Section 802 of the USA PATRIOT Act (Pub. L. No. 107-52) expanded the definition of terrorism to cover ""domestic,"" as opposed to international, terrorism. A person engages in domestic terrorism if they do an act ""dangerous to human life"" that is a violation of the criminal laws of a state or the United States, if the act appears to be intended to: (i) intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping. Additionally, the acts have to occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States and if they do not, may be regarded as international terrorism.
Section 802 does not create a new crime of domestic terrorism. However, it does expand the type of conduct that the government can investigate when it is investigating ""terrorism."" The USA PATRIOT Act expanded governmental powers to investigate terrorism, and some of these powers are applicable to domestic terrorism.
The definition of domestic terrorism is broad enough to encompass the activities of several prominent activist campaigns and organizations. Greenpeace, Operation Rescue, Vieques Island and WTO protesters and the Environmental Liberation Front have all recently engaged in activities that could subject them to being investigated as engaging in domestic terrorism.
One recent example is the Vieques Island protests, when many people, including several prominent Americans, participated in civil disobedience on a military installation where the United States government has been engaging in regular military exercises, which these protesters oppose. The protesters illegally entered the military base and tried to obstruct the bombing exercises. This conduct would fall within the definition of domestic terrorism because the protesters broke federal law by unlawfully entering the airbase and their acts were for the purpose of influencing a government policy by intimidation or coercion. The act of trying to disrupt bombing exercises arguably created a danger to human life - their own and those of military personnel. Using this hypothetical as a starting point, we will go through the USA PATRIOT Act and explore the new governmental powers that could be brought to bear on Vieques Island protesters whose conduct falls within the overbroad definition of domestic terrorism.
Seizure of assets - Sec. 806: Section 806 of the Act could result in the civil seizure of their assets without a prior hearing, and without them ever being convicted of a crime. It is by far the most significant change of which political organizations need to be aware. Section 806 amended the civil asset forfeiture statute to authorize the government to seize and forfeit: all assets, foreign or domestic (i) of any individual, entity, or organization engaged in planning or perpetrating any act of domestic or international terrorism against the United States, or their property, and all assets, foreign or domestic, affording any person a source of influence over any such entity or organization or (ii) acquired or maintained by any person with the intent and for the purpose of supporting, planning, conducting, or concealing an act of domestic or international terrorism against the United States, citizens or residents of the United States or their property or (iii) derived from, involved in, or used or intended to be used to commit any act of domestic or international terrorism against the United States, citizens or residents of the United States, or their property.
This language is broad enough to authorize the government to seize any assets of any individuals involved in the Vieques Island protests or of any organization supporting the protests of which the person is a member, or from any individuals who were supporting the protesters in any way. Possible supporters of the protesters could include student organizations that sponsored participation in the demonstration, the Rainbow/Push Coalition, the Rev. Sharpton's National Action Network, and religious or community organizations that provided housing or food to the protesters.
The civil asset forfeiture power of the United States government is awesome. The government can seize and/or freeze the assets on the mere assertion that there is probable cause to believe that the assets were involved in domestic terrorism. The assets are seized before a person is given a hearing, and often without notice. In order to permanently forfeit the assets, the government must go before a court, but at a civil hearing, and the government is only required to prove that the assets were involved in terrorism by a preponderance of the evidence. Because it is a civil proceeding, a person is not entitled to be represented by an attorney at public expense if they cannot afford to pay an attorney. The time between seizure and forfeiture can sometimes be months; meanwhile, organizations or individuals whose assets are seized are forced to make do without the assets. Only the most financially flush non-profit organizations would be able to successfully defend themselves against government forfeiture. In short, without the full due process afforded in criminal cases, the U.S. government can bankrupt political organizations it asserts are involved in domestic terrorism.
Disclosure of educational records - Sec. 507: This provision of the USA PATRIOT Act requires a judge to issue an order permitting the government to obtain private educational records if the Attorney General or his designee certifies that the records are necessary for investigating domestic or international terrorism. No independent judicial finding is required to verify that the records are relevant. This means that the Attorney General may obtain the private educational records of a student involved in the Vieques protests by asserting that the records are relevant to a domestic terrorism investigation. These records may include information such as a student's grades, private medical information (counseling, abortions), which organizations the student belonged to, or any other information that the educational institution collects about its students.
Disclosure of information from National Education Statistics Act - Sec. 508: This provision of the USA PATRIOT Act requires a judge to issue an order for the government to obtain educational records that have been collected pursuant to the National Education Statistics Act. NESA includes a vast amount of identifiable student information from academic performance to health information, family income, and race. Until now, this information has been held to strict confidentiality requirements without exception. Again, all the government needs to certify is that the information is relevant to a terrorism investigation and the court has no choice but to issue the order.
Single-Jurisdiction Search Warrants (Sec. 219): This section of the USA PATRIOT Act amends Rule 41(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to authorize the government to go before a singe Federal magistrate judge in any judicial district in which activities relating to the terrorism may have occurred, to obtain a warrant to search property or a person within or outside the district. This means that the government could go to a single judge to get a warrant to search the property or person of the Vieques activists in New York, Chicago, California, or wherever else the protesters were from. If the government chose to go before a magistrate in New York, a person in California, who wished to seek to have the warrant quashed because he or she believed it was invalid, would have to find a way to appear before the New York court that issued the warrant. This would be a daunting task for most.
POST-PATRIOT ACT LAWS
Since passage of the PATRIOT Act, two other new laws have passed that implicate domestic terrorism.
Taxpayer Information - 26 U.S.C.A. Sec. 6103(i)(3)(C) requires the Secretary of the Internal Revenue Service to provide taxpayer information to the appropriate Federal law enforcement agency responsible for investigating or responding to the terrorist incident. If abused, this provision could be used by law enforcement to gain access to confidential taxpayer information of political protesters.
Regulation of biological agents and toxins - 42 U.S.C.A. Sec. 262a and 7 U.S.C.A. Sec. 8401 regulate biological agents and toxins. If a person is involved with an organization that engages in domestic or international terrorism, he or she is not permitted to gain access to these regulated agents. Under the law, the Attorney General identifies individuals involved in ""terrorism"" to the Department of Agriculture. Once the person is listed, he or she cannot get access to any of the regulated agents or toxins. This provision will probably not impact most people, however, it might impact someone such as a scientist who might regularly use biological agents or toxins in their work.
Conclusion - The ACLU does not oppose criminal prosecution of people who violate the law, even if they are doing it for political purposes. However, we do oppose the broad definition of terrorism and the ensuing authority that flows from that definition. One way to ensure that the conduct that falls within the definition of domestic terrorism is in fact terrorism is to limit the scope of the conduct that triggers the definition. Thus, domestic terrorism could include acts which ""cause serious physical injury or death"" rather than all acts that are ""dangerous to human life."" This more narrow definition will exclude the conduct of organizations and individuals that engage in minor acts of property damage or violence.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Articles of Impeachment
"Impeachment is not a political question. Impeachment is a constitutional duty. It is the one power and highest duty the Constitution rests in the Congress to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States when the President, Vice President, and other civil officers of the United States commit treason, bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors. George Bush has deliberately, falsely and systematically mislead the Congress and the American people concerning the most criminal, costly and harmful acts of his administration, leading us to war, tragic loss of human life, the devastation of Iraq, military expenses reaching trillions of dollars, disruption of the economy that will take decades to overcome, a contemptuous assault on the Bill of Rights, an international humanitarian disaster, deliberate antagonism and provocation of nations and people, most once friendly, and an enlarging assault on the earth's environment. On June 5, 2008, a long delayed five year U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence study and 170-page report unanimously found President Bush, Vice President Cheney and other top officers had made false charges and systematically presented a more dire picture about Iraq than justified by intelligence provided only to them. The Committee included both Democrats and Republicans. Today President Bush is exerting all his power and influence to repeatedly urge Europe, Israel and others to support an attack on Iran which he intends to commence in the remaining months of the presidency. Iran is larger than Iraq and Afghanistan, has millions of people, richer by a multiple, unimpaired by recent war and will fight fiercely if attacked. He is negotiating a permanent U.S. military presence in Iraq placing the U.S. on Iran's border. The next several Presidents of the United States will spend their time in office miserably fighting wars started by Bush, as our economy is consumed in military spending. Impeachment, a Constitutional duty, is the only way to prevent George W. Bush and his cabal from vastly enlarging the disastrous wars he has already inflicted on the world and the American people. The House of Representatives must quickly consider Bills of Impeachment long overdue, and the Senate must prepare to sit in judgment of President Bush, Vice President Cheney other officers who are implicated. In a brilliant and courageous speech on the House floor, Congressman Kucinich continued to show his integrity and stance in defense of our constitution. On Monday night he introduced 35 articles of impeachment against President Bush. Each article was elucidated with stunning evidence of it's validity."
