Good morning!

Maka: Thank you for posting about Pe’ Sla, and bringing it to my attention. Your story moved me. I feel for the Lakota people and their land. When I began to read more about it, I decided that I would make it the topic for today’s write just in case my readers passed over your comment, my featuring it would give it more light, and HOPEfully more attention.

I wish you and yours my very best and I HOPE that Pe’ Sla gets enough media attention that the sacred land can be saved. Click here to donate.

Pe’ Sla: Help Save Lakota Sioux Sacred Land!

The sale is perfectly “legal,” but is it morally, ethically, and spiritually correct?

In a race against the clock, the Sioux Nation is fighting to save Pe’ Sla, one of its most sacred religious sites.Pe’ Sla, located in the Black Hills of South Dakota, is the epicenter of the creation story of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota nations. Tribal elders and spiritual leaders conduct ceremonies essential to their culture and beliefs at times of the year when the stars are in special alignment. On Aug. 25, 2012, approximately 1,942.66 acres, sold in five tracts of land, will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Once sold, it is highly likely that Pe’ Sla will be opened up for development, with the State of South Dakota building a road directly through it, according to a press release I stumbled across on Facebook. If the Sioux ever needed a savvy PR and fundraising team, now is the time, and it may be too late.

The fact that native sacred places were taken illegally by the United States government is secondary to the urgent need to do something to protect this privately owned yet cosmologically significant site before Aug. 25, less than two weeks from now. In a gallant effort the Sioux Nation is fundraising to buy as much of the holy ground of Pe’ Sla as possible. What is possible and what is realistic may be two different things, or they may not.

To be honest, when this writer discovered the story, the situation seemed overwhelming and hopeless. How would the Sioux be able to raise over one million dollars in a fundraising campaign in two weeks? So I dutifully posted it on Facebook, tried to go to sleep, tossed and turned in protest at my inaction, and now find myself blogging away at 1 AM–hoping and praying that by throwing this sad, terrible story against the wall, something might stick.

Winona LaDuke, the great native activist and teacher wrote a note “from the heart” about the importance of the Great Mystery to indigenous peoples, and here is the link to it. Read it. It may uplift you and it may bring a tear to your eye, but most of all it may inspire you to offer testimony and “talk story” about what is happening. The act of speaking is an act of spiritual solidarity.

“In the time of the sacred sites and the crashing of ecosystems and worlds, it may be worth not making a commodity out of all that is revered,” LaDuke writes, asking the critical question of morality.

She goes on to cite Lakota scholar Chase Iron Eyes, who said:

Pe’Sla, to the Lakota, is the place where Morning Star, manifested as a meteor, fell to earth to help the Lakota by killing a great bird which had taken the lives of seven women; Morning Star’s descent having created the wide open uncharacteristic bald-spot in the middle of the forested Black Hills. (On American maps, this is called, Old Baldy) The Morning Star placed the spirits of those seven women in the sky as the constellation “Pleiades” or “The Seven Sisters.”

On May 24, 1996, President Bill Clinton issued Executive Order 13007 that requires the government to “accommodate access to and ceremonial use of Indian sacred sites by religious practitioners.” Unfortunately, the order applies to federal and not privately held lands, leaving an ethical chasm between what should be and what is reality at sacred sites.

And now, at this moment, there is absolutely nothing we can do about that harsh fact.

It is the hour of dark skies here in northern Minnesota and the Pleiades are just now rising in the eastern sky, soon to be followed by Jupiter, Venus and the waning crescent moon. I find myself wondering what the skies are like just one state to the west in the Black Hills. Part of the writer wants to go there to better explain the sense of the sacred lands, but there is no time to waste when the hands of the clock have moved into another day since the time I sat down to write this testimony.

So, feeling completely helpless and inadequate, we offer what little we can and hope that a solution can be found in the coming days to save the “heart of all that is.“

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Anonymous: Thank you so much for making a contribution in my name. I am going to make a contribution today as well, and I HOPE that many of my readers will too if they have not already done so.

