Rantings of an Untamed Itch

Sooo . . . Whatchya Packin'?

2011-09-26T05:08:00.000-07:00

This blog post is directed at those decent people who know about something that is wrong, but who aren’t speaking up out of fear. You know who you are . . . Now I have a question for you: What are you packin’ down there between your legs – metaphorically speaking, of course, as some of you are women. Are you going to allow your inaction to come to the aid of the bad guys (and yeah, there is such a thing as bad guys – it ain’t all shades of gray) or are you going to come forward and add your voice and your information to the choir of “Aw HELL NO!” and sing along? Just askin’ . . . Just wonderin’ if, when you reach down between your legs, those two round things right there are gonna be used or just left hangin’ . . .

A Goodbye to a Great Lady

2011-09-04T12:36:00.000-07:00

Courage does not always enter with a great rush and flurry of giant wings dramatically coming to the rescue. Sometimes it tiptoes into the room and goes about its work quietly and efficiently – soothing the hurt and cleaning up the carnage that the more vocal and visible of us leave behind. My dad used to say that those were the true heroes, the ones who thanklessly did the ordinary things that need doing to make life livable; as usual, he was right.

We lost one of those heroes today. Mrs James Tinch, “Jimmie,” of Cartersville, GA, one of the greatest, most courageous women I have ever had the good fortune to meet in my life; a woman who even I, a hard-headed Yankee who bows to no man, would gladly address as “Maam” with the full respect that that title carries. My heart goes out to her family. She will be missed.

Jimmie has passed on, but her influence does and will continue. I was not able to be there with her in her final years, or with her daughter, my much loved friend, who has tended to the necessary tasks as dementia cruelly stole her mother’s independence, some of her mind, but never her dignity. It was my intention to spend more time in Georgia to help my friend care for her mother, but that was not possible. I was instead called to the front lines of the civil and human rights battle that is currently claiming an untold number of immigrant victims. Jimmie would understand. Jimmie knew what too many today have forgotten – that civil rights are bought and paid for with constant diligence and more than a little discomfort and sacrifice.

Jimmie Tinch set that example not with a lot of speeches or marching, but through simple daily action. She and her husband stood up for what they believed in by living their life with dignity and honor. After the Civil Rights Act was passed the South did not immediately turn into a warm and happily diverse community living in peace and harmony. Many whites resisted change, some still do to this day. In the 60s, black people who exercised their rights placed themselves in extreme danger and “race mixing” was not only frowned on, it could get you killed.

It was during those times that the Tinch family welcomed me into their home to live with them through part of the holidays. Their daughter attended school in New Hampshire on a scholarship, one of only three black students in the whole school, just enough for the school to be considered “integrated.” She and I had become good friends. I knew very little about bigotry and hatred, but like many whites at that time I thought I knew a great deal, prided myself on having a progressive and open attitude. It is easy to know much when one has experienced very little and, of course, I was a teenager and teenagers know everything.

I had no idea the danger I was walking into when I went to stay with that family. I don’t think that any of the Tinch children fully understood either, but I know Jimmie and James did. They knew having a teenage white girl in their house, especially with young, teenage black males around, was a bold and dangerous move, but they also knew real change was going to take many such moves done by many such families until the extraordinary became ordinary. Jimmie and James welcomed me, accepted me, put up with me and taught me. I would not be where I am today without their influence and I will be forever grateful to them, but there is a special place in my heart for Jimmie. She was amazing.

I stayed with the Tinchs as though it were the most natural thing in the world. Then it wasn’t, but today it is, not just because the Civil Rights Act was passed, not just because people marched and gave speeches and wrote and sang, but because quiet, brave people like Jimmie Tinch refused to submit to the ugliness that is hate. Jimmie treated me like one of her own, she was warm and understanding, she was an amazing cook and a gracious hostess. She did not have much, but she gave what she had with such generosity she made many a wealthy man seem destitute by comparison.

Jimmie took care of people as automatically and naturally as she breathed; she didn’t even think about it, she just did it. Everyone who knew Jimmie knew that about her, but not everyone knew all that Jimmie had done in her life; not everyone knew that that quiet, calm woman had courage equal to the fiercest warrior, that she was one of the many who steadily soldiered on through the height of the civil rights era doing the hard, unsung work that creates real change. They should know that. They should know a giant passed away today.

Maam, my hat is off to you. Rest in peace and thank you . . .

FYI

2011-08-15T07:58:00.000-07:00

Did ya know that skunks give warnings before they spray if they possibly can? My dad worked with wild animals for a time and part of his job involved dealing with skunks. He taught me their habits, showed me how they would stamp their feet in warning, sometimes multiple times, before they would spray.

Skunks are actually very placid creatures. They just want to be left in peace and they have no wish to cause upset or injury to anyone. If they are able to give warning they will. They will give many warnings if necessary, will stamp their feet furiously in a dance-like manner trying to get what is causing them worry to cease doing what it is doing; their spray is a last resort. One can hardly blame the skunk for spraying after multiple warnings have gone unheeded by the one who is creating the threat – and yet we do so often blame the skunk.

There are people like that too, ya know. They don’t want to hurt anyone. They just want to go about their business and be left alone. They will put up with a great deal and give multiple warnings before doing anything harsh to anyone, even when others are causing them pain or doing them an injustice. But eventually they will stop giving warnings and just do what they have to do to handle the threat. Just sayin’ . . .

On another topic: As of this weekend I officially hit the 62 year mark. My youngest son will be 18 in a week and has grown to be a capable, independent and responsible young man. It has been my job for the last 42 years to raise my children and to see to it that they not only grew into competent adults who are an asset to their community, but also into adults who can stand on their own. I have done that. My children no longer need or even desire mothering. They take care of themselves and take responsibility for their actions and the results of those actions. They do not look to me for anything beyond advice from time to time and for friendship. That is how it should be.

I am hereby giving official notice that if my own grown children, the ones I gave birth to, can function without their mom still wiping their noses and fixing their booboos, then so can others. I have done my Mom job. There are only a few small details to tend to and those will be finished when my son graduates school and heads out on his own . . . Bottom line: If I didn’t give birth to you, I am not your mother. My own grown children don’t expect me to make things work for them now, so don’t you expect it when you are doing something you know damn well you shouldn’t be doing. You made your bed, now lie in it. Yes, I know that sounds very mom-like. Forty two years of raising kids will do that to a person, but don’t mistake sounding like somebody’s mom for willingness to be your mom.

As I remove my “Mom hat” for longer periods of time I have found myself wearing the hat of a human rights activist and a writer more often and I like wearing that hat. It fits well and it suits me. I’ve decided to keep it. It’s not as up-close-and-personal as “Mom” – it’s not “making a better world one growing child at a time.” But it has the same ups and downs, the same “making a better world” part and the same wonderful rewards when done successfully, so that’s me now. Just sayin’ . . .

The Personal Side of All This

2011-07-23T15:06:00.000-07:00

I am currently in my third year of trying to free Audrius Kazenas from immigration detention; to keep him here where his two little girls for whom he was the primary caretaker for over eight years live and prevent him from being deported to a country where he has been brutally tortured before and where it appears he could be tortured, even killed, if he were to return. He has a great deal of support in our community and is greatly missed by many. His continued detention has created havoc in my and my family’s life in ways I could never have imagined. Injustice has consequences.

Through it all I have come to learn that the fact that those of us who want Audrius to stay are all citizens, most of us tracing back to the early days of the founding of this country, means nothing. I’ve also learned that documents mean nothing, honesty means nothing and laws mean nothing. I’ve learned that when law enforcement in this country has to make a choice between enforcing the law or protecting one of their own, too many of them say to hell with the law as well as the people they are charged to protect and look out for other law enforcement officers instead. I’ve learned that a criminal who knows how to play the system and who works within law enforcement carries far more weight that a victim or witness who trusts the system and who is not a member of law enforcement.

I have learned many things that I did not want to know and that should not be. I was raised being taught that if you know of a crime or injustice and you stay silent, then further crimes or injustices committed by the same person or group are partially on you - if you do not speak up, whether through fear or just a sense that it is not your problem, then you have chosen a future for yourself, your family and for us all that is less safe and less just. I was raised to believe that I am my brother’s keeper.

And so I have stayed in this fight and I will continue to stay in this fight. Those who I oppose have publicly suggested that I should be handled by being shot. Well yes, that is what it will take to remove me from this and those people might want to seriously make plans to do that because I have “hit the wall” on my tolerance. Today I finally broke - I can take no more.

