Sexual abuse and bullying, a School Nurse standpoint

"My Dirty Little Secret" from Scott Spideralamode

• From a nursing point of view, Scott's story is quite typical among drug abusers.  I researched perinatal substance abuse in my university education.  I found of those women who did not take the window of opportunity to quit drugs when discovering that they were pregnant, 98% of them were sexually abused as children.  You will find that the sluts and the bullies at school often are carrying a dirty secret.  Also, the morbidly obese girls at school.  They all have dirty secrets like Scott's that they are covering up with obesity, sexual promiscuity, drugs and bullying.  Some people wonder what school nurses do since they aren't doing bandaids and ice packs in the "nurse's office" anymore?  We research ways to reach out to these students and try to help them succeed at school.
• The other part of this equation are the parents of these children.  In Scott's case, his parents never betrayed his trust and the perpetrator was a semi-stranger.  More often, it is your mother's boyfriend, or your uncle.  And occasionally, it is your father.  And perpetrators of sexual abuse of children most often themselves have a history of childhood sexual abuse.  It is unfortunately a generational disease.

  
  
• Most often, the mother is totally dependent on the perpetrator and refuses to believe anything so horrible could be true.  In Scott's case, when his behavior changed after the incident, didn't his parents notice?  I would certainly know if my son's personality had changed and I would definitely intervene, and have several times already.  Where were Scott's parents?  Those children who have reached out for help and were heard, and the perpetrator was immediately removed from the situation, can recover and hope to live a productive and fulfilling life.  Those children who have reached out and been called a liar and punished, and weren't heard, are drug abusers, sluts, bullies or morbidly obese, all self-destructive acting-out behaviors.

  
  
• And how does the school nurse intervene? What does anybody's private family business have anything to do with the School Nurse who is paid by the state government? It is very challenging!  If there is current suspicion of abuse going on at home, like if the student shows up at school with a black eye and a bruised face and says he fell off his bike, then we at school are "mandated reporters" and we have to file a report with CPS.  Child Protective Services might investigate, but are understaffed, underpaid, and overworked.   Once the file of reports thickens, then they will intervene.  Eventually the parent will find out it was the School Nurse who wrote the report and will hate the nurse forever.

  
  
• If the child is old enough, the school nurse can try to reach out directly to the student. We never want to use shame or blame when interacting with problem families.   That makes it very tricky to come straight to the point without causing an upheaval that might cause the parent to pull their child out of school and disappear.  Sometimes, it needs to be approached very delicately over several meetings of getting acquainted and gaining trust.  It is advisable to collaborate with the school psychologist.

  
  
• But what injuries do we see at school from a child who is being sexually abused?  We can't assume every morbidly obese 1st grader, or 6th grader, are being abused.   They might have hypothyroid or their family eats a heavy lard and processed food diet.  We can meet with the family and teach them nutrition and exercise.   Educate them about the many health risks of obesity that can be avoided by reducing their weight.  And the advantages of good health.   We are keen to detect clues of self-destructive behaviors.  In kindergarten, that child might be sexually provocative to a classmate not realizing at 5yrs old that it is contrary to social mores because it is so normal at home. 

  
  
• We can't assume every slut or bully has been sexually abused. It could be that her mother and sisters all look like sluts, too, and that is the family norm.  There are plenty of other reasons to bully, often just modeling your parent's behavior.  It might be the family norm for men.  Or, it might be an acting-out behavior to cover up any number of other family or personal secrets besides childhood sexual abuse.  We need to meet with the family, and even do a home visit, always looking for clues of dysfunction or abuse.  The sooner we can intervene in an abusive situation, the sooner that student will mitigate their self-destructive behavior.

  
  
• The ideal student to school nurse ratio (excluding the severely handicapped) is 750:1.  

  The California average is 2500:1.  

  In my jobs at Windsor Unified School District and Santa Rosa City Schools, I had 5000:1.  

  
  These ratios reflect the low importance our government places on school nurses.  Not just the state governments which seem to cut the education budget first every time there's a deficit, and blame teachers when students can't achieve.  But also school districts, which put a low priority on their school nurse budget.  We compassionate idealists in school nursing think it is because the school board has no idea what school nurses do, an "information deficit" that can be solved with updates to the School Board.  

  
  But I think it is far more sinister.  I think it is a power trip.  Disrespect!  First, because school nurses, CPS workers, and public health nurses are mainly women.  Second, because they would rather blame and punish educators than proactively fund prevention, which is categorized by neo-liberals as "waste."  Ultimately, the whole system is designed for public schools to fail and the futureless products of that failed system to become the cannon fodder of the perpetual wars of the rich war-profiteers. 

What bothers me most about the NSA invasion of privacy

This is what really bothers me about the NSA's invasion into my privacy. 

Taxpayers pay for the NSA to spy on us!  In the name of "security."  We, the taxpayers, pay for great warehouses full of servers that eat electricity and give off a lot of heat.  Instead of using that heat to run turbines and produce secondary electricity, No! they burn more electricity running air conditioners on our dime to keep those giant warehouses cool enough so that they can store every last little bit of data about all of us.  Not in my name! 

The first automated data system "was the IBM punch card and card sorting system-a precursor to the computer. IBM, primarily through its German subsidiary, made Hitler's program of Jewish destruction a technologic mission the company pursued with chilling success. IBM Germany, using its own staff and equipment, designed, executed, and supplied the indispensable technologic assistance Hitler's Third Reich needed to accomplish what had never been done before-the automation of human destruction." 

Although the German subsidiary used their own equipment, IBM USA retained the patent on the punch card.  IBM violated the prohibition of trade with Germany by supplying Hitler with punch cards throughout the Holocaust.

The Nazi Party: IBM & "Death's Calculator" by Edwin Black
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/IBM.html

For those who thirst for power and control, information is key.  I presume the only reason the NSA wants all that information is for power and control.  And they charge us for it! 

Athena Melville has never been to an Occupy Ukiah meeting

Athena Melville, the co-administrator of this site, has never been to an Occupy Ukiah meeting and doesn't know what what issues we are working on or what issues we are fighting.  She wants to prohibit the other co-administrators from posting the local news, events and opinions of the group.  She erases the posts of the other administrators if they post anything original saying that we are only allowed to re-post from other sources, like she does. 

