It's Official...

... we're now living in serfdom here in the US, and, with the president refusing to veto the liberty and due process-stealing provisions of the NDAA Bill, in a fascist police state...

According to the latest census results, 1 out of every 2 Americans is living in poverty...

"Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans — nearly 1 in 2 — have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income.

The latest census data depict a middle class that's shrinking as unemployment stays high and the government's safety net frays. The new numbers follow years of stagnating wages for the middle class that have hurt millions of workers and families.

Safety net programs such as food stamps and tax credits kept poverty from rising even higher in 2010, but for many low-income families with work-related and medical expenses, they are considered too 'rich' to qualify," said Sheldon Danziger, a University of Michigan public policy professor who specializes in poverty.

"The reality is that prospects for the poor and the near poor are dismal," he said. "If Congress and the states make further cuts, we can expect the number of poor and low-income families to rise for the next several years..."

~ Half of All Americans Now Live in Poverty

Today's The Day...

...the music died...

The White House announced this afternoon that President Obama would not veto the bill that turns American soil into a battlefield and allows American citizens at home and abroad to be captured/arrested and held indefinitely in military detention centres, without due process...

The Bill passed in the House today, 283 votes for, 136 against...

The Senate is expected to pass it tomorrow (Thursday 15 Dec), after which it will go to Obama for signing...

With its passage, no presidential veto, and the passing of the SOPA internet censorship bill which gives government the right to shut down both individual websites and the internet itself, America has finally sunk into the status of a fascist police state, with informal martial law in place...

No more pretending...

LYRICS:

A long long time ago
I can still remember how
That music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they'd be happy for a while
But February made me shiver
With every paper I'd deliver
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn't take one more step
I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside
**The day the music died**
So

[Chorus]
Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good ole boys were drinking whiskey in Rye
Singin' this'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die

Did you write the book of love
And do you have faith in God above
If the Bible tells you so?
Now do you believe in rock and roll?
Can music save your mortal soul?
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?

Well, I know that you're in love with him
Cause I saw you dancin' in the gym
You both kicked off your shoes
Man, I dig those rhythm and blues
I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck
But I knew I was out of luck
The day the music died
I started singin'

[Chorus]

Now, for ten years we've been on our own
And moss grows fat on a rolling stone
But, that's not how it used to be
When the jester sang for the king and queen
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean
And a voice that came from you and me
Oh and while the king was looking down
The jester stole his thorny crown
The courtroom was adjourned
No verdict was returned
And while Lenin read a book on Marx
The quartet practised in the park
And we sang dirges in the dark
The day the music died
We were singin'

[Chorus]

Helter skelter in a summer swelter
The birds flew off with a fallout shelter
Eight miles high and falling fast
It landed foul on the grass
The players tried for a forward pass
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast
Now the half-time air was sweet perfume
While sergeants played a marching tune
We all got up to dance
Oh, but we never got the chance
Cause the players tried to take the field
The marching band refused to yield
Do you recall what was revealed
The day the music died?
We started singin'

[Chorus]

Oh, and there we were all in one place
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again
So come on Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
Cause fire is the devil's only friend
And as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No angel born in Hell
Could break that Satan's spell
And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite
I saw Satan laughing with delight
The day the music died
He was singin'

[Chorus]

I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away
I went down to the sacred store
Where I'd heard the music years before
But the man there said the music wouldn't play
And in the streets the children screamed
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed
But not a word was spoken
The church bells all were broken
And the three men I admire most-
the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost-
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died
And they were singing

[Chorus:Repeat x2

 

American Pie Song History

You Know You're Living...

