Saturday, December 28, 2013

Fukishima Radiation....I Left My Heart in San Francisco....

8 hours ago, some alternative media sources shared the Radiation Alert Readings from San Francisco Beaches. If you haven't been listening, or 'fed' information from your regular news provider about the sea animals in the Pacific Ocean dying in hordes, perhaps its time to seek other sources. Last night I read where this radiation-which is only expected to get worse with more failing towers and tipping structures, will infect every ocean. The fallout and radiation-infected garbage is coming to the West coast, and inland in rain, etc.

Over 35 ? years ago, several GE scientists quit their jobs, as they knew the Nuclear Reactors were defective, not able to withstand a break in the cooling process, which could happen w/ earthquakes or other natural/unnatural disasters. The US has 28? of these reactors. 

See also the recent series of alerts from the citizen-based Radiation Network.
There have been a series of recent alerts - defined as readings above 100, particularly on the West Coast:http://www.radiationnetwork.com/index.htm - up to a million times normal background radiation.







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Thursday, December 19, 2013

Drop It Like It's Hot?

On Upworthiness, I viewed the following this morning:




My answer:

Good impressions and voice likeness. You must have had fun doing this.
My answer-since I'm not a prancer
I won't dance around all the conflicts that abound.
Trust is the basis for any relationship,
So despite all the marketing, there really is a slip
Talk is cheap, intentions strong
Congress couldn't read this bill, because it was too long.
When you add all the politics adeptly squeezed in
This bill of goods is too polluted and the ink is dark as sin.
How many years with those leaders who look away
Making false promises, too revealing every day.
No voice-over could remove what we all see
A Pres who works for others, not for our liberty.
His voice rings empty, a vacuous orator
A traitor to humanity like many that came before.
We can't leave out the ocean floor we're not hearing in the news
Faulty GE reactors that will give us all the blues.
Punishing the heros that speak up as they should- 
Surgical removals and a Police State for 'our good'.
Drones that leave a thousand Trayvon Martins behind
As long as we don't see it, or the grief, we can be blind.
So what is the herd being asked to sign up for?
More vaccines, a Panel to usher Gramma out the door?
From birth to grave, we've trusted, from HAARP to setting sun
Ignoring what's been published, like Agenda 21.
Can we really trust our doctors, the Pharmaceutical-infused?
The alphabet agencies supported by the confused?
Do we think all will go well, as we sidle up to this cheese
Will we lose more human rights, become a number if you please?
As the trap snaps shut, and the economy is more a mess.
Will we ever concede, that we are leader ....less?

Feels good to rap. Yes, drop it like it's hot.

Key words: Healthcare, health care, sign up, Obama, Drop It Like It's Hot, Spoof, fraud, corruption, answer, police state, agenda 21, vaccines, pharmaceutical, pharmaceuticals, economy, Barack Obama, Snoop Dog, rap, GE reactors, Fukishima, drone, drones, Trayvon Martin, HAARP, 


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Saturday, December 7, 2013

At a Time When I Needed Inspiration and Hope

Celebrate with me what happens when someone has a dream and passion, no matter what the world has thrown her....



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Friday, November 22, 2013

The Facts and Faces of Domestic Violence

National Domestic Violence Hotline:
1-800-799-7233
 1-800-799-(SAFE)
Below is a video documentary of women who have been abused and commentary from those who work with them.
The second video speaks to the damage done to children who see, hear or perceive domestic violence.
Why don't these women leave? It is said they are beaten down before they are beaten up. Below is a chart showing 18 different kinds of Verbal Abuse. If they look familiar, seek help. In many areas there are Domestic Violence Programs with FREE individual and group counseling.

Isolation, financial control and having children with an abuser all complicate leaving. As women hope and wait for change, remembering the charming or 'loving' earlier treatment or having financial constraints, those with children are being damaged by the role modeling of the men and women in their lives. Boys can become abusers and Girls can seek abusers as partners. Children many times also treat their mother exactly like their father did, so even after divorce, the family dynamic is scarred and difficult.

How prevalent is Family Violence? In Harris County, Texas, which is the Houston area, in which there is one Sheriff's Deputy for every 175,000 people, the Domestic Violence Unit has 250-300 new cases on their desks every WEEK. It is like a lottery, when you think of it, when it comes to the probability of getting help and protection.  The FBI printed an article in which they operationalize six discretionary investigative techniques to increase prosecution and conviction rates of Domestic Violence. They are as follows:

1. Take pictures of the victim, children and any property damage.
These pictures become the visible evidence for the judge.
In 21 states, it is a Felony if children are present, yet in only 4% of cases are children even listed as being present. Texas is not a state with this law or statute. In others such as Utah or Oregon, if the child sees, hears or 'perceives' the violence (worded differently in each state), it is a felony because of the grave consequences to their lives, and our society. The brain makes changes during a trauma. The most impressionable brain is one of an infant, with it's soft spongy biology, made to pick up language, etc. quickly. In a study done, babies that listen to violence (helpless and afraid and confused as to why Mommy and Daddy/Partner are hurting each other or being hurt) are impacted more than if they themselves are harmed. One baby for instance, grew up to harm another child at age 4.