This morning I took my 15 year old scruffy alley cat, Joey, into the vet and had him put down. It’s the fifth animal I’ve lost this year. I’ve done animal rescue off and on for over 40 years, so putting an animal down is not new to me, I’ve had to do it many times and though it makes me sad, I manage okay. But animals do not tend to die in my house, they frequently live long past a normal lifespan so that I have wound up with a large number of geriatric animals. My cats that died this year were all very old - most were over 20 - one died in my lap. We lost our English Setter, Simi, too, a sweet dog who was left with his dead owner for days before someone discovered what had happened. He was only ten when he died, but he had developed a twisted stomach and with the costs of having someone in detention mounting, I could not afford the money for surgery - he had to be put down.

The vet said that my old alley cat probably had diabetes, that we could do something, but it would be costly, would mean many trips to the vet’s and Joey was 15 so there was that to consider. Joey was still full of life, but he’d stopped eating and without treatment he could not survive. Again I had to make the choice as, with Audrius still in detention, I neither had the money or the time to indulge my wish to save our beloved Joey. My son and I held him and pet him as he took his last breaths, and then I broke, the tears would not stop, I couldn’t stand straight, I felt that I just couldn’t go on anymore, that I just couldn’t take another hit - not a single hit more. I mentally quit, for a few hours I was not on the job - then I hired myself back.

Our vet and his assistant know what we have been going through these last few years, they have been following Audrius’ story closely. They have known me for a long time, we’ve worked on the same animal rescue cases before. They assured me that sometimes things happen this way - you go years without a death and all of a sudden you loose one after the other, but their assurances didn’t help. Our beloved Joey Kitters was dead and he could have had more time, maybe a year or two to take up two spaces on the couch, to follow me down the road as I walked the dogs loudly proclaiming that I should wait up for him and that he was a dog too. He didn’t have that chance because my finances and time have been stretched beyond the limits of both. He should have at least had a chance, but injustice has consequences - and most of those happen behind the scenes, a dead kitty or dog, a ruined Christmas, a child performing poorly, a young person knocked off onto the wrong path . . . life is made a little less every time that injustice prevails.

Simi Sim would have had a chance, would have had the surgery he needed to save his life if Audrius were not still sitting in detention. Joey Kitters would have had a chance too. They might not have made it anyway, but I could have afforded them a chance. This is wrong and I am tired beyond belief; tired of being patient and understanding and reasonable about all of what the powers-that-be feel I should be while they slowly twist and mangle what is left of our lives.

What does that mean? It means I am done making nice-nice with people who have done nothing but pervert our system of justice. It means the NH state correctional officer who publicly, in writing, suggested that I be handled with “justice at 1,000 yards” better get his ass in gear and do it - I’m giving him fair warning that that is what he will need to get the job done because he does not have the ability to handle me face-to-face without a gun. It means I quit being pushed around by supposed “law enforcement” who think their freakin‘ position gives them the right to roll right over the rest of us. Yup, I quit - which is another way of sayin‘ . . . I’m not gonna stop working to expose what has been done here as long as there is breath left in this body. Just sayin’ . . .

Starving for Justice, First Fast, July 19, 2011

2011-07-19T09:22:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of fasting. This first fast for “Starving for Justice” will be for just one day. As I begin the day I am made aware of how much a meal provides a short respite from the hell my life has become. Today there will be no brief escape afforded by the consumption of food. Before our friend, Audrius Kazenas, was taken by ICE on November 26, 2008 and placed in detention where he sits to this day, I would frequently get so busy fixing a fence or clearing a space for a garden that I would not think to eat, but now I am looking forward to a day of no food and I am feeling the loss. My stomach is already protesting its lack of breakfast. It may be a very long day.

My focus this morning is on law enforcement. Audrius Kazenas was, for many years, part of law enforcement in his own country. In the years after the Soviets were thrown out of Eastern Europe he chose a career in military intelligence, working undercover to expose the connections in his country’s new government to gun runners and drug smugglers with allegiances to what had been the Soviet Union. He paid a heavy price for that choice when a man he was investigating attacked him and in the resulting struggle, died. Audrius landed in prison, was stripped naked, taped to a chair and shocked with live electrical wires while his breathing was cut off by a gas mask placed over his head. He was then thrown into the general population who were informed of who he was.

Audrius survived – that time – and when he was released he returned to his position as an officer in the military. Now, because he compromised his allegiance to the law believing that it was the right thing to do, thinking that he had to in order to protect his family, he himself has been compromised. The same siren’s call that enticed him to bend the law just a little to handle what he thought was an emergency; that convinced him that this one time bending the law was the right thing to do, has brought him to where he sits now. Meanwhile, the one who enticed him continues to entice others in law enforcement to do the same for the same reason, to bend the law just a little, because this time it is an emergency. The result to the rest of us for all this “law bending” has been a break down of Justice for when those charged with maintaining a system of Justice instead decide to twist it to suit them, that system is lost. Such actions are warranted only when the whole system is unjust.

Audrius has infinite faith in law enforcement and the importance of a clean system of Justice and he has maintained that faith even while uncovering instances of corruption within the system, even while being tortured and abandoned to survive or die. He still has faith in the system despite the fact that it has failed him yet again, but his faith, so far has not come to his rescue this time. His faith could well bring him right back to the circumstances he endured once before and this time he might not escape with his life intact. In post-Soviet Eastern Europe it is understandable that they would struggle with corruption within their law enforcement community. But Audrius is not sitting in an Eastern European prison; he sits in an American prison now, and has done so for nearly three years. His faith is undeterred. He still maintains a belief in a system of just laws. I, however, am charged with the task of working within that system to try to free him. My sole connection with law enforcement has been through friends and organizing a neighborhood watch so my faith in our Justice system is less subjective. With what I have experienced trying to rescue Audrius, my faith in our system has been shaken almost beyond the point of repair.

Just as law enforcement, after dealing with criminal mentalities day-in and day-out, develop a tendency to automatically suspect everyone until they have proven that they are not criminals; struggling to keep standing under this load day-in and day-out has taken its toll on me. Knowing that the loss of the last two-plus years of my life was mostly caused by a few members of law enforcement who have used their position to give them an advantage has caused me to develop a tendency to automatically suspect law enforcement officers until they have proven that they are not seeking to use and abuse their position for their or their family and friend’s gain. In the end the larger loss is to law enforcement officers as they can not do their job as effectively if they are not trusted. But trust, once betrayed, is very hard to restore.

A law enforcement system that has lost the trust of the people can not function in a civilized society. Our symbol of Justice is blind for good reason. A system of Justice that can look to see who is before it can tip the scales in favor of those who are part of the system, thus creating a them-against-us mentality where law enforcement officers take care of their own first and the law second. From the public’s point of view they then are no longer representing the law and the public will no longer inform them what is going on around their area. They then become the blind ones as the people they are supposed to serve will no longer trust them to handle the needs of society.

The results of this are seldom huge, but they can end in massive destruction made possible through cumulative small losses of public trust and cooperation. An example of this would be our “War on Terror.” Before Audrius was taken I would not have placed those words in quotes, but by now I have lost a lot of faith. How does one measure what the results of lost faith are? There is no way to judge where one citizen’s altered trust will result in a loss of data that could lead to tragic results. A year or so ago, when some jewelers I know asked me to sit in on a meeting with a horsewoman who was making them a proposition, I said nothing to DHS about the very suspicious activity that was revealed in that meeting by that woman. This woman made claims that only a person with knowledge of certain Arab Horse bloodlines and the practices of Arab Horse breeders would spot as suspect. I used to breed horses from those exact lines, a fact that, when she discovered it, made her exceedingly nervous to where she exited the meeting prematurely and a deal was never struck. At best, the people who had asked me to sit in avoided being taken in by a likely scam; at worst, a woman funneling funds to Saudi Arabia for less than honorable purposes escaped detection.

Before my recent experience trying to help prevent my friend, Audrius Kazenas,’ deportation to a country where he has been tortured already I would have called DHS and reported what I had learned in that meeting, but I did not. I feel that this agency has betrayed me unjustly, that they are not interested in protecting common citizens such as myself and that they have chosen instead to support the criminal element in our society that preys upon us. I did not come to this conclusion without evidence. I have in my possession a paper filed with a court of law where an agent of DHS states that known terrorists with links to Al Qaeda are simply fighting for freedom from Russia and are of no concern. Other statements on that same paper lead me to believe that DHS agent is assisting at least one person engaged in unlawful activity to escape detection. These statements were filed with the court to pursue the deportation of Audrius despite his twice being granted relief from deportation under the Convention Against Torture by an Immigration Judge, so how can I think anything other than “This agent is dirty?” How can I trust an agency that apparently considers some terrorists to be freedom fighters and feels that laws are fair game for manipulation to benefit family and friends? I can’t! And so DHS never got a report from me on suspicious activity that only a person who has bred one select line of Arabian Horses would have ever spotted. That activity was probably nothing, perhaps just a petty con artist plying her trade. I certainly hope that is the case, but lost faith in law enforcement, multiplied, will eventually take its toll on the ability of law enforcement to do their job. That, right there, is why it is absolutely mandatory that the people who enforce our system of justice must be held to a higher standard of conduct from the rest of us, not to a lower standard as some that I am encountering are now being held. Justice itself depends upon it and when it is not done, Justice is lost. In Audrius’ case, to date, Justice has been abandoned, and so today I choose to fast as an overt expression of what it is to be starving for Justice.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND US

2011-07-05T08:45:00.000-07:00

“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it” . . . Thomas Paine

“What so many human beings in the modern world have failed to understand is that freedom is the greatest of all trusts” . . . Ashley Montagu

This Fourth of July weekend I had a number of experiences, one after another, the majority of which consisted of people talking about how bad the government and government agents are. I’ve been known to voice a similar complaint; with what I’m up against these days, I’ll admit – it gets discouraging, but what I’ve been running into goes over and above the normal grousing. A lot of citizens these days firmly believe that every level of our government is corrupt right down to the last man. I’ll grant that it sometimes seems that way, but only when you squint. Look again with open eyes and you will know that total corruption is not possible. The idea of it is a great excuse to sit back and do nothing; it absolves one of taking responsibility and stepping up to the plate, but like any excuse, it’s lazy, fuzzy thinking that can only do harm to our men of goodwill who are thereby rendered invisible.