... in a fascist police state when:

I said "You need a degree to get a good job", so he went into debt to go to college, while I got rid of the jobs; he protested #soipeppersprayedhim

I took his job away - sent it overseas - and then when his family lost their house, he protested, #soipeppersprayedhim

He proclaimed "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed" #soipeppersprayedhim

He wanted to complain about tuition increases #soipeppersprayedhim

He hadn't had a shower in 3 days and was living in a tent, for chrissake #soipeppersprayedhim

He said "MIC CHECK!" #soipeppersprayedhim

JP Morgan Chase gave me $4.6 Million to do their bidding #soIpepperSprayedHim

They were gathered together having a teach-in #soipeppersprayedhim

They set up a library and were reading books! The nerve! #soipeppersprayedhim

Those kids were way too peaceful... #soipeppersprayedhim

They said they didn't like it when we spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on Riot Police but closed public schools #soipeppersprayedhim

They were chanting about corruption #soipeppersprayedhim

They were sitting on the grass with their arms linked #soipeppersprayedhim

He questioned Bernanke's ability to create money from nothing, #soipeppersprayedhim

Somebody looked at me funny #soipeppersprayedhim

I was handing out fliers to people as they walked by #soipeppersprayedhim

Someone shared an idea that was different than mine #soipeppersprayedhim

He was wearing a Guy Fawkes mask #soipeppersprayedhim

He said they wouldn't let his special ed kid go to their charter school #soipeppersprayedhim

He said it was time for the rich to share their wealth #soipeppresprayedhim

He said he wants real change in government #soipeppersprayedhim

He said "They only let white kids go to that charter school" #soipeppersprayedhim

He said "My kid doesn't know how to speak English so they wouldn't let him go to their charter school" #soipeppersprayedhim

He said "CEO's making 435 times the amount of the average worker is too much for one person" #soipeppersprayedhim

He said "Bill Gates granted billions to charter schools, but the state cut public education budgets, closed schools", #soipeppersprayedhim

He said he works two jobs and can't pay his bills when I told him "go get a job, take a bath" #soipeppersprayedhim

He said "It's the poverty, stupid" when they told him his public school was failing #soipeppersprayedhim

He said "I do my job every day, why doesn't Congress do theirs?" #soipeppersprayedhim

He said "We all have a right to a free and public education" #soipeppersprayedhim

He said "You can't put an idea in jail." #soipeppersprayedhim

She was 84, he was in a wheelchair and their friend was very pregnant #soipeppersprayedhim

  

 

Bears Repeating...

You know you're living in a fascist state when there's:

Semi-random Thoughts...

Once upon a time... 

there was a woman called Michelle Obama, who opened a homeless shelter, food bank and soup kitchen in OUR great big empty White House...

and all state capitol buildings around the country did the same... housing in OUR houses for the homeless...

And Michelle served organic, White House garden-grown fruit and vegetables to the poor and homeless... 

... because she thought that if it was good enough for her children to eat healthy food, surely it was good enough for the homeless and hungry?...

 

 

 

 

 And at the same time, she insisted that all children have free access to the best in health care.   As a mother, she knew what it was like when her children were sick or hurt and she couldn't bear the thought that other children were unwell and in pain...

And her husband Barack made sure that all children in the US get the same level of quality education his daughters got at Sidwell Friends School - rich curriculum, small classes, fully-qualified, experienced teachers, no standardised testing etc... 

 

See, he agreed that all of America's children deserved the same quality of life his girls were enjoying... despite what the oligarchs were whispering in his ear...

 

And they all lived happily ever after...

THE END

 

Don't Know Whether I'm Coming Or Going...

1: It's almost the end of mid-winter break and the boy has been home; we've had fun with play dates and movies (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and some of the Star Wars series), haircuts, hamburgers and shakes and some new clothes... boy got spectacles and while he won't say they help him see, he wears them everyday - puts them on when he wakes up without being told...

2: Am 99.5% moved out of the old house (now dealing with messiness in two places) and the former housemates have been horrible AGAIN, despite the apology one of them made... in my book, 3 strikes and you're out, so I'm done - not spending any more emotional energy worrying about retrieving anything amicable out of this situation;

3: Am watching the beginnings of revolution around the world and here in the US and am excited, but am sitting back observing, waiting to see if/when serious push back from the authorities will begin and what form that will take;

4: Am wary of what's happening now, because I have the same feeling I did when Obama was elected - better the devil you know than the one you don't and I could tell he wasn't 'real'/didn't have the personal power to walk his talk... 
  

