Business As Usual????

I received the following email recently: Can you believe this happens in the US of A??? Talk about SHOCK AND AWE - watch this 21” video for a full dose - raids on small businesses. Small business today – tomorrow maybe our homes? I’m in total disbelief and very angry and disgusted after viewing this video – take the time to watch it. Be afraid – be very afraid. It’s a re-enactment, but very scary nonetheless. Imagine yourself as one of those being detained under such circumstances. Eric Holder should be behind bars. Version 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFALonjLay0 Version 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8mkqI_dVJg Now one has to bear in mind that the strength of this country was founded on small and mis-sized businesses- entrepreneurs. This effort made by individuals was what MADE our country. It was not built by the mega-corporations, but by individuals and families who built businesses based upon our needs and wants. If these businesses today are being harmed by invasions of armed forces, with illegal warrants, and no charges filed, the damage done to these businesses cannot be simply fixed. These armed squads come in, remove all the communication devices, telephones, computers, etc., and then all the files of the business, and then take their money...How are these businesses supposed to continue on with their daily tasks? What about the visual damage? People driving by, or walking by, or even seeing these raids on TV...they form an opinion that the business must be doing something wrong. The damage to these companies suffers repercussions from customers who no longer can easily contact that business. It suffers from ill-informed opinions from people who witness several cars of armed officers raiding the business. it suffers from not having access to its own records in order to keep things running smoothly with its customers. It suffers from terrified employees who question whether the job is worth being detained over, and having their personal property removed, and from not being allowed contact with anyone who might help them. How many people want to work under such conditions? So many of these businesses are intimidated that they don't want people knowing what has happened to them- for fear of further vindictive reaction from these gestapo squads. What these raids accomplish is total submission, instilling fear. Now think about this. If enough small and mid-sized businesses are harmed in this fashion, what will happen to the country? Is this what we want happening in the country that similar small businesses formed? These businesses are the backbone of our country. These tactics MUST be stopped. The only way to do that is if YOU get outraged enough to demand that it be stopped. Please pass this on to every business owner you know. If this is not stopped, we stand to break the very backbone of our country. Not to mention, it gives the mega-corporations even more unbridled power over every aspect of our lives. The more people who become aware of this issue, the better. Those that realize that once the small and mid-sized businesses are destroyed, unimaginable damage happens to us all.

For God's sake! DON'T mention the word God!

