Friends, as we approach Christmas the most christian nation on earth is engaged in two wars, is using drones in Pakistan, has just launched two cruise missiles at so-called ‘terrists’ in Yemen, is now building military bases in Columbia, and is still threatening to nuke Iran or allowing Israel to do so.
As an ex-Christian, I know full well what Jesus preached and it sure as hell wasn’t about encouraging folk to become involved in endless war and killing and it wasn’t about praising things like greed, racism, imperialism and injustice.
However, we have talked about these things constantly throughout the year and, importantly, we have made our voices heard.
During this holiday break I’d like to present you with an image of peace and simplicity, a rare commodity in this crazy world.
I hope that, during the festive season, you will find moments of peace and love. I hope too that you will recharge your batteries so that, together, we can continue to try to make the world a better place in the New Year!
Take care of yourselves and many thanks for your great contributions throughout the year.
P.S. I’ll be monitoring the blog until the 2nd of January. After that, things may be rather sporadic.
It’s amazing this thread is still going considering it was written before Xmas. It contains many truths and is a tribute to what people who have the right perspective and goodwill can achieve!
Well done!
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WOW Kathy (1 – 0) to you –
Thanks for sharing your happy story Kathy ! – I am with you 100%
which gives you some more good days of breathing space.
- anyway for a civilized society, of what they like to call ‘ developed ‘ an outrageous, untenable and impossible conditions for people to make them self a good life.
so much Good luck to you Kathy
————————————-
David
There is so much unjust going on in the world of ‘capitalism’ which ‘we’ never hear of. – why ?- BECAUSE the victims have no MSM / corporate medias.
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You said, “head ache” Kathy to which I say, YES, this damn thing, with me, a migraine like condition also, is the main reasons why I’m not allways responding promptly, what I may commend you for. This damn headache has everything, to do with me using glasses (4++) for reading. This forces me in between to strip the glasses and simply find (out) something else to do.
You asked ‘remedy’. The case was taken to court. Carried by public (power to institute prosecution) attourney. It appeared that the seller was insolvent. there were two other victims at the same time proceeding against this laundromat seller swindler.
We got nothing good out from it, this legal proceedings. as you so rightly mentioned, you felt raped and violated, so did I, and I promised my self never more bring my self into a situation where a need for lawyer would happen.
I was ‘lectured’, by the proceeding judge (obviously a probizz stupid, disguised as another ridiculous king of the universe, drape), to stay out from business matters.
Or, perhaps he had something to have his words in, – that, it indeed looked a bit stupid in the light of wisdom after the event.
There was a written contract, but NOT approved by a lawyer [why not economize ? ] and without much details BECAUSE the whole thing / the laundromat could be returned to seller after a half year (of trial). That was the REASON WHY I did not scrutinize so deeply regarding to details, turnover, age of machineries etc.
Kathy, I am really sorry for all the aggravating money you have lost, for nothing, to meet / refute your litigious x-band. If the least it can comfort you, the amount do not quite reach what was my loss from the launderette case.
I am curious to see what the next step will bring in the (UCC) case of yours.
You refer to 4 requirements:
If you would elaborate on these, would be nice.
1. Full disclosure 1) disclosure [why is this needed to be said ? isn't it a matter of course ]-
2. Equal consideration [has it to do with (the amount of) payments ?]
3. Lawful(means LEGAL also?) terms and conditions
4. Signatures of both parties ( isn’t it just to signate the contract ?)
but “meeting of the minds.” what will that say ? Kathy?
Good point:
” I want to stay out of controversy and not go to court!!”
I wish you best of luck
e
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John, I’m sorry for your court losses too. Everyone should do their best to stay out of court.
okay, I will elaborate a little about the 4 requirements for contracts.
1 Full disclosure. It should be a matter of course as you say. And it seems we are given full disclosure by the banks when we apply for a loan. We give them full disclosure when we fill out their application. They want to know where we work, how long we’ve been on the job, how much money we make, what our credit history looks like and a whole bunch of other things. They look at our information and decide if we qualify for a loan or not. If we do qualify they give us some disclosures that tell us how much they are loaning us, what the interest rate will be, how much the monthly payment will be, and how much the money will cost us (in interest and principal) over a period of time such as 10 years or however long the loan is granted to us.
