What Fourth of July Means to Me

Tags

America, American flag, bill of rights, Civil Rights, cricketdiane, Declaration of Independence, Fourth of July, fourth of july 2016, Freedom, freedoms, god bless america, Human Rights, Independence Day, national anthem, patriotic, Patriotism, pledge of allegiance, rights, US Constitution, USA, what fourth of july means

Is it the barbecues, picnics, going to the lake, family holidays and fireworks? Well, not really. Is Fourth of July a note to the freedoms we enjoy everyday? Sort of. But really, what does it signify anymore? Is it a time to sell  more hotdogs in ads that show us grilling out in our backyard, or simply an excuse to buy three cases of beer for the weekend? What is Fourth of July anymore anyway?

A few days ago, my granddaughter who is six stopped in the living room as the ballgame crowd was singing, God Bless America with hands over their hearts and scenes of the American flag blowing in the breeze over the ballpark. She stood proudly, put her hand over her heart and started singing with them, God Bless America in our living room. And a good friend over for a while sitting to watch the ballgame made a comment of embarrassment that would have shamed her for doing it. And I said, “well sometimes, something has to be important.” That’s true. It can’t be that we are all to sophisticated to join and support respect for our country and what it stands for.

And for days now, that scene rolls about in my mind, of my granddaughter innocently and grandly showing her patriotism in the safety of her own space joining with others on the tele box at the ballgame doing the same thing. And, more and more, I’ve thought about those few minutes of our friend’s reaction being so out of place and bizarre in a sense, and yet, understandable in a time when overt shows of pride in our nation are not for the modern and sophisticated every day person (unless at the ballgame in person or at some public rally specific to it.)

And, I’ve thought about the freedoms to do what we would choose in our own homes, how it is very bizarre for it to be socially unacceptable to stand and sing the National Anthem or America the Beautiful, to join in saying the Pledge of Allegiance, to salute for a parade of soldiers on the tele (even in person at the parade), or to put hand over heart and stand when appropriate to the event we are watching on the TV singing with the National Anthem as the crowd does. How bizarre a lack of freedom that is, in the very country where those freedoms have been fought for, paid for, died for, won for and firmly established. Really, that is strange.

As I think about it, I’m reminded of a recent conversation with one of my daughters in their late 20’s who told me when I was designing tshirts for the Fourth of July and things with the American flag on them, that it has been unpopular and not trendy to wear a shirt with the American flag on it for the Fourth of July. And, yesterday she explained that most people don’t want to wear or carry things in red, white and blue for the Independence Day events, whether it is a headband, party sunglasses, hats or a stick with streamers on it.

I’m not sure if this is true because around the Fourth of July weekend there is lots of those things sold, but maybe it is unpopular or has been recently unpopular for people to embrace those things to use for celebrating the Fourth as an expression of their love for America. Maybe it is okay to have red, white and blue balloons attached to the mailbox to show their barbecue is happening in the backyard for the Fourth of July, but not to wear a shirt that shows those colors or an American flag or says USA. That is bizarre too.

It’s as if we’ve all taken on that contempt found in TV shows’ character dialogs and one-liners that belittles and shames all things expressing our belief in something important and of expressing any feeling of caring about something.important. So is it easier to not engage the moment and express those feelings of oneness with our nation, our pride of place and honor for those who’ve fought to defend it, than to risk being vilified and demeaned even in our own homes for doing it? Really? To be called crazy for standing up and singing the National Anthem or God Bless America even in our own homes – in the privacy of our own homes? Is that what it is to live in this great nation of ours, that even in our own homes, we don’t actually enjoy THAT freedom?

NO. Sometimes, some things have to be important – fashionable or not. It is, in my estimation, not trendy, not fashionable AND it is not sane to belittle anyone as they do on TV shows, sitcoms and even the kid’s shows. It isn’t funny, no one is laughing at it anymore – not for many years now, and despite the popularity of re-running things to hell and back, those dialogs are not the real dialogs between real people in real lives, nor would we ever want them to be. Their ideas of my patriotism and expressions of it cannot be what works in my house nor the definition of what goes in my house and what my choices are for my house. And, it shouldn’t be either, that social conventions described by popular TV sitcoms, reality shows and animated adult humor shows choose our expressions of or reactions to patriotic feelings being expressed, or any damn thing else for that matter.

What Fourth of July means to me is that we all stop for a moment and say together in one voice that it matters, that what has been fought for, defended, protected, lives lost for, tremendous efforts made for and hard won to be a nation of freedom and full human rights honored and protected for everyone – matters. And, that we all agree despite everything on which we disagree – that the United States of America is more than a legacy, that it is ours and together we promise to protect what she stands for , to further what she offers to all, to strengthen and keep her safe from those who would destroy her, and to continue her grand ideals of freedoms and inalienable human rights, opportunities to thrive and equality today and in the future.

And, Fourth of July means that we will honor those efforts made that came before we were ever part of this great nation, to hold her dear, value her ideals, cherish her strengths and make her stronger still.

And frankly, I don’t care what tshirt anyone wears and whether it has an American flag on it or not for the Fourth of July holiday events. I am proud to say that my America lets you wear what you damn well please and I’m an American who supports your freedom and rights to do so. That is what matters.

• cricketdiane, 07-01-2016

I pledge allegiance, to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible with Liberty and Justice for ALL. – means we agree on some things being important, despite the many things on which we disagree. It is our duty, our responsibility AND our honor to uphold these Truths noted in the beginning of our Declaration of Independence and structured to be protected by our US Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Some things simply do have to be important. And sometimes, we really do have to show that it matters. Happy Fourth of July!

 

 

Advertisements

The Nation That Dances Together 3 – CricketDiane from Zazzle.com

Tags

America, America The Beautiful Show, cricketdiane, Dance, Dancing, economic solutions, Let's Dance, Solutions That Work, USA

The Nation That Dances Together 3 – CricketDiane from Zazzle.com.

This is a design for an iPad cover that I made tonight and it turned out so pretty. I like it.

– cricketdiane

 

Over 300 Dead from Tornadoes – Why weren’t there basements?

Tags

building materials, building science, cricketdiane, home safety, Inventing, Rocket Science, tornadoes

In the past few days, I’ve heard things from family members and friends that are very disturbing about the tornadoes that have devastated the nation over the weeks of April this year.

It is unacceptable. The ideas presented to me were plainly wrong. There were over 300 people whose lives were lost in the tornadoes that blasted across Alabama, and other states of the South just two days ago. The days and weeks before that have shown all of us, homes that were leveled, towns decimated and lives lost and shattered. There is no excuse for it to be that way. It is 2011.

One of the excuses I heard is that it is “2012 when the world ends that is here early in 2011” and to fight it would be senseless. Another idea repeated to me from three different people, is that there is no way to control winds, storms, things like the jet stream and tornadoes – that to do so we would have to be God. Other ideas explained to me were repeated from various broadcasts of the am radio talk shows and other online information sources who say there is no way that anyone can do anything about any of these things since it is part of the “end times” and can be expected to get worse, not better. And, along with explanations on many business shows, business journals, business and financial blogs and tv broadcasts – there are a multitude of quotes to explain how America is falling and that we cannot expect to stand up again as number one in the world. Now, wait a minute . . .

Just hold the gd phone.

Back it up and rewind that entire set of conversations. I don’t know who told these family members and friends that to do something is to not accept our place as human beings and try to do what only God can do. I don’t know exactly, although I have a pretty good idea, where these people in my life got these lines of thinking which say there is nothing that anyone can do about all this and nor should we make the effort to do so. I don’t know how the excuse that “it is the end of the world anyway,” means we are all supposed to throw up our hands and tend to our own momentary satisfactions without seeking to do much else about anything. And, I don’t care, either – where these people got these ideas. I do know they are wrong.

When it rains, we put an umbrella over our heads. We don’t just stand out there in the rain without doing anything about it simply because “God” sent rain. We make lightning rods to go on our homes and businesses, which were designed by a brilliant man in our nation’s history who saw a problem and found a way to provide a naturally based principled solution. It has saved lives, homes, families, businesses and communities where people at one time in history believed that there was no way to stop lightning – that it was what amounted to an “act of God” which no human could expect to change, alter or do anything to provide safety against. Those people were not considering even finding a way to do something about it, but one man did and now we have lightning rods on damn near every single building, structure, skyscraper, and everything else that is built to withstand the natural elements.

The building industry has known for well over a thousand years, that the basic protection for people’s lives during storms with tornadoes forming and reeking havoc, is for structures, homes, buildings, restaurants, malls, schools, hospitals, and living spaces to have a basement or storm cellar. It is not rocket science. It is a known quantity which works. At some point, the building industry, cities and towns policy makers, developers and other decision makers decided to not require basements and storm cellars for every single home and every single structure built in their communities. Well, that was wrong.

We put dams and levees up to control flooding. We don’t just sit back and say – well, if the place floods, then it was meant to be. That is called, “engineering” and is why we have those multitudes of engineering disciplines to this day. We have architectural and structural engineering disciplines that create to a better standard than throwing up a few sticks and calling it a house. And, the homes in these recent tornadoes yielded NO real harbor or safety from the storms. They acted as what they’ve become, pasteboard and brittle sticks rather than a reinforced, flexible and safe structure to protect the families and lives housed within them. That is unacceptable.

And, I don’t know what we’ll have to do – if it is to incorporate some type of polymer dip for the framing wood to give them more strength and flexibility, add re-bar to the core of brick facades which are held together by unreinforced masonry, create better building methods generally to withstand these types of extreme events, or find a way to cut those tornadoes in half and dissipate them in some manner before they get on the ground tearing up the place – but I do know that requiring basements and storm cellars to be built into every single structure is a known successful defense against loss of life.

I do know that we could do that everywhere in short order – retrofitting existing structures with storm cellars and below ground level basements – including homes, businesses, county buildings, schools, industrial plants, everything. And, I do know it isn’t just required in Kansas anymore – which has been evidenced for a long, long, long time. Why these 300 lives were lost a couple days ago, within seconds as their homes were obliterated – is no longer an acceptable excuse. And, the world has ended at least 8 or 9 thousands times according to various religious predictions across history. It isn’t an excuse to sit idly by while solutions could be applied to save lives, communities and families from known dangers with known outcomes by using either known solutions or engineering new ones that work.

– cricketdiane

***

And, there is no excuse whatsoever for anyone living in a mobile home or trailer staying in it believing there is some protection from a severe storm, extreme or damaging winds, and tornadoes. Especially in these housing types and their mobile home parks, on their individual private property where mobile home owners have set up housekeeping, and in mobile home communities – there absolutely has to be an enforceable code by every town, city and county requiring a storm cellar be added on site. For mobile home parks and communities, central community storm shelters in an underground basement at their community clubhouse or something must be required of those community owners with enough storm cellar or basement space to protect all of the people with all of their family members who live there. It has to be close enough to walk to it and get into it within a couple minutes – not sitting hundreds of yards away from significant portions of the residents’ homes.

The attitudes expressed to me over the past few days demanding that none of us give a damn about all this and insisting that no one can or should try to do anything about this – are attitudes commonly repeated and still wrong. They are based in someone not thinking through what they were saying – we do have homes because they were engineered solutions to our need as humans for protection from the elements. We did not – “just not give a damn about it” and sit out in the fields and woods never making something of a solution to protect ourselves as a species. We did, in fact – create many solutions to it and meshed solutions from many different people to have more than nature gave us in the first place. Or else we would all still be standing out in the rain without an umbrella or house in existence at all.

***

AND – people need to vote with their dollars by NOT BUYING any house or business structure that doesn’t have a basement, cellar or storm cellar in it.

When that happens, builders will start adding basements to protect people’s lives and building inspectors / county codes will require either basements or storm cellars in every structure and home in America as it should’ve been in the first place knowing what we know about tornadoes, storms, hurricanes and extreme wind events.

From what I can tell, the homeowners’ associations in many communities could have made a central storm safe space available – most have expensive clubhouses that are rarely used by anybody. They’ve paid for swimming pools – they’ve charge association fees. Surely they could add something more useful along with it – like public announcements throughout the neighborhood when tornado spawning storms are coming – or at the very least, provide a basement for people in the neighborhood to come and have some protection from those events.

But, sooner or later – there are still two parts which need serious workable solutions – one is to stop the tornadoes from spawning in the first place or after the conditions have developed to make them likely. And, as much as I appreciate the magnitude of these forces – we, as a people have changed all kinds of things in the landscape – which could just as easily also be changed to provide “wind breaks,” special heating or cooling zones in the landscape to help dissipate the storms’ power or alter them, some kind of lateral slicing through the tornado kind of thing that would act the same way as sticking a hand laterally through a whirlpool in the bathtub when the drain makes one, and/or sculptured land planning in the same manner as the buildings and heat zones of and altered air foils of cities with their skyscrapers, parking lots, freeways, streets and buildings change the likelihood of storms producing tornadoes.