Occupy Ukiah wants to make it very clear that we are opposed to corporate personhood rights.  We are non-partisan and believe that both the Democrats and the Republicans are corrupt and violating the Constitution.  We believe that the members of Congress, most of whom are millionaires, are bought and paid for by big corporations like the petroleum industry, the arms industry, the private bank industry, the insurance industry, the firearms industry, the high-tech security industry, and the drug industry.  We don't trust them to act in the best interests of We the People or Democracy. 

Occupy Ukiah opposes the "Democracy for All Amendment," which Athena has posted 3 times to this page.  We oppose it because it gives permission to regulate campaign spending, but doesn't mandate it.  It also retains all corporate personhood rights which makes this amendment proposal a toxic misadventure and waste of the People's time and money.  Democrats are seizing it as an issue that they think will energize the base in the midterm elections.  Most members of Congress don't honestly want to limit their campaign contributions.  We at Occupy Ukiah want to cut private contributions completely out of elections and make all elections publicly financed and limited to just a few weeks of campaigning. 

Occupy Ukiah is very concerned about invasive toxins spewed by both our government and industrial wastes which pollutes the soil, the water, and the air we breathe.  We are concerned about the 3000 lbs of Roundup that is sprayed every year on our Mendocino County school campuses where our children play all day.  We are offended that our air is being polluted by industrial waste gases and particles that invade our bodies against our will.  We are in favor of banning fracking and promoting alternative non-polluting energy.  The sun emits enough energy in 1 hour  to power the whole world for a year. 

Occupy Ukiah is also extremely concerned with the overreach of the Wall Street banks, their corruption, and their conspiracy to milk the wealth of the nation into fewer and fewer hands.  We have been working for over 3 years on a solution to illegal foreclosures.  We are delighted that issue came to the public's attention for a while, but right now the public thinks the illegal foreclosure issue is over.  The only law that changed here in California was the Homeowner's Bill of Rights which curbed the worst foreclosure practices, but it will expire in 2018.  We are rushing to establish our county public bank before 2018 when we predict the next illegal foreclosure debacle will begin. 

We are also very concerned about the MERS (Mortgage Electronic Recording System) database which bypasses the role of the County Recorder robbing our county of $53,000 every year, and clouds the titles of every property that has been financed or refinanced in the last decade.  Occupy Ukiah believes that the chain of assignments on property titles should be clear.  We want to make the MERS database illegal and return the job of recording assignments to county recorders, which is where it belongs. 

Occupy Ukiah is extremely concerned about the 3 reactors melting down in Fukushima.  We keep a Geiger Counter going and note every time there is a spike in the radioactivity.  Fukushima is being managed by the Yakuza, which is making a ton of profit while not just the residents of Japan are being toxified.  The winds and ocean currents are driving the radioactive particles here to California. 

Occupy Ukiah wants to localize the economy.  We understand that the big box stores like Wal-Mart put local stores out of business while paying such low wages the the majority of their employees depend upon public assistance to survive.  We oppose that the Walton Family gets richer and richer based on public assistance.  We succeeded at preventing our local Wal-Mart from expanding into a 24 hour superstore.  Athena Melville had nothing to do with this success. 

Occupy Ukiah ran a candidate in the last election to replace our County Recorder who refuses to demand an Affidavit of Authority when recording robo-signed foreclosures.  She is enabling the corrupt banks from continuing their illegal practices rather than defend the public.  The Recorder says it is not her job to investigate crime.  Athena Melville did absolutely nothing to support the Occupy candidate. 

Occupy Ukiah is opposed to the Willits Bypass and many members have been working to oppose CalTrans' plans to destroy the wetlands and aquifer in Little Lake Valley. 

There are many more social injustices that Occupy Ukiah could support like racism, sexism, LGBT rights, the legalization of marijuana, Smart Meters, save the Redwoods, stop the Navy from killing marine mammals with sonar, GMO's, a free and open internet, the privatization of the public airwaves, and many more.  But we have decided to focus on just these 6 issues: eliminating corporate personhood rights under the Constitution, toxins from agricultural and fracking chemicals, mortgage fraud & big bank corruption, Fukushima, opposing big box stores to localize the economy, and opposing the Willits Bypass.  Only these 6 issues are germane to Occupy Ukiah.  Everything else are the opinion of Athena Melville and not supported by Occupy Ukiah. 

Under the Microscope

Doug Losak, the interim County Council, showed up Monday morning to talk to my boss at work.  It seems that 3 years ago, I applied to the County for a temporary property tax reduction, part of the 2009 American Recovery & Reinvestment Act.  It required COMPS attached to assist the Assessor in deciding how much to reduce my taxes during the economic recession.  They kept the application for a year, and then phoned me to say that they denied it based on that there were no COMPS to compare it with. 

The problem Doug brought up was that my application was printed on used paper.  The reverse side were student report cards that had been misprinted, which I mined out of the recycle bin.  I save a ton of money on paper by mining recycle bins for clean flat, uncrumpled pages.  Occasionally, I hit the jackpot and find 1/2 ream of misprints all in a nice clean pile! 

Although I had scribbled over every name or other identifiable info, you could still make out the names when held up to the light.  Over 2 years ago, I brought up the issue of confidential info in the recycle bin to my boss.  She has since inserviced everyone on FERPA privacy laws, and confidential info is now consistently shredded. 

But someone in the Assessor's Office is scrutinizing my records to try to get me into trouble.  They probably figure, everyone's got some dirt on them and they are set out to find it. 

What to do when you feel like giving up

A friend asked: "When humans keep proving themselves stupid and greedy and justice is nostalgia what do you do? Seriously, don't you ever feel like giving up? And if so, what do you do?"

Reply:

The corporate interests are happy to exhaust you.  You are looking at the half empty cup with a hole in the middle that can never seem to fill up.  That's why you are exhausted.  Please, sister M, look at the cup half full.  We will fix the hole in the middle if we all work together. 

The public is generally disgusted with the Republican extremists, but they are likely to forget very soon, likely before the next congressional election.  One of our jobs is to keep the public apprised of the extremist BS so they don't forget.  I'm reading “Brave New World” right now.  The public can all just take some Soma and sleep with propaganda quietly playing in their dreams. 

