Pigs On The Wing

If you didn't care what happened to me,

And I didn't care for you

We would zig zag our way through the boredom and pain

Occasionally glancing up through the rain

Wondering which of the buggers to blame

And watching for pigs on the wing .......

You know that I care what happens to you

And I know that you care for me too

So I don't feel alone Of the weight of the stone

Now that I've found somewhere safe

To bury my bone

And any fool knows a dog needs a home

A shelter from pigs on the wing

To Imprison Us All

To imprison our memories, they gave us revisionist history.

To imprison our present-day minds, they made us drink fluoride.

To imprison our biology, they gave us prescription medications.

To imprison our ideas, they created intellectual property laws.

To imprison our legal identities, they created social security numbers.

To imprison our children, they gave us vaccines.

To imprison our mental health, they gave us psychiatry.

To imprison our agriculture, they created genetically modified seeds.

To imprison our soils, they created chemical pesticides.

To imprison our sense of self worth, they created fashion and cosmetics.

To imprison our speech, they created SOPA.

To imprison our persons and effects, they created the TSA.

To imprison our protests, they created the NDAA.

To imprison our productivity, they created the IRS.

To imprison our money supply, they created the Federal Reserve.

To imprison our financial future, they created endless debt.

To imprison our consumption habits, they created television advertising.

To imprison our perspective, they created television news.

To imprison our medical professionals, they created medical schools.

To imprison scientific truth, they created science journals.

To imprison our teenage boys, they created violent video games.

To imprison our teenage girls, they created Gardasil.

To imprison our online interactions, they created search engine profiling and tracking technology.

To imprison our sex, they created sexual dysfunction diseases.

To imprison our foods and farms, they created the Health Department.

And then,

To secure the prisons against resistance, they passed gun restriction laws.

To quell dissent, they taught the masses to be dehumanized and dumbed-down.

To solidy their arrogance over the masses, they erected a scientific dictatorship.

To ensure blind obedience, they positioned government as savior.

But,

While the prisons were numerous and carefully constructed,

No matter how hard they tried,

They could not imprison our souls.

And once we recognized the prisons,

And identified those responsible for building them,

We rose up against them,

Setting free our minds,

Our bodies

Our children

Our productivity

Our liberties

And our futures.

We are Americans. To imprison us all...

No Power In The Word "Faggot"

Written or spoken, words are continuously propelling us through life. They lift us up, drag us down, wound us deeply or heal our hearts. Words have the power to break confidences, build life long alliances or start wars.

Words can make or break us, both as individuals and as a society.

What have you been saying lately? Are the words you choose positive or negative?

The words you speak can have a profound effect on the people they reach.

Your words can be a positive power in someone else’s life.

Are you using words that build up your children, your spouse, your friends or even the strangers you pass on the street?

Or

Are you tearing down your own family, and friends with words of criticism, bitterness and judgment?

Words have set whole nations in motion…Give me the right word and the right accent and I will move the world. —Joseph Conrad

In the Bible, James compares the human tongue to a horse.

We have mastered controlling this tremendous, spirited animal with a small piece of metal, yet we are far from controlling the words that fall from our lips.

If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to harness the whole body...Indeed we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn (or control) their whole body. —James 3 — Taming the Wild Tongue

Why then, do we find it so difficult to refrain from saying words we know will only harm?

Controlling what we say, though, how hard do we really try?

Is it simply a form of self discipline that we are lacking?

We seek to control every single aspect of our lives.

Self-control? Nah, what fun is that?

Surely it is easier to harness the power of a wild horse than to reign in your tongue. It does seem to take on a life of its own bursting out of control at times when emotions are elevated. Whether we are quickly placing our foot in our mouth or cutting down another driver in rush hour traffic, it is a problem most of us (unless you live in isolation) combat daily.

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.  —Dorothy Nevill

Can’t you take a joke?

Well now, that all depends. If we follow up a rude or insulting comment with the phrase “I was only joking” does it not count to the person we said it to?

Does the sting of the words vanish, having no lasting effect?

Are we therefore innocent, somehow not responsible for the rubbish spewing forth from our mouths? We may have the right to free speech, but speech is not entirely free. There are always consequences for what we say, whether or not we realize our impact.

For example, if you choose words that are critical and judgmental around your children, then your children will learn to criticize and judge.

If you speak without courtesy and respect, and love then they will do the same to others in the world.

Love is patient, Love is kind. It does not envy, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, it rejoices with truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. —1 Cor. 13:4  

Words can inspire us to greatness; they enable us to share our deepest feelings with one another. Words can change us as individuals. When used with care, they can change the world around us.

From the very beginning when the first words were uttered, the ability to communicate has played an important role in our world.

Whether within our own thoughts, spoken or written, words have the power to transform the world we live in.

Love, laughter, heroism, friendship, and virtually every emotion we feel as human beings can be inspired by words.

