Sunday, November 30, 2008

Project 365 ~ Week 48

Last Saturday I was at a surprise party celebrating my dad's 70th birthday. That picture on the wall behind my dad, who is cutting the cake, is also my dad!

On Sunday I headed out for a coffee meeting with my accountability group. It was so exciting to see how far each of us has come since we started to meet about a year and a half ago.

Monday I needed a bit of coccooning time. Jinx kept me company.

On Tuesday I subbed a Nia class. It was a lovely night. We focused on self-expression.

After class I got home just in time to meet with some of my coaching friends on the phone. My dear honey cooked me dinner so that I wouldn't miss a moment of the call.

Wednesday I actually had 2 coffee meetings. This one was out in the west end, exploring possibilities for some activities I can lead in a beautiful cultural community centre.

Thursday I launched The Next Chapter: 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women. There's room for you if you want to play.
Thursday night I went out for my yearly dinner with a dear friend of mine from university.

Lol, no, I wasn't taking this because of the wine! I woke up with a bad pain in my neck. It unfortunately thwarted my standing Friday plans with Shannon. I was out for the count and had to take some time for healing.

How was your week?

Project 365 is my attempt to capture a year in my life through a photograph a day. On Saturday's I'll post the week's pics. At the end of the year, I'll create a video of all these precious moments. Feel free to participate at any time. Yours can be Project 347 or Project 292. It's up to you.

Senator Matthews?

But has he the judgement?

In Boston for the Democrat National Convention of 2004, former Springfield City Councilor Mitch Ogulewicz and I ran into MSNBC journalist Chris Matthews. He graciously agreed to pose for a picture with Mitch.



Personally, I would have preferred to run into the wrestler Chris Matthews.



Later we saw Matthews in Quincy Market smoking a cigar and trying to disguise himself with a too small baseball cap.



But disguising himself is not what he'll want to do if this article in the Boston Herald turns out to be true:

HARRISBURG, Pa. - A Pennsylvania Democratic party leader says MSNBC pundit Chris Matthews may be considering a run for U.S. Senate in 2010.

The Patriot-News of Harrisburg reports Matthews met with state party leaders this past week in Washington to discuss a possible bid to unseat Republican Sen. Arlen Specter.

Party official Mary Isenhour says she left the meeting feeling that Matthews still hadn’t made up his mind.

The 62-year-old Matthews hosts MSNBC’s "Hardball" and provides political commentary on NBC’s "Today." He ran unsuccessfully for a Pennsylvania congressional seat in 1974.


I hadn't realized Matthews is 62, he looks considerably younger than that. I don't question Matthews intelligence and experience, but I do wonder about his judgement. During the presidential campaign Matthews seemed to completely forget his objectivity and his proper journalistic role. According to the Wikipedia.org:


He frequently commented favorably about Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. On February 12, 2008, on MSNBC, he said: "The feeling most people get when they hear an Obama speech...I felt this thrill running up my leg." He also said, "Obama comes around, and this is the new testament." On November 6, 2008, after the election, he stated on the MSNBC television program "Morning Joe," that "I want to do everything I can to make this thing work...this new Presidency work." When asked whether that was his job as a journalist, he stated "Yeah, that's my job." In response to his description of journalists' duties, Time Magazine managing editor Richard Stengel stated that the United States Constitution required journalists to "hold [the President of the United State's] feet to the fire."



Although a Pennsylvania native, Matthews has close ties to Massachusetts. He graduated from Holy Cross College in Worcester and vacations frequently in Nantucket.

Whether Chris Matthews would make a good Senator depends on the success or failure of Barack Obama. Obviously Matthews would run as an Obama supporter, so if Obama does a good job then one would want someone like Matthews in the Senate to back him up. But if Obama turns out to be a dud, then even the tiresome incumbent Arlen Spector, who should have retired years ago, might still be worth re-electing. In other words, it all depends on where things stand two years from now.

Flashing back to the year 2000, I recently unearthed this EXTRA flyer printed by the Springfield Newspapers during that cliffhanger election.