What keeps me energized is my love for humanity and my strong sense of justice.  I assume it is the same for you.  I am repeatedly shocked at how corporations and governments can wantonly and brazenly break all the laws, and no one takes them to task for it.  For example, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act is still a law on the books, but no one enforces it anymore, and so we have "too big to fail."  Another example, the MERS database records real estate transactions electronically, but the County Recorders never receive the recording fees.  Yet, I can't find a single law that legally shifts the mandate to record RE transactions away from the County Recorder.  MERS just took the liberty, and county recorders just let it happen.  I guess they were just complying with an order from above. 

The Constitution talks about several different types of persons.  It talks about We the People, citizens, people, and persons.  The Court has clarified that of these 4, corporations are legal persons but not included in We the People, citizens or people. 

To me, one way to fix the hole in the middle of the cup is to take constitutional rights away from corporations.  In addition, all elections should be publicly funded and limited time, i.e. 6 weeks of campaigning, and corporations should be barred from campaign donations the way it used to be.  What changed is that corporations have patiently spent a century eking out human rights under the Constitution, every one granted by the Supreme Court.  The first human right they won was Due Process of Law in 1886.  The corporate lawyers argued that since everyone knows that corporations are “fictional persons” under the law, then the Constitution says in both the 5^th and the 14^th Amendments that every person has the right to due process of law.  So aren’t fictional persons also persons? the corporate lawyers argued.  And so a non-living aggregate of capital designed to maximize profits achieved their first human right. 

Over the years, corporations have been granted more and more human rights.  You can get a PDF timeline corporate rights here: http://movetoamend.org/timeline-personhood-rights-and-powers.  Interestingly, the corporate Right to Privacy was struck down by the Supreme Court because they distinguished between “person” and “personal.”  The Court reasoned that personal privacy was something only a human could have, but fictional persons were undoubtedly “persons.”  So now, although corporations have the Rights to Free Speech, to Right to be Indicted by a Grand Jury for crimes, not twice in jeopardy for the same crime, nor witness against itself, the Right to Speedy trials, Jury Trials, nor be deprived of Life, Liberty or Property, Equal Protection of the Laws, but NOT the Right to Privacy.  Pretty soon a corporate person is going to run for office! 

What we need to do is create a groundswell of public sentiment in favor of a constitutional amendment that makes it clear that only NATURAL PERSONS have Rights under the Constitution, and that money is NOT Free Speech.  Such an amendment will cut the root of corporate abuse.  Next (or simultaneously) we need another amendment that makes all elections to public office be publicly funded and limited to 6 weeks; and bar outside funding and partisan election commissions or partisan electronic voting machines. 

Right now, Move to Amend is doing a canvassing campaign called We the People Listen, in which we are going door to door in our neighborhoods and asking people what their biggest issues are and if they have noticed corporations impacting their lives?  We are asking rather than telling.  I’m excited to do this.  This is how we create coalitions in our neighborhoods.  This is how we create the groundswell of sentiment and keep people awake.  Http://movetoamend.org/listen

Cutting Government Spending

Some people say they want to cut government spending to solve the debt crisis?  So I ask them, what would you cut?  Road repair?  Government pensions?  Public health?  Meat inspection?  School nurses?  The salaries of our elected representatives?  The NSA?  The military bases all over the world?  The Pacific Fleet?

Normally, balancing a budget and paying down debt involves both cutting spending, AND increasing revenues.  The government is supported by import tariffs, fees, and taxes.  We have a system of taxes in which giant profitable corporations not only don't pay their taxes, but use tax loopholes to get $Billions back in rebates.  They put their former executives upon the government corporate regulatory boards, and change the laws to favor corporations over People.  They avoid paying taxes on their ample income by hiding it in offshore tax havens, like Penny Pritzker, our President's Secretary of Commerce.  Unfortunately, we cut the budget for the regulatory boards in order to cut spending, so that now there aren't enough investigators to indict these treasonous tax evaders.  Instead, they are elevated to positions of power in our government. 

My stockbroker gives frequent seminars on how to avoid paying taxes.  To me, if I love America, then it is patriotic to love paying my taxes, because that is what will provide me with paved roads, safe meat, clean drinking water, an educated electorate, and elected representatives competent to administer these public services for me. 

Yet these unpatriotic tax evaders want to convince the public that our national debt is caused by too much spending!  Yeah!  Too much military and NSA spending!  Our military is destabilizing the world.  It is all about trashing The United States Constitution and relegating it to memorabilia for the bread & circuses while they create the Corporate States of America and exploit all the natural and human resources to depletion for private profit.  To pass time until they find another habitable planet to colonize, they will profiteer on cleaning up the mess left behind from their original exploitations.  Like Halliburton: one division tears down the infrastructure, and another division is hired to build it all back up again.  Like betting on both puts and calls.  You can't lose! 

Fascism has spread like a domino effect

From today's New York Times:
"It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal."
Vladimir V. Putin  
NYT_2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria
 
This quote brings to mind Obama's recent speech in which he referred to American Exceptionalism. 

I don't know much about Russian politics, but fascism has spread like a domino effect.  From the USA to Britain to Israel to Chile to Myanmar to Indonesia, and on and on.  The fascists are taking over the world.  Whatever euphemisms you want to call them: lobbyists, special interests, corporations, big banks, big oil, big pharma, big agra, war profiteers, neo-cons, neo-liberals are currently in power and the Constitution has been relegated to memorabilia. 

The fascists plan to gain as much power and wealth as is possible and exploit all natural and human resources to depletion without regard to havoc they will wreak.  The elections are bread and circuses to keep the public pacified as they "privatize" all the public assets.  Now is the time to choose sides and act!  Fight the fascists or become a whining victim! 

We who fight use non-violent weapons.  The fascists would love us to start shooting, because that would justify their using their mighty military and intelligence to eliminate us.  No!  We fight with PEOPLE POWER!  Get educated about the issues!  Educate your friends and neighbors!  Take control of your local governments.  GET INVOLVED!!!  Join the political action group of your choice.  Unite with like-minded other groups and communities. 