Unfortunately, fear, anger, and hatred, can also be invoked by words.

This morning I had the displeasure of being called a “faggot” at least 8 times this morning before 10am.

By mid day I had been called “faggot” at least 15 times; totaled.

So at the end of this day, a friend of mine dropped by to visit, and inadvertently played back a message, on speaker phone from a friend of his, which blurted out another use of the word “faggot”, and this time, it was directed at me.

It urked me so that I made a scene out of it. I was fed up, and offended. My friend and I argued each point, and gave our perspectives on the use of the word.

He disagreed that the word had any power, and is just used in jest. I argued against his point.

I suppose we both agreed to disagree on the use of the word.

My feelings were still hurt.

Being homosexual, I’ve had to work extra my whole life to prove myself, because of the social status society has placed on me; a 2nd class citizen.

Not only did I have to fight society to gain respect, but I have had to fight within my own family.

I suppose I am was just tired of being a victim of hate.

Wait a minute, what did I just hear myself say, “Victim“? Did I just victimize myself? Wow, am I playing the “victim” here?

Sure I am.

Where did this word come from, and how could I give it so much power over me?

I don’t think I would be wrong in making the statement that, in these times the word “faggot is not really used if somebody is really a homosexual but instead it’s mostly used in place of calling somebody stupid or a loser.

One definition of the word Faggot is that of a bundle of sticks or wood.

Another definition would be a term used to refer to homosexuals, often as a slur, and usually one who is flamboyantly flaming

Coined in the Victorian era, this term comes from the practice in British Public Schools of making the students do menial tasks such as gathering the sticks to make Faggots, which were used instead of logs. These menial tasks became known as "Faggot-work", and it was the lowest of the low socially that typically were made to do these tasks. These boys were often physically weak as well, and were left open to sexual advances from other boys or teachers with little or recourse to refuse

It’s also defined as a British term for a cigarette.

Nonetheless, it’s used today as an insulting term for a gay male, usually used by insecure straight males of the teenage persuasion to "show that they are not gay".

How did "faggot" get to mean "male homosexual"?

I guess that in Britain the term does not carry a negative connotation and is used as slang for cigarettes and whatnot, but it still gets me thinking. How can a word go from meaning "a bundle of sticks" to "homosexual male"? I've looked elsewhere on the Internet, but I haven't been able to find any unbiased resources or even biased ones that state their sources. They all say that it goes back to heretics being forced to carry the faggots for their own execution at the stake. Forgive me for being skeptical, but this sounds a heckuva lot like the story about the origin of the term "rule of thumb," albeit backward. —

The British historically haven't found "faggot" offensive--with the exception of a vile-tasting meatball currently marketed in the UK as Mr. Brain's Faggots.

One of the advertising lines says,

"It's no wonder 100 million faggots are eaten in the UK every year!"

It took Americans to apply the term to male homosexuals.

First some history.

The term faggot or fagot, meaning bundle of sticks, shows up around 1300 in English. It almost certainly came from Old French, possibly going back to Greek phakelos. Since those bundles of sticks were mainly used for fires, it's not surprising that the term came to mean burning sticks. Then there was that nasty business in medieval times where heretics were burned at the stake. Some later cites indicate heretics who repented and were spared a fiery death had to wear a picture of a faggot on their sleeve to show what might have been their fate. But no print evidence exists that homosexuals were referred to as faggots before the twentieth century, with the origin definitely in the U.S., not Britain.

The British continued to use the words fag and faggot as nouns, verbs and adjectives right through the early 20th century, never applying it to homosexuals at any time. To fag or to be a fag was a common term in British schools from the late 1700s and referred to a lower classman who performed chores for upperclassmen. While this term was also in vogue at Harvard in the first half of the 19th century, it died out by the mid-1800s in the U.S., leaving it in use only in England. Nineteenth century Britons also heard "faggot" used in reference to an ill-tempered woman, i.e., a ball-buster, a battleaxe, a shrew. That meaning of the term continued into the early 20th century, and the usage was gradually applied to children as well as women. The relationship, if any, between faggot-as-bundle-of-sticks and faggot-as-shrewish-woman is unknown.

The first known published use of the word faggot or fag to refer to a male homosexual appeared in 1914 in the U.S. It referred to a homosexual ball where the men were dressed in drag and called them "fagots (sissies)." Ernest Hemingway, in The Sun Also Rises

(1926), included the line,

"You're a hell of a good guy, and I'm fonder of you than anybody on earth. I couldn't tell you that in New York. It'd mean I was a faggot." A 1921 cite says, "Androgynes [are] known as 'fairies,' 'fags,' or 'brownies.'"

