Another Christmas has passed behind me. This is the first year in many that I have actually had a smile on most of the holiday season. Things are changing and hopefully for the better. Some mistakes have apparently mended themselves, Cyndi is healthy again, I'm on pretty good standing with the family, and finances, while not great are not hurting either. I'm actually looking forward to 2008. For once not as an escape from a bad year past, but rather as a beginning that ha so much possible opportunity already showing. I only hope that I find the wisdom to use it all well.

     For anybody that I inadvertently missed, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year to everyone.

For anybody who would like to read a discussion of why the FBI screwed up when they seized my silver in Cour'd Arlene Idaho, you should read the link below. It also gives a good history of counterfeiting law in the US and how the current FBI is running roughshod over some of your rights....

http://www.norfed.org/commentary/pdfs/1164570384.pdf

.... .  These abuses have to stop.

    Well, today I started the process that will probably be quite long of pursuing reclaiming my eleven twentieths ounce Troy .999 silver back from the FBI's siezure action on LibertyDollar.Org. You are porbably thinking, 11/20th's, is that all??? Well, yes, we are talking about maybe $10.00 worth of silver on a good day, but that isn't the point. The point is that I have committed no crime, pay my taxes (grudgingly), and the government has taken property that isn't forfeit. If they were acting responsibly and thuroughly, they would have impounded all of the bullion, coins, and specie, and then only seized that which was determined to still be in the inventory of LibertyDollar.Org. LibertyDollar.Org has put up a new update on their web site if you want more information from their point of view. I am not really impressed with the owner of LibertyDollar.org calling SA Romagnuolo '...my favorite agent Andy...', but I imagine he has a certain amount of anger at the moment also. Has LibertyDollar.org actually committed any crimes? I'm not sure...........If you take a literal interpretation of one of the sections of the US code, yes, you can make an argument that they have, then again if you take a comon sense approach, it means that the majority of Americans currrently alive have. This includes anybody who has ever played pinball at a token driven arcade or used a mass transit system that issues the little stripe tickets, or anybody who has ever used a prepaid bank card....... So, from a common sense point of view, no, you can't outlaw barter or private devices of wealth storage.....  

More to come....

     How many times have you had something bad happen ...to the other guy...it won't happen to me because I don't do anything to get bad attention like that...? Well, Nov. 15th evidently was my turn to be the other guy. Today, in my in box I found a copy of a Seizure Order from the FBI. I have been slowly collecting silver. I can afford that. I can't afford gold. Buying silver an ounce or two at a time though isn't that much of a problem. Also, any economics professor will tell you silver is a good hedge for your investments up to about 15%. It moves inversely proportional to the dollar and directly with commodities. It hedges against inflation and monetary weakness.

     The people I have been buying coins and certificates from, LibertyDollar.org recieved a Letter of Warning from the USMint a while ago because the Mint discovered that what they treated as 'kooks' a few years ago was spreading. People in some southerbn states that don't trust the government to begin with have been trading 'Liberty dollars' for a while. About six months ago, the Hawaiian nationals hired LibertyDollar to mint a series of Hawaiian dollars to comemorate the Hawaiian nation. Some hotels on the islands were also using them in their bars and casinos, as well as giving them away as souveniers when you book a room.

     Telling anybody that they can't make coins is illegal as long as the coins don't resemble US currency. Several companies do it including the mint which issues several 'commemeratives' a year. Bertram Nauthaus had to file a counter suit against the mint in order to protect his business and his right to speak out against bad monetary policy on the part of the governmnet.

     Now, the FBI has seized all of the property, computers, stock, and information, of LibertyDollar.org on the allegation that it has been used in money laudering, not that they were doing the money laudering, just that it had been used in the act by third parties. In the process the government has seized MY silver because it happened to be in the same warehouse.

     I  AM GOING TO GET MY PROPERTY BACK!

...more to come...

Recently this appeared in the Wall Street Journal....

..>..> ..> ..>..>..>

--> -->--> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> Lactating Mother Tests Legal System A Harvard medical student sued the National Board of Medical Examiners demanding more break time from taking the Board test in order to pump breast milk to feed her daughter.  Earlier this month, a Massachusetts Superior Court judge rejected Sophie Currie's request for an additional 60 minutes of break time (beyond the 45 minutes allotted to all test takers), accepting the board's position that break time needed to be consistent. Thereafter, Appeals Court Judge Gary Katzman overturned the lower court ruling, finding that the extra time simply put Ms. Currier on "equal footing" with the men and nonlactating women taking the test.  On the eve of the test, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court denied the board's request for an expedited review. Ms. Currier had argued that she would be uncomfortable taking the test and that it could possibly be harmful to her health if she did not have sufficient time to pump breast milk during the standard breaks.  One of Ms. Currier's lawyers, Lauren Stiller Rikleen, added, "We took this case pro bono because we believed strongly in the legal positions that were set forth regarding a nursing mother's right in the workplace and by extension, a nursing mother's right to be able to become a doctor and take the medical exam without being at risk for physical harm." In addition to the extra break time, Ms. Currier was granted permission to take the test over two days (rather than one) because of her dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.    According to a letter to the editor from a Connecticut doctor, "Sophie Currier failed her medical-licensing examination in April when she first took the examination.  She will now repeat her test with double the time and with extra breaks." —Source:  The Wall Street Journal

