Ethos...

... so, you thought you arrived at your beliefs about life, all by yourself, eh?

... and you thought you were free?

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

Haven't Disappeared...

...off the face of the earth...

Rather, we are staying with lovely people on Vashon Island - quiet, green, 270 degree view of water, Seattle, sky, birds, boats, night lights and stars; 

Overnight we finally caught/trapped our recalcitrant, extra-toed, tuxedo cat who had been hiding in the ceiling of the West Seattle house we stayed at for 10 days; we went to retrieve him this evening - $20 ferry ride there and back; 

Missed the Protection Order Renewal hearing this past Wednesday - thought it was scheduled for Friday; now renewal application is to be heard on December 21; 

Court hearing on December 16 to determine whether I can take the boy back to Australia to live;  met the Friday noon deadline to file my response to boy's father's lie-filled motion to stop us leaving...

Am exhausted but OK...

Not so sure about this country though...

Lady Liberty suffered some serious attacks this past week or so... with the US now basically a fascist police state, living under undeclared martial law, thanks to the passing of Bill S. 1867 in the Senate, which declares the entire United States of America a battleground.

Section 1031 of the National Defense Authorization Act allows the US military to now operate with impunity; the Bill grants the military the unchecked power to arrest, detain, interrogate, and even assassinate United States citizens both within the US and abroad...

Then there's the militarisation of the police, exemplified most graphically these past weeks by their brutal response to peaceful Occupy protesters all over this country...

And then there's Halliburton subsidiary KBR, currently seeking sub-contractors to staff, outfit, activate “emergency environment” camps built across the US for FEMA and the US Army Corps of Engineers, to deal with the kind of riots that have already spread throughout Europe, North Africa and the Middle East...

Guess we are living in "interesting times"...


Post Script:
"Today, (Nobel Prize-winning economist) Paul Krugman decreed that the U.S. and Europe are suffering not a recession but a “depression,” and highlighted the social unrest and anti-democratic forces growing in Europe.

Economic - and austerity - fuelled riots have already struck London and Athens. Police in England have formally labeled the Occupy movement a “Terrorist threat” alongside Al Qaeda and FARC and, of course, excessive police force has been repeatedly used against Occupy protesters on U.S. soil.

And U.S. Terrorism officials now routinely emphasize the supposedly domestic nature of the Terrorist threat, with greater powers constantly being seized in its name for domestic uses."

~ Glenn Greenwald

I've been shouting that we are in a Depression for the past two years... 

And it will be a permanent 'depression' - the oligarchs need a larger permanent underclass to enable them to siphon off the last of the earth's resources etc for themselves...

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

  

 

Freedom...

LYRICS:

All my life I have searched for clues
This is what they taught me
Every mystery I pursued
Was a secret I already knew
Deep down you know - in your soul
Love is in control
Oh, if you could find the angel within
Time, time to have faith in your wings

Free - everybody's free
In the new day that's coming
Freedom for all is our destiny

Every stone that I left unturned
Soon came back to haunt me
Every fall, every finger burned
Was a step on the road to truth
That I am you - my soul
You are not alone
Oh, when your heart is turned to stone
Love, love is the only way home

Free - everyone's free
In the new day that's coming
Freedom for all is our destiny

Free - everything's free
In the new day that's coming
Freedom for all is our destiny

Freedom from shame
Freedom from fear
Freedom to live - it's your right to be here

(Voice-over)
Unity of minds... unity of hearts... one sole sensation... no longer a coincidence...
Overwhelming energy... channelled... through universal language allows the personal legend to unfold

 

Opting Out - At Least In One Small Way...

First day of school for son (8, 3rd grade), yesterday...

He didn't want to go... nothing's changed over summer and we had the usual tears and pleading and having to be pried from me at the classroom door...

Horrified to find the flag flying in the classroom, with a copy of the Pledge of Allegiance pinned underneath it... 

My son has four nationalities and I don't want him brainwashed to be loyal to any one country, any one philosophy, any one culture, any one religion, any one ethnic or social group...

He's a citizen of the world, and I've already written a post about my beliefs around flags, borders, anthems and patriotism:

A World Without Flags, Borders and Anthems

And then, a notice came home in the afternoon, saying that the first 10 days of school would be taken up with testing, testing and more testing...

And son had a temper tantrum last night, which in the end, was the releasing of pent-up tension and unhappiness about his day at school, where all of his security references/ties have been taken away from him... 

He said his day had no "roses", just all "thorns" and that after the initial greeting 'circle up' and warm-up game, it was all boring...

What more information do I need to legitimise my almost-made decision to take him out of school and "unschool" him?

This morning I sent this letter to the school/district, son is staying home and I need to finally reconcile my ambivalence about "formal" education...

Sent 13 September 2011, Shoreline School District, Washington

Dear Shereen, Trinh and Superintendent Walker...

I, Sahila ChangeBringer, hereby exercise my parental rights under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution to withdraw my son "C" from any and all forms of standardised testing conducted at Room Nine and within the Shoreline School District.

The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that parents posses the “fundamental right” to “direct the upbringing and education of their children.” Furthermore, the Court declared that “the child is not the mere creature of the State: those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right coupled with the high duty to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.” (Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 534-35) The Supreme Court criticized a state legislature for trying to interfere “with the power of parents to control the education of their own.” (Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 402.) In Meyer, the Supreme Court held that the right of parents to raise their children free from unreasonable state interferences is one of the unwritten "liberties" protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. (262 U.S. 399).

