Wednesday, October 8, 2014

PRIVACY IS AN ILLUSION, MERCURY RETROGRADE, & BLOOD MOON REVOLUTIONS

First, let me warn you that this blog has been compromised.  And this email account.  Someone or some entity has been logged in since before my last post September 17th.  At first I thought it was a glitch, as I do sometimes use another computer.

But today, it was unmistakable.  The only reason for this kind of hacking into my account would be to track who reads this blog, and to possibly intercept my emails.  (Have you gotten an email from me in the last month or so, and don't know me personally? Please let me know.)

Why would someone choose this blog, instead of my political blog? (Occupy Public Transportation in St. Louis.  I don't link them because I don't want the Lady Rae profile on that blog, but my name is on there. I am not hiding.  Just prefer the Guy Fawkes mask and separate profile. I also don't enforce copyright on that blog.)

I don't know. I suspect it is because anyone that can hack an account this way, can also verify that I actually did send the 08 Superbowl prediction the night BEFORE the game.  Someone that doesn't know me, or skeptics, might not believe it, but anyone that could check the sbcglobal server would know it was true.  Do government spy agencies believe in psychics? I don't know.  Certainly some do, or we wouldn't have Remote Viewing.

From 1982-92 I was a radical revolutionary, and that has given me a fat FBI file. (I don't have those views anymore, but governments are excessively stupid about who is really a danger and who isn't.) I don't expect privacy, even inside my house with all the windows shut and no electronic devices on. I hide everything right in the open.  (As far as I know, the NSA still can't intercept telepathic messages.)

I am going to change my password, but I don't know if that is enough.  The NSA and other Federal agencies just go directly through Google now.  If you are scared of being spied on, or feel like you don't want anyone to know what you are doing on line, you are probably shit out of luck (sol) but I gave you fair warning.

So, in other news, we are right in the "Revolution cycle" although the next few weeks may not feel like.  As the Ferguson protesters continue to reveal the massive racism that runs our society, and it comes out in the open, I think a lot of forward thinking and New Age people might be discouraged.

I say "don't be discouraged."  All this hate and oppression was there before, but it was hidden.  What Ferguson protesters are uncovering in their quest for Justice For Mike Brown, is the moldy rotten basement or tomb of secret hate, the corruption of the "Good Ole (White) Boy" network/gang, and the generally useless and archaic system of governing and "law & order" (which is not the same as justice).

When you clean out a rotting, moldy flooded basement, you drag everything out into the sunshine.  You make a mess of your yard, and at first it seems so overwhelming.  Is all this stuff ruined? There's so much, it's going to be so much work, etc.

But then, once it is all out, and you go back to the basement and drain all the moldy water and sanitize and clean the walls and floors, and go back outside and start going through the stuff, you being to see that yes, some stuff is beyond repair and irreplaceable, but most of it was useless or forgotten anyhow.  Most of it is trash.

Revolution, violent or non-violent, IS an upheaval.  But it is necessary.  It has to be done.  And based on the young people in Ferguson (and Hong Kong and Ohio, and so on, around the globe) I think they can handle it.  I think we can count on them to lead us and create a better world for everyone.

So, yeah, it's messy and inconvenient and uncomfortable for some (or even many).  But the world is a mess. The current structure doesn't work anymore.  The old ways of doing things will not work in this New Age of Electronic Fire and 7 billion world population.

Ask yourself, if Ebola or a huge natural disaster crippled and destroyed enough of the governing bodies or population, would you rebuild this current system? I wouldn't.  This great income inequality, this great abundance in wealthy countries and lack in poor countries, the oppressor divisions of race, religion, and class ARE OVER.

Let's all pitch in, and clean up the mess and get going on a better world for all of us.  We don't need religion or government or anything else to tell us what is right.  A thief doesn't benefit from a world of thieves and theft.  A murderer doesn't benefit from a world of murderers.  Even a racist does not benefit from a world of racists (think about it).  Ditto a religious zealot does not benefit from a world of other zealots.

The rich would not benefit from a world of the rich (who would do the labor?).  The poor would not benefit from a world of poor people.

What benefits us all is healthy, prosperous, equitable and just world.  Those of us that can see that need to be doing what we can right now to share that vision.

Hate is a dead end. Greed is a dead end. War is a dead end.

I don't want to live in a Soylent Green world, even as an interim to the manifestation of the New Age.  I don't want the V For Vendetta world for even a minute (even though that movie really is an accurate reflection of how white, middle class USA culture feels right now).

The people that are running the world right now are greedy, violent, sociopaths.  They would rather kill us all than share or govern fairly.  They are not going to stop or step down of their own accord.  Personally I do not think that we need violence- at least in this country- but we do need ACTION.

As I have said before, during the next few years, we all need to work positive political action into our day to day lives. Sign a petition, make a call, go to a march or protest, study, read, make a local network, get more self-sufficient in terms of food and water (gardens, water collection).

Start right now, if you haven't already.  Make a commitment to yourself and the future of the world, to just do a little bit more than you are already doing every day.  Ask others to do the same.

And through this Mercury Retrograde, if you are a magickal person, DE-FRAG before you go out in public (cleanse all Fear Resentment Anger and Guilt).  Ask the other messenger goddess, Iris, to assist you while Mercury is on vacay. (Also, feel free to direct the pixie hoardes to disrupt whomever or whatever is monitoring this blog. )

Keep your Third Eye open in the back of your head, look at everything through the lens of your heart.  This will keep you safe no matter what you encounter.

Peace out Peeps! Stay on the Cosmic Consciousness Channel, keep broadcasting the Higher Love Vibration to the Universe!

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

THE BEST REASON TO VOTE THIS NOVEMBER? #WRITEINMIKEBROWN

I didn't realize that other people had started the same campaign when I came to the conclusion that the only person to vote for as Prosecutor (McCulloch is running unopposed) was Michael Brown, Jr.

(One link is the leaflet, the other is the original post.)
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/09/november-4th-2014-vote-for-michael.html
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/09/vote-for-michael-brown-november-4th.html

But now that the movement has become visible, I found this article about it, and all the (sarcasm alert) "lovely" trolls in the comments.

http://twitchy.com/2014/09/16/furious-st-louis-county-residents-start-campaign-to-writeinmikebrown-for-county-executive/

After responding to all of them individually, and making the same points over and over, I thought I'd just consolidate it all here. 

First, let me explain something about voting in this country that a lot of people don't seem to understand.  Your vote is NOT just a choice about who is on the ballot, IT IS YOUR VOICE TO THE GOVERNMENT.  As far as I know, we are unique in all the world for this.  VOTING and the election process replaced the monarchy.  It was the voice of the individual citizen which is sovereign.  And we have the right to say whatever we want, without fear of government reprisal.  (Well, in theory, anyhow.)

We The People even have the right to vote for someone not on the ballot. We can write-in ANYONE.  You can vote for ANYONE.  (I think Mickey Mouse and Jesus, and during the 1960's, Snoopy's friend Woodstock, are the most famous.)

http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/columnists/mckenzie-from-your-mom-to-hank-the-cat-write-in/article_f377eab4-304a-11e2-b874-001a4bcf6878.html?mode=jqm

And did you know there is a cat that has been mayor of an Alaskan town for 16 years?
http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/04/us/alaska-cat-mayor-attacked/

We can write-in the name of a dead man that was killed by the police.  He won't be elected, obviously, or serve in office, but we can tell the government that is who we want to vote for.  That is what voting is in this country.  Who we want, not NECESSARILY who is on the ballot.

This is an unparallelled freedom in this world.  That we have such freedom and power we can legally mock a candidate and the entire electoral process if we choose.

As I said before, I hope the voter turnout this November is 100%.  Not just the African American vote, not just North county and city, but that everyone that is eligible votes.  Let us exercise and protect this freedom.