Liberty is not free.  The price we pay for freedom is participatory democracy.  It isn't a sacrifice to march in the streets or visit the office of your elected representative, it is our obligation as sovereign citizens of a democracy! ACT NOW!

Corporations have more constitutional rights than humans

We have reached a point in history in which aggregates of capital (corporations) now have the inalienable human rights described in the Bill of Rights, i.e., Free Speech, petition the government for redress of grievances, unreasonable searches and seizures, due process of law, and a speedy trial. These "Rights" have all been granted not by Congress, which makes laws, but by the Supreme Court, which refines laws made by Congress.

In the wake of the Civil War, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery, and the 14th Amendment defined who can be a citizen. The 14th Amendment then goes on to state that "...nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law...." Clever corporate railroad lawyers decided to exploit the 14th Amendment in order to increase corporate power and wealth. Corporations have been considered "fictional persons" since English Common Law was codified in the 12th century. The legal fictional of corporate personhood facilitated their being taxed by government and sued in court.

In 1886, in Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, the court affirmed the right of a corporation to get due process of law under the 14th Amendment. Although it may be clear to you or me that the 14th Amendment was intended for freed slaves, the fact is that the term "person" was not defined. It didn't say "black persons" or "natural persons" or "fictional persons;" it just said "person." So corporate lawyers argued that corporate persons are to be included, and the Supreme Court let it happen. Now, more than a century of legal precedents have been built on that fateful case.

The State of Vermont passed a law requiring that all Vermont dairy products be labeled if they contain Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH), a product manufactured by Monsanto. In 1996, the Supreme Court struck down that Vermont law in International Dairy Foods Association v. Amestoy (the VT attorney general). The Court ruled that the right to Free Speech also implies the right NOT TO SPEAK! And so the Supreme Court awarded an international dairy food association more rights under the U.S. Constitution than the citizens of Vermont!

Right now, several states are running campaigns to label GMO's in food (more Monsanto products). Yet, based on the 1996 SCOTUS precedent, corporate persons have the right NOT TO SPEAK; therefore, no GMO labeling law will survive judicial review as long as corporations have constitutional rights.

Members of Congress have been bought and paid for by corporations due to our current system of privately financed election campaigns. The amount of money spent on election campaigns is obscene. Therefore, we can't expect Congress to correct this error. Anyway, Congress can't overrule the Supreme Court, although the Supreme Court CAN overrule Congress! The way to correct this 127 year old misappropriation of justice is with a constitutional amendment driven by We the People.

A dozen or more amendments have been proposed in Congress to correct what is often framed as "the damage done by Citizen's United." The system was broken long before the 2010 Citizen's United decision, so this framing of the problem is a distraction from the real issue. Overturning Citizen's United will only return us to an era of inadequate campaign finance regulations. Regulations don't work because the regulatory boards are always staffed with industry insiders who weaken regulations in favor of corporate profits over the health and well being of the People.

H.J.Res 29, the amendment proposed by Rep. Rick Nolan of Minnesota, is the only proposal that eliminates ALL corporate personhood rights under the Constitution.  It is the first and most fundamental step in erecting a Wall of Separation Between Corporation and State. 

In order to rescue democracy in the USA, please demand that your Representative in Congress co-sponsor H.J. Res. 29, the We the People Amendment. Move to Amend

Do Private Contractors Really Save the Nation Money?

It is not news that the NSA is collecting terabytes of data on everyone in the world; I have been writing about it for almost a decade. I keep thinking about the utility bills taxpayers are paying to keep cool, giant banks of servers where the mines of data are stored. I even mentioned it to Rep. Jared Huffman a couple of weeks ago at at Town Hall at the Ukiah Senior Center, and he stared into space like it wasn't anything he wanted to talk about. But that was before Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the NSA. Snowden said something that made me think.

He said he had a job as a national security private contractor that gave him a "large paycheck." And I began to think about the thousands of young security analysts collecting large paychecks, as well as profits for the corporation they contract with, and the overblown compensation of the CEO's, all on the taxpayer's dime.

We are told that private is always more efficient than public servants. I disagree. I would say that the main difference in public and private is the overblown compensation charged by the private vs. the union workers of the public. It is not a case of efficiency, except how efficiently the kleptocrats are bankrupting the US Treasury and increasing our national debt while we keep the wool over our eyes slowly boiling like frogs.

I wonder if the same principal applies to Bank of America, which privately contracts with Mendocino County to manage our money for us?  Using the policy of Fractional Reserve Banking, BOA loans out multiples of their underlying reserves causing the money supply to magically grow for further investments.  BOA makes lots of money by holding our money for us.  If we had a Public Bank of Mendocino County, our own bank could do the same thing with fractional reserves and the revenues would go to enrich the County General Fund.  It is time to keep the County's money in a public bank and let the People's money work for the People. 

Issues that are too distatesteful to mention: slavery

The topic in this week's meditation class was sexual misconduct.  The teacher mentioned trafficking on her list, and rape.  I wanted to bring it home to our compassionate meditators and mentioned how the euphemism of "trafficking" takes away the impact of what it truly is, SLAVERY.  The sex slave market has exceeded the drug market at the Mexican border.  Having had a sex slave and her unwanted issue as patients while I worked in the Obstetrical Dept at the local hospital, I had done a study on the subject of modern day slavery. 

The NY Times did an extensive expose on it January 25, 2004, "The Girls Next Door" By PETER LANDESMAN
There are more slaves in the USA today than there ever have been in history.  And, should they become pregnant, their child will be sold into slavery as well.  The women are abducted off the street, especially in Oaxaca.  Girls from Europe think they are going to an au pair job in the USA.  They abduct runaways and children.  After their brutal indoctrination in Mexico,  San Diego High School boys are paid to drive them across the border into the USA where they are distributed to slave markets all over the nation.  This is one of those unpleasant stories that is distasteful for people to think about.  Like the Pope being a pedophile.  More than one Catholic priest is known to have kept a sex slave boy. 