George Chauncey, in his excellent 1994 work Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940, says that the terms fairy, faggot, and queen were used by homosexuals to refer to men who were ostentatiously effeminate. Homosexuals who were not as showy referred to themselves as "queer" in the first decades of the 20th century. But the general public mainly called homosexuals "fairies." If you were in London in the 1920s through the 1940s and used the term "fag," the man in the street might have offered you a cigarette, and quite possibly that would have been the case with many Americans at the time.

All of this does little to answer your original question: How did a bundle of sticks come to mean a homosexual male? Most likely it didn't. Here we'll have to go to theory. Since I'm writing this, mine will have to do.

We notice with some words a progression of usage that morphs along the lines of "woman/girl" > "woman/girl/child" > "effeminate male" > "homosexual male." The word fairy is a good example. "Faggot" in the sense of an ill-tempered woman is another. I independently came to that conclusion while answering a general question on the SDMB. But, in a post to the American Dialect Society mailing list, Dr. Laurence Horn, professor of linguistics at Yale University, posted the progression that I just used (he did it much more succinctly than I could). Still unexplained is how a Britishism jumped the ocean in a short period of time to acquire a new meaning in the U.S. Perhaps it was an independent formation.

Words happen.

As a last thought, a current notion holds that the Yiddish word faygeleh, which is derived from the word foigel (or vogel) in Yiddish and German, and is kind of like the term "Little Birdie" might have been the source, but lacks evidence other than the claim that the word was commonly used in Yiddish prior to WWII to indicate a homosexual. With the digitizing of publications allowing searching never before possible, perhaps some further scholarship will be forthcoming to help solve the mystery.

As I was researching this article, I ran across the following video:

Here’s something I’d like everyone to discuss and ponder. It’s not okay for people to say the N word right (although they seem to do so in rap lyrics)? So, why would it be okay for people to use the F word, when we are trying to encourage teens to by telling them “It Gets Better,” how can we use the very word that others used to cut them down and persecute them.

I understand it can be taken two ways, but whether it is appropriate or not is another question. Some say when you use the word, you’re taking back ownership. Or maybe it’s just to turn heads and get peoples attention.

I've come to understand that the word is POWERLESS to me now, because I am finally comfortable with who  I am, and I love who I am, and the word "faggot", has no power over me.

But for those who are still lost, and haven't been able to find themselves, be careful which words you choose, and remember that Language is at its best when used to inspire others to find the best in themselves.

Don't tear people down with words, lift them up instead.

What are you saying; are your words good or bad,

Positive or negative, happy or sad?

The words of your mouth lead to failure or success.

Do you ever wonder how you got into that mess?

You are in charge of the words that you speak.

Will you be strong, or will you be weak?

Do you speak words of sickness, or words of health?

Do you speak of poverty, or are your words of wealth?

What you say each day is what comes to pass in your life.

Are your days full of peace, or are they full of strife?

Your life will reflect the words that you say.

Speak positive, uplifting words and life will manifest that way.

Speak negative, depressing, 'Oh, poor me' kind of things...

Then the road to failure is what these words will bring.

It's your choice; it's up to you.

What are you saying; what will you do?

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To New Beginnings

Resources

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2112/how-did-faggot-get-to-mean-male-homosexual http://vimeo.com/31741727%20http://amyjane.hubpages.com/hub/Power-Of-Your%20Words http://www.colindunbar.com/%20 http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=faggot http://www.homorazzi.com/article/fag-gay-usage-homophobic-slur-faggot-queer-homosexual-offensive-words/#ixzz1mtVjSpGD

Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, edited by J. E. Lighter, New York, 1994-1997. — samclem
Maya Angelou on the Power of Words

One Tin Soldier

Listen, children, to a story

That was written long ago,

'Bout a kingdom on a mountain

And the valley-folk below.

On the mountain was a treasure

Buried deep beneath the stone,

And the valley-people swore

They'd have it for their very own.

Go ahead and hate your neighbor,

Go ahead and cheat a friend.

Do it in the name of Heaven,

You can justify it in the end.

There won't be any trumpets blowing

Come the judgement day,

On the bloody morning after....

One tin soldier rides away.

So the people of the valley

Sent a message up the hill,

Asking for the buried treasure,

Tons of gold for which they'd kill.

Came an answer from the kingdom,

"With our brothers we will share

All the secrets of our mountain,

All the riches buried there."

Go ahead and hate your neighbor,

Go ahead and cheat a friend.

Do it in the name of Heaven,

You can justify it in the end.

There won't be any trumpets blowing

Come the judgement day,

On the bloody morning after....

One tin soldier rides away.

Now the valley cried with anger,

"Mount your horses! Draw your sword!"

And they killed the mountain-people,

So they won their just reward.

Now they stood beside the treasure,

On the mountain, dark and red.

Turned the stone and looked beneath it...

"Peace on Earth" was all it said.

Go ahead and hate your neighbor,

Go ahead and cheat a friend.

Do it in the name of Heaven,

You can justify it in the end.