If your loan has to do with collateral, you will have to sign a security instrument called a promissory note or deed of trust. This piece of paper says that if you don’t pay as promised, the bank can take your collateral…(house or car or any other tangible goods that are used as collateral.) So it seems that everything has been disclosed properly up to this point.
2 Equal consideration by both parties… means that I bring something of value into this transaction and they bring something of equal value into the transaction also. When we start to understand this, we see how we were never given full disclosure by the bank.
The bank never had any money to loan but they said they did. What they didn’t disclose to me was that the security instrument (promissory note) that I signed is also a negotiable instrument. My signature on that note is what gave it value. Once they had my signature on that negotiable instrument, it’s as good as money in the bank for them. They open an account with that instrument and on their computer system of bookkeeping, they show it as in my case, a new asset of $22,300. Then, they supposedly loan me this money. They don’t give me a bag of cash. They place the credits into my bank account. I go away believing that they loaned me their money but the truth is, I am the one who created the money by my signature on their negotiable instrument.
So by now you can see two things wrong. They did not give me full disclosure that they were going to be creating money off of my signature. And…
Since they didn’t have any of their own money to loan me, they didn’t bring equal value or equal consideration to the transaction. By now you can spot the fraud.
3. Terms and conditions of this so called loan can no longer apply when they were created under fraud. The terms and conditions tell us how much the payments will be, what the interest rate will be, how many years you have to pay the loan back etc etc.
4 Signatures/meeting of the minds. That is easier when two human beings are negotiating together. Two people come to an agreement (meeting of the minds) put the entire agreement in writing and then both parties sign.
When a human being does business with the bank they are doing business with a corporation. A corporation is not a human being so it has no mind. A corporation can’t sign.
John I think I still need to study the difference between lawful and legal. Both seem to mean the same thing (Don’t break the law because that’s illegal.) But from what I’ve studied so far, there is a deeper meaning. At the founding of America, there was only common law. To break this law meant that you had to injure another person in some way. The injured party could take you to court but they had to prove that you injured them in some way AND that you did it on purpose! If found guilty, you would be an unlawful person and punished in some way accordingly.
Commom law isn’t used here anymore. Now we have the legal system. All the courts are corporations. All the cities are corporations, the police department in my city is a corporation, the state that I live in is a corporation, and the federal government is a corporation. What do corporations do? They try to make money for their shareholders. The courts are still called “courts of law” but they are really only there to generate money (collecting fines and fees)
Since we don’t have the common law, what is the legal system? We live under their corporate policies called codes and statutes. They call these things “the color of law”. (Whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean.) They see us human beings as “corporate citizens” working for the corporations. Since they see us as employees of the corporations, we have to OBEY all the corportate policies called statutes and codes. This is the legal system that we must OBEY.
Here’s one example: There is a statute that says you have to wear a seat belt when you are going somewhere in your car. If you don’t wear your seat belt and a police officer sees you, he can pull you over and write you a ticket. (This brings in revenue for the corporate city) Early America had peace officers but now we have police officers. They are there to enforce the corporate policies! If I found myself in this situation, I would be doing something illegal according to the color of law in their legal system. But would it be unlawful? No! Because I had not injured anyone. So John I hope this example makes sense about the differences between lawful and legal. I have much more to learn about it myself! ..peace and love.
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John, here’s a short youtube video that you might find interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSqi1N_RrUs#lq-lq2-hq-vhq
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Friends, I wish I’d been more involved with this thread. There is much to be learned from the comments and there is much to admire in the supportive dimension that is demonstrated in the comments.
Helping each other is an important part of saving the world.
Peace and Love!
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David you make me cry!! You are the most involved person on any blog I’ve ever been on. Most people seem to write and wait for comments to come in (just to read the comments). YOU actually take an active role in the comments section!! I love that!!!
I’ve had probably too many long comments on this thread. The subjects flow in and out of the original thread’s meaning. It’s strange really. I sometimes post something that is a bit personal and not on point. Usually these are things that I’ve read about and am now trying to correlate with my real life and share what I’ve learned with others that aren’t opposed to reading or watching a video. Here where I live, no one wants to read or watch a video so I try it out on your blog. (One selfish last chance for me to try it I guess)
I love hearing what John in Denmark is going through.
I love hearing how California is doing practically across our whole nation since I’m in Tennessee.