Readers: There isn’t much time. If you can help Maka and her cause, please make a donation. Click here to donate. I have said it before and I will say it again, “If every single one of us just contributed $1 we would have a huge impact”.  Thank you.

Oh…it looks like Ryan is now a member of the LSOS Club. Did I ever doubt he would be? No.

Peace & Love…

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

I found this write on the HuffPo and thought it deserved a second posting here:

After the Drama of Villeurbanne

The Minister of the Interior, Manuel Valls, found the right words. The authorities of the Republic, national and regional, reacted as one would expect. And from one side of the political spectrum nearly to the other, disapproval was unanimous. However, this affair (three young Jews assaulted with blows from hammers and iron bars last Saturday in Villeurbanne) remains eminently troubling.

The simple fact that it is possible, that there are neighborhoods in France where three teenagers, if they are wearing kippas, cannot go for a walk without the risk of being beaten up, is clearly tragic. And to add to it, when one reads that this is not the first time, when one learns that the same kind of incident took place in the same area just months ago but was not reported in the press, when the National Bureau of Vigilance against Antisemitism tells us that acts of aggressions of this kind have become increasingly frequent since the killings at Toulouse and Montauban but that the system is getting used to them, that sometimes it barely bothers to register them and that nearly all, when they do not involve fatalities, fade into the background and appear insignificant, one can only think, “Clearly, something is rotten in the Republic of France; there is, in this very habituation, in this banalization, in this slow but sure metastasis of the poison of anti-Semitism, something fetid that we must not let pass.”

I know that, as I write these lines, we know nothing of the identity of the members of this new gang of barbarians. And I know how perilous it is, in such circumstances, to indulge in games of calculation, incrimination, and other demonic causalities.

Nonetheless.

Is it really by chance that this assault occured on the morrow of a campaign where we have watched a candidate, Madame LePen, systematically encourage boos and catcalls at her meetings when Jewish-sounding names are mentioned? Madonna, from this point of view, was perfectly right to make the connection, in Tel Aviv, with Nazism.

Is it due to a coincidence of dates that we learn, the same week, thanks to a collective of anti-racist organizations that have brought the matter to the courts, that France is one of the rare countries where, when you type in a proper name on a Web search engine, one of the first semi-automatic data entries supposedly “suggested” by the algorithm (but in reality prescribed by the totality of searches by preceding users) is the association of the name with “Jew”?

And what can one say of this strange obsession with Israel that, for the past several years, has tended to become the alpha and the omega, the central pawn, the main beam of an ideological construction that is at once insane and monstrously effective, according to which “the Jews” are accused anew: an abstract Israel, an imaginary Israel, a demonized if not downright Nazified Israel that serves, by association, to demonize and to Nazify Jews in general — an Israel whose function is, in a word, to furnish a brand-new fuel for the old anti-Semitic machine? For there lies the heart of the problem.

It is there among all those who, Muslim or not, imagine they are avenging the “victims of Israel” when they attack someone wearing a kippa.

It exists among the supposed “Palestinian sympathizers” who don’t give a tinker’s dam for the fate of those in the West Bank or Gaza when the Arab “brothers” are the ones keeping them in subjection or massacring them — and then suddenly see them as the salt of the earth when they confront Israel and Israel, in return, fights against them.

It is in this double standard whereby the same “friends of humanity” remain dry-eyed before the fate of the children massacred at Houla, in Syria, and find nothing to say about Bashar al-Assad’s savage pounding of his cities with heavy weapons, even regretting that a dictator like Muammar Gaddafi, who had the deaths of tens of thousands of Arab innocents on his conscience, was stopped from doing further harm — but when it is Israel that strikes (that is to say, precisely, when Israel defends itself and, in a manner more or less proportionate, hence more or less open to criticism, retaliates when it has been fired upon) judge that the ensuing fatalities are so many crimes against humanity, the blood of which will fall upon the heads of all the Jews in the world.