And as far as rape, except for the time of Saint Patrick when a virgin could walk across Ireland without being molested, rape is less now than in the last couple of millenia.  I spent 5 years in India, and there wasn't one woman that I spoke to who had not been raped.  Every house servant in India can expect to be raped by the master or his sons.  What can she say? She needs the job.  And if she goes to the police, they will rape her.  And her doctor will rape her.  And her guru will rape her.  That's why girls are married as soon as they start menstruating because having been raped by whatever man had his way with her, now they want her child to be that of her husband.  The real news in India is that there are so many girls now that HAVEN'T been raped! 

Even when you read Isaac Balshevis-Singer, he describes the 19th c. Polish Catholic peasant society in which any man could have his way with any woman he wanted including his own daughter and his neighbor's daughter.  Girls grew up expecting to be raped.  Throughout the 1000 years of the "Middle Ages" aka the Dark Ages, when Catholics had a stranglehold on the entire culture, basically any thug or knight could have his way with any female he wanted.  And the king and his lord could certainly have whatever woman they wanted.  We are alarmed by rape, and we certainly should be alarmed!  But in an historical perspective, what makes it alarming is that thankfully it isn't so commonplace as it used to be. 

By the time all this spilled out of my mouth, the meditation teachers face was twisted in a tortured mask, and several people were crying.  I cry too.  But now I am taking action to foster in a new era of social and distributive justice. 

An Open Letter to VP Joe Biden on Gun Control

Honorable Vice President Biden,

Now that you have been appointed to create a new gun policy, I have a few suggestions.

1) As long as we have an imperial President who can carry out extrajudicial assassinations from a "kill list," then the culture of violence in America will grow worse.

2) As long as the NDAA allows our imperial President to detain whomever he wants indefinitely without habeas corpus or due process of law, then the President will lead the culture of violence with injustice.

3) Why do corporate "persons" get due process of law under the 14th Amendment, but NDAA detainees don't? Yet corporations are killing more American citizens every year than any terrorist has ever done by polluting our air, soil, water, and food supply while many of the NDAA detainees never killed anyone, and none to the magnitude of corporate culpability.

4) In Australia, they passed a ban on ownership, importation, manufacture, and sales of assault weapons and had a mandatory buy-back program. I think this is a good idea except for the fact that the citizens of the USA no longer trust our government to represent us for the best interest of the Common Good. Therefore, if weapons are to be removed from citizens, then the police should be equally disarmed. The 2nd Amendment was written to prevent a repeat of imperial power like King George had in Great Britain at the time, and allow a free and sovereign people to insure that we continue to have a government that represents us.

5) Senator Feinstein's assault weapon ban doesn't address the weapons that are currently in circulation and also includes 900 exceptions. Her proposed legislation is a Red Herring to toss a bone to the American People but retain a brisk market in lethal weapons. Senator Feinstein is a war hawk and corporate sellout; I don't trust anything she does.

6) We had a more prosperous economy when taxes were high and manufacturers were prohibited from moving their factories overseas. Now that corporate "persons" have the liberty to create jobs overseas using workers easy to exploit and governments easy to bribe, the middle class in America has shrunk while the disparity in wealth between the 1% and the 99% has increased upward. Tax cuts have robbed municipalities of the money they need to effectively serve the American People. And have robbed our children's futures by underfunding public schools. Budget cuts have shrunk public education; where will cash-strapped schools find the money to hire armed guards?  Even the Sheriff had to cut his staff!  

7) And finally, private armed militias like Academi nee Xe nee Blackwater, should be prohibited from having bases on American soil.   And are we going to buy back their assault weapons? 

Now that the American people have been robbed, toxified, and public property is exploited for private profit at the expense of the People, we may need our guns when the corporations come to enslave us. Which side are you on, Joe?

Buddhist meets Evangelist

At the Post Office the other day, I met a tall man beside me who was tossing his campaign literature into the recycle bin.  I urged him to vote yes on F, and explained what it was.  He hadn't sent in his ballot yet so I also promoted No on 32 and Yes on 37. 

He started up a conversation about beliefs.  We often assume a lot about strangers that we meet.  Little did he know what a learned and graced tzadik that I am.  It turns out that he was a devoted Christian, and tried to convince me that the only way to Salvation was through Jesus Christ. 

He asked why not? 
My first example used the sin of coveting your neighbor's wife.  With Christians, a lusty thought of your neighbor's wife will send you straight to Hell and the only way out is through Jesus' forgiveness.  In Buddhism, there is no control over your stream of consciousness because it is Pure, being of the mortal body, but rather the "sin" comes when you get up and go do something about it, like grab your neighbor's wife.  In Buddhism, watching the stream of thoughts and impressions is all just a passing show. 
The tall Christian rolled his eyes that I would even compare Christianity with Buddhism. 

Then I gave an example involving the Mormons.  He glared and interrupted, "What do the Mormons have anything to do with this?"  I continued my example, but he didn't see any analogy.  He declared that the Mormons are a cult thus any evidence relating to Mormons is relegated to the dust bin. 
I replied, "No more a cult than people who think Mary was a virgin." 

When I mentioned 1500 years of genocide of Jews by Christians in the name of the Prince of Peace, he again rolled his eyes with a sigh and said that the 297 years of the Spanish Inquisition was by CATHOLICS, not Christians!  And the Holocaust by the Nazi's had nothing to do with Christianity.  He said people who do things like genocide are not "real Christians."

On the sidewalk in front of the Post Office he asked me if I had sinned.  It was only a few weeks since Yom Kippur when we had fasted and thrown our sins into Lake Mendocino, taken mikvahs, and chanted our sins, then I turned, and was turned, and returned to the One. 
He asked if I ever stole, and I thought of my little food stealing problem.  In Buddhism, you can only take something if it is given.  Anything less is unskillful action.  But when I am hungry on my job, I will take someone else's food, and I know it is stealing.  I don't take a whole lunch, just maybe a slice of bread from a loaf.  So I told him yes, I steal food.  He was delighted.  He asked if I lie, and agreed that I have been known to exaggerate. 

Vindicated, he declared that only Jesus can forgive my sins. I looked him in the eye and said, "I look in here (tapping my chest over my heart) for the answers.  I don't need Jesus to forgive me."  He asked if I hate, and I confidently declared no.  I saw before me a man who considers himself a cut above all others justified by his heartfelt faith in Jesus; to me, that kind of divisive arrogance is borne of hate.  Then retorted, "It is your own choice to hate the Mormons if you wish, and Jesus will forgive you, but I don't hate."  He denied that he hates Mormons. 