I love hearing from Kate up north from me.
I love hearing from Adina somewhere in Europe I think? Everyone else too!! (I don’t know where everyone else is from.) But I love people and their stories. I’ll go a little more personal here and then I will try to ease up. I took my children on vacation when they were teenagers and they fussed at me for talking to strangers!!! The first 5 days of vacation were spent at Myrtle Beach South Carolina. The final two days, I wanted to drive down to Charleston SC. I had heard about the rich history, civil war battleground, the horse drawn carriage ride tours of the city, the open air markets…..So I did talk to strangers…to see if they could direct me to where I wanted to go in my short time span there. I decided after that to never travel with my children again!! I could do it now that they aren’t teenagers…especially since my daughter and I want to see some of the same parts of the world….
But I must go long here one last time…In 1995 I remarried….this was husband number 2 and the final husband. He took a job in Saudi Arabia. It took 5 months for him to get family approval for me and my children to come and join him in Saudi. The first 2 months we lived on a compound in Dhahran. (Spelling I would have to go check) All the residents of the compound worked for AT&T or known there as Lucent technologies. The workers were hired to rebuild the phone system into a fiber optics system because their phone towers made easy targets for the Saddam regime when Saddam invaded Kuwait and posed a “threat” to Saudi Arabia. So my second husband was a telecommunications engineer and he designed fiber optics cable routes around the various cities in Saudi. (Buried cable as opposed to towers)
After two months we moved to Riyadh. The main AT&T compound was full so we moved onto the Dutch compound. (AT&T had hired many Dutch people as well as UK and Americans) So we found ourselves living in the arm pit of the world (Saudi Arabia) on a Dutch compound (Most uninhibited people in the world- I think) And the even more weird part of that was that my husband, even tho working for AT&T by day, had a degree in music education and he was a classically trained violinist. So there was a band put together in Riyadh and he was in it. There were no other competing bands so any embassy party or event….they booked our band for the entertainment. Husband could play any instrument, any fashion. They didn’t book the band to be classical music,,,, they booked the band to be rock and roll.. So Americans…living in the arm pit of the world…with Dutch people…playing in a rock and roll band for the various embassy’s parties???? How weird does that make my life? I was there for 7 months, Oct of 1995 thru May of 1996. On the news we hear about the women of Afghanistan and Iraq having to cover up with their Burkas. In Saudi Arabia they were called Abayas. I still have my abaya. I pull it out from time to time to remind myself of how much ‘woman freedom’ I have here in the states compared to the women in Saudi.
But David one of the most fun times I had… was when the Australians booked our band for Australian day out in the desert. They picked a spot, gave us directions, and we showed up! They had so many vans set up to sell us stuff. Pepsi vans for drinks since Coke wasn’t available there. Fosters beer was flown in. I bought a two up game and a jack-a-roo hat!! They passed out leaflets so that the band could play and we could sing along to Waltzing Mathilda and Tie me kangaroo down. It was such fun!!
The guy who was in charge of the Australian embassy then wanted us to come and play for his wedding anniversary. The party was at his villa….not the embassy. Again, we made friends and had a wonderful time. Met a guy there named Peter DeChillas (Australian) who was in charge of the zoo at Riyadh. He told us to come to the zoo on friday while the Saudis were in their holy day and he would open it for us to have the zoo to ourselves. Riyadh has an awesome zoo! We had fun in Saudi with all of our Aussie friends. I wouldn’t change that part for anything!!!
Another weird thing about Saudi…Water table. If they get a little rain everything is flooded instantly. Or at least it was in 1995 – 1996. They had no drainage ditches so the roads would flood. They used to be under the ocean. We went one day to one part of the desert to dig for prehistoric sharks teeth. I found my place in life there!!! We had packed sandwiches and drinks for the whole day. The kids got tired early but I couldn’t go home yet….had to find one more….
David, I go personal here to let you know that the Aussies rock!!! I’m so glad I got to hang out with some of your country men and women!!
I also want to state that this is a dark part of the world….not just for women but for a country with no middle class. There are extremely wealthy and extremely poor. The poor are kept in line by the prayer towers that shout out prayers over loud speakers at different times of day. The wealthy are like us. They show up at the party, the abaya comes off, no one stops the party for prayer time!!!! This is a sample of the indoctrination you speak of.
