Jane Stillwater's Web Log: October 2012

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Who would you rather prefer at the head of FEMA right now?

     In the teeth of Frankenstorm Sandy, who would you rather have heading up FEMA right now? Barack Obama or Jill Stein -- or Romney and Ryan, the current "I've already stolen mine and now you suckers are on your own" boys. Of course the original "screw you after Katrina" boys were Cheney and Bush.

    Apparently Mitt Romney actually said with his mouth on the Larry King show back in 2011, "We cannot afford disaster relief." Tell that to the wet, cold and hungry victims of Sandy on the east coast this morning. Go ahead, Mitt. Tell them. Make their day.

PS: And then there's this from Mark Karlin: "Romney's Jeep Lie Outdoes Richard Nixon in the Mendacity Department"
http://truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/17608-romney-s-jeep-lie-outdoes-richard-nixon-in-the-mendacity-department

     "Steve Benen, who writes the Maddow blog, has documented more than 500 Romney lies in 30 weeks."

PPS: (Most of) the photos above are from my daughter Ashley's recent Halloween party/Giants victory celebration

Thursday, October 25, 2012

My trip to Reno: With Rove & Romney & the Big Bad Wolf

After putting it off for several years, my family and I finally got around to taking a road trip to Reno, Nevada -- just in time to get caught in an avalanche of deceitful election propaganda, compliments of the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson and Karl Rove. And also just in time to get stuck in a huge snow storm in the Sierras as well.

     Just try putting chains onto your tires in the middle of a blizzard sometime. So much fun!

   Once in Reno, however, my four-year-old granddaughter developed a bit of a cough, so while Ashley and Hugo were out playing blackjack, I was busy reading Mena bedtime stories -- starting with Little Red Riding Hood. You know the one. Where the Big Bad Wolf pretends to be Grandma? Good grief! Politics are even in fairy tales!

"The better to EAT you with, my dear!" cries the wolf -- cleverly disguised as Riding Hood's sweet little grandmother. And if Rove and the Koch brothers and Adelson (and, incidentally, Ryan and Romney too) win the 2012 presidential race, then THEY will be happily eating up Grandma and there will be absolutely no kindly woodsmen nearby to save us.

      But in Reno right now, Rove and his pals are still happily disguised as our innocent and well-meaning grandmother, out to buy the 2012 election for our own good. Yeah right. Enough said about that. If America gets eaten by wolves this election, then it's just our own naive fault.

    Bon appetite, Rove, Koch and Adelson. Hope you enjoy snacking on Grandma.

     Obama may not be perfect, but he has shown that he's not all that interested in cannibalizing America.

PS: While in Reno, I also visited my wonderful Aunt Evelyn and went to a political fund-raiser put on by the Washoe County democrats. We all gathered at the Atlantis, ate rubber turkey, watched the final presidential debate together and listened to speeches by senators Harry Reid and Al Franken -- who commented that Romney thought Iran wanted Syria so it could finally have a path to the sea. "Forgot about the Persian Gulf, did ya?" The Persian Gulf is a body of water named after Persia -- aka Iran. Iran has had a path to the sea since approximately 3100 BC.

     But Rove himself hasn't forgotten about the Persian Gulf, no no no. He didn't forget it during that costly and spurious war on Iraq -- so why should he suddenly forget about it now? Or forget it in January, after he has stolen the White House again.

PPS: Someone just suggested that everyone in America should start registering Republican -- so that there will be less of a chance that our votes will be stolen by GOP election fraud. Yes, folks, American politics have actually sunk that low, where we actually have UN monitors watching our elections.

    So. What can we mere helpless citizens do to stop America from getting eaten by the greedy, corrupt and evil Big Bad Wolves who continually prey on us? Just hope that the good part of human nature will eventually win out over the bad and that kindly woodsmen will always come to our rescue. But how's that been working for us so far? Not so good. However, cooperation always trumps subjugation in the end -- but it sure is taking a long time for Grandma, er, the American people to see that.

      But something else also happened in Reno that did give me hope. Of course I didn't see hardly any Obama car-bumper stickers there -- but I didn't see all that many Romney stickers there either.

     It appears that Americans had really gotten fooled back when Big Bad Wolf George Bush ran for president in 2000, cleverly disguised as our folksy and kindly woodsman hero and not as the Rove-owned sleazy used-car salesman con-man that he actually was. Now, however, many voters can see that Romney is also trying to imitate Dubya disguised as a used-car salesman/BB Wolf -- and this time Americans have not been so easily fooled. Or to quote from GWB himself, "Fool me once, shame on -- shame on you. Fool me -- you can't get fooled again."