He towered over me by at least a head, and was dressed casually in a T-shirt and pants.  I looked up and noticed for the first time the emblem on his T-shirt was the River Church.  I asked him, of all the Christians in the world, what percent qualify for being what he called, a "real Christian"?  He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well.  I know at least one.  Me!" 

And there you have it!  Of the millions of Christians in the world, only one qualifies for being a real true Christian.  Yet I know many people who walk the path of integrity and have advanced in their virtue to the level of tzadiks.  I am blessed to live in a community of spiritually advanced people from many schools of thought. 
The Rainbow sister inside me gave him a big hug and said, "I love you, brother.  God bless you." and we parted ways, me on my bike. 

The Crime of Vaccinations For Profit

When I was a child, we were vaccinated for small pox and polio, which were world-changing humanitarian miracles of science.

Now the corporate controlled media promote fear of pandemics and then help profiteering pharmaceutical companies sell their vaccines on contract to the government so that Public Health will vaccinate everyone at the taxpayer's expense. The vaccines used have been fast-tracked through the FDA investigation period, which department was defunded in the Bush era. It now has to rely on the corporation's own research to make safety decisions in the public best interest. Vaccinate against the perceived epidemic vs. the inadequately researched vaccine?

A School Nurse is a Public Health Nurse, by definition. Therefore, as a School Nurse, I represent the government when working in a public school. If the government is recommending full vaccination programs like the Tdap program for 7th grade in California, then it is my role to promote Tdap vaccinations for all 7th grade students.

I have traveled all over the world and was very thankful that I had taken various vaccinations like cholera. If only there was a vaccination for Hep A back then! But when Corporations have taken over the Government, and the FDA is defunded, and drugs are Fast-Tracked based on skewed Corporate provided research rather than an independent research, then I distrust everything that the Government is doing right now. Public Health vaccination programs may have once been a world changing public health miracle, but right now it has become a For Profit nightmare.

On Wednesday night at meditation group, one bright sexy young man asked, "When considering Right Livelihood, what if you work for a company that may not be totally virtuous?"  

After the group ended, I approached him up close and saw the gleam in his eye and his scent.  He sat in a chair, and I felt uncomfortable looking down on him, so naturally, I kneeled at his feet, Vajrasan.  I looked up at his young Italian-like face, his bulging biceps, his hopeful smile, the monk passing behind me in ochre robes, and felt the quickening of kundalini.  I remembered the 12 Dependent Originations and the place where the chain can be broken, the Uppadana.  Therein is where the Judeo-Christian lies Free Choice.  And there is lies the ethical question of what to do.  I choose to bathe myself in the wonder of it all, and remain as reserved and neutral on the surface as possible.  I focused on what he was saying, listening.  Every word he said bathed me in ever increasing pleasure.  I was awed at the natural response of my body to the sights, sounds, scents, and Buddhist concepts spouting from a male human.  

I told him that ultimately, it is what your hand does, and the intention behind it.  I should have added that the results may not be what you intended, but there is no karma if you had the best intentions.  Just do your best, and then you won't have regrets.  

I relayed my own ethical issues as a nurse.  I said that I always faced this conflict while I worked in the hospitals.  The hospital was run for profit, yet the role of a Nurse is generally considered beneficent.  Even the monk had mentioned "making compromises..." in his answer.  I said that sometimes you must be a paragon of Virtue in the midst of a quagmire.  

The young yogi seemed to like that answer because he lit up and began waving his arms frantically up and down bulging his huge biceps over and over.  Unfortunately, I was so shocked by the response of my body to the sight of his biceps and shoulders that I missed what he said! 

I digress....  
Fortunately for everyone, no one can give a vaccine without a signed permission. Public schools have to require vaccinations for enrollment, but also provide an opt-out by signing a Waiver. This is what saves me ethically. I frame vaccinations as an ethical choice for parents. Other School Nurses feel it is their obligation to coerce parents into compliance and downplay the waiver option. But I disagree.

And for our school Secretary, the one responsible for collecting the vaccination records to keep the school in compliance with State mandates, and with the school's Charter renewal depended upon it, having reluctant parents signing waivers is a school saver and a job saver. But now the Government with the support of the California School Nurse Organization (CSNO) has signed into law a new mandated obstacle to a parent signing a Personal Belief Waiver. Governor Brown just signed the Communicable disease: Immunization Exemption, AB 2109. This requires that a medical professional advise the parent of the risks and benefits of the vaccinations before they sign a Personal Beliefs Waiver.  It takes effect in 2014. 

The CSNO was in favor of it, because they are always trying to legitimize School Nurses. They succeeded in lobbying Sacramento into including School Nurses as one of those medical professionals. Therefore, it was a victory toward the legitimizing the School Nurse Profession. Considering the suspicious nature of placing obstacles in the way of pharmaceutical profiteers sucking off the taxpayer tit is just the price you pay when you play the game of politics. Its always give a little, and take a little. 

I mention this also in light of GMO's and CA Proposition 37.  Many of the vaccines are or come from GMOs, including the Tdap.  The "ap" stands for Acellular Pertussis.  In the old days, they used actual attenuated Pertussis cells for the vaccine.  But now, they use recombinant DNA technologies to clone the PT gene, express it in bacteria, identify the amino acids that are important for the enzymatic activity and toxicity and mutated PT gene  to produce an inactive protein. This genetically modified PT was non toxic, highly immunogenic and able to protect mice without documented harm.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8768791.  Labeling Tdap as containing GMO's, will not be in the best interest of the pharmaceutical profiteers.  They will do anything to prevent a decline in their profits from lies, to marginalization, to planting evidence, to "accidental deaths."  

Last night, at the Resilient Livelihood working group meeting, Ron Cole said that the Requisites of life should all be free, food, housing, education, and health care.  If so, there would be a thriving economy based on tons of money to spend on the wants and desires.  I agree with him wholeheartedly regarding education and health care, but being a landlord by profession, I was surprised that he, himself depending on rentals for his income, would include housing in the list.  I believe, that once properly regulated, there can be a mixed economy including Private Enterprise, Cooperatives, and Collectives.  I think like in the example of free healthcare for the indigent, that there would also be free housing for the indigent.  I can't imagine giving up my private property to the government in order to provide universal free housing at government's expense.  Anyway, as long as the Constitution protects the Right of Private Property, then they can't take it away from me except by exercising Eminent Domain.  So I'm safe for now.  