In recognition of both the right and responsibility of parents to control their children’s education, the Court has stated:

“It is cardinal with us that the custody, care and nurture of the child reside first in the parents, whose primary function and freedom include preparation for the obligations the State can neither supply nor hinder.” (Prince v.Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158)

C is not permitted to take the test during mandated testing days nor during designated make-up sessions.

Additionally, I am requesting that the school make accommodations for meaningful alternative activities or assignments that will continue to promote his academic and intellectual growth.

C will not be in attendance if academically viable alternatives are not available.

Furthermore, I must be guaranteed in writing that whatever option is taken, either alternative assignments or absence, my child will not face any negative consequences to, for example, course grades, social or behavioral evaluations, workload, promotion, or future classroom assignments.

Furthermore, I ask that no record of this testing be part of C's permanent file, as I do not wish him to participate in standardised achievement testing for promotion, graduation, or school/state report cards.

Strict adherence to state and Federal high-stakes standardised testing, including the extensive classroom preparation that occurs prior to test administration, prevents my student from receiving a well-rounded and engaging educational experience.

Additionally, it:

•Is not scientifically-based and fails to follow the U.S. Government’s own data on learning

•Fosters test driven education that is not meeting the individual/intellectual needs of students

•Presents a racial and economic bias that is beneficial to white middle/upper class students and detrimental to second language students, impoverished students, and students of colour

•Violates the United States Constitution’s ESEA Fiscal Fairness Act

•Supports complicity of corporate interests rather than democracy based on public concerns

•Fosters coercion over cooperation with regards to federal funding for public education

•Promotes a culture of lying, cheating, and exploitation within the school community

•Has used the achievement gap to foster a “de facto” segregation that has resulted in separate and unequal education for minorities

I do apologize in advance for the inconvenience or scrutiny that this decision may cause the administration, the school, and staff.

Sincerely,

Sahila ChangeBringer

parent...

Bears Repeating...

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

Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide...

The all-seeing, all-hearing, all-knowing fascist plutarchy... fact or fantasy?

What To Do In The Face Of Doom & Gloom...

So, I rub your noses in how bad the world has become... democracy is dead, the environment is dead, our society is terminally ill, the rich get richer and rule the world and the poor go begging...

Such a horrible mess... But - what to do, what to do?

Resist, Rebel, Revolt...

Follow Gandhi's lead and practise satyagraha, defined as

resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience...  

Some ideas on how to resist passively:

• stop paying taxes - income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes (stop buying things, or buy mail order from states that don't have sales tax); there is reason to argue that US income tax demands are unconstitutional and illegal

• take all your money out of the merchant banks; use only cash and if you must use a financial institution, use a community bank or credit union

• when you have to pay government or utility or corporation bills, pay late in tiny amounts... or everyone pays on the same, last day... or pay with coins... or pay "in kind" with goods and services - turn up with $100 worth of groceries, or an I Owe You (IOU) certificate for two massages, or two hours of ironing, or a computer clean up, or a car detail, or a painting, or a concert or whatever is your skill and talent

• buy local, supporting small businesses and local producers - food, clothing, other goods and services

• stop listening to/watching/reading mainstream radio/TV/newspapers - they've all been bought and are only giving you the information the oligarchs want you to have

• counteract the media propaganda machines -  place full page ads broadcasting your message in newspapers etc

• start up local community radio and TV stations, print off your own news sheets and hand out and paste up flyers on local issues

• name names - identify the people involved in this destruction of democracy.   They're easy enough to investigate and to discredit - they all have skeletons in their closets they'd rather we don't know about

• organise in your own communities and take back the power - sit-ins, rallies, marches.   Make your demands and refuse to compromise or give in until you get those demands met

• choose a day and organise local, regional and/or national days of non-violent protests or sit-ins and continue doing it on that day each week

• connect with other communities to share ideas and resources, and for moral support

• carry out rolling strikes in industry and the service sectors, public and private - those who have resources, share with those who have not, organise child and elder care for those who need it, share picket line duties

• write and record and broadcast music that reflects how you feel

• write songs and have large groups of citizens gather to sing them on a weekly basis

• decommission surveillance cameras on public buildings and streets - have you been asked for your permission to be videotaped  while you're going about your lawful business?

• turn off water supplies to the buildings in which corporations have their headquarters

• decorate buildings with flowers, flags and slogans like: "An elephant cannot swallow a hedgehog."

• paint murals all over the city, making your views and demands public

• paint out corporate billboards and advertising

 

• turn up en masse at all local authority meetings and demand that your representatives listen to you... and keep it up, week after week after week

• write letters of complaint to every single ombudsman or civil authority you can think of - tie up the system with paperwork until it collapses

• use flash mob ideas to stage protests, block major intersections

• go "off-grid" as much as you can, and build communities of people "off-grid"

We Are The System

it can't exist without our participation...

 

Political and Social Apathy... What's Your Excuse?

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

- Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller

“Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.”

 - Frederick Douglass

Mum... Are We There Yet?

It's Thanksgiving here in Seattle... and I'm thankful for many things... 

I'm grateful for the snow and ice that has allowed us to stay home the past three days and ignore everything beyond the walls of this house that is demanding my attention... 

And I acknowledge and regret that the snow and ice has caused hardship for many, many people...

And I'm grateful to have a warm house, warm clothes, food, safe and loving children, two cat companions, wonderful friends and LIFE...

Despite what I choose to see as "hardships" and "challenges" in my life, I am one of the lucky few on this planet...

And I am grateful I still have a voice and the means to write and say what I think...

For how much longer will I have those rights?