Article I
Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to
Manufacture a False Case for War Against Iraq.
Article II
Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent
Conflating the Attacks of September 11, 2001,
With Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security Threat
as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of Aggression.
Article III
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress
to Believe Iraq Possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction,
to Manufacture a False Case for War.
Article IV
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress
to Believe Iraq Posed an Imminent Threat to the United States.
Article V
Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression.
Article VI
Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of HJRes114.
Article VII
Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War.
Article VIII
Invading Iraq, A Sovereign Nation, in Violation of the UN Charter.
Article IX
Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor
Article X
Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes
Article XI
Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq
Article XII
Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation's Natural Resources
Article XIIII
Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies
With Respect to Iraq and Other Countries
Article XIV
Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information
And Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson,
Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency
Article XV
Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq
Article XVI
Reckless Misspending and Waste of U.S. Tax Dollars in
Connection With Iraq and US Contractors
Article XVII
Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without
Charge Persons Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign Captives
Article XVIII
Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the
Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan,
Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy
Article XIX
Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against
Their Will to "Black Sites" Located in Other
Nations, Including Nations Known to Practice Torture
Article XX
Imprisoning Children
Article XXI
Misleading Congress and the American People About
Threats from Iran, and Supporting Terrorist Organizations
Within Iran, With the Goal of Overthrowing the Iranian Government
Article XXII
Creating Secret Laws
Article XXIII
Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act
Article XXIV
Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant,
in Violation of the Law and the
Fourth Amendment
Article XXV
Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an
Illegal and Unconstitutional Database of the Private Telephone
Numbers and Emails of American Citizens
Article XXVI
Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements
Article XXVII
Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and
Instructing Former Employees Not to Comply
Article XXVIII
Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption
of the Administration of Justice
Article XXIX
Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965
Article XXX
Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy Medicare
Article XXXI
Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane
Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil Emergency
Article XXXII
Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically
Undermining Efforts to Address Global Climate Change
Article XXXIII
Repeatedly Ignored and Failed to Respond to High Level
Intelligence Warnings of Planned Terrorist Attacks in the US, Prior to 911.
Article XXXIV
Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001
Article XXXV
Endangering the Health of 911 First Responders
- More on this through http://kucinich.us/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1660&Itemid=1
Speaker Pelosi: "Impeachment is off the table."
Article I
Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to
Manufacture a False Case for War Against Iraq.
Article II
Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent
Conflating the Attacks of September 11, 2001,
With Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security Threat
as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of Aggression.
Article III
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress
to Believe Iraq Possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction,
to Manufacture a False Case for War.
Article IV
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress
to Believe Iraq Posed an Imminent Threat to the United States.
Article V
Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression.
Article VI
Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of HJRes114.
Article VII
Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War.
Article VIII
Invading Iraq, A Sovereign Nation, in Violation of the UN Charter.
Article IX
Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor
Article X
Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes
Article XI
Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq
Article XII
Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation's Natural Resources
Article XIIII
Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies
With Respect to Iraq and Other Countries
Article XIV
Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information
And Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson,
Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency
Article XV
Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq
Article XVI
Reckless Misspending and Waste of U.S. Tax Dollars in
Connection With Iraq and US Contractors
Article XVII
Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without
Charge Persons Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign Captives
Article XVIII
Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the
Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan,
Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy
Article XIX
Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against
Their Will to "Black Sites" Located in Other
Nations, Including Nations Known to Practice Torture
Article XX
Imprisoning Children
Article XXI
Misleading Congress and the American People About
Threats from Iran, and Supporting Terrorist Organizations
Within Iran, With the Goal of Overthrowing the Iranian Government
Article XXII
Creating Secret Laws
Article XXIII
Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act
Article XXIV
Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant,
in Violation of the Law and the
Fourth Amendment
Article XXV
Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an
Illegal and Unconstitutional Database of the Private Telephone
Numbers and Emails of American Citizens
Article XXVI
Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements
Article XXVII
Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and
Instructing Former Employees Not to Comply
Article XXVIII
Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption
of the Administration of Justice
Article XXIX
Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965
Article XXX
Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy Medicare
Article XXXI
Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane
Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil Emergency
Article XXXII
Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically
Undermining Efforts to Address Global Climate Change
Article XXXIII
Repeatedly Ignored and Failed to Respond to High Level
Intelligence Warnings of Planned Terrorist Attacks in the US, Prior to 911.
Article XXXIV
Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001
Article XXXV
Endangering the Health of 911 First Responders
- More on this through http://kucinich.us/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1660&Itemid=1
Speaker Pelosi: "Impeachment is off the table."
Martial Law threatened if $700 billion not given to wealthy!
Congressional leaders were threatened with Martial Law in America unless so called "Bank Bailout" approved. (Oct 3, 2008)
A Democratic Congressman has warned that a panic atmosphere is being intentionally created in order to get the financial bailout billed passed, further stating that several members of Congress were told before Monday's vote that martial law will be instigated in America if the legislation fails. Congressman Brad Sherman of California's 27th congressional district told the House in a speech yesterday evening that he personally knew of several Congressional representatives who have said they were threatened with the prospect of all out martial law should they vote in opposition to the $700 billion bailout. Sherman essentially intimated that powerful forces who want the bill passed have attempted to blackmail elected representatives. "The only way they can pass this bill is by creating and sustaining a panic atmosphere. That atmosphere is not justified." Sherman stated. "Many of us were told in private conversations that if we voted against this bill on Monday that the sky would fall, the market would drop two or three thousand points the first day, another couple of thousand the second day, and a few members were even told that there would be martial law in America if we voted no." The Congressman continued. "That's what I call fear mongering. Unjustified. Proven wrong. We've got a week, we've got two weeks to write a good bill. The only way to pass a bad bill is to keep the panic pressure on." Sherman urged. (Watch Rep. Sherman speaking in the House yesterday) On the Eve of a second Congressional vote on the legislation, these revelations show that freedom in America is under direct attack. The Congress should instigate an immediate investigation into these serious allegations to uncover which private individuals and administration officials, if any, are involved with directly threatening a military takeover of the workings of the U.S. government. CLIP from www.earthrainbownetwork.com
A Democratic Congressman has warned that a panic atmosphere is being intentionally created in order to get the financial bailout billed passed, further stating that several members of Congress were told before Monday's vote that martial law will be instigated in America if the legislation fails. Congressman Brad Sherman of California's 27th congressional district told the House in a speech yesterday evening that he personally knew of several Congressional representatives who have said they were threatened with the prospect of all out martial law should they vote in opposition to the $700 billion bailout. Sherman essentially intimated that powerful forces who want the bill passed have attempted to blackmail elected representatives. "The only way they can pass this bill is by creating and sustaining a panic atmosphere. That atmosphere is not justified." Sherman stated. "Many of us were told in private conversations that if we voted against this bill on Monday that the sky would fall, the market would drop two or three thousand points the first day, another couple of thousand the second day, and a few members were even told that there would be martial law in America if we voted no." The Congressman continued. "That's what I call fear mongering. Unjustified. Proven wrong. We've got a week, we've got two weeks to write a good bill. The only way to pass a bad bill is to keep the panic pressure on." Sherman urged. (Watch Rep. Sherman speaking in the House yesterday) On the Eve of a second Congressional vote on the legislation, these revelations show that freedom in America is under direct attack. The Congress should instigate an immediate investigation into these serious allegations to uncover which private individuals and administration officials, if any, are involved with directly threatening a military takeover of the workings of the U.S. government. CLIP from www.earthrainbownetwork.com
No $700+ Billion Corp Welfare Coup d'etat
Howdy Friends, Family and Fellow Community Organizers!
I've been watching History unfold through the last three coup d'etats involving 1st, Reagan, who I spoke with in the Oval Office, via Iran deal with VP HW Bush on hostage release for weapons, etc; 2nd & 3rd GW Bush/Cheney. The 10 steps are in place to launch a corporate fascist war making Empire including Martial Law without Congressional input. One of the reasons to declare Martial Law is a Wall Street and/or USA financial stability disaster.
The Congress approved putting a shipping blockade on Iran and that is an Act of War. The US placed just such a blockade on Japan before they attacked Pearl Harbor.