There won't be any trumpets blowing

Come the judgement day,

On the bloody morning after....

One tin soldier rides away.

Go ahead and hate your neighbor,

Go ahead and cheat a friend.

Do it in the name of Heaven,

You can justify it in the end.

There won't be any trumpets blowing

Come the judgement day,

On the bloody morning after....

One tin soldier rides away.

Great Questions

There are great questions that every human being that has ever walked this earth has pondered at sometime during their life, that we all must answer in someway.

What am I?  Am I just this physical body? Do I just have to come here grow up, get into the rat race, struggle to get ahead, to have a two car garage, and white picket fence; approved by everybody?

Why go through that, when it's all over before we know it?

Where did I come from?  What religions on the face of the earth today have any answer to that question?

What shall I do while I am here? I'm bombarded from all sides from moralistic advice and judgments, from every conceivable person; there are 20,000 versions of Christianity on the face of the earth today;  just to take Christianity alone.  The advice is not consistent, and confusing; what should I do?

Where am I going?

What do you love about yourself that is in service to the awakening of humanity?

What is being evoked from you at this time in history, in service to our collective?

What is your deepest longing and sacred calling?

How does your energy want to show up and play as new systems, ideas and ways of being are manifesting on our planet in its crucial birthing process into the new?

What will the world be like with unconditional love?

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My Birthday Wish

I took this day, and at times found myself drifting back, having my mind flooded with memories....the only thing that would bring me back to reality was the sound of my laughter.

I've always believed that if you said your birthday wish out loud, it would not come true...these days I try not to believe in any "thing".

So I'm going to ry sosmething different, and I'm going to say it out loud this time, and I trust that if it's meant to be; it will be.

..my birthday wish is for my family, that we come together, and not let our beliefs cause any more separation.

We can't change anything is the past, but we can create a moment now.

In particular, I wish that my mother would forgive me for my shortfallings. I have been able to let go of everything I was holding on to, and find myself truly at peace. I trust that we can have a solid, loving relationship.

I wish that my big brother, would stand up and be that big brother, it's never too late. There have been so many times, that I wished I had a big brother, especially where I live now.

I wish to get to know my brother Daniel, and his family.

....and Larry Angelo?....what's up?.... I always thought we had a tight connection.

I wish to reconnect with my sister Rebecca, and of course Witamar, I love him like a brother.

...and I'd like to send a special request to big Larry, that you understand that I hold no resentment toward you at all. I have been able to let my past go, and I don't feel the need to bring anything up. I want you to know that I appreciated out time together, and I feel that I learned alot from you, and trust that you were in my life for a reason. Shit happens, I've experienced it ;-)

It can be real easy, as clicking our heels three times...and saying out loud...Let bygones be bygones

That's my birthday wish. Everyone that wished me a happy bday, take my thought, and help me create a new reality for my family and myself this 47th birthday of mine.

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Birthday

To New Beginnings

Birthday

birthday

a day of remembrance

the penance undergone in love for love

by the light that shadows us

like the eyelids for the eyes

our mother.

birthday

a thanksgiving day

for the creator’s generosity

and mother’s anticipation

to bring forward another soul for continuity

of human race

so this bud may blossom

into beautiful petals

and colorful flowers.

birthday

a day to rejoice

the confluence of five elements at the fullest term

to draw forth a splendor of nature

in the form of an infant.

birthday

a day to humble our lives

in promises holy

that today on this special day

another good I add unto my life

and please grant my family thy fullest blessing

birthday

a day to feed the hungry stomachs

that may cross our path with stretched arms

lets all eat well, sleep well

on this day of final emergence

a source of mystery

the facet of truth

You haven't been forgotten my love - Brandy

©2006 by cyclopseven.

Lady Liberty Needs Glasses

Excuse me but lady liberty needs glasses

And so does mrs justice by her side

Both the broads are blind as bats

Stumbling thru the system

Justice bumbed into mutulu and

Trippin on geronimo pratt

But stepped right over oliver

and his crooked partner ronnie

Justice stubbed her big toe on mandela

And liberty was misquoted by the indians

Slavery was a learning phase

Forgotten with out a verdict

While justice is on a rampage

For endangered surviving black males

I mean really if anyone really valued life

And cared about the masses

Theyd take 'em both to pen optical

Aand get two pair of glasses

Obama Orders Assassination Of American Citizen

The U.S. Constitution is the law of the land.

Our nation's founding charter was intended to reflect our British common law heritage, the lessons of Greek democracy, and the principles of the Roman Republic. It also contained historic protections of citizens dating back to the Magna Carta.

The Founders were keen on making sure the federal government's powers were limited and few, and given their experience with King George III, they made a particular point to restrain the power of the executive branch. Unlike other countries at the time, in the United States the head of state would not be above the law. For many observers at the time, our Constitution was a crowning achievement of the West. It was the grand culmination of philosophies on governance spanning centuries and an affirmation of proper civilization.