Complete corruption is not possible as something that is rotten to the core can not stand. Fantasy stories create monsters with incredible powers that are nearly impossible to defeat, but there is a reason we call those stories fantasy. The truth is that people who live on corruption, lies and deceit have to surround themselves with others who are of the same mind and that leaves them with allies that cannot be trusted, hardly a formula for success. Any man of goodwill who is tricked into aligning him/herself with such people will quickly be weakened and rendered ineffective. These people are building on a compromised foundation with flawed material and in the end their products will come crashing down around them. Even if you left them entirely alone they would self-destruct due to the nature of what they have placed their faith in and who they have surrounded themselves with. The only reason to bother ourselves with such people is for the sake of protecting others who will be caught in the vortex of that downward spiral if it is left to run its course.

Even when all appears totally dark - a crusading politician of the people turns out to be a double-dealing scoundrel or a whole division of a police department is busted for committing terrible deeds - that is not a sign that all politicians and all police are corrupt. If these people have been caught, then someone did something to catch them and so someone is not corrupt. The time to worry is not when the papers are filled with stories of officials caught red-handed. The time to worry is when there are none. On that note alone, looking at the news lately, we are in pretty good shape.

So you can take that excuse for inaction and trash it! If you have an issue with the government, if you feel it is flawed then get your rear up out of that chair and do something about it – and “doing something” does not mean cussing out your politicians on general principle. Point out what is wrong, by all means; you know I do on a regular basis, but do not neglect to support men of goodwill who are fighting the good fight. They are flawed, yes . . . News flash: so are we all. But you are the foundation upon which this country is built and maintained. All these people who have stepped up to the plate in a very real way - whether it be through politics, law enforcement or the military - depend on our support and assistance. To sit back and declare that they are all corrupt, that the whole system is impossible to salvage does these people who are working hard to do the right thing an immense disservice. There are many values we have all been taught to live our lives by, but we need to add one to those: Do not harm a good man. We need every single one of them!

WHAT MOTIVATES ME

2011-06-26T14:23:00.000-07:00

A recent less-than-pleasant discussion with an ICE agent began with him questioning me as to what my motivation was – why had I stuck with this for over two years – why was I working so hard on it? Was Audrius my lover? As soon as he said that last he’d lost me as that charge has come consistently from one person against any woman who has stepped up to help Audrius survive. From that point on that agent was suspect, but the question of motivation in general is actually one I hadn’t considered – and so that got me thinking – what does motivate me? Why on earth am I doing all this? I took a step back and looked and found three of my most major “buttons” had been pushed – actually smashed down hard – through Audrius’ plight and the immigration issue in general. Those are: race and class privilege, betrayal after trust, and bullies.

I was born and raised in a Boston blue blood family with the “wrong” last name due to my father’s father being Portuguese (Oh, the horror!). Every attempt was made to train the “heathen” out of me by my grandmother, Dr Margaret Matheson Poole, but it was hopeless – I respected the woman and the family – they have accomplished great things through the centuries in New England, but their insistence on the importance of “breeding” disgusted me. It is never wise to allow a member of any group you would oppress to know you closely. I grew up with these people. I know them far too well. I know them well enough to know how completely they lie when they encourage racial divisions between blue collar whites and ethnic groups. It is meant to distract, to keep the oppressed classes fighting amongst themselves while the privileged continue to look down on the whole lot. Many profess a most liberal and caring attitude toward those “less fortunate” than themselves, but trust me, they won’t let those same people marry into the family. So there is that.

Bullies, well . . . My mom was a brilliant woman, but a very unhappy one. She never could tell the difference between me and a punching bag, a fact that has resulted in two surgeries these last few years to repair damage to my eye from her fist when I was a teenager. The result has been that I learned not to fear pain – there’s not much anyone can do to me that my mom didn’t already do. No one’s killed me yet, that would be new, but then I wouldn’t exactly be suffering anymore, so that doesn’t hold a lot of fear for me either. When I run into a situation where people are getting run over by bullying thugs I tend to take it personally and step in – why should there be more people created who are like me, who have been hit so hard so many times, either mentally or physically, that they no longer fear pain? It’s a strong state of being, but it’s also a damaged one. I’ve been inclined to put myself between bullies, thugs and their targets since I was very young for that reason.

I’ve saved my biggest “button” for last: BETRAYAL AFTER TRUST. We’ve all seen a good person brought down by the one they trusted and it’s tragic in every case. Audrius is living that now, after all the years of war he’s being taken down not by a bullet, but by his heart, by his love and his trust. But Audrius is one person – and his story is a classic one. A far greater and more dangerous betrayal, to my mind, is when someone betrays the safety and security of our whole society. We elect politicians to represent us. When they then take that power that we gave them and use it to build even more power upon our broken trust they have betrayed us in the worst possible way. We give badges to law enforcement officials to protect us from those who would do us harm. When someone in law enforcement then abuses the power we gave him or her and instead of protecting us, attacks us and throws in with criminals, that is an inexcusable betrayal. That tears at the agreements that are vital to a society built on “liberty and justice for all;” the very foundation of what this country was built on - what we have all in the United States of America pledged allegiance to our whole lives.

I had a particularly ugly experience with this a few decades back when I lived near Los Angeles. A close friend had become addicted to a nasty drug. I knew nothing about addiction and so for a good long time I thought I could save this person through sheer force of will (couldn’t – doesn’t work). During that time I was yanking that friend out of drug houses, even went so far as to physically go after one drug dealer when he tried to intervene. While doing that I was managing to gather a lot of evidence as to who was doing what on that street. Another good friend, a cop, went with me a couple of times, just to try to protect me, but I stopped bringing him because I couldn’t get anyone to talk to me with him in the car – it’s like they could smell him and just knew he was a cop. I was a heavy-duty bodybuilder in those days and a number of local narcotics cops worked out alongside me at the gym I most often frequented. I kept after them to bust this one dealer that I really wanted to see taken down. Finally one day when I was getting extra insistent one of them said none of them wanted to bust the guy because they felt sorry for him; he used to be head of narcotics and had been caught stealing drugs from busts and selling them. I told that young officer that I didn’t see that as a reason to feel sorry for the man – he’d betrayed his position as well as them and all of us. Those guys didn’t see it, but they did manage to back me off by helping me out a little – they would pick up my friend whenever they caught him down around that area and deliver him to me, and so I made a very dishonorable devil’s bargain – I backed off of a very large problem that needed to be addressed as a “thank you” to those officers who were helping me at least save my friend.

My father died soon after that and I moved back to New Hampshire, to the family homestead. A few months later I got a call from one of my old neighbors wanting to know if I’d heard the news. I hadn’t so he told me there had been a huge bust – of officers from the narcotics division. Now you can probably guess who those officers were – yup, the guys who were helping me, the guys I’d been friendly with, the guys who got me to back off of that one drug dealer in exchange for their help on my personal problem.

There was no way to deny what that meant. I had betrayed my own values, I’d danced with the devil to save one friend who was bound and determined to self destruct. It is a point of shame for me to this day as I believe that drug dealers are worse than murderers. I’m not talking about the kind that is addicted and deal to maintain their addictions – I’m talking about the ones who would never touch those drugs – who know how damaging their wares are and yet sell them anyway. A murderer rips apart one family. A serial killer rips apart a number of families, but a drug dealer . . . there is no way to measure the number of lives and families destroyed by that – no possible way – and I’d actually given ground and let that very activity continue for selfish reasons. I had failed myself and I’d failed everyone and everything that really matters to me – and worse, it didn’t help my friend.