I am fortunate to have seen this with my own eyes for 7 months of my life. I am fortunate to have met my Aussie friends and my Dutch friends. I am fortunate to realize how many freedoms we still have as women here in America compared to other countries. I am fortunate to see how the rich and powerful use the poor and uneducated. I am fortunate to see how the religion and politics keeps everyone in line.
Because I am a selfish American woman who has just recently found your blog, I will say that you have to stay healthy because I’m not finished talking with you yet!!! Yes and isn’t that selfish?
But truly, I need a voice like yours to see truth and I think I need you for at least two or three more decades!! So get your health back. Okay???? It’s all about my selfish American needs….
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Grace Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 3:08 am
Kathy, you make some very good points with your stories. As David pointed out about how traveling changes us. I still haven’t been to Europe because when I had the chance to travel, I wanted ot go somewhere Really Different. We went to Thailand, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, and Egypt. I loved the calls to prayer in Egypt. Impressed me that Muslims don’t have to go through a priest, or intermediary to get to “God” They have the right to go before “God”themselves. Seemed empowering and made them seem more like adults and Americans more like children. That is a generalization – however that was my true impression. I lived on a mountain in Nepal with Himalayan ice water coming out of the faucets – for bathing! It was a kundalini experience pouring that ice water down my spine. Made me stand straighter than ever! The kitchen was a room with no windows and a dirt floor. I loved that place and living like that I knew I could live pretty much anywhere, happily. Traveling taught me as much about where I am from as it did teach me about other people. I highly recommend that all people travel like that. Off the tour bus route. Just go stay somewhere for at least two months and you will see much more than walking through to buy trinkets. Go live with the locals and you might realize, as I did, that life everywhere is a variation on a theme. We are all the same wherever you go.
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kathy Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Grace, your traveling experiences sound wonderful. I can see why the ice water would stand you straight up!! Hopefully I will be able to travel some day. I do envy yours and David’s experiences.
Yes we should all get off the beaten path in other countries and stay for a while to get to know the way they live. We would all be better humans for it!
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Kathy, underlying your interesting comment is the fact that people must travel. It should be mandatory that everyone travels and works outside their own country for at least five years. That way, most would find that everyone in the world is basically the same, that we all have the same hopes and dreams regardless of our station in life. Such travelling would end the prevailing ignorance about the world which afflicts America.
I have been to Iraq, Iran, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, all of Europe, America, Canada, Russia, Africa, Malaysia, Thailand, Panama, Fiji, Noumea, so many countries I’ve lost count. While I’ve travelled, I’ve thought about what I’ve seen, the history, the cycle of life.
The most generous people are often the poorest. The most boring, mindless people are those who have loud voices which compare hotels and the standard of service. They travel but they see nothing!
Regarding my health I’m nearly one third the way through the treatment and doing all right despite an increasing tiredness. I too have a lot to do, and a lot more to say.
I plan on sticking around even if only for you!
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JohnLJ Reply:
January 19th, 2010 at 4:47 am
Dear Grace
Thanks Grace for the distinguished title you offered me, how honoured I am. . and it makes me think / smile -wow if I were an ambassador – what a place / masion (of a) house i probably would have lived in if that were the case but, sorry, it isn’t.
It seems (weird), to me, that Denmark still is known for being the “happiest places on Earth.” eventhough, I shall not complain, is a society split /cleaved after the 9/11 GWB [either you are with OR you are against] -you canNOT be both!!.
Most of my lifetime in Danmark we have had a socialistic middle minded way of politic and even in between a ‘red’ one (commie) that I (as a ‘capitalist’ with a purse bulging of money ) had to critizise it. One can say, we didn’t quite know how ‘happy’ things were then.
Isn’t it funny how people often, first – afterwards, finds out how happy they were, years ago ?
Since, in the year 2001 Denmark got a bourgeois i.e. a rightwing goverment with the belligerent Anders Fog Rasmussen as primeminister, who throwed Denmark into the illegal war, as a coalition partner to GWB / Tony Blair’s Iraq-war. and as such I do not want to represent Denmark as an ambassador for country perpetrating war crime – and if as that wasn’t enough still we are bogged down in a futile war of nonsense in Afghanistan as a member of NATO.
APROPOS NATO –
who, warcriminal do you think is heading NATO as it’s General-secretary for that entity ?