When the Congressional leadership and Senators met to figure out how to save the deregulated monetary institutions that had lobbied long and hard to be able to follow Free Market, i.e. unbridled greed, Congressional leaders were threatened with Martial Law if they did not give up control of spending more than a trillion $ to the dictatorship of Bush/Cheney. To spend one Trillion dollars: you would have to spend/give away $100 million every day for 82 years.
See article posted on my blog on just such a threat of Martial Law if hundreds of billions are not given to the bankers who followed their greed. I wondered if just such a threat was why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took impeachment off the table. Or did she just decide to break her oath to protect and defend the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic because ? ………why? What consequences are there for those who took such an oath and violated it?
An Irish American fourth generation democrat, precinct committee woman and elected representative to the Washington State Democratic Convention, I quit the party when Congress “bailed out” the Savings and Loans junk bonds. I remember that the Bush brothers made off with several hundred million dollars out of an Indiana Savings and Loan.
I gathered petitions to get the Green Party legal and on the ballot in Santa Fe, New Mexico. As Community Organizers we were successful. In Germany the Greens have the power of coalition building in law making to make a difference because they hold the 5% needed for a majority. Republicans and Democrats elected with Corporations’ monies I call Corpracrats.
Check out what Robert Kennedy Jr. has written about the stolen election in Ohio in 2004.
I sent letter for your information and hope you will share and ask your friends, family and local media to communicate with Congress quickly to just say No! Also, since this seems to be a done deal ask why. Ask Congress to make sure it can’t happen again.
Rep. Rick Larsen’s staff said constituents were flooding their office with comments about the so called “bail out” that were running 50-50 between no and hell no. Rep. Barney Frank D-Massachusetts is Chair of the Banking Committee and he needs to hear from those folks in his district. Majority leadership is held by Senator Byrd in WV; and Rep Henry Reid D-NV and of course Speaker Pelosi from San Francisco, and President-elect Obama.
If you have a 401 account or stocks there is a clause hidden in the so called “bailout” funding package that puts your money at risk. The conglomerate financial firms are permitted to use your brokerage account funds for their own liquidity. (That is just one of the horrors that await a privatized Social Security.) Secretary Henry Paulson was on Nixon's team, started at Goldman Sacs with $10 million in debt and left it with $120 million in bad debts, wants to be above the law and write any check he wishes with no oversight. The bill - to - law is very short and you can download it.
Parts of the following letter was taken from Campaign for America's Future, www.OurFuture.org. The last paragraph is mine and I held back a bit.
With Love and a shared vision of restoring: Free Speech; the Bill of Rights; Habeas Corpus; the Constitution; International and Environmental Treaties honored; the National Guard comes home and Community Organizers across the land join and say yes to life, our common future and our children's seventh generation.
Respectfully submitted,
Theresa Marie Kothari Gandhi, tm@tmgandhi.com; www.tmgandhi.com
November 9, 2008 (Sent September 19th.) Use the information provided to write your own letter.
Honorable Congressman Rick Larsen: (Put in your own Senators and Representative’s names.)
No $700+ Billion blank check to the Bush administration for Wall Street.
Please, common sense must not be thrown out the window by rewarding those who paid lobbyists to get you to deregulate the financial institutions to allow greed to feed that is the cause of the problems.
1. No Taxation Without Representation. If our tax dollars are going to buy bad assets from irresponsible bankers, the American people must get something for it. Equity in bailed out firms. Strong regulation so this doesn't happen again. Stern public oversight. And, no golden parachutes for CEOs with our money. (Monies received from this financial coup d’etat saw CEOs paying themselves excessively large amounts and giving out stock holders bonuses. TmkG)
2. No Help for Wall Street Without Help for Main Street. To truly get our economy back on track, we must aid the victims, not just the predators. Freeze foreclosures. Renegotiate bad mortgages. Create jobs generating clean energy and modernizing infrastructure. Prevent cuts in local police, health, roads and school budgets. Extend unemployment insurance and food stamps.
3. No Insider Dealing. Wall Street can no longer be allowed to write their own laws. Legislators should refuse campaign money from Wall Street PACs or executives. We need a "time out" on contact between paid Wall Street lobbyists and elected officials while the crisis is addressed. Any congressional meetings with Wall Street officials must be immediately posted on a single website for complete transparency.
The next 24 hours will likely determine whether these common sense solutions prevail, or whether the Bush administration gets $700 billion more of our money to do with as it pleases.
“I demand that Congress ensure sensible checks and balances when dealing with hundreds of billions of our taxpayer dollars. The very wealthy CEOs should be the ones who have to pay for their folly not my great-great grandchildren. Wall St and McCain, i.e. GOP pushed for deregulation and are now surprised that greed fed wants not needs. Freedom and Free Trade have only been free for the profit takers and very detrimental for workers, children, women, elderly and the environment.
It would only be fair if all CEOs who made more than $900,000 a year be required to contribute 45 % of any amount of money or stock options paid above that amount to bail out what they wrecked with their pursuit of greed. Actually all Corporation Charters should be revoked until their books can be brought to balance by those who profited from wreaking the very financial institutions they are begging Uncle Sam to be responsible for. If they don’t then charge them with conspiracy to defraud the American Public. This action qualifies all of them as enemy combatants with this unconscionable attack on the financial stability of America.” TmkG
Ralph Nader suggested that a 1% tax on the sale of derivates (not taxed at present) could raise hundreds of billions of dollars and generate the money and wealth that greed has destroyed.
Please insist that your Representative, Senators and President-elect Obama defend the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic.
Speaking for our common future and for a quality life for our seventh generation,
Theresa Marie Kothari Gandhi
P.O. Box 437, Clinton, WA 98236 tm@tmgandhi.com
I've been watching History unfold through the last three coup d'etats involving 1st, Reagan, who I spoke with in the Oval Office, via Iran deal with VP HW Bush on hostage release for weapons, etc; 2nd & 3rd GW Bush/Cheney. The 10 steps are in place to launch a corporate fascist war making Empire including Martial Law without Congressional input. One of the reasons to declare Martial Law is a Wall Street and/or USA financial stability disaster.
The Congress approved putting a shipping blockade on Iran and that is an Act of War. The US placed just such a blockade on Japan before they attacked Pearl Harbor.
When the Congressional leadership and Senators met to figure out how to save the deregulated monetary institutions that had lobbied long and hard to be able to follow Free Market, i.e. unbridled greed, Congressional leaders were threatened with Martial Law if they did not give up control of spending more than a trillion $ to the dictatorship of Bush/Cheney. To spend one Trillion dollars: you would have to spend/give away $100 million every day for 82 years.
See article posted on my blog on just such a threat of Martial Law if hundreds of billions are not given to the bankers who followed their greed. I wondered if just such a threat was why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took impeachment off the table. Or did she just decide to break her oath to protect and defend the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic because ? ………why? What consequences are there for those who took such an oath and violated it?
An Irish American fourth generation democrat, precinct committee woman and elected representative to the Washington State Democratic Convention, I quit the party when Congress “bailed out” the Savings and Loans junk bonds. I remember that the Bush brothers made off with several hundred million dollars out of an Indiana Savings and Loan.
I gathered petitions to get the Green Party legal and on the ballot in Santa Fe, New Mexico. As Community Organizers we were successful. In Germany the Greens have the power of coalition building in law making to make a difference because they hold the 5% needed for a majority. Republicans and Democrats elected with Corporations’ monies I call Corpracrats.
Check out what Robert Kennedy Jr. has written about the stolen election in Ohio in 2004.
I sent letter for your information and hope you will share and ask your friends, family and local media to communicate with Congress quickly to just say No! Also, since this seems to be a done deal ask why. Ask Congress to make sure it can’t happen again.
Rep. Rick Larsen’s staff said constituents were flooding their office with comments about the so called “bail out” that were running 50-50 between no and hell no. Rep. Barney Frank D-Massachusetts is Chair of the Banking Committee and he needs to hear from those folks in his district. Majority leadership is held by Senator Byrd in WV; and Rep Henry Reid D-NV and of course Speaker Pelosi from San Francisco, and President-elect Obama.
If you have a 401 account or stocks there is a clause hidden in the so called “bailout” funding package that puts your money at risk. The conglomerate financial firms are permitted to use your brokerage account funds for their own liquidity. (That is just one of the horrors that await a privatized Social Security.) Secretary Henry Paulson was on Nixon's team, started at Goldman Sacs with $10 million in debt and left it with $120 million in bad debts, wants to be above the law and write any check he wishes with no oversight. The bill - to - law is very short and you can download it.
Parts of the following letter was taken from Campaign for America's Future, www.OurFuture.org. The last paragraph is mine and I held back a bit.