Of course in the end Bush won the election in the Electoral College, while losing the national popular vote by a half-million votes. I originally thought that the Democrats had a point in questioning Bush's legitimacy because of that discrepancy, until in the aftermath of the 2004 election I heard Democrats complaining that John Kerry would have won in the Electoral College had he won in Ohio, despite losing the national popular vote by three million. If Bush was illegitiment losing by 500,000 votes, how legit would Kerry be losing by three million? Sorry Dems, but you can't have it both ways.

Included was this listing of local races.



This is an advertisement for an appearance by me on The Tony Gill Show from 2002. (click to enlarge)



It was so cold this morning that everyone woke up with a layer of ice on their windshields.



In Amherst this afternoon it even snowed for a little while, although not much of it accumulated.



Still the first snow of the season is always a major event, however sleight.

Soul Coaching: Quest

As a final transition from the Soul Coaching circle, Denise invites us to go on a Quest to hear what the Universe has to share with our wide-open selves.

I feel like this entire month has been a Quest. I had my breakthrough on Day 18 and feel like I've been growing stronger in my vision every day since. Somehow it all came to here. This weekend I"ve been channeling it all into my Vision Cards for 2009. I hope you enjoy the preview of my year in the video.

Today I'm celebrating the spark of inspiration that led me to start The Next Chapter and move forward with Soul Coaching. I celebrate the magic that happens when people come together to share and to shine, and I invite more of that into my life and into yours.

Thank you, November. Thank you, merry band. Thank you, Denise. Thank you, Universe. And thank you to my spirit too for leading me every step of the way.

Confused





I’m still wondering about the lurkers that visit my blog. Why do they come, what are they looking for? Lots of questions inundate my mind and I’m baffled as to what the answers could be.

So here is your chance to comment what you like the most and what you would like to see on this blog. This will help me so I will know what to post and I will try to accommodate you ASAP.


Do you make your own Christmas cards?


I love making things in my Paint Shop Pro x2 program, you can let your imagine run wild with all the awesome things you can do. Want to make a card with this picture or use it as a screen saver. Just click on the picture and save it.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Soul Coaching Day 28: A Circle of Love

Today's final Soul Coaching focus is love. Today I celebrate the outpouring of love, support and encouragement of this community over the past month. My heart has been filled by the kind words, inspiring stories, shared tears, heartfelt hugs and powerful acknowledgements that have taken place in this circle.

I am filled with love for the circle that has been created, for each beautiful soul that shone along the way. I am filled with hope for what is possible for each of us and also for what is possible in the world. I am filled with gratitude for the generosity, for the acknowledgements and for the way the Universe has held us in her hands each and every day of November. Now I see why we made room. So that there would be space for this.

And now I have one wish, one wish that I hold for every one reading, every one on the Soul Coaching journey, everyone who just happened to arrive today. My wish comes from Denise's words in this last love-filled day of the journey:

"Allow your light to infuse the world."

Shine.

Politics of Death

Recalling the Schoolfield incident.



In 1994 a shooting occurred that plunged the city of Springfield Massachusetts into controversy and threatened to cause racial unrest. Here are excerpts from a New York Times article on the affair.

A month after Officer Donald Brown's welcome-back party, people here are still talking about it.

Officer Brown, who is white, had been on a paid leave of absence for killing an unarmed black man last winter, a case that had already caused an uproar, not least because of what many saw as the Police Department's unlikely portrayal of it: as an accident growing out of a mistake that stemmed from a hoax.

A grand jury cleared Officer Brown of wrongdoing, and a police commission decided not to hold disciplinary hearings, so his friends and colleagues decided to give him a party at the Ale House, a downtown tavern.

"Congratulate Don on a job well done (Keep up the good work)," read the invitations, which were posted at Police Headquarters.

