption of
Rebecca Eames,” </i><span style="font-style: normal;">the brief
volume tells Rebecca's story as she is accused of witchcraft, tried,
found guilty, and waits for the sentence of hanging to be carried out
in a prison where, unless your family paid, you would be left to
starve to death. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">The
books shines light new, and a very human light, on the a period of
American history which has been detached from the descendants of
those who lived it. By so doing the real roots of conflict were
buried. Until Renner's book was published it was easy for many who
do not share this heritage to fictionalize these very personal
histories, providing salacious scenarios to those who were not
touched by the morality story played out in the lives of a people who
confronted an abuse of power by those who saw opportunity for profit.
Using the gullibility of those around them significant transfers of
property took place.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">In
1649 law was passed which made witchcraft a capital offense, opening
the door for the trials, which took place in 1692. After the
accusation of a capital crime was made the property of the accused
could be seized immediately. Asset forfeiture remains with us today.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Royal
Governor William Phips released those imprisoned on February 21st,
1693. The reaction of the accusers was to beg for his protection
from just retaliation. None occurred, these were lawful people,
determined to do right. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">For five
generations there were no marriages between the descendants of the
accursed and their accusers. They remembered. I suggest this baptism
of pain awakened their descendants to the dangers inherent in the
abuse of power. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">What was
the impact of these events on people who saw the ugliness play out
and then lived with the aftermath in the same small communities for
generations? How were their ideas about freedom, individual rights,
and their relationship with God affected? Accusers and accused, how
did it shape today for all of us? </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Myself, I
am proud to be a descendant of Mary Barker, twelve when she was
imprisoned, and her cousin, George, thirteen. This history still has
much to tell us about our world today.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">What we
take away from the experiences of life defines us and our
descendants, if we remember. And read Puritan Witch. </span>
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-3370886263687699412015-04-03T01:01:00.000-07:002015-04-03T01:02:21.835-07:00No. 142 – April 2, 2015 – They Got Mail! The Back Channels Connecting Big Oil with Bush and Clinton<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Andrew
Kreig's coverage of Hillary Clinton's secret email system, written in
three parts, delves into the issues which he says provide,<span style="font-size: small;">
“</span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">scant scrutiny of the
</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>most</i></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;">
sinister implications for the public.” These are certainly
riveting, named by Kreig as, </span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>“Arms
Smuggling: The Obama-Clinton-Petraeus 'Iran-Contra' Scandal, the
Duplicity and Disloyalty by Gen. David Petraeus and the Conflict of
Interest In Clinton Foundation/Hillary Clinton 2016 Funding.” </i></span></span></span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Enough there to generate
multiple books and even conferences for journalists digging into the
morass to extract hard evidence. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Kreig's book,
“Presidential Puppetry,” as mentioned in his article on Clinton's
mail system, <i>“What's Important About Hillary Clinton's Emails,”
</i><span style="font-style: normal;">ties back to a similar evasion
of transparency for emails by Karl Rove during the Bush W.
administration and then the revelations hacked into public sight by
Romanian hacker, Marcel-Lehel Lazar of, </span><i>“19 political
intelligence memos totaling 66 pages from former 1990s Clinton White
House aide Sidney Blumenthal to Clinton between August 2012 and early
February 2013.” </i></span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">As
the narrative marches back in time we encounter the covert
involvement of the CIA in Benghazi and a plot of overthrown the
Syrian government of </span> President Bashar Al-Assad. Both
Republican and Democratic administrations have promoted the same kind
of operations. Kreig neatly points to the similarity between Obama's
training and arming of 'rebels' and the Iran-Contra run-running of
the Reagan Administration. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Oil figures largely in
the picture. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Ensuring actions which
violate the law and are prohibited by Congress presents a probable
need to ensure these actions do not come to the attention of the
public. This is clearly a need for the individuals in all
administrations since emailing began. This leads to the questions,
<i>“who wrote the email system used by Hillary? Was this her own
system, used only by her? “ </i></span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">As you read through
Kreig's article you find some names popping up or recognize that some
individuals, for instance Karl Rove, have long understood the need
for tight security when engaging in illegal actions, for instance,
election fraud carried out so these same individuals could control
the White House. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Is this a system which
was written because some earlier event brought this vulnerability to
the attention of a group of individuals, Democrats and Republicans,
who realized it was necessary their convert communications had to be
protected from public view? This had to have happened after
communication by email became ubiquitous, say in the early 2000's. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Just asking. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY">
<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-39884017455541085592015-03-27T00:22:00.000-07:002015-03-27T00:22:36.437-07:00No 142 – March 26, 2015 – Blow Back from the JFK Assassination<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Andrew
Kreig, founder of the Justice Integrity Project, is not the first to
point out the inconvenient truths surrounding the 1964 report of the
Warren Commission. His continuing series of articles on the details
contain a series of shocks which bring into high relief the
falsehoods sold to the public by the major media. His book,
Presidential Puppetry, has built out a picture of events both
compelling and frightening. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Kreig
has been thorough, building a monumental data base which, along with
following the action, examines the impact of the assassination on
American politics, those who report the news, and the many incidents
following the death of JFK and continue to take place today. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Today
most Americans, according to the polls, believe the Warren Commission
Report mislead the public. The question of what happened on November
22, 1963 remains a hot topic, with between 1,000 and 2,000 books
written on the subject. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">People
still care what happened. They still want to know; they still don't.