In many family violence cases, the children are also harmed by verbal, physical, emotional, and financial abuse, and many are also victims of sexual violence. It makes sense when boundaries have been violated already. A domestic violence perpetrator may be an untreated victim of family violence in one of its forms: sexual, physical, emotional, verbal, etc. Thus they may be projecting this unresolved pain onto those around them, not feeling deserving of love, and acting in a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's kind of like the Snoopy cartoon of PigPen's character, unwashed and dusty, leaving piles of angry residue everywhere they go.
2. Interview and report children if they are present.  Never assume a child is asleep and doesn't hear it, or won't know of other incidents they will speak to. Also interview neighbors for any information they might have. Sometimes they witness or hear threats, etc. Prosecution rates go up 66-70% with  multiple witnesses. Voice mails or texts or first person witnessed accounts from the victim are often available from family or friends.
3. Prosecution is more successful if a Protective Order is filed.
4. Making arrests gets the case in front of a judge. In any case, both parties need help, as do the children. States become the Complainant, so they don't rely on the Victim who may recant out of fear of reprisal, or fear of financial consequences.
5. Listing Multiple Counts or Offenses. ie: Vandalism for property damage to cars, furniture, personal items such as computers, phones,  etc. Taking a phone is a 'count'. Habitually drunk in front of children is a count, and should be referred to Child Services.
6. Submitting Reports Quickly. Reports that take over 10 days have a 24% reduction in conviction. Over 30 days is a 50% reduction.

Each jurisdiction or area of law enforcement creates their own case priority. Half of all homicides are from domestic violence. In Harris County last year, there were 29 deaths from family violence, and 114 in the State of Texas. Only 21 of these 114 victims had taken steps to get away from their situation. We cannot blame these victims. Historically, and now as seen in the case loads, if family violence is not a priority, or if a policy of rotation of Officers means untrained individuals are responding to life and death matters, we can easily see why trust in law enforcement and justice for victims has been compromised.
Personally, I believe a female officer should accompany the responding team, to view all the reported areas of attack, in privacy. This way, with pictures and the officer as a witness, the case will move ahead, instead of the ball being dropped. Each victim may not have another chance for protection.

1 in 3 women have been or will be abused. Obviously, this affects all of us. 75% of the time the acts of aggression for Power and Control are not accompanied by drugs and alcohol. This points to cultural problems.
50% of all criminal violence and homicides involve domestic violence.
73% of women who are killed by domestic violence never called to report it.
Children in a home are often killed first, so the female victim sees this, in a homicide/suicide.
The best statistical predictor of impending death or lethality in a domestic violent relationship is if strangulation has been used.

18 Verbal Abuse Categories
In Domestic Violence relationships, they often start out warm and charming, and then there is verbal, emotional, sexual or physical abuse which is blamed on the victim, followed by a honeymoon period of gifts and/or promises, as if it will not happen again, while the victim is in a state of shock.
The abuser will isolate the victim with use of her phone, jealousy, finances, threats, injuries and her children to control his 'love supply'.

The abuser often has a wounded childhood past, and selfishly holds onto the victim as his love source, in an unhealthy demanding way, based on fear that she will leave. Leaving is the time when there is no longer ability to control and have power over the victim, so this is the most dangerous time. The idea that women are 'property' helps to promote this behavior in our culture, as does male privilege, objectifying women, and inequality and devaluing of women, even in pay scales. All these practices speak to the problem of violence against women.

**Women need options for leaving, and a 'safety' plan before they leave, and one for after they leave.
15% of victims are males.
After acts of aggression and violence, there is a Honeymoon period, followed by increased tension, and then more violence, many times, escalating violence in a faster sequence.

Children who are physically and sexually abused in a home of domestic violence are damaged, but statistics show those children who watch violence, not being able to 'fix it', are actually damaged more. Suicides, drug and alcohol use and abuse often involve having been in a home of domestic violence. Instead of being able to absorb layers of development and learning, the child has learned to scan the room and watch hands, faces and voices, because their brain is wired for erupting violence. Their normal and needed human development is often interrupted and abbreviated.


Children's exposure to domestic violence typically falls into three primary categories:
  • Hearing a violent event; 
  •  Being directly involved as an eyewitness, intervening, or being used as a part of a violent event (e.g., being used as a shield against abusive actions); 
  •  Experiencing the aftermath of a violent event.20 



Possible Symptoms in Children Exposed to Domestic Violence
  • Sleeplessness, fears of going to sleep, nightmares, dreams of danger;
  • Physical symptoms such as headaches or stomachaches;
  • Hypervigilance to danger or being hurt;
  • Fighting with others, hurting other children or animals;
  • Temper tantrums or defiant behavior;
  • Withdrawal from people or typical activities;
  • Listlessness, depression, low energy;
  • Feelings of loneliness and isolation;
  • Current or subsequent substance abuse;
  • Suicide attempts or engaging in dangerous behavior;
  • Poor school performance;
  • Difficulties concentrating and paying attention;
  • Fears of being separated from the nonabusing parent;
  • Feeling that his or her best is not good enough;
  • Taking on adult or parental responsibilities;
  • Excessive worrying;
  • Bed-wetting or regression to earlier developmental stages;
  • Dissociation;
  • Identifying with or mirroring behaviors of the abuser.27








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Tuesday, October 29, 2013

No Words Needed....

So, I got an Upworthiness Email this morning, and wanted to share it with you. Forgive the short introduction, but the poet will make up for that....



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Friday, October 25, 2013

"I don't need permission from you. I'm taking the right to speak out..."

One of my favorite people: Russell Brand. Notice that comments were disabled, but the number of people that watched this interview is over 4 million. As of November 15th, this video has been watched over 9 million times. Are people hungry for truth?



Key words: paradigm, revolution, Russell Brand, voting, banks, climate change, disenfranchisement, poverty, elite, class wars

Questions? Contact us at leangreencafe@yahoo.com

What a Neurosurgeon Has to Say About Taxes, Healthcare, and Our Nation...