A girl wrote a poem about her relations for Veteran's Day. The poem honored her two grandfathers who served during the Vietnam War. Because she stated in the poem "He prayed to God for peace," and she wrote of one of them, "He prayed to God for strength”, her poem was censored due to a person who called the school district and whined and complained. President and Chief Executive Officer Ken Paulson of the First Amendment Center has responded to the article written in that local paper (that originally printed the article about the poem being censored) to which I had written to him about. Here is what he wrote to me: "Thanks for sharing your view, but we agree that the school should not have censored the child. A newspaper in North Carolina published an inaccurate story, which others have picked up. Here's what the First Amendment Center published: http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/poetry-and-emotion-when-a-6-year-old-is-censored Ken Paulson First Amendment Center" Mr. Paulson also sent a follow-up: "Thanks for your note. FYI, the paper has promised to correct the record and run my column on Tuesday" The newspaper printed the following statement, claiming it was apparently a quote from Mr. Paulson, which MISLED the public on The First Amendment Center's position on the matter: "The reason for these restrictions is to prevent the government from endorsing a specific faith or religion". "She had every right to mention God, (but) that dynamic changed when they asked her to read it at an assembly.” The newspaper went on to claim, "Paulson said that because the students were a captive audience - they were at a mandatory assembly with no place else to go if they didn't want to attend - administrators had the right to remove the word "God." My initial statement about the article is as follows: Persons of reason beg to differ!! And, clearly, censoring being appropriate was NOT the actual position of Mr. Paulson, nor The First Amendment Center. Think about it. Since when is the government a school? Or a school the government? Just because the district may get funds from the government, does not make them The Government. Nor do they represent the government. Removing the word God from the poem is ridiculous. She, in her poem, was simply stating 'someone' prayed to God. That is certainly NOT endorsing a SPECIFIC faith or religion. There are MANY faiths and religions that use the term God. Not to mention, our own government clearly has 'In God We Trust' on it's currency, and in the Pledge of Allegiance it states, 'One Nation Under God'- there is NO specific faith or religion mentioned in either. No one takes offense at using the currency because the word God is on it;Yes, even atheists use the currency. Not to mention, children and adults have sworn their allegiance for a many, many years in classrooms which required the Pledge to be said by all students. For many,many years, public schools opened their day with a prayer. And I'm sure there are many poems with the word God in them that were read in public assemblies, and in school assemblies. Those who chose not to hold the same beliefs were (and are) free to do so- no one stopped them. Whoever the persons (the veterans) were who 'prayed to God' were NOT attempting to make the government, nor anyone else, endorse a specific faith or religion; it was simply a statement made by the writer of what the veterans were doing; the veterans, nor the writer of the poem, was trying to convince anyone of any specific faith or religion. It wouldn't be any different if a Muslim wrote a poem about their warriors praying to Allah- no one would take that statement as an endorsement of Islam. They would take it that the warrior was simply praying to whatever God that warrior thought appropriate. A sentence that says a person prays is not pushing any government to endorse praying, or pushing a belief held by individuals onto those who chose not to have such a belief. People who have open minds do not take offense at those who hold differing opinions and beliefs. It is only the small-minded person who takes offense at such nonsense. People are going way too far in claiming censoring was O.K. and/or appropriate, and those that insist on doing so are NOT protecting anyone's 1st Amendment rights by denying the use of the word God in a poem that clearly states the veteran was the one praying to his/her believed deity. It is Not being specific on any faith, nor any religion. Those forced to attend an assembly are not forced to listen, or make to gross interpretations. Whoever made the complaint clearly does NOT comprehend free speech. Since the article did not specify who (what 'parent') made the complaint, it makes one question whether it was actually someone from the school district. How would a parent even know about what poem was to be read in the assembly? Only those responsible for the assembly would have known the content of the presentation beforehand. The word God does NOT force anyone to have a belief in God. Someone writing about someone else praying to God is NOT forcing anyone to pray to God. If the complainer does not wish to believe in God, that is their prerogative. However, their choice of lack, or absence, of faith, or a difference in faith, is NOT liberty to stop anyone else in expressing themselves. Writing about anyone else's activities that may express the fact that that person may have a belief in a higher entity is in no way endorsing a specific faith nor religion. Those who are so offended by the word God need to find a different currency to use as long they are in the U.S. Those who are so small-minded are the same type who would promote book-burning for the same lame reasons, and jeopardize great works of art due to hate-crime-thinking attitudes. And please bear in mind that - whoever you are- your complaining about the word God is not likely to affect the greater majority of people all over the world who happen to believe in a God; they aren't likely to change their belief, nor their toleration of you just because you take offense at a three letter word. Get over it- you are not going to change the world for all your whining and screaming. People taking offense at the word God are free to do so, but not at the expense of others' rights to express themselves freely. If the girl was asked to read the poem at an assembly honoring our Veteran's, be big enough to take it for what it's true intent was- an honor to our veterans. Just because some precious child of a small-minded parent happened to be made to attend the assembly does not mean that that child had to LISTEN to the poem, Nor does it mean the child of said parent needs to take offense at the word God just because the parent isn't big enough to accept that there are many others in the world who think and believe differently. No doubt, parents who are big enough minded to accept other people's beliefs, or lack of them, are praying for the whiners to grow up!