Your voice is the strongest weapon you possess.  By all means, keep protesting, attending meetings, petitioning, and seeking out leaders that can run for office, but please vote.  Vote to protect your voice.  Vote to make your voice heard. Vote to send McCulloch a message that we want Justice for Mike in that office.

http://www.stlamerican.com/news/local_news/article_5509968c-3e8c-11e4-b8fa-d3c00efcf341.html

Because there have been so many attacks on voter rights, and because there is a chance the Board of Election Commissioners may not officially tally the votes for Michael Brown, Jr.  I suggest you send the BOEC a message BEFORE the election, in addition to calling on them on November 5th (the day after the election) requesting that they uphold the voice of the people and report the number of votes write-in candidates receive, whether those write-ins are living or dead.  It wouldn't hurt to send a letter to the media outlets, requesting that they too ask the BOEC for a tally of all the votes cast, including all write-ins, and not just for those names on the ballot.

Feel free to use part or all of this letter.

Dear Board of Election Commissioners:

You may be aware there is movement growing among voters to write in Michael Brown, Jr. for St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney, against Robert McCulloch, who is running unopposed.


Because the vote is the voice of the people in this country, and not just the means to make a choice from what is on the ballot, we are requesting that you tally and report the write-ins as well as the votes for official ballot choices.

If you are planning to sanction voters for writing in a deceased person, or discredit their ballots, please make public IMMEDIATELY under what terms you are legally able to do this.


This is a re-post from Occupy Public Transportation in St. Louis
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/09/why-voting-for-michael-brown-jr-is.html

Check out this post, too, on Shaun King's investigation into the actual distance between Wilson and Brown: http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/09/long-story-short-wilson-was-100-ft-away.html

Monday, September 15, 2014

ILLEGAL POLICE ACTIONS, BERKELEY JAIL, AND WHY WE NEED A SMART REVOLUTION OF WIT & CUNNING, NOT VIOLENCE

LAWLESS PO PO

I don't want to write too much on this blog (yet) about my actual arrest and charges, and interactions with the police.  But I do want to briefly consider the Highway 70 and Hanley demonstration.  This was to shut down the highway for 4 minutes.  The organizers declared it a success because the police actually shut Hanley down.  That's really ironic isn't it?  The scene- as briefly as I witnessed before getting arrested- looked a lot like dueling protests.

Here are the people protesting the police and judicial system, threatening to shutdown the freeway.  And here are the cops protesting the protesters, shutting down the adjacent street.  And in terms of presence, the police outnumbered the protesters.  The police brought the potential for much greater violence than the people protesting the police.

"If you want to know who is rioting, look at who came prepared for a riot."

And no government entity had any legal authority to shut down Hanley and restrict the gathering of protesters.  There was no justification for that road block or the re-routing of protesters.  It would have been one thing if they had blocked off part of the street for the gathering and then gone down to the edges of the highway and waited for people to actually try to go out in the street.  But not everyone that was assembling, including me, was there to do something illegal.

And I am not sure there is a Constitutional basis for saying that a highway shutdown is not peaceable assembly.  It may be that there is a legal basis for the police to be dispatched to instead close the highway down for the protest, not the other way around.  One especially jerkish cop said to me in jail "The only time I've seen the highway shut down was for a Presidential motorcade, and that was only for five minutes."

Well, first of all, what is more important than the President?  We The People.  The Constitution, and especially the First Amendment.   Moreover, MODOT's inability to provide structurally sound roads results in a lot of shutdowns for repairs, and in many parts of north city and county the streets are downright dangerous due to repair and lack of proper signs and lights.  I call shenanigans.

And secondly, that Presidential motorcade was one minute longer than the demo was supposed to be.

The police think it is okay to yell at people and order us around and if we don't submit we should expect to face violence or detention, simply for not being respectful?  Well, they had better expect some people to respond in kind, especially when they are breaking the law.  Yes, I am getting right in their face as are a lot of other people.  Too bad.  They aren't Gods. They aren't the Law itself.  They should not have this much power.  And this anger has been burning under the surface for a while, and while Michael Brown's murder set it off, they have done nothing but pour gasoline on it since.

After dealing with the Berkeley police and that jail, I don't think that changing the complexion of the police is enough.  Black or white, it seems largely comprised of bullies and zealous Good Germans. It is a culture of fear and everything about policing is based on fear.  What kind of person is that?  Especially given that the majority of people they deal with are NOT violent towards them.  Yes, they see more of it than they would in their nice white suburban neighborhoods, but the majority of the public they interact with is not equal in the threat they pose to us.

 I want the neighbourhood beat cop back.  And preferably walking or riding around on bikes, getting out and talking to people and getting to know who is who.  The police should know the people that live in their patrol areas.

The people should not be preyed upon by the police.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/09/03/how-st-louis-county-missouri-profits-from-poverty/

If taxes don't pay their salaries, and legitimate, fair and equal traffic fines, etc, they should not have the right to jack us up.

BERKELEY JAIL: YOU WILL PAY OR YOU WILL STAY... IN HELL

My cellmate was being held for a $1500 bond from a moving violation and failure to appear.  They set the bond without a hearing, for everyone, and if you don't pay, you don't get out until your court date.  I don't see how that is even legal, to set bond without a hearing or consideration of the person's character or past. (This is something I will be investigating.)

My cellmate was 15 days into a 30 day detention.  They just flat out jack people up.  The conditions are so awful (more on that in a minute) that they know the poor person will do everything they can to come up with that money.

And this is taking away from someone working, or finding work.  This solves nothing. And cops break traffic laws.  I hope all those cameras catch the cops that turn on their sirens just to get through a light (all too frequently talking on their personal cell phones.)  And what about all the lawyers, judges and friends and family of the legal professions that get their traffic and parking tickets fixed, or never even get written?

If the law were fair about owing the government money for a crime or illegality, then all those sub-prime lenders would be in jail.  If it were about who owes money people that claimed bankruptcy or didn't pay taxes would be held in detention until they paid or their bankruptcy hearing came up. No one's traffic tickets would get fixed.  No traffic citations would be waived.  To say that it is impartial is bullshit.

And do all these traffic citations make the streets safer?  No.  You just have single mothers that can't pay for insurance and already have a citation, but also have a job, and have to get the kids at school and to the babysitters and then to work, etc.  And if you are driving around you see a cop you might be the kind of person that speeds to get away. Or makes a sudden, unsignaled turn.

All these traffic fines and warrants do is pay for the police.  The jerkish cop that made the Presidential motorcade comment also bragged that it only cost $3.71 a day to house a prisoner.  That comment is disgusting, and while the cash value is likely wrong, they operate like a for profit business.

When I first got there all the men in the other cell were yelling to me that Berkeley was the worst and that it would break the strongest person's spirit.  (They said this kindly, the yelling was because we could not see each other.) After 2 days and nights in there, I don't know how anyone could do 30 days, much less 60 days.

It is Dickensian. It is freezing, probably to keep bed bugs and germs in hibernation as the justification, and to make it more miserable as the real reason.  You only get one very thin blanket.  You cannot use a toothbrush.  There are no toiletries and they charge you even for sanitary napkins.  (It is Ferguson that is famous for charging an inmate that was beaten by the police for getting blood on the cops uniform, but Berkeley seemed like the same mentality.  Just glad I wasn't beaten. Or molested by one of the cops.)

The bunks are metal.  Two four bed cells and one two bed cell.  A toilet with small sink attached.  No soap or hot water.  If you want water between the three ten minute meal and telephone call times during the day, you have to drink the water from the sink from your hand,  And you can only wash your hands with hot water and soap before you eat and drink.  (One at a time, waiting in the holding cage until the other person is done at the sink.)