     Hopefully.

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Advertizements for myself: In these hard times of brutal (and illegal) corporatist ball-busting socialism-for-the-rich-only, I am doing whatever I can to make a spare dollar. Here are some of my current alternate-economy schemes that never seem to work -- but I keep hoping!

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What next? Now I'm trying to go to a six-day vodou ceremony in a cave somewhere in Haiti. Please donate toward my trip expenses here: https://www.wepay.com/xh8kekc

Also my son Joe is trying to raise money to film a documentary on this event. Check out his video of the vodou master here -- a truly heavy-duty dude: https://www.wepay.com/donations/suzandoc

"This documentary is about capturing a Haitian Vodou Ceremony experienced through the perspective of Suzan (a Shaman leader). The ceremony takes place in a cave that Suzan had lived in for 10 years in Fonds-des-Nègres, Haiti, 114 km west of Port Au Prince."

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Need someone to help you throw out stuff? I'm really good at deciding what needs to be thrown out (starting with all those corporate-owned bums in Washington!)

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Need an actor to play an older woman in your movie? Then I'm your man! I can portray all kinds of older women -- from judges, business execs and other insane zombies to bag ladies, cancer patients, kindly grandmothers and dying patients in rest homes. I've played them all. So send me a script and let's do this. Hollywood, here we come!

****Are you a plaintiffs' attorney who is tired of writing those pesky personal injury settlement briefs all the time? No problem! I can write them for you. Years of experience. And pay me only if you win the case.

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I recently got my Notary Public commission!

Need a Notary Public? Have seal, will travel. E-mail me at jpstillwater@yahoo.com and I'll stamp your document, make it official and only charge $10. Of course if you live outside of Berkeley, I may have to charge travel expenses -- but am well worth it!

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Want something good to read? Buy my book! "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips for Touring Today's Middle East," available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719/ref=cm_pdp_rev_itm_title_1. It's like if Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain and/or Janet Evanovich went to war.

I also wrote a book about going on Hajj (also included as a chapter in "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket," but this book is cheaper -- but it's worth buying them both!) My book on the Hajj is so outstanding that I bet even Christian fundamentalists will love it! Please buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Mecca-Hajj-Lessons-Islamic-School/dp/0978615700/ref=cm_rdp_product
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"Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World peace in one generation!" You can now buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for parents and teachers. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Double standards in America: Benefiting you but not me...

     Everywhere I look these days, I see hypocrisy and double standards being used by Americans -- locally, nationally and internationally.

     Locally, for instance, a neighbor of mine recently intimidated and bullied her landlord into giving her all kinds of favors and perks. However, when this same landlord attempted to do something that would have benefited all of his tenants, she suddenly threatened to take him to court. "More stuff for me, less stuff for you," seemed to be the argument that she plans to present to the judge.

     And another neighbor of mine claims to be a devout Christian yet supports war (any war!) bigtime. Jesus would never do that.

     And our city's current mayor, a developer himself, always seems to favor other developers and to go out of his way to twist, bend and chew up city procedures if this could possibly get yet another unnecessary highrise built downtown by his developer friends. And yet our mayor screams bloody murder when city procedures might actually benefit just some Average Joe like you and me. http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2012-06-15/article/39859?headline=Tom-Bates-and-the-Secret-Government-of-Berkeley--Excerpt-1--By-John-Curl

     Vote for Kriss Worthington for mayor of Berkeley on November 6 instead -- and/or donate to his campaign here: http://www.krissworthington.com/home/

On the national level, Willard "Mitt" Romney wants to take from the poor and give to the rich -- and he's really really good at this too. Fine. He's rich. This policy benefits him. I understand that. But then he talks to the rest of us poor schmucks like he's gonna be our savior too -- when this is actually the farthest thing from his mind? Hypocrisy? Absolutely.

Obama claims to represent America's grassroots community. But who gets the most benefits from his largess? Wall Street. And War Street. And "health insurance" companies. Of course he's better at benefiting you and me than Mitt is -- but not by all that much. Saint Obama he is not.

     And during this current election cycle, Americans all seem to be bitching and moaning about the direction that their country is going in -- yet no one will vote for a viable candidate with good ideas such as Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party (who just got arrested for having the gall to ask for her rightful place at the last presidential debate). Or even Roseanne Barr. Trust me. Roseanne Barr has a lot more good ideas than Romney and Obama combined. But Americans would rather just bitch and whine and "vote for the lesser of two evils". Hypocrisy.