There is no telling what might have happened, who might have been spared a great deal of grief if I’d stuck to my principles and continued after that one dealer – he was running a very active business on that street, hooking new customers on a regular basis. I didn’t know those cops were dirty, but I should have seen something was wrong. They didn’t want to enforce the law – that was a huge red flag! I had very deliberately looked the other way and wound up aiding the worst kind of criminal. Those failings that we have in ourselves are the hardest to deal with. I lost some trust in myself when I learned that those officers were dealing drugs. I can be a real pain-in-the-ass when I go after something and if I’d kept going after that dealer a lot might have been exposed earlier, lives might have been saved. I had been complicit in those officers going undetected; what’s worse, I actually liked the guys. They betrayed the trust we had placed in them and I had helped them by being reasonable, by making nice-nice to accomplish what turned out to be a useless goal. I vowed to make up for the damage I’d done and promised myself not to ever do that again. That, right there, is one huge motivator!

For REAL Law Enforcement Only! Imposters . . . Go Wimp Out Elsewhere!

2011-05-25T10:20:00.000-07:00

This is for those people in law enforcement who haven’t given up and given in yet – you know who you are. You had a dream when you took your job. You were going to be one of the good guys and you are still doing your damnedest to be one of the good guys. I know you exist – I’ve dated some guys like you, given riding lessons to guys like you, and stood up for guys like you. You stand up for people in need, it’s the least any of us can do in return – is to stand up for you. That’s what I’m doing now and that is why I’m dealing with the mess that I have on my hands now – because I’m standing up for one of the good guys and ya know what I’ve found out? The good guys are catchin’ it on the chin one whole hell-of-a-lot these days. This isn’t how it was supposed to be – this isn’t what you signed on for; it’s not the dream you had when you entered law enforcement; I know damned well it isn’t (You guys who started wearing a badge for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the power you think it gives you can go piss off – that badge doesn’t give you power, your actions create or weaken the power behind that badge and if you are weakening it this message isn’t for you).

I have been on a serious search lately for the kind of law enforcement that I know – I absolutely know – is out there. We have some of them right here in our town, I don’t have to go far to find a good cop – I watched our guys arrest my buddy Audrius and turn him in to immigration and I know how much they didn’t want to do that. They know Audrius, they know the kind of man he is, but their primary allegiance is to the law and the people who entrusted them to enforce that law and they weren’t about to betray either. That is what the good guys do. Real law enforcement, the one’s that still have some balls – they do shit like that without excuses and I know just where to find that kind, but I need federal law enforcement this time, not local. If you are one of the good guys and you are federal this is meant for you. If you are reading this you have probably been contacted by me and you’re checking me out. Well honey, if you don’t have any balls left, don’t bother to get back to me. If you can’t even defend your own integrity, how the hell can you defend me or the law? If what I just said doesn’t have you getting all defensive and running for the “excuse bucket” then please read on; you are who I’m talking to here.

I’m warning you right off: this message you are reading now is subversive as hell. I’ve wasted too damned much time on domesticated “yes men;” don’t have the patience to deal with such sorry-assed imitations any more and I’m looking for a strong, difficult and determined agent of the law. I need someone with the balls and the heart to stand up and do the right thing, but beyond that; I’m out to convince you that you don’t have to let the damned system destroy your dream of who and what you can be. I’m here to tell you that you have a right to be one of the good guys and to be respected for that, but to be that, well . . . It’s gonna take some serious balls these days. There are people out there working hard to turn our whole damned system into one where you gotta go along to get along. I don’t care if you are male of female, standing up for justice is not a task for the soft and malleable – not now – probably never was, but it seems like it’s worse lately, doesn’t it?

First off you’ve got a damned near impossible job these days because there are people around you, people on your own team, who do not have your back unless you dance to their tune and their tune is to pervert the system and bend it to their advantage. But when you took that badge, who did you give your allegiance to, the guy who won’t have your back unless you do as he says, or to the people of this country and the law? That guy who wants to turn our system into one where technicalities, connections and threats rule over solid evidence and provable facts; I’ve met that person – actually I’ve met a few too many persons dancing to that tune lately. That son-of-a-bitch has betrayed the trust of the people and he’s betraying you just as much as me – you aren’t just law enforcement, you know – you’re a citizen too and he’s expecting you to betray yourself right along with us.

Imagine what would happen if little shits like that were gone, if you and your job was respected again. It can happen, but it won’t if you don’t stand up for what you became a law enforcement officer to defend. You don’t have to watch your dreams die. You don’t have to sit and drink yourself stupid while talking about what you used to believe. You can kick back with a brew and your family or friends knowing that you are one of the ones who doesn’t just believe he or she can defend people, can save and protect people, you actually are that person. The system didn’t make you a puppet, you made the system work. I know you’re there. Do you still know you are?

Terrorists

2011-05-23T10:55:00.000-07:00

Getting into my car I heard, “Deborah, haven’t seen you in a while,” and turned to see an old schoolmate standing there. For a moment I thought to make a quick exit, this woman never escaped our common New England Puritan background and “unpleasant” would be a generous description of her nature. She is intelligent, proud and stern, with a smile that seldom graces her face and never finds her eyes; people of proper breeding and stature do not smile, dontchya know. Having been raised in a Boston Blue Blood family while sporting the wrong last name myself (a drop of heathen blood to tarnish the “superior” genes), I have made a point of smiling whenever possible – smooths the road for most and irritates the hell out of those who thinks “proper breeding” is something to be applied in the bedroom as well as the stable, and I do so enjoy irritating anyone with that outlook toward humanity. I know; I know . . . It’s wrong, but I have never smoked, seldom drink, don’t do drugs . . . A woman needs some kind of vice to entertain herself with; that is one of mine – irritating well bred people.

But this morning I was seeing an opportunity to do some research: Just what is it that those who have no sense of compassion, who take a rigid stand in favor of the most draconian and destructive of immigration enforcement methods tell themselves to justify their position? It’s baffled me; I can’t find any logic to such an approach and here was a woman I knew would see things in exactly that light, better yet, her husband is from Europe and as dour and hard as she is so what better way to pick up the international justification for a mentality that I find impossible to comprehend?

Instead of tossing her a polite greeting and fleeing the way I normally do, I leaned on my open car door and engaged her in conversation, starting with asking how she was doing selling her house and gently leading into what I really wanted to know. Once I got there I poked around her head a bit, popping the discussion from one continent to another, and found one word that, in her mind, justified anything that any government might do to oppress anyone, even its own citizens - and that word was “terrorists.” It was a bloody mantra for this woman; to her it explained any and all violations of human rights or individual liberty, though interestingly, when she said the word there was no hint of fear in her voice or demeanor. Instead everything about her froze – her rigid face becoming nearly mask-like in its loss of human expression, probably similar to the expressions that originally inspired the first creator of the zombie movie genre.

If I didn’t know the woman I might have been lured into believing that “terrorists” really were, in her mind, a valid reason for such an ungenerous attitude, but she has always been that way. Long before 9/11 my husband and I tried to visit with her and her husband and for the first time ever in our collective years of meeting and getting to know people we went away in complete agreement that we never wanted to repeat that experience; this couple turned negativity into an art form that they then molded and polished to a high sheen – 9/11 just gave them a hook to hang their hat on. But there it is . . . The word is “terrorist.” That’s the justification, that’s the excuse, and . . . Okay, knowing that is about as useful as a fried egg on a leaking radiator; this kind of person is not one whose mind will ever be changed. Really, does it matter what someone like that thinks as long as there are enough laws and adequate enforcement to make sure they can’t carry those thoughts out? Well yeah, I think it does – consider this: ‘People like that influence other people and those other people are the ones who are influencing politicians and you know – what these folks are saying in private is not necessarily what they are saying in public. So all that whackadoodle stuff you’ve heard muttered off in the bushes somewhere about “terrorist cells” just south of the border – all that stuff you’ve thought was too weird to even address . . . Ya might want to rethink that. There are people listening to that. They aren’t taking it out into the open much, but when you chat them up in private, it’s right up there at the top of the list of reasons to dig in their heels and get as low and mean as they think they can socially get away with.

I’m not saying there is no such thing as terrorists, but if we’re going to be dealing with such a word so liberally and it’s going to be used to mold our policies, it would be wise to know its history. There are news clips available from the beginning of WWII of Nazis on their push eastward where they are shown in Lithuania rounding up Jewish “terrorists” and marching them off to be shot at mass grave sites. That word has a long and sordid past. It is a legitimate word, terrorists do exist and they are a danger, but when “terrorists” become the reason for committing acts of terror it’s time to step back and take a hard look at what is really going on and that is beginning to happen in some of our government policies, both in international matters regarding regimes we do not like and in domestic affairs such as immigration enforcement.