Help Turtle Island

An Open Letter to Friends of Turtle Island Preserve Turtle Island Preserve is in danger. Please read this letter, and, if you feel moved to do so, carefully follow the suggestions for support provided at the end. Recently, local county government authorities have targeted Turtle Island Preserve, attacking our way of life, and forcing our educational camp to close to visitors. On the morning of September 19th, eleven county officials (being paid by tax payers) barged into our living room unannounced, uninvited, and unwelcome. A large caravan of county vehicles blocked our private road, miles away from any public area. The men (some armed) presented a search warrant two and half miles into the interior of our private land, a most intimate zone of refuge where we do not even take visitors, and then spent the next half of the day violating our privacy and photographing our buildings and personal homes. The unwanted invasion team came prepared with topographic maps, aerial photographs, GPS equipment to discern coordinates, laptops, pages of highlighted photographs of unknown origins, and even a county 4-wheeler to more easily get around the property. Much time and tax-payer money had clearly been spent preparing for this deployment against our 501c3 non-profit education center. The primary focus of this action centers on our buildings and construction methods. The American heritage buildings that we keep alive and teach about are "unacceptable" in today's modern world. The very building techniques and materials that all of our ancestors thrived with are now being deemed unacceptable and targeted as illegal because they don't fit into the cookie-cutter code status that is so extremely far from what we are about. The buildings and lifestyle of our working farm and education center teach about true American freedom. The invasive attack was a surreal wake-up call to the illusion of the American myth: "Land of the free." Those of you who have visited Turtle Island Preserve know that our structures are unique in that they are built with materials harvested here on the farm and adhere to natural and historical methods. Our buildings are unquestionably structurally sound, but do not fit the wording or application of modern building codes, as the methods used to build them predate the conception of modern building codes. The veteran, licensed engineer we hired to assess the structural concerns expressed by the county stated that our buildings are "Better than code." If modern, cookie-cutter buildings fit our purposes or needs, we would have built them. But they certainly do not. To comply with current, modern building codes and regulations, with no variance or allowance for natural, traditional, historical, cultural or educational models, is at the very least a compromise to our integrity, our mission, and our value to the community and the world. If we were forced to function like every other public facility, the values, ethics, and practical knowledge we teach would be lost. Trying to force a modern framework around a facility that is specifically designed to be primitive does not make sense. The methods we teach go back tens of thousands of years. The modern building codes go back only 40-50 years. For the past twenty-six years, Turtle Island Preserve has been a functioning farm and education center for primitive skills, cultural heritage, and traditional/natural living. We are run by volunteer laborers and administrators, good citizens who believe in the worth of volunteering their time to share natural traditional living in hopes of making life for people more meaningful and our impact on the earth a gentler footprint. Our non-profit education center has brought thousands of people from all over the world, of all ages, faiths, and socio-economic backgrounds and enabled them to develop a personal relationship with the natural world. In many cases, these are people (usually children) who would not have the opportunity to gain that experience elsewhere. What they get here, they keep forever. Eustace Conway, full-time volunteer director of Turtle Island Preserve for the past 26 years, now faces the threat of criminal charges. That's right, for dedicating his life to celebrating and preserving American cultural heritage, his American government is condemning his interest in exercising what he believes is an inalienable human right to build and live in the traditions of our ancestors. He said, "If this was a joke or something out of a science fiction novel about corrupt government control, maybe I could laugh about it... but it is very, unbelievably, maliciously true... and I can only cry about it, and ask for the voices of friends to support me and citizens that care about the 'American Dream' of freedom to speak up for their rights and interests now." Our recent studies show us that there may be no variance for any private, state, or federal interpretation sites that exhibit natural/primitive historic structures or practices. The recent attack on our home and lifeways makes us question the confines of our state building and county codes on our most fundamental freedoms of American heritage, Appalachian regional culture, and a three million year precedent of inalienable human rights concerning structures and living. We are working with legal counsel and structural engineers to present a clear and thorough assessment of our structures, practices, and mission to authorities who are not personally familiar with Turtle Island Preserve. We have drawn up a petition and begun a letter writing campaign, all of which we'll present to the North Carolina Building Codes Council on December 10, 2012 in the hopes of educating the council about the unique importance of Turtle Island Preserve and securing a variance for our continued operation without sacrificing our integrity and commitment to historic structures and natural lifestyle. We need your help in raising a voice. This matter will not be resolved positively without your support. Please help support Turtle Island Preserve by taking the following steps: 1. Sign the petition at www.change.org. 2. Join the letter writing campaign! Write your own letter in support of Turtle Island Preserve, or use the letter included here - just print, sign, and send to the Chairman of the North Carolina Building Codes Council. Either way, be sure to send us a copy of your letter, too. Addresses are attached. It is impossible to overstate how important your swift support is to the future of Turtle Island Preserve. With the North Carolina Building Codes Council meeting just three weeks away, we need all the voices we can get, and as quickly as possible. Please set aside a few minutes to sign the petition, send a letter, and stand with us as we work to save Turtle Island Preserve. Keep checking Facebook for updates, and for more information on the Building Codes Council meeting or if you have any questions at all, please email mail@turtleislandpreserve.com or call our office at 828-265-2267. In appreciation, The Staff and Community Members of Turtle Island Preserve Addresses: Dan Tingen, Chairman North Carolina Building Codes Council 322 Chapanoke Drive Raleigh, North Carolina 27603 Turtle Island Preserve 2683 Little Laurel Road Boone, North Carolina 28607 Please sign the petition! They need about 2,000 more signatures

Learn from the past

"The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, and the public debt should be reduced. The arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed, lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance." - Cicero, 55 BC One needs to learn from the past....