The food is barely 900 calories a day.  You get only three of the most awful bread and meat microwaved sandwiches made by Lancashire.  The bread tastes like baked vomit.  You only get water to drink, and you have to leave your styrofoam cup outside your cell.  You get no water between the meal times, which are anywhere between 7 and 9 A.M., 12 and 1:30 P.M, and 8 and 9:30 P.M.

They leave the overhead flourescent lights on all the time.  There is no visible outside light or view of outside, even in the holding cage where you eat and make phone calls for less than 30 minutes every day.This is mid-level torture, especially with the low calories and cold and difficulty getting real sleep on the metal slabs.  To have no natural light, no sense of time, and artificial lighting on ALL THE TIME.

There are cameras in the cell in addition to your cell mate or mates, so when you have to go to the bathroom, you wrap your blanket around you if you want privacy.  And if you are taking a shit you have to wrap your blanket around you, even if you don't care about modesty, because you don't want to flood the cell with stink.  It is so unsanitary but you don't care.  Because the food will make you so constipated that when you can finally shit you just do.

You do not see any clocks or mirrors, and if you wear glasses as I do, you are not allowed to have them.  There is nothing to read, nothing to watch and nothing to hear, other than the cops talking to each other and on their cellphones talking.

At night, there is no one at the desk, and if you need a sanitary napkin, or anything, you have to wave at the cameras and hope someone in dispatch sees you and will send someone up to respond.  Sanitary napkins were not forthcoming during the night hours.

The place is so depressing that I understand why people become suicidal and even kill themselves even knowing they will only be in there for a thirty days, or even a few days.  And while everyone seemed to have someone to call during meal times, I can imagine how much harder it would be if there was no one you could reach because someone had not paid their cell phone bill. (My cell phone was turned off, still is right now, for non-payment, and I was thinking "what if someone in jail could call me for free and got that message?")

In the cell there is phone for collect calls and crime tips only.  The calls are ten dollars for ten minutes and they make the person you are calling give them a credit card number.  When one of the cops that I confronted and who assisted in my illegal kidnapping (they called it detainment and arrest) cut off one of my phone calls (the free calls are on speaker phone, and the person I was talking to made a rude remark about them) he told me "That's not in your First Amendment preamble, You got your free phone call. No more free phone calls for you."  When I got back to my cell I began trying to call everyone whose number I could remember.

(He and another cop also delighted in telling me that my lawyer could call the court, but not the jail, and if a lawyer does come "he might have to wait a long time, if we don't have anyone to bring him up here, cause, you know, we are real busy."  Uh, yeah, looking at or talking on their cell phones.  But actually, they were downright gleeful about it.  They just want your bond money.  They don't give a damn about your legal and human rights.)

While my phone privileges continued at the evening meal break, I had no way of knowing that for the day, and to have the only lifeline to the outside cut off was terrifying emotionally.  (And again, how it legal for them to do this?  Isn't that once again a violation of free speech?  There is nothing in the Constitution that says people can only say nice things about the police.)

I did get out on Friday afternoon.  The whole time I was in there I just kept thinking about James Foley and the others like him, who were in worse condition for much longer than I was, and how he was protecting the First Amendment rights of a people that do not have that in their own country.  I thought about those kids that walked from Central America and Mexico and were sleeping on the ground.  I thought about Nelson Mandela, Bobby Sands, Stephen Biko, George Jackson.

I looked at the woman who shared the cell with me and had been there for 15 days and still had that many to go.

On Twitter yesterday someone posted a picture of Kim Teehan, the Ferguson female officer that took part in the beating of Henry Davis and then made Davis pay for cleaning his blood off their uniforms. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/08/ferguson-cop-who-charged-suspect-bleeding-her-uniform-now-city-councilwoman 

I wrote "I'd like to send her to Berkeley jail for a while."  But actually, I wouldn't treat her or Darren Wilson that way.  That is inhumane.  It creates nothing but bad feelings AND IT IS JUST WRONG. Especially for traffic fines and warrants!

I have a draft about the Michael Brown, Jr funeral. (I will link here when it is done.)  One thing I was really thinking about afterward was how different the experience of Jesus and religion is in black churches versus white churches.  Same with jail.  The average middle class white person is so terrified of jail and the police, and has so little judicial interaction with them.

In the black community the police are a constant presence.  Like violence.  And poverty.  Even if someone has a stable family and a job, to be black is to be surrounded by young men that were gunned down by street gangs or police (whether unjustly or in the commission of real crime).  And most black folks seem to know at least one person on food stamps, even if that person works full time.

Children grow up seeing more violence than white kids in nice neighbourhoods. When an Adam Lanza commits a random shooting, the children are flooded with psychological support and massive outpourings of community grief and solidarity.  And when a black kid commits a random drive by, it's "oh, those people again."

Interactions with the police are not rare.  And they pose a much greater threat than to the nice white suburbanites.  Like my cellmate's children, hearing mommy or daddy call from jail is not that unusual. Most black folks seem to know at least one person that has been to jail for traffic warrants, and at least one man that has been to prison.

That black culture and white culture are so separated, and that black culture largely evolved in both submission and opposition to white culture, falls squarely in the lap of white history.  The looting in the wake of Michael Brown, Jr.'s murder was nothing compared to white flight. Or the lack of funding for business development and jobs, aforementioned streets, etc.

Moreover, black people DO go to primarily white areas to do menial work, but white people ALMOST NEVER  come to primarily black areas.  If the neighbourhood is mixed, it is because black people moved in.  (Except perhaps Old North, but most primarily black areas have a white flight legacy of white people that were too poor and stuck to be able to move.)  It seems shameful to me that so many white people are afraid of black people, or have such a low opinion, when the interactions are so limited and one sided.

If the black community is violent, the violent police state and jail culture has a lot to do with it. When these white boys do come down to "the hood" they only get the worst because they are all about punishment.  And who doesn't hate their jailers?

The police are all about fear, and they all seem afraid and vulnerable without the instant respect they expect for carrying a gun and wearing a badge.  And I have really been trippin' lately on how their behaviour when one of "their own" is just how they complain about lack of witnesses and information in the black community.  They say that rarely will any witnesses step forward, give them info, etc.  (Again, local beat cops would change that.)

But that is EXACTLY what they have down with Darren Wilson, and all the other cases like before.  No real information.  No trust in the public, just as they say that the public will not trust them.  They say criminals are lawless, yet they act with impunity, They have become the soldiers of the "business as usual" "good ole boy" "Local 1%" fortune.  Chosen for their goose-step and desire to bully and be in control. We have no rights if they suspend them.  They have too much power and they abuse it.

TIME FOR A REVOLUTON

I have totally committed to this "muggle" (non-magickal) world as it is, with all of us a great squeamish mass, writhing in discontent and desire. But I also believe that a real battle is going on right now between the people that see and feel a better life, and those that have no real faith in humanity to sociologically, politically, and economically evolve.

It's a great tug of war, very polarized, because it is such a new world and age, and a really big change with all the old anchors becoming archaic and useless.  And in the past it was always the side that yanked the hardest that won, and that was always through violence and upheaval.  And maybe that was the best solution in the past.  I don't know.  But I don't see it as a good solution now.

Seriously, look at this amazing new world we live in.  This technology I am using now, and space travel, and massive abundance (and waste-- like debt it is a sign of wealth)-- and to have so many people be hungry and sick and thirsty and homeless and without satisfying work, suited to them?  No. Crazy. Ridiculous. And wars and all this violence, and so much of it is really about fighting over who is going to get the greatest share of natural and human resources (labour and consumption, mostly manifested as money).