You’ve all read my comments about my friend, Audrius Kazenas, now on his third year of immigration detention. Well he’s fought terrorists back in Eastern Europe. The end of the Cold War brought about a number of excuses for such activity. I like what Audrius wrote on the topic of terrorists. He said: “I have great respect for the job that DHS was created to do. I don’t think that there is justification for targeting unarmed civilians for whatever reason, people who do that are terrorists, regardless to their personal loss or suffering. And if you resort to terror in retaliation to terror, you are terrorist, just like the guy that you are trying to get. You are not “avenger” or “freedom fighter” just because other guy came up with this first.”

Those words are from a man who has dealt, face-to-face, with real terrorists in the past and who is personally familiar with some of the worst; too bad DHS does not have as much respect for the job they were created to do as Audrius does. If DHS did, then maybe we would see fit to properly handle all terrorists instead of killing some while financing and protecting others; maybe we could stop thinking that “terrorists” lurk behind every bush on the Mexican/American border; and maybe we would not have to use that word over and over again to justify continuing violations of our most precious rights. Or imagine this: Maybe then the words “with liberty and justice for all,” could return to meaning something. Just sayin’ . . .

The .38

2011-05-19T05:11:00.000-07:00

“Mom . . . please . . . “ my son says to me as I walk into the office. He’s 17, a young man now, strong, capable, a gentle soul with a passion for rock climbing and parkour. He’s supposed to be leaving for school, but instead he’s loading the gun I now keep by my desk instead. “Oh, I forgot to reload that. Sorry; I’ll do it now,” I say as I take it from him and begin sliding the bullets into their chamber. “Please, Mom,” he firmly admonishes as he grabs his backpack and heads out the door, worry in his voice.

How did it come to this? We live in the country on a back road, far from any neighbors so guns have always been a part of life here, but we had them mostly to dispatch a suffering animal quickly or to lob a shot over the head of a bear showing an inclination toward raiding beehives. It has always been a necessary tool, but seldom used and it would gather a considerable layer of dust between outings. My father, who bought this property in the early 60s and lived in this house till the day he died, did for a time keep this same gun in a holster attached under the seat of his chair. When he was in our local town government he had taken on some nasty characters at one point and they had become threatening. Father always said that when people start to threaten it’s because you’re getting close to something, so that is a good sign to do more of what you are doing. He armed himself and forged ahead.

Now it is my turn to arm myself and forge ahead, but how do things come to this? I resent the fact that what was a seldom needed tool that sat in the closet is now a constant companion. I resent that my son is as aware of security as he has become. We moved away from Los Angeles so that our children could grow up without such realities and until I had success in preventing our friend, Audrius Kazenas, from being quickly deported we never locked the door or drew the curtains - and the gun gathered dust. “Mom, please be careful,” my son says as he opens the front door to leave. I earnestly assure him I will, but I hear his key in the door, locking it behind him, not trusting me to lock it after him.

I moved here so that the threat of violence would not dictate our lives. But when federal law enforcement agencies are not responsive, when the law becomes a suggestion to be enforced preferentially; when protecting our citizens becomes a game to be played only if one happens to have the time and inclination to do so, well then . . . teenagers are left to do what those charged with that job can not be bothered to do. My son is protecting me, cares what happens to me. I am old enough to remember when the federal government would do that if a citizen was faced with the circumstances I'm dealing with now. Government was a lot smaller then. What happened?

Immigration Laws and Reform

2011-05-17T12:56:00.000-07:00

A neighbor driving by stopped to comment on how beautiful my forsythia had been this spring; it did give an amazing display, but I had nothing to do with it. My once colorful gardens have mostly fallen into disarray since my friend, Audrius Kazenas, was taken by ICE and I voiced my frustrations to her. She told me how her husband, a retired surgeon, had recently investigated some medicare fraud locally and had sent a letter to alert the authorities. He never heard back. She pointed out that the government doesn’t seem to be in the business of enforcing the law these days and if I expected to get them to I was wasting my time.

I’ve been trying to get them to do exactly that, if they did Audrius would be out now, but their only response has been to cover the tracks of the injustice that has been done to date and try even harder to get rid of Audrius as Audrius has turned into evidence - no evidence, no problem, right? And yet still I persist, only now more deliberately, now I keep records. Where before I sent out letters to one and sundry trusting that someone, somewhere would pick up on the information, look into it, and do the right thing, now I send letters by certified mail with a return receipt. I note the letter sent, date sent, to whom it was sent and the response or lack thereof so that there is a record of who is doing (or not doing) what. If I can not get justice, I can at least catalog the injustice and inaction for someone at a later date as I still firmly believe that at some point something will have to be done about the mess that is immigration enforcement today and when that does happen there will be an opportunity to hold those who abused their position of power accountable.

As my neighbor related her husband’s inability to find anyone interested in enforcing the law on medicare fraud I began to wonder: Is there some kind of law enforcement lottery that we don’t know about? I mean; if there’s something being done that is against the law - as in a felony, not just a civil code violation, is there some kind of lottery we are supposed to enter and if our number comes up we get some investigation, some justice; if it doesn’t, we’re left to fend for ourselves as best we can? Is that what our system of justice has turned into - you buy a number and hope it gets drawn?

But that can’t be - Audrius has just been caught in a broken system, everyone knows that, right? What we need is Comprehensive Immigration Reform, we need Congress to act - till then nothing can be done to fix this.

Are you sure? Have you looked at the law that is claimed to be broken, that the folks in D.C. claim is the cause of all of the horrors the immigrant community is living with now? Yeah, there are some quirks that could be smoothed out here and there, the law needs some tweaking, but the various solutions that have been proposed to fix what we have now looks to me like it is designed to take away even more of our rights and freedoms and the fixes seem to be mostly short-term - kinda takes us from the frying pan into the fire. And are the problems that so many of us are grappling with a problem of the law or of how that law is being enforced? - which is in many cases, illegally. How much of an improvement would there be if immigration enforcement were handled legally?

What would happen if people who have been here beyond 10 years who show that they are of good moral character were given an adjustment of status as allowed by the current law? That would cover a lot of Dreamers and they wouldn’t even have to face military service.

What would happen if family members were granted the hardship waivers (loosing a family member is most always a hardship) that are already allowable under the current law? There would be a lot fewer broken families crying themselves to sleep each night because one or more loved ones have been ripped away.

What would happen if ICE chose to accept the decisions of their own judges in matters of granting relief from deportation under the Convention Against Torture instead of continuing to relentlessly pursue the deportation of those people? There is nothing within the current law that mandates they prosecute torture cases to their last breath.

What would happen if we ran our detention units the way they are supposed to be run? By law, detention is not punishment and yet our detention units do not even come up to the legal standards for housing and caring for criminals who are most definitely being punished. What if detainees were dealt with in a way that really was not punishment, what if that law was actually followed?

Basically, what would happen if our government were to enforce the law without malice, if they were to follow the current law as it is written now? There is nothing in that current law that dictates this present draconian enforcement - nothing at all - so why is it being done? Are those who are claiming that nothing can be done to right these incredible civil and human rights injustices until Congress acts perhaps using CIR as a Trojan Horse to sneak in a few bits of liberty-crushing legislation that the American people would not accept otherwise? If not, why not just fix the part that is broken and start actually following the part that is not.

An end to the creative interpretations of immigration law on the part of DHS/ICE, an action that has created an ever increasing ability of the federal government to hound immigrants who have been living and working here for years while presenting no threat to this country, could go a long way to fixing this problem, and making a federal government agency obey and enforce the law without malicious intent is not the job of Congress. That lays squarely on the shoulders of whoever is sitting in the White House at the time. He claims he will not use his executive authority to ease the pain of the most innocent and vulnerable of victims of this system because “We are a nation of laws.” Maybe it is time to hold him and his administration to the letter of the law and demand that the law be obeyed by our own law enforcement agencies and upheld in good faith instead of causing as much pain and expense to the American people as possible relentlessly pursuing our least dangerous immigrants. If we can not get even that . . . Well, what sort of government is that?!

Catching Those Bees

2011-05-15T14:48:00.000-07:00

“A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still,” is how the old saying goes and like so many pithy old sayings it’s got more truth to it than we are comfortable with. We are prone to convincing people by dominating and defeating them instead of finding and sharing a common humanity and reality to build agreement on while celebrating the differences that absolutely must exist between people if we are to continue to evolve forward. After all, every bit of progress of mankind that was not accomplished by accident happened because someone disagreed with the accepted beliefs and acted on that disagreement. We’ve see a lot of change over the last couple of centuries on the material universe front but when it comes to relationships between individuals, groups or countries . . . Eh, we haven’t traveled all that far. We bash each other over the head with missiles now instead of clubs, but we still get to bashin’ pretty quickly and therein lies the problem. The people who would get along with their fellow man, tolerate and even celebrate differences, are not prevailing. That fact could destroy all life on this planet one day if it continues to rule our world.