Although cities are hit with tornadoes from time to time, it is far less frequently and with less running distance of damage that is somehow changed by virtue of the ways cities are constructed and contain heat or alter wind patterns and wind shear. Maybe the tall buildings force eddies in the air currents which change the dynamic or push them down or around in dividing ways – that principle which is working around cities could be used and applied for tornado development zones.  But, not just in Kansas – the dust bowl thinking of people stuck in 1930 something has got to stop. The Southern States have suffered inordinately high numbers of tornadoes for many years with the recent outbreaks of weather patterns differing in the severity and multiple development fronts. There is no reason that any state of the South should have any homes without basements in this day and age. There is no reason they couldn’t apply the massive knowledge our scientists and universities have discovered into tangible solutions – whether wind breaks or satellite looks at re-interpreting some parts of the landscape to dissipate these damaging winds when they do get started.

These things could be done.

The second thing that needs to be done – is to make our houses into safe harbors for human lives. They are not that now. It is inexcusable that our homes have become (and that includes apartments, condos, workplaces, some buildings, shopping areas, and large industrial workspaces under thin metal sheeting, etc.) – nothing but pasteboard and brittle sticks – no matter what they seem to look like on the outside. That is unacceptable.

Every structure needs to be retrofit in some way to be substantially safer along with adding basements or storm shelters/ storm cellars to all of them.

There are Geotextiles now and polymer / carbon nano fiber based fabrics that never existed before. There is a man who designed homes for hurricane prone areas which are glued and screwed rather than to allow the wind getting up into the structure tearing it apart as it goes. There are new types of cement and retrofitting systems to make unreinforced masonry into reinforced, strong but flexible structures. There are building materials, knowledge, science, engineering, materials science, structural engineering knowledge and research which 30 years ago, didn’t even exist.

Strides have been made in collecting data and information, analyzing the data and understanding the results. It has been public information available to everyone. Out of all that – it is far past the time to take it and weave new practical solutions from it to apply throughout our nation for the safety of families, children, people, young lives and old – there is no excuse for what has just happened to take these lives from all of us and from our communities by tornadoes damaging structures which weren’t much more protection than a cardboard box would’ve been. It is not acceptable for it to keep being that way.

And, where building techniques were known a hundred years ago or in 1930 something which worked to keep lives safe, but in our modern world were abandoned – those need to be brought forward and used as well.

That includes – if a house doesn’t have a basement or storm cellar – don’t buy it. Life is too precious to put up with it – there are no savings financially by getting a house or business without a basement. Dead or maimed from a tornado because there was nowhere in the house safe from it – is not a financial advantage no matter how good that house looks on the outside.

***

President Obama visits Alabama’s storm ravaged areas today – (CNN)

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/04/29/severe.weather/index.html?hpt=T1

Tuscaloosa, Alabama (CNN) — President Barack Obama arrived in Alabama on Friday, the hardest-hit of six states ravaged by a series of storms and tornadoes that killed nearly 300 people and left entire neighborhoods in ruins.

Obama was scheduled to meet with families affected by the storms as well as government officials.(etc.)

**

Photos: Nightmare scenes in Alabama after deadly storms sweep South – (CNN)

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2011/04/weather/gallery.hires.storm/index.html

Janet Pucket surveys the damage outside her home in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Thursday, April 28, after a tornado hit the area Wednesday. (etc.)

***

About Budget Cuts by Conservatives in UK and US – Russell attacks university over ‘perverse’ plan to cut courses – Herald Scotland | News | Education

Tags

conservative budget cuts, cricketdiane, Edinburgh, education, UK, universities, US budget cuts

Russell attacks university over ‘perverse’ plan to cut courses – Herald Scotland | News | Education.

. . . . His involvement comes amid widespread concern over proposals by the senior management group – led by Professor Anton Muscatelli, the university principal – to make savings of £3 million by cutting courses.

Last month, the institution unveiled a list of proposed cuts, including the axing of modern languages such as Czech, German, Russian and Polish.

Other courses facing cuts include nursing, anthropology and social work, as well as its provision of evening and weekend classes.

My Note –

Why is it that the conservatives, regardless of where they are – first do their best to cut the education systems already in place to decimate them? What advantage is there for conservatives in doing this? Why is it that way in every country where the conservatives get power and among the very first things that they do? How does that serve their interests?

Can they only be elected and kept in power by a stupid, ignorant and uneducated population? Is that it? Or do they not want the citizens of their own country competing with existing companies and cheaper educated labor from somewhere else? What is it?

– cricketdiane

***

By the way, we see that in every state of the US where the Republican and Tea Party Conservatives have any say in it as well. And, the US Congress has become the same thing with conservatives refusing to raise funds from business interests but taking away educational opportunities and every other service from the government to the  people. That seems strange to me, that it is the same for US conservatives and UK conservatives and Canadian conservatives and business coalitions of conservatives that support these candidates to get into office as well.

The first cuts they start making is upon the elderly and disabled, the young families, the children, the babies, and toddlers, the child care, the opportunities for women, and the education for all – especially the universities and the opportunities to participate in higher education.

I don’t get what good that does for the conservatives and their party and their business backers. What is it that makes them think that way?

But at the same time, they want our nations to be the best and the finest according to what they say to be elected. How does destroying our educational systems and denying educational opportunities do that?

***

Also My Note –

Why don’t they just put a tax of 10 cents on every dollar of stock bought, sold or traded? And, the same on every commodity deal, futures trade, speculation using financial products, on every credit default swap, on every bond, and other exotic financial instrument like the CDOs?

There wouldn’t be a debt, a deficit, budget cuts or interest on the debt to be paid by doing just that one thing. And, then in six months or less – in every one of these countries, including the US, the UK, the EU and each individual country and state in all of them – we could have healthy budgets without any cuts to services at all. We wouldn’t be paying off the debt and its high interest with a large portion of our budgets anymore. So, why can’t they just do that?

– cricketdiane

**

They say they want to solve the problems with these budgets – Every politician making budget cuts across this nation and the UK is saying so – why don’t they simply assess a sales tax to the stocks, bonds, credit default swaps and other financial products, including futures being traded?

That one thing would solve the problems in our deficit, debt-ridden budgets.

***

Paying Off the US Debt Now – Removing the US, UK, EU and States’ Budget Deficits Immediately

Tags

bonds, CDOs, credit default swaps, credit derivatives, cricketdiane, Economics, Economy, EU budget crisis, financial derivatives, financial products, financing the US debt, fiscal responsibility, paying off the US debt now, Republican budget cuts, stocks, taxpayer dollars, UK budget cuts, US budget cuts, US economic crisis, US Economy, US Government

Today, there are derivatives being created and sold in the hundreds of millions of dollars in value. Today there are financial derivatives and exotic financial instruments being created (manufactured). Today stocks and bonds are being sold, traded. purchased every single minute by the the hundreds of millions of dollars in value. In total, all of it is being swapped, traded, bought, sold and manufactured as well as exported and imported across nations. I would say that in and of itself, starting now – would solve the deficit problems.

And, just as we pay taxes on milk when it is bought, there are other taxes on the suppliers which are paid, on the retailers which are paid, on the properties housing it which are paid, on the truckers that deliver, on the gas they buy to deliver it, on the farms and farmers which produce it and sell it in the first place. So, why in the world wouldn’t these tremendously expensive products being created every minute of every day not be taxed in the same way with the same sales taxes, manufacturing taxes, product taxes, VAT and ad valorem taxes, export and import duties, and state taxes?

Today, there are well over $600 Trillion in credit derivatives, not to mention the other financial products being created, bought, sold and swapped. Out of all of them – every minute of every day, there are sales of these products happening. If I can’t buy a gallon of milk or a gallon of gas without it being taxed, then why can they sell $40 million in stocks without paying sales tax?

Thanks for taking a look at it. I hope we are right. It will solve the problem immediately by simply applying the tax laws that already exist for every other product to them. Retroactively applying the law wouldn’t even be required. It would simply need to be started today, in the same way that every other product, sale, purchase, trade and property and manufactured good is taxed. They can remit those revenues to our Federal government, State governments and other nations’ governments starting today – and the problems are solved. They have accountants – they can do that.

I do want to say one other thing –
The corporations as well as the financial industries like the stock markets and hedge funds have used our infrastructure without fair support of it for long enough. We have had to hire people to inspect them, regulate them, monitor them and generally keep up with their damn shenanigans in every single industry, in every single business and corporation. We paid for the streets they use, the highways that deliver their products, for the utility systems that carry the electricity to them, the communications systems they are using including sending up and repairing the satellites that are orbiting to carry their signals.

We have provided labor, and the oversight of labor, worker safety and workplace safety, food safety so they didn’t end up getting poisoned on the things they were producing or eating. We watched over the restaurants where they eat and supplied the building materials and technology for the buildings they are using. There isn’t one part of what they are doing that tax dollars and the American public (along with its marketplace) haven’t provided. That infrastructure doesn’t come for free. We’ve paid for it – they can now put in their fair share to pay for it. And, I mean, now.

– cricketdiane

***

This comment was a response to a comment on my previous blog post which was written a few minutes ago.

And, I want to add this –

In the commodities markets there are speculators who are buying contracts for the purchase of later delivery on goods who are also not paying sales taxes on those physical contracts which represent a notational value in the hundreds of thousands and sometimes, millions of dollars. They don’t pay a fee to play that goes to the state, the government or the nation when they purchase them, sell them or swap them. And, they don’t pay any of various other taxes, import and export duties, either on each of those dollars being spent, traded, swapped, bought in speculative contracts on goods. Those contracts represent a product. It was manufactured. It physically exists. It has a value. It is traded. It is purchased. It is accounted. It is sold.

Therefore, it should have the same taxes applied to it that I would have to pay as a manufacturer of original goods of any kind which must be subjected to any of a number of different taxes, including sales tax, VAT if it is re-sold, state fees and taxes, federal taxes for manufacturing of goods, interstate commerce taxes – and any of a number of other business taxes as in the case of the taxes I would have to pay just to insure any of it on the insurance policies. I pay the phone taxes, the cellphone taxes, taxes on my cable bill – and these jackasses get to trade in billions of dollars in goods without being taxed on every single transaction. I do not think that will work anymore.

(my note)

Our government debt and interest can be paid off right now by doing it this way, simply apply these tax structures and revenue streams required from the rest of us to the above financial instruments, speculative commodities trading and other business activities of the stock markets and derivatives.

Simple. Done. Solved.

That is – “Sol-ved.”

And immediately yields – Solvency for the US, for the States, for New York State and New York City, for Atlanta and the State of Georgia, for Texas and Ohio, and Chicago – which is in Illinois. It probably won’t do anything to help Wisconsin but they brought that mess on themselves and they need to fix it.

The national budget deficits of the UK, the European Union and every single nation of the European Union can be solved immediately this way. And, that is the goal of these entire budget cutting shenanigans, isn’t it? None of which, I might add – will actually pay off any of the debts nor even come close to paying off the interest on these debts even as they weaken the entire economy, the complete social fabric of these nations (including ours) and gut the existing infrastructure that supports them.

But, to use the plan as I’ve proposed – these budgets can be brought into solvency immediately, their debts completely paid off, the interest due now completely paid, have a healthy prudent reserve to cushion these budgets and no cuts would have to be made whatsoever – in fact, increases to education funding could be provided rather than destroying the opportunities for educating an entire three or four generations of students, children and adults.

A single solution to the US Budget Deficit that works

***

Total Public Debt Outstanding (United States March 2011)

$14,182,086,199,057.01

(and one penny.)

Plus interest compounded upon interest again compounded upon the debt.

(see chart above on how that works out over 25 years on $1,000 and amplify that times the above numbers. America won’t be in business unless we do this now by taxing fairly everything being produced and sold in America – and the UK – and in the EU – because we are intimately tied together economically and their debt influences us and our debt influences them and all of it influences me and my fellow citizens and our families.)

Now, a note to Washington and our state governments – you’ve mismanaged this mess. You fix it.

Let’s do the math –

What is 20% of $600 Trillion dollars in credit derivatives?

$120 Trillion dollars.

***

Why I know the government of the states and the US are lying to us – whether Party, Legislatures, Legislators, Politicians, Elected US Government Officials, State Government Officials, Republicans, Democrats, Administration Leadership, Agency Appointees, Highly Paid Experts to Cabinet Members and Administration Officials, Highly Paid Experts and Think Tanks to Congressional Members and Caucuses – gee, let me think – what tells me they are lying?

Tags

bill of rights, cricketdiane, Don't Tread On Me, health care reform, health care summit Washington DC, health insurance corruption in Washington political parties, innovation and invention, lies of Washington and state govenments in the US, New Boston Tea Party Actions, tenets of freedom, the Revolutionary War soldiers of this generation, the United States of America, US and state legislators, US Constitution, US Government

Here is why I know Washington is lying – all of them that we’ve elected to be there making decisions who are at the table –

1.  They didn’t invite us to the table (as in, the American people). Oh no, they invited the insurance companies to be at the table, the automakers CEOs, the banking industry and financial services industry CEOs, pharmaceutical company representatives, oil company lobbyists and big industry consortium representatives to be at the table – not us.)