Dr. Carson works at John Hopkins, and was asked to address a recent Prayer Meeting held in early 2013. America is not devoid of voices of hope. I listened to his entire speech, felt grateful for his instruction and shared faith and answers, and decided to share this. Regardless of our varied spiritual paths and beliefs, I doubt anyone can deny the common sense and power of this man's words. He asks God to help him say what he is supposed to say. Tell us what you think in the comment section below...



key words: health care, taxes, Obama, prayer meeting, Dr. Carson, hope for America, 3 branches of government, special interest groups, etc.

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Wednesday, October 16, 2013

US Democracy Suspended. See How This Was Done in 5 Minutes of your Time...

Was the Govt. Shutdown Planned? Can Democracy be Suspended by changing rules? Yes.
How was this done?
See below. Nothing ever so clear....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jd-iaYLO1A




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Saturday, October 12, 2013

Monsanto and US Government Officials Poisoning the World...

This morning I viewed the following video on YouTube. It says a lot in a brief time. I urge you to become aware of these survival issues for you and your fellow world citizens. The second video shows Serbia saying NO to GMO, despite the strong arm tactics of world organizations...
Let's catch up and demand our world back...






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Saturday, October 5, 2013

Autumn News....

Well, I'm hoping for a period of Indian Summer we usually get, after a deluge of rain here in Portland, Oregon. I made pumpkin cookies a few days ago, and heated up some apple cider w/ a half cinnamon stick, a pinch of brown sugar, 4-5 whole cloves and a dash of allspice. I'll miss all the fruit and veggies of the summer, but now it's squash and apple time. I harvested the rest of the rhubarb yesterday before mowing the lawn. That means rhubarb strawberry pie and rhubarb muffins. Carb City...

The news story of the young woman shot in Washington DC was so disturbing. I made the following comments on one of the news articles:

What a tragic ending to a too-familiar story of unnecessary police violence and murder and the end-product of 'treating' someone's depression and turmoil with anti-psychotics and anti-depressants. This young woman was obviously expressing the anger many have about Obama's betrayal of our nation, but in a fog of drugs that her 'doctors' betrayed her with. Since she is black, and left a one year old, this will affect Obama's conscience. (The 16 yr. old he ordered killed by a drone, obviously didn't.)
I just hope it begins the discussion of police actions and training to kill when it is certainly not protecting or 'appropriate' or necessary, and the larger discussion of how many people have been killed by suicidal/homicidal ideations of these psychiatric drugs. Tip of the American Iceberg.
My heart goes out to this mother, her child and her loved ones.

 After a response from someone, I again commented:
I read that she was shot in the back while running away. Pathetic.
She is not mentally ill just because she was taking meds. The Docs and Pharmaceuticals have been harming this country for a long time, for their profit. 
If you are a Vet, they'll give you Seroquel for sleeping problems. One missed dose can lead to seizures or psychotic breaks. Wellbutrin for smoking cessation. Trazodone for insomnia. Amitriptyline for pain. Prozac for grief you need to feel. Ativan for 'anxiety' with side effects of anxiety and panic attacks. Why go on with this discussion? If you are one of the millions of Americans defrauded into taking this crap, look at askapatient .com and put in the medication you are on, for a list of the side effects and personal experiences and ratings of people that have used them.
PS
And the next time some Walgreens or Rite Aid store clerk tries to act as a medical person and 'sell' you a flu shot, just say, "Are you F'ing kidding me?" like a friend of mine did the other day. What would be better? Taking a natural vitamin, vitamin d and fish oil and making tea of fresh ginger, lemon and honey or turmeric and honey, or injecting foreign proteins, mercury and formaldehyde to generate disease in the adjuvants of a vaccine? Google Barbara Loe Fisher or Dr. Mercola and become educated to protect yourself and your family. 
I definitely need to walk now to help diminish the sadness and anger of this story.

This morning I read an article posted by Jon Rappaport on the state of affairs in the US with drugs and the level of corruption that ensures thousands of Americans will be harmed. I decided to share it below for those of you who want a recap of our current reality.
Also, the Bills introduced to allow Congress to decide who is a Reporter, is just more of the same ugly corruption. You can bet Jon would be deleted in this Authoritarian State-motivated move.
This country was founded on a rebellion of Government taxation and oppression, and tends to be cyclic. We have become way off balance, and are back to our roots. History has shown the imbalance will only be tolerated for so long, and the scales of Justice will once again tip. I'll share the Pumpkin Cookie recipe when I use the rest of the large can of pumpkin to make more, as friends are requesting more. I'll get a picture, too. 


The government knows it's a medical killing machine:

by Jon Rappoport
October 5, 2013

Here are four smoking guns that substantiate the title of this article.

Smoking gun #1: As I detailed in my two previous articles, Dr. Barbara Starfield's article in the July 26, 2000, Journal of the American Medical Association, "Is US Health Really the Best in the World?", spelled out the damage:

The US medical system kills 225,000 Americans per year. That's well over two MILLION deaths per decade.

The US government supports, in numerous ways, this system. And now, through the implementation of Obamacare, many more previously uninsured Americans will enter the killing fields.

Dr. Starfield's data are not classified. They're not a state secret. Any doctor or medical bureaucrat has access to them.

Yet nothing of note is being done to remedy the ongoing crime.

Smoking gun #2: Starfield's report indicated that, every year in the US, 106,000 Americans die as a result of FDA-approved medical drugs.

The FDA is the only agency tasked with certifying these drugs as safe and effective. With such certification, the drugs enter the public pipeline.