</span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bill
O'Reilly was an ambitious young reporter when he lied about having
been on George de Mohrenschildt's porch when the shots were fired
which killed the man who was a friend of Lee Harvey Oswald. It was a
dramatic claim disproved by audio tapes of only within the last
several years. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mohrenschildt
was supposedly about to testify before congress that Oswald did not
kill the President. Thereafter local authorities ruled the death a
suicide. The chief counsel for the Congressional investigation, then
ongoing, was replaced by one who deferred to the CIA. Bill O'Reilly
also wrote a book, the best seller, <i>Killing Kennedy. </i><span style="font-style: normal;">It
accepts the facts as laid out by the Warren Commission. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">From
that day to now Kreig claims many parts of our lives have been
impacted and the course of our history altered. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Now we know Oswald could
not have acted alone. New forensic evidence indicates Kennedy was
shot at least once from the front, twice from the back. </span></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In 1963 Americans were
more trusting of government. Americans, dissatisfied with what they
get in print and on television seek news and facts online. Mislead
on many issues a reaction has been building. This is one of the
reasons the ratings for the Main Stream Media have been dropping. </span></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Blow back is, “an
unforeseen and unwanted effect, result, or set of repercussions.”
Sometimes it is a long time coming, but it always arrives. </span></span>
<br />
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-26088807360456413712015-03-19T21:44:00.000-07:002015-03-19T21:44:48.738-07:00No. 141 – March 19, 2015 – Jennifer MacLeod Asks Three Questions <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by Melinda
Pillsbury-Foster </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> In the
late 90s, Jennifer Macleod,PhD, a retired marketing executive in
Princeton spoke to a group of girl scouts on equality for women.
Still active in the chapter of NOW Jennifer started at Princeton in
the early 1970s the scouts learned the ERA had failed ratification
in 1982. They were moved to action and asked Ms. MacLeod for a
project they could do as part of their scouting related to the Equal
Rights Amendment. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> Jennifer,
one of the first women through the glass ceiling, an expert in
polling, made up a short questionnaire. She showed the girls how
polling must be done to accurately reflect the opinions of those
polled. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> There were
three questions. Jennifer expected to find a sizable percentage of
Americans opposed equality for women. Shocked, she discovered in
every category those polled by the girl scout troop affirmed
equality by around 96%. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> The three
questions were simple, answered with a YES or NO. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Question
1: </span>"In your opinion, should male and female citizens of
the United States have equal rights?" </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Question
2: "As far as you know, does the Constitution of the United
States make it clear that male and female citizens are SUPPOSED to
have equal rights?"</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b> </b><span style="font-weight: normal;">Question
3: "In your opinion, SHOULD the Constitution make it clear that
male and female citizens are supposed to have equal rights?" </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> By
the late 90s most Americans believed the ERA was ratified. They are
still wrong today. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> The
Constitution, the highest law in the land, does not recognize the
equality of women today. </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> For
equality to be more than a provisional privilege an amendment to the
existing Constitution must be ratified by 2/3 of the state
legislatures. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> In
1972 everyone expected the 38 states required would rapidly ratify.
Instead, it became a political football linked to </span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">issues
having nothing to do with simple equality. The effort for
ratification fell three states short when the deadline tolled in
1982. </span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> On
March 5 this year the Minnesota Senate Judiciary Committee
unanimously approved a resolution asking Congress repeal the 1982
deadline. Other legislatures are following their lead. If Congress
repeals the deadline the 15 states yet to ratify the ERA can consider
the question anew and ratify. </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> When
that happens Americans will be finally be right about the ERA.
Jennifer's questions and the girl scouts who asked the questions, are
a big part of the reason this is happening now. </span></span>
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-8089941926215839132015-03-13T03:15:00.004-07:002015-03-13T03:15:44.447-07:00No. 140 – March 12, 2015 – Is It Spring Yet? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by Melinda
Pillsbury-Foster </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">An exciting
moment occurred when I went out to the car this morning and noticed
the area where the snow had melted over night. Bending down to make
sure my eyes were not deceiving me I saw....green grass. Several
square inches of it. Amazing. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The tiny
patch now visible was surrounded by extrusions of mud, which looked
like mounds of chocolate. I learned when I was around 18 months that
appearances in this regard can be deceptive. We all remember such
moments, which teach us discernment. I looked closer. Definitely a
new green, filled with life.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Since
Ashtabula has been shrouded in snow which came down over and over
again, each time leaving an uglier residue of brown and gray had I
found myself wondering if spring would ever arrive – at least
before the 4</span><sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</span></sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">
of July. That faint touch of spring-green flattened, but triumphant
despite the load of snow which weighed it down, provided the answer.