I feel like we are just really working it out and it is getting really messy because too much of the world's wealth is being withheld from the people that create it. And too much violence in the air.  Just MELT ALL GUNS, and every other weapon. Symbolic step toward eliminating violence. There are enough other things that kill- accidents, disease, etc--that we should be able to find a way to get along without hurting each other and using violence to work out the ways to live together.  But I can't get anyone else to do that unless they freely choose it for themselves. The Duck Dynasties and the Darren Wilson's are part of this world, and I think maybe it is time to start working around them.

Why can't those of us that can see the better world find a way to create it among ourselves?  Maybe it will be the young people, but that is where I want to focus.  Not on more violence. (One of the reasons I love trolling.  A softer bite and no venom.) Anger is passion, I'd rather learn to live with it and soften it   We need anger to create change.  We don't need more violence.  That is a fear based and a self-sustaining cycle.

I think the more people that begin to see that we can have a peaceful revolution and reorganize more equitably, all of us will be able to take advantage of what the world has to offer.  Why can't share and divide up all the work so that everyone can do different things if they want, and constantly be learning new skills?  And others that want to devote themselves to one profession can become the experts and masters to apprentice and journeyman? There is no shortage of WORK.  There is SO MUCH to be done.  It is a shortage of jobs.  It is too much of the profits of labour and consumption being kept by only a few people.

North St. Louis city and county is like concentration camp for African-Americans.  And the poor generally.  This is the place of surplus labour, of the threat of more desperate workers to fill an employees shoes, so that everyone is so desperate they have to be obedient.  A lesser version of the Berkeley jail, or any jail or prison.  But there are a lot programs that could be altered and taken over without violence.  Through massive voting, petitioning, and a lot attendance at community meetings, and applying for grants, engaging committee's and so forth.

I think there are enough grants and funding that if we fought for it we could create a prosperous, safe, city and county, with plenty of room for the capitalists to do their thing, but with more communities like the land trust over in Cherokee neighbourhood,  More like the Hobo University, and Copenhagen's Christiana, and Findhorn.

And more co-ops.  I am working on being the first psychic to win the lottery, and when I do, I want to open up a co-op in at least my neighbourhood, or even a buyer's club, so that people can get off the Wal-mart nipple and keep the money in the community.  (The shorter distance that money has to travel, the stronger it is.) Until I win the lotto, let's start working on reshaping how government assistance comes into poor communities.

Co-ops would save a lot of money from going into corporations like Wal-Mart, and the jobs would be community based and sustaining.  Without an owner or executives there would be no need for excessive profits beyond what was needed to keep it going.  It would be self-sustaining and poor people could afford to eat decently, and not always be so afraid. And if there were soup kitchens and food pantries attached, the homeless and very needy would at least be able to eat, too.

Instead of HUD housing, why not HUD funds to buy people homes?  No more of this fear of where am I gonna go?  And if the co-op was also involved in the housing, maybe even an savings and loan.  I haven't worked all that out yet.

The co-op could sell medical and auto insurance to the community at low cost, and perhaps even have a clinic and dental office, optometrist, etc. And the co-op could offer day care, and while it would require some funding, there is a lot of government money already going to programs like this.

But people aren't allowed to, or don't find a way, to pool together. For instance, you can get the government to pay a friend or family member to care for you if you are disabled, or for child care.  But if the community could set up their own system with that money, and use it to fund a day care where people babysat children as a job instead of an assistance program, that would bring real prosperity to a community.  And a sense of pride.

The local and state governments would see an increase in taxes paid by working people.  The people that live in these "nice" communities and only want to be around other people that are just like them, and that have lives entirely built around the acquisition of possessions and the most luxurious, lifestyle then can acquire, they won't need to worry about people stealing $12 worth of copper wiring, or holding up liquor stores.

 Probably some of that will go on, but I think it will be greatly reduced. Greed does seem to be part of past and current human behaviour. We see looting done by the richest Wall Street Bankers and the greediness of people like the Wal-mart heirs stealing wages from their workers. But the people that are in power now were born in a world that had less than half the population it has now.  All of these technological advances we take for granted weren't invented during their childhood and formative years.  They live in the past.  They won't live forever.  We don't have to get violent to stop the cycle.  We just have to stop it.

We that are poor are able to live on much less, obviously.  But the disparity is too great.  This is too unbalanced.  We The People are going to have to demand more and then manage it ourselves.  Not just assistance, but better wages and better jobs.

It's HOW we are going to demand it that is really being decided.  So instead of this tug of war, I think we need to share our knowledge and ideas with each other, and be smarter and more economical than they are.  And be so sure of the abilities of humans to find solutions that we don't live in the kind of fear as someone that has billions and still doesn't have enough.

The state of the world right now does not even benefit the uber rich.  Not just violence and diseases and crime.  But out planet. Money cannot buy clean water, or more bees, or anything else natural.  The earth,  has millions of degrees hotter, and million of degrees colder.  It is we humans that must keep it within a one hundred degree range, with very specific requirements for air, water, and food.

I don't think violence will wrest the entire world from the clutches of those that will plunder anything to make a buck.  That might take awhile. I think we have to start looking for ways to create parallel worlds.  Like those I listed above.  I like the idea of a Christiana here that has its own police, community based, and centered around a "Peace Force".  Let's have people that only have the job of going out in the community and finding out what people need and helping them getting it.

I don't want to invade everyone's privacy, but I do think all neighbourhoods should have an HOA, and the neighbours get together and work things out and get to know each other.  We need to KNOW each other.  If we are going to give cops the power of a gun and the right to detain people, let's make sure we are keeping an eye on everyone, both the cops and the robbers, and all of us in between.

And we need representatives from each community that go and talk to representatives in other communities.  And perhaps that is what government officials are supposed to be now, but there needs to be some changes.  We have to get MUCH MORE INVOLVED. It can't just be about voting, and then they just decide what happens with our money-- how much the school gets, and how much some private developer gets to build a business that the people that live in the community may or may not want or need or derive any benefit from.

Like Ballpark Village gets these huge tax incentives and credits, and it just put all the little guys out of business.  They say it creates more jobs, but only if we don't lose a bunch as well.  New businesses do not necessarily create more prosperity. And again, how much of that money is going out of St. Louis?

Or the insanity of building a new Metrolink a few blocks from the existing Central West End station, when the North side is so under served by Metrolink? And in relation to how dependent the North side is on public transit, under served generally. (And I am not even going to touch the Folly of the Loop Trolley.)  If it didn't take so long to get to jobs outside of North St Louis on public transit, maybe people could get a second job, or save on daycare.  (And fewer people driving without insurance, but, of course that will cut into all the local police budgets.)

A great public transit system that focused on the people that need it the most would benefit the whole city.  And once there was some business development on the North Side, I'd bet that all these places that are so offended by saggy pants and grillz and whatever else wouldn't see those patrons anymore, anyhow.  If you like to go to a place where "everyone knows your name" and they were playing your song, don't you think other people might like that, too?

The people that are the most loving and spiritually evolved and peaceful, like the Dalai Lama and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., need to create some sort of prison system that does not completely degenerate the humans we have decided to keep alive even though they are being punished by or kept separate from society.  People should be treated with dignity and given DECENT nutrition, sanitary conditions, hygiene, and shelter.

The USA sanctions other countries for less than the conditions of the Berkeley jail and detention until bond is paid.  If an Islamic group were treating people like the Berkeley jail, we would be hearing screams of terrorism and torture.

The protests and the activism of the people is strong enough right now to create real change.  I think start by getting registered to vote, and let EVERY registered voter turn out at the polls this November 4th.   Let's keep fighting for Justice for Mike. Let's work on getting the highway traffic stops turned over to the County PD and/or the Highway patrol.  Let's demand better detention facilities and treatment.  Let's keep demanding economic development. Let's get a $15 an hour minimum wage in St. Louis city and county.