President Barack Obama hasn't seemed too bothered by constitutional restraint.

To be fair, neither have most of his modern predecessors, who have steadily expanded executive power far beyond its constitutional bounds. President George W. Bush was considered by the Left to be one of the worst enemies of civil liberties, as legislation such as the Patriot Act, policies such as indefinite detention, and legal redefinitions of torture were considered unprecedented new lows. Yet despite promising "change," Obama has maintained most of Bush's anti-civil liberties policies, even expanding them in some cases.

Now, Obama has lowered the bar even further.

When American-born Al-Qaeda collaborator Anwar al-Awlaki was assassinated by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen last week, The New York Times noted,

"It is extremely rare, if not unprecedented, for an American to be approved for targeted killing."

There is little question that al-Awlaki was as evil as most reports indicated. He inspired radical jihadists to take up arms against the United States. There is also little question that fighting radical Islamists represents a war unlike any other in our history, but the problem with killing al-Awlaki is the precedent it sets. If President Obama's overall domestic and foreign policies weren't already bad enough, he has now taken the United States to a new low by undermining the most basic precept of American law: the protection of a citizen's rights through due process.

In a 2004 Supreme Court case in which a father sought constitutional protections for his American-citizen son who had been imprisoned as an enemy combatant without charge or trial, conservative Justice Antonin Scalia gave the following opinion:

"Where the government accuses a citizen of waging war against it, our constitutional tradition has been to prosecute him in federal court for treason or some other crime."

Obviously, Scalia believes our Constitution and legal traditions should have some bearing on such matters.

When the court decided the man must remain imprisoned, in his dissenting opinion Scalia quoted 18th century British judge Sir William Blackstone, widely considered to be an authority on English common law:

"The very core of liberty secured by our Anglo-Saxon system of separated powers has been freedom from indefinite imprisonment at the will of the executive. Blackstone stated this principle clearly: 'Of great importance to the public is the preservation of this personal liberty: for if once it were left in the power of any, the highest, magistrate to imprison arbitrarily whomever he or his officers thought proper ... there would soon be an end of all other rights and immunities ..."

Scalia further quoted Blackstone,

"To bereave a man of life ... without accusation or trial ... would be so gross and notorious an act of despotism, as must at once convey the alarm of tyranny throughout the whole kingdom."

We don't have to imagine what the Left would have thought of George W. Bush if he had ordered the assassination of al-Awlaki. But if Bush was rightly criticized for imprisoning citizens without due process, Obama is now applauded for killing one of them.

This issue is not about an obvious American traitor, but an American president's traitorous new policy.

As of this writing, Reuters is reporting that

"American militants like Anwar al-Awlaki are placed on a kill or capture list by a secretive panel of senior government officials, which then informs the president of its decisions, according to officials ... There is no public record of the operations or decisions of the panel ... Neither is there any law establishing its existence or setting out the rules by which it is supposed to operate."

The alarm of tyranny throughout the kingdom Blackstone spoke of, Scalia cited, and our Constitution was designed to prevent is now one step closer to reality. [source]

It isn't up to us to decide when a person is or is no longer a citizen.

Obtaining Naturalization in a Foreign State

Section 349 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1481), as amended, states that U.S. citizens are subject to loss of citizenship if they perform certain specified acts voluntarily and with the intention to relinquish U.S. citizenship.

Briefly stated, these acts include:

(Sec. 349 (a) (1) INA); taking an oath, affirmation or other formal declaration to a foreign state or its political subdivisions (Sec. 349 (a) (2) INA); entering or serving in the armed forces of a foreign state engaged in hostilities against the U.S. or serving as a commissioned or non-commissioned officer in the armed forces of a foreign state (Sec. 349 (a) (3) INA); accepting employment with a foreign government if (a) one has the nationality of that foreign state or (b) an oath or declaration of allegiance is required in accepting the position (Sec. 349 (a) (4) INA); formally renouncing U.S. citizenship before a U.S. diplomatic or consular officer outside the United States (Sec. 349 (a) (5) INA); formally renouncing U.S. citizenship within the U.S. (but only under strict, narrow statutory conditions) (Sec. 349 (a) (6) INA); conviction for an act of treason (Sec. 349 (a) (7) INA).

Does al-Awlaki retain citizenship status after taking up arms against the United States?

A good test would be whether his children are eligible for SSI survivor's benefits. (I'm guessing they're not eligible)

It would have been nice to have had a formal declaration from the state department indicating that the American born terrorist's citizenship status had been revoked for acts of sedition and treason.

Maybe that was done and not publicized.

Should rebel soldiers from the confederate south should been given "due process" for crimes committed against the United States?

One could make the argument that the demonstrators occupying Wall Street are guilty of sedition and treason - they are openly calling for overthrowing the United States government in particular, and capitalism in general.