</span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Spring
comes in its own time, but it arrives bringing renewal of life and
hope. Getting into the car I felt uplifted, as if a great weight had
been lightened. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I know not
to expect too much too soon. It will be some days before those first
buds burst from the skeletal bushes and trees along the street. The
dire piles of shrinking sludge must continue to melt into the soil
and paving, sending water captured as snow many weeks ago on its way
into the ground. But the Mud does not last for very long. Now, we
can see past it to the rioting of flowers which seems to say, “all
seasons bring gifts.” </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">When you
see that first glorious daffodil you forget, like a mother after a
three day labor first holding her baby close because what you hold is
so essential to the journey of seasons, and years which comprises the
whole of our lives as individuals. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Watching a
flower bloom, first unfolding from the enclosing green to reveal its
colors and scent touches us, reprising as it does, our own journey
from someplace to here. Watching the full cycle of life, the wilting
and curling into itself, also carries its message. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The whole
of life carries in each part messages for each of us. What do you
see first? What is your own experience? What have the seasons said,
tiny whispers in your ear, as you discovered them? </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-85596397087428707702015-03-06T04:04:00.002-08:002015-03-06T04:04:12.364-08:00No. 139 – March 5, 2015 – Visas, Terrorists, and a new book.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster </span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 140%;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Andrew
Kreig's book reviews are always to the point and chock full of
carefully honed points bolstered with facts. You can count of this
when reading his work because his training is both in law, he is a
licensed attorney in Washington D.C., and journalism. Andrew takes
up subjects many won't touch.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This
being the case I ordered my copy of, “<em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Visas-Al-Qaeda-Handouts-Insiders/dp/0990926206" target="_blank">Visas
for Al Qaeda: CIA Handouts That Rocked the World — An Insider's
View</a>,” by </em> J. Michael Springmann, former State Department
foreign service officer immediately. </span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If
Andrew says a book is going to be shocking and timely, and make a,
<i>“credible circumstantial case that ties the U.S. training of
Islamic radicals to our nation’s major foreign policy disasters in
the Mideast during the past quarter century,”</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
it is a book to read, given how many emails on the subject are
coming through my Inbox on the subject. </span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Andrew's
review provided direct quotes from author Springmann, former chief of
the visa section of the U.S. Consulate located in Saudi Arabia, who
last week launched his book tour at the prestigious National Press
Club in D.C. </span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Springmann
said, “</span><i>“It’s past time to expose murder, war crimes
and human rights violations by the United States of American and its
‘intelligence’ services.” </i><span style="font-style: normal;">
Continuing, Springman, said claiming “national security,” as a
justification was dubious. </span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">These
claims have been made by both the Central Intelligence Agency and
National Security Agency (NSA). Springmann said these agencies were
responsible for coups and destabilization acts around the world,</span><i>
“most notably,”</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> in the
middle east. </span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Springmann
says governments were overthrown, assassinations carried out and
ordinary citizens murdered on their orders. This chain of events
began, he continued, with the Carter Administration. These acts took
place, Springmann says, with the knowledge of the president of the
United States and the executive branch but also our two other
branches of government,</span><i>“from Libya to Iran.” </i></span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i> </i><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span></span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Springmann
knows because he personally saw </span><i>“illegal visas issues to
large numbers of U.S.-backed Islamic fundamentalists transiting
through Jeddah from multiple Islamic nations so they could visit the
United States for secret purposes.” </i><span style="font-style: normal;">Covert
training took place at a CIA facility in Williamsburg, Virginia for</span>
<i>“vagabond Islamic mercenaries, revolutionists and jihadists —
an "Arab-Afghan Legion" — who could be unleashed on
America’s enemies.”</i></span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 140%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Blowback
was not taken into account but deniability was ensured. Today, when
war has become continuous, this is a book you need to read. </span></span></span>
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-73357663183643558532015-02-27T01:24:00.005-08:002015-02-27T01:24:59.796-08:00No. 138 – February 26, 2015 – A Lenten Visit to the Ninth Commandment<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br /><div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
“<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>Thou
shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.”</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Lent
is a time to examine our values and how we express these with
action. The Ten Commandments have been a tool for examining values
for thousands of years. They make a great tool for seeing our own
values in new ways. In this first week of Lent I was drawn to
consider the Ninth Commandment and what light it can shed on human
behavior today. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Bearing
false witness means lying about someone. Usually, the lie defames
and misrepresents the target, making them vulnerable for further
attacks. Bullying often includes bearing false witness. The person
who is defamed is less able to defend themselves because many people
will draw back from contact, increasing the vulnerability of the
individual to more abuse. Others watching may also join in attacking
the targeted person. We see this taking place with children today
but adults react the same way. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The
individual defamed is often bewildered. They may never know what was
said about them. And because they do not know they cannot refute the