On the FDA's own website, under the heading, "Why Learn About Adverse Drug Reactions," appears the following text: "Over 2 MILLION ADRs [Adverse Drug Reactions] yearly; 100,000 DEATHS yearly; ADRs 4th leading cause of death..."

Astonishingly, the FDA takes no responsibility for any of this. They, and only they, can approve the drugs as safe and effective. They list the numbers of deaths and maimings, and they never admit culpability.

Smoking gun #3: It's common knowledge that there is a revolving door between the FDA and drug companies. Employees come and go from one organization/agency to another. The FDA and the pharmaceutical industry are, in significant respects, partners.

For years, there were reports of payoffs and pressure, at the FDA, to grant approval to drugs that were, in fact, harmful and dangerous.

Then, in 2009 and again in July 2012, a scandal erupted. As Truthout reported, it focused on "an institutionalized FDA spying program on its own scientists, law makers, reporters and academics that included an enemies list..."

At the heart of the scandal: FDA pressure on its own people to approve medical devices that were dangerous.

Truthout took a further step. It interviewed Ronald Cavanagh, a former drug reviewer for the FDA. (July 29, 2012, "Former FDA Reviewer Speaks Out About Intimidation and Marginalizing of Safety")

In a stunning interview with Truthout's Martha Rosenberg, Cavanagh, exposed the FDA as a relentless criminal mafia protecting its client, Big Pharma, with a host of mob strategies.

Cavanagh: "...widespread racketeering, including witness tampering and witness retaliation."

"I was threatened with prison."

"One [FDA] manager threatened my children...I was afraid that I could be killed for talking to Congress and criminal investigators."

Cavanagh reviewed new drug applications made to the FDA by pharmaceutical companies. He was one of the holdouts at the Agency, who insisted that the drugs had to be safe and effective before being released to the public. That's why he was under the gun.

Honest appraisal wasn't part of the FDA culture, and Cavanagh swam against the tide, until he realized his life and the life of his children might be on the line.

What was his secret and unofficial task at the FDA supposed to be? "Drug reviewers were clearly told not to question drug companies and that our job was to approve drugs." In other words, rubber stamp them. Say the drugs were safe and effective when they were not.

Cavanagh's revelations are astonishing. He recalls a meeting where a drug-company representative flat-out stated that his company had paid the FDA for a new-drug approval. Paid for it. As in bribe.

Cavanagh remarks that the drug pyridostigmine, given to US troops to prevent the later effects of nerve gas, "actually increased the lethality" of certain nerve agents.

Cavanagh recalls being given records of safety data on a drug that was up for approval---and then his bosses told him which sections not to read. Obviously, they knew the drug was dangerous and they knew exactly where, in the reports, that fact would be revealed.

The FDA is an ongoing criminal enterprise, and any government official, serving in any capacity, who has become aware of it and has not taken action, is an accessory to mass poisoning of the population.

Smoking gun #4: Before the FDA considers approving a new drug, studies and clinical trials have to be done. The drug companies do those clinical trials and submit the results to the FDA.

Obviously, the results look good; otherwise the FDA wouldn't be able to certify the drugs as safe and effective.

This raises the specter of research fraud---because, since the drugs kill 106,000 Americans every year, how can published studies praising these drugs be authentic and credible?

On January 15, 2009, the NY Review of Books published a devastating quote from a woman who, for 20 years, edited the most prestigious medical journal in the world:

"It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine."
(Marcia Angell, MD, "Drug Companies and Doctors: A story of Corruption." NY Review of Books, Jan. 15, 2009.)
  
Here is another quote of a similar nature, also published in the NY Review of Books (May 12, 2001, Helen Epstein, "Flu Warning: Beware of Drug Companies"):
  
"Six years ago, John Ioannidis, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Ioannina School of Medicine in Greece, found that nearly half of published articles in scientific journals contained findings that were false."
  
Here's another quote from the same article:
  
"Last year, GlaxoSmithKline's diabetes drug Avandia was linked to thousands of heart attacks, and earlier in the decade, the company's antidepressant Paxil was discovered to exacerbate the risk of suicide in young people. Merck's painkiller Vioxx was also linked to thousands of heart disease deaths. In each case, the scientific literature gave little hint of these dangers."
  
And finally, here is yet another statement from Marcia Angell, former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine:
  
"A review of seventy-four clinical trials of antidepressants, for example, found that thirty-seven of thirty-eight positive studies [that praised the drugs] were published. But of the thirty-six negative studies, thirty-three were either not published or published in a form that conveyed a positive outcome."
  
It turns out that the informational pipeline that feeds the entire perception of pharmaceutical medicine is a rank fraud.
  
Could any major newspaper add up these quotes and launch an all-out attack on the massive crimes surrounding medical studies? Of course. And that attack, if carried out long enough, would shake the pillars of the Church of Modern Medicine. But it doesn't happen.
  
Neither do we see extensive Congressional hearings on the horrendous effects of the US medical system. The Dept. of Justice does nothing, when they should be making mass arrests and laying on criminal prosecutions.
  
They know the scope of the medical killings and maimings. They choose to do nothing.
  
And now, into the maw of this dragon of death, will step millions of previously uninsured Americans, glad recipients of Obamacare.

Jon Rappoport

The author of two explosive collections, THE MATRIX REVEALED and EXIT FROM THE MATRIX, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world. You can sign up for his free emails at NoMoreFakeNews.com.