The party-givers say they were just trying to cheer up a colleague who had been devastated by the shooting. But to many others, the party sounded like a celebration of the death of Benjamin Schoolfield, the 20-year-old man whom the officer had shot to death. Blacks also point to a ham that was given to Officer Brown as a present at the party -- a gift traditionally exchanged, they say, by white vigilantes of the Old South....

"Why would they congratulate someone for a shooting?" said Chelan Jenkins, an 18-year-old friend of the Schoolfield family who has helped organize marches and vigils to protest both the shooting and the party.


Actually, no historical evidence was ever presented that such a ritual has ever existed, in the South, in Springfield or anywhere else. In retrospect, apparently the myth of the ham ritual was created out of thin air simply to inflame the situation. Also from the Times article:

The events that led to the killing began when a woman dialed 911 and reported that her van had been stolen at gunpoint. That call, the police now believe, was a hoax, perpetrated by the woman because she was afraid to tell her boyfriend that she had lent the van to an acquaintance, who in turn lent it to Mr. Schoolfield....

At its recent convention in Chicago, the N.A.A.C.P. passed a resolution condemning both the shooting and the party.

To Chester J. Ardolino, the president of the Patrolmen's Union in Springfield, the N.A.A.C.P. response was an overreaction. "I don't think anybody was intentionally intending to offend anyone," said Mr. Ardolino, who was at the party. "At the worst, it was in poor taste."

Mr. Ardolino confirmed that a ham had been presented as a gift but said that he -- and, to his knowledge, everyone else at the party -- had been unaware of any ritual significance to it.


Of course I had to put my two cents in.

Originally published in The Baystate Objectivist in 1994





The work ethic, apparently, is in decline even among car thieves. In the old days, if you wanted to take possession of another person's automobile, there was a certain minimal level of skill and hard work involved.

First, you had to stake out your intended vehicle, in order to be sure you wouldn't be surprised by its owner's unexpected arrival. Then you had to get into the car, despite it being locked, and then hot-wire the ignition. These are not skills requiring a degree in engineering, but it's not the sort of thing you could necessarily expect to do successfully on your first try. You have to have a little practice, or a short apprenticeship under the tutelage of a more seasoned thief. At least that's how it used to be. Today - like the chimney sweep and the blacksmith - the skills of the traditional car thief are becoming a thing of the past.

Nowadays, if you want a nice car to drive around in without the inconvenience of having to pay for it, you take a much simpler and direct route. First, you pay a visit to your local unlicensed gun dealer, who sells you an appropriate piece on the spot, no ID required and no questions asked.

Next, position yourself near a major intersection, preferably one with a reputation for having a long running red light. As the cars line up waiting for the light to change, pick out your intended vehicle. Don't be afraid to be choosy, after all there is always a remote chance you'll be apprehended by the police, and why risk weeks or even months in jail for a beat-up Chevy? Hold out for the Mercedes or the Lexus, or if it's your lucky day, the Lambourghini. Even if you're a juvenile or a first offender, you still may as well steal a car worth your while. If caught, it's terrible the number of tiresome hours you have to spend hanging around the courthouse waiting to be assigned your probation officer.

Once you've singled out the appropriate victim, walk up to the car on the driver's side and place the end of the barrel of the gun directly on the glass, preferably so that it makes an ominous, attention getting sound. Once you have the driver's full attention, shout out some variation of the command "GET OUT" perhaps accentuated by an obscenity. You'll be amazed by how quickly and obediently most drivers will exit the car. Then jump inside (remember that the light will change momentarily) and long before the car's former owner can dial 911 you'll be on your merry way.

That's it. No fumbling with stubborn locks. No messy playing with shattered ignitions. So simple that even a graduate of the Springfield School System can succeed on their first try!



Some people who own expensive cars now drive out of their way to avoid neighborhoods like Mason Square or the North End due to the fear, rational or not, of who may come tapping on their window if they're forced to stop at a red light. Something terrible happened in Springfield on the night of February 7, something we still don't understand but which continues to send shockwaves, both social and political, throughout our Valley.