With Love and a shared vision of restoring: Free Speech; the Bill of Rights; Habeas Corpus; the Constitution; International and Environmental Treaties honored; the National Guard comes home and Community Organizers across the land join and say yes to life, our common future and our children's seventh generation.
Respectfully submitted,
Theresa Marie Kothari Gandhi, tm@tmgandhi.com; www.tmgandhi.com
November 9, 2008 (Sent September 19th.) Use the information provided to write your own letter.
Honorable Congressman Rick Larsen: (Put in your own Senators and Representative’s names.)
No $700+ Billion blank check to the Bush administration for Wall Street.
Please, common sense must not be thrown out the window by rewarding those who paid lobbyists to get you to deregulate the financial institutions to allow greed to feed that is the cause of the problems.
1. No Taxation Without Representation. If our tax dollars are going to buy bad assets from irresponsible bankers, the American people must get something for it. Equity in bailed out firms. Strong regulation so this doesn't happen again. Stern public oversight. And, no golden parachutes for CEOs with our money. (Monies received from this financial coup d’etat saw CEOs paying themselves excessively large amounts and giving out stock holders bonuses. TmkG)
2. No Help for Wall Street Without Help for Main Street. To truly get our economy back on track, we must aid the victims, not just the predators. Freeze foreclosures. Renegotiate bad mortgages. Create jobs generating clean energy and modernizing infrastructure. Prevent cuts in local police, health, roads and school budgets. Extend unemployment insurance and food stamps.
3. No Insider Dealing. Wall Street can no longer be allowed to write their own laws. Legislators should refuse campaign money from Wall Street PACs or executives. We need a "time out" on contact between paid Wall Street lobbyists and elected officials while the crisis is addressed. Any congressional meetings with Wall Street officials must be immediately posted on a single website for complete transparency.
The next 24 hours will likely determine whether these common sense solutions prevail, or whether the Bush administration gets $700 billion more of our money to do with as it pleases.
“I demand that Congress ensure sensible checks and balances when dealing with hundreds of billions of our taxpayer dollars. The very wealthy CEOs should be the ones who have to pay for their folly not my great-great grandchildren. Wall St and McCain, i.e. GOP pushed for deregulation and are now surprised that greed fed wants not needs. Freedom and Free Trade have only been free for the profit takers and very detrimental for workers, children, women, elderly and the environment.
It would only be fair if all CEOs who made more than $900,000 a year be required to contribute 45 % of any amount of money or stock options paid above that amount to bail out what they wrecked with their pursuit of greed. Actually all Corporation Charters should be revoked until their books can be brought to balance by those who profited from wreaking the very financial institutions they are begging Uncle Sam to be responsible for. If they don’t then charge them with conspiracy to defraud the American Public. This action qualifies all of them as enemy combatants with this unconscionable attack on the financial stability of America.” TmkG
Ralph Nader suggested that a 1% tax on the sale of derivates (not taxed at present) could raise hundreds of billions of dollars and generate the money and wealth that greed has destroyed.
Please insist that your Representative, Senators and President-elect Obama defend the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic.
Speaking for our common future and for a quality life for our seventh generation,
Theresa Marie Kothari Gandhi
P.O. Box 437, Clinton, WA 98236 tm@tmgandhi.com
If Only 1 Book out of 7,000 read I Could Take - This 1 is the 1.
If I could take only one book on a long journey or even to travel the stars it would be "Celebrate Your Divinity." Orest has woven together through histories ancient and modern many wisdom/truth seekers knowledge from exploring inner space to know that the Presence of God is within each of us!
From inner space to outer space the search for knowledge by Nobel winning physicists unfolds as a page turning mystery in a search for the theory of everything. It is a page turner read all through the night!
How these two great searches complement each other and are woven together is at the core of the mystery that unfolds!
And during the whole exploration of The Nature of God and the Theory of Everything is a constant "1" Love in flowing ripples through the words into your heart touching the personal and Divine within your unique oneness. Just an awesome experience!!!!!!! of "1".
Thank you Orest and all who participated in this treasured book for the ages to be available at just the right time. I want to share Celebrate Your Divinity with as many people as possible. As a gift that each may enjoy the journey, know your God within and Celebrate Your Divinity!
What I learned starting the year the movie GANDHI won eleven Academe Awards and I married into the family of Mahatma Gandhi is on my web page, www.tmgandhi.com. For three decades I have explored Gandhi's moral and political thought for answers to challenges addressed in Orest's book. Please let us share probable solutions that we insure a quality future for our seventh generation and earth with healthy life support systems. The knowledge I gained from my life's journey is why I know that this book is very, very important to explore.
From inner space to outer space the search for knowledge by Nobel winning physicists unfolds as a page turning mystery in a search for the theory of everything. It is a page turner read all through the night!
How these two great searches complement each other and are woven together is at the core of the mystery that unfolds!
And during the whole exploration of The Nature of God and the Theory of Everything is a constant "1" Love in flowing ripples through the words into your heart touching the personal and Divine within your unique oneness. Just an awesome experience!!!!!!! of "1".
Thank you Orest and all who participated in this treasured book for the ages to be available at just the right time. I want to share Celebrate Your Divinity with as many people as possible. As a gift that each may enjoy the journey, know your God within and Celebrate Your Divinity!
What I learned starting the year the movie GANDHI won eleven Academe Awards and I married into the family of Mahatma Gandhi is on my web page, www.tmgandhi.com. For three decades I have explored Gandhi's moral and political thought for answers to challenges addressed in Orest's book. Please let us share probable solutions that we insure a quality future for our seventh generation and earth with healthy life support systems. The knowledge I gained from my life's journey is why I know that this book is very, very important to explore.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Theresa on Front Page local Newspaper, again.
SOUTH WHIDBEY RECORD JEFF VANDERFORD, Sports, Port of S. Whidbey
Police say denture maker may have victimized hundreds
Theresa Marie Gandhi said she was the victim of a scam by Oak Harbor denturist Kevin Kowalski, and wants to get the word out to other South Enders. Jeff VanDerford / The Record
Theresa Marie Gandhi is mad enough to chew nails and spit rust.
If only she could, that is. Gandhi has been missing a good set of teeth since the arrest of an Oak Harbor denture maker who police say may have scammed hundreds of elderly Islanders.
“I’m not vain, so it doesn’t matter how I look. But not being able to eat is killing me. Literally,” the Clinton woman said. Gandhi is one of hundreds of alleged victims of Kevin Kowalski, a denture maker and the owner of the Oak Harbor Denture Center. Kowalski was arrested by Oak Harbor police in late June on suspicion of first-degree theft and Medicaid fraud.
He was released on bail pending further investigation by the police and state’s Attorney General’s Office. Kowalski’s operation was the only supplier of dentures in Island County; he ran a similar business in Mount Vernon. He is a “denturist,” someone who specializes in making and fitting dentures.
Oak Harbor Police Lt. John Dyer said the Medicaid fraud unit of the Attorney General’s Office has taken over the case, which is based on a series of complaints from people who paid Kowalski thousands of dollars for dentures they never received. Kowalski is being investigated for accepting full payments, or partial down payments, for dentures that he never made or that do not work or fit properly.
“We have at least 100 alleged victims in the north part of the county,” Dyer said. “The total runs to 266, according to the state.” Dyer said he didn’t know how many South Whidbey residents were affected. Multiple attempts by The Record to reach Kowalksi were unsuccessful.
Clients were usually referred to Kowalski by a friend, or a dentist sent them to Kowalski’s office, Dyer explained. Kowalski would ask clients to make a full or partial payment in cash — from $1,000 to $2,400 — for a set of dentures. Some of the dentures he made were faulty and couldn’t be used. Clients who have recently returned to the Oak Harbor Dental Clinic office have found that the premises have been vacated.
Gandhi has spent a lifetime fighting for good causes, noble work that paid poorly, she said, and now she lives on a small pension. “All I want is for this incompetent fool to get his just rewards: a jail sentence. And I want other folks on the South End to let the attorney general know if they’ve been burned like me,” she said. “He’s the only person on the island who makes dentures and takes Medicaid, so I had to see him,” Gandhi added. Due to a host of medical disabilities including bone loss, Gandhi was scheduled for oral surgery at the University of Washington on April 15 but needed dentures before acceptance.
“Kevin made a full bridge but it didn’t work,” she recalled. “A second one hurt because it threw my teeth out of alignment. I couldn’t chew anything and my throat began to swell, so I had to use my tongue to chew.”
Frustrated, she returned yet again, and this time her teeth were coated with a plastic resin substance that looked bad and felt worse.