lies and defend themselves. More attacks can then come from
unexpected directions instigated either by the original liar or by
those drawn in to participate. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">So,
why do people of all ages accept malicious lies as the truth? There
are lots of motives. Participants can experience a sense of false
righteousness. It is easy and satisfying to demean someone made
vulnerable. All too few pause to question the stories told them. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">What
do you do when you hear a shocking or unflattering story about
someone you know? </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Have
you ever gone to them and explained what you heard and listened to
their response?Most people will not do this, but they should. Have
you repeated unsubstantiated stories about others? As we have seen
with young teenagers lies can kill and traumatize. It is not true
that little harm can be done. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Perhaps
you were persuaded by the vehemence and anger exhibited by the
slanderer and decided the person slandered did was undeserving of
defense. This is equally a sin because we can know the truth if we
question the lie and ask the target. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Our
Savior told us to love one another. Part of loving is caring enough
to hear both sides of the story. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In
this Lenten season reflect on each Commandment and check how well
you really keep it. </span>
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-62466589642641910392015-02-20T02:56:00.002-08:002015-02-20T02:56:41.622-08:00No. 137 – February 19, 2015 – Sonja is worried about bomb trains. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by Melinda
Pillsbury-Foster </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">My friend,
Sonja Loll, mentioned she was noticing lines of tank cars on the
railroad lines running through Ashtabula. Sonja is worried, as are a
growing number of people across the country who are becoming aware of
the hazard posed by the transport of Bakken and Tar Sands across the
towns and population centers of America. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In the last
two weeks the number of incidents of violent explosions which caused
evacuations, injuries, shut down water-treatment plants and sent oil
seeping into rivers has sent shock waves through the media into a
public which previously ignored the potential for death and
destruction. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The cause
of these events, marking February of 2015 as a warning to be heeded,
is the desire by corporations to optimize profits by ignoring
maintenance, the costs of the disasters caused, these paid by
ordinary people and by government. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="stcpDiv"></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The
series of spills began with a toxic event in Igualada, a town in the
Spanish province of Catalonia. Residents were told to stay inside
until the toxic cloud of noxious material dissipated. 40,000 people
were impacted. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">West
Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency,
which cost will be underwritten by the state, including the same
taxpayers from two towns forced to flee. The medical impact of
residents will, if the company follows its past strategy, will be
denied, minimized, and swept under the rug. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Two
more derailments occurred in South Carolina.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Another
disturbing fact, also now rippling though the public consciousness,
is that the tank cars involved in West Virginia were not the widely
used older types, known to be vulnerable, but the newer model which
were to replace them. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="yui_3_10_0_1_1424428081321_460"></a>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When explosions occur
the fire ball can incinerate areas for a long way, as witnessed in
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Lac</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
Megantic in July of 2013. 47 people are known to have died. The town
remains in shock. The corporations involved refuse to accept any
responsibility. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lac
Megantic was a small town with a railroad line running through it,
not so different from Ashtabula – except here there are far more
railroad lines. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Along
with the continued threat of bomb trains America also must confront
the 2.5 million miles of pipelines, much of it deteriorating. And
the Kochs, who are infamous for ignoring maintenance, are determined
to spent 900 million to elect a Congress they can most firmly
control. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sonja
is right to be worried, we all should be. </span>
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-60226352767957066622015-02-13T00:40:00.003-08:002015-02-20T03:00:21.055-08:00No. 136 - February 12, 2015 – Yellowstone – Benzene, Cancer, and Accountability <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span lang="en">Another toxic spill
took place into the Yellowstone River on January 17 of this year. It
was not the first. An earlier break took place several years ago. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span lang="en"> </span></span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The break
occurred, according to Bridger Pipeline, LLC, at 10a.m. The company
shut down the pipeline at 11am. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It is in
the first hour after a break the most toxic materials escape. This
includes Benzene, a <span lang="en">carcinogen which may cause
cancer. Bridger announced only 300 – 1,200 oil barrels had been
spilled into the riber. State estimates the spill as 50,000 US
gallons of spilled oil. Benzene was ten to fifteen parts per billion.
An EPA official commented that, </span><span lang="en"><i>"anything
above five parts per billion is considered a long-term risk."</i></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span lang="en">It
was two days later, January 19</span><sup><span lang="en">th</span></sup><span lang="en">,
that 6,000 people from the nearby town of Glendive were told not to
use the town's municipal waterdue to the elevated levels of benzene
which had percolated through the Yellowstone River and into their tap
water. The city supplied bottled water to residents for four days,
declaring the municipal water safe on January 23. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span lang="en">Paul
Peronard, an employee of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
told residents to open their taps and run the water to flush out
residual contamination. Peronard also said, </span>“<span lang="en"><i>If
it doesn’t smell anymore you have cleaned it out, you’re good.