    There are two excellent films out right now, entitled "We're Not Broke" http://werenotbrokemovie.com/ and "Story of Broke" http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-broke/. Both movies clearly demonstrate that we have more than enough money in our treasury to benefit the 99% wonderfully -- but are benefiting the greedy 1% instead. That's just wrong.

     And here is a link to a film about Monsanto -- how it is systematically killing off as many human beings as possible for fun and profit, both in America and abroad. Perhaps Monsanto has mistaken us humans for weeds? http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/09/23-5

     And on the international scene, we can see the most hypocrisy of all. Global corporate interests with American ties have caused the deaths of over ten million people in the Congo in the last three decades -- and then these same enormous conglomerates actually have the NERVE to say they are just representing free enterprise. Since when did Adam Smith ever tell us that capitalists need to take their market advantages from the barrel of a gun? Or from welfare subsidies from the USA, the IMF and the UN?

    America's corporate-owned government bleats constantly that it is representing democracy abroad -- despite all the election fraud, jailing of demonstrators, free speech suppression, media control, indefinite detention and phone-tapping going on here -- which makes our "democratic" leaders on the international level the biggest hypocrites of all.

      For instance, just look what happened recently regarding that low-rent porno flick, "Innocence of Muslims". It has been vigorously protected as supposedly representing "free speech". But when the Jenin Freedom Theater in Palestine puts on plays that highlight the brutal and insane injustice of the corporate-owned Israeli occupation and land-grab, the theater's artistic director is jailed. Jailed. And tortured. http://www.thefreedomtheatre.org/news.php?id=286 How protective of free speech is that?

     And then there's Al Qaeda -- bad guys when you need a boogieman in America, but good guys when you need boogiemen in Libya and Syria. And Israel? It's a heroic Jewish state when War Street needs to propagandize it -- but an anti-Semite down-and-dirty commandment-breaker and disrespecter of Torah in real life whenever War Street needs a land-grab in the Middle East http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/12009-a-rabbis-path-to-palestinian-solidarity.

     So. Selfishness and hypocrisy have become the new American morality -- both locally and nationally. And internationally too. Everyone in America seems to expect everyone else to play by the rules -- except for themselves. 'What's mine is mine -- and what's yours in mine too!" should be solemnly engraved on every single American coin and should definitely replace "E Pluribus Unum" on all dollars.

     Either that, or Americans might actually consider going back to attempting to do things cooperatively so that everyone benefits -- not just for benefiting you at a very high price to me.

     Nah. That will never happen. Too late.

PS: On Monday October 22, me and my daughter Ashley are taking a road trip to Reno to attend a Democratic fundraiser featuring Harry Reid and Al Franken http://www.washoedems.org/. See you there?

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Advertizements for myself: In these hard times of brutal (and illegal) corporatist ball-busting socialism-for-the-rich-only, I am doing whatever I can to make a spare dollar. Here are some of my current alternate-economy schemes that never seem to work -- but I keep hoping!

******
What next? Now I'm trying to go to a six-day vodou ceremony in a cave somewhere in Haiti. Please donate toward my trip expenses here: https://www.wepay.com/xh8kekc

Also my son Joe is trying to raise money to film a documentary on this event. Check out his video of the vodou master here -- a truly heavy-duty dude: https://www.wepay.com/donations/suzandoc

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Wall Street & War Street & murder mysteries in Cleveland

     I just got back from attending a four-day murder-mystery writers' and readers' convention in Cleveland, Ohio -- http://bouchercon2012.com/. For a crime-fiction fan such as myself, it was a dream come true.

      "Why do people love murder mysteries so much?" I asked one author.

     "Because whenever we read crime fiction, we always know that the criminal will actually get caught in the end and justice will actually be served. In the real world, however, that rarely actually happens." Sad but true. "In addition, crime fiction allows you to be deliciously afraid -- but also to safely control your own fear."

      On my first day in Cleveland I played hookie from the convention, went off to the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and totally relived my (gloriously misspent) youth listening to the soundtracks of my past, having spent the 1950s watching American Bandstand and dancing the Bop to Bill Haley at the MYF hall; spent the 1960s going to see Janis at the Filmore, Bob Dylan in Greenwich Village, the Velvet Underground at the Dom and the Temptations and the Ronettes at the Apollo every Saturday night; and spent the 1970s watching the Stones and listening to the Who. What's not to love about the Rock 'n' Roll Museum!