“He said there was nothing wrong and I was dismissed,” Gandhi said. “I just stood at the door and told him I wasn’t leaving until the goop on the outside was gone,” she said.
“He told me dentures are supposed to hurt ,and that’s just not true.”
She filed a report with the Attorney General’s Office the next day.
“I don’t mess around,” she said. “This guy had a license and was reimbursed by the state.”
A prolific writer and poet, Gandhi is the great grandniece-in-law of Indian pacifist Mahatma Gandhi.
“I met my former husband Yogesh K. Gandhi when he came to the Academy Awards presentations in Los Angeles in 1983,” she remembered. “He’d been invited as a representative of the family by the director of the film ‘Gandhi,’ Sir Richard Attenborough. I was in L.A. as the result of my work with the Unity and Diversity Council.”
Meanwhile, Gandhi is moving on. She sought a second opinion and she’ll find out next week when she can get replacement dentures.
But it has been hard on her.
“Not to have proper nutrition is very dire, at my age and being a cancer survivor,” she said. “But the operative thought is, I am a survivor.”
Spokeswoman Bev Maddox of the state’s Medicaid fraud control unit in Olympia said she couldn’t comment on the case because it’s still under active investigation.
Dyer said anyone who thinks he or she is a victim in the case should call 360-679-9567 to make a report. People can also stop by the Oak Harbor Police Department at 860 SE Barrington Drive to make a report in person.
Jeff VanDerford can be reached at 221-5300 or jvanderford@southwhidbeyrecord.com.
South Whidbey Record Sports, Port of S. Whidbey Jeff VanDerford can be reached at jvanderford@southwhidbeyrecord.com or (360) 221-5300. Published: July 26, 2008 10:00 AM
Police say denture maker may have victimized hundreds
Theresa Marie Gandhi said she was the victim of a scam by Oak Harbor denturist Kevin Kowalski, and wants to get the word out to other South Enders. Jeff VanDerford / The Record
Theresa Marie Gandhi is mad enough to chew nails and spit rust.
If only she could, that is. Gandhi has been missing a good set of teeth since the arrest of an Oak Harbor denture maker who police say may have scammed hundreds of elderly Islanders.
“I’m not vain, so it doesn’t matter how I look. But not being able to eat is killing me. Literally,” the Clinton woman said. Gandhi is one of hundreds of alleged victims of Kevin Kowalski, a denture maker and the owner of the Oak Harbor Denture Center. Kowalski was arrested by Oak Harbor police in late June on suspicion of first-degree theft and Medicaid fraud.
He was released on bail pending further investigation by the police and state’s Attorney General’s Office. Kowalski’s operation was the only supplier of dentures in Island County; he ran a similar business in Mount Vernon. He is a “denturist,” someone who specializes in making and fitting dentures.
Oak Harbor Police Lt. John Dyer said the Medicaid fraud unit of the Attorney General’s Office has taken over the case, which is based on a series of complaints from people who paid Kowalski thousands of dollars for dentures they never received. Kowalski is being investigated for accepting full payments, or partial down payments, for dentures that he never made or that do not work or fit properly.
“We have at least 100 alleged victims in the north part of the county,” Dyer said. “The total runs to 266, according to the state.” Dyer said he didn’t know how many South Whidbey residents were affected. Multiple attempts by The Record to reach Kowalksi were unsuccessful.
Clients were usually referred to Kowalski by a friend, or a dentist sent them to Kowalski’s office, Dyer explained. Kowalski would ask clients to make a full or partial payment in cash — from $1,000 to $2,400 — for a set of dentures. Some of the dentures he made were faulty and couldn’t be used. Clients who have recently returned to the Oak Harbor Dental Clinic office have found that the premises have been vacated.
Gandhi has spent a lifetime fighting for good causes, noble work that paid poorly, she said, and now she lives on a small pension. “All I want is for this incompetent fool to get his just rewards: a jail sentence. And I want other folks on the South End to let the attorney general know if they’ve been burned like me,” she said. “He’s the only person on the island who makes dentures and takes Medicaid, so I had to see him,” Gandhi added. Due to a host of medical disabilities including bone loss, Gandhi was scheduled for oral surgery at the University of Washington on April 15 but needed dentures before acceptance.
“Kevin made a full bridge but it didn’t work,” she recalled. “A second one hurt because it threw my teeth out of alignment. I couldn’t chew anything and my throat began to swell, so I had to use my tongue to chew.”
Frustrated, she returned yet again, and this time her teeth were coated with a plastic resin substance that looked bad and felt worse.
“He said there was nothing wrong and I was dismissed,” Gandhi said. “I just stood at the door and told him I wasn’t leaving until the goop on the outside was gone,” she said.
“He told me dentures are supposed to hurt ,and that’s just not true.”
She filed a report with the Attorney General’s Office the next day.
“I don’t mess around,” she said. “This guy had a license and was reimbursed by the state.”
A prolific writer and poet, Gandhi is the great grandniece-in-law of Indian pacifist Mahatma Gandhi.
“I met my former husband Yogesh K. Gandhi when he came to the Academy Awards presentations in Los Angeles in 1983,” she remembered. “He’d been invited as a representative of the family by the director of the film ‘Gandhi,’ Sir Richard Attenborough. I was in L.A. as the result of my work with the Unity and Diversity Council.”
Meanwhile, Gandhi is moving on. She sought a second opinion and she’ll find out next week when she can get replacement dentures.
But it has been hard on her.
“Not to have proper nutrition is very dire, at my age and being a cancer survivor,” she said. “But the operative thought is, I am a survivor.”
Spokeswoman Bev Maddox of the state’s Medicaid fraud control unit in Olympia said she couldn’t comment on the case because it’s still under active investigation.
Dyer said anyone who thinks he or she is a victim in the case should call 360-679-9567 to make a report. People can also stop by the Oak Harbor Police Department at 860 SE Barrington Drive to make a report in person.
Jeff VanDerford can be reached at 221-5300 or jvanderford@southwhidbeyrecord.com.
South Whidbey Record Sports, Port of S. Whidbey Jeff VanDerford can be reached at jvanderford@southwhidbeyrecord.com or (360) 221-5300. Published: July 26, 2008 10:00 AM
Monday, July 14, 2008
Stop War Celebrate Peace!
Protesting war can get you hurt these days
if done in public places where police can come.
With Big Media part of the war machine
nonviolent protesters are called terrorists these days.
Let us pause and find another way.
One thought that comes to mind
let’s protest in ball stadiums and gather there
those big stadiums with sound, uplinks and lights
are seldom used and are just right
to gather together to make a plan
with the local community there in the stands.
We’ll use teamwork and our own nonviolent security
harmony through nonviolent conflict
we’ll learn how to replace those who would war.
With poetry, dance and making music
broadcast to others across the land
so they can also learn how to lend a hand.
Into bull pens without cows
to speak of the need to speak out loud
to question and find the meanings of words
that have been twisted to mean the Empire’s fair.
We’ll look at the screen to see the score
just what it means to get cheap shoes, cheap gas and more
how it’s killing us and way too fast
called Free Trade but costly and unjust
it can be changed but it must be us.
We’ll huddle to assemble our crews
to implement change and understand the rules
that comes to be in a bush league world
where an eye for an eye breaks all rules.
Let’s come together to figure a new play
a way to do it because as you can see
the bush league season destroyed democracy.
A future with wars is the end of all games
as baseball would end in the US of A.
It could get worse so to save the game
that made America great with ballparks to play
let’s gather together to figure it out
learn some lessons of what it’s all about.
Then on through the season with permits and such
we can gather together without getting hurt
by police who make war with gas and clubs
on war protestors who gather to say
we have to stop war and find another way.
© Copyright Theresa Marie K. Gandhi February 23, 2008
www.tmgandhi.com www.tmgandhi.blogspot.com
We could start at our local school, farmers market or fair grounds. These could be recorded and posted online. Later as it took off we could look at getting major funding and hire a Big Sports Arena.
if done in public places where police can come.
With Big Media part of the war machine
nonviolent protesters are called terrorists these days.
Let us pause and find another way.
One thought that comes to mind
let’s protest in ball stadiums and gather there
those big stadiums with sound, uplinks and lights
are seldom used and are just right
to gather together to make a plan
with the local community there in the stands.
We’ll use teamwork and our own nonviolent security
harmony through nonviolent conflict
we’ll learn how to replace those who would war.
With poetry, dance and making music
broadcast to others across the land
so they can also learn how to lend a hand.
Into bull pens without cows
to speak of the need to speak out loud
to question and find the meanings of words
that have been twisted to mean the Empire’s fair.