What we can all look forward to

Came across this today: Line by line provisions of the Obama Healthcare Plan. Peter Fleckstein (aka Fleckman) is reading it and has been posting on Twitter his findings . This is from his postings (Note: All comments are Fleckman's) Pg 22 of the HC Bill MANDATES the Govt will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self insure!! Pg 30 Section 123 of HC Bill - THERE WILL BE A GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benefits you get Pg 29 Lines 4-16 of the HC Bill - YOUR HEALTHCARE IS RATIONED!!! Pg 42 of the HC Bill - The Health Choices Commissioner will choose YOUR HEALTHCARE Benefits for you. You have no choice! Pg 50 Section 152 of the HC Bill - HEALTHCARE will be provided to ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise Pg 58 of the HC Bill - Government will have real-time access to individuals finances & a National ID Healthcard will be issued! Pg 59 Lines 21-24 of the HC Bill - Government will have direct access to your bank accounts for electronic fund transfers Pg 65 Section 164 of the HC Bill - Payoff subsidized plan for retirees and their families in Unions & Community Organizations (ACORN) Pg 72 Lines 8-14 of the HC Bill - Government is creating an HC Exchange to bring private HC plans under Government control Pg 84 Section 203 of the HC Bill - Government mandates ALL benefit packages for private HC plans in the Exchange Pg 85 Line 7 of the HC Bill - Specs of Benefit Levels for Plans = The Government will ration your HC! Pg 91 Lines 4-7 of the HC Bill - Government mandates linguistic appropriate services - Example: Translation for illegal aliens Pg 95 Lines 8-18 of the HC Bill - The Government will use groups i.e., ACORN & Americorps to sign up individuals for Government HC plan Pg 102 Lines 12-18 of the HC Bill - Medicaid Eligible Individuals will be automatically enrolled in Medicaid. No Choice Pg 124 Lines 24-25 of the HC Bill - No company can sue the Government on price fixing. No "judicial review" against Government Monopoly Pg 127 Lines 1-16 of the HC Bill - Doctors/AMA - The Government will tell YOU what you can make Pg 145 Lines 15-17 of the HC Bill - An Employer MUST auto enroll employees into public option plan. NO CHOICE Pg 126 Lines 22-25 of the HC Bill - Employers MUST pay for HC for part time employees AND their families Pg 149 Lines 16-24 of the HC Bill - ANY Employer with a payroll of $400k and above who does not provide the Public Option must pay 8% tax on all payroll PG 150 Lines 9-13 of the HC Bill - Businesses with payrolls between $251k and $ 400k that don't provide the Public Option must pay 2-6% tax on all payroll Pg 167 Lines 18-23 of the HC Bill - ANY individual who doesnt have acceptable HC according to Government will be taxed 2.5% of income Pg 170 Lines 1-3 of the HC Bill - Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from individual taxes (Americans will pay) Pg 195 of the HC Bill - Officers and Employees of HC Administration (GOVT) will have access to ALL Americans financial/personal records Pg 203 Lines 14-15 of the HC Bill - "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax". Yes, it says that Pg 239 Lines 14-24 of the HC Bill - Government will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors, low income, poor affected Pg 241 Lines 6-8 of the HC Bill - Doctors, doesn't matter what specialty you have, will all be paid the same Pg 253 Lines 10-18 of the HC Bill - Government sets the value of Doctor's time, professional judgement, etc. Literally value of humans Pg 265 Section 1131 of the HC Bill - Government mandates and controls productivity for private HC industries Pg 268 Section 1141 of the HC Bill - Federal Government regulates rental & purchase of power driven wheelchairs Pg 272 Section 1145 of the HC Bill - TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CANCER HOSPITALS - Cancer patients, welcome to rationing! Pg 280 Section 1151 of the HC Bill - The Government will penalize hospitals for what the Government deems preventable readmissions Pg 298 Lines 9-11 of the HC Bill - Doctors that treat a patient during initial admission that results in a readmission - The Government will penalize you Pg 317 Lines 13-20 of the HC Bill - OH MY GOD!!! - PROHIBITION on ownership/investment. The Government tells Doctors what/how much they can own Pgs 317-318 Lines 1-3 and 21-25 of the HC Bill - PROHIBITION on expansion - Government is mandating that hospitals cannot expand Pg 321 Lines 2-13 of the HC Bill - Hospitals have opportunigy to apply for exception BUT community input required. Can you say ACORN?!! Pg 335 Lines 16-25 and Pgs 336-339 of the HC Bill - Government mandates establishment of outcome based measures. HC the way they want. Rationing Pg 341 Lines 3-9 of the HC Bill - Government has authority to disqualify Medicare Advanced Plans, HMOs, etc. Forcing people into the Government Plan Pg 354 Section 1177 of the HC Bill - Government will RESTRICT enrollment of Special needs people! Pg 379 Section 1191 of the HC Bill - Government creates more bureaucracy - Telehealth Advisory Committee. Can you say HC by phone? Pg 425 Lines 4-12 of the HC Bill - Government mandates Advance Care Planning Consultant. Think Senior Citizens and the end of their life! Pg 425 Lines 17-19 of the HC Bill - Government will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney, etc. Mandatory! Pg 425 Lines 22-25 and Pg 426 Lines 1-3 of the HC Bill - Government provides approved list of end of life resources, guiding you into death Pg 427 Lines 15-24 of the HC Bill - Government mandates program for orders for end of life. The Government has a say in how your life ends Pg 429 Lines 1-9 of the HC Bill - An "advanced care planning consultant" will be used frequently as patients health deteriorates Pg 429 Lines 10-12 of the HC Bill - "advanced care consultation" may include an ORDER for end of life plans. AN ORDER from GOVERNMENT! Pg 429 Lines 13-25 of the HC Bill - The Government will specify which Doctors can write an end of life order Pg 430 Lines 11-15 of the HC Bill - The Government will decide what level of treatment you will have at end of life Pg 469 of the HC Bill - Community Based Home Medical Services = Non profit Organizations. Hello, ACORN Medical Services has arrived!!! Pg 472 Lines 14-17 of the HC Bill - PAYMENT TO COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS. 1 monthly payment to a community based organizations. ACORN? Pg 489 Section 1308 of the HC Bill - The Government will cover Marriage and Family therapy. Which means they will insert Government into your marriage Pgs 494-498 of the HC Bill - Government will cover Mental Health Services including defining, creating, rationing those services Thanks for re-electing someone who will do this to our citizens Oh, please note anyone over 76 does not get to have cancer treatment...so don't get old.