Let's keep going with demands.  Let's do it with wit and cunning, and smarts.  Not violence.  Not fear.

That's their game.

Saturday, September 13, 2014

THE ILLEGAL KIDNAPPINGS BY POLICE OF MICHAEL BROWN PROTESTORS

This is a reprint from my Occupy Public Transportation in Saint Louis blog on my arrest-- actually an illegal kidnapping by the Berkeley police department, as they were in violation of First Amendment, and had no authority to arrest me-- on September 10, 2014 at Hanley and highway 70.  

http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/09/optinstl-illegaly-arrested-by-berkeley.html


OPTINSTL was one of the 35 people arrested at the 10 September demonstration at Highway 70, however, I was simply trying to get passed the illegal roadblock (violating the First Amendment) to get to do the protest. I had no plans to go out on the highway.  But I wanted to to be there because I knew, even before I saw the illegal roadblock, that First Amendment rights were going to be violated.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/us/police-block-highway-protest-over-ferguson-mo-shooting.html?_r=0

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/10/us/missouri-ferguson-michael-brown-protest/index.html

http://fox2now.com/2014/09/10/live-updates-michael-brown-protesters-plan-to-shut-down-i-70-during-rush-hour/

I also had this leaflet to hand out:
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/09/vote-for-michael-brown-november-4th.html

I am going to be writing a lot more in this blog, and to the media, and of course, in preparing to fight my case, but I am hoping that one of the 10 or 12 cell phone videos, and one news camera, of my arrest will be sent to me.  If you know anyone at the demo, I was on the other side of the highway, the Express Scripts side, trying to get across the illegal police blockade.  I am a white woman.  I was wearing a grey t-shirt and purple skirt.

Please send me an email if you have video. optinstl@gmail.com

Since I had been encouraging people that had been arrested for "failure to disperse" or any of the other many illegal violations of the First Amendment rights by the police, it is interesting that simply by losing my temper (I challenged the police line about their illegality, crossed their "line" and was arrested for "Trespassing" and "Failure to Comply".  They also accused me of "assaulting an officer" for taunting them for being fascists.  Wisely, they did not file that charge.  However, even without that, they made many, many mistakes, and I have good grounds for challenging the violation of the First Amendment, which more of us are going to have to do to protect this most important freedom that we have in this country.  It was not just MY rights that were violated, every citizen of the United States is having their First Amendment rights violated at almost every protest since Brown's murder.  Again, more on that later.)

I will also be encouraging media, lawyers, and citizen rights advocacy groups to investigate the many illegal and inhumane practices of the Berkeley Police Department.  The jail conditions (900 calories a day, which are three bread and meat microwaved sandwiches, not allowed to use a toothbrush, no water except during the three "meal times"), setting bond without any trial and then detention until bond is paid, with little or no access to a lawyer, etc.  And I was in a cell with a woman that was facing thirty days in these conditions, because she can't afford to pay the $1400 bond (and the non-refundable $25 administrative fee tacked on top of it!)

One thin blanket, very cold temperatures, metal beds, lights on all the time, no visible clocks, only allowed one shirt, one pair of pants, and someone has to bring you new clothes, and they have to return the clothes you were wearing to that person.  I also was not allowed to wear my glasses.  One of the officers BRAGGED that each inmate only costs $3.71 a day to house! I wouldn't treat Darren Wilson that way! Absolutely inhumane.

There have been many articles recently about the high amount of tickets that are issued to drivers in the north county area, not just for "Driving While Black" but because the main source of income for small municipalities is traffic fines.  The response from the police is always "If you don't break the law you have nothing to worry about."

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/michael-brown-shooting/black-st-louis-suburbs-hit-ticket-blitz-n185061

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/09/03/how-st-louis-county-missouri-profits-from-poverty/

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-10/arrests-form-financial-bedrock-across-st-louis-county-towns.html

But that is patently not true.  Let's not even get into the many times cops turn on their sirens to speed through a yellow or red light. I've worked for law offices and attorneys in another state, and one attorney here, and all of their traffic tickets were fixed or dismissed due to their privilege of being lawyers and knowing so many judges, etc. (They broke the law and had nothing to worry about, RIGHT? ) I am hoping that an thorough audit of ALL traffic tickets is conducted to see just how often tickets are dismissed for lawyers, their families and friends, etc.

Ironically, while I was only jail for two days, the County sells the arrest records to all the lawyers so that they can send out advertising to the arrestees home address.  The lawyer I worked for sent one to me.  One of my jobs was to fold up these letters and put them in envelopes.  What is even more insulting about this obvious scam-- where lawyers profit from these tickets, too-- is that these lists are sent out IMMEDIATELY, but I can not get a copy of the incident report for SEVEN TO TEN DAYS, AND I HAVE TO GO DOWN TO THE STATION TO GET IT.

I call shenanigans on this entire operation.

Keep checking back, but please, if you have any video of my incident, please forward it to me.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

PART THREE OF DEALING WITH THE FOX NEWS CROWD: IT'S NOT ILLEGAL ALIENS THAT ARE STEALING AMERICAN JOBS

Want to see Part One and Two of dealing with the Fox News crowd?
http://laladyrae.blogspot.com/2014/08/how-to-explain-ferguson-protests-how.html
http://laladyrae.blogspot.com/2014/08/more-on-how-to-explain-things-to-fox.html

One thing the Faux Mews crowd can't get enough of is the immigration "crisis."  Repugnicans are threatening to shut down the government because Obama (that Kenyan, Muslim terrorists, intent on disarming the nation of 2nd Amendment rights, et cetera, ad nauseum)  isn't being an obedient slave to the "Good Ole Boy" masters, and doing what they tell him to do.  



What no one in the government or the media seems to be mentioning is that immigrants, illegal or otherwise, are the least of our problems.   

Did immigrants decide that shareholder profits needed to be protected instead of jobs and benefits and a sustainable minimum wage?


Did immigrants decide that corporate income tax could be reduced from $1.50 (in 1970) to .22 cents (currently) for every dollar a U.S. worker pays to the I.R.S.?  http://www.commondreams.org/views/2012/04/30/five-tax-fallacies-invented-1  AND
http://investmentwatchblog.com/back-in-1950-corporations-paid-3-in-taxes-for-every-1-paid-by-a-worker-today-they-pay-22-cents/

Did immigrants form ALEC?  Set up trade agreements that bankrupt foreign nations?  

Allow US AID to be used exclusively as a way to create massive debt in third world countries, by "lending" them money to hire Halliburton to build oil infrastructure for U.S. consumption?
http://www.democracynow.org/2003/3/12/halliburton_bechtel_and_other_u_s

Did illegal aliens that were formerly small farmers allow global corporations to patent seed sharing and sue them for working their land as they have for thousands of years?
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/03/201332813553729250.html

And did illegal immigrants vote in any election? Are they responsible for Reagan, or Bush "Voldemort", Sr. or Bush "Forrest Gump", Jr.?  (I would hope no one needs to see any links for this?)

The answer to all those questions would be "no."

No one has robbed the American worker (actually, robbed the ENTIRE WORLD) of jobs MORE than American corporations (many of whom are now fleeing and setting up in countries with even lower corporate tax rates). 

Next up, how the biggest "war Presidents" actually reduced the troops and the pay and benefits they receive.  And, how money is not "Free Speech" and corporations are not "People."