Grace ?
Yes – IT IS – the war criminal Anders Fog Rasmussen!!!.
no it is indeed a shame to be a Dane now a day. – and I apology to all muslims – herewith.
So as you se Grace, once upon a time there was, but not anymore, much to be proud of, as Dane.
We have to walk very softly ‘with the doors’! when we travel, or better tell that you are a Norwegian or whatever nationality you can ‘escape’ with.
It appears form the comment yours that you are a very loving and caring person with a great heart Grace, the world needs more of you. I love all what you write ( if I am able though to understand it) e.g.
[Between migraines and appointments that “take it all out of me,” ] appointment”s” = fixed / fixtures ?
What (se hell) do you means (between ‘headache and a built-in cupboard ?
=======
Migraine.
I am sorry you have to suffer from this nasty type of heavy headache Grace. It isn’t indeed very funny when its on and I’m happy being able to cheer you up a bit in between these dark thoughts are over you. Thus – my life hasn’t either been completely forfeited.
“I am honored at your invitation”
When should I / do I have to roll the RED carpet out mrs. Grace? Do you come with the AirForceOne?
Of course you are welcome to visit, and I’m glad to have my friends / nobilities on visit as often as possible. but if you appear at this time of the year (for more than one day) you’d/ we probable have to sleep in the same bed, or at least in the same room. as I told you, this house isn’t a mansion to say the least – I’ll detail it a bit.
When I bought it in 2002 it had been left ‘alone’ by the tenant for a couple of years to frost damage in the winter time with frozen waterpipes which had bursted and the water had fossed out over the whole house.
Everything of isolation materials on ceiling, floors and walls had been destroyed.
and that is also the reason why it could be bought to a cheap price.
Now – afterwards, I have removed all this water-soaked / destroyed materials and haven’t yet finished a restauration. For now I have only about 40m2 to live in, better than nothing though, and at least the whole thing is payed – no debt and if not very fine – though mine – it all.
I have a outhouse (250m2), and, by the way also an old camper trailer. so – maybe Grace, if you aren’t too choos(e)y we will easy find a place. but under all circumstances, wait until summertime. ok
excuse , it took so long.
I have two daughters, 33 & 32 year old. Yesterday we celebrated my grandchild, a boy, number three in the row of, ONE YEAR BIRTHDAY. hurra(h) big boy. life goes on.
peace and love
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kathy Reply:
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:37 am
Awwww! Thanks David.
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John, my goodness, Happy Birthday to the big boy! How wonderful life can be. Gee and to have two daughters, to be involved with them and the children, is the best. At the end of the day, those we love, make the world richer. Your English has improved greatly! Also that is great to live without debt. No person is truly free til they can experience that. I have lived simply and appreciate your honesty. For sure if I ever did visit, I think I would come in the summertime. Not to be a wuss, but I live in a mediterranean climate and I am still a bit of a hothouse flower. I don’t travel so well these days either. But, these “appointments” I speak of are with doctors that I believe are going to help me. I feel very hopeful for my own healing and that of our little family. The plan was to travel with my own big boy when he gets to be 9 or ten. He will be 8 in April. He is very bright. I am also NOT looking forward to flying these days!! Gee, I am used to almost no privacy as it is, but those xrays are just over the top of acceptable for me. I suppose it is better than a gloved examination…
That is very interesting, your description of your nation of Denmark. The split you describe exists here as well. There is still one group that still thinks as GWB did -and then the rest of us who just want peace and justice and to stop the Imperial ambitions and devlop our own potential and talents. The Southern and Northern California of my childhood was a friendly, open place. There are still areas like this still, but the overall environment of the politics we live in affects everything! So right you are – in hindsight to realize how great things were. I see it almost as a “Utopian Blip” I call it. It was a moment in time when everything was possible and there was collective wakening to being fair to everyone. The earth was not as polluted and there seemed to be time for everything. Oddly enough now, at the time, it seemed a glimpse into our collective and personal future. Would be great if it were. Thanks, must go now. Nice day : ).
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Michelle Obama is 46 today, she is finally my age. It is not something I Ever talk about because my husband is younger than me. Time and age are subjects for another time : )
I would wish the First Lady a Happy Birthday!
also for another time.. her silent involvement in the health care debate. : (
(Sorry, it’s been on my mind)
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