Should they be targeted for a drone strike?

How is it that the empty suit in the White House can get away with dissing Bush's policies (Gitmo, rendition, drone strikes, endless war) during the campaign, yet he's lauded for continuing and expanding the same policies as President?

Answer: The intellectually and morally bankrupt left are hypocrites. The useful idiots in the streets are being manipulated by the very people who will ultimately enslave them.

These groups are made up of young people who want their college loans forgiven, among other demands.  

Why aren't they protesting on their campuses about college presidents, professors, administrators, and head ball coaches making big money on the backs of students via inflated tuition rates?

Because they're hypocrites.

Why aren't they protesting against the democrat politicians who federalized the student loan program, depriving local communities and banks the opportunity to decide who is worthy of assistance?

Because they're hypocrites.

Why aren't they protesting against Apple, one of the largest, richest corporations in America - a company that has many of its products made in China, depriving Americans of manufacturing jobs?

Because they're hypocrites.

The only real issue with this case is that Al Qaeda is not a foreign state, but a terrorist organization. Yes, he was a dirtbag, and yes, he surely would have been convicted of treason, but until then he is a citizen, and this has the possibility of making it easier for government to start killing more of its citizens it only suspects of terrorism.

Ignorance and hypocrisy go hand in hand. The "occupy" protesters are a fine testament to the abject failure of our educational system.

We shall soon reap what we, as a society, have sown.

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Universal Soldier

Who is responsible for war? Is it the soldiers? I suppose you can’t just point your finger at them. Although- they were there, afterall.

Maybe it’s the Generals, since they make a career out of telling these guys what to do. Or just maybe that doesn’t go far enough.

Who tells the Generals what to do?

Who points the Generals in the army at somebody else? 

Ah…. it’s the Politicians.

But who elects the politicians?

Ah….it’s us., Right?

It’s all about responsibility...

He is five foot two,

and he's six feet four,

he fights with missiles and with spears

He is all of thirty-one,

and he's only a seventeen,

he's been a soldier for thousands years.

He's a Catholic, A Hindu,

an atheist, a Jain,

A Buddhist, and a Baptist and a Jew,

and he knows, he shouldn't kill,

and he knows, he always will,

killing for me, my friend, and me for you.

And he's fighting for Canada,

he's fighting for France,

he's fighting for the U.S.A.

and he's fighting for the Russains,

he's fighting for Japan,

and he thinks we'll put an end to war this way.

And he's fighting for democracy,

he's fighting for the Reds,

he says it's for the peace of all

He's the one who must decide,

who's to live and who's to die,

and he never sees the writing on the wall.

But without him, how would Hitler

have condemned him at Labau?

Without him Cesar would have stood alone,

He's the one, who gives his body

as a weapon of the war,

and without him all this killing can't go on.

He's the universal soldier,

and he really is to blame,

his orders came from far away, no more

They come from here and there,

and you and me and brothers,

can't you see,

this is not the way we put the end to war.

My Country 'Tis Of Thy People You're Dying

Now that your big eyes have finally opened,

Now that you're wondering how must they feel,

Meaning them that you've chased across America's movie screens.

Now that you're wondering how can it be real

That the ones you've called colorful, noble and proud

In your school propaganda

They starve in their splendor?

You've asked for my comment I simply will render:

My country 'tis of thy people you're dying.

Now that the longhouses breed superstition

You force us to send our toddlers away

To your schools where they're taught to despise their traditions.

You forbid them their languages, then further say

That American history really began

When Columbus set sail out of Europe, then stress

That the nation of leeches that conquered this land

Are the biggest and bravest and boldest and best.

And yet where in your history books is the tale

Of the genocide basic to this country's birth,

Of the preachers who lied, how the Bill of Rights failed,

How a nation of patriots returned to their earth?

And where will it tell of the Liberty Bell

As it rang with a thud

O'er Kinzua mud,

And of brave Uncle Sam in Alaska this year?

My country 'tis of thy people you're dying.

Hear how the bargain was made for the West:

With her shivering children in zero degrees,

Blankets for your land, so the treaties attest,

Oh well, blankets for land is a bargain indeed,

And the blankets were those Uncle Sam had collected

>From smallpox-diseased dying soldiers that day.

And the tribes were wiped out and the history books censored,

A hundred years of your statesmen have felt it's better this way.

And yet a few of the conquered have somehow survived,

Their blood runs the redder though genes have paled.

From the Gran Canyon's caverns to craven sad hills

The wounded, the losers, the robbed sing their tale.

From Los Angeles County to upstate New York

The white nation fattens while others grow lean;

Oh the tricked and evicted they know what I mean.

My country 'tis of thy people you're dying.

The past it just crumbled, the future just threatens;

Our life blood shut up in your chemical tanks.