Another old saying: “You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.” I heard that so many times as a child and, having a rather contrary nature, I used to delight in pointing out that you could catch even more with a rotting corpse and who the hell wants flies anyway? My daughter, who is very much like me, but with the rough and ragged edges all smoothed and polished, responded recently with the observation, “So Mom, change “flies” to “bees” and it works. Okay?” In the process of effectively checking the curmudgeon side of her mom at the very beginning of the conversation she highlighted the truth to the concept. Instead of getting an argument from me on a teensy, unimportant detail that would then sidetrack the more important issue we were discussing, she very smoothly and sweetly handled that and brought us both back on track. That is how it’s supposed to be done. I taught her well – sometimes I suspect partly by being an example of how not to do things.

So about immigration . . . You knew this was going to get back to that, didn’t you? Do you want to be right, or do you want to get something done? There are millions – literally millions of immigrants and Americans who are connected to those immigrants who are living a horror in this country that has no place in any human being’s life. The civil and human rights of millions trump party affiliations and individual preferences every time. Millions of people are more important than any of us as individuals and millions of people are praying that we can come together to solve this problem, to fix what has gone terribly wrong in this country and bring an end to the voracious deportation machine that is ripping the very fabric of family life in this country to shreds. This is so important that I, a miserable, difficult old Yankee, have managed to behave myself and make nice-nice for the purpose of getting this one issue handled. If I can do it, trust me, you can do it! Right now it is time to put down our swords and start finding ways we can get along to get this done (I have done this literally – the new helm I had made for my armor kit just before my friend, Audrius Kazenas, was taken by ICE sits shiny and undented on my desk – I have not indulged in a sword fight since that day). It’s bigger than us and unless we band together to be bigger than it, it will defeat us. Don’t listen to anyone who would throw this movement off track over party or personal issues. We seriously need to attract a few bees, to convince some people through understanding rather than force. Hey – we do this, maybe we can set an example of how people of diverse viewpoints can come together on other things. Ya want peace – this can be a step down the road that leads to it. It’s a start. Just sayin’ . . .

It's Not On Congress

2011-05-12T06:49:00.000-07:00

This post was going to be on another topic, but all this talk of "It's Congress' fault" regarding the human carnage that has become our immigration enforcement system has just driven me right-round-the-bend! I have been raising children for 42 years - too long to fall for the "When I do something right, that's me . . . When I do something wrong, that's someone else" routine. Congress is not responsible for all of the mess we are in now. Congress determines the laws. Congress does not determine how those laws are enforced. Congress did not mandate that they be enforced under this administration in such an extreme way. President Obama is now on track to pass Eisenhower and his "Operation Wetback" for the highest number of illegal immigrants ever deported by one president; he has already passed every other U.S. president in the history of our country in the number of innocent and non-dangerous immigrants deported.

The claim is that the majority of immigrants deported were criminals. Do you want to know what constitutes a criminal by this administration's standards? A mother of four who has lived and worked legally in this country for decades and has a DUI is a criminal worthy of deportation - her citizen husband and children be-damned. A U.S. military veteran of the war in Iraq caught smoking pot is a criminal worthy of deportation - never mind that Obama himself admits that he smoked pot in the past. A man who shoplifted or got caught with drugs as a teenager TWENTY YEARS AGO, paid the price and has since gone on to have a family, start a business and become an upstanding member of his community is a criminal worthy of deportation - to hell with his family, his employees and his community. That is where those statistics are coming from - they are as bloated and as misleading as any statistic coming out of the white supremacist based anti-immigration organizations Washington D.C. is so fond of catering to.

Yes, Congress does need to change some of these insane laws, but Congress does not mandate that ICE be allowed to break as many laws as they want, to commit as many human rights abuses and atrocities as they want in their constant quest to up their deportation statistics. Congress does not dictate that detention should be under worse conditions than the incarceration of criminals. Congress does not promote the obsessive prosecution by ICE of immigrants seeking relief from deportation under the Convention Against Torture. Congress has not one thing to do with any of this!

Our Deporter in Chief has now shown that he is responsible for what is done under his watch. He made that quite clear when our Navy Seals went in and took out Bin Laden. That is good to know - that our president is not asleep at the wheel. I never thought he was. It took a lot to ramp up the voracious deportation machine that is now devouring immigrant and citizen lives alike at an alarming rate - it has not "just happened" all on its own. All those destroyed lives, all those tears, all that waste . . . that is not on Congress!

Tsunami Women - The Remix

2011-05-10T08:51:00.000-07:00

This is for the men, but you ladies might want to pay attention as you can fall prey to one of these women too, through a male child or man in your life, or even directly. To the Tsunami Woman, anyone who serves her purposes for the moment is fair game and they are not just the stuff of myth and soap opera. I’m writing about this because I presently know not one, but TWO men whose lives, along with the lives of everyone connected to them, have been turned upside down by such a woman. One of those men has some relief – the tsunami woman he was unfortunate enough to marry has finally gone too far and is facing possible prison time, but she isn’t in prison yet and he and the women in his family who are her most frequent targets still live their lives drawing the curtains, double checking to be sure the the house is kept locked tight at all times and looking over their shoulder – this while living out in the country where such things are not supposed to be necessary. The other man I know in this situation is still simply trying to survive.

In intimate relationships false claims of domestic abuse are one of the Tsunami Woman's favorite weapons. Anyone who has witnessed one of these incidents can attest to the fact that false claims of domestic violence are a form of abuse in themselves, and yes, they do happen. They are a sneak attack where success depends on a court system inclined to uphold the rights of one group more than another. One of the most horrible experiences that any person can endure in a civilized society is to be a victim of a crime and then have the very system that should provide protection and relief instead assist the perpetrator in furthering the damage. If, for the sake of protecting women, you choose to err on the side of believing the female in matters of a domestic dispute when the evidence clearly points to a greater aggression on the part of the female partner, you have created a system in which the Tsunami Woman will thrive. Do know her victims will not be confined to the few unfortunate males she targets. The victims of domestic abuse do not live in a vacuum and the damage done extends to many. By denying a man protection from a false accuser, you create a dangerous environment for every person who is closely connected to that one man. That one act of tipping the scales of justice, no matter how well intentioned it might be, will harm many and may even put multiple people in danger.

If you haven’t heard the term “Tsunami Woman” before it is because I just made it up for a kind of woman I have become far too familiar with lately. We have all crossed paths with a Tsunami Woman at some point in our lives. For some, like my doctor in Los Angeles, such an encounter turned deadly. He and his wife were the kind of people who could restore your faith in humanity no matter how bad your day had been before an appointment at his office. None of us knew the private hell these people were living until he was shot to death on the sidewalk outside the medical clinic where he worked by an ex wife who had been actively stalking him for two years. During those years of being stalked and threatened he desperately tried to get help, but his ex played a good victim. She was a classic Tsunami Woman. Even after she shot and killed him in cold blood she still continues to play the victim. These women do this so consistently and convincingly that women who really are victims can not match their perfected and carefully scripted performance and so, actual victims of actual abuse frequently find themselves shunted aside while a Tsunami Woman uses all the resources of law enforcement to exact her revenge against someone who at some time said "no" to her.

This kind of woman is a master of manipulation of good and decent people. Who doesn’t like being a hero? Knowing you have saved another person from being victimized results in a pleasurable feeling of competence and control. These women know this and they utilize it. A Tsunami Woman knows humans are hard-wired to understand that any woman will, at times, need care and special attention – we do bear children and we are physically not as strong as a man, so the natural instinct is to protect us. But the Tsunami Woman takes her status as a woman and turns it into a “get out of jail free” card.

Men sometimes thank me when I point out the reality of this kind of woman, thinking I am standing up for them. I am not – I am standing up for all of us who are trying to live our lives in peace. In the end, the Tsunami Woman does as much harm to women and children as she does to men, either through "crying wolf" so many times the legitimate cases of rape or domestic violence that come after her have difficulty being believed – or, where children are involved, through extreme acts of Hostile Aggressive Parenting (HAP) – or through the very real victimization of their target’s relatives and associates. Quite frankly, I am tired of them. Their drama, their perpetual demands, their constant accusations are repetitive in the extreme, they cause very real harm and we really have better things to do than to deal with someone like that.

The fact that a woman is very good at getting other people to help her does not indicate she is a Tsunami Woman; it simply means she is a nurturer. People connected to such a woman tend to thrive. Tsunami Women may have good people skills, but only to the point of getting what they want. Any nurturing or compassion they show is an act, and these women are such accomplished actresses their fake is frequently more believable than the genuine. They aren’t just homemakers – they are diligent and caring homemakers, only their house is a mess. They aren’t just good mothers – everything they do is for the sake of their children, only their children do not thrive. They aren’t just good partners – they are the perfect lover who can stroke a man’s ego till he really does believe he’s superman, only he's no longer his own man. As the Tsunami Woman gets older her past becomes littered with the mutilated lives of friends that have fled, resentful grown children and multiple discarded, used-up "supermen."