2.  If they (legislators in Washington) had wanted to pass a health care insurance bill to serve the US population, they could’ve passed one bill to make it illegal for insurance companies to charge 80% more in premiums based on gender and to make it illegal to deny coverage in pre-existing conditions. (Period – nothing else in the bill, no “riders”, no pork, no bullshit.) But they didn’t do that – no, not even after a year of fussing, cussing, discussing and putting off other more important issues to play with this one. Time consuming at best – energy, manpower, effort, money, resource, time and opportunity wasting at worst.

3.  If they were very concerned about the health and well-being of the American people and our quality of life throughout the US, these legislators would’ve stopped a lot of common practices in industries, including the release of toxic chemicals into their surrounding living communities. They would’ve stopped corporations from taking profits made in the US into other countries in order to evade taxes on those profits. They would’ve funded schools first and the re-building of Iraq and Afghanistan second. They would’ve thought more of us than to allow 2600 complaints about cars with defective design elements to be disregarded while causing deaths and injuries to people throughout the US. They would’ve made sure our food supply and food providers were using safe food handling methods and processes across the board whether the manufacturer sneaked the production facilities into another country with lax standards or was sitting here in the US right under their noses breeding salmonella and E.Coli in their production facilities. They would’ve required standards of accounting in our corporations that show everything on the balance sheet, not off-balance hidden accounting for liabilities and they would’ve required that accounting to be prudent and truthful and accurately reflect the true values of those assets and liabilities across the board. They would’ve made financiers who got into trouble dig into their own pockets to get themselves out of it, since that is the same thing required of us. And, they would’ve made sure that nobody, but nobody could buy the goodwill and rubber stamp of the consumer protection agency that was intended to keep us safe from defective products and fraudulent business practices. They didn’t do any of that.

4.  The elected officials in Washington also never, never, never create and apply policy that does what they claimed it would do, either by their intentional design of it which is the antithesis of what they claimed it would be or by virtue of some very basic misunderstanding of applied common sense which escapes their abilities and that of their staff members. Rarely, if ever, are the people of the United States doing anything that they can hear, acknowledge, believe or understand to express the accurate facts about what their policy decisions are destroying, causing, distorting, screwing up, manipulating in negative ways or otherwise resulting in some unnecessary and expensive suffering of some kind. That information is either discounted, discredited or just plainly not heard in Washington no matter how it is done and no matter what measures are used to get the information to them. Then, why do I know they are lying because of this – because I can hear it, I can see it, I know about it, I find it easy to get the information about what their policies have done in real factual reflections of reality. To say they can’t or don’t know or can’t see it or can’t hear it or don’t know about it – has to be either a lie or a lying excuse to do nothing about it.

5. I also know they are lying because the evidence is there in their choices, decisions and actions. One side of their mouths says that the American people are at fault for our financial meltdown, while their backhand is giving away our money to financial institutions and insurance companies like it is a private bank account of free money to cover whatever they want at the moment. The other side of those mouths they have are saying that they want us to innovate and create solutions, while behind their backs they are doing everything possible to hinder the growth and opportunities of entrepreneuship, raising fees and licenses, requiring absurd groups of regulations to be met by small businesses and startups, hindering business grants and loan packages to any but the large business communities and foreign investors, and generally, laying every complexity of intellectual prowess in the path of starting up any business from scratch at all – particularly those that are innovative, new, and competitive to larger industries.

6.  At every turn, they have taken out the checks and balances systems that would ensure our Constitutional rights and guarantees are upheld and that would insure our government doesn’t become the bully state of Orwellian novels which we’ve all seen come to fruition in dictatorships, regimes of absolute tyranny, despotism, aristocratic rule, profit-driven anything goes industrialism, and in Nazi Germany’s Aryan race atrocities. Enough is enough, none of us like the America that has become so close to those things as to mitigate the belief it can be something else. If our government legislators in the states and federal levels cared about that as they say they do, they simply wouldn’t be doing half the things they are doing now and wouldn’t have done 90% of the things they’ve already done. The checks and balances built into our system would be restored to what it was intended in order to accomplish what was intended and offer accountability both individually and collectively from our government officials at every level as well as our agencies. The sovereign immunity clause offering no accountability to government personnel is only appropriate in a tyranny or a dictatorship where there are no rights afforded the citizens – not in a free and democratic society where the government serves the people who are their primary source of power.

7.  One side of our government party system says that small government is desirable and offers a list of benefits they assume come with that territory – and they did their best to accomplish that while they spent the last thirty years in power. They were lying then and they are lying now. Those benefits did not materialize during their reign. And, the word for small government is “king” with the tentacles of an octopus doing all his dirty work. Which, by the way, is exactly what we’ve had in the US for the last thirty years and more so in each and every day throughout that time and still yet from the damages that they caused. States underfunded programs that the Republican administratorship did not want, removed checks and balances because they didn’t want to be accountable for the heinous crimes they committed everywhere they touched, acted like mini-dictatorships at the behest of the federal government lackeys who were serving the interests of industries, big business, and financial conglomerates and genuinely, treated the American people like slaves and undesirables along with establishing a caste system in America where it didn’t belong that is still there to this day. They were lying when they said that is the “American Way.” They were lying when they said it would be the best for America. They were lying when they told us our lives would be better and America would be stronger for it. They were lying when they said they weren’t criminals. They were lying when they said they had the interests of the American people first and foremost on their agenda and on their minds when they did these things and numerous others (both at state levels and federal levels). It was all lies.

8.  I also know they are lying now because they do know better. They have the finest resources available, all of our money, the best in education, the best in the educated minds of our country available to them, the most in money, materials and manhours to get any job done, the best in intellectual and data resources from around the world available to them, the instant information resources from the American people to use as feedback on how their decisions are actually working out – if they choose to see them or hear them, the best opportunities, the most egregious pool of combined resources that belong to us which we’ve made available to them from every hard earned dime and dollar we’ve sent there along with the resources that have been bought with it – as well as having resources available to them on a daily basis that cover every basic need, want, income, delight, luxury, comfort, opportunity and desirable life experience for each of them personally – so they could want for nothing while doing our national and state business. How the hell can you screw it up with that much to work with?

9.  If they wanted to stop waste and fraud, they could stop giving themselves raises. If they wanted to help the budget deficit, they wouldn’t have been charging the American people to cover each of them with 100% fully paid health care coverage when they, if anybody could afford it for themselves. If they wanted to cut government dole, they would’ve only hired lawyers to cover their asses as needed instead of keeping armies of them on the payroll at anywhere from $187,000 – $450,000 a year each as they have done. If they wanted to insure good health in America, they would’ve changed the fuel on school buses from diesel to natural gas and they would’ve made polluting industries stop polluting in the same year they discovered they were doing it, not years into the future after really damaging the health of everybody for hundreds of miles around and many generations thereafter. If they had ever wanted to get legislation passed that was sane, sober and built on some kind of common sense, they would’ve made it illegal to place riders into bills that are in no way related to the material subject of the legislation. At the very least, if they had wanted to do a good job for the American people, they would’ve considered the American people and their interests in light of what they were doing, what they are doing and in light of what choices they are making in order to serve industries that basically have no use for them or us in the overall scheme of their activities.

10. I’m sad to say that I know they are lying because to get to Washington requires being the better liar, the more convincing liar and the best opportunistic lying bastard of the lot or people just don’t get to be elected to go to Washington. Isn’t that the shame of it all, that we, as Americans would choose the best liar of the lot to send into Washington to get our business done than to choose an honest, decent man or woman to serve our interests? And, isn’t it the shame and tragedy of it all, that we let them get away with it without doing a damn thing to change it when we knew what they were doing was wrong and even, as most of us noticed that they weren’t listening to any of us with any real regard – that we let them get away with demonizing us, discrediting us, disregarding us, and generally, dismissing us and our concerns? They lied to us in Washington and in our state legislators and administrations. The Republican Party and the Democratic Party have served the interests of their financial power base while lying to us and using us to further their own personal opportunities and enrichment. The lies have been so pervasive and perverse that the media and the American people alike believe that the truth, the facts and the reality are no more than a matter of opinion and rhetoric as presented by whosever side is representing it and irregardless of those facts. And, isn’t it the greater shame of all of it that the truth, in fact – will be the reality that we all suffer, endure or experience – no matter what perspective we might have about it. Dead is dead and broke is broke and polluted beyond recognition is still polluted beyond recognition – climate change is, because we are experiencing it whether the “rhetoric” told us it didn’t exist or not, and most of us in America are living in a “Depression Economy” whether it is called that or not and no matter what the politicians tell us it is.

(And)

11. Just for good measure, the problem with these lies and probably the reason most religions suggest that it is a bad idea in the first place, is because reality will win out every time. Sooner or later, the propaganda doesn’t work and the deflected, distorted perspectives about reality and about the facts just doesn’t make any difference in changing what is what. It still is whatever it is. And sooner or later, people know about it and they do understand it for what it is, and sooner or later, they do get up and make things different starting right where they are with a power that is unknown and misunderstood by the people who think they hold all the power. One change, changes everything a little bit and another change, changes it even more, and as another person and another person join in making those changes one at a time from where they are with their own personal abilities and perceptions, the whole thing changes even more.

That is the truth. And, that is what made the Boston Tea Party so monumental. The American Revolutionaries said – You will not tax us without representation. You will not steal from us without our voice. You will not indenture us in enslavement to you and you will not indenture our lands and the abilities of our hands. You will not tread on me nor force me to set below your feet for you to stand on nor for your power to rest upon. You will not use me to do your bidding without my will or choice. You will not remove from Us nor from me that which God has given:  life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and the right of every man to set his own course and to pursue his own destiny. Try as you might, once a human being knows the taste of freedom, democracy and the rights to life free of the burdenous yoke of tyranny – there is no going back.

Don’t believe for one minute that perception is everything. It just isn’t. The power and truth of our Constitution does not exist in a piece of paper or some flimsy document resting in a museum somewhere. It is in each of us and that is where the true power of our nation’s substance exists and where it will always exist. It is in the power and wonder of freedom that we already know exists and can exist for each of us that can never be taken away no matter the circumstances where we find ourselves. It is the truth of what we see and know in our hearts and minds which is defined by the reality of the facts at hand that can never be distorted by politicians or religious fervor or zealousness of a cause or by the disregard for human life that we have experienced or have seen those in authority exemplify. It is the desire for human dignity and decency and fairness for all without discrimination, contempt or disregard. It is the sword of justice that is not blind, deaf and dumb to the plight of suffering and inhumanity to human lives and human dignity at the hands of others. It is the will of the American people, both individually and collectively that define the power of the government to govern by no more and no less than the consent of the governed. And, it is the true power that comes from the intimate knowledge of the freedom, rights and accountability to those tenets of America’s founding fathers that spilled our blood to protect it and have made us the soldiers of freedom that we are and will always be as American citizens and as citizens of the World.

– cricketdiane, 02-25-10

**

City, county, local officials and school board’s right to access webcams, cameras, internet, wiretapping, eavesdropping and spying inside American citizen’s and students’ homes, bedrooms, living rooms, dens, and other private spaces

Tags

abrogation of the Constitutional guarantees by local and county government officials in the USA, abuse of authority, abuse of civil and human rights by government elected officials in the US, America civil rights, bill of rights, children's rights, cricketdiane, Declaration of Independence, Fourth Amendment Rights, high school student rights, rights to privacy, school board right to access cameras into American citizen's and students homes and bedrooms, state and county government right to illegal access of citizens' residences, students' rights, US Constitution, US Justice Department Civil Rights Division

FBI investigates after school district denies monitoring students

February 20, 2010 6:33 p.m. EST

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: FBI will try to determine whether wiretap, computer intrusion laws were violated
• Pennsylvania family claims assistant principal watched boy through laptop’s webcam
• Official: It was mistake not to tell families of feature allowing school to monitor hardware.
• District only accesses laptop if it’s reported lost, stolen or missing, school spokesman says

(CNN) — The FBI has opened an investigation into allegations that a Pennsylvania school official remotely monitored a student at home, a law enforcement official with knowledge of the case told CNN on Saturday.

The official, who asked not to be identified, said the FBI became involved in the case after a family filed a lawsuit against the Lower Merion School District, located outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The family accused an assistant principal at Harriton High School of watching their son through his laptop’s webcam while he was at home and unaware he was being watched. The family also says the school official used a photo taken on a laptop as the basis for disciplining the student.

In a statement issued late Friday, District Superintendent Christopher McGinley rejected the allegations.

“At no time did any high school administrator have the ability or actually access the security-tracking software,” he said. “We believe that the administrator at Harriton has been unfairly portrayed and unjustly attacked in connection with her attempts to be supportive of a student and his family. The district never did and never would use such tactics as a basis for disciplinary action.”

A school official said it was a mistake not to make families aware of a feature allowing the school to monitor the computer hardware.

The law enforcement official with knowledge of the case told CNN that the FBI will try to determine whether federal wiretap or computer intrusion laws were violated.

But FBI spokesman J.J. Klaver said he could not disclose the existence of an investigation.

In a lawsuit seeking class-action status filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Michael and Holly Robbins of Penn Valley are suing the school district, its board of directors, and the superintendent. They claim that the district unlawfully used its ability to remotely access a webcam on their son’s laptop computer, which was issued by the district.