And now here you come, bill of sale in your hands

And surprise in your eyes that we're lacking in thanks

For the blessings of civilization you've brought us,

The lessons you've taught us, the ruin you've wrought us --

Oh see what our trust in America's brought us.

My country 'tis of thy people you're dying.

Now that the pride of the sires receives charity,

Now that we're harmless and safe behind laws,

Now that my life's to be known as your "heritage,"

Now that even the graves have been robbed,

Now that our own chosen way is a novelty --

Hands on our hearts we salute you your victory,

Choke on your blue white and scarlet hypocrisy

Pitying the blindness that you've never seen

That the eagles of war whose wings lent you glory

They were never no more than carrion crows,

Pushed the wrens from their nest, stole their eggs, changed their story;

The mockingbird sings it, it's all that he knows.

"Ah what can I do?" say a powerless few

With a lump in your throat and a tear in your eye --

Can't you see that their poverty's profiting you.

My country 'tis of thy people you're dying.

Anonymous Demands SOPA - PIPA

The Internet is angry at SOPA and Anonymous is at, or at least near, the front of it all.

On Wednesday, the "official" Anonymous twitter feed linked to the group's list of demands. The document is titled, "Bright, and Clear: The Future of Free Speech." In it, the group details their list of demands for the future of the Internet that they believe SOPA and PIPA want to dismantle.

As we watch the web go dark today in protest against the SOPA/PIPA censorship bills, let's take a moment and reflect on why this fight is so important. We may have learned that free speech is what makes America great, or instinctively resist attempts at silencing our voices. But these are abstract principles, divorced from the real world and our daily lives.

We believe a healthy society doesn't allow its artists, musicians and other creators to starve. The copyright industry has been justly criticized for abusing the political process in a desperate attempt to maintain its role as a cultural gatekeeper, a business model made obsolete by a digital age of free copies. But the RIAA, MPAA & IFPI deserve our opprobrium for making enormous profits while often leaving the very artists it claims to represent *poorer* than they would be as independents. While the public may have greater access to the few artists deemed sufficiently marketable to gain mass media promotion, fewer and fewer of us are making art and music in our own lives.

Do you agree with Anonymous' claim of a digital age of free copies? Are the MPAA and RIAA's business models outdated? Let us know in the comments.

From there, the group lists their demands starting with the call for the WIPO to be disbanded. They also demand the elimination of the DMCA's registration requirement for qualification under the "safe harbor" provision.

They move onto more court-related topics with their expectation that courts apply penalties just as severe to rightsholders who issue abusive takedown notices as those applied to copyright violators. They also demand that any penalties for copyright infringement must be sane and reasonable and not to be based on "unsubstantiated, outlandish claims of harm."

They demand that the Department of Justice begin an anti-trust investigation into the copyright industry, with a specific focus on collusion between rightsholders and ISPs in monitoring Internet users.

They demand an end to sales of radio frequencies into private hands. They believe that the radio waves are a form of speech and should belong to the people.

A big one that most would not agree with is their demand that ISPs stop interfering with file sharing via BitTorrent or any other protocol.

They want recognition of total ownership, not merely licensing, of products purchased. They feel that they have a right to tinker and modify devices as they see fit. The Library of Congress should not be in charge of determining acceptable use.

They reject the principle of contributory infringement under the pretense that "while there may be bad uses, there is no bad code."

One that I think everybody can get behind is their expectation that legislators and judges make efforts to educate themselves about the technologies they oversee, and to call on and respect the opinions of technical experts when necessary.

All research receiving any public funding must be placed in the public domain upon publication. Likewise, the US Patent and Trade Office must immediately cease issuing software and business patents, and declare all such existing patents null and void. They also call on the rejection of any patents on mathematical formulas and genes or other naturally-occurring substances.

They demand that copyright and patent terms be reduced to reasonable lengths (two and five years from the time of creation, respectively). Works should only be eligible for the length of protection when created.

They recognize a broad right of "fair use" that would allow anybody to remix, sample, mash up, translate, perform or make parodies of any work as they see fit.

Their final demand is that courts give bloggers the same freedoms that journalists enjoy.

"The right to a free press originally meant a literal, physical printing press - not membership in some government sanctioned elite. Blogs are the modern day digital equivalent."

They end their list of demands with a final call to action to their fellow "Internauts." They end their message with "either stand with us or get out of the way."

Anonymous is not new to protesting human rights violations or making demands of certain groups that they don't agree with. This is the first time, however, that they have laid out reasonable (to some people) changes to Federal and International law that most people could get behind. It's fascinating to see a group that only a few years ago was attacking Web sites for the "lulz" has transformed into an activist group that more people can support.

It's important to remember, however, that this only represents a portion of Anonymous. As these movements grow, there will be counter Anonymous movements that will want to respond to threats like SOPA and PIPA with more targeted, direct physical action like Operation Blackout.

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A Bumpy Ride

The changing of times is nigh.