We’ll look at the screen to see the score
just what it means to get cheap shoes, cheap gas and more
how it’s killing us and way too fast
called Free Trade but costly and unjust
it can be changed but it must be us.
We’ll huddle to assemble our crews
to implement change and understand the rules
that comes to be in a bush league world
where an eye for an eye breaks all rules.
Let’s come together to figure a new play
a way to do it because as you can see
the bush league season destroyed democracy.
A future with wars is the end of all games
as baseball would end in the US of A.
It could get worse so to save the game
that made America great with ballparks to play
let’s gather together to figure it out
learn some lessons of what it’s all about.
Then on through the season with permits and such
we can gather together without getting hurt
by police who make war with gas and clubs
on war protestors who gather to say
we have to stop war and find another way.
© Copyright Theresa Marie K. Gandhi February 23, 2008
www.tmgandhi.com www.tmgandhi.blogspot.com
We could start at our local school, farmers market or fair grounds. These could be recorded and posted online. Later as it took off we could look at getting major funding and hire a Big Sports Arena.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Cosmic Window to Stop War and Save our Republic
Howdy Friends of Peace:
We have a rare window of opportunity to affect our future in a positive way. Take time to focus a positive alternative thought to war with Iran and the End of America. I send out this alert not to spread fear but rather to offer a probable solution using a critical window of time to make a difference.
I just received John Hogue's January 14th prognosticatings Filipino Monkey Business on a coming war with Iran distilled from his 30 years of studying and writing about Nostradamus. A short clip is quoted below. It was not on his web page www.hogueprophecy.com. Contact him at talktome@hogueprophecy.com.
A Cosmic window for a Great Experiment is from today January 20th through February 12, 2008. Please hold the thought that: “A Diplomatic solution for ending hostilities with Iran is found, now!” And: “Grassroots participation in the formulation of public policy restores our democratic republic!” Say these out loud three times. Send out thanks and gratitude that it is so. Do this as often as the thought or concern comes up. Doing so at noon and/or midnight together can make it stronger and more effective. Alternate the probable solution brush stroke thoughts and trust that how specifically will be filled in.
John Hogue:
“Back in my November 2007 Hogue Prophecy series, "When Calamitous War under Cancer Comes," I predicted the astrological importance of a transit of Mars through Gemini in January and February as the time a decision to go or not to go to war with Iran in 2008 will be made:
"On 31 December, Mars leaves Cancer and continues its backwards retreat into Gemini. Now the plans for war will become most intense and aggressively argued in secret meetings of cabinet members and Pentagon brass with the president and vice president. Look for the most spirited debates for or against going for war happening throughout January 2008. While the rest of the country's collective attention is on the primaries picking Republican and Democratic candidates for the coming presidential elections, “Inside the White House and Pentagon heated debates are occurring to bomb Iran or forget it, jump or scrap the Iranian air strike plan are going on with unprecedented intensity. This is because Mars will retreat backwards over its natal position in the birth chart of the Untied States, which is 21 degrees Gemini, from 20 January to 12 February 2008. This is the period where it is possible our prayers and meditations for peace might sway the hearts of those within halls of power who might put their trust one last time on a last minute diplomatic solution with Iran." When Calamitous War under Cancer Comes, Part 4, (30 November 2007)
It would seem that the last ditch diplomatic effort has already come. Its aim, to prepare US allies for the war. The rhetoric of Bush is as volatile as it was before the NIE (National Intelligence Estimate) concluded that Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons program back in 2003. Since then the president's arguments contradicting the NIE have become verbatim echoes of criticism released for public consumption by Israeli intelligence. I am afraid to say it is more than likely this president went to Israel to listen to agents of Mossad and the Israeli government pitch an Israeli option for a unilateral strike by the Israeli Air Force against Iran's main nuclear reactors and research installations at Busheir, Natanz, Arak and Esfahan. ……….
The chessboard is set. I sense agreements to open airspace over Iraq were discussed. The plan will be ready for final approval in early February. The attack could come as soon as early March or as late as June 2008. Unless a Filipino Monkey wrench can be thrown into the infernal works, Bush's war on Iran is still on.” John Hogue
I think an Art Bell “Great Experiment” could be a “Filipino Monkey wrench”. I’ve sent a request. Each of us can contribute to a positive future by holding a focused positive thought, sharing this call for shinning light on decisions being made about our future behind closed doors. Do what ever your imagination can create. I’m writing the Foreign Intelligence Committee Members of the Congress. When I wrote Donald Trump he took out a full page ad in the New York Times with my message plus his on making peace profitable. I’m composing another letter to him and others who could help with actions we can take to prevent a war, greater repression, lack of freedom and blowback at home. February 12th is here in a blink, take action sooner rather than later.
This alert and my reading Naomi Wolf’s “The End of America” showing how the 10 steps to put into place a fascist America with a dictator has inspired me to request your help in this window of time to turn around a dark vision of the future that it not happen. Let us work together to keep our precious democratic republic, honest elections and unite with a focused mind to stop Bush/Cheney’s march to war.
Speaking Truth to Power, Theresa Marie Gandhi
www.tmgandhi.com www.tmgandhi.blogspot.com tm@tmgandhi.com
We have a rare window of opportunity to affect our future in a positive way. Take time to focus a positive alternative thought to war with Iran and the End of America. I send out this alert not to spread fear but rather to offer a probable solution using a critical window of time to make a difference.
I just received John Hogue's January 14th prognosticatings Filipino Monkey Business on a coming war with Iran distilled from his 30 years of studying and writing about Nostradamus. A short clip is quoted below. It was not on his web page www.hogueprophecy.com. Contact him at talktome@hogueprophecy.com.
A Cosmic window for a Great Experiment is from today January 20th through February 12, 2008. Please hold the thought that: “A Diplomatic solution for ending hostilities with Iran is found, now!” And: “Grassroots participation in the formulation of public policy restores our democratic republic!” Say these out loud three times. Send out thanks and gratitude that it is so. Do this as often as the thought or concern comes up. Doing so at noon and/or midnight together can make it stronger and more effective. Alternate the probable solution brush stroke thoughts and trust that how specifically will be filled in.
John Hogue:
“Back in my November 2007 Hogue Prophecy series, "When Calamitous War under Cancer Comes," I predicted the astrological importance of a transit of Mars through Gemini in January and February as the time a decision to go or not to go to war with Iran in 2008 will be made:
"On 31 December, Mars leaves Cancer and continues its backwards retreat into Gemini. Now the plans for war will become most intense and aggressively argued in secret meetings of cabinet members and Pentagon brass with the president and vice president. Look for the most spirited debates for or against going for war happening throughout January 2008. While the rest of the country's collective attention is on the primaries picking Republican and Democratic candidates for the coming presidential elections, “Inside the White House and Pentagon heated debates are occurring to bomb Iran or forget it, jump or scrap the Iranian air strike plan are going on with unprecedented intensity. This is because Mars will retreat backwards over its natal position in the birth chart of the Untied States, which is 21 degrees Gemini, from 20 January to 12 February 2008. This is the period where it is possible our prayers and meditations for peace might sway the hearts of those within halls of power who might put their trust one last time on a last minute diplomatic solution with Iran." When Calamitous War under Cancer Comes, Part 4, (30 November 2007)
It would seem that the last ditch diplomatic effort has already come. Its aim, to prepare US allies for the war. The rhetoric of Bush is as volatile as it was before the NIE (National Intelligence Estimate) concluded that Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons program back in 2003. Since then the president's arguments contradicting the NIE have become verbatim echoes of criticism released for public consumption by Israeli intelligence. I am afraid to say it is more than likely this president went to Israel to listen to agents of Mossad and the Israeli government pitch an Israeli option for a unilateral strike by the Israeli Air Force against Iran's main nuclear reactors and research installations at Busheir, Natanz, Arak and Esfahan. ……….
The chessboard is set. I sense agreements to open airspace over Iraq were discussed. The plan will be ready for final approval in early February. The attack could come as soon as early March or as late as June 2008. Unless a Filipino Monkey wrench can be thrown into the infernal works, Bush's war on Iran is still on.” John Hogue
I think an Art Bell “Great Experiment” could be a “Filipino Monkey wrench”. I’ve sent a request. Each of us can contribute to a positive future by holding a focused positive thought, sharing this call for shinning light on decisions being made about our future behind closed doors. Do what ever your imagination can create. I’m writing the Foreign Intelligence Committee Members of the Congress. When I wrote Donald Trump he took out a full page ad in the New York Times with my message plus his on making peace profitable. I’m composing another letter to him and others who could help with actions we can take to prevent a war, greater repression, lack of freedom and blowback at home. February 12th is here in a blink, take action sooner rather than later.