Citizens can start drinking it...”</i></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The level
at which Benezene is known to be dangerous is five parts per billion.
Most people can smell Benzene at levels of 60,000 parts per billion. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Following
Peronard's advice Glendive resident Roseann Koepke ran the taps in
her trailer home Thursday after her landlord told her the
contamination had been cleared. She turned off the water after the
strong smell of oil gave her a headache. Unaware of the facts about
Benzene Koepke said, “<i>I ran it for about ten minutes and had to
open up the door for five minutes to get the smell out,”</i> she
said. “<i>My God, did I end up getting a headache.”</i></span></div>
<div lang="en" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Ms.
Koepke said she would try again.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span lang="en">In
no instance has an oil company monitored the outpo</span></span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en">u</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span lang="en">ring
of deadly gases in the first hour. Under estimating the size of the
spill, failing to provide medical services to impacted residents, or
even pay for their drinking water is also standard operating
procedure for oil companies as is neglecting to provide </span></span><span style="font-family: georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en">H</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span lang="en">azmat
protection for workers. Get the picture? </span></span>
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-5847205957536147682015-02-05T21:10:00.001-08:002015-02-05T21:10:07.975-08:00No. 135 – February 5, 2015 – Questioning all Propaganda<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Today,
Andrew Kreig, author of </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>“Presidential
Puppetry,”</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">
is challenging a 'false flag' from the era of the Vietnam Conflict
which slipped into history as an authentic reactions to ongoing
events. </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i> </i></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">On
</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">April
19, 1969 80 plus African-American students at Cornell University
seized the student center 24 hours after a fire alarms going off
resulted in the discovery of a burning cross on campus at Wari House,
a cooperative residential unit for black women. Close to a dozen
false alarms took place elsewhere on campus but no one was injured. </span></span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<br /><br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">The
building was occupied for 36 hours before the armed protesters
emerged. The resulting photos, shocking at the time, entered our
collective memory as iconic images of the 1960s era of student
protest. </span></span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<br /><br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">But
black students, themselves, burned the cross, invoking a racist
symbol where none had existed. </span></span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<br /><br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Kreig
challenges each of us to decide if creating news by manipulation is
to be tolerated. Do we tolerate such incidents if they further the
aims of movements when we sympathize? Or do we exact the same
standards for everyone? </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<br /><br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Kreig
covered the story as a student reporter, not then realizing the
truth until former Cornell </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Daily
Sun editor-in-chief and Washington Post Alumnus Stan Chess revealed
the facts last month for the first time. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<br /><br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">The
students who planned and carried out the cross burning and then the
occupation also woke the parents of students then staying in </span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Helvetica, Arial, Sans-Serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Willard
Straight Hall, the student union. Although the incident ended
peacefully it did not end without acrimony. Some faculty, alumni and
political commentators were outraged at the leniency of the treatment
according the protesters. Some of the supposed radicals who had
planned the false flag went on to mainstream careers. </span></span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<br /><br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Helvetica, Arial, Sans-Serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">And
coverage of the event continued to reverberate. </span></span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<br /><br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Helvetica, Arial, Sans-Serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Kreig
himself wrote an essay on the event, as originally understood, which
was included as one of the first chapters in a book, titled, </span></span></span><em><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Helvetica, Arial, Sans-Serif;">A
Century At Cornell</span></span></em><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Helvetica, Arial, Sans-Serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">,
published about the University by the Sun. The chapter, </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Helvetica, Arial, Sans-Serif;"><i>“The
End of a Bizarre Era ” </i></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Helvetica, Arial, Sans-Serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">covered
the occupation's historical importance. </span></span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<br /><br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Two
of Kreig's professors, Walter Berns and Allan Bloom, resigned from
the University because of the lenient punishments accorded the
student protesters, who had emerged armed from their occupation of
the Student Union. Berns and Bloom found careers in politics in what
would become the NeoConservative movement. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<br /><br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">What
do you think? Do we tolerate propaganda, or not? </span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 140%; margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<br /><br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 140%;">
<br /><br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.03in;">
<br /><br />
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-67794798305818211422015-02-05T21:09:00.002-08:002015-02-05T21:09:12.442-08:00No. 134 – January 29, 2015 - Wyoming Passes Regulation Freedom Amendment<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by Melinda
Pillsbury-Foster <br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>"I
wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our
Constitution..... taking from the Federal Government the power of
borrowing."</i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> - Thomas
Jefferson<br /><br />Many are unaware that it was action by 2/3 of the
states which helped force Congress to propose, and pass, the Bill of
Rights. This exercise of power by the states fell into disuse and
America moved toward a Federal government which exercised far more
power than originally envisioned by our Founders. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Today, when
many are looking for ways to curb Federal power the application of
what has already worked has a strongl attraction. Advocates say they
are moved by the</span><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></strong><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">need
to restore accountability and balance in Washington.</span></span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Today,
2/3 of the states, if they agree on a specific Amendment could force
Congress to propose the “Regulation Freedom” Amendment. Which
reads,</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i> “Whenever one quarter
of the Members of the U.S. House or the U.S. Senate transmit to the
President their written declaration of opposition to a proposed
federal regulation, it shall require a majority vote of the House and
Senate to adopt that regulation.”</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Passage by
the Wyoming House of Representatives of a bipartisan vote, 51-9, was
passed to make the will of the people known to Congress. Wyoming was
not the first state to pass the measure, which has also been passed
in Arizona, as Regulation Freedom Amendment, SCL 1005, sponsored by
Sen. Nancy Barto. Other states, including Indiana and Georgia have
recently passed similar measures. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Governors
of two states and more than 200 state legislators plus the 6 million
member American Farm Bureau now support the Regulation Freedom
Amendment.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Each of
these Resolutions urges Congress to propose the "Regulation
Freedom Amendment" to the U.S. Constitution to require that
Congress approve major new federal regulations. These Resolutions
are steps in the process of passage for the proposed Amendment but
also open up the political process to more direct control by the
people through their state legislatures. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The
movement, which includes Regulation Freedom and the Madison Amendment
is the brain child of Roman Buhler, an attorney and formerly counsel
for the U. S. House of Representatives, from 1989 to 2003. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Buhler has
also proposed the Madison Initiative, which gives States the same
power as Congress to propose individuals amendments to the United
States Constitution. Many view this as the better avenue for cutting
back the growth of Federal power, avoiding a new Constitutional
Convention. </span>
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-42610248352254965162015-01-22T19:10:00.004-08:002015-01-22T19:10:48.544-08:00No. 133 – January 22, 2015 – Corporations make out like bandits<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"></span>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by Melinda
Pillsbury-Foster </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">What if
Koch Industries offered burial insurance as a benefit for temporary
employees doing clean up on toxic spills, a common need in the
petroleum industry? You might think, well at least they are being
given something! </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Wait. Let's
consider for a moment what happened to the low level employees who
cleaned up the Valdez Spill which took place on Prince William Sound,
Alaska, March 24, 1989. According to Susan Shaw, a toxicologist,
these cleanup workers have all died. This gave them a life span of 52
years when the average life expectancy in America is 78. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Quite a
difference there. That is an average loss of 26 years of life, which
is deceptive because people struggle with a range of conditions after
being exposed to toxic waste which drains them, and their families as
they struggle and die. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">How much is
a year of your life worth? Shaw estimates 150,000 clean up workers
were involved in the BP gulf spill. Due to the huge amounts of
Corexit dispersant used together with the close contact they may fare
worse than the Valdez workers.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Now, let's
look again at the practice of insuring low level employees, a
practice generally referred to as taking out 'peon insurance.'</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Insuring
the lives of low level employees by corporations is carried out
routinely today. Premiums are paid on the policy. The employee is
oblivious. He or she can be fired or quit but corporation keeps
paying until the employee dies. Then, a check is cut by the insurance
company and sent to the corporation which made the payments. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Many have
been outraged that the family of the dead employee did not get a
portion of the money paid out. But the real issue is that using
insurance policies allows corporation to avoid paying taxes. This is
a corporate tax dodge. The corporation borrows the money to pay the
premiums. The interest on such money used to pay premiums is
tax-deductible. The eventual payout is tax-exempt. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Employees,
in most industries, are not harmed or benefited by the action of the
corporation. Not true for cleanup workers. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Would the
Kochs do this? </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In their
case the cleanup worker loses 26 years, or more, of life and Koch
Industries gets the insurance payout and the tax-exemption on their
premiums. If they are feeling generous the Kochs provide a burial. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The
question should be are they doing this yet? </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-81622427810154110972015-01-17T06:27:00.001-08:002015-01-17T06:27:19.292-08:00No. 132 – January 15, 2015 – Bowling, Bread and Economics<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by Melinda
Pillsbury-Foster </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXlOuovWVGSDI5fMz19VcdIQcaESmfCURwbYZjpO6qpLrkHILjIv2zivIVufbZCnAagseJSa0mbsK-WHy9-6HNCGNA-P9oCKhyphenhyphenF4JUiwwzNMJLzTwStPphlcBChkMn8HIEcSptTI_KUEsC/s1600/Mike+Next+to+Article+Cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXlOuovWVGSDI5fMz19VcdIQcaESmfCURwbYZjpO6qpLrkHILjIv2zivIVufbZCnAagseJSa0mbsK-WHy9-6HNCGNA-P9oCKhyphenhyphenF4JUiwwzNMJLzTwStPphlcBChkMn8HIEcSptTI_KUEsC/s1600/Mike+Next+to+Article+Cropped.jpg" height="320" width="295" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fred Fish at work, Perry's Automotive</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Sir
Flinders Petrie discovered bowling artifacts in an Egyptian tome
dating the game to 3200 B. C. in the 1930s. The game was being
played in Germany in 300 A. D. and popular in England in 1366 A. D. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="dnn_ctr445_ContentPane"></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">English,
Dutch and German settlers brought their own variations of the game to
America. Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle awakens to the sound of
"crashing ninepins." in 1819. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Arguably,
the first permanent American bowling place, for lawn bowling, was in
New York's Battery area, now in the heart of the financial district.