Any person who deals with one of these women can see the truth if they look clearly, but the tsunami woman is a master at gauzing the lens. She does not target a man’s “small head” as is so commonly assumed. This is not a gender-specific predator – men, women and children are all at risk when in the company of such a woman. The vulnerable spot she services with skill and dexterity is ego, which is why both men and women can be brought to believe her and children can be convinced to lie for her despite (or perhaps because of) how good she can make them feel if they please her and how badly they know they will feel if they disappoint her. If you want to feel good around this kind of woman then do as you are told, exactly as you are told - make sure that you anticipate her every need and you will be the best, most awesome offspring, lover, friend or neighbor ever! If you wish to maintain a relationship with such a person and you notice a few red flags (no one hooks up with a Tsunami Woman without ignoring some very clear red flags) you might want to move to Stepford.

If the people she has “helped” are now in her past she will also point out how ungrateful the recipients of her largess have been. This woman’s past is filled with an inordinate number of “ungrateful” people who misused and abused her. Anyone can mistakenly stumble into an abusive relationship, but for a normally social person, good experiences with people far outweigh the bad and they are fully aware and ashamed of their own transgressions. The Tsunami Woman, however, is "always faithful, always truthful" – and she will remind you of this over and over. It is all those other people who have lied to her, harmed her and betrayed her. It is never her. If she does take any responsibility in what has happened in any broken relationship it will be in the form of an admission that she shouldn't have trusted that person. It's never anything that she did - it's always that she trusted someone else and they did something awful to her - which justifies everything that she does against that person from that point on.

If you have ever escaped such a woman, you are the bad guy. All the while, her real-time ego stroking of her latest targets is accomplished through portraying herself as a serial victim bravely struggling forward and in need of your help and protection. She will tell her present-time associates they are different, they may be someone within the legal system, her friends, family, children or lover, but they are always her savior. Hindsight examination of her actions toward those closest to her will reveal that all that delightful ego stroking was covertly accompanied by multiple hidden pricks simultaneously deflating that same ego. This leaves her victims confused and more easily manipulated. In the beginning of any relationship with such a woman those pricks are so slight, they are barely noticed and easily explained away, but they have a cumulative effect.

Research in domestic violence has shown that one of the signs of a mate who could turn abusive is an instant, overbearing love of the one they will eventually abuse. Tsunami Women abuse their partners mentally, sometimes physically and in the end through the legal system, but they also take advantage of friends, coworkers – anyone who they feel could be handy in their life. These women form hard, fast friendships in an instance and quickly become demanding of their new friend's time and attention. A normally social and caring person will interpreted such behavior as insecurity and will at first try to accommodate this sort of woman; though they find her needy, that neediness she has for them does provide an ego boost, and thus they are caught into an abusive relationship. When the actions of a Tsunami Woman become clear, just as with female victims of an abusive male partner, those who are looking at the progression of what was done wonder at the gullibility of the target. In fact, any sociable person can be temporarily fooled by this woman. I have been more than once.

This type of woman is especially dangerous and can create far more damage than a violent and abusive man for two reasons. First: Her violence at the beginning is seldom overt or easily detectable and frequently her victim is not believed. Second: In an attempt to compensate for a past lack of protection for legitimately abused and/or assaulted women, our present legal handling of domestic violence and our way of talking about and administering justice for victims of domestic violence heavily favors women. The most unfortunate part of this is female victims of rape or domestic abuse and/or assault by men flounder and have no understanding of the system that they are going to need to gain help and maybe protection, which frequently results in such victims getting help too late or not seeking help at all.

Tsunami Women have no such problem. They know the system well and they know how to manipulate it. Any man who attempts to bring them to justice is in danger of having abuse or harassment charges leveled against him as well. This is a dangerous character to deal with and taking her on is not for the timid or faint of heart – it is a frustrating and too often unsuccessful undertaking. And so, she often walks among us, free, while those she uses, abuses and casts aside strive to avoid further contact with her at all costs. The men who have been her husbands find that when there are children involved it is impossible to escape her revenge. She will torture the father of her children through those children, handicapping their emotional future by mentally manipulating them against their father. Children held hostage in such fashion begin to fail badly and it is not uncommon for a man to give up and walk away in the hopes that his absence will prevent further abuse. This woman is adept at wreaking vengeance and no one is off limits as a tool to exact her revenge.

If you extrapolate out all the damage caused by such a woman through compromised partners, people connected to those partners, abused and damaged children, people who are or will be connected to those children throughout their adult life, the clogging of our courts with vindictive demands for restraining orders or false accusations of domestic violence or even molestation and a general loss of faith in our justice system’s ability to protect the innocent from the guilty, you will find the amount of damage that this one person can cause is truly staggering. Recognizing and properly handling a Tsunami Woman would be the first step to a more peaceful existence for society as a whole.

The above assessment is what I have found through observation, both subjective and objective over a period of years. I have seen these women, I have seen their victims and I have seen the ongoing carnage. It is time for the existence of such a woman to be recognized and dealt with. They have done enough damage. Ordinary people trying to make their way through an already difficult world do not need, nor do they deserve, what this kind of woman will produce in their lives. It is time for those she targets and victimizes who are currently being rendered invisible by a society that insists women are victims and men perpetrators to stand up and declare that we do have rights. The right to a peaceful existence belongs to us. We are the creators of a productive and harmonious society.

Politics for the Politicians

2011-05-09T14:04:00.000-07:00

You have a vision of what this country is, what it was created to represent, what it can be. Is that vision being met in what our current political game has become?

Question:
Why do some people adopt a political party and just stick to it no matter what it does or how it operates? I’m talking about the people who are more faithful to their political party than they are to their friends and even their family; the ones who will condone and forgive more violations of the promises and agreements that brought them to that party, than they would ever condone and tolerate from their spouse. If their spouse did half of what their party does to violate the agreements that created the relationship in the first place, to betray their basic core values, they’d be in divorce court immediately with nothing good to say about their soon-to-be-ex; their political party does the same thing and they jump through hoops to explain it away, to make excuses or worse - to decide that they’ve changed their mind and now they are for that party’s new position. Consequently we have two political parties today who are run entirely by money and power where any and all political platforms are open to adjustment or complete demolition from the slightest whiff of a movement afoot that might be difficult or annoy someone with deep pockets. We now have government not “of, by, and for the people,” but rather, “of, by, and for” dramatic thugs and the wealthy.

When John Kennedy wrote his book, “Profiles in Courage,” he highlighted some of the outstanding statesmen who stood up to the political forces aligned against them for the sake of a principle. Today an author would be hard pressed to find a statesman of any kind and would have to be content with stories of politicians who had stood up to a particularly loud protest, but are the politicians responsible? I mean, I know they aren’t a particularly responsible bunch as a whole, but are they responsible for this state of affairs? I know we do blame them loudly and often, but we are citizens in this country, not subjects. Our politicians and our political parties are supposed to represent and answer to us and it is our duty to make sure that they do. To make our politicians toe the line we have to first draw and hold a line for them to toe and we are not doing that.

We had a good system worked out. Over time two parties emerged in this country that loosely followed a liberal and a conservative agenda that balanced each other nicely. This gave the unrealistic and unyielding idealists, those difficult citizens who are absolutely necessary for the maintenance of any vision, a place to call home. The rest of us who were the heart and soul of the voting public could shift our allegiance from party to party and “throw the rascals out” if they got too full of themselves and stopped listening to us. It was messy, but it worked.

That was then. Today neither party’s political representatives support a really progressive agenda and what once defined conservatism has been brutalized. A massive, invasive and intolerant government is not a conservative value. On many critical policies Obama is Bush on steroids. With the way he has handled matters as diverse as immigration to the environment he must depend on the Republicans to maintain his approval rating for him. If so many of our current Republicans were not so avidly embracing policies promoted by eugenicists like John Tanton and roundly faulting Obama for his new, extreme-law-and-order-have-yet-to-see-a-prison-plan-he-doesn’t-like-or-a-right-he-won’t-gut approach to running our country, those who elected Obama and could elect him again would have abandoned ship by now. They stay because of reaction against, not response toward. Our Deporter in Chief is not applauded for his courageous allegiance to the values upon which he was elected since he has effectively betrayed nearly every one of those. His whole claim to legitimacy at this point resides in the simple fact that he is not a Republican. He has perfected the art of gaining political power through the work of the opposing side.

And what of the Republicans? Listening to right or left leaning media today would have one one assume that “conservative” and “Republican” were synonyms; there was once a time that they very nearly were. Today a fiscally conservative small government that respects the family unit, rewards hard work and honest production and recognizes the rights of the individual is laughably parodied by the most vocal factions of that party. Instead of conservative values they give us intrusive, costly and lawless government agencies; they entertain assaults on the integrity of the family unit through, of all things, attacks on the security and sanctity of childhood; they shamelessly cater to their crudest and most reactionary constituents while ignoring those who have supported conservative values for generations; and they have willingly gone along with the current steady destruction of the rights of the individual to live as he chooses, to own property and determine what will be done with that property, to choose his own path in life and be accountable for that path.