It’s 2012, and the changing of ages is underway. The worldview of the masses has been shaken and rearranged. No one has been left out. Many of you have been awakened and have started your own journey for truth.

As we all ascend into a new Golden Age, we must focus our attention on the Divinity within ourselves by becoming aware of the divine equality of all life.  We must  understand that  all Life is created equal in magnificence.

"In my Father's house are many mansions"~ Jesus

Are there other realities we aren't aware of?

Today scientists are seriously talking about things such as multi-dimensions, parallel universes, and multi-verses, which were considered nothing more than extreme theories not too long ago.

Is it possible that advanced extraterrestrials, who have learned how to live in harmony with the material world, are the same kinds of beings we are evolving into? And is this advanced place of existence in a higher dimension?

We currently live in a 3-dimensional, physical reality. Each dimension has many layers of vibration. The highest layer of vibration in the 3rd dimension brushes up against the lowest level of the 4th dimension.

Many of us have begun our ascension into the lowest level of the 4th dimension. As we evolve into these higher levels of energy and vibration, our consciousness begins to expand, and we begin a new way of life where we have a greater awareness of Spirit and the concept of Oneness among all things.

The physical universe in which we currently exist, is full of wonders and mysteries that we haven’t even began to question. We have over 10 billion years to question.

I’ve started questioning if somehow, messengers like, Jesus, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, could have been from higher dimensions, and were able to "drop" into a lower dimension. These enigmas, which is what they are; originated from somewhere.

There has been a wave of spiritual and metaphysical wisdom spreading over this planet for all who are ready to respond to its calling.

There is a shift happening, and many of us are moving into the 4th dimensional reality.

The Earth itself, is ascending into a region in space where the vibrational energy is increasing dramatically. With this elevation in cosmic energy, humans are being affected.

Many of us have accepted this divine invitation and will take advantage of this new energy.  It's pretty amazing to be witness to the awakening of masses around the world. 

You can see this with the Occupy Movement.  People all over the world have been fueled by anger at the growing disparities between rich and poor, frustrated by government policies that benefit a tiny elite at the expense of the majority, and tired of the establishment’s failure to address fundamental economic inequalities,

With a mass awakening a Revolution was born, and tens of thousands of everyday people are putting ideals like solidarity, mutual aid, anti-oppression, autonomy, and direct democracy into practice.

The rest is history.

Some of you acknowledge the changes in yourself, as you expand. Some of you may not recognize these changes.

Ascension brings about the expansion of the auric field, the chakras, the subtle bodies and the etheric body that surrounds the form. This ultimately translates down to a physical expansion that follows suit.

Shifting from the 3rd to the 4th dimension is like moving out of space "x" and moving into space "y," as if you are leaving one room and entering another.

Once you shift you leave your "old self" in the 3-dimensional space you formally occupied, and through a spiritual awakening, and with inner change, and personal transformation, the new "you" and your ever expanding consciousness, are ascending into a higher energy or reality... the 4th dimension.

It’s majestic when you become aware and can observe yourself shifting into a different space, while your body and your expanding awareness are still existing side by side with the old reality.

You become aware of both "spaces".

Now just because you have ascended into a higher dimension, doesn’t mean the lower dimension dissolves. You can still walk down the street, and sense the old paradigm. You may still interact with the people who  exist there, but you definitely will notice that you no longer have an attachment, or association with that reality or energy.

I actually found myself  feeling quite detached from it all.  Especially my family.  I just didn't feel like I was from this world.  With this detachment, those who exist in the 3rd Dimension cannot sense, appreciate, understand, or relate to the new reality you have shifted into.

I imagine this is what Peter (Fringe) feels like since he is stuck in a parallel universe that isn't where he is from.  It's as though two different belief systems exist side by side, each with its own vibration.

The rate of your vibrations is determined by the speed and degree of your spiritual awakening.  Many other factors can also lend itself to the determination such as the food you eat, your service to humanity, the development of your mind-body-soul - I say, overall the most important would be the Love you bring to others.

All of these actions influence your consciousness, which in turn affect your awareness and focus, how you view and experience the world. The sum of all of these reactions affects your vibration in one way or another.

The faster you vibrate the faster your exit is from one dimension into another.

There isn’t going to be a spectacular light show when shifting to the 4th dimension, at least I didn‘t experience that. It‘s not like your going to disappear from this space and reappear in a different space. The shift is not physical, it’s spiritual, and means a change is one’s consciousness. The shift is a mass change or a shift in one’s state of mind. 

For me, I experienced as overwhelming awareness of how I exoeruebced material vs. spiritual.

For me, I had to experience and feel the effects of this shift to a certain degree of detachment from those things that kept me anchored to the 3rd  Dimension. It was a radical awakening that led me down a path in which I had to take a serious dissection of my life…..and from there I began the shifting process.

Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy ride!

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