     On the last day of the murder-mystery convention, I also attended an interesting seminar on politically-themed crime novels. Let's get right to the point. "We write them because there is an endless amount of criminal activity to write about in Washington!" Right on.

     And dontcha just love that new TV series, "Scandal," also based in D.C. http://abc.go.com/watch/scandal/SH55126555/VD55236751/the-other-woman.

     I wanna write a crime novel set in D.C. too! So much material to write about, so little time. For instance, I'd start with a "War Street" crime-fiction series. The Iraq war was a crime. The official and unofficial wars on Afghanistan, Syria, Palestine, Libya, Pakistan, Bahrain, Nigeria, you-name-it? Lots of big crimes!    Writing a best-selling "War Street" series should keep me busy for years! So many bad guys. So much fun.

     And then I would go on to write a blockbuster "Wall Street" murder-mystery series. The greatest criminals and the greatest crimes of all time take place on the Wall Street side of D.C. Like the infamous "Goldfinger," Washington's evil Wall Street connections have set out to destroy the world -- both economically and virtually. Talk about your bad guys! D.C. is offering an endless supply.

     During my four glorious days in Cleveland last week, I had a wonderful time enjoying that city and seeing the sights -- and also watching TV, featuring all those mendacious commercials urging Ohio residents to vote to send even more bad guys to Washington D.C. But there were also even some commercials about sending good guys there too. Did you know that Sherrod Brown is running for office in Ohio again? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/06/sherrod-brown-endorsement-_n_1945103.html C'mon, Ohio. Vote for Sherrod! Let's give at least one political crime story a happy ending.

PS: After I talked with one man on the street in Cleveland about the up-coming presidential election, it instantly became a mystery to me how, in this modern day and age of Google and Snopes, this guy could still actually be believing all those blatant scams and lies that Romney the Con-Man is sincerely hoping that we will believe.

PPS: It is also a complete mystery to me why War Street, supported by Obama, could still be killing so many women and children in the Middle East and yet still not understand that the blow-back that all this cold-blooded murder is creating will endanger America more and more, year by year. If they keep this up, pretty soon there will be seven billion people hatin' on War Street -- just like 2.2 billion people hated on the Third Reich back in 1942. Wise up, guys.

     But, actually, drunk drivers kill far more Americans than "terrorists" ever had. So why is War Street still slogging through its twelfth year of war on Afghanistan, which is, ironically, a teetotaling country? And why is marijuana still illegal here but killer alcohol isn't? Another big mystery.

PPPS: I also went to a party at BoucherCon sponsored by Soho Press and they gave me some more excellent free books -- including the new Cara Black novel and the new Stuart Neville one http://www.sohopress.com/book/?workid=221108. Combined with a whole bunch of free books that I got from other publishers, I now have a whole suitcase full of free books. Eat your heart out, murder-mystery fans of the world!

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Advertizements for myself: In these hard times of brutal (and illegal) corporatist ball-busting socialism-for-the-rich-only, I am doing whatever I can to make a spare dollar. Here are some of my current alternate-economy schemes that never seem to work -- but I keep hoping!

******
What next? Now I'm trying to go to a six-day vodou ceremony in a cave somewhere in Haiti. Please donate toward my trip expenses here: https://www.wepay.com/xh8kekc
Also my son Joe is trying to raise money to film a documentary on this event. Check out his video of the vodou master here -- a truly heavy-duty dude:

https://www.wepay.com/donations/suzandoc

Monday, October 01, 2012

Nothing but Net: Winners & losers in a war on Iran

At the Wailing Wall

At the other Wailing Wall

Getting ready for Yom Kippur at Saul's Deli

Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity

Christ's actual birthplace

Settlement on Palestinian land

Nothing but Net: Winners & losers in a war on Iran

      My head is currently all filled with lists of things that I will need to do in order to get myself to Cleveland to attend a convention for murder-mystery writers and readers http://bouchercon2012.com/. But that doesn't mean that I'm deaf, dumb and blind to what else is going on in the rest of the world. It seems that Benjamin Netanyahu is still just as busy trying to drum up a war with Iran as George Bush used to be back when he was trying to get us to bomb the heck out of Iraq.