And I can't imagine for the farmers who toil to provide everyone with food, that his labor should be given away for free.  Perhaps Ron meant that the Government would use tax dollars to pay farmers to produce food.  Does that mean all farmers or just some farmers?  Does that mean all grocery stores would also be on the government's doll?  Or does it mean that the Food Bank, Free Community Dining Rooms, and the School Free Lunch programs would get supported with tax dollars, and would receive fresh fruits and vegetables from designated government-supported farmers every day?  That doesn't sound too bad! 

And even further, I take JuicePlus+, which is a mix of 17 different fruit juices known for their beneficial phytoenzymes, and my immune system has never been stronger.  To me that means that Food is Medicine.  And when you eat the right foods, your own immune system is strong enough to fight invasive pathogens without vaccines.  

But the Corporations have taken over the food industry and strips the nutrients out of food, and worse, invent new and "improved" foods with dire unintended consequences.  From the hydrogenation of vegetable oils leading to an epidemic of cardio-vascular disease, to the epidemic of Childhood Obesity & Diabetes, to the dramatic increase in Autism with Leaky Gut Syndrome, to the btCorn fed to all the livestock resulting in the bt gene being found in the cord bloods of newborns, the for-profit Corporate food industry is not in the best interests of the People.  In other words, if people ate healthy, they wouldn't need all these vaccines anyway!  Healthy nutrition is part of the standard curriculum of the Waldorf School where I work.  Many of the families in this school are also suspicious of the government these days and want to do the best, most natural thing to protect their children's health, by signing the Personal Belief Waiver, and I respect their courage to make a difficult choice. 

What the hell are the "conventions" for?

My friend asked: What the hell are the "conventions" for?

My reply: They used to be for deciding which of the candidates would be the nominee chosen by the delegates. But now the delegates have already been chosen by the media and the polls before they get to the convention, so the sets of various delegates arriving and voting is a redundant formality. 
A gala waste of money. A coronation.
A nauseating waste of good money.

If the campaign was limited to 12 weeks, then the convention would be meaningful.

And it all doesn't even matter, because all the swing states still use electronic voting machines that can be hacked in a couple of minutes by an experienced hacker. And the voting machines are produced by avowed neo-Cons. Just another way to CON their way into power.

And the swing states are often states with low levels of education and high levels of obesity who can be swayed on hot button issues that are used at every election like abortion, gay marriage, and liberty. And they systematically eliminate their competition, suffocating any voice of dissent.  They want a homogeneous society with them writing the rules.  If they can't win on issues, then they will win using dirty tricks.  They will CON their way into power. 

They are sucking away our sovereign power, and we let them! Because it is easier than fighting for justice.  But We the People are more numerous, if we all woke up and joined together to take our power back from the millionaires and corporations that are buying our elections, we together would overwhelm them.  

 

I assure you that they won't give our power back easily.  They will take out the big guns which is how they solve all problems, and there will be martyrs.  Hopefully, only a few and none fatal. 

I don't want to live in an homogenous society with armed guards on every street corner. That reminds me of communist China. I want to live in a pluralist society where we all respect and celebrate our differences, and we work together for the benefit of mankind rather than to exploit the natural and human resources for profit. 

Counting My Blessings for Solstice

This Solstice, I take a moment and invite myself to count some of the things I am, at the moment, abundantly grateful for. So, in no particular order, I begin.

I am abundantly grateful to my Creator for Life. Your hand has lifted me from the jaws of Death so many times and graced me with abundance in spite of my shortcomings.

I am grateful for the good luck that I have managed through employment and unemployment to maintain enough cash flow to keep a safe, dry, warm, and beautiful house above us with all the conveniences of modern times. I am grateful for my bountiful garden, for fresh raspberries, and eggs.

I am grateful that my old body still can run, jump, ride a bike with no hands, and climb a tree. I am abundantly grateful for my mother with whom, at 95, I will spend a few weeks in August, and that we can still have substantive talks about anything. My mother gives me everything unconditionally.

I am abundantly grateful for my 2 handsome, intelligent sons, Moses Sunbeam & @Ari Sunbeam, who now both live with me. I am grateful for their good health and how they pitch in and help me around the house and the rental units. It is such a relief to not have to do it all alone! And it is a pleasure to cook for them, eat together, work and play together. I am grateful for the renewed opportunity to guide my adult children with mothering.

I am grateful that I live in such a vibrantly rich area which is not only low crime, but also is filled with overlapping communities all actively striving to make the world a better place. I am grateful to the River Oak Charter School community to which I have contributed for 7 years, and will soon lamentably be moving on. I am grateful to the Kol Ha'Emek community who are my extended family. I am grateful to the political activist community with whom we fight a non-violent uphill battle to Heal the World, תיקון עולם tikkun olam. And I am abundantly grateful to Yoga Mendocino for providing the nourishment I need for my soul.

I am also grateful for the many friends with whom we have shared our lives, and for the amazing adventures past, present, and future. Family and friends are the 2 greatest treasures and I have them in abundance. I am also grateful that I have a warm and friendly relationship with my X.

Most of all, I am grateful for the level of consciousness in which I dwell where every person is loved, and I am very rarely provoked by my children. My needs are few and so are my disappointments. I am so filled with gratitude that petty upheavals don't rock my boat, and I surf the crest of the tsunami when it arrives.

Why Germany is ahead of the USA in green energy

One friend sent me this cartoon depicting a for-profit corporate dirty energy mogul emphasizing his monopoly power over the energy sector except for solar, which he touts as not feasible. 

I replied: Riggggghhhht!