Listen to them! Israel, as they tell it, would be a state that is fundamentally illegitimate. Consequently, its leaders’ policies would be essentially criminal. And its friends and allies, as still another consequence, would be accomplices in this crime of principle. That is, more than ever, the formula for the anti-Semitism of the future. Such is the theorem that is equal to a license to kill or, as it happens, to beat, in the eyes of the descendants of the Nazi Jew bashers of the ’30s, whose argument had become unspeakable. Such is the modern manual of hatred that, having transformed the Jews into just so many potential assassins, has made it possible to condemn them or strike them.

Denounce this manual, deconstruct it, demonstrate that its protocols are no less fearsome than those of ancient times; this is the urgent matter the drama of Villeurbanne compels us to address. And that is the reason why it would be crazy to underestimate its meaning and its influence.

*****

Readers: Anything to say with respect to the above? Or anything else? Blog me. 

Social Butterfly: Happy to hear you are good. I have blogged before on rape in the military. It is disgusting. Imagine you are fighting side by side with these men, only to later be raped by one of them. Thanks for the reminder of just how bad it is, and that something still needs to be done. I echo the words you stated about men standing up for women in these horrific circumstances. I am sorry that you experienced rape yourself.

Jt: I am sorry to read your story. I HOPE that your suffering has ended and you are doing well.

Anna of Guam: Of course you may. This blog is yours to freely post what you wish. I’m a beach girl and the beaches are lovely from what I hear. I have a feeling I will be out there sometime soon. Hafa Adai.

IKWYA: I certainly found your comments entertaining. I HOPE  you find a love to call your own, who feels just as strongly for you as you do him.

YKWTI: Your Lady is one lucky girl. No doubt any girl would want to claim you as theirs after reading your writes. Can’t blame them. Can’t blame your love for stating what is hers either. Although I suspect being with a man like you, she is very secure in your relationship and felt more amused by IKWYA than threatened.

Hey ZL: I am laughing over here too. Sorry for being remiss in my phone call. I’ll try you soon.

Peace out.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

I HOPE everyone had a safe May Day, aka: International Worker’s Day, and Immigrant’s Rights Day yesterday!

Wow – a lot was going on yesterday. It seemed that the protests were peaceful…at least from what I have heard. If you were amongst the crowds, part of the Occupy movement, etc., or just observing, how was it? What was your experience like? Unfortunately, I could not participate – the only thing I was part of was the traffic. :) It was difficult getting around, but I was cheering for the people.

On my way out yesterday morning I was listening to some of it on the radio, and then I tuned into NPR and heard all the talk about Rupert Murdoch. Perhaps my so savvy readers have already read the latest, but if not here it is:

Rupert Murdoch ‘Not A Fit Person’ To Run Major Company, Phone Hacking Report Says

A parliamentary committee has judged that Rupert Murdoch is “not a fit person” to run a major international company such as News Corp. due to his handling of the phone hacking scandal.

The verdict, from the Culture, Media and Sport committee in the House of Commons, is an unexpectedly damning one. Committee members made clear on Tuesday that it was not a unanimous one, setting up a political fight when the entire House votes on some of its findings.

The committee wrote that Murdoch “turned a blind eye and exhibited willful blindness to what was going on in his companies and publications,” and concluded that he “is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company.”

The report is the culmination of years of investigation since the phone hacking crisis first broke in 2009. Since then, the scandal has caught everyone from journalists to police to politicians in its net, and cost Murdoch hundreds of millions of dollars.

Both Rupert and James Murdoch gave evidence to the committee after the Milly Dowler story sent the scandal into overdrive in July of 2011. Last week, Rupert Murdoch said that there had been a “cover-up” at the News of the World, the now-shuttered paper at the center of the scandal. But he has insisted that he was completely in the dark about the extent of phone hacking, and that he “failed” to make any attempts to find out what was going on at his newspaper.

The report was highly divided along political lines, chiefly due to the surprisingly harsh criticism of Murdoch. Members of the opposition Labour party voted as a bloc, along with one Liberal Democrat, to insert the passages, over the objections of all of the Conservative members.