A woman called the police claiming that her van was taken from her in Mason Square at gunpoint. Later, she would admit that this was a lie. The woman was actually a drug addict who lent the van to her drug dealer in return for a fix. The drug dealer then lent the van to Benjamin Schoolfield, for reasons that are not yet clear. In any case the police spotted the vehicle cruising the city's streets, and naturally believing that it was the armed carjacker who was behind the wheel, prepared for a possibly violent confrontation. What happened next is a question of fierce debate, but this much is known for certain: When it was over, behind the wheel of the van was the 20 year old Schoolfield, who was wanted on default warrants but was not a violent carjacker, and he was dying from a bullet wound inflicted by a policeman's gun.

At this writing, an inquiry into the tragedy is underway. If the past is any guide, it will produce findings that will be considered unsatisfactory by all concerned. However detailed the inquiry may prove to be in a factual sense, it is impossible to recreate the emotional and high tension atmosphere in which it occurred, thereby leaving any conclusions open to any second guessing anyone chooses to make.

The shame is a lot of that second guessing is likely to be politically motivated by people with an axe to grind. There are powerful forces in Springfield who are trying at all costs to discredit the police in the eyes of the public. They are doing so in order to advance an agenda of "reform" whose real purpose is to bring the police department under tighter political control. While most city departments are completely political extensions of those in power, the police department has remained a mostly independent entity immune to political pressure.

In recent years, the political independence of the police has proven to be an embarrassment to the Democrats who dominate Springfield's city government. In 1988, when local Democrats were falling all over each other trying to promote the presidential campaign of the then Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, the Springfield police gave their endorsement to George Bush. That a police department in Dukakis' home state endorsed Bush deeply humiliated our local Democrats, especially when Bush himself flew into town to accept the endorsement in person, causing the event to receive national attention.

Another embarrassment for the local Democrats occurred when contractless Springfield police picketed the Civic Center during the Democrat State Convention of 1990. A fracas broke out when some delegates tried to cross the picket line, causing an incident which made the Democrats look anti-union and anti-cop. In local politics the police union has repeatedly endorsed candidates for local office outside the city's political establishment, most recently opposing Mayor Robert Markel's re-election bid in favor of challenger Kateri Walsh.

The result has been repeated political retaliation designed to bring the police to heel. First came the article "House of Hate" in the Springfield Newspapers. That article portrayed the police department as a haven of bigotry, sexism and discrimination, with unproven allegations printed in tones implying they were facts, even though most of the allegations came from one disgruntled female officer, Paula Meara.

Around the same time, a group described by the Springfield Newspapers as "concerned citizens" called for a study into possible "reforms" in the police department. Not everyone recognized that the leader of those "concerned citizens" was Brian Long, an executive with the Springfield Newspapers.

The ultimate result of the demands of these "concerned citizens" was the infamous Wasserman Report. Ridiculed from the moment it was released, the report was dismissed as a collection of rehashed ideas and vague goals. But buried among the bromides and flotsam were a few very specific recommendations, which if implemented would bring the police department under strict political control.

For example the report called for the Police Chief (who now comes up through the ranks) to be appointed by the mayor, including granting the mayor the right to appoint someone from outside the police department. This would mean that the mayor could appoint a political crony, or an ideological soul-mate from another state, to head the police. In short, the Police Chief would be beholden not to the public, or to the police officers, but to the politicians with the power of the chief's appointment. Would such an appointee oppose the mayor's re-election or step on any politician's toes?

The politicization of the police department is the hidden agenda behind these relentless attacks on the police, chiefly being made through the political establishment's primary mouthpiece, The Springfield Newspapers. Mindful that the the public is not likely to be inclined to support such a naked political power grab, every attempt is being made to create the impression that the police department is out of control and in need of "reform."