By: Occupy Hamilton (Ontario)

• • Linda said:  It seems to be in Germany.
  • I replied:  Speaking of Germany, their industrial output has increased in the last decade unlike the other Western nations which lost the bulk of their manufacturing base to overseas. Germany has accomplished increased success in industrial manufacturing by 3 things: socialized health care which saves business from having to pay for medical insurance, a well educated workforce (socialized education), and pro-manufacturing government policies. While unemployment rose in much of the world, it dropped in Germany in the last decade.
  • I added: And Germany leads the world in percentage of energy derived from solar, nearly 50%. One would presume that Germany's lower unemployment and higher manufacturing rate may be related to how busy they have been converting their nation to sustainable energy. Obama tried to jump start the economy with the conversion to green energy, but the corporations that own our Congress blocked most clean energy legislation. That's because the ultimate plan of the corporate powers that run our government is to bankrupt the nation, subvert the Constitution, then foment a revolution that will put them blatantly in power and turn the once golden USA into a banana republic for them to exploit for our rich natural resources. LISTEN! Our government is already selling off public lands to make ends meet. That's because tax cuts reducing government revenues doesn't leave enough money to pay for essential government services. Thank you Howard Jarvis and Grover Norquist! Dumb down the public and they'll buy whatever lie you tell them.
    

     

    http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1JrPxs/inhabitat.com/germany-sets-new-solar-record-by-meeting-nearly-half-of-countrys-weekend-power-demand/

    Buddha Al said: Sure beats eating radioactive contaminated food!

    I replied: Exactly! Or having so much air pollution that 50% of all children have asthma.

    
    

    • Buddha Al said:  I have an electrical engineering degree and have done work in solar power and similar projects and might jump back into it again. Love the concept of non-polluting energy which helps free us from relying exclusively on fossil fuels or dangerous atomic power plants.
    • Allison brought up an interesting point: I'm no expert on solar panel construction and development but as I understand it, they are very expensive to produce. Not only in money but also in the resources that go into making the solar panels. A lot of pollution and non-recyclable things are produced while making solar panels. I know that it has been discussed about making gigantic areas in the desert for panels but the result was that it would be so cost prohibitive to produce the panels in relation to the electricity that they would produce in return. How Germany did it? I don't know.
    • I replied: Germany has a Parliamentary type of government in which the Green Party is very powerful. Note: there are no members of the Green Party currently in the US Government. Germany also has free, high quality primary through university education, and therefore has a well-educated electorate, unlike the USA where we have an astounding number of adult illiterates. The free education system in the USA has been progressively underfunded so that public school don't produce a well-educated electorate. The current US Government believes that public school funding is "government waste," and is trying to transfer public school funding into private, for-profit schools. 
      Shakti Das chimed in with: Quite correct, Robin. The US Greens have advocated "proportional representation" for over 20 years, but there is a media blackout. However in my county there are Greens in government, but not in federal office. The closest thing that we will get this year that smells like sanity is to elect Norman Solomon for US Congress. He's on the June ballot as you know and has strong Green values.
      Allison added:  I think solar energy is a great idea but it would have to be 'better' in terms of pollution/money/materials for the benefits returned.
    • Buddha Al replied: Yes unfortunately silicon wafers also produce some pollution when being manufactured. However I don't believe we are going to stop using electronic devices because of this.
    • Shakti Das said: As with any investment, one should look at the cost/benefit ratios as well as the long term return on investment both in terms of personal expenditure and in environmental terms of sustainability. pollution, and natural resources. If one looks at a solar panel 20 year plus life cytcle it is a huge plus when compared to coal or other fossil fuels both in terms to personal costs(utility bills) and environmental/pollution costs. However every location needs to be evaluated on an individual basis. For example in the Northern California one needs some south facing exposure (as the sun is always south). Sunny locations pay back faster than cloudy regions, etc. Another renewable source is solar that is not home located but generated at a central (sunny) location. A third consideration is a hybrid system utilizing solar, hydro, and/or wind either co-located or at a remote location. These studies have been done in Germany and elsewhere showing that solar is very cost effective. It also does not have the health risks and health costs that are associated with coal, fossil fuel, and nuclear production. Another major advantage is that solar is an unlimited resource, while the costs of fossil fuels will continue to rise as supplies dwindle.
      

      
      Shakti Das added: In every calculation Nuclear Power always comes out last in terms of costs. It's a loser for the taxpayer and consumer, always winds up subsidized by the government.
    • Allison replied:  One thing that amazes me is this. When I point out to people that how power plants 'make' electricity by using nuclear, coal or other fossil fuel, is to make steam! Simply that. Heating up water to make steam to turn turbines to generate electricity. Some people simply don't believe me. They actually think nuclear power plants 'make' electricity from nuclear power. It astounds me that many many people don't understand that the purpose of burning fossil fuels or using nuclear power rods it just simply to heat water into steam to make turbines turn.
      

      
      Allison added: Yes, Shakti, you are correct, we do need to look at the long term costs/returns in these different power generating sources.
    • Shakti Das replied:  Good point Allison. Only 100-160 years ago, most people understood their technological support structures; i.e., food, shelter, energy, transportation, water supply, and medicinal systems; hence, this created a sense of security/control as if survival was not complex and was at the same time earth based. Withe the relatively new advent of big cities, Big Ag, mono-crop agriculture, Big Pharma, industrialized urbanization, and centralized power producing grids, people in general have lost knowledge and control over these basic survival mechanisms. That disconnection not only fosters a sense of dependence upon "the system" and a lack of self-reliance, but also negatively influences our ability to make wise economic and political decisions at the polls, because we are not cognizant of the factors behind such. Strangely those who are cognizant (the cognizanti) are deplored and feared because they dare to question the confused paradigm; hence new information (such as alternative energy, environmental sustainability are feared and rejected -- do not compute. It is to Germany's credit that such fear does not rule. Even their electoral system has over 90% turn-out ratios of eligible voters, compared with the US 40%. I think it is very valuable to continue to question past assumptions and apparent contradictions. Our children will thank us for doing so. BE WELL!
    • I replied:  I am proud to say that the City of Ukiah produces their own electricity. 44% comes from local geothermal wells. Another 36% comes from large and small hydroelectric. Another 20% comes from coal & natural gas. Less than 1% comes from nuclear, solar or wind.
      http://www.cityofukiah.com/pageserver/?page=utilities_powerlabel
       
      

      
      

      City of Ukiah - Power Content Label
      

      www.cityofukiah.com
      

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