Israel citizens want to teach Peace

The opening quote is an understatement. (love the mural, too)

Of course, the people want peace–it’s the politicians and war profiteers who want war.  Most of the people in the world just want to live in peace…raise their families…earn a living…follow their own paths….

…but then you get to the end of the article…<sigh>….well, baby steps towards Peace…but I’ll take it.

The culture of violence against women

…continues.

Break a woman’s head in three spaces? Hey, that’s okay…I’m sure you didn’t mean to hit her with such force that you broke the bone.

From the link on the sentencing:

Chief Deputy Yellowstone County attorney Juli M. Pierce said after the hearing that she respects the two sentences the judges gave Ferguson.

“We’ll continue to prosecute domestic violence cases no matter what the outcome is,” she said, shortly after Ferguson was taken into custody. “We’ll continue to fight that fight because that’s why we’re here – for the protection of the community.”

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You call *that* prosecution?  God help the women of Yellowstone County.

Money can’t buy security, either…

<sigh>  Well, folks, if you were feeling a little more secure about our Constitution with the last court ruling on NSA surveillance...think again.

As the commenters said, I wonder what kind of dirt the NSA has on Judge William Pauley.  There is no way on Earth that this is in keeping with the Fourth Amendment:

 

Fourth Amendment

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

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This bears repeating:  No warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause supported by oath or affirmation, particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.

Probable cause is required for searching a person, their houses, papers, and effects.  A court must agree that there is probable cause in order for the agency to violate someone’s privacy.

This amendment protects a person from a government abusing its power, as we saw in the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and China.  People who are not doing anything wrong have a right to be let alone.

 

Happiness that money can’t buy

Gene Logsdon has a post up on the Christmas gifts that go against the notion that you have to buy the “latest” to make someone happy.  I’m all for the practical gift that someone will truly use and appreciate.  I would love to get a jar of homemade orange marmalade or a jar of raw honey for Christmas.

Be sure to read the comments–a former Marine bought a farm after leaving the service and he writes about it in the comments.  A truly inspiring story.  Enjoy.

Probiotics and brain function

The more I learn about the gut and neurological health, the more amazed I am at the intricate workings of our miracle bodies…and how spot on Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride is with the GAPS diet…

I’ve been all over the ‘net this morning, reading blog after blog on probiotics.  One linked to this post on the gut-brain-skin axis.

Some of this is over my head, but it appears that probiotics help reduce inflammation after a heart attack.

Here’s a good paper on the connection between probiotics and the brain.  It is so interesting that fermented food, like sauerkraut, can contain acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter.  Blows me away.

This blog has a recipe for GAPS yogurt.  Since I was very sensitive at first, I gave up on yogurt.  I tried making my own according to another member’s method of putting it in an electric skillet on low heat, but didn’t have satisfactory results.  It could have been that I didn’t use yogurt starter, but rather, used store-bought kefir.  I found out later that this brand, an expensive organic brand, was putting the live cultures back in after processing it.

Yeah, that’s not going to work.

I like her idea of using raw milk.  But since obtaining raw milk is a crime…I’ll have to go through the Mafia to get some.  /super snarky

She talks about using her food dehydrator for growing the culture, but I thought it might be easier to use a yogurt maker.  I looked at several brands, and they had automatic shutoffs at 6-10 hours, which is waaaay too short a time to allow the cultures to develop…but there was this one that follows GAPS, too.  Not having tried it, I’m not able to give any kind of review on its ease of use or reliability.

 

Third Way

You might remember this post with a quote that says the words “third way”.  Not long after I posted it, Ed on the Ed Show (MSNBC) mentioned the Third Way.  I can’t remember exactly what he said, but it was negative and the segment intrigued me.

I’ve just now gotten around to doing a bit of research on Third Way.  Whew…do you smell a rat??  Me, too.

Red flags are going off with Elizabeth Warren being attacked by supposed Democrats for…speaking out against selling us out to the 1% by cutting Social Security and other social programs….calling them “populist”. Um-hmmm…that and the word “entitlement” are key words for the “I’ve-got-mine-screw-you” crowd. 

Now, getting back to the previous post with Hillary Clinton’s religious leader saying those words:  third way…and how they wanted to do away with New Deal programs:

It emerged, he [Reverend Don Jones] says, as a third way, a reaction against both separatist fundamentalism and the New Deal’s labor-based liberalism.

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Social Security. Public Schools.  Medicaid.  Medicare.  Public employees like fire fighters, police.  Public Libraries.  A decent living wage.

I know that it’s hard to believe they want to destroy it all, but all signs are pointing towards that very end.

Elizabeth Warren stands in the way of that.

Here’s a humorous video up on it:

Please, please run for President, Elizabeth.  Please!!  I’ll go knocking on doors…whatever needs done to help get you votes.  Hillary Clinton is nothing but a Goldwater Girl doing the dirty work of the bankers, warmongers, education profiteers, Big Oil, Monsanto, and no doubt countless other organizations that don’t give a crap about Americans or America, the poor, the elderly, the children, the environment, nor the middle class.

Please run, Elizabeth.

Gratitude

…I walk outside in 16 degrees of crisp winter air with a dusting of snow on the ground…I hear a single bird singing.  Singing!

…doggie loves being out in the crisp air and I smile at the little frisky dance she does when she, uh, does her business…just happy to be alive, I guess. :p

…a wonderful meal for Christmas…blessings to those who don’t have that…

… for the money to get the oil changed in the car and now it doesn’t sound quite as loud as before…

…the ability to chelate and get this horrible poison out of me…

…and the wonderful “coincidences” that happen in life:  I went to the used goods store to blow the stink off of me (get out of the house for awhile).  My favorite area is the book area, naturally.  I found one to buy, and started heading to the cashier.  She told me that they were only fifty cents today, so yeah, I’m going back to get some more.  I found an old book on the folklore of the Mississippi.  Get this–the cashier says, “I grew up along the Mississippi.”  I kid you not.  What are the chances?

She went on to say that they have locks that allow the boats to pass, and one time they couldn’t get the locks to open. They sent divers down and they came right back up–she said there was a 65 pound (?) catfish blocking the gates, and they weren’t having anything to do with it.  She went on to say that they all caught fish along the Mississippi, using boxes.  She said they caught a 55 pound catfish once.  I asked her what one does with that big a fish–throw it back?  She said they ate it–just sliced it up into fillets.

She went on to say that they (fishers and hunters) would feed the town once a year.  They’d bring the fish, and the hunters would bring wild game of all sorts.  They had turkeys, quail, duck, etc.  She said they had turtle, too, as they would get caught in the fishing boxes.

She said they would have heating pans all lined up.  The women would supply the side dishes like scalloped potatoes and such.  She said they did that every year.  I told her that would never happen here (Indiana).  She sighed and said that was one of the things she regretted about moving here.

And now that I think of it–there was a time that my neighborhood had an annual picnic.  I don’t think they do that anymore.  But it was different–each family would bring their own meat, veggie, drink, etc., so it wasn’t like the Mississippi version where the meat was provided and the sides were a community offering.  I’m not trying to say one version is better than another–just different.  There’s nothing like getting together for a meal, though…

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….little things and little moments of gratitude for all of the above…