 Use this link to order Jon's Matrix Collections: 





October 6, 2013: A Congresswoman gets an article/photo op and uses the death of this woman as an opportunity to market 'treatment' for post partum depression. My response:

"The psychiatric meds she was put on are most likely the problem. Side effects of anti-depressants are suicidal and homicidal ideation, and withdrawal-forgetting to take them or stopping them suddenly, cause psychosis. American mothers will now be a greater subject for post-partum drugging. Nursing babies will have no chance for brain normalcy, and the number of moms killing themselves or their children will also rise. This politician is only making a non-proven slot for this story to fit into, in her political 'op'. We need leaders. Not sheep as leaders. As far as anger towards Obama, the whole nation must be post partum."

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Sunday, September 15, 2013

Zucchini/Crookneck Squash Casserole


Grated Crookneck Squash omelet
with Tillamook medium Cheddar,
yogurt w/ fruit and sliced almonds,
English muffins w/ homemade strawberry freezer jam
and Mexican Coffee w/ cinnamon, vanilla and
cayenne pepper.
Sharing good food ideas is so much less confrontive than sharing politics. With that said, please still listen to the previous posting's video interview with Greg Palast so you can understand what is collapsing our world economies. You'll be glad you did. It is effecting us all.

When summer gives us those bumper crops of squash and tomatoes, green beans, blackberries, apples, etc., Autumn's answer is nourishing recipes and time in the kitchen.

Here is a Zucchini Squash Casserole recipe below that I like to mix with the yellow Crookneck for variety and color. Crookneck is also my favorite thing grated, and mixed with scrambled eggs to make an omelet-a touch of sauteed onion and a sprinkle of parmesan, provolone or cheddar makes a great breakfast plate. Last week I made a molasses oatmeal cinnamon raisin bread that made a good toast, (liberally buttered and sprinkled w/ cinnamon sugar). With a bit of fruit or small custard dish of yogurt w/ fruit and sliced almonds, it makes a beautiful presentation.

I got to share this artistic breakfast with my friend, Nellie from Texas. Nellie went on an Alaskan cruise with her family and landed in Seattle. She changed her flight to leave from Portland. I picked her up there and showed her around. She and I went to graduate school together years ago.

There were so many fresh fruits and veggies to share from places like Guisto's and the Barn and the Gresham Saturday Farmer's Market, we ate too much! lol A cruise ship feeds a person well, and gaining 7 lbs. is a normal consequence of that experience.
We found fresh corn on the cob for 5 or 6 for $1, peaches, blackberries, blueberries, figs, green guage plums, etc. I love picking lettuce and baby chard and yellow pear tomatoes from the garden and making a salad with homemade blue cheese dressing. Who says the winter is the only season that can cause extra padding?

Nellie takes photos, so I showed her the Rose Gardens above Portland. Here are a few of our favorites...
First for the begonias at home. I forgot this pot had a begonia in it the previous year. When the tuber began sprouting, even though it was in the pot cemetery with no water, I hung it up and kept watering. There's something about an orange begonia. With compost tea, they've been huge.
Not only bees do nose dives. The smell!
I've been baking a lot! A friend keeps bringing me little gifts of groceries. He likes to give to others, and supplies bread to the court here. I keep making things like rice pudding, peach crisp, oatmeal bread and rhubarb blackberry raspberry pie and sharing with my friend
and his wife, making installments on giving back.
Next will be clam chowder...

I told him he had to stop making contributions for trade for a while. I 've enjoyed listening to the story of how he got to know his wife. He'd stop after his graveyard shift to have coffee and raisin squares at the bakery/cafe where his love interest worked. When his girlfriend got off work, he'd take her to breakfast. They've been married about 32 years.

One of my Favorites at Washington Park Rose Garden

A budding pink rose...
The merging orange, pink and yellow roses and smells of roses subtle or distinct above the Portland cityscape, listening to the harp player and watching the crowd...before I

took Nellie to try the drinking chocolate at Cacao was fabulous. I like the coconut milk w/ cinnamon
and cayenne pepper mixture. The little white espresso cups of this piece of  heaven is sipped while watching the bellman and all the people walking past in downtown Portland.
Cacao is at the corner of the Heathman Hotel.
414 SW 13th Ave, Portland, OR 97205
(503) 241-0656


Zucchini Casserole
Cook 1 c. of white or brown rice. Basmati is nice. Set aside. (2 c. water and 1 c. white rice. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer at low heat 20 min. till done Follow brown rice directions if you use that.)
Steam 4-5 c. zucchini and/or crookneck squash till barely tender.
Put in bottom of a greased 9x13" pan.
Cook 1 lb. of hamburger. Combine w/ the cooked rice and 1 tsp. each oregano and garlic salt. Put over zucchini in pan.
Place 16 oz. of cottage cheese on top, then 1 can undiluted mushroom soup. (The MSG in it isn't too desirable. Maybe you can find one without at New Seasons or Whole Foods? This recipe is from the olden days...) Finish with 1/2-1 c. shredded cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 for 20 min.

More pretty colors...
**I made another casserole using 3 lbs or so of chopped crookneck squash that I cooked in 2T. butter w/ 2 diced onions till tender. You can mix it with zucchini for color, also. I added a bit of green jalapeno pepper without the seeds, but next time I'd use pickled jalapenos to pop that flavor, added to the following: Mix squash w/this mixture: 1 c. shredded Cheddar cheese, 1/2 c. buttermilk and 1/2 c. mayo and a packet of Ranch Dressing, or make your own mix of spices: 1/2 tsp... garlic powder, dill, onion powder, onion flakes, parsley, salt. Add  2-3 beaten eggs and about 15 crushed saltine or Ritz crackers. (What used to be acceptable, using processed foods like crackers and mayo now really is not, with the soy, corn syrup, canola and sugar beets that are genetically modified, Roundup-ready for obesity and cancer.) This may force Moms back in the kitchen. Teach our children how to cook from scratch, and toss the tv for family time instead...is an idea.
Spread squash mixture in a 9x13 pan or casserole dish.
Top w/ stuffing mix tossed with 1/2 c. butter. I made regular stuffing from toasted bread cubes and sauteed celery and onion w/ poultry seasoning. I even defrosted a pint jar of chicken broth a bit-- using the liquid for the stuffing. Bake at 350 for 20-30 min. Smells will permeate your home, and bring smiles. Serve w/ a salad or fruit and cottage cheese, etc.
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Saturday, September 14, 2013

Who Profited in the Planned Mortgage Collapse? What does it mean for us to have Banks Deregulated and Decriminalized?