This alert and my reading Naomi Wolf’s “The End of America” showing how the 10 steps to put into place a fascist America with a dictator has inspired me to request your help in this window of time to turn around a dark vision of the future that it not happen. Let us work together to keep our precious democratic republic, honest elections and unite with a focused mind to stop Bush/Cheney’s march to war.
Speaking Truth to Power, Theresa Marie Gandhi
www.tmgandhi.com www.tmgandhi.blogspot.com tm@tmgandhi.com
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Truth Rides Tall
In a Western White House without any walls
it’s there in a moment, a new way to see
homeland governance not on TV
by the people, we the who
now the where and here’s what we do.
A kitchen cabinet at a round table
in the light, not behind a veil
no shadows, no secrets in our ship of state
open meetings with no hate
not based on fear or lack of need
but earth stewards in a world
where turtles are first
honored equally are frogs and slime
right through prime time
old and young each a part
of flying the whole, not apart
of being the whole, not apart
no shadows, no secrets, just an open wall
in a western white house, where truth rides tall.
In a western white house without any walls
we’ll gather together and figure a way
how to grow trees without shrub in the way
sustained for millennium
no war or greed, no fear or trepidation
to keep us in line
but righteous actions
as we walk our talk
and know within just where we’re at
on a western shore with an eastern grin
of knowing self with an inner grin.
Meeting in the open to reclaim our land
taken by shadows, by slight of hand
restored in beauty from peace within
lights up a window in each mind within
and so it goes, each one just knows
from knowing self and the inner grin
by honoring each and all living things
we honor our selves and what we bring
each to its own – inside a ring
of inner knowing, it’s a wholistic thing.
© Copyright Theresa Marie Gandhi 12-25-05
it’s there in a moment, a new way to see
homeland governance not on TV
by the people, we the who
now the where and here’s what we do.
A kitchen cabinet at a round table
in the light, not behind a veil
no shadows, no secrets in our ship of state
open meetings with no hate
not based on fear or lack of need
but earth stewards in a world
where turtles are first
honored equally are frogs and slime
right through prime time
old and young each a part
of flying the whole, not apart
of being the whole, not apart
no shadows, no secrets, just an open wall
in a western white house, where truth rides tall.
In a western white house without any walls
we’ll gather together and figure a way
how to grow trees without shrub in the way
sustained for millennium
no war or greed, no fear or trepidation
to keep us in line
but righteous actions
as we walk our talk
and know within just where we’re at
on a western shore with an eastern grin
of knowing self with an inner grin.
Meeting in the open to reclaim our land
taken by shadows, by slight of hand
restored in beauty from peace within
lights up a window in each mind within
and so it goes, each one just knows
from knowing self and the inner grin
by honoring each and all living things
we honor our selves and what we bring
each to its own – inside a ring
of inner knowing, it’s a wholistic thing.
© Copyright Theresa Marie Gandhi 12-25-05
Friday, January 11, 2008
Island County Wetlands Regs Codify ESA Salmon Deaths
The following poem was spoken as if the stuffed Chinook salmon I held was speaking to the Island County Commissioners January 7, 2008.
Wetland’s Salmon Mitigated Away
I’m a fish out of a wetland, my children will die
with no stream water to grow my fry.
Salmonid, my babies, can’t live downstream
if wetlands are bulldozed away.
Gone by way of development, stamped okay.
Practical you say, reasonable okay
to kill my kind you pave and slay.
Do you not know the cost to you under the ESA?
$15,000 - $25,000 for each salmonid without habitat
protected today by Federal law, the ESA
is the cost to progress, so the law says.
Progress paved over, the sources that fed
so many streams, that are now dead.
In the past Island County shorelines were fed
as uphill wetlands fed the streams
that are lost to memory – now a Dairy Queen.
So King Salmon, Chinook my kind
are an Endangered Species, because development holds sway
over stewardship of what was our birth ways.
These regulations you would codify
will kill us faster than you do today.
Your planning process has ignored the call
from our Governor to save Marine life for a future day
by saving existing wetlands, no matter the cost
or Puget Sound and all who live in it will die and be gone
no salmon, no herring, no whales, no way
if the source of our lives, your wetlands
are mitigated away.
© Copyright Theresa Marie Gandhi January 7, 2008
Wetland’s Salmon Mitigated Away
I’m a fish out of a wetland, my children will die
with no stream water to grow my fry.
Salmonid, my babies, can’t live downstream
if wetlands are bulldozed away.
Gone by way of development, stamped okay.
Practical you say, reasonable okay
to kill my kind you pave and slay.
Do you not know the cost to you under the ESA?
$15,000 - $25,000 for each salmonid without habitat
protected today by Federal law, the ESA
is the cost to progress, so the law says.
Progress paved over, the sources that fed
so many streams, that are now dead.
In the past Island County shorelines were fed
as uphill wetlands fed the streams
that are lost to memory – now a Dairy Queen.
So King Salmon, Chinook my kind
are an Endangered Species, because development holds sway
over stewardship of what was our birth ways.
These regulations you would codify
will kill us faster than you do today.
Your planning process has ignored the call
from our Governor to save Marine life for a future day
by saving existing wetlands, no matter the cost
or Puget Sound and all who live in it will die and be gone
no salmon, no herring, no whales, no way
if the source of our lives, your wetlands
are mitigated away.
© Copyright Theresa Marie Gandhi January 7, 2008
County says Wetlands Rules almost Complete
Theresa Marie Gandhi uses a stuffed fish as a prop to raise concerns
Monday about the county’s new wetlands rules. (photo caption)
By Brian Kelly Jan 09 2008
Critics continue to take aim at new regulations
COUPEVILLE — Puffed up by a largely laudatory letter from the state, Island County commissioners said Monday they were nearly ready to adopt new rules covering development on properties with wetlands.
Approval of the new rules could come before the end of the month. Commissioners will hold one last meeting on Jan. 28 for a public hearing on four final amendments to the wetlands regulations.
At the commissioners’ meeting earlier this week, officials acknowledged that the complex rewrite of the regulations has not been universally popular.
“Obviously, this is a complex document,” said Val Hillers, chairwoman of the county’s planning commission.
“There were people who were not happy with various parts of it,” she said, but all agreed with the goal of the new rules: to maintain healthy, functioning ecosystems and protect critical areas.
Hillers estimated that the planning commission spent at least 1,000 hours reviewing the new rules.
Public input was extensive, she said, “and the ordinance, we have read, and reread, and reread and thought about. And made many changes in reflection to the concerns of the public and other people who have given input.”
“This ordinance has many compromises,” Hillers added. “We have really attempted to both protect critical areas and permitted uses of property. There are times when those goals are somewhat conflicting, and we have struggled really hard with that.”
Although a hearing was not held this week on the new rules, some residents used the public comment period during this week’s commissioners’ meeting to lambast the new regulations.
Members of the Whidbey Environmental Action Network and others have said the new rules don’t go far enough and give too much leeway to developers.
Holding a stuffed animal under her left arm, activist poet Theresa Marie Gandhi of Clinton warned of potential damages the county could face if the new rules do not protect salmon as the Endangered Species Act requires.
“I don’t know if you know fish; this is a Chinook. It has something to say to you all today,” she said with he fish’s head aimed at the board of commissioners.
It’s an endangered species, she added, and Island County shoreline is its habitat.
“I’m a fish out of a wetland. My children will die, with no stream water, to grow my fry.”
“To kill my kind, you pave its way,” she added.
“Do you not know the cost to you, under the ESA?”
The county began its rewrite of its rules covering “critical areas” - environmentally sensitive spots such as wetlands, streams and steep slopes - three years ago. Some asked the county to start over.
“I think it needs a major overhaul. There’s too many loopholes. It’s not going to work,” said Angie Homola of Oak Harbor.
County officials, however, said the new rules had been extensively reviewed and will mean greater protection for wetlands in Island County.
“It requires, and no other jurisdiction has done this, it requires that critical areas be avoided if they can be. That the impacts be reduced if they can’t be avoided, that impacts be restored if they can’t be avoided.” explained Keith Dearborn, a Seattle lawyer hired by the county to assist in the rule update. “And it requires mitigation compensation if there is intrusion into a critical area or a critical area buffer.”
Dearborn said the rules were not a one-size-fits-all approach. Properties with different types of wetlands, and different types of proposed land-use activities, will face different sets of regulations — including the size of “no go” areas such as buffers.