The lawsuit says that on November 11, 2009, the plaintiff’s son was told by the assistant principal at Harriton High School that he was caught engaging in “improper behavior” in his home which was captured in an image via the webcam. According to the Robbins’ complaint, neither they nor their son were informed of the school’s ability to remotely access the webcam. It is unclear what the boy was doing in his room or if any punishment was given out. (although on a tv interview with the student and his mother, he indicated that he was [popping a candy mint which was taken by the school assistant principal to be drugs, paraphrased more or less] and he said the assistant principle showed him a still picture that she took of him in his room.)

Doug Young, spokesman for the Lower Merion School District, told CNN that the district would only remotely access a laptop if it was reported lost, stolen or missing. ( my note – apparently they are admitting that the “security protocol” is available on every computer they have given out to students [which is implied by their admission stated here and publicly], and that every one of these computers can be accessed remotely by their staff at their discretion through the webcam and any other information software they’ve licensed.)

If that happened, the district would first have to request access from its technology and security department and receive authorization, he said. Then it would use the built-in security feature to take over the laptop and see whatever was in the webcam’s field of vision, potentially allowing them to track down the missing computer.

(my note – that is beyond any measure, against Constitutional guarantees of rights to American citizens, including children and families. It is also a typical cold war and Nazi Germany era gestapo mentality – spying.)

During the 2009-2010 school year, 42 laptops were reported lost, stolen or missing, and the tracking software was activated by the technology department in each instance, according to McGinley’s statement. A total of 18 laptops were found or recovered.

At no time did any high school administrator have the ability or actually access the security-tracking software.
–Christopher McGinley, Lower Merion School District superintendent

McGinley said the parents and students were not explicitly told about this built-in security feature.

“Despite some reports to the contrary, be assured that the security-tracking software has been completely disabled,” McGinley said in the statement.

“This feature was limited to taking a still image of the computer user and an image of the desktop in order to help locate the reported missing, lost, or stolen computer (this includes tracking down a loaner computer that, against regulations, might be taken off campus).”

In order to receive the laptop, the family had to sign an “acceptable-use” agreement. In order to take the laptop home, the family would also have to buy insurance for the computer.

In the “acceptable-use” agreement, the families are made aware of the school’s ability to “monitor” the hardware, Young said, but it stops short of explicitly explaining the security feature. He said that was a mistake.

(my note – that is also true for every other school student’s computer issued by any US local school system.)

Young told CNN that the district is very proud of the laptop program and its ability to close the technology gap between students who have computers at home and those who don’t. He acknowledged that the schools have to take a step back to re-evaluate the policies and procedures surrounding the program.

Multiple requests for further comment from the lawyer for the Robbins’, Mark Haltzman of Lamm Rubenstone LLC, went unanswered.( The school board is made up of lawyers in Lower Merion, up to and including the school board chairman, my note – see below for the school board’s nine members and other local officials who are responsible for this. There are probably some at the state level in the Education Department and State of Pennsylvania Legislature that are directly involved in this policy and its use.)

CNN’s Susan Candiotti and Nicole Bliman contributed to this report

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/20/laptop.suit/index.html?hpt=T2

**

MY Note –

There was a case several years ago that successfully prosecuted against a man who had made a peephole in a women’s bathroom mirror and there have been some successfully prosecuted against peepholes in dressing rooms and bathrooms in the US. Now, why is it that the school systems have a right to come into our homes by remotely accessing any computer webcam? Isn’t it the same criminal act?

It also means that any real protection from unreasonable search and seizures, any real rights to the protections of our privacy in our own homes, and any protection of our basic human and civil rights are no more than pretense and no longer actually exist. The fact that this school system found it appropriate to remotely view the events and activities occurring in the privacy of this and any other student’s bedroom in their parents’ home for any reason – indicates a complete ignorance of our bill of rights and US Constitution. It has to also be criminal under the laws of any state contained within at least eight statutes that I can remember, from the laws against “peeping Tom” behaviors to the laws against electronic eavesdropping and wiretaps.

– cricketdiane

**

Members of the Harriton, Lower Merion, PA high school administration responsible for this policy and their secretaries –

http://www.lmsd.org/sections/schools/default.php?m=&t=hhs&p=hhs

http://www.lmsd.org/sections/schools/default.php?t=hhs&p=hhs_staffdir

Matsko	Lindy	HHS	Assistant Principal	610-658-3953
Matilla	Philip	HHS	Assistant Principal	610-658-3951
Marcuson	Lauren	HHS	Assistant Principal	610-658-3955
Kline	Steve	HHS	Principal	610-658-3970

Urian	Lynne	HHS	Secretary to Assistant Principal	610-658-3951
Moyer	Kim	HHS	Secretary to the Principal	610-658-3970
Mossor	Jenn	HHS	Secretary to the Assistant Principal	610-658-3973
Johnson	Theresa	HHS	Secretary to the Assistant Principal	610-658-3955
Flynn	Peg	HHS	Secretary to Assistant Principal	610-658-3953

Harriton High School
600 North Ithan Avenue
Rosemont, PA 19010
Map & Directions

• Phone Number: 610-658-3950
• School Closing Number: 302

Mr. Steve Kline, Principal

**

http://www.lmsd.org/

Lower Marion School District, PA

Lower Merion School District
301 East Montgomery Ave.
Ardmore, PA 19003
610.645.1800

About LMSD

The Lower Merion School District (LMSD), located in Philadelphia’s historic Main Line suburbs, serves the 62,000 residents of Lower Merion Township and the Borough of Narberth. Established as one of Pennsylvania’s first public school districts in 1834, LMSD enjoys a rich tradition of achievement, innovation and community partnership and a longstanding reputation as one of the finest school systems in the United States. The District’s six elementary schools, two middle schools and two high schools provide a challenging, multi-disciplinary academic program and dynamic, co-curricular experience to more than 6,900 students.

Of the District’s nine eligible schools, all have received recognition for excellence by the Commonwealth and seven have received the National Blue Ribbon Award for Excellence in Education. LMSD schools rank among the highest in Pennsylvania for SAT and PSAT scores, AP Participation rate, total number of National Merit Semifinalists, total number of International Baccalaureate diplomas granted and in numerous publications’ “Top Schools” lists. Approximately ninety-four percent of high school graduates attend institutions of higher learning.

LMSD’s comprehensive instructional program encompasses an array of services for special needs and gifted children as well as community-based learning programs, extended daycare, early-intervention literacy support, an International Baccalaureate diploma program and a full menu of high school honors and AP courses. An extensive range of course offerings in core areas, music and the arts, technology and special subjects form the foundation of the District’s secondary curriculum. Themed, year-long middle school programs offer students enhanced opportunities to explore subjects through hands-on, interdisciplinary study and block scheduling. The District’s World Languages program enables all students to receive uninterrupted foreign language instruction from second grade until the time they graduate from high school.

More than 500 supervised academic, athletic, community outreach and performance-oriented co-curricular programs are available in the District, from elementary school technology clubs to high school varsity sports. In addition to serving student programs, the District’s facilities are utilized by thousands of community members for enrichment programs, recreation and general use.

The District’s professional staff consists of than 630 full time teachers, 80% of whom have advanced degrees. The faculty is complemented by a support staff of more than 500 skilled individuals. A guidance counselor and psychologist are available in every school.

LMSD maintains one of the lowest class size averages in Pennsylvania. The student-to professional staff ratio at the secondary level is 11:1 and average class size in the District is approximately 21 students. In addition to providing a supportive teaching environment, the District offers one of the highest salaries and best benefits packages in Pennsylvania and extensive staff development opportunities.

LMSD is in the final phases of implementing a Capital Improvement Program that began in 1997-1998. Nine of ten school projects have been completed, including six elementary schools, two middle schools and Harriton High School, which opened in in September of 2009. The new Lower Merion High School is scheduled to open in Fall 2010.

LMSD is one of only two districts in Pennsylvania to earn Moody’s highest bond rating, a reflection of outstanding fiscal strength and stewardship.

• About LMSD
• Superintendent’s Welcome
• Strategic Plan
• Teacher and Support Staff Contract (PDF)
• History
• 2008-09 Points of Pride
• College Acceptances
• » Registration Information
• Registration Forms
• » Board of Directors
• Meeting Schedule
• Contact the Board
• District Policies
• View Recent Meetings
• Meeting Agendas
• Meeting Minutes
• Committee Members
• » Administrative Departments
• Employment Center
• Transportation
• Business Office
• Nutritional Services
• Safety, Security and Custodial
• Technology
• Health Services
• Student Services
• » Media & Publications
• District Digest
• Comcast Channel 6 / Verizon FIOS 36
• E-News
• District Report Card
• Video Archive
• District Calendar

http://www.lmsd.org/sections/about/

**

( My Note – somewhere there are state legislators and department of education policy makers who are directly responsible for abrogating the Constitution of the United States in every case where the use of these “security protocols” to remotely access laptop webcams in people’s homes, have been utilized in denial of every human and civil right guaranteed American citizens along with their children, who are also citizens and guaranteed rights. – cricketdiane)

Board of Directors

The Board of School Directors is comprised of nine members. These members are elected locally to act as a corporate body in fulfilling within the Lower Merion School District the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s obligation to provide public education.

School Directors are elected at municipal elections on odd-numbered years to serve four-year terms beginning on the first Monday in December following their election. The major responsibility of the Board is to set policies that define the nature of public education from Kindergarten through the 12th grade.

Parents and residents are encouraged to attend the Board’s Business Meetings and the Education Committee Meetings. Formal action is taken only at the Business Meetings. Time is set aside for questions, comments or suggestions from the public at the beginning of each meeting. All meetings begin at 8:00 PM and are held in the Lower Merion High School library. For more information, click on School Board Meeting Schedule.

Current members of LMSD Board of School Directors:

David Ebby, President
Linda Doucette-Ashman, Vice President
Diane DiBonaventur0

Gary Friedlander – GFried636@aol.com

Melissa Gilbert

Susan Guthrie

Lyn Kugel

Jerry Novick

Lisa Fair Pliskin

(here is a good one to call –  he is on the Republican Committee for Lower Merion along with pushing their views on the school board)

Gary Friedlander

Republican committee – Committeeperson 14-3, School Board Director
610-292-0666
GFried636@aol.com
http://www.lmsd.org/sections/about/default.php?t=board&p=board

Democratic Candidates for Lower Merion School Board Diane DiBonaventuro has served as a School Director in Lower Merion since December 1999.  For the last several years she has been the chair of the Facilities Committee and an active participant in the planning and implementation of the Capital Program.  She helped shepherd through the planning, bidding and construction of Penn Valley, Gladwyne and Merion Elementary schools, all of which have been completed on time and on budget.  She previously chaired the Finance and Policy Committees.  In addition to her extensive volunteer work with the schools, Diane is the executive director of the Main Line Girls Basketball Association.  The MLGBA is a community sports league for girls in grades 2 through 12.  Diane received her B.A. and teaching certificate from the University of Pennsylvania.  She taught middle school in North Philadelphia, lower school at Friends Central and then moved on to the college level where she was a coach, instructor and eventually a Director of Athletics.  She has worked at Bryn Mawr College and Immaculata College.  Diane lives in Rosemont with her husband of 20 years, Warren Higgins, their two children, both products of Lower Merion schools, and their two dogs. She attended Lower Merion schools until her family moved in 1972.  After graduating from college in 1982 she returned to Lower Merion and has lived in the district for over 30 years.  (Click here for Diane DiBonaventuro’s “issue statement”.) Linda Doucette-Ashman is an environmental attorney who worked in the corporate legal departments of Polaroid Corporation, American Cyanamid Company and Cytec Industries for 12 years.  Her practice concentrated in the areas of regulatory affairs, contracts and community relations.  She received a B.A. in Mathematics from Mount Holyoke College in 1985 and her law degree from New England School of Law in 1988.  Linda has spent the last 7 years actively involved at Gladwyne Elementary and most recently at Welsh Valley.  She participates in the classrooms and on various Home and School Association committees including serving as Inter School Council representative and Co-Coordinator of Gladwyne’s Foreign Language Club.  She also served as a Board Member for the Committee for Special Education, a volunteer parent organization assisting parents with children who have IEPs, 504 Agreements or GIEPs, and was the Co-Chair of its Gifted Committee for 2 years.  She is a member of the Newcomers Club of Bryn Mawr, a non-profit group which provides fellowship to new residents in the Main Line area, and served on its Board for 5 years.  Linda lives in Villanova with her husband Harvey Ashman and their two children who attend Welsh Valley and Gladwyne.  (Click here for Linda Doucette-Ashman’s “issue statement”.) David Ebby is a partner in the law firm of Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP, where he specializes in commercial real estate law.  Prior to practicing law, he taught upper school history and English at the Bullis School in Potomac, MD.  David grew up in Bala Cynwyd and attended Cynwyd Elementary and Bala Cynwyd Jr. High before graduating from Episcopal Academy.  He received his B.A. in 1985 from Amherst College and his J.D. from Villanova University School of Law in 1989. David resides in Bryn Mawr with his wife Jane, a spinning instructor at Main Line Health and Fitness, and their three children who attend Welsh Valley Middle School, Gladwyne Elementary and Friends Central.  (Click here for David Ebby’s “issue statement”.) Susan Guthrie is an economist with expertise in labor economics, the economics of the public sector, and the estimation of economic damages.  Until October 2006, she was a Principal at The Brattle Group, an economic consulting firm, where she led economic analyses on behalf of large corporations in cases involving commercial damage claims often in excess of hundreds of millions of dollars. While at The Brattle Group, she also served on the Board of Directors.  She has been a home room parent for the last two years at Merion Elementary School.  Susan received B.A.s in applied mathematics and economics from the University of California at San Diego and her Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University in 1995.  She moved to Merion Station in 1999 where she now resides with her husband, Todd Sinai, an Associate Professor at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and two children who attend Merion Elementary.  (Click here for Susan Guthrie’s “issue statement”.) Lisa Fair Pliskin has served as a School Director in Lower Merion since December 2003.  She is currently the chair of the Finance Committee.  During her tenure she has served as a member of the committees on Policy, Facilities, Communications, Personnel and Audit.  Lisa is Vice President & General Counsel of Kravco Simon Company, a management and development company specializing in retail properties located in King of Prussia.  Prior to joining Kravco, Lisa was Counsel with the law firm of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll with a broad transactional real estate practice.   Lisa received her B.A. from Tufts University and her J.D. from New York University Law School in 1989.  Lisa grew up in Lower Merion, attending Penn Wynne and Ardmore Junior High School and graduating from Lower Merion High School in 1982.  She resides in Merion Station with her husband, Dan Pliskin, a corporate and securities lawyer, and has two children who attend Bala Cynwyd Middle School and Merion Elementary.  (Click here for Lisa Fair Pliskin’s “issue statement”.)
Paid for by Leadership for Excellence in Education	Pamela Levinson, Treasurer