Greg Palast interviewed. Shares a 'Memo' to Big Bankers with their personal phone numbers confirming 'Conspiracy' voices of Banksters collapsing world economies for their profit. Other countries 'muscled' into compliance. Obama has now appointed Larry Summers as the Economic Czar, who has broken the rule of law with secret meetings, etc., and needs prison and banning from any government job.



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Sunday, September 1, 2013

Thoughts on September 1st....2013

A Message for Humanity....



Last month I walked most every night with my walking partner, and observed drug activity all around my neighborhood. When I got home one evening, I wrote the following poem.


August 7, 2013

I’ve been passed on, passed by, passed over, passed out
I guess it’s part of living too long,
I’m feeling beat, while I’m beating the heat,
Walking and conjuring up this song.

There’s a drug deal here, barbed wire there,
Everywhere is crawling and alive,
But my own legs feel like cement logs
As I amble past the Southeast China dive.

If a bus pulled up, they could surely fill it up,
With the greezy and the sleezy laying low,
If the jails weren’t full, or Corrections bull,
There surely would be a place to go.

If there ain’t no healin, even the food is unappealin,
And the drugs just pass through other hands,
What is the point whether a public or private joint
It’s human trafficking as it currently stands.

So I take it all in, desperation and the sin
While I wait for a breeze to hit my face
Sultry city sights, in an Oregon August night
Cross the parking lot and head out for my place.

The events of the day bubble up and I survey
To see if the peacock trap is near
I won’t be aiding that, better yet to catch a cat,
Or hope that this manager disappears.

Oh my key’s in the lock, and I pass through the door
The pillows are quietly standing guard.
While the tattered arugula, beans and bokchoy
Testify to the visitor in my yard.

I can only wish him well, and that the management go to hell,
Tired legs must finally find their rest
Maybe on the morrow there’ll be less stress and sorrow,
But in any case, I can only do my best.
********
Instead of running background checks on 'guests' of residents, or keeping up on the bicycle and walking brigade with backpacks that deliver ingredients or the finished product, the Manager chose to build a peacock cage, and caught and removed one of the few bits of light and happiness in this 55 and older court.



While they mate, the male peacock is raucous and loud, sometimes calling at 4 or 5 AM, and making evening calls at 9 or 10. Then, as they start to molt and hang their heads in shame, as new tail feathers grow and push the long old ones out, it's as if someone took a remote and turned the voice box off.


Mr. Peacock was a joy to me and most everyone here. He'd sample my bokchoy, the lettuce, green beans and squash flowers. He loved my blueberries till I protected the harvest with hardware cloth. I didn't mind sharing my garden, and used wire fencing to protect what was important.

Mr. Peacock did a mating dance by the rhubarb and shook and left a fuzzy tail feather for me, perhaps grateful for the kind words and organic chicken scratch instead of the toxic bread everyone is eating themselves, and sharing. He will be missed. One of the neighbors was bed-bound, near Hospice stage, and I'm sure she enjoyed the views from my yard. I hope you get a pinch of joy also, from the photos.



I'd shake some scratch in a plastic bag, and the male peacock would cock his head and look serious. I'd sit on the ground, and put the scratch on a leveled off mole hill of dirt, and he'd finally trust me to get close, and begin eating. His patterns and colors are intriguing. It was a fascinating animal.
***********

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Saturday, July 20, 2013

USDA: Arm of the Illegal Totalitarianist US Government. Focus: Raisin Farmers

The United States need to do just that. Unite. The government is so corrupt at this point. The battles are many and diverse. This Saturday morning, I listened to California raisin farmers tell how the USDA steals 47% of their work each year, forcing them into debt and ruin, and now is punishing them for not complying with fines like the $700,000 oppressive tactics one elderly farm couple is giving part of their lives for. The stress alone will take these farmers down. Farmers that have labored for generations, watching the US jack prices of produce for their political agendas, illegally.
Bankrupt the farmers for your Oneworld political agenda, or should we just say generic greed?

American citizens are fighting a war at home, while our drones are killing people worldwide. Time to clean up: Assassinations, fracking the water into flammable liquid, chemtrail the air and land, GMO the cancer rates, vaccinate and process American kids after foreign kids are used as guinea pigs...for what? All involved are unwelcome here....or anywhere.



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Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Amends. Apathy. Not Wanting to Get Involved. Being Part of the Problem...

Ever since I was born into a very dysfunctional family, and watched the madness at home, and observed behaviors of my own peers, besides retreating to the forest at times, I have tried to help when I can. Sticking one's head above the crowd gets the tomatoes, but not saying or doing anything, is being part of the problem, itself. As adults, we have to stand up and speak out. Sometimes there is a time and a better place, especially if you have to protect yourself or your loved ones, but sometimes you just have to pick up a broom and start cleaning things out.