...Now, I am all for accomedating people who have disabilities in their quest to keep and obtain employment. At the same time, I also believe that the ADA and the FMLA should not be allowed by the courts to be used as a club by underperformers. Let us look at this situation for a moment. Three questions immediately come to my mind. The issue of 'baby'. This woman is going to school to become a medical doctor. This is one of the most demanding professions that a person can undertake. Physically, mentally, and emotionally. I know that I could never become a doctor, but that is beside the point. When this woman went to school, she made a commitment to her future. Somewhere, along that line she decided that having a baby was more important than going to school. That was a voluntary decision on her part. Now she is using the FMLA and the ADA as a club to basically get a free 'do over' for a bad decision. Ok, she made a mistake, fine. Now it is her responsibility to live with it. If that includes her making arrangements so that she can complete her medical training and sucessfully take the exam at a later date, fine. If not, she can hopefully find 'adjacent' work that will use her training and allow her to recover her life on a different path. I believe that is called a 'learning experience'.

     Second, getting exam waivers because she has dyslexia and ADHD. When did this start? I'm sorry, here again this is a medical exam to be a Doctor. This woman may be a wonderful, talented, person of great learning and intelligence. That said, again, the exam is just that, and EXAM, placed there not for somebody's perverse amusement, but to see if you make the grade to be called Doctor. If you can't pass the exam, I'm sorry. End of story. If you have Dyslexia and ADHD, I don't want you being a Doctor at all. This will become apparent the first time she puts 500 joules into some heart patient instead of 200 joules, and explodes their heart instead of restarting it..... ...... ........ .......and stop thinking about the stock market and close this patient.

      I really, REALLY, hope that this woman does not become a doctor. If this goes on I want the courts to order that ANY variances required to pass a medical exam be made public information that has to be disclosed to patients before they recieve treatment, much like the title history and 'material events' when buying a piece of property or a house.

      This woman is using protections to force concessions the ultimately could negatively impact other people. That is just being selfish and worng.

Here is the updated banned book information for 2006 fromthe ALA....

The Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2006

The following books were the most frequently challenged in 2006:

The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom received a total of 546 challenges last year. A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness.  According to Judith F. Krug, director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom, the number of challenges reflects only incidents reported, and for each reported, four or five remain unreported.

The "10 Most Challenged Books of 2006" reflect a range of themes, and consist of the following titles:

• "And Tango Makes Three" by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, for homosexuality, anti-family, and unsuited to age group;
• "Gossip Girls" series by Cecily Von Ziegesar for homosexuality, sexual content, drugs, unsuited to age group, and offensive language;
• "Alice" series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor for sexual content and offensive language;
• "The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things" by Carolyn Mackler for sexual content, anti-family, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;
• "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison for sexual content, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;
• "Scary Stories" series by Alvin Schwartz for occult/Satanism, unsuited to age group, violence, and insensitivity;
• "Athletic Shorts" by Chris Crutcher for homosexuality and offensive language;
• "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky for homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;
• "Beloved" by Toni Morrison for offensive language, sexual content, and unsuited to age group; and
• "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier for sexual content, offensive language, and violence.

Off the list this year, but on for several years past, are the "Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger, "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain.

"Be safe." Just two words. That was what the girl behind the counter said as I paid for my gulp and sandwich. I was struck at the moment by both the functionality of the phrase and its meaning, while at the same time admiring the lack of any assumption at all being attached to the phrase.

     How many times have you gone to the store, or elsewhere, and either personally, or known somebody else with you who has, been offended by the 'parting' offered by the clerk at the time. 'Happy Holidays' now is offensive to most Christians who take their religion way to seriously (in my opinion) by implying that the establishment is trying to remove God from the holiday season. 'Merry Christmas' assumes that the entire world is Christian. 'God bless...' worries the pagans, 'Go with God...' pings 'Are you a terrorist...?', etc. etc. etc..

     Gone are the days of anybody simply wishing good luck on anybody else in the mode that the wisher is accustomed to and the recipient having the good graces to accept the idea gracefully. Everybody today tries to outdoor everybody else with how many chips they can carry around at once, and everybody is 'a victim' of somebody else. At least that is the view I get.