The small plot is still called Bowling Green. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="dnn_ctr445_ContentPane1"></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But
ten pin bowling did not take off as a major sport in America until
the 1950s, following the introduction of the first rubber ball, the
"Evertrue" in 1905 and Gottfried Schmidt's automatic
pinspotter. Owners of bowling establishments were no longer
dependent on "pinboys."</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Playing a
game cost 25 cents. Renting bowling shoes was a dime. The rate of
inflation on the cost of bowling from 1955 to 2014 has been 781.2%. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMP1HTUuIqi33stwMdahbzBJUpe0rUFCfRh2nblkpLJWBa1XKzFyRDq7b9egfV-PAMuwGgpEYO1L5A8fBH2dqC67yd9D_I6uh7CKX0Z6N2GgIzZxFhjlw0c3EKGaEsOD-GDXZHO4gPHvZf/s1600/Fred+Bowls+300+Cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMP1HTUuIqi33stwMdahbzBJUpe0rUFCfRh2nblkpLJWBa1XKzFyRDq7b9egfV-PAMuwGgpEYO1L5A8fBH2dqC67yd9D_I6uh7CKX0Z6N2GgIzZxFhjlw0c3EKGaEsOD-GDXZHO4gPHvZf/s1600/Fred+Bowls+300+Cropped.jpg" height="640" width="374" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The subject
came up during the hour and 15 minutes I waited for a City Taxi Cab
to arrive at Perry's Automotive the other day. On the wall was an
article from the Star Beacon chronicling the first 300 game of 1974
played by Fred Fish at Lake Shore Lanes. Fred works at Perry's. Fred
said he no longer bowls because of the cost, remembering the four
games for a dollar he paid in 1974. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">According
to the cumulative rate of inflation if Lake Shore's management had
raised their prices along with other costs of living the price for
those four games would be $4.79, with a rate of inflation of 379.0%.
Lake Shore on occasion offers all you can bowl coupons for $10. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Fred gave
up bowling. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="table_1.xls"></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">America
went off the gold standard in 1913 with the establishment of the
Federal Reserve, whose stated goal was to provide stable prices. In
1913 a loaf of bread cost about a nickle. Today it costs about
$1.45.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In 1776
when Thomas Jefferson bought a loaf of bread it cost the same as it
did when J. P. Morgan bought a loaf a century later, about a nickle.
The price had not changed. The value of the dollar increased 11%
from 1776 to 1912, 136 years.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">So, where
did the money for bowling go? When you find out tell Fred. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-52260403243828639902015-01-08T19:25:00.003-08:002015-01-08T19:25:54.172-08:00No. 131 – January 8, 2015 – Dancing with David Koch <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br /><div align="JUSTIFY" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>-
“While I am a great believer in the free enterprise system and all
that it entails, I am</i></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>an
even stronger believer in the right of our people to live in a clean
and pollution-free</i></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>environment.”
</i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">~Barry Goldwater</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Barry
Goldwater was a real conservative. If you are a Libertarian today
you should know most of us who poured our energy and hard earned
money into building the Libertarian Party had supported Barry for
president in 1964. The fact was being a Conservative who understood
the issues of social justice was what made you a Libertarian, a
conservative just like Barry. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Barry
believed a Conservative was someone who opposed wars carried out for
corporate profit and not in defense of America. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In
Barry's mind a Conservative believed you did not, <i>“have to be
straight to aim straight,”</i> to serve in the military. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Barry
and his wife were early supporters of a woman's right to choose. It
was not about approving of abortion. It was about acknowledging it
was none of his business because women own their bodies. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And
in Barry's mind those engaging in commerce assumed the entire
liability for damages done as a result of their actions. No
preferences for those who donate heavily to political campaigns. No
buying votes, either in Congress or at the 1979 Libertarian National
Convention. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In
1979 the Kochs bought votes so they could control the Libertarian
nomination for President and Vice President. Their agents in this
included Edward H. Crane, III, Howie Rich, and John Fund, among
others. The campaign they ran for president ignored the real issues
of freedom. Many of us were shocked to hear the rhetoric of freedom,
our ideas, coming from the mouth of Ronald Reagan who, Californian's
knew, had done more to eliminate local governance and centralize
state power than had ever been imagined by an Liberal Democrat. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The
United Republicans of California had trusted Ronnie. In 1975 they
passed a <span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://urocresolution1975.blogspot.com/">resolution</a></u></span></span>
at their state convention begging Americans not to vote for Reagan if
he ran for President or Vice President. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Ronnie
lied. He lied himself into the presidency as he had lied himself
into the governorship of California. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And
that, in a nutshell, is the Brothers Koch and the entire Big Oil
industry for which they set the moral and business standards. </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Calling
something 'Free Enterprise' does not make it so - and David was a
terrible dancer.</span></div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-33194588288572054622015-01-03T00:30:00.001-08:002015-01-03T00:30:12.279-08:00No. 130 – January 1, 2015 – Dave Lincoln says he will Stop the Keystone Pipeline.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by Melinda
Pillsbury-Foster </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Dave was
recruited by Union Oil when he was fourteen in 1969. The Santa
Barbara Oil Spill had taken place. It was a public relations
disaster for the entire industry. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">At the
time, Dave planned to be an astronomer. This changed when <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Union
Oil's 'scouting representatives' walked into his class, announcing
they were looking for 'young scientists' to participate in an
exciting program and teach them about the future of modern
technology. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">At
the time, Dave was completing his work to become an Eagle Scout. He
was a natural recruit to sell the good intentions of Union Oil.