Help is needed

It came to my attention today that John Taylor Gatto is in need of assistance. He is the author of 'The Underground History of American Education', among other books. If you haven't read it, I strongly encourage you to do so asap!
Mr. Gatto has been putting together a documentary film called 'The Ultimate History Lesson'. The the unthinkable happened. He had a stroke, and then a series of strokes. Needless to say, the financial burden of all this has been overwhelming, and he needs our help.
To read more about John Taylor Gatto, please go to:


To assist, go to:


What John Taylor Gatto has given the world through his writings and other efforts is critical for all of us. Let us help him in his time of need.

To Get Out of the Mess...

The only way for people to be free of the 'game' is to be self-reliant. Once we re-learn how to be self-reliant, we are no longer dependent on any of the game-players for our 'politics', food, 'money',or anything else. Being self-reliant takes away the self-imposed control by those who clearly do not have our best interest at heart.
Boycotting one faction on a multi-tentacled monster is not going to seriously slow the action down. They've got their bases covered. Forming a political alliance plays into their game, just as a consumer alliance would also, simply because these control networks go far deeper than most suspect. For example, let's say you buy Stonefield youghurt- it's organic, etc- well, it's owned by Dannon, who has ties with Lever, who has ties with Pepsico, who is in cahoots with Coca-Cola under World Beverage Partners...Each company has lists of hundreds of subsidiaries- they aren't competitors; they are all joined at the hip.
The way to NOT support them is to make your own, or find someone who can/does & trade for something you can do/make.
Or say, 7th Generation- green products, right? Nay. They BUY their products from a variety of "unknown" sources & slap their label on them.
Most of these mega corps have the same directors on several boards of several other corporations. Take UPS. Not just a shipping company, but they have connections to GM, Coca-Cola, etc., etc.;they own communications,finance,& conglomerate of other non-shipping companies. Same with Coca-Cola;owns water bottling companies, has hands in utilities, manufacturers, clothing, personal goods, name it. ALL have someone with some political position. Even though most of their company headquarters are no longer in the US; they have heavy foreign ties (and most are NOT US companies any longer).It isn't about greed; it's about control.
If you don't want someone controlling you, you have to do things for yourself ie.self-reliance Start w/family, then neighborhood, then community, etc. Keyword:network
Everybody knows how to do something, and that something can be traded/exchanged to achieve self-reliance. Without support,the big guns cannot control.
Stop using/giving them money, stop using their 'network', stop using their products, etc. It may take time to get your/our thing going, but not too long- after all, there are things essential to living, and necessity is the mother of invention.
We've managed before;we can manage again. Only THIS time, govern our/yourselves.That is what our Founding Documents give us the right to do. Uphold that right by DOING it, instead of handing over that job to others who do NOT have your/our best interests at heart. If every nation did that, we'd have a great place because we'd finally experience freedom.
America is the place to get that ball rolling- and it CAN be done. Self-reliance is the foundation of freedom. If you want a free country, become self-reliant. Stop waiting for a saviour to fix the problems. We (as a country) created the problem by giving up our self-reliance. We trusted others to handle things for us. That trust was misplaced. We're the only ones who will/can fix that.