David Ebby is a partner in the law firm of Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP, where he specializes in commercial real estate law.  Prior to practicing law, he taught upper school history and English at the Bullis School in Potomac, MD.  David grew up in Bala Cynwyd and attended Cynwyd Elementary and Bala Cynwyd Jr. High before graduating from Episcopal Academy.  He received his B.A. in 1985 from Amherst College and his J.D. from Villanova University School of Law in 1989. David resides in Bryn Mawr with his wife Jane, a spinning instructor at Main Line Health and Fitness, and their three children who attend Welsh Valley Middle School, Gladwyne Elementary and Friends Central.  (Click here for David Ebby’s “issue statement”.)

(above info about democratic board members found here – )

http://www.lmsdvote.org/bios.htm

**

Other Matching Articles for
“David Ebby”

• Ebby flows to another firm [02/06/2006]
• People on the Move for 2009-06-08 [06/08/2009]
• Local law firms trim fat and fill needs with lateral hires [01/05/2007]
• Phila. firm loses another partner [02/09/2006]
• Confidential [10/12/2009]
• > More Search Results

Philadelphia Business Journal – by Jeff Blumenthal

Monday, February 6, 2006

Ebby flows to another firm

Real-estate lawyer David Ebby has become the third young partner to leave Hangley Aronchick Segal & Pudlin in Philadelphia, as he rejoined his original law firm, Drinker Biddle & Reath.

Ebby, 42, joined Hangley Aronchick along with his father, Stuart Ebby, in 2001, bringing with them a significant real-estate development practice. It was assumed that when the elder Ebby, 68, retired, he would pass down his book of business to his son.

But David Ebby has decided to return to the firm where he spent the first five years of his career. He started Monday.

Hangley Aronchick Chairman William Hangley said Ebby takes with him a significant book of business. He is not surprised at the move because Ebby maintained a close friendship with Drinker Biddle Managing Partner Andrew Kassner and Drinker Biddle had been pursuing him.

Kassner said Ebby is just hitting his stride as a business producer and practitioner and his arrival fits Drinker Biddle’s goal to expand its real-estate practice. The firm currently has 32 real-estate lawyers, including 16 in its Philadelphia and Berwyn offices.

In addition to the elder Ebby, Hangley Aronchick still has real-estate partners David Scolnic and Richard Goldstein. Hangley said the firm would like to replace David Ebby with a senior-level real-estate practitioner.

Hangley Aronchick, a 50-attorney firm that competes for talent and clients with the city’s largest law firms, has an elite commercial-litigation practice but has found it slower going in building its transactional practices.

Hangley Aronchick is also home to Stuart Ebby’s other son, Robert Ebby, a partner in the litigation department. Late last year the firm lost two other partners in their 40s, intellectual-property litigator David Wolfsohn to Woodcock Washburn and white-collar litigator Hank Hockeimer to Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll.

http://philadelphia.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/stories/2006/02/06/daily7.html?jst=s_cn_hl

**

Wednesday, March 3, 2010
	Mar 3	8 a.m.	Curriculum Committee Meeting – Board Room
Monday, March 8, 2010
	Mar 8	8 p.m.	School Board – Education/Special Committee Meeting (LM LIB) 8 pm
Friday, March 12, 2010
	Mar 12	8:30 a.m.	Policy Committee Meeting – Conference Room
Thursday, March 18, 2010
	Mar 18	8 a.m.	Facilities/Purchasing Committee Meeting – Board Room
Monday, March 22, 2010
	Mar 22	8 p.m.	School Board – Business Meeting (LM LIB) 8 pm
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
	Mar 24	8:30 a.m.	Communications Committee Meeting – Pupil Services Conference Room

Board of School Directors – Lower Merion School District

http://events.lmsd.org/webevent.pl?cmd=listmonth&y=2010&m=3&d=14&de=1&tf=0&sib=1&sb=0&sa=0&ws=0&stz=Default&sort=e,m,t&cat=&swe=1&cf=list&set=1&cal=cal16

**

Republican Commissioners of Lower Merion

Jenny Brown (Ward 2) jwbrown@flammlaw.com	Phil Rosenzweig (Ward 6) 610-647-5800 phil@rrhc.com
Scott Zelov (Ward 10) 610-256-4120 vscottzelov@comcast.net	Gould, Lewis F., Jr., Esq. (Ward 11) 215-979-1282 lfgould@duanemorris.com

Republican Lower Merion Township School Board Members

Ted Lorenz 610-668-0770 telorenz@netzero.com
Gary Friedlander 610-292-0666 GFried636@aol.com Jerold Novick 215-241-0200 jerryn@philamanagement.com

Narberth Borough Tax Collector

Regina Watson
610-664-2840

Back to top

Now is the time to get involved! To volunteer to help with our upcoming elections,
contact Kacie Peters, Executive Director, at Headquarters listed below.

Republican Committee of Lower Merion & Narberth
3 1/2 W. Lancaster Avenue
Ardmore, PA 19003
Phone: 610-642-4407
Fax: 610-642-4409
info@lowermerionvote.org
Email RCLMN

http://www.lowermerionvote.org/localofficials.html

**

The Republican Committee of Lower Merion and Narberth, Pennsylvania, USA

Name	Ward and Precinct
Elizabeth Preate Havey	Communications Chair, Committeeperson 1-1
Ralph Grasso	Ward Leader, Committeeperson 1-1
Lesli Esposito	Committeeperson 1-2
Thomas Manning	Committeeperson 1-2
Eric Settle	Committeeperson 1-3
Shari Finer	Committeeperson 1-3
Karen Aydt	Ward Leader, Committeeperson 2-1
Fred Wentz	Committeeperson 2-1
Mark Nicoletti	Assistant Committeeperson 2-1
Alyse Colen	Committeeperson 2-2
Richard Brown	Committeeperson 2-2
Harriet Goodwin	Committeeperson 2-3
Holly Robbins	Committeeperson 2-3
Gayle Michael	Committeeperson 3-1
Matt Michael	Committeeperson 3-1
Kathy Firpo	Committeeperson 3-2
Steven Selinger	Ward Leader, Committeeperson 3-2
Greg Strickland	Committeeperson 3-3
Rocco Burdo	Committeeperson 3-3
Wes McMichael	Committeeperson 4-1
Grace Brown	Committeeperson 4-1
Devon Pennington	Assistant Committeeperson 4-1
Deborah Hazel	Committeeperson 4-2
Cary McClain	Ward Leader, Committeeperson 4-3
Michael Imms	Committeeperson 4-3
Perrin Hamilton	Committeeperson 5-1
William Arthur Wheatley	Committeeperson 5-2
Eric Smith	Ward Leader 6
Kathleen Daerr-Bannon	Committeeperson 6-1
Phil Rosenzweig	LM Commissioner, Committeeperson 6-1
Liz Clark	Committeeperson 6-2
Jim Clark	Vice Chair, Committeeperson 6-2
James P. Harrison, III	Committeeperson 6-3
Jill Govberg	Committeeperson 6-3
Sherry Horowitz	Committeeperson 7-1
Joan Hindin	Committeeperson 7-2
James Brown	Committeeperson 7-2
Ray Kaelin	Committeeperson 7-3
Lucy Hauserman	Committeeperson 8-1
Tracy Steele	Committeeperson 8-3
Ed Caplan	Committeeperson 8-3
Michael Corr	Ward Leader, Committeeperson 8-4
David Doran	Committeeperson 9-1
Kacie Peters	Executive Director, Committeeperson 9-1
Richard Kaufman	Committeeperson 9-2
Susan Cirelli	Committeeperson 9-2
Karen Ash	Ward Leader, Committeeperson 9-3
Laurel Grass	Committeeperson 9-3
Kevin Roller	Ward Leader 10
Patricia Cosgrave	Committeeperson 10-1
Stephen Lee	Committeeperson 10-1
Lisa Hall	Committeeperson 10-2
Scott Zelov	LM Commissioner, Committeeperson 10-2
Mary Beth Hurtado	Committeeperson 10-3
Gregg Adelman	Committeeperson 10-3
Michael Landau	Ward Leader 11
Joanna Hamill Flum	Committeeperson 11-1
John Fetter	Committeeperson 11-1
John McDonald	Committeeperson 11-2
Bernice Reuben	Committeeperson 11-2
Mary Poste	Committeeperson 11-3
Lew Gould	LM Commissioner, Committeeperson 11-3
Bill Maston	Ward Leader, Committeeperson 12-1
Jim Ettelson	Committeeperson 12-1
Paul Vici	Committeeperson 12-2
Jim Stevenson	Committeeperson 12-2
Tom Biron	Committeeperson 12-3
Jeffrey Bartos	Treasurer, Committeeperson 13-1
Patrick Broderick	Committeeperson 13-1
Mary Theresa O’Rourke	Committeeperson 13-2
Steven Schain	Municipal Chair, Ward Leader, Committeeperson 13-2
Cheryl O’Brien	Committeeperson 13-3
Bob Sataloff	Committeeperson 13-3
Tony Gil	Committeeperson 14-1
Christian Petrucci	Committeeperson 14-1
Michael Berry	Ward Leader, Committeeperson 14-2
Michael Adler	Assistant Committeeperson 14-2
Andrew Gotlieb	Committeeperson 14-2
Bill Powell	Committeeperson 14-3
Gary Freidlander	Committeeperson 14-3, School Board Director
Dennis Sharkey	Committeeperson Narberth 1
Powell Arms	Committeeperson Narberth 1
Mary Levengood	Committeeperson Narberth 2
Andrea Torres	Committeeperson Narberth 2
Jonathan Goldstein	Ward Leader, Committeeperson Narberth 3
Connie Waterman	Committeeperson Narberth 3
Andrew Bees	Assistant Committeeperson Narberth 3

Now is the time to get involved! To volunteer to help with our upcoming elections,
contact Kacie Peters, Executive Director, at Headquarters listed below.

Republican Committee of Lower Merion & Narberth
3 1/2 W. Lancaster Avenue
Ardmore, PA 19003
Phone: 610-642-4407
Fax: 610-642-4409
info@lowermerionvote.org
Email RCLMN

http://www.lowermerionvote.org/committee.html

**

Democratic Committee of Lower Merion and Narberth

P.O. Box 522

Haverford, PA 19041

Last Modified: 02/18/2010 01:53:37

http://www.democratslmn.org/#lowermerion

	Phone: 610 649-7200
	Mail: P.O. Box 522 Haverford, PA 19041
	email: info@democratslmn.org

**

http://www.lowermerion.org/

Lower Merion

Montgomery County, Pennsylvania

Commissioners

Print

The Board of Commissioners of Lower Merion Township

Name	Ward		Name	Ward
Bruce D. Reed, President	13		Steven K. Lindner	4
Jenny Brown, Esq.	2		George T. Manos, AIA	9
Rick Churchill	14		Paul A. McElhaney	3
Jane Dellheim	8		Elizabeth S. Rogan	7
Cheryl B. Gelber, Esq.	5		Philip S. Rosenzweig, Esq.	6
Brian A. Gordon, Esq.	12		Mark Taylor, Vice-President	1
Lewis F. Gould, Jr., Esq.	11		V. Scott Zelov	10

Find out which Commissioner represents you – Who is my Commissioner?