Scripts of well-honed lies were provided to Dave and his fellow
recruits. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Dave
was a trusting kid, excited by the attention and promised
opportunities. Union Oil took over his life. In college they
decided which classes he would take and how his time would be spent.
During summer vacation he worked for them, carrying out highly
responsible work. He never made a mistake twice. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Twenty
years later Dave Lincoln had worked for every major oil company on
every continent. He was earning a six figure salary, handling
relations with foreign nations, and locating oil reservoirs and
planning pipelines. But he still believed it was his duty to ensure
the environment was not harmed. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">He
had started writing reports showing corporate management how problems
could be handled without causing harm. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In
1996, sitting in a high level management meeting on a Nuclear Power
Plant for India he heard Ken Lay, Enron President, say, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>“if
they don’t like the way we conduct our business we'll just replace
their politicians.” </i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Lay
continued, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>“If those people
in India didn’t like the price we charge for electricity we can
have the State Dept. and the US Army explain it to them.” </i></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">These
same strategies were outlined in John Perkin's book,</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>
</i></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.economichitman.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>Confessions
of an Economic Hitman</i></span></a></u></span><span style="color: navy;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><u>.</u></i></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Dave walked
away from his job. Returning to the US he discovered environmental
groups, and those who ran them, were also focused on their bottom
line. Most receive huge funding from Big Oil. But Dave was able to
stop irresponsible development when, and where, he was allowed to do
so. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The
Keystone is uneconomic, poised to produce oil at $70 when Saudi
Arabia can do it for $10. Can Dave stop the Keystone? One man
against Big Oil with the power of billions of dollars behind them?
Watch and find out. </span>
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8835012251167493784.post-54486166340978475852014-12-25T21:38:00.004-08:002014-12-25T21:38:38.674-08:00No. 129 – December 25, 2014 – Christmas Gifts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by Melinda
Pillsbury-Foster </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It was a
birthday party. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Father
Peter W. Nielsen, III, invited children and adults attending St.
Peter Church's Children's Service to sit on the steps and carpet at
the altar to hear the story of the birth of Jesus. The young girl
we know as Mary, the Mother of Christ, Father Peter said, was
fourteen when a messenger from God appeared to her and said she would
have a son who was to be called Jesus. </span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Pausing in
his narrative, told in language the smallest child could understand,
Father Peter asked who acted as a messenger for God. A small girl,
no more than four, said it was an angel. Asking then about the word,
'prophet,' those listening learned angels and prophets deliver
messages from God to his people. </span>
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<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The story,
so well known, came alive.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Shepherds
saw the sky above them fill with angels, as numerous as the stars.
They sang the news of a baby born to a virgin. Lonely men, hungry
for hope in a world filled with trouble, heard them. Rejoicing
erupted in shouts of joy and dancing as the multitude of angels
faded, leaving the shining stars they knew so well. </span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Together,
the shepherds left their flocks to find the child. In the presence
of the sleeping baby they told Mary and Joseph what they had seen,
gazing with awe and hope at the child so recently born. </span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Jesus,
Father Peter, said, brought the gift of salvation to humanity. </span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Thirty
three years after his birth Jesus invited his friends to a meal. He
told them to continue to share the bread and wine in remembrance of
him, sharing these gifts with everyone. </span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Adults and
children gathered close to the altar, watching as the meal was
prepared for them. All raised their cupped hands and took the bread
and drank the wine. The youngest, less than two years old, put the
bread into his mouth and sipped from the silver cup. </span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">As this
gift was given to us, so what we do for others are gifts given to
Jesus. These gifts say, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>“I
love you.” </i></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In the
dining room we sang happy birthday. The cake was cut. Father Peter
asked children and adults to share how they love others this next
year. What gifts, time or things, do you give? Each is a gift given
to Jesus. </span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">How do you
say to Jesus, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>“I love you?”
</i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span>
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Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0