At a press conference held by the committee on Tuesday, Louise Mensch, a Conservative member, said that the report was “partisan” and had been “damaged” by the controversial sections. Labour MP Tom Watson countered, saying that he was “disappointed that some members didn’t feel sufficiently convinced or confident to hold the most powerful to account.”

*U*N*F*I*T*

Readers: What’s going on with you? Blog me.

Peace out.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

Over the years that I have been blogging, I have written about or posted articles about the happenings in several African countries: Congo, Sudan, Chad, Libya, Egypt, etc. When we think of these countries we don’t have to think too hard about the goings on, as they are still important topics in the news. But recently I read about a country bordering the southwest side of Chad – Cameroon.

“Just noticing…”

…China just can’t leave the wildlife alone. Their recent demand for ivory ornaments is devastating the Elephant population in Cameroon.

Elephants Being Massacred in Cameroon

Invading Sudanese horsemen have slaughtered half of the elephants in one of Cameroon’s reserves.

More than 200 elephants have been slaughtered by poachers in three months. Troops arrived too late to stop the massacre, and one soldier has been killed. In the last week, twenty more elephants were killed.

In the 1980s, there were an estimated 3,000 elephants in the Bouba N’Djida park. Now there are less than 400 remaining alive. 150 soldiers have confiscated 49 tusks, representing 25 dead elephants.

“The forces arrived too late to save most of the park’s elephants, and were too few to deter the poachers,” Natasha Kofoworola Quist, director of the World Wildlife Fund’s Central Africa program told AP.

In neighboring Chad in the 1970s, there were more than 400,000 elephants and now there are less than 8,000. The elephant population in the Central African Republic has been decimated. Even Kenya has seen an 80% decline in its elephant population over the last four decades.

The geopolitical problems in the Sudan and Chad makes it easy for the insurgents to cross into Cameroon and poach wildlife to finance their battles.

Wildlife activists blame China’s growing footprint in Africa for an unprecedented surge in poaching elephants for their tusks. Most are believed to be smuggled to China and Thailand to make ivory ornaments.

Growing demand for ivory in China is “the leading driver behind the illegal trade in ivory today,” said Tom Milliken, an elephant and rhino expert for the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC. China has a legal ivory market that is supposed to be highly controlled but tons and tons of illegal ivory has made its way there in recent years, said the Zimbabwe-based Milliken, who spoke in a conference call with several World Wildlife Fund officers.

The rains begin next month and hopefully that should at least slow down this systematic slaughter.

*******

Readers: Obviously the legal ivory market in China is not highly controlled or their wouldn’t be this issue of contraband ivory. My feeling is this: If you’re going to allow legal ivory to be sold knowing that you can make a good profit, as the ivory is in high demand, are you going to be that concerned when illegal ivory is also being sold, when you can make even more of a profit? Evidently not.

Quite frankly, I don’t care if there are some parts of this world where killing an elephant for its tusks is legal. I think it should be illegal everywhere. Killing an elephant for its ivory tusks and endangering this beautiful mammal is just not right. 

What is it with the Chinese and their greedy need of adding another ivory trinket to their collection, at the expense of beautiful harmless mammals? It appears that when the Chinese reach a certain level of wealth, they, like many wealthy people in many other countries, want to be able to buy things that others can’t afford.

Almost a year ago Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki set fire to more than five tons of elephant ivory to bring attention to the problem of poaching.

About 335 ivory tusks and 41,000 trinkets worth about $16,290,000 ( £10 million) were burned. It had been confiscated by officials in Singapore in 2002 and found to be from Zambia and Malawai, says the Guardian.

Africa had about 1.3 million elephants in the 1970s but now has only about 500,000. Kenya currently has about 37,000, “up from the 16,000 it had at the height of the crisis in 1989 but far below the country’s peak.”