It is this ongoing political agenda that explains the bizarre coverage of the carjacking tragedy. Virtually no mention has been made of Schoolfield's prior criminal record. Instead there has been lengthy accounts of his hobbies, family ties and other irrelevancies, to the point that if you knew nothing of the circumstances that brought Schoolfield to his unhappy end, you might think he was on his way home from a prayer meeting! Distraught family members (the least objective commentators imaginable) were given lengthy quotes in which, with nothing to back up their accusations, they were allowed to accuse the police in print of committing murder.

Political battles in Springfield are typically mean, vicious, manipulative and unprincipled. But this exploitation of a tragic death, inflaming racial tensions for political ends, is a new low. It's the politics of death, and don't fall for it.

2008 Update: They did fall for it. The leaders of the Schoolfield protests, Benjamin Swan and Chelan Jenkins, rode the controversy into political office and taxpayer financed positions. The Schoolfield family itself sued the city and received hundreds of thousands of dollars. Mayor Michael Albano implemented the recommendations of the Wasserman report, appointing to the Chief's job department critic Paula Meara and to the Police Commission Gerald Phillips. Meara was later forced from office by Mayor Charles V. Ryan amidst widespread charges of Meara's incompetence, while Phillips was sent to prison amidst an array of allegations of misconduct both financial and sexual.

It was so cold this morning even my neighbor's dog had a coat on!



Later at the bus stop I saw this guy with some cool Grateful Dead stuff embroidered on his bag.




And whether mankind is to be
A complete success or utter failure
Is in such critical balance
That every smallest
Human test of integrity
Every smallest moment to moment decision
Tips the scales affirmatively or negatively
Wherefore we recognize that
It is both fear and ignorance
That delays popular comprehension
Of our historically unprecedented option
Of total human success

-R. Buckminster Fuller
Epic Poem on the History of Industrialization

Stolen Art Watch, Churchill Letters, Underworld Currency !!


Churchills letter stolen after valuation on TV show

London, Nov 29 (ANI): A letter written by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill has been stolen from council offices.

The theft comes just days after it was suggested on TVs Antiques Roadshow that a similar note could fetch a huge amount of money.

Churchill was a minister in 1910 when he wrote the letter to Cranbrook, Kent, thanking locals for their sympathy to George V after his father, Edward VII, died.

It is believed that the thief might have been tempted to nick it after watching the BCC1 show, reports British tabloid The Sun.

The antique letter is worth up to 10,000 pounds.


Handwritten letter by Churchills wife found in drugs raid

London, Aug 9 (ANI): A hand-written letter from the wife of Sir Winston Churchill has been found by police during a drugs raid at a house in Mexborough, South Yorkshire.

British officers found the letter and three cheques mounted on a card inside a plastic sleeve with a quantity of heroin.

The note from Clementine Churchill thanks a woman for making a donation to a Red Cross fund of which she was the president.

Police want to trace the owner of the letter, which is dated 1942.

The letter says: “This is to acknowledge with grateful thanks your contribution to Mrs Churchill’’s Red Cross Aid to Russia Fund.”

The Aid to Russia fund, set up by the Red Cross in 1941 to pay for clothing and medical supplies to send to Britain’’s Russian allies, raised 8million pounds.

Mrs Churchill was the fund’’s president.

A 55-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of theft and possessing class A drugs at the property.

The woman’’s 32-year-old son and her sister, 41, were also arrested on suspicion of theft. They have been bailed until October while police make further inquiries.

“The address on the letter is not in Doncaster but it is South Yorkshire. I am confident it is not a reproduction as it is handwritten on both sides. We urge anyone with any information about the letter or who believes it may belong to them to get in touch with us, The Independent quoted PC Steve Roberts of Doncaster police, as saying. (ANI)

Art Hostage comments:

These two cases connected ????

What these two cases show is a direct link between art theft and the drugs trade.

Unfortunately, victims and art lovers can only wait until Police stumble across stolen art during drug raids.

By treating stolen art recovery as a bonus of other Police raids, drugs mostly, rather than an intention of a Police raid looking for stolen art, mainstream stolen art recovery has been reduced to almost zero, not withstanding the high profile cases, whereby Police are forced to devote resources for political reasons.

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