Always felt the 'powers that be' behind the scenes pulling strings, thought it was better to have a black man in charge than a white woman... and having a black man in power has made absolutely no difference at all... in fact, I don't think this country has changed direction - in my view it's going further and faster down the path begun by Reagan in the 80s...

5:  Have lots to write about, but no real alone time to marshal those thoughts into coherent posts - maybe after this last push to finish the move, and the boy going back to school...

6:  Am still confused about what is the next step... stay here or go back to Australia... will continue with the paperwork for the move next week and we'll see how it plays out...

7:  Miss my other children and wondering what it's like for my friends in Christchurch, New Zealand, with this horrible earthquake aftershock happening this week...   Floods in Brisbane, earthquakes in Christchurch - both places I have called home... hard times for many people...

8:  Had a melanoma cut out of my cheek yesterday; now waiting for the biopsy results to see if I need more treatment... melanoma is cancer - shades of the breast cancer journey repeating itself... had female relatives die of breast cancer and a grandfather die of melanoma... would be very weird if my former housemate and I ended up having a race to the cure/death of our very own!

9:  Been busy with education activism on the net; losing interest in challenging and countering the mis-information - a bit burned out, I guess.   More interested now in building something new, but where to start?

10:  Feel like I'm carrying a lot (have had to talk with the boy about us all being alone on our journey), but also am aware of the support I have been getting from some lovely, kind, caring people/energies in this and other dimensions... and so grateful for our warm, cosy little house to stay in... peaceful and calm...

11:  The weather too, doesn't seem to know whether its Arthur or Martha...  It's been trying to snow here for the past two days... lots of flurries but not a lot of it sticking around for long, and then sunny breaks...

All-in-all, a case of mid-winter blah!!!

Illmerica...

POSTSCRIPT TO UPDATE: When Life Imitates Art - Or Which Came First...

... The Chicken Or The Egg?

Ever wonder where the ridiculous "education reform" ideas currently sweeping the US, UK and Australia, come from?

Maybe the Billionaire Bullies' Club and the rest of the oligarchy who control US Education Secretary Arne Duncan got their ideas from Dolores Umbridge...

Watch and listen to Dolores and her views on education of young wizards... in the hall scene and again in her classroom... spooky!!!

more parallels with the US education deform agenda..... seriously folks - the analogy is quite stunning really...

Is Dolores' alter ego Michelle Rhee???

Dolores tortures Harry with a magic pencil that tattoos "I must not tell lies" on his hand, while (former Washington DC Schools' Chancellor and now billionaire-bully-darling-deformist-at-large) Michelle has admitted to taping her kindergarten students' mouths shut with masking tape, during her short stint as a Teach For America recruit in Baltimore...

Michelle Rhee abused her students

Listen to her laughing during her public 'confession' here:

Michelle Rhee's 'best practice' behaviour management techniques

And there are some other concerns about Ms Rhee's suitability to help bring in education "change" in this country...

Ms Rhee recently acquired a new husband - Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson...

According to a congressional report, Mr Johnson allegedly indulged in sexual activity with under-age girls and then offered public funds to one of them to keep her quiet... 

It's rather hypocritical of Ms Rhee to have fired Washington DC teachers on false allegations of child abuse and child sex abuse,

Michelle fires hundreds of teachers, implying many were abusers

and then to 'confess' to her own abuse of children, and to decide to 'stand by her man'...

For details on her marital partner's "indiscretions" and Ms Rhee's part in the events, go here:

Michelle rushes to defend fiance accused of under-age sex and misappropriation of funds

Ms Rhee has two young daughters from her first marriage.    


Mr Johnson's 'indiscretions' occurred before Ms Rhee married him and yet she still went ahead with the union, albeit a year later than originally intended.


I did mention to her that, as a fellow mother, I wouldn't trust someone who's allegedly had sex with under-age girls near my vulnerable girl children...

I asked her how she sleeps at night with the worry, I wonder?

I also wrote that, frankly, someone who has these attitudes to her own childrens' safety is not fit to make education policy for anyone else's children... 

I have not had a response from her as yet...