In 1989, Kenyan officials first set fire to huge store of ivory, as a wake-up call about the crisis of the declining elephant population. Elephants numbers have increased, but activists fear another crisis as the middle class in China grows and “seeks to satisfy its appetite for ivory,” just as the growing Chinese middle class’s taste for shark’s fin soup has led to rising demand for sharks, an endangered species. A global ban on ivory was implemented in 1989 and temporarily halted the elephants’ decline, but its numbers are again in danger due to the “booming demand” for ivory in Asia and more conflicts between humans and elephants as the former encroach on the animals’ land.

It seems the greed of the middle class Chinese doesn’t stop there. Coveting the precious ivory is only one destructive pleasure – Chinese can’t seem to get enough of shark fin soup either. What other harmless species will be the next victim of such greedy appetites?

*S*A*V*E*T*H*E*E*L*E*P*H*A*N*T*S*

Janaki: You don’t have time to read them all. Now you know how I feel everyday. :)

K: All good questions, and we al know the answers.

JB: Evidently not. You saw what happened in the 2010 elections. Let’s HOPE people remember that lazy day in November when the democrats decided to stay home, and the republicans took their place.

DC: I don’t know where you got your stats, because I have read several articles that don’t concur with your claim. Here’s one:

Deaths Nearly Triple Since “Stand Your Ground” Enacted 

MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – As some state lawmakers are calling for a re-thinking of Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, which allows people to defend themselves from danger without the need to first try to get away, an analysis of state data shows deaths due to self defense are up over 200 percent since the law took effect.

The shooting death of Trayvon Martin by an armed, self-appointed Central Florida crime watch volunteer who claimed he shot in self defense has sparked a national debate about Florida’s law, technically known as the Castle doctrine.

Until 2005, it was generally considered self defense if someone tried to get into your home or invade your property, so long as you could show deadly force was the last resort. In 2005, the “Stand your Ground” law removed the need to retreat before using force, even in public.

That’s the justification George Zimmerman used when he shot and killed Miami Gardens teen Treyvon Martin, who was returning to his father’s fiance’s house from a convenience store visit when Zimmerman spotted him and deemed him suspicious. Before the police he called arrived, he claims Martin attacked him and he shot in fear for his life.

Police accepted his story, and let him go, sparking national outrage. Zimmerman remains free.

That kind of thing is happening a lot, according to FDLE statistics obtained by CBS4′s David Sutta.

According to state crime stats, Florida averaged 12 “justifiable homicide” deaths a year from 2000-2004. After “Stand your Ground” was passed in 2005, the number of “justifiable” deaths has almost tripled to an average of 35 a year, an increase of 283% from 2005-2010.

“The Legislature needs to take a look at Stand Your Ground,” Florida Sen. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens told CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald, “This is a perfect case of where it goes awry. This could only be the beginning of more problems down the road. It has unintended consequences.”

“When the Legislature passed this in 2005, I don’t think they planned for people who would go out and become vigilantes or be like some weird Batman who would go out and kill little kids like Trayvon.”

Gov. Rick Scott, speaking with reporters following a Cabinet meeting, agreed, though without committing to supporting any particular legislation. “When you see any violence it’s always positive to … go back and look at existing law and see the impact and the consequences of it,” Scott said.

“If there’s something that we need to adjust I’m hopeful that the Legislature would be interested in taking that up.”

*********

TG: You and me both. This recent passage of the Paul Ryan Budget in the House is not good and not something I want. The House voted 228-191 to pass the bill with 10 Republicans opposing it. Democrats unanimously opposed the measure.

I will quote Nancy Pelosi and urge my readers to follow suit with her wishes:

“For the sake of our seniors, for our families, for our children, for our workers—I urge my colleagues to vote ‘no’ on the Republican plan,” Pelosi said. House Democrats proposed their own budget, which the House shot down.

Ana: Thank you for the complimentary kind words.

Peace & Love, everyone. 

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

I liked this write.  I HOPE You do too.

Nigeria: Significance of Women’s History Month

BY TERENCE P. MCCULLEY, 26 MARCH 2012

Peace & Love…

Blog me.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

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Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2012

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"