Besides cooking and health tips, I share my beliefs and observations on this blog--things I strongly believe we all need to be aware of and be part of. If we are not part of the solution, it is said we are part of the problem.

I know it is tough to speak up, but being complicit is a horrible hell to live in. I was second of ten children in my family of origin, and yet I am the only one who speaks out and makes an effort to heal the sexual abuse and dishonesty and betrayal chosen by the other nine, their mates, etc. My youngest sister was molested by my youngest brother, and she also began to act out and molest some of my children. The harm was unimaginable, but just as damaging was my family pretending I just didn't exist and failing to stand up for what had happened, and support and protect me and my children. Even today, there has been no admission by the two sibs that harmed by abuse, or the rest of the barrel. One sister told me she just didn't want to discuss anything. Only with her therapist. If only I could have stuck my head in the sand while my children suffered. Of course we all did.

Because of their own childhood burdens, and the inconvenience of yet another shame-filled reality, I am understanding of them wishing the problem would just go away. The youngest told me my mother and her husband (who exposed himself to 3 of my daughters) went to an attorney and were advised the family should pretend I didn't exist. That was my experience.

Raising my children with their wounds, on $700 a month child support, without any family support except my next youngest sister who helped out for a while when I was in the last part of school, probably because she wanted somehow to make it right, was so stressful, that when I finally got a cancer diagnosis after fighting it for ten years, it was not a surprise. I didn't know what was worse: teenage years, the sexual abuse consequences, the abandonment of their father or the betrayal of their whole tribe. Inevitably, because my children have not dealt with their abuse or childhood experiences, health issues and consequences, chemical dependency and distance, etc., my own family is also shredded. This is typical. A problem like this is overwhelming. There are so many complexities in this picture, and no discussion, as if it will mend itself.

Eventually the sister who helped me with monetary donations for a few months my last part of school, sounded just like the rest of my siblings and mother. Something about me not being part of their religion (Mormon) and setting a bad example with dating, etc. and so my kids were acting out. ???

Even her attorney husband, Howard, who finally offered to help me file a modification of child support Pro Bono after years of struggling, either kept or waived the amount due from the period of filing to the court judgment, without my knowledge or consent. At the time, I was shocked, and thought perhaps it was some kind of Mormon brotherhood, taking care of each other as fellow tithe payers or something, or because he somehow felt sorry for my ex-husband. The ex-Val, kept all our Arizona property and stopped child support, making it necessary for me to turn him into the State Child Support Recovery.  Perhaps he had forgotten what caused the divorce after...7 children. I recently emailed my sister twice, asking for Howard to get back with me about this issue. It's time for him to make amends, and pay up. With interest, if that is appropriate. I thought at first that I'd be okay for my sis to take out part for her past donations, but hers was a voluntary gift, and Howard's was an illegal, involuntary and unethical violation.

Now that we all are approaching the later years, I think it's time to clean up some old problems. I have heard nothing from my sister. It's been weeks now. That seems to be the problem-solving technique of my entire family, besides blaming me for any problems. I'm just not interested in being their scapegoat, or anyone's. I'd like an accounting.
***********************
So, in world news, I listened to this General speak on a Youtube video this morning, and thought you might be interested...



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Monday, July 15, 2013

Poppycock and Peacocks

Mr. Peacock's mating dance. He left a fuzzy hind feather by the rhubarb.
The 55 and older mobile court I currently live in, until I sell and move further south, has a surprise mascot that I mentioned earlier. A young male peacock has been roosting in some tall Douglas Fir trees and waking up residents with his call at 4 am or earlier or later, in the morning. He has been a bright spot for me, and many of the neighbors, but some don't appreciate his raucous call. I mentioned him in an earlier post.

Lately I watch his mating dance, feathers all displayed, leaving a fluffy small tail feather behind by the rhubarb. I had to run get my camera, put new batteries in it, to get some pictures. I worried that the dance would be over before I could get situated. Out in the yard, I put a full length mirror by a back garden area, by the metal yard art bird that the peacock checks out on a daily basis. I wonder just what he thinks, and if the mating rituals are for Duke the yard bird.

A couple of nights ago, a neighbor told me there were some dead squirrels in the park. This means someone is poisoning them, most likely, which makes me worry about my friend, the Peacock. The management is supposedly trying to scare him away because of some complaints, with lights, and noise, and posting a sign not to feed the Peacock. This is impossible with all the nurturing lonely seniors here, but they are feeding him the same nasty bread they are eating themselves, which can't be good for Mr. Peacock. So, because I feed wild birds, I was at a garden center in Portland looking for a Hops plant and found some organic chicken scratch.

If I shake some of the scratch in a small plastic bag, the Peacock cocks his head, and gets very serious about dinner. He makes his one-note call for food throughout the neighborhood, in the Am and Pm. He comes within a foot of me, as I put the scratch on top of a mole hill that I leveled out, on my lawn. There is water out also, but I don't know if he drinks there or not. I hope he doesn't drink from the pool here.


Along with his varied diet, he has helped himself to blueberries from my bushes, loves to eat tender salad from the green beans and bokchoy plants, squash flowers, pumpkin nibbles and even plucks green peas and tendrils causing the long climbing plant to fall on the ground. I tuck it back up, but it's not that important. Mr. Peacock gets a sacrificial blueberry or two or three on top of his scratch offering, or some fresh garden peas from the pod. He seems to really love the peas. At times I see him in my neighbor's garden foraging under the bird feeder, and I offer him peas, but movement and living in the city apparently has ravaged his nerves (think 4th of July-horrendous for even us, with rubber membrane roofs-not just the noise of illegal fireworks everywhere around us). He'll walk away, and come back and eat them where I've left them.