Michelle's Facebook Page for her education deform lobby organisation Students First

POSTSCRIPT SUNDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2011:

According to Michelle herself, and to media reports...

Michelle has sent her two girls to live with their father (Kevin Huffman, formerly VP of research and development for Teach for America, now Tennessee schools' Education Commissioner)... 

Michelle and Kevin were married a couple of weeks ago, in Tennessee, with 40 guests attending...

You can read more of the grubby story here:

Students - Michelle Rhee's Really Not That Into You

and here:

Rhee and Johnson Keep Wedding Under Radar

Pilger On Obama & The Hidden Government

How often do we have to hear the message, see the evidence for our own eyes, before we decide enough is enough and we're not going to take it any more?

The American Dream Is Really A Fantasy...

More on the scam and how we saps have been conned...

And our children have no future except as slaves...

Death Moves Into The House...

I was told yesterday that my housemate has terminal cancer and it would probably be best if Connor and I move (again!).
 
Decisions, decisions - if we have to move again, the second time in four  months, should we stay in the US or go back to Australia?
 
There are things I can still do here; follow through on intentions, clean up loose ends, build connections, help shepherd in/midwife the changes that are coming ...

And Connor identifies more and more each day with being American - and he's attached to his friendships... and his cats... and his stuff!

I don't want to grow old and die here; unless there was a hugely gratifying personal relationship that made it worth staying here, I want to go "home" - wherever that is...

And I need sunshine and warmth!

But I am 52, have lived in five countries and starting again, again, is hard work, especially with no nest egg or financial safety net... it's never the same, moving back - time marches on, people march on, I've changed... it's not as simple as just picking up the old threads and continuing with the pattern of life...

My daughters are in Brisbane - building relationships and probably having babies sometime soon.   I still have active friendships there and we have a place to stay for the first three months if we want.

I've got to see about legal issues &  whether the Protection Order will be valid in Australia, it will take 60 days to get court permission to take Connor out of the US, need $$$ for passports, airfares, to ship stuff; thinking, thinking, thinking...

Not sure what to do for the best...

The chemotherapy my housemate will be having every three weeks initially is palliative only, and it's going to be rough here - people coming and going, vomiting, hair falling out, stress, sadness, anger, grief, depression...

I've already helped both my parents to die, and then taken care of the "cleaning up after them" that comes with that...

While this is a part of life, I'm not sure it's a journey Connor needs to go on, (being asked to curtail his normal 7-year old energy and noise levels to provide a restful environment and to face what illness and death means) and I'm not sure I need to relive my own cancer experience...

Terrorism Training Camp On US Soil?

If some Arab countries are denounced for allowing terrorist training camps within their borders, what does the world say to the United States of America for having terrorist training camps within its borders?

Thousands gathered at the gates to Fort Benning, Georgia, home of the School of the Americas (renamed WHISC - Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) to mourn, listen, sing, honor, pray, learn, support and nonviolently stand together in opposition to this school.

According to Wikipedia, between 1946 and 2001, the SOA trained more than 61,000 Latin American soldiers and policemen. 

Some of them became notorious for human rights violations against their own citizens, including generals Leopoldo Galtieri, Efraín Ríos Montt and Manuel Noriega, dictators such as Bolivia's Hugo Banzer, some of Augusto Pinochet's officers, members of the Atlacatl Battalion of El Salvador who carried out the El Mozote massacre of 1981, and the founders of Los Zetas, a drug cartel formerly affiliated with the Gulf Cartel.

Critics of the school argue that the education encouraged such internationally recognized human rights violating practices and that the WHINSEC is merely a new name for exactly the same practices. 

The SOA/WHINSEC denies these assertions, claiming they now emphasize democracy and human rights in their training programmes.

"Presentes" has become a ritual where the names of those who died in conflicts generated by SOA graduates are called out from the stage and the crowd answers collectively by saying "presente".

For more information online go to: www.soaw.org
 
ONE BY ONE © 2002, 2010 emma's revolution (emmasrevolution.com)

 

Flags & Empires...

One form of kleptomania - have flag, must steal country...

 

Have flag, must build an empire...

Have flag, must plant it on the Moon...