      Then this clerk, who has never even seen me before and has no clue as to my ideas, morals or anything else, has the gall to wish me "Be safe.". Mental "All Stop!". It is short, concise, makes no assumptions about either me or her, and conveys simply that she wishes me to not come to harm today. It's enough to make a person go to work with a smile on their face.....

I was reading 'On the Shoulders of Giants' earlier today and it brought back to mind a web site I visited awhile ago, www.fixedearth.org. They have proof that the Copernican Universe as we were taught in school is all fake, made by the 'powers that be' in order to keep us under their respective thumbs.

     One of the arguments that Copernicus made was that the earthcentric biblical arrangement of the universe must be false because the relative observed disk of Venus does not fluctuate by a factor of 16 (, or of its observed diameter by a factor of 4,) as would be suggested by the heliocentric model based on observed movements. Copernicus was only analyzing what Aristotle and other ancients had determined by observation and deduction that Venus moves around the fixed earth on an orbit that also contains epicycles.

     "What the hell is an epicycle?", you ask? Let me give you the short layman's version. On a convenient pice of paper, (yes grab one out of your printer, I'll wait,) draw a circle, Earth. Next draw an elementary school style spring. Wrap the spring around the earth and join the ends. This now represents the epicycle path of venus' orbit. Now off to the side draw the sun. Draw a line from earth to the sun. Now make the coils of the spring large enough so that one coil occupies from 40 degrees above this line to 40 degrees below the line as measured from the earth.

      Then today it dawned on me. The science fiction writers are right! If you allow venus to be alive! If venus is alive and breathing, it would account for the apparently stedy observed disk size AND provide the impetus for the epicyclic motion. Venus of course being both a planet and a god, as we are told also by the greeks and romans, is by now very patient and therefore breaths the ether slowly in as she approaches the sun and then exhales as she moves away, shrinking in porportion to keep her presence steady to her subjects on earth. This also explains why we have only been allowed to find very little information on her with space probes and why ahe clouds herself from us..........

..........

     I obviously need some food.....LUNCHTIME!

    Friday afternoon, I once again had reinforced that all is not evil in the world. If you have a group of people in a normal situation, although they may not go out of their way to help, they won't jump on your vulnerabilities right away either.

     About six guys up in the line at 7-11, an older black gentleman had all of his papers laid out on the counter and was arranging his lottery tickets. He had five or eight winners and bought several scratchies. He gathers his stuff and leaves to the trashcan outside and begins scratching away.

     The other clerk now realizes that '...Hey! There 12 or so people in line!...' and comes up to help finally. Customers one and two move up and I see them both looking at the counter and each other. There between them on the little "age and ID" sticker is a stack of money. They carry out their purchases and leave. Both clerks look at the money, look at the man out the window, turn back to the line and ask 'next'. Customers four and five, saw the looks at the man out the window. They both look at the money, then the man, then make their purchases and leave. You may be asking, 'What about customer three?', he actually went back for more beer. Now its lady six and my turn. She has an armload of stuff and carefully places it all over the counter, making sure to not place any on the stack of bills. Both clerks look at the man again. Finally, my '...want to help everybody...' kicks in and I lean out the door and ask the guy,"Did you leave your money on the counter?", where with a start he comes back in and gets his cash. There was a fifty on the bottom. I conclude my soda purchase as he thanks me and we leave.

       I told Cyndi that it reminded me that all folks aren't out to get you and will pretty much leave you up to your own devices. Cyndi asked why didn't the clerk just tap on the glass? Why didn't anybody else ask the guy if he had forgotten his cash? It would be interesting if I had the ability to track all these people down and ask them what were their thoughts at that moment. Until that time I'm going to choose to view the glass as half full....

Ok, NYC is at it again. Last year they adopted a symbolic resolution banning the 'N' word from being used within NYC limits. Now they have a resolution before them to ban the 'B' word. As if by pronouncing certain words forbidden, that it will remove their evil from the world.

     Words, in and of themselves are not evil. Words are words. That is all. Words are simply any arrangement of mutually recognized symbols arranged in such a way as to convey a specific idea. This idea may then be further refined by its arrangement with other words. It is the idea and how it is used that is good or evil. All that banning a word really accomplishes is removing the recognized symbol from use. The underlying idea is still there though. The person wishing to express that idea will find, make, or co-opt another symbol set to accomplish communication to those who he/she is talking/writing to.

     Instead of essentially brushing ideas that are unpleasant under the carpet by banning their words, we should be working on finding where these ideas are coming from and changing their source. Then we could all use all of the language freely without having to worry on how others will view certain words.