Ward Map in PDF format (3.8MB)
Ward Map in JPEG format (6MB)

For more information, contact Township Secretary, Eileen Trainer at 610-645-6145.

Last updated: 1/5/2010 10:12:05 AM

http://www.lowermerion.org/index.aspx?page=149

**

***

---

INSIDE ISSUES AND ACTION

• NEA Today: Union, Managers Work Together for Indiana Students
• Urge Congress to Take Action on Education Jobs
• ESPs: School Funding Crisis Nothing to Shake a Stick At
• Share Your Thoughts on Education with Top Policy Makers
  

http://www.nea.org/

National Education Association
1201 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036-3290

Contact Us

NEA has affiliates in each of the 50 states. Visit our state affiliates page for contact information.

Phone

202-833-4000
Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. ET

Share Your Thoughts on Education with Top Policy Makers

Fax

202-822-7974

Mailing Address

National Education Association
1201 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036-3290

Send a message to us:

http://www.nea.org/home/827.htm

**

Share Your Thoughts on Education with Top Policy Makers

National Education Association wants to know – maybe they don’t know that a twelve year old was arrested in New York City for doodling on her desk with a washable marker with the same shame and treatment as someone that set the building on fire. Her chances of being a straight A student probably less desirable to her now. That ranks right in there with the spying on people and students in their own homes using the webcams on the laptops loaned out to them for school and then holding those people accountable for things done in their homes and bedrooms and living rooms and dens that the school system judges to be “improper”, whether illegal or immoral or not.

That’s in the same neighborhood with the girl student who was strip searched by the principal because another student accused her of having a tylenol pill which took her from being a normal person with good grades to being a survivor of psychological trauma, shame, humiliation, degradation, and sexual / self-image based trauma. These are the acts of a time in our country when the conservatives have been in control of policies which have made this country into something other than the America intended by our Revolution and Constitutional guarantees of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. – cricketdiane

***

Commissioners

Lower Merion Commissioners 2010

The Board of Commissioners of Lower Merion Township

Name	Ward		Name	Ward
Bruce D. Reed, President	13		Steven K. Lindner	4
Jenny Brown, Esq.	2		George T. Manos, AIA	9
Rick Churchill	14		Paul A. McElhaney	3
Jane Dellheim	8		Elizabeth S. Rogan	7
Cheryl B. Gelber, Esq.	5		Philip S. Rosenzweig, Esq.	6
Brian A. Gordon, Esq.	12		Mark Taylor, Vice-President	1
Lewis F. Gould, Jr., Esq.	11		V. Scott Zelov	10

Find out which Commissioner represents you – Who is my Commissioner?

Ward Map in PDF format (3.8MB)
Ward Map in JPEG format (6MB)

For more information, contact Township Secretary, Eileen Trainer at 610-645-6145.

Last updated: 1/5/2010 10:12:05 AM

http://www.lowermerion.org/index.aspx?page=149

**

My Note –

Somebody or some group of many somebodies needs to start contacting these people from the Commissioners of Lower Merion PA to the Republican and Democratic committee members in the county along with the school board members who thought that using the webcam on student’s laptops to look at whatever they damn well pleased within people’s homes is the “American Way”. They are severely misguided and no telling how many other school systems and local communities’ officials around the United States are engaging in the same activities from spying through the webcams where elderly members of the communities are using “their loaner” laptops to scanning through webcams on school children’s and high school students’ laptop loaners across the US.

How long are the citizens of the United States going to sit by and not say a word that makes any difference when it matters?

– cricketdiane

P.S. And if anyone has a “loaner” laptop from the state, community, school system or if any of their children or family members have one – I would suggest finding out what their “security protocols” are where their ability and willingness to spy within people’s homes using those computer webcams has become standard operating procedure. Put a piece of tape over the webcam or folded 3×5 card to stop the camera being used remotely by these _________ (fill in the blank) officials and know that the internet use of these systems are being used as information collected about the student and the family without regard – so keep it in mind.

***

Committee People Ward Penna. Legislative District Person Phone Polling Place Email 01-1 148 Mark Taylor 610.667.3310 Penn Valley School mtaylor@marcusmillichap.com 01-1 148 Position Vacant Penn Valley School 01-2 148 Jeff Rudnick 610.649.5546 Penn Valley School divejeff1010@aol.com 01-2 148 Laura Shell 310.702.1403 Penn Valley School laura_shell1@yahoo.com 01-3 148 Laura Blayney 610.642.2579 St. Christopher’s Church lar1119@hotmail.com 01-3 148 Nancy Weiss 610.527.1795 St. Christopher’s Church cruella928@aol.com 02-1 148 Marc Cohen 610.547.1424 Gladwyne Fire House drcohen@cosmetic-eyes.com 02-1 148 Position Vacant Gladwyne Fire House 02-2 148 Jody Marcell 610.519.1364 Presbyterian Church on Beaumont jmarcell@comcast.net 02-2 148 Position Vacant Presbyterian Church on Beaumont 02-3 194 Phillip Rosenthal 610.667.6838 Oak Hill gerivision@comcast.net 02-3 194 Susan Bolno 610.664.2448 Oak Hill susan.bolno@comcast.net 03-1 194 Julie Levitt 610.664.3990 Belmont Hills Library julie.levitt@verizon.net 03-1 194 Joe McCaffrey 610.668.8736 Belmont Hills Library ox610@hotmail.com 03-2 194 Carole R Dichter 610.664.2833 Welsh Valley Middle School crdnutrition@comcast.net 03-2 194 Zoe Friedberg 610.667.1786 Welsh Valley Middle School zoefri@hotmail.com 03-3 194 Jeff Schwartz 610.664.3215 Belmont Hills Fire Station jschwa123@aol.com 03-3 194 Sophie Socha 610.667.2375 Belmont Hills Fire Station ssocha@rockhillworks.com 04-1 149 Ivan Haskell 610.348.8411 First Baptist Church Ardmore ivanh@rhdkids.org 04-1 149 Aaron Williams 610.724.6916 First Baptist Church Ardmore aaronkw@verizon.net 04-2 149 Steve Lindner 610.642.1433 St Mary’s Church Ardmore sklindner@hotmail.com 04-2 149 Jeri Thompson 610.658.2774 St Mary’s Church Ardmore jerithompson@comcast.net 04-3 149 Position Vacant Ardmore Presbyterian Church 04-3 149 Position Vacant Ardmore Presbyterian Church 05-1 149 Miriam Camitta 610.642.0949 Main Line Reform mpcamitta@aol.com 05-1 149 Teri Simon 610.642.6862 Main Line Reform puffins2@comcast.net 05-2 149 Leora Natan 610.642.3447 All Saints Church leoranatan@mac.com 05-2 149 Rosa J Serota 610.649.9269 All Saints Church serota2@verizon.net 05-3 149 Harry Hannigan 610.896.6454 All Saints Church hhannigan@jmsonline.com 05-3 149 Linda Gruber 610.896.7286 All Saints Church lagruber610@msn.com 06-1 149 Mary Posner 610.527.2274 Ashbridge House idem22@aol.com 06-1 149 Etheldra Templeton 610.527.0119 Ashbridge House etheldrat@pcom.edu 06-2 149 Anne Umbrecht 610.656.3294 Devereux House aumbrecht@aol.com 06-2 149 Nina Rosenthal 610.527.4428 Devereux House nrose23@aol.com 06-3 148 Eva Ray 610.525.9576 Appleford 770 Mt Moro Rd ekr3@cornell.edu 06-3 148 Position Vacant Appleford 770 Mt Moro Rd 07-1 149 Joan Belfer 610.649.4039 Greenhill Condominium joanbelfer@comcast.net 07-1 149 Lorna Carroll 610.649.4983 Greenhill Condominium layele317@yahoo.com 07-2 148 JoAnn Erfer 610.649.1275 Wynnewood Park Apartments joerf@comcast.net 07-2 148 Cynthia DeStefano 610.645.5545 Wynnewood Park Apartments stchels@aol.com 07-3 149 Linda Benson 610.649.4130 Beth Hillel lindarbenson@gmail.com 07-3 149 Lauren Hirsch 610.642.9053 Beth Hillel democrat@hirschfamily.org 08-1 149 Russell Massey 610.658.2719 Torah Academy bejarmassey@comcast.net 08-1 149 Glenn  Rosenblum 610.642.9222 Torah Academy grosenblum@mmwr.com 08-2 149 Annette Sussman 610.645.5498 Armenian Church annettemsussman@comcast.net 08-2 149 Position Vacant Armenian Church 08-3 149 Rick Pasquier 610.642.9084 Armenian Church richard.pasquier@fmc.com 08-3 149 Louise Polis 610.896.5507 Armenian Church careerpropa@aol.com 08-4 149 Carol Shore 610.896.1768 Ardmore Methodist Church c_shore@ix.netcom.com 08-4 149 Nadeem Bezar 610.896.2386 Ardmore Methodist Church nbezar@kolsbygordon.com 09-1 194 Eric Hoffman 610.664.0487 St Matthias Church eeric1@comcast.net 09-1 194 David Dormont 610.668.7995 St Matthias Church ddormont@kcr-law.com 09-2 194 Ben Eisner 610.660.0294 Mary Drexel House beisner@spearwilderman.com 09-2 194 Meryl Gindin 610.664.1866 Mary Drexel House mojo8082@aol.com 09-3 194 Allan Hurt 610.664.6040 Bala Gym allanh918@aol.com 09-3 194 Position Vacant Bala Gym 10-1 149 David Broida 610.645.0837 Church of the Redeemer dbroida@gmail.com 10-1 149 Rebecca Williams 610.724.9041 Church of the Redeemer becwilliams@comcast.net 10-2 149 Leigh Anne Smith 610.527.7117 Bryn Mawr Presbyterian lsmith@yrchlaw.com 10-2 149 Audrey Romasco 215.990.2247 Bryn Mawr Presbyterian a.romasco01@comcast.net 10-3 149 Lisa Liacouras 610.525.6138 Bryn Mawr Community Center liacourasl@aol.com 10-3 149 Hank Wilson 610.525.0643 Bryn Mawr Community Center cwneedlepoint@earthlink.net 11-1 148 Shara Pollie 610.527.8775 Lower Merion Baptist Church sharrun5@aol.com 11-1 148 Jill Kleeman 610.525.2622 Lower Merion Baptist Church jillkleeman@yahoo.com 11-2 149 William Myrtetus 484.885.4209 Bryn Mawr Fire House billmyrt@comcast.net 11-2 149 Position Vacant Bryn Mawr Fire House 11-3 148 Bob Rovner 610.525.7864 Harriton High School monblath@dial-law.com 11-3 148 Naheed Flake 610.526.2822 Harriton High School snfdesign@comcast.net 12-1 148 Esther Hornik 610.667.4970 Merion Tribute House ehornik@comcast.net 12-1 148 Paula Cramer 610.664.0871 Merion Tribute House paulakcramer@verizon.net 12-2 148 Jon Kligerman 610.747.0892 Merion Tribute House jmklig@msn.com 12-2 148 Bill Leopold 610.667.6818 Merion Tribute House goldpold@aol.com 12-3 148 Bruce Eisenberg 610.664.8864 St Joseph’s University bpe1@verizon.net 12-3 148 Susan Schwartz 610.664.4053 St Joseph’s University susansz@pobox.upenn.edu 13-1 148 Gilda Kramer 610.617.3131 Senior Center–Levering Mill gkramer@gildakramer.com 13-1 148 Suzan Greenberg 610.668.2752 Senior Center–Levering Mill suzangreen@comcast.net 13-2 148 Susan Furey 610.664.7522 Bala Cynwyd Middle School sfurey@comcast.net 13-2 148 Casey O’Bannon 610.668.0734 Bala Cynwyd Middle School obanno@msn.com 13-3 194 Richard J  Conn 610.664.1666 Bala Cynwyd Middle School rjconn@ConnLawOffices.com 13-3 194 David Rosenbaum Bala Cynwyd Middle School drosenbaum@rawle.com 14-1 149 Phyllis Rubin 610.649.3969 Penn Wynne School rubinph@verizon.net 14-1 149 Sheryl Chernoff 610.896.6529 Penn Wynne School schernoff@comcast.net 14-2 149 Albert Piccerilli 610.649.6853 Penn Wynne School apiccerilli@mmwr.com 14-2 149 Charles Smolover 610.645.0706 Penn Wynne School smolover@verizon.net 14-3 149 Dana Axelrod 610.649.0520 Penn Wynne Fire House chutneymaven@comcast.net 14-3 149 Alan Tuttle 610.642.3006 Penn Wynne Fire House tuttles@cavtel.net N-1 148 Christine Boylan 610.667.5594 St Margaret’s School boylan@association-cba.org N-1 148 Ellie Aspinall St Margaret’s School ebaspinall@verizon.net N-2 148 Mary Jo Daley 610.667.3983 Borough Hall mj.pauxtis@verizon.net N-2 148 Angus Love 215.435.6345 Borough Hall alove@pailp.org N-3 148 Traci Baird 610.668.2132 Borough Hall tracibaird@comcast.net N-3 148 Joanne Behm 610.664.5502 Borough Hall jbehm@mc3.edu

Democratic Committee of Lower Merion and Narberth P.O. Box 522 Haverford, PA 19041 Last Modified: 02/21/2010 01:55:55 http://www.democratslmn.org/committeepeople.php ***

United States Department of Justice – Civil Rights Division

The Civil Rights Division is committed to upholding the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans, particularly some of the most vulnerable members of our society. The Division enforces federal statutes designed to protect the civil rights of all individuals and prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, disability, religion, and national origin. Established in 1957, the Division has grown in size and scope over the decades, and has been instrumental in many of our nation’s battles to advance civil rights, from the desegregation of our nation’s schools to the prosecution of hate crimes, from ensuring girls and women have equal opportunities in schools and the workplace to guaranteeing that individuals with disabilities can access civil services to which we all have a right.

<!–For more information about the laws we enforce, click here.–>

http://www.justice.gov/crt/

Contact Us

Office of the Assistant Attorney General

The Office of the Assistant Attorney General establishes policy and provides executive direction and control over litigative enforcement and administrative management activities in the Division.

Administrative Management Section

In support of the enforcement responsibilities of the Division, the Administrative Management Section provides a diverse array of management and technical services. These services include, but are not limited to, personnel administration, budget formulation and execution, facility services, mail and file operations, and automated systems.

Appellate Section (Apelaciones)

The Appellate Section has primary responsibility for handling civil rights cases in the courts of appeals and, in cooperation with the Solicitor General, in the Supreme Court.

Complaint Adjudication Office

The Complaint Adjudication Office reviews cases provided to it by departmental components or the EEOC alleging employment discrimination by employees of the Department of Justice and renders a final decision for the Department.

Coordination and Review Section

The Coordination and Review Section exercises both programmatic and non-litigation enforcement responsibilities. Under Executive Order 12250, the Section coordinates the enforcement by Federal agencies of various statutes that prohibit discrimination in programs that receive Federal financial assistance. The Section also has authority to investigate certain complaints of discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, and religion against certain recipients of assistance from the Department of Justice.

Criminal Section

The federal criminal civil rights statutes provide for prosecutions of conspiracies to interfere with federally protected rights, deprivation of rights under color of law, the use or threat of force to injure or intimidate someone in their enjoyment of specific rights (such as voting, employment, education, public facilities and accommodations) and criminal housing interference.

Disability Rights Section (Derechos en Razón a Discapacidad)

The Disability Rights Section implements the Department of Justice’s responsibilities under titles I, II, and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment (Title I), in all activities of state and local governments (Title II), in places of public accommodation and in commercial facilities (Title III). The Section’s responsibilities include enforcement, technical assistance activities and certification of building codes. Enforcement responsibilities cover a broad spectrum of potential actions including investigations, informal or formal settlement agreements, consent decrees (approved by a court), and litigation. To promote voluntary compliance with the ADA and to enhance enforcement efforts, the Technical Assistance Program provides free information and technical assistance to businesses,state and local governments, people with disabilities, and the general public. The Section also develops regulations to implement Titles II and III of the ADA, including standards for accessible design, and coordinates Federal enforcement of Title II and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and other Federal statutes that prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability in programs that receive Federal financial assistance. The Section also operates a pilot project to facilitate the use of mediation to settle ADA disputes.

Educational Opportunities Section (Oportunidades Educativas)

The Educational Opportunities Section enforces federal statutes which prohibit public school officials from engaging in discriminatory practices involving both elementary and secondary schools and institutions of higher education.

Employment Litigation Section

The Employment Litigation Section enforces against state and local government employers the provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, and other federal laws prohibiting employment practices that discriminate on grounds of race, sex, religion, and national origin.

Housing and Civil Enforcement Section (Sección de Vivienda y Cumplimiento de la Ley Civil)

The Housing and Civil Enforcement Section has principal responsibility for enforcing the Fair Housing Act of 1968, as amended, which prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap and familial status. In addition to its enforcement responsibilities under the Fair Housing Act, the Section enforces the Equal Credit Opportunity Act which prohibits discrimination in credit transactions, and Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits discrimination in places of public accommodations, such as hotels, restaurants and places of entertainment, and Title III of the 1964 Act which prohibits discrimination in public facilities.

Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices

The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices investigates and prosecutes employers charged with national origin and citizenship status discrimination under Section 102 of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA). It also investigates allegations of document abuse and retaliation as a result of the Immigration Act of 1990.

Special Litigation Section

The Special Litigation Section is responsible for protecting the constitutional and federal statutory rights of persons confined in certain institutions owned or operated by state or local governments. These institutions include facilities for individuals who are mentally ill and developmentally disabled, elderly persons in nursing homes, inmates in prisons and jails and juveniles confined in detention halls. The Section also investigates state and local law enforcement agencies alleged to engage in a pattern or practice of violating citizens’ federal rights and may bring civil lawsuits to remedy such abuses. The Section has also been charged with the civil enforcement of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act which prohibits the use of force, threats or physical obstruction to interfere with access to reproductive health services clinics or places of worship.

Voting Section

The Voting Section is responsible for the enforcement of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act, the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, and other statutory provisions designed to safeguard the right to vote of racial and language minorities, disabled and illiterate persons, overseas citizens, persons who change their residence shortly before a Presidential election, and persons 18 to 20 years of age.

http://www.justice.gov/crt/contact.php

**

***

Special Litigation Section

The Special Litigation Section is responsible for protecting the constitutional and federal statutory rights of persons confined in certain institutions owned or operated by state or local governments. These institutions include facilities for individuals who are mentally ill and developmentally disabled, elderly persons in nursing homes, inmates in prisons and jails and juveniles confined in detention halls.

The Section also investigates state and local law enforcement agencies alleged to engage in a pattern or practice of violating citizens’ federal rights and may bring civil lawsuits to remedy such abuses.

The Section has also been charged with the civil enforcement of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act which prohibits the use of force, threats or physical obstruction to interfere with access to reproductive health services clinics or places of worship.

US Department of Justice, Civil Rights Section

***

My Note –

USA –  the land where schools, school boards, police, counties, states and local officials perpetrate every last horror utilized by the tyrants and oppressors of past dictatorships from history. Why did my ancestors fight tyranny and spill their blood for this?

– cricketdiane

**

Wall Street, Central Banks, and the IMF Gold Wagon

Tags

Andrew Crockett, Bank for International Settlements, banking, banks, cricketdiane, currency values, economic crisis, Global Economy, gold, IMF, International Concerns, JP Morgan, macroeconomic future forecasting, Money, Wall Street

IMF income and expenditure

IMF ‘On-Market’ Gold Sales Move Ahead

IMF Survey online

February 17, 2010

• IMF will sell gold on the gold market
• Future sales to continue in transparent manner
• Avoiding market disruption is top priority

Following the sale of 212 tons of gold to central banks, the IMF is moving ahead with sales on the gold market, phasing the sales so as to avoid market disruption.

In September 2009, the IMF’s Executive Board approved gold sales totaling 403.3 metric tons (12,965,649 troy ounces). Having already sold over half that amount to several central banks, the IMF is now looking to sell the remaining 191.3 tons of gold.

The IMF will continue to hold a substantial portion of its assets in gold. The sale of the full 403.3 metric tons would reduce the IMF’s gold holdings by about one-eighth.

“The top priority in conducting the gold sales is to avoid disruption to the gold market,” said Andrew Tweedie, Director of the IMF’s Finance Department. “Prior to any sales on the gold market, sales were first made exclusively to interested central banks, thus shifting gold within the official sector. Now the IMF will begin sales of the remaining gold on the market. This will be done in a phased way.”

Sales to date

Official interest in the IMF’s gold sales has proven substantial—at 212 tons thus far. The proceeds from these sales amount to almost $7.2 billion, or just over SDR 4.5 billion. The sales were conducted at market prices, and were allocated on a first-come, first-served basis to three central banks that expressed interest.

While the period set aside exclusively for official sales is now over, the IMF remains ready to respond to interest in gold from official holders.

Largest gold sale in decades

The 200-ton sale to the Reserve Bank of India is considered by some market commentators to be the single largest gold transaction in recent decades, generating proceeds equivalent to $6.7 billion or SDR 4.2 billion.

In light of the volume involved, daily sales for the transaction took place over a two-week period from October 19–30, 2009, to protect both parties against short-term fluctuations in gold prices. Each daily sale was conducted on the basis of market prices prevailing that day.

Sales of gold to the Bank of Mauritius and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka were each conducted on a single day, November 11 and 23 respectively.

Purposes of IMF gold sales

Gold sales, strictly limited to 403.3 tons, were approved by the IMF’s Executive Board on September 18, 2009, and will serve two purposes.

Key to new income model: The IMF’s new income model is based on the recommendations of the Committee of Eminent Persons chaired by Andrew Crockett to reduce the Fund’s reliance on lending income to cover its administrative expenses. The new income model aims to diversify the IMF’s income sources and better align them with the variety of functions performed by the Fund. A key element is the creation of an endowment with the profits from gold sales, which would be invested in a manner consistent with the public nature of these funds.

Low-income countries to benefit: In 2009, the IMF agreed to mobilize $17 billion through 2014 for lending to low-income countries, mostly in Africa, that have been hard hit by the global crisis. A financing package, which includes resources linked to these gold sales, has been agreed upon and will generate the additional new subsidy resources of SDR 1.5 billion needed to help cover the cost of further low-interest lending by the Fund.

The sales generated proceeds equivalent to $72 million (SDR 45 million) in the case of the Bank of Mauritius, while the sale to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka generated $375 million (SDR 234 million).

Transparent approach

The IMF publicly announced each official sale shortly after the transaction was concluded. A high degree of transparency will continue during the sales of gold on the market, in order to assure markets that the sales are being conducted in a responsible manner.

As in the case of central banks selling gold, the volume of IMF gold holdings will be reported on a monthly basis through the International Financial Statistics, and the IMF’s quarterly financial statements will provide additional disclosures.

The strategy for the IMF’s sales of gold on the market continues to give priority to avoiding market disruption. As such, the sales will be phased over time following the approach used successfully by the central banks participating in the Central Bank Gold Agreement.

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2010/NEW021710A.htm

***

Two-year reform process

The Board decision on April 7 marks the culmination of a two-year effort to reform the IMF’s income model that began in May 2006 with the appointment of a committee of eminent persons to review the IMF’s income base for financing its running costs. That committee, headed by Andrew Crockett, President of JP Morgan Chase International and former General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements, concluded in early 2007 that continuing to rely on income from lending was not a sustainable model.

The committee recommended that the IMF adopt a package of income-generating measures, including creating an endowment with profits generated from selling a limited portion of the institution’s gold holdings.

Comments on this article should be sent to imfsurvey@imf.org

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2008/NEW040708A.htm

***

(From the same page link above)

• The administrative budget proposal includes expenditure cuts of $100 million in FY2009-11. Including savings of $27 million already allotted in the budget plan for FY2008-10, real net administrative expenditures will decrease about 14 percent to $796 million in FY2011 from $922 million in FY2008.

• Even with sharp expenditure cuts, the budget allows for an increase in the level of resources allocated to multilateral and regional surveillance by shifting resources from non-core to core business of the institution.

(Excerpted from this group of information on the page – somebody has sold them a piece of goods haven’t they noticed the market disruptions yet – 2006 plan using the same old hedge fund / Wall Street model, my note)

“The Fund’s membership again proved its commitment to enhancing the institution’s credibility and strengthening its efficiency,” he added. “We agreed to replace an obsolete and unviable income model with a modern and more predictable model in line with other international financial institutions. We also agreed on a medium-term budget proposal with sharp spending cuts of $100 million over the next three years.”

Key elements of the income proposal—in particular a proposed amendment of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement to expand the Fund’s investment authority—will require legislative action in most member countries. In addition, approval by the U.S. Congress is needed before the U.S. Executive Director can vote in favor of gold sales. Strauss-Kahn commended “Executive Directors for their commitment to seek expeditious approval by their legislatures to enable these important components of the new income model to come into effect.”

Key elements of new income model

• The IMF’s unsustainable income model will be replaced with a model that is based on more robust and diverse sources of revenue in line with the Fund’s multiple functions. If approved, the new model could generate an additional $300 million in income within a few years.

• An endowment would be created with the profits from the limited sale of 403.3 metric tons of the IMF’s gold holdings. If approved, gold sales would be conducted in a transparent manner with strong safeguards to ensure that they do not add to official sales and avoid any risk of market disruption.

• The IMF’s investment authority would be broadened to enhance the average expected return on the Fund’s investments and enable the IMF to adapt its investment strategy over time. The investment policies would reflect the public nature of the funds to be invested and include safeguards to ensure that the broadened investment authority does not give rise even to perceived conflicts of interest.

• The long-standing practice of reimbursing the IMF’s budget for the cost of administering the trust fund for concessional lending to low-income countries—the PRGF-ESF Trust, will be resumed in the financial year in which the IMF adopts a decision authorizing the gold sales. This cost recovery will not affect the Fund’s ability to provide concessional lending to low-income countries.