EDIT: A truly HILARIOUS right winger that has a police incident on her record is confronted with that by a caller LOL!  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/25/1324613/-Hilarious-Audio-In-Midst-of-Ferguson-Rant-Rightwing-Host-Gets-Nailed-for-Attacking-a-Cop-in-1997?detail=email

EDIT: And let's not forget that this countries government does not even guarantee breaks for workers. The Federal government only regulates how breaks are paid, and only five states require employers to give workers breaks.  That's right.  Read this post, and follow the links, and read the law carefully.  The ten minute break every two hours is at the employers discretion.
 http://laladyrae.blogspot.com/2013/11/human-rights-violation-workers-told.html

OFF OF FACEBOOK

EDIT: As of 14 Sept 2014 I am back on facebook and Lady Rae page is up.  Good chance to learn about Twitter, and even though I had an account before, I'd rarely used it.  The Michael Brown Jr revolution is taking place mostly on Twitter.

One of the right wing trolls (see my last two posts**) reported me on facebook (for using a nickname) and they suspended my account.  I thought someone had just hacked my account and logged me out.  When I finally went through all the rigmarole of a new password, etc and got the "Facebook is a place where we use our real names" I had a response similar to the time the cable company had clipped my service from the curb (in other words, actually come out to the pole and disconnected my service, instead of temporarily suspending, which would have been a minor charge and a two hour wait, instead of a service call and re-connection fee).

My response.  "What a relief.  It's mostly a waste of time."

I can still troll via Google Plus, and keep up with people via my blogs, Twitter, and, oh yeah! email!  Time will tell if I will miss the meme's that are so handy for illustrating blog posts.  (But Yellowdog Grannie and few other blog I follow also supply the best ones.***)

Pre-2008 I had a very big resistance to social media-- and cell phones, I didn't get a phone until 2009! And I was living in L.A., where cell phones were de riguer.   It was with great reluctance that I joined facebook, and of course, I loved it, but lately I have felt that I spend too much time on facebook and have become too dependent on it.

This "facecation"has the added bonus of not draining off potential blog posts into status updates.  Or sucking me in when I am writing and go on line to do research.

Maybe I will change my mind.  We'll see.  But in the meantime, email me here, or call or text me.  And if you are facebook friend, please feel free to let our mutual friends what happened, if you feel so inclined.

Blessings Peeps!

** http://laladyrae.blogspot.com/2014/08/how-to-explain-ferguson-protests-how.html
http://laladyrae.blogspot.com/2014/08/more-on-how-to-explain-things-to-fox.html

*** Like this one, of the Troll's "Hero"


And this one, of blue common sense, versus red "common cents".


Thursday, August 28, 2014

MORE ON HOW TO EXPLAIN THINGS TO THE FOX NEWS CROWD: RACE BAITING AND PLAYING THE RACE CARD

More on how to deal with the right wing trolls on social media and in person.

See this post first:
http://laladyrae.blogspot.com/2014/08/how-to-explain-ferguson-protests-how.html

And this one next:
how.htmlhttp://laladyrae.blogspot.com/2014/09/part-three-of-dealing-with-fox-news.html

Don't you just love it when some white person says "oh black people are playing the race card again"?  Some of the trolls I have been encountering even insert "The Race Baitor" in between Eric and Holder.

Hilarious, as usual.

First, agree with them! That's right!  Agree that black people (and white folks like me) are "playing the race card".

Who invented the card deck?  The slaves?  Did African people decide that they were not human? Chain themselves to cargo ships and work for free for hundreds of years?  String themselves up in "Strange Fruit" trees?  Write the Jim Crow laws?

Of course they did!

Slave women also participated in worldwide "black" plot to mix races by asking their owners to rape them so that they could give their children European DNA!

And "race riots", until the 1960's, meant white men killing, pillaging, and looting in black communities!


Here is another cut and paste from a social media comment I made.  It lacks the humour I want, but I was also writing to someone that I care about.

What I find interesting is that so many people that glorify the struggles of their Irish or Italian, or whomever, ancestors fail to see the parallel in the black community today. Vito Corleone and William the Butcher are the same as Tookie Williams. (And the first two both have Scorsese movies based on their lives.)

SOME of the differences between African Americans and Irish and Italian immigrants are that black people were already here for 400 years, and then kept in segregation and Jim Crow laws. So until Civil Rights, they really could not fully participate in society. When a large poor populace of immigrants comes to a new country, there is generally a period where the most "capitalist" among them duke it out for who will control the resources of that particular group. 


Moreover (or perhaps "however") the Mafia had roots in Sicily to back them, and the Irish had their people back in Ireland. Of all Americans, black people are the most "melted" of the melting pot. 90% of DNA tested black people in the African slave diaspora have Ghanaian dna. And over 60% have some European DNA. (There are black people that have more Scottish DNA than I do.) They have no "people" in other countries to back them. (And this too, was calculated by the colonial powers. Had the US given the freed slaves reparation or sent them back to Africa, they risked increasing the armies of the African countries fighting Colonial rule.)


African Americans have actually created a lot LESS havoc than the other groups of immigrants that came to this country, and have had even fewer opportunities than the Famine fleeing Irish did during the time of Kings of New York movie. 


If black people are just supposed to shake off 500 years of oppression and "get over" what they have gone through here, then perhaps the Irish need to stop holding St Patrick's day parades, and the US should stop celebrating Independence Day and liberation from the British. Etc. 


The race card was invented by white people. If black people are playing it, it is because it is the only card they have been dealt.


EDIT: Let's not forget "Ebonics".  I find this criticism especially hilarious when someone that says "Ebonics" talks with that Bavarian influenced harsh "r" after an "a" sound, i.e. "warsh" the dishes, etc.  Black people were not allowed to learn to read or write for 400 years, and when they were finally allowed to go to school were segregated.  Speech and language reflects the history of a people, black folks in this country are no less an example.  



EDIT:  Here is a great slam to Breitbart's racist commentary on Brown's funeral:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/30/1325704/-Saturday-nutpick-a-palooza-Michael-Brown-s-racist-funeral?detail=email

Thursday, August 14, 2014

SIGN THE PETITION REQUIRING MISSOURI POLICE TO WEAR CAMERAS WHILE ON DUTY

EDIT: As I say below, there can never be enough of these petitions, but this one already as 50,000 signatures.  Please sign it too.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/mike-brown-law-requires-all-state-county-and-local-police-wear-camera/8tlS5czf

Also this one:
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/make-all-missouri-law?source=s.em.cp&r_by=11089267

This one is to stop the programme that gives used military equipment to the police:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/remove-program-1033-which-gives-unused-military-equipment-police-departments-across-united-states/FKffCPs3

I've started what will likely be a string of petitions for police reform.  TIME FOR CHANGE.  Please, sign the petition and share this message with your friends if you agree:

Subject: AMENDMENT TO THE MISSOURI CONSTITUTION REQUIRING ALL POLICE TO WEAR AUDIO AND VIDEO RECORDERS WHEN ON DUTY

Hi,

The police are armed, have the right to detain us, to seize our assets, investigate and monitor us, and to use deadly force against us.  If the officer that shot Michael Brown had been wearing a recording device there would be no question about what actually happened.  There would be no need for an investigation.  We pay for the salaries of the police, we pay for their jails and their cars and their guns.  They work for us.  We have a right to know how they are doing their jobs.

That's why I created a petition to The Missouri State House, The Missouri State Senate, and Governor Jay Nixon, which says:

"In the State of Missouri all uniformed police are required to wear functioning audio and video recording devices when on duty."

Will you sign this petition? Click here:

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/amendment-to-the-missouri?source=c.em.cp&r_by=11089267

Thanks!

EDIT: Also, please check out the following articles for more info about what is happening in Ferguson:

http://www.occupy.com/article/could-civil-rights-movement-have-happened-todays-militarized-police-state

http://rt.com/usa/181204-teens-mobile-app-police-abuse/

http://theantimedia.org/constitutional-rights-essentially-suspended-in-ferguson-as-police-raid-homes-door-to-door/

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/michael-brown-shooting-amnesty-international-sends-team-within-us-for-first-time-as-national-guard-deployed-9675149.html



Monday, July 7, 2014

(ALMOST) EVERYTHING I WANT TO SAY ABOUT THE U.S.A'S CHRISTIAN TALIBAN IN A FEW PHOTOS

Have you heard of "Holly Hobby Lobby"?