According to Middle East expert Ira Chernus, "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing the UN General Assembly, 'warned that by next summer Iran could have weapons-grade nuclear material.' Then came a clip of Netanyahu, trying to sound chilling: 'At stake is the future of the world. Nothing could imperil our common future more than the arming of Iran with nuclear weapons.' Nothing?, I wondered. Not even the melting of the polar ice caps, or a huge spike in global food prices, or an accidental launch of one of the many nukes that the U.S. and Russia still keep on hair-trigger alert?" http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/ira-chernus/45781/israel-versus-iran-netanyahu-s-cartoon-version

      So here is another big murder-mystery. Why in the world would B-Net want to unilaterally attack Iran? Why is he currently shouting from the rooftops that Iran is such a big danger? Since its inception back in the 1970s, modern Iran has never preemptively attacked any other country -- so why should it start now? Iran doesn't even have to attack anyone. It's already got absolute oodles and bunches of oil so there's no need for it to go on the offensive. There is, however, lots of need for Iran to go on the defensive -- against all those greedy types out there who are lusting after its oil.

     But while Iran definitely doesn't ever want to attack Israel, it will, however, defend itself if attacked. Yeah duh. You'd do the same thing if you were attacked. Hell, a two-year-old would do the same thing!

     To make a long story short here, if Netanyahu attacks Iran, then Iran will fight back. Now just think about that one. And if Iran does fight back, then exactly who will win and who will lose? Think about that one too.

      What is in this for the NetBoy? How would he benefit from an attack on Iran? He would benefit in the same way that GWB benefited from his attack on Iraq -- money, power, fame, etc. I get that.

     But what is in it for Israel? Nothing. Let me repeat that. Nothing. All Israelis will win from a war on Iran will be death and fear and two generations' worth of work at building its version of Tel Aviv from a few shabby immigrant kibbutzes into a city famous for its nightclubs, parties and beaches. All that hard work will be down the drain and turned into rubble.

     A war on Iran will not be a win-win situation for both Israel and Nettie. It will be a win-lose situation, one where the Yahu himself wins big, goes off to New York City and lives like an exiled prince after the dust has settled on Jerusalem -- but Israel itself loses bigtime.

     Or perhaps Benny will just go join Dubya and they both can hang out in the upscale malls of Dallas, reliving their glory days for anyone who will listen.

"But Jane," you might say, "perhaps there won't even BE a war on Iran." Not if our Netele can help it. If it is up to him -- and it appears to be -- there will be nothing but Net.

     Benjamin Netanyahu needs to step back, take a deep breath and remember that, "Life is a competition and the winners are the ones who do the most good deeds" -- not the ones who callously cause the senseless deaths of hundreds, thousands or possibly millions of living human beings.

PS: What the freak is there to do in Cleveland these days? I mean besides go to the convention, visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and sit around in my hotel room watching tons of mendacious and slimy Republican election attack ads paid for by the Koch brothers and Citizens United and Karl Rove?

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Netanyahu for president of the U.S.?

    I bet that the Republicans are literally kicking themselves right now because they are stuck with Ryan and Romney for their presidential candidates when they could have had the REAL neo-con goods: Benjamin Netanyahu!

    "But he wasn't born in America and neither of his parents are Americans either," you might say. No problem. Have facts ever stopped the GOP before?

    Just think how the Repubs' bosses would droll at the thought. War with Iran within 24 hours after inauguration? What's not to like about that! Especially if your are a weapons manufacturer or an oil company.

     "But what about Israel?" you might ask. "Won't it be bombed to toast in the process?"

     "Who cares about Israel," our Netl would tell David Letterman and Meet the Press. "America is now my own, my native land." But then the NetBoy never really cared much for Israel or Jews in the first place. He always did have bigger fish to fry.

    But, wait, it's not too late for the Republican 1%! Romney and Ryan are clearly on the skids right now -- so they could be easily be dumped and no one would care. And although they could still steal the election for Romney and Ryan with a little help from vote-tampering in the nine most important swing states, wouldn't it be truly better for Wall Street and War Street if there was "Nothing but Net" in the White House come January?

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Advertizements for myself: In these hard times of brutal (and illegal) corporatist ball-busting socialism-for-the-rich-only, I am doing whatever I can to make a spare dollar. Here are some of my current alternate-economy schemes that never seem to work -- but I keep hoping!

******
What next? Now I'm trying to go to a six-day vodou ceremony in a cave somewhere in Haiti. Please donate toward my trip expenses here: https://www.wepay.com/xh8kekc
Also my son Joe is trying to raise money to film a documentary on this event. Check out his video of the vodou master here -- a truly heavy-duty dude: