LOCATION,LOCATION,LOCATION

You know she* is everywhere here, from the deepest canyons to the highest manmade structure. You know where she came from. From the heart of the One Creator. You know where we came from: from the heart of the very same Source.

Why? For choices. Is it a game? Depends on your definitions. Is it folly? No. Is it caprice? No.

It says: ‘for He so loved the world.’

The Earth was made as one world among many, but one very special, and therefore, needing caretakers.

The caretakers though, have yet to pass the test. This is the ASVAB for stewards. We are failing. As a whole, we seem to care so little for our Earth Mother, that we tear her apart in order to make monuments in our own image and after our likeness… our vain imaginings.

Allow me to digress and grow personal for a bit.

I loved Iowa. Other than vacations to the Rocky Mountains, Manitowish Waters, Mammoth Cave, Chicago and one memorable trip to Boston, Iowa was my home. I did well there. Well enough anyway. Life was fairly calm and reasonable. Both typical and atypical in many of the ways of  family and marriage and jobs, when suddenly it all sort of imploded and I wound up with an ultimatum… move to Florida or else.

Like Ruth, whithersoever he went, I resolved to go.

Culture shock. Sunny south Florida was an instant nightmare for this Iowa country girl.

It took a while. I evolved. I grew into it. I learned to love it. It wasn’t a choice so much as a slow development of a comfort zone, creating home where I was, simply because that’s where I was. I made lifetime friends, and lost contact with the ones from Iowa. A few letters and a couple of phone calls, the twenty-five year class reunion, and slowly all contact ebbed away.

Several trips to Missouri to spend time with my transplanted family remnants: sister and dad, were as close as I got to the ‘homeland’ again.

Solo journeys out west on a sort of ‘walk-about’ mission expanded my view and my love of this beautiful land we call America. And when I went home, it was to Florida.

Ups and downs and poor choices that did not feel like choices but inevitabilities peppered the Florida experience with stories to tell and heartbreaks to heal.

But at some point, I realized how much I had grown to love South Florida. The heat can be difficult, but so can heat anywhere. The traffic can be annoying, but so can traffic anywhere. Hurricanes… well, you can plan for them, and are easier to live with than the suddenness of the tornados that season the Midwest with discomfort at times.

Another sudden implosion ignited an explosion that sent me alone, to make a new life in Tennessee. Why? Poor choices I thought, but in retrospect, Tennessee has been like going to school for a degree in a topic I had no interest in, although, I have found that now that ‘graduation’ approaches, I can see that as much as I have been harmed financially and emotionally by these six troubled years, I have been blessed to a much greater extent by the trials and the lessons and the contacts that I have experienced here. I often kid that the Chamber of Commerce will never hire me, since I have nothing good to say about Nashville, and that is true to an extent. This is a culture in which I have not been able to sink roots. It is a place to visit if one is so inclined. It is a little country town with big metropolitan aspirations, a little skyline of which they are every bit as proud as they are of their guitars and country music, Confederate history and the Civil War battles and graveyards that dot the landscape. The twang which many find enchanting, grates on my grammatical sensibilities and niggles its way into my own lexicon like a virus for which I have very little immunity.

In spite of being cheated and robbed and foreclosed and financially ruined, I have met and made friends with a handful of very special people that I will always hold dear in my heart and that I hope will also value me as a lifelong friend. I have met dogs that have touched me in ways that few others have. I have lost two thirds of my own dogs that moved here with me. I have had heartbreak. I have learned firsthand what depression is, I have dated idiots and some dear but troubled souls. I have made no significant romantic connections.

I waited. Long and determined, I waited for a burning bush to jump up in front of me and tell me what to do and where to go. Fearful of my own tendency to make poor decisions, I wanted the Creator to intervene and outline a path for me.

When it happened, it surprised me. The burning bush said it was up to me to make up my mind and decide where to go and then said my decision would be supported and I would continue to be blessed.

The temptation of Missouri is great. How I would love to spend time with my wonderful nephew, Eithan. He grows so fast. Each day his maturity astounds. At eight years old, he expresses great wisdom, caring and joy. He will be a fine steward.

And so, as I endeavor to downsize my accumulation of physical anchors that hamper my mobility, I pack and ready myself to go home. Prodigal? Yes, in a way. My path home to South Florida is my path to my future of greater mobility. Geographically dangling once again on what I enjoy referring to (if you will forgive my crudeness) as the penis of America, I shall fall back, re-group and ready myself for my next steps forward to the completion of my mission.

I remain a potted plant: unable to sink down roots into this wonderful land. The choices are many. I shall perhaps become a tumble weed.

No longer knee-jerking responses out of fear, my choices shall be determined by gratitude and love for that which has given me life in this beautiful land.

And that’s the thing. All parts of America and all parts of this Earth have great beauty. I acknowledge the beauty of everywhere I have lived and visited. I mourn the destruction mankind has wrought upon many areas and many life forms in it’s (their, our) endeavor to ‘have dominion’ and to egoistically make monuments to themselves and through force to have power over others.

I mourn, but I endeavor not to condemn. For to condemn, is to resist and to fight and when we resist and fight, that only makes the job harder. A muscle resisted grows stronger.

I have this container where I am sprouting seedlings from my citrus fruit. I imagine they will be unable to produce fruit themselves, but the foliage is cheery. One cold winter’s day I tossed the seeds of a pepper into the pot because I didn’t want to trudge to the compost bin. I forgot they were there. They knew where they were. They sprouted and grew and continue to grow, and now they bloom. Coddled indoors, without the weather to force strength into their stems, they are limp and weak as the tenderest vine. Will they be strong enough to fruit? I do not know. I simply have observed that this indoor protected, coddled placement has not given them their needed opportunity to be all they can be… to weather the storms of life: and yet, they continue to grow and to attempt to be productive. It is their nature.

Sometimes home is not the best place for us to grow. Remaining in a comfort zone does not expand our horizons much.

The joy and the beauty of this world are gifts from our Source and true stewardship is our duty to support that beauty with our choices.

Oh Eternal One, forgive me my poor choices and help me to make choices that bless.

So mote it be.

* ‘she’ refers to Mother Earth

A SEARCH FOR MEANING

My country ‘tis of Thee

Sweet land of liberty

Of Thee we sing

Land where our fathers died

Land of the pilgrims’ pride

From every mountainside

Let freedom ring

…

Great God, our King

This is a hymn of gratitude to God for bringing the oppressed Europeans out of the old country and into a new land. It was not meant to be a song worshiping the land itself.

This is a confusion based upon the poetical wording and a people’s tendency toward nationalism and tribalism.

These grateful European expats slaughtered the native people of the Americas in order to found their [our] new nation. Conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all people are created equally by the God of our fathers who brought them out of exile, they take over.

So what do they do? Rather than mixing and fitting in and living peaceably, they slaughter, and found an empire to rival all prior empires.

Somehow, our forebears assumed and passed on to us, a belief in superiority. Egotistically assuming that we are God’s favored people. What about ‘all men?’

Bible verse I Kings 3: 9 is known as a verse within Solomon’s Prayer where he asks God for wisdom and understanding to judge

… this Thy so great a people…

Long and long, I have misapprehended that one simple phrase. I think most of us who have read or studied the Bible have misunderstood great parts of it, simply because of word usage and multiple definitions.

Great: We can take it to mean large or we can take it to mean superlative.

I believe many of us in this instance take it to mean superlative, wonderful, special. Solomon though, is referring to the largeness of the population, as is earlier explained when he says they cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude [verse 8.]

Those of us who consider ourselves Christians and those who are Jewish generally mean well when we study the Bible. There are some who read it to find verses to support their ungodly behavior, and there are many who actually take each word literally without studying the words to determine what they mean. We make many assumptions, such as when Jesus tells us that the meek shall inherit the earth. In our current vernacular, we define meek as almost synonymous with weak, and therefore either discount the admonition or use it to justify inaction and complacency.  Whatever word in Jesus’ Aramaic language that was translated into meek, actually meant moderate. Moderate as opposed to extremist.

O woe is me. I have always defined myself in part, as a patriot. God Bless America.

All well and good, however, I have recently discovered that the extreme form of patriotism is nationalism and I have long tended to lean in that direction. And that direction is extremist.

I love America, I am grateful to God for America, for our Founding Fathers and their wisdom and for our documents upon which our nation is based. Politically, I have become a constitutional conservative and a moderate [neither Left nor Right]

I honor and respect our flag, sing our songs by heart and say the pledge of allegiance and place my hand over my heart. I have taken that oath many times and I take it seriously.

If you don’t love it, then leave it.

The importance of America to the world is based upon the liberty and principles stated in our Declaration of Independence. The format of the nation as set up in the Constitution is indisputably crucial to maintaining a free country. And yet, today, many people have not read it, and many who have misunderstand it, particularly those such as Madeline Murray O’Hare and others who do not think for themselves but find some mouthpiece to follow and become a groupie thereunto have done much damage.

So now, I am attempting to discern how to be patriotic without being nationalistic.

Like Solomon, and like others in Judeo-Christian history, after coming out of exile, leaders seek power, wealth and protection and these are the fundamental building blocks of empire.

How to have successful civilization without empire?

Lets’ take a look at the movie AVATAR. Watch it and re-watch it. It’s a think piece beyond the pure entertainment value.

The meanings of words change over time. Like meat marinating in seasoned juices, words marinate within the bodies of the cultures in which they are the medium of communication.

We must bear that in mind  and think for ourselves for the betterment of all.

Our Sacred Duty

As the people, the citizens of America, it is our duty as well as our sacred honor to remember our rights and privileges as Americans. It is imperative that we remember these things, not as history lessons, or something from the past, but as living , breathing active and valuable duties, rights and responsibilities set forth for us in our nation’s foundation, which was carefully crafted, under divine guidance, to last for all time.

Only we can screw it up. Only we can become so soft and so complacent and so forgetful, that we neglect our duties as Americans and allow ourselves to fall quietly into serfdom.

There is a rampant and often undetected effort by certain of the world’s richest and most powerful, to undermine our American values and weaken us to the point where we simply comply with the intrusions we were protected against by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Those documents set forth the foundation of law: of the people, by the people and for the people. It is, however, the people… us, you and me, who have the duty to make sure perpetuity sees the power of these documents.

Do you carry one in your pocket or purse? The book is smaller than a Kleenex packet. It weighs about the same. And is published with an attractive and durable leatherette cover.

Have you read it recently? Have you read it since secondary school? Have you EVER read it? Do so now. And after you have done so, think about all that it means.

Available from Amazon for less than five dollars, OR download for FREE onto your Kindle.

Here is what is said on the description page:

“Review

"Take a minute to consider a gift that hasn’t gone out of style in more than 200 years." -- Wall Street Journal

"Who needs play-stations when you can give the kids Thomas Jefferson?" -- Independent (U.K.)

From the Publisher

To encourage people everywhere to better understand and appreciate the principles of government that are set forth in America’s founding documents, the Cato Institute published this pocket edition of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America. With more than three million copies in print, this edition’s influence has been observed far and wide. It has been held up by senators at press conferences and by representatives during floor debate; found in federal judicial chambers across the country; appeared at conferences on constitutionalism in Russia, Iraq, and elsewhere; and sold at U.S. Park Service stores, Restoration Hardware, and book stores around the country. It’s a perfect gift for friends and family. Order your copies today! “

And so, I challenge everyone to acquaint themselves on an intimate basis with these documents. Also, step up to the challenge of ensuring that your children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews receive proper education; not the heavily edited versions taught in the school systems of today. Where the systems fail, supplement the process at home. Libraries and bookstores offer ample access to the fundamentals of English grammar, penmanship, writing, reading, history, math, social studies, economics and the many other important topics that are only glossed over or utterly neglected in the school systems. Don’t be conned into thinking that education in the ways of modern technology is enough. What happens when the power goes out and the cell towers tumble? Get back to basics first.

Blessings of love and light and freedom to all, and God Bless America.

Victoria

SOME PEOPLE CARE OTHERS DO NOT

This gentleman says it very well. The same story applies not only to military personnel but to ordinary Americans who have little if any recourse and seldom any capability to combat these severe methods of USURY GONE AMOK in the USA


Congressional Committee hears about US soldier's family losing house to Chase Bank while deployed

IDEAS TOWARD A NEW ECONOMY

[This posting was supposed to have been published in here last winter (February 2011) but somehow it got lost and I do not know how to move it into position]
This is a heavy thought to jump in with, but hey... sink or swim!
A band-aid fix on our economy is not what is needed.
Economic rejuvenation, economic revitalization, up-turn in the economy, economic renewal, and so many other phrases designed to placate our mesmerized society do nothing but prolong our difficulties.
1. What would a truly healthy economy look like?
2. What features would indicate that a culture had an effective economic system?
3. Economic systems seem to be tied hand-in-hand with governmental systems. Why is that?


Please insert your answer to these questions in the comments section.


Capitalism
Corporatism
Communism
Socialism
Crime
These are the economic systems of which I have any awareness. Capitalism is our ongoing favorite here in America, but it has morphed into corporatism, though it still wears the capitalism hat in disguise. All of these fail to solve the needs of free people trading for goods and services.
Barter works in small and unregulated ways. I can buy eggs from a farmer for a lot less than at a store. I can barter for a massage by trading dog sitting. Barter is not something that can be regulated by a government, nor would we want it to be. In barter, everyone is responsible for and to themselves and for their behaviour of fairness toward the other party. Government does not like barter because they have not found an effective way to regulate and tax it.
I want to find or perhaps devise an economic system based on kindness, fairness and responsibility and not on greed and entitlement.
Seems like entitlement is greed turned upside down.
Those who feel they are entitled to things they have not worked for are greedy and envious and lazy. I painted that with a broad brush. I know there are mitigating circumstances. But people are entitled to shelter and food and water, not to big screens and Ipods.
Those who feel that their constituency are entitled to stuff are greedy for votes and if not that, then perhaps they are operating from a sense of guilt over being one of the 'Haves.' Then again, perhaps compassion has turned toward sympathy.
If someone, either rich or poor, is struggling to survive a negative outlook, or even stuck without trying, there is no way they can hope to save the world. Saving the world requires Love.
Love in every aspect of life.
Let's see how we can build an economy around that simple concept.

WHO, WHAT AND WASTE

CNN, which, as an airport employee, I am force-fed each work day, all day, actually aired a nice little piece about a little boy who had realized the wastefulness of drinking straws and had set about to rectify the situation. See the brief clip at this link:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2011/08/25/dnt-mo-anti-straw-campaign.cnn?iref=allsearch
Afterall, why should humanity turn so much natural resources into something as extraneous as one-use-disposable straws? Anyway, the piece interviewed him and he told about his research and the ideas he had in order to replace the ubiquitous disposable straw.
Here is the link to Milo's very worthwhile web site:
http://bestrawfree.org/Home.html
I made a comment about how refreshing it is to see a young boy so intelligent and proactive and willing to take up a cause no one else has done and to move forward with it.
Sadly, the old woman paying for her candy, diet soda and trash magazine bitterly responded by saying she wondered who had put him up to that. Who told him all that stuff and why bother to make a big deal of him on TV.
I was a bit stunned by her comment. I responded by saying, "Isn't it wonderful that such a brilliant little fellow had the gumption to begin such a project?"
She said, "Well, he couldn't have come up with any of that. Someone had to tell him all that stuff."
I said that he had done his research. She countered with well somebody had to tell him.
I said he was a brilliant little fellow who had the idea, then did his research, then came up with the plan.
She said that was impossible and that a little kid could not come up with any ideas but had to be told everything. (A classic she said /she said)
I said that brilliance is a gift and that it is accessible to anyone if they are willing to seek it and accept it and that it is possible for people to think for themselves, especially children.
And then I realized that what I was looking at in this old woman was the face of death. Entropy on two feet.
It was very sad.
That was a good time to say 'whatever,' give her her change and push her out the door. Well, of course I did not push her out the door. I simply turned to my next task.
I learn a little more each day about dealing with people. Some people apparently, choose to remain narrow-minded and ignorant. It is sad, but as I learn to discern this and profile who is who in society, I can point myself in directions that bless without wasting my efforts. When to engage and when not to engage is a time-saving lesson. Learning how to disengage is crucial, as is when to disengage. Saying nothing sometimes says it all.
Clearing one's energy field following negative encounters is important to one's well-being. Suggestions for ways to do that can be found in my HEALING THOUGHTS blog.
My comments to the brilliant young fellow doing this important work are 'Bravo! Keep up the great work!"

A LITTLE TROUBLE WITH YOUR PC?

Are you getting that? Are you having some unexplained slowness and jamming when you try to do even the simplest things on the internet? Are things loading more slowly? Perhaps not at all?


About a month ago, my perfectly functioning laptop system began to function like 'rush hour' in metropolitan NYC, regardless of day or time. Shortly thereafter, I began getting pop-up after pop-up offering me the perfect solution to PC slowness. This happens no matter which browser I am using.


Hmmm, paranoid I may be, but I do detect clear signs of a plot here.
"They" whoever "They" are, obviously have more control over what we see and do on our PC's than we have cared to suspect. It is calling to mind an old episode of Twilight Zone. "Do not attempt to adjust your screen," is the direct quote that comes to  mind ...  followed by some sort of invasion.


I suspect in this case it is a media and advertising scam creating the problem only "They" can solve.
So far, I've been able to limp along by repeatedly cleaning out cookies and deleting browsing history.
If you have better homegrown solutions that do not involve buying the services "They" are trying to sell, please comment here and let me know.


Thanks, and keep reading and keep active!
Blessed Be
Victoria

ANOTHER REASON TO CUT ALL FOREIGN AID NOW

This is the most shocking report I have yet seen. A true afront to the American People, Our Constitution, the Military, those who died on 9/11 and at every terrorist attack since the Crusades.

REVAMPING THE ECONOMY: A FEW IDEAS...

Admittedly, I know nothing about economics as is taught in economics classes. I have never taken “econ.” I was a science and journalism major. I always thought that money would take care of itself. My naiveté has come home to roost. I am essentially on my own for the first time in my life. I have been learning many lessons and continue to do so.

Even though my assumption that money would just happen as needed proved to be a bit of a fantasy, a more profound gut feeling about the way national and world economy functions has proven to be correct.

The economic system does not work. It appeared to work for decades, centuries even. Now we see it collapsing from its own dead weight, even though the pundits keep trying to prop it up and baffle our public consciousness with bovine excrement.

A growth economy is the fundamental foundation of how this is all set up. It is a crumbling foundation. Envision a huge pile of sand assaulted by the strong and unrelenting winds of change.

I am also no architect, but I think we can all call to mind what would happen if a tall building were built on top of a pile of sand.

Too much confidence has been placed in this economic house of cards. Literally tons of books have been written about this form of economy.

To paraphrase Wikipedia, labor, resources, production, exchange and distribution of goods and services comprise an economic system.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy.

There are places in life where balance is our best possible goal. Economy is one of those places.

Worldwide population growth is out of balance and has been since, well, forever. But that does not mean that the world economy has to outflank it. Achieving a balance in economy would look different than what we see today. Not only would it mean equal pay for equal work in the USA, but it would mean that no where in the world would women and children be enslaved for pennies a day. It would mean that compassion, fairness and wise stewardship would be the foundation upon which stability and balance would be achieved. Gross profits and Wall Street mania would be a thing of the past. Most necessary goods would be produced locally. Employment contracts would be written individually and agreed to by both parties and performance measured in both directions.

            It seems as though some things in life should be free. Indeed, some are, but they are the intangibles. If other things were free, how would the providers thereof be able to provide for themselves? Education, it seems, should be free, but if it were, then how would the teachers live? Parks should be free, but if they were, how would the people who care for them buy groceries and clothe their families?

Government has assumed the task of paying for many things for people. Oops! Where does the government get that money? Well, from the people. The government has become this gigantic and inefficient middle man doling out this and that while paying bureaucrats and staff large amounts of tax money to pass along some of it in the form of welfare, that people would not need if the government wasn’t sucking up so much money and accruing so much debt. Debt? Debt you ask? Well, yes, the government spends more than the tax revenues, no matter how great that figure.  And the United States Government has been borrowing money in one form or another for decades.

When I was a little kid, I saw on TV how we sent massive amounts of aid to China. So how does it turn out that we are now indebted to China for trillions of dollars? And of course many other countries hold paper against the USA for varying sums all totaling more zeros than my calculator can handle.

And some want to raise the debt ceiling and spend even more.

These are things the various levels of government should provide for:

Unified roads and bridges

The infrastructure for other forms of transportation, utilities and communication. This includes airport runways, cell towers, power lines, water and sewer systems and so forth.

Military

Border and port of entry monitoring

Police

Fire Departments and EMT services

When I say various levels of government, I am assuring you that not all of these things are to come from the federal government, but some must come from state and local levels. And some, especially infrastructure and  EMT and Fire department services could be privatized through renewable leases, which would not be a drain, but a possible source of income.

Here is how the governments can save money:

Cease and desist the so-called “war on drugs.”

Stop paying welfare to the able-bodied idle.

Cut off annual retirement payments to retired congressmen/women.

Freeze salaries of politicos currently in office at all federal levels.

Require that all persons serving in government fly or travel commercially and not in government craft or in private planes, unless those are paid for strictly by the individual. No expense accounts for elected officials. Only enforcement agencies will have access to government craft as need for assignments.

No government money to fund election campaigns.

Set a low cap on how much can be spent on any political campaign.

Eliminate lobbiest organizations.

Eliminate discretionary spending categories.

Confine entitlement programs to verified citizens and their legal dependents, providing none have any criminal records.

Tighten the eligibility criteria for aid programs

Turn away all illegals at the border. Explain to them the proper procedure for applying for legal entry.

Realize Border Patrol is not doing the job. Use the military and military dogs to do the border patrolling work.

Stop sending arms to Mexico and South America.

Eliminate all foreign aid immediately.

 Chart: Discretionary_Spending by Department

The above chart is from Wikipedia. This is the discretionary spending of our tax money.

Starting at the top, I suggest we do the following:

>Itemize Health and Human services. We need to know line by line, what this huge amount is for. Then we need to cut it, line by line as appropriate.

>Veterans Affairs: Increase to 60 billion to account for exceptional advances in  treatment of amputees and for PTSD.

>Department of Education: Cut to 30 billion, line by line

>Housing and Urban Development: lets do a line by line cut back to 30 billion.

>Homeland Security and TSA: Cut back to zero. We have a very fine, well-trained military and a wonderful contingent of beautifully trained dogs. Let them do their work.

>Department of State:  Minimize fluffy luxury expenses. Cut back to 20 billion.

>Department of  Justice: This department needs to review the Constitution and become more accountable to the original principles of that fine document. If they can do their job properly, leave it alone, if not, cut it at any area that is misbehaving.

>Department of Agriculture was originally designed to protect the interests of our nation’s farmers against foreign and domestic incursions. They have failed. Now our nation’s agriculture is dominated by two or three major corporate enterprises which are patenting chemically and biologically altered seed and prohibiting independent farmers from using their own harvested seed. They are killing our farmers and feeding us chemically altered crap prettily packaged as though it were actually food. Cut them back to 2 billion and rescind the seed patents issued to agribusiness corporations, whose names I will not mention here.

>Department of Energy. Hmmm. What have they done lately? Pushed pencils and wasted paper mostly. Eliminate the whole thing. Zero Zilch.

>International Assistance, also known as foreign aid. Bring it home! Cut this down to 2 billion dollars and that is still generous.

>Department of Transportation. Line item. Make them simplify. Eliminate excessive paperwork. Cut their budget to 15 billion and hold them accountable for their expenditures. If bridges and roads need repair, then acceptable proposals can be handled as special appropriations.

>NASA: well, as of today they seem to have eliminated this all together. Apparently the space industry is being turned over to the Russians and other European countries and to private industry. Too bad. It was the best research and development organization in the world.

>Department of Labor seems mostly like a lame duck. If it were fully functional, labor unions could be put to rest. OSHA should make periodic inspections of business and not wait to be called. Working conditions would be better monitored and  less jobs would be out-sourced. Make them accountable and more efficient. Perhaps President Johnson was correct when he suggested combining it with the ….

>Department of Commerce: they once were combined. It might prove more effective again. Dept. of Commerce needs to be watch-dogged a bit more rigorously. Especially in the area of patent-issuing. Consideration needs to be given to the long-term affects of certain patents that could eventually prove to be not in the public interest, but harmful to overall fiscal and physical health.

>The Treasury Department has conspired with the Federal Reserve and the White House and Capitol Hill to ruin our economy. And of course, it harbors the IRS, a debatably controversial and unpopular agency. Hopefully the good it serves at least balances out the bad. As budgets go, it appears to be comparatively small for the complexity of the agency. We need more public oversight into this.

>Department of Interior Has not done an exemplary job in protecting our American Indians nor our American forest lands. It oversees the parks and really doesn’t accomplish much. It should be combined with …

>Department of Environmental Protection which has proven to be a whole lot of useless paper-pushing for the most part.  I suggest combing the EPA with the Department of Interior and the Department of Agriculture. Giving them a list of things to do, and hold them accountable. If they actually do it all, then it could be appropriate to combine their budgets and rounding down to a flat 25 billion. For good measure, let’s throw in whatever functions the Department of Energy was designed to perform. It all could easily be accommodated in this more efficient combination.

Here is how the governments can make money:

Legalize all currently illegal drugs or controlled substances, regulate and tax them. The ATF needs something useful to do.

Put prisoners to work. Make them earn their keep.

All welfare recipients must pass random pee tests. Even though controlled substances will be legalized, they must prove they are not wasting money on non-essentials.

Tighten scrutiny at the store level, so that people cannot buy junk food and luxury items with food stamps. And if they have money to buy these things, why are their ordinary items paid for by food stamps?

Force all able-bodied welfare recipients to work in some of the following areas:

Cleaning roadsides of trash and litter, sorting and recycling it.

Pulling noxious weeds from public areas

Sweeping streets and shoveling snow in public areas

Cooking and distributing food to the homeless or indigent

Collecting cast-off food products for the homeless

Collecting and sorting food waste for composting, making compost and mulch for sale to individuals and business.

Teaching ESL and other basic skills to those who lack them… ie: to each other.

Sand bagging for flood zones

Bucket brigades for wild fires

Reading to the blind or infirm, or to children in after-school programs.

People need to take pride in themselves for some accomplishments.

Make the welfare recipient work force available on contract to private citizens willing to pay a small amount for basic help, such as carrying things, cleaning or yard work.

(Determine which of these suggestions , if enacted, would not deprive someone not on welfare, of any employment opportunities)

I think we remember a few years back when the government accounting office uncovered  some very expensive hammers that were sold to the US government. Another look should be taken at the costs of private contractors. The government claims it is cheaper to hire contractors than to use military personnel. And yet the many contractors I speak with in my work tell me how delighted they are that they got out of the military to do contract work for the military because they make so much more money and do what they want. So how can that actually be cheaper?

I am tired of wastefulness in my own life and I am tired of wastefulness in our government. Let’s make government accountable to us. It is designed to serve us. We are not servants of government. Liberate America from the chokehold of our big fat Jabba the Hut government.

Maybe you disagree. Fully? Or line by line? I would like to know. Maybe I need a different perspective, but that’s how I see it.

Victoria

The Economy: It Sucks, So This Is a Long One...

Admittedly, I know nothing about economics that is taught in economics classes. I have never taken “econ.” I was a science and journalism major. I always thought that money would take care of itself. My naiveté has come home to roost. I am essentially on my own for the first time in my life. I have been learning many lessons and continue to do so.

Even though my assumption that money would just happen as needed proved to be a bit of a fantasy, a more profound gut feeling about the way national and world economy functions has proven to be correct. The economic system does not work. It appeared to work for decades, centuries even. Now we see it collapsing from its own dead weight, even though the pundits keep trying to prop it up and baffle our public consciousness with bovine excrement.

A growth economy is the fundamental foundation of how this is all set up. It is a crumbling foundation. Envision a huge pile of sand assaulted by the strong and unrelenting winds of change.

I am also no architect, but I think we can all call to mind what would happen if a tall building were built on top of a pile of sand.

Too much confidence has been placed in this economic house of cards. Literally tons of books have been written about this form of economy.

To paraphrase Wikipedia, labor, resources, production, exchange and distribution of goods and services comprise an economic system.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy.

There are places in life where balance is our best possible goal. Economy is one of those places.

Worldwide population growth is out of balance and has been since, well, forever. But that does not mean that the world economy has to outflank it. Achieving a balance in economy would look different than what we see today. Not only would it mean equal pay for equal work in the USA, but it would mean that no where in the world would women and children be enslaved for pennies a day. It would mean that compassion, fairness and wise stewardship would be the foundation upon which stability and balance would be achieved. Gross profits and Wall Street mania would be a thing of the past. Most necessary goods would be produced locally. Employment contracts would be written individually and agreed to by both parties and performance measured in both directions.

            It seems as though some things in life should be free. Indeed, some are, but they are the intangibles. If other things were free, how would the providers thereof be able to provide for themselves? Education, it seems, should be free, but if it were, then how would the teachers live? Parks should be free, but if they were, how would the people who care for them buy groceries and clothe their families?

Government has assumed the task of paying for many things for people. Oops! Where does the government get that money? Well, from the people. The government has become this gigantic and inefficient middle man doling out this and that while paying bureaucrats and staff large amounts of tax money to pass along some of it in the form of welfare, that people would not need if the government wasn’t sucking up so much money and accruing so much debt.

These are things the various levels of government should provide for:

Unified roads and bridges

The infrastructure for other forms of transportation, utilities and communication. This includes airport runways, cell towers, power lines, water and sewer systems and so forth.

Military

Border and port of entry monitoring

Police

Fire Departments and EMT services

When I say various levels of government, I am assuring you that not all of these things are to come from the federal government, but some must come from state and local levels.

Here is how the governments can save money:

Cease and desist the so-called “war on drugs.”

Stop paying welfare to the able-bodied idle.

Cut off annual retirement payments to retired congressmen/women

Freeze salaries of politicos currently in office at all federal levels.

Require that all persons serving in government fly or travel commercially and not in government craft or in private planes, unless those are paid for strictly by the individual. No expense accounts for elected officials. Only enforcement agencies will have access to government craft as need for assignments.

No government money to fund election campaigns.

Set a low cap on how much can be spent on any political campaign.

Eliminate lobbiest organizations.

Eliminate discretionary spending categories.

Confine entitlement programs to verified citizens and their legal dependents, providing none have any criminal records.

Tighten the eligibility criteria for aid programs

Turn away all illegals at the border. Explain to them the proper procedure for applying for legal entry.

Realize Border Patrol is not doing the job. Use the military and military dogs to do the border patrolling work.

Stop sending arms to Mexico and South America.

Eliminate all foreign aid immediately.

The above chart is from Wikipedia. This is the discretionary spending of our tax money.

Starting at the top, I suggest we do the following:

>Itemize Health and Human services. We need to know line by line, what this huge amount is for. Then we need to cut it, line by line as appropriate.

>Veterans Affairs: Increase to 60 billion to account for exceptional advances in  treatment of amputees and for PTSD.

>Department of Education: Cut to 30 billion, line by line

>Housing and Urban Development: lets do a line by line cut back to 30 billion.

>Homeland Security and TSA: Cut back to zero. We have a very fine, well-trained military and a wonderful contingent of beautifully trained dogs. Let them do their work.

>Department of State:  Minimize fluffy luxury expenses. Cut back to 20 billion.

>Department of  Justice: This department needs to review the Constitution and become more accountable to the original principles of that fine document. If they can do their job properly, leave it alone, if not, cut it at any area that is misbehaving.

>Department of Agriculture was originally designed to  protect the interests of our nation’s farmers against foreign and domestic incursions. They have failed. Now our nation’s agriculture is dominated by two or three major corporate enterprises which are patenting chemically and biologically altered seed and prohibiting independent farmers from using their own harvested seed. They are killing our farmers and feeding us chemically altered crap prettily packaged as though it were actually food. Cut them back to 2 billion and rescind the seed patents issued to agribusiness corporations, whose names I will not mention here.

>Department of Energy. Hmmm. What have they done lately? Pushed pencils and wasted paper mostly. Eliminate the whole thing. Zero Zilch.

>International Assistance, also known as foreign aid. Bring it home! Cut this down to 2 billion dollars and that is still generous.

>Department of Transportation. Line item. Make them simplify. Eliminate excessive paperwork. Cut their budget to 15 billion and hold them accountable for their expenditures. If bridges and roads need repair, then acceptable proposals can be handled as special appropriations.

>NASA: well, as of today they seem to have eliminated this all together. Apparently the space industry is being turned over to the Russians and other European countries and to private industry. Too bad. It was the best research and development organization in the world.

>Department of Labor seems mostly like a lame duck. If it were fully functional, labor unions could be put to rest. OSHA should make periodic inspections of business and not wait to be called. Working conditions would be better monitored and  less jobs would be out-sourced. Make them accountable and more efficient. Perhaps President Johnson was correct when he suggested combining it with the ….

>Department of Commerce: they once were combined. It might prove more effective again. Dept. of Commerce needs to be watch-dogged a bit more rigorously. Especially in the area of patent-issuing. Consideration needs to be given to the long-term affects of certain patents that could eventually prove to be not in the public interest, but harmful to overall fiscal and physical health.

>The Treasury Department has conspired with the Federal Reserve and the White House and Capitol Hill to ruin our economy. And of course, it harbors the IRS, a debatably controversial and unpopular agency. Hopefully the good it serves at least balances out the bad. As budgets go, it appears to be comparatively small for the complexity of the agency. We need more public oversight into this.

>Department of Interior Has not done an exemplary job in protecting our American Indians nor our American forest lands. It oversees the parks and really doesn’t accomplish much. It should be combined with …

>Department of Environmental Protection which has proven to be a whole lot of useless paper-pushing for the most part.  I suggest combing the EPA with the Department of Interior and the Department of Agriculture. Giving them a list of things to do, and hold them accountable. If they actually do it all, then it could be appropriate to combine their budgets and rounding down to a flat 25 billion. For good measure, let’s throw in whatever functions the Department of Energy was designed to perform. It all could easily be accommodated in this more efficient combination.

Here is how the governments can make money:

Legalize all currently illegal drugs or controlled substances, regulate and tax them. The ATF needs something useful to do.

Put prisoners to work. Make them earn their keep.

All welfare recipients must pass random pee tests. Even though controlled substances will be legalized, they must prove they are not wasting money on non-essentials.

Tighten scrutiny at the store level, so that people cannot buy junk food and luxury items with food stamps.

Force all able-bodied welfare recipients to work in some of the following areas:

Cleaning roadsides of trash and litter, sorting and recycling it.

Pulling noxious weeds from public areas

Sweeping streets and shoveling snow in public areas

Cooking and distributing food to the homeless or indigent

Collecting cast-off food products for the homeless

Collecting and sorting food waste for composting, making compost and mulch for sale to individuals and business.

Teaching ESL and other basic skills to those who lack them… ie: to each other.

Sand bagging for flood zones

Bucket brigades for wild fires

Reading to the blind or infirm, or to children in after-school programs.

People need to take pride in themselves for some accomplishments.

Make the welfare recipient work force available on contract to private citizens willing to pay a small amount for basic help, such as carrying things, cleaning or yard work.

(Determine which of these suggestions , if enacted, would not deprive someone not on welfare, of any employment opportunities)

I think we remember a few years back when the government accounting office uncovered  some very expensive hammers that were sold to the US government. Another look should be taken at the costs of private contractors. The government claims it is cheaper to hire contractors than to use military personnel. And yet the many contractors I speak with in my work tell me how delighted they are that they got out of the military to do contract work for the military because they make so much more money and do what they want. So how can that actually be cheaper?

I am tired of wastefulness in my own life and I am tired of wastefulness in our government. Let’s make government accountable to us. It is designed to serve us. We are not servants of government. Liberate America from the chokehold of our big fat Jabba the Hut government.

That’s how I see it.

Victoria

OBSERVATION AT THE GROCERY STORE

Today's observation begins in the grocery store.
There are 128 ounces in a gallon. 64 ounces are in a half gallon.
Juice has historically been sold by the half gallon. (64 ounces)
Now, the same apparent cartons contain only 59 ounces. This switch was done with no announcement whatsoever, but was accompanied by a price increase.
Now we pay more for less.
This also happens with the jams and jellies, assorted canned goods such as green beans, peas, soups and fruits.
Try to buy a one pound package of coffee. If you succeed, please let me know the details. Packages of coffee that once contained 16 ounces (one pound) are now home to 12, 13 or even just 11 ounces.
As prices rise, it becomes clear that Americans need to learn to purchase locally produced foods, to cut back on paying exhorbitant prices based upon transportation costs and in many cases importation costs. Packaging and over-packaging is also another big contributor to inflated food prices.
Had I not expected to be relocated by mid Summer, I would have planted a garden this year. Regardless of my location next year, I will raise as much of my own food as possible.
Groceries that are prepared foods, or junk foods, or not even food at all are being pared from my list. I would encourage each of you to re-think your purchases and exercise your power with wise stewardship of your grocery dollars.
Any ideas or input will be appreciated.
Best Wishes,
Victoria

Talking To Myself

You may recall, back in January, at the inception of this particular blog, I stipulated that this should be a dialogue. Well, so far, I've been talking to myself. It's been a pretty one-sided conversation.
I have a lot of ideas, but I bet you have some too.
Maybe you disagree with me. That's fine. I would love to hear your views.
Maybe you agree but feel helpless and hopeless. Let's talk about that too.
What can we do? We can dialogue until solutions present themselves, and then we can act upon them.
As we speak (as I speak) factions in D.C. want to raise the debt ceiling.
To that I say, HOLY CRAPOLA! At this time, my personal finances are in a similar situation as the nation's. Raising the debt ceiling is not an option for me (except for shoes for work and auto repairs) In my uncomfortable debt to credit ratio situation, the last thing I want to do is use more credit.
As I oh-so-slowly nibble away at the debt I have incurred trying to survive since the big D, I am (also) slowly converting myself into a cash-basis personal economy. With such a pittance as my hourly wage, it is indeed slow-going. And yet, I know that it is a very worthwhile endeavor.
"Neither a borrower nor a lender be,"  I thought was in the Bible, but I cannot find it. Is it perhaps, Shakespeare? Whence ever it cometh, it's exceptionally fine advice.
The Bible does prohibit usury though. And usury is defined as undue interest exacted on a loan, or in the case of dire necessity, it prohibts ANY interest being assessed. If you notice, our economy has become based upon usury.
These are things that upset me most about our economy:
High interest rates
Advertising that 'creates' desires that did not heretofore exist
Consumerism as an acceptable way of life
The concept of a 'growth economy'
I will not be called a consumer. I am a citizen. I am a citizen who leaves a very small footprint. I compost, I recycle, I help wildlife when I can. All my pets are rescued animals. I am not a mall rat. I have changed my shopping habits. I buy only what I NEED. Food, socks and underwear only as the old ones wear out, dog food, replacement parts for stuff, medical necessities, and reference materials as needed. I am attempting to downsize so that I can live in a smaller place. Okay, I'm patting myself on the back for my diligent insistence on reducing, reuseing, repairing and recycling. Well, I did have a BIG SPLURGE this year already. I confess, I spent $4.50 on a bottle of nail polish. But did you know, that if you run out of shampoo, you can substitute bar soap or dish soap (not the dishwasher kind... the other stuff)?
Well, sorry. I do feel that these are important personal footsteps to take toward fixing things.
"If everyone lit just one little candle, what a bright world this would be," is a favorite quote from a TV show when I was very young. If everyone planted a tree, recycled, composted and grew a few garden items, and maybe stopped watering their lawn, we would see a significant impact. People would also see reductions in utility and other expenses. Stuff is expensive. That makes me angry. Inflation is accepted as a matter of course. People laugh at old fogies who are shocked that gum is $2.18 when it used to be a dime.  Well hell yeah, it's shocking! Who needs gum anyway? Now that I have turned this into a rant after the example of the old fogies themselves, I shall sign off for tonight.
May Great Spirit Bless the Entire World!
Love and Light
Victoria

CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME

Yes, that is where it begins. One first takes care of oneself and one's family, building a strong foundation from which one can reach out and serve the greater good.
Charity on a national and world-wide basis is the perview of the spiritual organizations, private foundations and individuals. Charity is NOT the job of a nation to spend tax money trying to fix every problem outside of our borders, whilst neglecting the problems within.
It is also not up to tax money to entitle every resident to big screen TVs, lobster, steak and fine wine.
Sheer folly and greed for power have corrupted charitable actions and the Pharisees and Sadducees almost look good by comparison.
Internally, charity from the governement is nothing but a bid for votes.
Paid-for programs such as Social Security and Medicare are insurance plans  for  those who have worked and paid in to the programs. They are not charity. They are not broad-based entitlement programs. They were never meant to be dispersed to ilegal aliens or those who have chosen to live off the dole or off the proceeds of criminal activity as opposed to honest paid labor.
Charity is for the individual to give and for the organizations who have charity as an element of their belief structure and reason for being.
By the way, have any countries ever paid us back for our 'loans to them? Have any countries ever come to our aid when we have suffered disastrous events?
And worse yet, America borrows money to give away! How dumb is that?
Peter to Paul anyone?
If asked Experian what the credit rating is of the United States, what could they, in all hinesty compute? It would be a negative number.  Duh.
I know of only one country who has every publicly said Thank You for our aid to them, and that (domo arigatō) is Japan. You are welcome.

Convenience Versus Freedom

The willingness of so many thousands of U.S. citizens to simply give up their freedom  guaranteed by the Constitution for the lame excuse of convenience appalls me daily.
The body scanners and the pat downs and the strip searches at our airports have been widely accepted by way too large an element of our population. Just because they are in a hurry and want to fly from a to b, they will bend over and kiss their freedom goodbye.
Here is a copy of a posting by a woman who was multiply assaulted at the Orlando Airport recently:

Franka Fiala posted in SURVIVING EARTH CHANGES 2012.

Franka Fiala 8:52pm Jun 9 "I hope that by sharing this experience others won't have to go through it and are better prepared for any similar situations. I am a frequent flyer, having commuted by plane to work for the past 2 years, I thought I had seen it all. But nothing could have prepared me for what I experienced on May 16th 2011. As I was getting ready to fly from Orlando, FL to JFK, I experienced the reality of the end of our human rights in the U.S. on my own body. Passing through TSA security, after having put all my belongings including my shoes, belt, laptop out of the bag, etc... on the conveyor belt, I was walking through the body scanner. Almost on the other side I was advised to step back inside, place my feet within the outlined form, place my hands above my head, and stay in the scanner. I had obviously not realized that this was a new imaging device, the full-body-imaging device, but I did as I was told. Within a second of standing in the scanner I became extremely dizzy and nauseas, and could not see all of a sudden. I tumbled out of the machine, being able to see again, quickly looking for a chair to sit down as I knew I would fall over any second. Scared and confused I asked TSA security officers about this machine and requested scientific information about the scanner and its' influence on the human body. I was given a pamphlet that did not contain any such information, so I kept asking for it. I was told that perhaps the general manager was able to provide it and that they would look for him. In the meantime, as I was sitting on the chair next to the machine, I asked to get my belongings which by then had been scanned also and were sitting somewhere on the other side of the line. This request was refused to me by TSA security personnel. No explanation was given to me as to why. I kept asking for at least my passport, wallet, rings, but TSA security denied me any right to get my personal belongings back. Thankfully a good friend of mine was travelling with me and I asked her to watch my belongings, and she did. I closed my eyes for some moments and did some self-hypnosis in order to feel better. Within a few moments I was able to get up and walk again. But as soon as I wanted to walk TSA security agents told me I was not allowed to leave. Very surprised I asked why and was told that "the machine had found an abnormality in my abdomen" and that I needed to be patted down in a private screening room. I asked what "abnormality" was supposed to mean, but no conclusive answer was given to me. I was escorted to a stained glass wall cubicle and two female TSA officers explained to me inside of the cubicle what the pat-down would entail. I was advised that the officer would use the inside and the outside of her palms and that she also needed to "touch me on the inside of my pants". I kept asking why all of this was necessary, showing them the inside of my pants, assuring them that I had "nothing on me". They insisted that the pat-down was still necessary because "the machine had picked up an opaque object in my abdomen". I told them I was wearing a tampon and asked, if that's what the machine could have picked up. The TSA security officers advised me that that was not something the machine could pick up. I had to allow the pat-down which was pretty uncomfortable. They did not find anything (of course) and for a brief moment I felt relieved, sure that I was finally able to leave and hopefully still catch my flight. But this was not so. The TSA officers continued to explain to me that now that "they did not find anything during the pat-down police had to be brought in to examine me". I was still kind of dizzy and now I just started to feel scared. I continued to ask why and if this was really necessary, not able to believe what was happening. I asked for a copy of the supposed image of the "abnormality in my abdomen", and was was told that no copies were ever kept. (Yeah, right.) It all started to seem surreal to me. They told me that I was not allowed to leave until a police officer had examined me. In a state of shock I became concerned about any medical conditions the machine could have picked up and asked, if it would be able to detect tumors, cancers or fibroids. I was told that this was not possible and that the scanner could only detect "non-organic objects and would not scan any deeper than 2 inches into the body". Even more confused I kept asking why it was then necessary to examine me, if the pat-down had clearly shown that I did not have anything on me. No clear answer was ever given to me. A while later a male police officer entered the cubicle. He seemed ready to arrest me from his attitude at first, but TSA security officers said to him "she's calm", and he relaxed. He explained to me that because nothing was found during the pat-down a female police officer would have to examine me, because the examination was "out of TSA's jurisdiction". I felt like a prisoner, dizzy and confused. When the female police officer finally arrived, everyone except for her and me left the cubicle. I could see the male police officer listen in from the outside as the female police officer explained to me that I needed to strip my pants and underwear and show her my tampon. I could not believe what I was hearing. I kept asking why this was necessary, but I was not given any other option. On top of that the female officer stated, "and ma'am, don't worry, there are no cameras installed that are watching you". Of course, since one of the rules of the mind is that negations can’t be understood, all I heard was, “there are cameras installed that are watching you”. I felt as if I was in a dream from that moment on. Detached from myself and my body I stripped down my pants and underwear in front of the police officer and showed her my tampon. After she had seen my tampon the police officer “allowed me” to put on my underwear and pants again, and I was then escorted back out to the security check line by the two police officers and two TSA officers. Another TSA officer was holding some of my belongings in a tray and my friend who had been waiting anxiously came running over. I was in a total state of shock. The TSA general manager came over and said that he was going to tell me something about the scanner. My friend wanted to listen in, but he harshly told her to leave. “You need to step away, ma’am, you can’t listen to what I’m going to tell her”, he said. I stated that I wanted my friend to be there and listen in, as did my friend, but she was told to step away. She did, because she had no other choice and just yelled over to me, “you’ll tell me later”. I wished I could, but my memory draws a complete blank when it comes to what the TSA general manager told me. I guess it’s because I was in a state of shock. I remember that afterwards the male police officer came over to me and wrote down a police report number and told me a report had been filed for his and my protection. I asked “what kind of a report” and which number did I need to call in order to get a copy. Only because I asked I was given a number to call. He then repeated three times in a row to me that the police and TSA security were sorry for any inconvenience they had caused me and asked me each time, if I heard him. Yes, I heard him, but it didn’t undo what had been done. I was finally released and caught my flight in the end only because it was delayed by more than an hour. Yesterday the copy of the police report arrived. Though I had been warned by several lawyers that it would perhaps not state the truth, the rage I felt when I read it was still incredible. Many details are being left out in the report, it never even mentions that I had to strip down naked and show a police officer my vagina, and it is extremely contradictory. Having gotten legal advice in the meantime I know now that anyone has a right to refuse to walk through any scanners in the first place and be patted down instead. No one had told me that at the Orlando airport and there were no signs explaining that right. I also know now that I legally should have been given the option to refuse any examination and risk missing my flight. Believe me, had I known that was an option I would have gladly missed my flight! In essence I was kept prisoner and was not given any options. I felt abused to say the least and am working with therapists to heal the trauma that’s stayed with me so far. I know I will overcome this trauma as I have overcome other traumas in the past, but I still do not feel prepared to fly again because of this experience. It is not easy for me to publish this very “exposing” experience, but I choose to do so, because I really hope that it helps someone and prevents this from happening again. We are all human beings and have a birth right to freedom. It is time for us to stand up for our rights. Good luck to all of you and if you have experienced a similar story, please contact me! Franka Fiala" *******************************************************************

This woman is not alone in her experience of intrusion. This type of clear violation of our right to our person, to be free from ilegal search and seizure and Nazi-like treatemnt at the hands of 'authorities' vested with too much power and too little brain has become all too common in America today.

STAND UP AMERICA! IT'S TIME FOR WE THE PEOPLE TO TAKE BACK OUR NATION FROM THE HANDS OF THE OLIGARCHS, THE POWER-HUNGRY, THE CORPORATIONS AND THE BLATANTLY UN-AMERICAN 'ELECTED OFFICIALS' WHO HAVE PADDED POCKETS AND PRIVATE AGENDAS.
BOYCOTT AIRLINE TRAVEL. REFUSE TO BE SCANNED. (YES, IT IS MEDICALLY DANGEROUS)  IF YOU FLY FOR BUSINESS, INSIST UPON CONFERENCE CALLING OR TELECONFERENCING INSTEAD. GUESS WHAT, IT WILL SAVE YOUR COMPANY $$$!
"We have nothing to fear, but fear itself," according to FDR. That in itself has the power to draw fear unto us. Fear begets fear.
Fear naught, for I AM with you. Render unto Caesar only that which is right. Not your Rights!  Let's kick over the tables and start again with virtue and goodwill as our battle cry.
GOD BLESS AMERICA AND ALL WHO RESIDE ON THIS PLANET.