Poppycock: A friend moved his mother near him, 5 hours away, and asked me to clean the trailer and show it so it will sell soon. A neighbor was parking his car in the driveway, and I asked that he let the fellow know he'll have to find another place. The fellow blocked the driveway the first day, parked in the driveway the next, left his car in the street after ten violating the fire code here (ambulances and fire engines frequent the park), and parked there again on Friday the 12th, despite me asking him nicely to please find somewhere else. If he cleaned up his driveway, he could easily park both cars in it. He lives with his mother in the court. I wondered if he could just move it at 7 in the morning, but it is leaking oil or tranny fluid and I just don't want to clean it up. Since it's inevitable when a new neighbor moves in, he just needs to find another spot or clean his driveway.
Side yard

The last time he did this, after an unasked for park warning of a complaint, I just walked down w/ a friend of mine, took a picture to take care of it later, and went back to fixing the lawn mower on the side of my house, with my friend. This fellow comes down the street with a pencil and paper and asks me for my full name. I ask why. He asks again. Why do you want my full name? "Because you are harassing me, and I'm going to write up a complaint." He proceeds to tell me I think I'm better than anyone else, because I am not going to comply with his request. I try to be patient.


The evening before, I had a visit from another resident who lets his cats roam, against rules, and they are pooping in the garden where I work, across the street, so I asked him to keep them home. I also told him there are people at the park that are so tired of the cat toileting/trespassing problem, they may not take the trapped animals to the Multnomah Co. Humane Society. In fact, Mult. Co was currently refusing to take any more cats. This sets up a sad scenario. I was just the messenger. He later told the fellow I help w/ yardwork something about I was after killing his cats. In the evening, this resident walked across the street w/ one of his cats while I worked in the yard of yet another fellow who can't do it any more, and started talking about Multnomah Co. and other things, ramping up, getting more and more angry. He was hostile, threatening, leaning close to me, and I patiently reached out to try to reason with him, and touched  him lightly on the arm, as I talk with my hands, also.

"You touched me!" he says. I try to tell him I am not his enemy, but his cats are his responsibility. He walks away saying I'm the 'instigator' of reigning in the cats, and I was supposed to move a year ago, and that I'm a 'cat killer'. As I put my tools away and walk back with the resident who carried my weed eater for me, a police car  is visible, and an officer approaches me saying the resident claims I slapped him. Thank God the man I was helping was standing right there, and shows the officer separately in the distance, what happened. "That's not assault, the officer says. That's harassment." ??? This is so stupid and silly, as I was trying to de-escalate the situation, and had no mal intent. "He wants me to arrest you", the officer says. I tell him what went down, and he goes to talk to the upset resident. I go home to drop in bed after I shower off the dirt of the day.


Meanwhile, the man whose yard I mowed, etc. observes the husband and wife that run the Neighborhood Watch monthly meeting, going to the police-calling resident's place with paper and pen, supposedly to write up a complaint. They both are angry with me when I spoke up at the last meeting in July, to defend a woman they had verbally abused, reminding them of respectful, professional treatment in public meetings. So, the man next door to this resident, who was parking in the driveway after the owner asked him not to, coming with a paper and pencil, was not a surprise.

A Personal Injury Attorney would take this case, and make some money, I'm afraid. But, I'd rather spend my energy elsewhere-- somewhere positive. I'm leaving... I can only hope my advocacy work here has helped the neighborhood in some way.

In this Park, there are some houses where obvious drug dealing is going on. The management only evicts certain people who have a drug-using guest, but leaves others. Some of these dealers, for instance soliciting for Oxycontins at $3.50 because they can sell them for $7 while enjoying social time at the pool, go to the Neighborhood Watch meetings. The woman who reported this July 7th incident to the 'management', was upset that I had confronted her son during a drug delivery that day, after I coincidentally heard about another reported illegal sale, telling him he really should find another way to earn money, that everyone is watching him, and prison was inevitable, and his mother needed him. Of course, the large new white Mercedes that slowly ...drove behind my place on Friday, was the rankled supplier, most likely.

The Manager's mode of eviction is having 5 written complaints to get rid of someone, and then if they leave their mobile behind, or can't sell it while paying the $500 monthly space rent, he can take it and strip it. I've watched it happen, and listened to the reports of residents, one buying a shed from the previous manager and his now-manager Stepson, and watching them pocket $100 each.

I've been trying to help leave this place better than I found it, but it takes my precious time, and it's hard to do when many don't appreciate it. I just collated 10 gallons or more in various containers like 5 gallon jugs of oil and water (some didn't have lids and got rain, allowing the floating oil to ooze out on the asphalt), gas and transmission fluid sitting for months by the pool area garbage, gave the maintenance gal a 3x5 card with dates of Hazmat collection 'events', the Metro number and address and hours of operation, $5 for the first 35 gallons and a suggestion to have a collection area that management takes in once a month, without even a thank you. There are sewage lines without caps in empty spaces, ($75-100 fine for each one I've heard) cat poop drying in dirt and dust to waft into the breeze to give people Toxoplasmosis parasites, animals itching and scratching for over a year, empty trailers with price tags of $8500 with mold and sagging ceilings, but the overseeing management in California are just as dysfunctional and passive in response to my certified letter to transfer the liability of safety and public health issues. They have not returned two calls now after my initial call to follow up on my certified letter, unanswered.

Mr. Peacock....moving on.
But I figure, I'm moving on. I am in search of polite neighbors, non-smokers so I can open a window or front door without further respiratory problems, and a new vista.

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