If you haven't, be prepared for a lot of amusement.  As a writer, I have to say, I couldn't invent a better moronic, tea-bagging, character than real life has already provided.

Her name is Holly Fischer.  She does NOT have Obamacare.  Her husband's employer provides her with Cigna, which she hates, because they deny coverage of care she deems important for her children.

She began her life as "Holly Hobby Lobby" with this picture:


Apparently, this was not militant enough for her Duck Dynasty loving fans, so she took this photo:


Someone on the Americans Against The Tea Baggers site posted the photo of her Muslim twin, below"



This is motivating enough to learn how to make a meme. 

I know we all have a belly button, and that true enlightenment would look only at the tragedy of these photos, and, that this woman does have some real strength, in standing for what she believes in, publicly and unapologetic, but LOFL!!!!  WHAT A PERFECT SET OF IMAGES FOR THIS MINDSET!!!

Anyhow, in other news, Mercury is direct, but the shitstorm contines.  The world of the Holly Hobby Lobby's (and all these zealous jihadists of all religions) is nothing but falling debris right now, and the rest of us are just trying to duck and cover and wait for them to disappear of their own accord (and stupidity).

I know many magickal peeps have chosen to quietly wait this out.  I say, this is the last chance to join the fray of the Old Age, and nurture the budding New Age.

Like the last chance to go Trick or Treating as a teen, or that last road trip the summer after college graduation.

PEACE OUT, PEEPS!

 EDIT: Just found this! Someone already did this meme (minus the witchy/ New Age angle):
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/07/06/womans-attempt-to-troll-liberals-backfires-when-someone-notices-this-disturbing-similarity/

Monday, June 16, 2014

MERCURY RETRO AND BLOOMSDAY 2014: DO YOU BELONG?

Bloomsday is June 16th because of the James Joyce novel "Ulysses".  The stream of consciousness narrative novel is celebrated in Dublin every year on this day.


http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/sunshine-warms-bloomsday-celebrations-in-dublin-1.1834275

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/06/16/bloomsday_2014_sweny_s_closing_pharmacy_that_james_joyce_s_ulysses_made.html

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2014/06/bloomsday-james-joyce-ulysses

In "Finnegan's Wake", Joyce muses that "Dublin" contains the question "Doyoubelong?"

If you are a magickal person, world walker, new immortal, or yearning for the 5 D New Age world, you definitely DO NOT BELONG to what is happening right now.

In the Kingdom of the Blind, the One Eyed Are Kings, as Dead Can Dance reminds us.  (The first song of their's that I really connected with is Ulysses, so natch, I always think of them on Bloomsday.  http://youtu.be/y1O1jPmXd4c)

This is one heck of a Mercury Retrograde.  The muggle world thinks it is Chicken Little or Humpty Dumpty, and it is Big Bang Number 2-- The Age of Avatars, the New Age of Electronic Fire.

http://laladyrae.blogspot.com/2014/06/mercury-retrograde-june-7th-2014.html

Whether you are actively taking part in the New Age by immersing yourself in the details of the mundane world and facilitating the new Enlightened systems (politics, society, wealth), or just enjoying the final decadence of the Old Age (meat, pets, private property) get ready to duck and cover or join the melee in the streets come July.

Something wicked this way comes, and it looks like the financial crisis of 2008 all over again-- with just a touch of World War 3 thrown in.

What a mess.  Humans have about a month to figure out the problems with wealth inequality and class society.  Can we get some of those special sunglasses from the movie "They Live"?

Keep that lavender near the computer for Mercury/Hermes/Thoth, light that rainbow candle for Iris (or prism, especially if you can position the rainbow to hit a bowl or dish of water), and double check the details, be prepared for delays when travelling and back peddling in all business deals.



Happy Bloomsday!

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

RIP PEOPLE'S POET AND DROP DEAD FRED

The world seems a lot less funny without Rik Mayall... also, given his "Young Ones" self-proclaimed titles "The People's Poet", and the recent passing of Maya Angelou, I am concerned for poet's of any sort with "Maya" in their names...

Not making light of either of their deaths... journey on, Enlightened Souls, but damn, we miss you here on Planet Earth...

Friday, May 2, 2014

PORTRAIT OF SAINT LOUIS "FINEST", CIRCA 1982

Reading about the underage girl that was raped and then "man-handled" by the Alton police department has brought back a lot of bad memories about my experiences when I was teenager.

http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Alleged-rape-victim-Metro-East-police-department-verbally-abused-me-257420951.html

Both as a rape victim, and as a young "I don't know how to say no, and sometimes men don't listen when I do" girl.

Let me just go on official record here that I have performed sexual acts in police cars, marked and unmarked, for police officers, in St. Louis city and county.

These officers knew my full name, where I lived, what school I (was supposed to be going) to and exactly how old I was.

Most of them are a blur.  A few really stand out.

The off-duty cop at the Steak 'n Shake on Manchester that talked me out of reporting a really brutal rape by two men in the Hill.  I had a ring of blue bruises around my neck from where two men had strangled me.  They had talked about killing me, in front of me.

Mr. Officer not only talked me out of it, he wanted sexual favours, too.

The worst though was the last.  I might have been of age by then, I was 16.  I'd left that crazy life of racist white men that wanted sex from me all the time.  I'd transformed into a radical communist punk rocker, in part because nothing scared those men like gay men and black people in the Delmar Loop.

Between the time I was 12 and 15 I had had sex with a lot of men.  Almost all of them white, no black men at all,  I only say "almost" because I am pretty sure there were Hispanic men when I was a runaway in California, when I was 13.

Most of these guys were average south city and county guys of that time.  (Remember, these were primarily white, working class neighbourhoods then.)

The racism really bothered me. But I had a deep father fixation.  I was hungry for any male attention.  I was wild and had no male family members to protect me.  Even young I was a very strong person, and very anti-authoritarian.

A troublemaker.  The kind of girl you hope your daughter never befriends and your son never dates.

I hated the racism, but I loved the men.  The sex was completely unenjoyable, but I liked the touching and affection from the boys I actually had feelings for.

Most of the men I just didn't know how to say "no" to effectively, and many of them were very aggressive.  To get rid of an aggressive man, I would find another that was more violent, but you can imagine how that worked out for me.

Please remember I was 13.  I was a stupid kid that thought she was really smart.

At 16 I was still too smart for my own good.  I don't recall the details of how I met Mr. Vice Officer.  Underage drinking is certain.  I saw him a lot, he was going through a divorce. And I thought he would protect me when I got arrested, which at that point had become for political activities, and not just being a run of the mill "tragic" girl/troublemaker. (Always funny to me, that I am the "tragic" girl, because so many grown "decent" "respectable" men got sex from me.)

At this point I thought I could control Vice Officer for my own purposes.  I'd finally had an orgasm a year earlier (on my own, from reading a Cosmo magazine).  That experience had been another motivation, all those men, and not once!  And too suddenly understand what had really been happening! Along with finally finding a way out of the racist world vis a vis revolutionary politics, political activists, punk rock, and the Loop.

(My family was not, but we were mostly surrounded by "white culture".  My first crush on a boy in grade school was African-American.  In third grade.  That was the year I learned that black people and white people were not allowed to mix.  And I mostly learned this from the black girls at my school, many of whom had been my friends until this crush was confided.  That is another story, for another day.)

So after awhile, Mr. Vice Officer's wife leaves him, and he takes me to his house.  After we have sex, he takes me to the den to show me this plaque he is so proud of.