“The critical area ordinance is being tailored on a case-by-case basis to match up with the impact being generated by the proposal. That’s a lot more work for staff, but it will be vastly better in terms of protection,” Dearborn added.
Dearborn, who helped write the county’s first set of critical areas regulations in the 1980s, said a scientific review of the existing regulations shows that some are too stringent.
“Buffers established by the existing system are, 80 percent of the time, larger than the buffers that will be established under the new rules. For most property owners — five-acre lot, single-family home development — the buffers will be smaller in the new system,” he said.
“It’s clear the vast damage to wetlands was long before that ordinance was adopted. and in fact, since that ordinance was adopted, very little if any damage has been done to wetlands in Island County,” added County Commissioner Mac McDowell.
“I think the public, in my opinion, owes you a debt of gratitude almost - not almost - if their concern is preserving wetlands,” he told Dearborn.
Commissioner John Dean said county government has had a bad rap for being pro-development. The new rules reflect a balance, he said.
“I felt early on, when I read the ordinance, from a layman’s standpoint, that the county truly was trying to find some middle ground and some balance. I feel they have accomplished that,” Dean said.
“I think we hit some middle ground that is fair to both sides. We will protect the environment, and we will allow people to live here, we will not boot them off their property.”
Dean said some people believe county government is pro-growth. He didn’t agree.
“I don’t see that. People work overtime to reach that balance,” Dean added.
Commissioners also enthusiastically pointed to a Jan. 4 letter from the state that gave glowing praise for the new rules.
Though the letter mentioned one flaw in the rules - one that the county plans to amend after a public hearing later this month - it said the county’s work on the regulations could become a model for other governments to follow. The state Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development said the Island County effort was “among the highest quality work prepared so far” in using the standard of “best available science” in the preparation of rules to protect critical areas.
The letter said the regulations would be effective in protecting wetlands from the adverse impacts of development, and praised the county’s monitoring program and rural stewardship program.
County officials eagerly handed out copies of the letter at Monday’s meeting, and one reporter had four copies of the letter before the meeting concluded.
Four final amendments are expected before the rules are adopted on Jan. 28.
Most appear minor. Planning director Jeff Tate said one change would delay the implementation of the new regulations until July 1.
Ordinances typically go into effect 90 days after adoption.
“We’ve gone through the ordinance in great detail to look at all of the different things the ordinance now calls for,” Tate said.
The list is long, from creating forms, to training staff, to conducting a public outreach effort on the rules.
“There are a lot of things we need to mobilize,” Tate said.
According to the implementation plan for the wetlands rules, field testing and staff training will be held this month and continue through May.
In February, the county’s wetlands maps will be updated and a new critical areas planner will be hired.
The new rural stewardship plan will be edited in March, and land-use applications will be updated in April.
The outreach effort to contractors, real estate agents and consultants is also expected to kick off in April and continue through June.
Monday about the county’s new wetlands rules. (photo caption)
By Brian Kelly Jan 09 2008
Critics continue to take aim at new regulations
COUPEVILLE — Puffed up by a largely laudatory letter from the state, Island County commissioners said Monday they were nearly ready to adopt new rules covering development on properties with wetlands.
Approval of the new rules could come before the end of the month. Commissioners will hold one last meeting on Jan. 28 for a public hearing on four final amendments to the wetlands regulations.
At the commissioners’ meeting earlier this week, officials acknowledged that the complex rewrite of the regulations has not been universally popular.
“Obviously, this is a complex document,” said Val Hillers, chairwoman of the county’s planning commission.
“There were people who were not happy with various parts of it,” she said, but all agreed with the goal of the new rules: to maintain healthy, functioning ecosystems and protect critical areas.
Hillers estimated that the planning commission spent at least 1,000 hours reviewing the new rules.
Public input was extensive, she said, “and the ordinance, we have read, and reread, and reread and thought about. And made many changes in reflection to the concerns of the public and other people who have given input.”
“This ordinance has many compromises,” Hillers added. “We have really attempted to both protect critical areas and permitted uses of property. There are times when those goals are somewhat conflicting, and we have struggled really hard with that.”
Although a hearing was not held this week on the new rules, some residents used the public comment period during this week’s commissioners’ meeting to lambast the new regulations.
Members of the Whidbey Environmental Action Network and others have said the new rules don’t go far enough and give too much leeway to developers.
Holding a stuffed animal under her left arm, activist poet Theresa Marie Gandhi of Clinton warned of potential damages the county could face if the new rules do not protect salmon as the Endangered Species Act requires.
“I don’t know if you know fish; this is a Chinook. It has something to say to you all today,” she said with he fish’s head aimed at the board of commissioners.
It’s an endangered species, she added, and Island County shoreline is its habitat.
“I’m a fish out of a wetland. My children will die, with no stream water, to grow my fry.”
“To kill my kind, you pave its way,” she added.
“Do you not know the cost to you, under the ESA?”
The county began its rewrite of its rules covering “critical areas” - environmentally sensitive spots such as wetlands, streams and steep slopes - three years ago. Some asked the county to start over.
“I think it needs a major overhaul. There’s too many loopholes. It’s not going to work,” said Angie Homola of Oak Harbor.
County officials, however, said the new rules had been extensively reviewed and will mean greater protection for wetlands in Island County.
“It requires, and no other jurisdiction has done this, it requires that critical areas be avoided if they can be. That the impacts be reduced if they can’t be avoided, that impacts be restored if they can’t be avoided.” explained Keith Dearborn, a Seattle lawyer hired by the county to assist in the rule update. “And it requires mitigation compensation if there is intrusion into a critical area or a critical area buffer.”
Dearborn said the rules were not a one-size-fits-all approach. Properties with different types of wetlands, and different types of proposed land-use activities, will face different sets of regulations — including the size of “no go” areas such as buffers.
“The critical area ordinance is being tailored on a case-by-case basis to match up with the impact being generated by the proposal. That’s a lot more work for staff, but it will be vastly better in terms of protection,” Dearborn added.
Dearborn, who helped write the county’s first set of critical areas regulations in the 1980s, said a scientific review of the existing regulations shows that some are too stringent.
“Buffers established by the existing system are, 80 percent of the time, larger than the buffers that will be established under the new rules. For most property owners — five-acre lot, single-family home development — the buffers will be smaller in the new system,” he said.
“It’s clear the vast damage to wetlands was long before that ordinance was adopted. and in fact, since that ordinance was adopted, very little if any damage has been done to wetlands in Island County,” added County Commissioner Mac McDowell.
“I think the public, in my opinion, owes you a debt of gratitude almost - not almost - if their concern is preserving wetlands,” he told Dearborn.
Commissioner John Dean said county government has had a bad rap for being pro-development. The new rules reflect a balance, he said.
“I felt early on, when I read the ordinance, from a layman’s standpoint, that the county truly was trying to find some middle ground and some balance. I feel they have accomplished that,” Dean said.
“I think we hit some middle ground that is fair to both sides. We will protect the environment, and we will allow people to live here, we will not boot them off their property.”
Dean said some people believe county government is pro-growth. He didn’t agree.
“I don’t see that. People work overtime to reach that balance,” Dean added.
Commissioners also enthusiastically pointed to a Jan. 4 letter from the state that gave glowing praise for the new rules.
Though the letter mentioned one flaw in the rules - one that the county plans to amend after a public hearing later this month - it said the county’s work on the regulations could become a model for other governments to follow. The state Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development said the Island County effort was “among the highest quality work prepared so far” in using the standard of “best available science” in the preparation of rules to protect critical areas.
The letter said the regulations would be effective in protecting wetlands from the adverse impacts of development, and praised the county’s monitoring program and rural stewardship program.
County officials eagerly handed out copies of the letter at Monday’s meeting, and one reporter had four copies of the letter before the meeting concluded.
Four final amendments are expected before the rules are adopted on Jan. 28.
Most appear minor. Planning director Jeff Tate said one change would delay the implementation of the new regulations until July 1.
Ordinances typically go into effect 90 days after adoption.
“We’ve gone through the ordinance in great detail to look at all of the different things the ordinance now calls for,” Tate said.
The list is long, from creating forms, to training staff, to conducting a public outreach effort on the rules.
“There are a lot of things we need to mobilize,” Tate said.
According to the implementation plan for the wetlands rules, field testing and staff training will be held this month and continue through May.
In February, the county’s wetlands maps will be updated and a new critical areas planner will be hired.
The new rural stewardship plan will be edited in March, and land-use applications will be updated in April.
The outreach effort to contractors, real estate agents and consultants is also expected to kick off in April and continue through June.
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