Key elements of IMF medium-term budget

• The strategic plan that forms the backbone of the budget is focused on five goals: strengthening multilateral surveillance, sharpening bilateral surveillance, refocusing work on low-income countries, streamlining capacity building, and modernizing the Fund. The budgetary strategy is centered on reshaping the institution so it delivers more focused and cost-effective outputs.

• The administrative budget proposal includes expenditure cuts of $100 million in FY2009-11. Including savings of $27 million already allotted in the budget plan for FY2008-10, real net administrative expenditures will decrease about 14 percent to $796 million in FY2011 from $922 million in FY2008.

• Even with sharp expenditure cuts, the budget allows for an increase in the level of resources allocated to multilateral and regional surveillance by shifting resources from non-core to core business of the institution.

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2008/NEW040708A.htm

***

US – Republican Administration Policies continue unabated, unhindered, and without regard, using their “conservative thinktank” policies to impose and define America with Abuses of Human Rights, Violations of Civil Rights, Oppression of the Disadvantaged and Disabled – These Bush, Reagan and even, Nixon era bureaucrats are still using their Gestapo tactics of unbridled cruelty, senseless unmerciful viciousness and psychotic sadistic whims on citizens lives while causing egregious harms against mankind – Here is what their efforts are using our money and resources to do this time – (leftover evils from previous Republican bureaucratic policies) – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5949202/40-MPs-in-plea-to-Barack-Obama-over-computer-hacker-Gary-McKinnon.html – These Republican right wing policies continue to be imposed on our society by using the Conservative Caucus choices that were enacted throughout the US agencies, state legislatures and under the guise of US states’ rights from the last twenty years, which inflict their abuses of power, intolerance of Human Rights and degradations of people upon every person it touches – now to include Gary McKinnon, UK citizen for hacking into US databases to find out about UFOs . . .

Tags

conservative Republicans legacy, Gary McKinnon, Homeland Security actions, human rights violations in the United States, Patriot Act, Republican policies in action, UK, US Bill of Rights, US Constitution, US extradition of UK man who hacked into government databases looking for UFO information, US government policies, US human rights, US oppression (of diversity - differences and disabled individuals - elderly - poor - disadvantaged - homeless - destitute - nonconformist ) continues along conservative christian values of intoleranc, US oppression of diversity difference and disabled individuals continues along conservative christian values of intolerance and shameful cruel sadism same as the Bush administration CIA and domestic p

My Note – A little about this year’s poisoning of horses (real life in America, and I should’ve put the story about the Holocaust survivor that was strangled, beat and killed in his home – 90 years old, survived horrors of prison camps in Hitler’s version of Germany, and this is what America gives him in his final years, unbelievable) and below that, what the current uses of the “Patriot Act” and Homeland Security are doing to a 43-year old UK man who has a form of autism and is brilliant in spite of it –

– cricketdiane

****

* At least 20 horses were deliberately poisoned on farm, authorities say
* Toxic oleander leaves were found with apples, carrots in horses’ stalls
* No word yet on possible motive or sickened horses’ prognosis

updated 8:00 a.m. EDT, Sat August 1, 2009

(CNN) — More than 20 horses became ill when they were intentionally poisoned with toxic leaves in southern California this week, authorities said Friday.
These oleander bush leaves, toxic to horses, were found in a San Diego, California, stable.

[etc.]

An exact number of horses sickened was unclear, but officials believe they were more than 20. The animals, whose prognosis was not known, were under the care of veterinarians.

An investigation is under way.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/08/01/california.horses/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

***

[And from April of this year – ]

Polo horses may have been poisoned
Twenty-one ponies who mysteriously died as they were being prepared for a major match in Florida are likely to have been poisoned, vets believe.

By Tom Leonard in New York
Published: 6:38PM BST 20 Apr 2009

A horrified crowd at the International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington watched in silence on Sunday as vets tried desperately to save the animals after they collapsed or became dizzy as they were led out of their trailers.

The team is owned by Victor Vargas, a Venezuelan businessman, close confidant of Hugo Chavez and one of the richest men in South America.

Vets at the scene, who inserted intravenous tubes and tried to cool them down with fans and water, said the horses suffered pulmonary edema, an accumulation of fluid in their lungs, and heart failure.

They had high temperatures and were disoriented but felt no pain.

The as yet unidentified toxin could have been in tainted food, vitamins or dietary supplements, or some combination of all three that caused a toxic reaction, said Scott Swerdin, a vet who treated the horses.

James Belden, a local vet who worked for the team, Lechuza Caracas, said it was a clear case of “some sort of poison” and played down the possibity of steroid abuse.

[ . . . ]

John Wash, president of club operations for the International Polo Club Palm Beach, said the polo teams were told by veterinary officials that whatever killed the horses wasn’t airborne or contagious.

“It won’t just be the polo scene in Wellington, I think it will affect the polo scene worldwide,” Mr Wash said.

“In polo’s history there’s never been an incident like this that anybody can remember. This was a tragic issue on the magnitude of losing a basketball team in an aeroplane crash.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5189672/Polo-horses-may-have-been-poisoned.html
***

40 MPs in plea to Barack Obama over computer hacker Gary McKinnon

More than 40 MPs have issued a highly unusual direct plea to the Barack Obama urging him to halt the “shameful” extradition of a British computer hacker to the United States.

By John Bingham and Christopher Hope
Published: 8:00AM BST 01 Aug 2009
Gary McKinnon: British judges agree to more extraditions than US counterparts British computer hacker Gary McKinnon suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism Photo: AP

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, also threw his weight behind a campaign against plans to send Gary McKinnon, who suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism, for trial in the US accused of breaking into sensitive military networks.

It came as the 43-year-old lost an eleventh hour High Court challenge to the move claiming that it would worsen his condition and represent “inhuman” treatment.

In a letter, seen by The Daily Telegraph, a group of MPs urged Mr Obama to halt the extradition arguing that “most reasonable individuals” would view it as disproportionate given his mental state.

[ . . . ]

Mr McKinnon, described by his own legal team as an eccentric, claims that he was merely searching for evidence of UFOs when he hacked into almost 100 US government computers from his bedroom in north London shortly after the September 11 attacks of 2001.

Although his extradition has already been agreed after a lengthy legal process, he launched a last-minute High Court challenge attempting to force the Home Secretary to block the move earlier this year.

His lawyers also challenged the decision by Keir Starmer QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions, not to sanction a trial in this country – something which would preclude extradition.

The lawyers argued that sending him for trial in the US, despite his mental condition and with the prospect of up to 60 years in prison if found guilty, would breach his human rights.

But despite accepting that extradition to the US could cause Mr McKinnon’s mental health to deteriorate and even worsen the risk of suicide, two senior judges ruled that it did not represent a “inhuman or degrading treatment”.

[ . . . ]

Forty MPs including Michael Ancram, Sir Patrick Cormack and Peter Bottomley signed the letter, organised by the Conservative member Angela Browning who is Vice President of the National Autistic Society.

Sir Menzies Campbell, the former Former Liberal Democrat leader, Chris Grayling, the shadow Home Secretary, and Keith Vaz, the Labour chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, also spoke out against the extradition.

Karen Todner, Mr McKinnon’s solicitor, said: “I have today sent a letter to President Barack Obama signed by 40 members of a cross parliamentary group of MPs asking him to step in to bring this shameful episode to an end. It is a sad state of affairs if this Government cannot protect our most vulnerable citizens.”

Any Supreme Court case is not thought likely to be heard until next spring, in the run-up to the expected general election.

[ . . . ]

Mr Cameron said: “Gary McKinnon is a vulnerable young man and I see no compassion in sending him thousands of miles away from his home and loved ones to face trial.”

Speaking on the steps of the Royal Courts of Justice Mrs Sharp described the attempt to extradite her son as a “disgrace”.

“I’m desperately trying to get through to Obama,” she said. “This is from the Bush era … it is not of Obama, he would not want this to happen.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5949202/40-MPs-in-plea-to-Barack-Obama-over-computer-hacker-Gary-McKinnon.html

***

My Note –

Is That the best they can do with our money – to process and prosecute someone who is obviously not a terrorist, didn’t intend harm and was capable of getting into secure computer databases of our government. They ought to be hiring him instead of prosecuting and persecuting Gary McKinnon – he’s obviously brilliant and we need his expertise, and so does the government of the UK and Interpol and the European Parliaments’ cybersecurity forces.

What are they thinking to bring this man to the United States away from all that he knows and subject him to sitting in a jail cell through the fall and Christmas, locked away from everyone he knows in the abusive environments of our prison system? Why in the hell would anybody do such a thing given that what he did hacking into the government agency computer networks took a brilliant ability that we so desperately need?

How dare anyone destroy that brilliance, genius and level of knowledge when it caused no harm, was not intended to cause harm and was in no way related to terrorism, nor to a terrorist act? Then, to sit him in our jails until Spring of whenever without a due recourse because the bureaucracy of the Republican Party’s Bush Administration is still in unfettered tyranny? Are you kidding me – what kind of people would do this and get it so backwards when we are desperate to have people exactly like this man help us in our intelligence and cyber security fields? If they do this to him, there is nothing worth saving in America because there is apparently too much wrong with it to fix . . .

The United States of America has no business acting like a senseless bunch of Gestapo bastards without the insight or good judgment of a rock. It is a waste of time, effort and resources along with the fact that no good comes of it and it undermines the very foundation of our nation’s premise.

– cricketdiane, 08-01-09

***

Title – (this is not a sentence, it is a paragraph for a title – sorry about that),

US – Republican Administration Policies continue unabated, unhindered, and without regard, using their “conservative thinktank” policies to impose and define America with Abuses of Human Rights, Violations of Civil Rights, Oppression of the Disadvantaged and Disabled – These Bush, Reagan and even, Nixon era bureaucrats are still using their Gestapo tactics of unbridled cruelty, senseless unmerciful viciousness and psychotic sadistic whims on citizens lives while causing egregious harms against mankind – Here is what their efforts are using our money and resources to do this time – (leftover evils from previous Republican bureaucratic policies) –

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5949202/40-MPs-in-plea-to-Barack-Obama-over-computer-hacker-Gary-McKinnon.html – These Republican right wing policies continue to be imposed on our society by using the Conservative Caucus choices that were enacted throughout the US agencies, state legislatures and under the guise of US states’ rights from the last twenty years, which inflict their abuses of power, intolerance of Human Rights and degradations of people upon every person it touches – now to include Gary McKinnon, UK citizen for hacking into US databases to find out about UFOs . . .

***

I still say – they ought to be hiring this guy, Gary McKinnon instead of giving him hell across two countries and using countless manhours, resources, administrative efforts, prosecution funds and costs to both countries, as well as the mental stress, inconvenience and difficulties it has caused him and his family (and in his community) – it is an insane waste of resources and a complete waste of his talents when we most need them available to us in both countries and in the European Parliament facilities, as well.

– my note

***

US oppression (of diversity – differences and disabled individuals – elderly – poor – disadvantaged – homeless – destitute – nonconformist – creative – gifted – intelligent – genius – brilliant – talented – unusual) continues along conservative christian values of intolerance and shameful cruelty / sadistic games with human lives – the same as the Bush administration CIA, NSA, police brutality and domestic policies of castes and oppression.

In the words of our Chinese counterparts – “Don’t try to catch a falling knife.” I saw it on the bloomberg ticker one night last fall and nearly fell out of my chair considering its implications. It might be correct – it may be that the United States who has demanded that every other nation abide by certain human rights protections for citizens, cannot do the same at home nor in any policies or action it takes. That would be a shame for it to continue that way.

****

The things you can do with robots…cook, swim, minitrurize it and even model it

Tags

21st Century, A.I, Artifical Intellegence, Cricket House Studios, cricketdiane, Europe, Futuristic sciences, High-tech Business, Inventing Solutions For America, Japanese, Middle East, robotics, Robots

Among the participants, Iran sent the most teams with 50 in the running, followed by Germany and Japan, according to the organisers.

Robots face off on football pitch, in kitchen at RoboCup 2009

Jul 1, 2009

VIENNA (AFP) — RoboCup 2009, the world’s largest robotics event, kicked off Wednesday in the southern Austrian city of Graz, with some 400 teams and 2,000 robots ready to compete in sports and rescue operations.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ixm4XobiCAxDhR0yuX91nz0_2cYA

***

Check out these cool videos of robots –

July 5, 2009 9:34 AM PDT
Ramen robots invade Japanese restaurant
by Dave Rosenberg

Udon combo in Tokyo

Udon combo in Tokyo.
(Credit: Dave Rosenberg)

Just when you thought your noodle waterslide was the height of Japanese food gadgetry, a ramen shop in Minami-Alps, Yamanashi, Japan, is gaining popularity for its robot chef.

[etc.]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10279512-62.html

***


Robot Chef

Look out chefs this bot has the moves!

***


Robot Fish

its a salmon, its a tuna, nope its ROBOT FISH!!!

***

TechWatch: Mini-bots

big bots small bots, one bot two bots…oh my

***


Robot Evolution

watch how the world started the creation of robots to now

***


Catwalk Robot

It’s the Cleopatra of the model world