Now let me tell you something about cops.  You hear all the time about cops shooting their guns, but it is still rare for an individual officer to not only  have fired his weapon, but to have killed someone.  At least back then.

In Los Angeles there was a cop in the Ramparts division that had fired his gun on ten occasions.  I don't recall if he ever hit anyone, or killed anyone, but he was called "Rambo" by his co-workers simply for the amount of times he had fired a weapon.

So for Mr. Vice Officer to have shot and killed someone made him a big man.  And he'd shot a black man during a crime.  And the man had fired a gun at Mr. Vice Officer.  (He didn't say "man" or "black man" or "criminal".)

So he takes me to his private den to show me his most prized possession.  A wood plague.

So this wood plaque has a photograph of the man in the morgue.  It's just the man's head, wrapped in bandages, so you can only see his face.  It's the guy Vice Officer shot. Under the photograph.is a brass plaque that has engraved "Portrait Of A Dead Porch Monkey."

Trauma, shock, fear, and numbness were pretty well known to me.  He took me home talking about some trip to San Diego he was going to take me on or something.  I never saw him again, that I can recall. I know I never slept with him again.  Or gave him head in his unmarked car he drove even when off-duty.  (It doesn't matter what a man does for a living, or where he's from, or what religion he is, most of them are the same thing when it comes to their dicks.)

A uniform doesn't make a man honest. A badge doesn't make him a hero.  And a gun doesn't make him courageous.

What is that about silk purses?

I have met some "good cops" in the intervening years.  Although I still don't get how I am "the tragic one".  I think it is much more tragic that men like this defined the police force, and might still today.

That men like this are given guns and license to shoot and kill.  Men that figured out they could become cops and get a salary instead of paying Klan dues. (Shut your eyes, exchange a few words, and no difference between the convo's of the cops and Aryan Brotherhood.)

And men like this should not be arresting underage rape victims for intoxication.  Or trying to talk her out of reporting the crime.

If cops are supposed to be such pillars of society and all that is right and good in the world, then they had better start living up to that.

It is not my responsibility to control your libido.

Would you have treated a boy that age that was drunk and just been raped by a pedophile in the same way?

Personally, I think prostitution should become a way of life for all women,  We should charge men money for sex.  That is the only way that we will ever be able to get control of our bodies and really make raping someone a serious crime.  The only other thing the "erect members" of society value is money.

Men should have to pay for it, every time, with every woman, and where she controls the circumstances, act and price, as well as the punishment for THEFT OF HER BODY.

You know, every time I think I am all enlightened, something like this Alton shit happens and all I can think is "I hope those cops get fired and I hope they never get laid again."

So, yeah, Happy May Day.  (Bealtaine is the eve of the 4th this year.)

PS- I 've written a lot (and spoken at a lot of feminist and rape survivor meetings) about my experiences.  On this blog, there is also this poem too about this part of my life: http://laladyrae.blogspot.com/2012/12/poem-there-was-rapture-and-all-i-got.html

Saturday, April 19, 2014

EASTER MUSINGS ON WATER AND WEALTH, IN JESUS' MEMORY

There are only two forms of wealth- natural resources and labour.

Celebrating Easter by smashing (intellectually) the moneylender/bankers in Jesus' memory: Money used to be backed by gold. Now I can't figure out how money's worth is determined. But I do know that the only income the US government has is from taxes (and interest on invested taxes- not counting that because they wouldn't have the interest without the income). States and cities have property and sales tax. If you don't pay your taxes you can be put in prison. If you steal money from a bank you go to prison.

The government is controlled by people with the most money, that pay the least in taxes. The Federal Reserve is bankers. They decide how much money can be made based on how much interest can be generated in loaning that money. (The housing bubble and bank bailout was the greatest success ever- banks got the bail out and own all the foreclosed homes.)

They (government-men greedy for power-- and the rich--men greedy for wealth and power) keep telling us that that all we have to do is "work hard", that there is plenty for everyone- but only if we "work hard" for it. (Which is why the hardworking children of the garment factories are so rich.) Rich people say they "did it on their own" with their inherited wealth. (I'd like to see a Koch brother put his wealth in a trust and demonstrate this from the bottom up for a year or two. Please, do it on your own without anything to start with if that is true.)

If there is enough for everyone, there is enough. Period.

If there isn't enough, then what it is really happening is the bulk of humanity has been terrorized and robbed by various gangs of thugs throughout history.

The water shortage we are facing globally is going to demonstrate this. It is illegal to collect rainwater in an increasing number of places (the government has determined it has the rights to rain) and many municipalities are now restricting private water bottlers the right to use municipal water sources, because of the low levels and increasing difficulties in purifying water for drinking use. Natural resources do not respond to money. We can't buy more water. We can pay more for what is available, but we can't buy more water if we ruin it for human consumption.

If natural resources were distributed evenly, and wealth was really based on hard work, we wouldn't need governments as we have them now. We would need administrators. Right now we have thugs telling us we have to pay them a percentage of whatever money they deign to pay us.

If we kill off this planet, the rich and powerful will have the last swallow of clean water, because they can pay for it. And they will ration off enough to pay the guns that keep the rest of us from stealing their water.

But there still won't be any clean water.

And even if there is enough clean water, and there really is enough for everyone, if only we "work hard", than why do we allow the most selfish, greediest, and murderous among us to control water and money's-- and everything else-- distribution?

Happy Easter Jesus!


EDIT:  Once again, Jesus has not resurrected his zombie army! Happy Easter anyhow! and Happy 4/20!!!  Also, someone told me my thesis is unclear --it seems so clear in my head, but I cannot seem to fit it into the right words.!!!

Sunday, April 13, 2014

ONCE FOR A ONCE IN A LIFETIME MUSICAL

I went to see the musical Once at the Fox and it was so amazing!

The musical really focuses more on Girl's fierce desire to better the lives of those around her, and her belief in Guy's music.  

"Help thy brother's boat, and lo! Thine own has reached the shore."-- Hindu proverb 

The movie's story was similar, but more fully explored the complexities of Guy and Girl's characters and romantic relationship.  And oddly, the romantic angle was explored more in the movie.  The musical keeps the film's integrity, and stays focused on the importance of making music together-- a relationship almost more intimate than sex or romance.  The musical is incredibly uplifting and empowering.

It is beautifully staged- as a Dublin pub, and as a play being told in a Dublin pub, with the other cast members doubling ("dublin-ing") the audience, musicians, actors, and stage crew.

The script was a little perfunctory, but it was okay.  Plenty of jokes, the characters were such "characters" that even the weak jokes got strong laughs, and the good jokes made everyone roar. ("Do you love being Irish?"  "Are you serious?" "I'm Czech, I'm always serious!"  might be paraphrasing.)

The choreography is modern movement, but as revealing and integral to the story as the chorus line was in the eponymous Broadway show.

And the cast was AMAZING!  WHAT A TALENTED GROUP OF PERFORMERS!  Tony worthy, I think.  Each one a singer/musician/dancer/actor/comedian extraordinnaire! And plenty of stage presences and star power!

If you love musicals, music, musicians, and the creative process of making music-- RUN DON'T WALK TO SEE ONCE!

Get there early so that you can go on the onstage bar and join the sesiun and the craic with the cast singing pub songs! ("session" and "crack"-- fun and talk--the energy).

(Be warned that beer is $9 on stage! Really.)

"Falling Slowly" made tears roll down my cheeks.

Go see it while it is here!  Through April 20th!

SEE ONCE MORE THAN ONCE!!!!!

PS-- Saw the Queen musical "We Will Rock You" at the Fox, and want to say the petite but powerfully voiced Scaramouche is going to be the next Audra McDonald or Idena Menzel.  She needs a Tony worthy show, although for Queen fans it was brilliant.