If the Democrats of today insist on promoting and expanding Republican programs and Republicans of today insist on driving people back to the Democrats through sheer revulsion, where does that leave us? Our system of government has been hijacked, but it is OUR system of government. This country chose to be free of a monarchy a very long time ago. We are supposedly not subjects who must answer to our government and in the end both these parties should be answering to us. The majority of people in this country are good, hard-working people. They have no time or place in their heart for hatreds or extreme agendas. The majority of Americans, though they may choose to belong to one party or the other, truly belong to the party of “liberty and justice for all.” The majority of Americans are not being served by either the Democrats or the Republicans today and it is time for the majority of Americans to stand up and take those parties back, make them answer to the values of the American people.

Soldiers

2011-05-08T14:19:00.000-07:00

It is important not to confuse our wish for peace and our distaste for war with the reasons for which battles are fought and the reality of those who are charged with the task of fighting those wars. The idea that wars can not happen without people to fight them and therefore those who do the fighting make war possible may be true, but only when kept separate from the realities of war.

Looking at the soldiers who fight our wars and holding them responsible for the suffering and horrors of war, which they themselves are often the victim of, while ignoring the many personal sacrifices and hard choices that brought each individual to that war, objectifies soldiers unfairly. They become a symbol, a cardboard cutout of themselves, instead of the very real men and women who face the potential of their own death for purposes that too often have nothing to do with the given reasons for the wars they fight. Some who choose a career in the military may think they know why they are fighting; they may or may not be wrong. There are noble causes after all, but whether war is the only solution remains open to question. Gandhi did much without declaring war, which is not to say innocent people did not die - dead is dead, whether from a bomb, bullet or starvation and sometimes when psychopaths gain power the death of some will be needed to prevent the deaths of many. I’m sure the allied soldiers who liberated the Nazi concentration camps were seen as angels of mercy. I am equally sure that they were far from merciful to the Nazis.

Holding soldiers responsible for war simplifies a complex issue with a number of causes. It is natural to want to find an explanation that can lead to a solution; one would have to be severely twisted not to do so, but to simplify the causes and realities of war is to not confront the terrible toll war takes upon the bodies and lives of the men and women who fight those wars. To do that denies the humanity of soldiers and the very second one begins to deny the humanity of other human beings one has stepped firmly upon the very path that leads to war in the first place. If we truly want to bring an end to war, and considering the potential for mass nuclear destruction we really must do so, we have got to embrace our soldiers and listen to them, learn their stories and know what war is. You can not end that which you refuse to confront. Our soldiers, those who fight, suffer and die for us, are part of that confront.

A Difference of One

2011-03-04T14:58:00.000-08:00

Since my friend, Audrius Kazenas, was picked up by ICE and began his torturous journey of relentless prosecution and indefinite detention I have been told over and over again that one person can’t make a difference, that one person can not have an effect against the might of the United States Government. I didn’t believe it when I was first told that and I don’t believe it now. For those of you who really believe that one person can not make a difference I would like to bring your attention to one fruit vendor in Tunisia who had had enough of the abuse and corruption of government and was willing to put everything on the line to expose it. That one man, through his desperate final communication of helplessness and humanity, has toppled two Middle East dictatorships and who knows how many more will follow. When that one man protested what he had been subjected to he lit the fuse on a massive powder keg and now there is no turning back. One man . . . it just took one man.

When we affirm that one person can make a difference, what do we picture? Isn’t it true we are picturing a positive difference? That’s what I look at, but recently I’ve become aware of the fact that this view is out of balance. Yes, on person can make a huge difference, for good, but also for bad. Was the upheaval in the Middle East caused by a fruit vendor, or was it caused by a slap from a corrupt official? By downplaying our own inability to make a difference in this world we run the risk of underestimating the damage that one corrupt or criminally minded person can do to the well being of a whole community. We see actions that are out of line by someone in law enforcement and we excuse it. We see someone committing what seem to be minor crimes against others and we choose to let it go because . . . Well, it’s only minor, not worth our time.

That slap to that fruit vendor was pretty minor too – look what it has caused. We give law enforcement a pass because we need them and we know they have a tough job. We look the other way at petty crime because we know we are hardly perfect ourselves, but one act of corruption seldom stands alone and do we really need; are we really protected by a law enforcement agent who doesn’t follow the law? Crimes are not committed in a vacuum and there is a big difference between ordinary human failings and criminal activity. We look away at our own risk for there is no way to know when someone committing criminal acts will become embolden by success and escalate his/her actions with more damaging results.

One person can and does make a difference, for good or bad. We all count, we all matter. Isn’t that a natural extension from the concept of human rights, the idea that each person, by the simple fact of being born human, has certain inalienable rights? With rights go responsibilities, so if we are each born with human rights, does it not then follow that we are born with human responsibilities as well, that we not only can, but should make a difference? Seems to me that is the best reason to be my brother’s keeper there is.

WHO DO PRISONS SERVE?

2011-01-08T11:43:00.000-08:00

In the battle over our ever growing private prison industrial complex one question has been left out: Who is it that this prison system is supposed to be serving? This may be the key to why privatization works so well in some instances and is such a disaster in others. The public that a for-profit company serves must be compatible with the means of making a profit. In the prison industry they are not compatible. Our prisons are one component of our system of justice and that system exists to protect the law abiding people in this country from those who would prey upon them if left unchecked. The appropriate product of such a system is a society where people can live without fear of becoming victim to a criminal act. To accomplish such a goal it is necessary to lessen crime and that is what our system of justice, in its service to we-the-people, is supposed to do. Prisons are part of that system and so they serve the people as well. It is their duty to contribute to a reduction in crime.

When a prison system is run for profit, a reduction in crime means less money paid to the prison as well as to the various industries connected to that prison, so their target public and their bottom line are not compatible. Companies must grow and make profits. To grow, private prison corporations must have an ever expanding demand for their service. That service is to keep criminals locked up to prevent them from continuing to commit crimes. No company can grow by creating less need for its product. To survive and to insure a good return on investment and time, it is absolutely vital that they increase demand for what they offer. In the case of privatized prisons, that product is the incarceration of people perceived to be dangerous. The demand for that product depends upon an ever growing number of criminals OR on an ever growing number of human actions perceived as being criminal. By creating a for-profit prison system within our system of justice we have guaranteed an increase in victims, an increase in crime, an increase in the number of actions that are perceived to be dangerous and worthy of incarceration and a lessening of freedom from fear for the rest of us.

Our government’s growing refusal to acknowledge and act upon their responsibility to serve their appropriate public, we-the-people, has resulted in a bloated and sluggish system of justice that serves no one beyond those who financially profit from it. Though this country holds only 5% of the world’s population, it holds 25% of the world’s prison population. Contrary to what some may believe, the United States is not an exceptionally degraded and criminal country, so those two statistics are shockingly out of sync. They exist because crime has become big business – not to the criminals who commit it, but to those who keep them locked up. This is how we wind up with characters like Sheriff Joe Arpaio gleefully expounding on how tough his prisons are and how thoroughly he degrades his prisoners without one word being uttered about that prison’s responsibility to the community. The prisons in Arizona have come “out of the closet” on that score and now openly serve the corporations that run them, but in truth, ever prison system run for profit has changed masters from us to the bottom line. The marketing of a dangerous environment in need of more and more prisons is in full swing. Advertisements to convince us we need the products these prison corporations offer are fed to us daily through our news media. These companies intend to make profits and they will continue to grow and continue to make those profits at our expense as long as we continue to allow for-profit prisons to exist. We need to restore the people’s understanding of the purpose of our system of justice, of why our Founding Fathers designed it the way that they did. To do that, we might want to stop and think for a moment whose pockets those profits are coming from. That may be a criminal with his hand in your wallet, profits demand more criminals, so there are plenty to go around, but it is also the corporation that promises you protection from that criminal . . . for a price. Pretty good racket these boys have going on. How long will it take us to catch on?

NICE VERSES KIND

2010-12-31T16:48:00.000-08:00

My dad used to tell me that being nice and being kind was not always the same thing and when the two diverged I should always choose to be kind rather than nice. Dad was a wise and incredibly kind man so I took his advice and made it my own. This year, unfortunately, I must accept that I did not do him proud on the kindness front – found myself being nice far too often. This wasn’t for lack of intent. I meant to choose kind, I strove to be kind. But far too many times I failed to recognize that “nice” and “kind” had indeed gone their separate ways and where I thought I was choosing the kind solution, I was, in fact, choosing the more convenient and palatable “nice” path. Sorry, Dad. I know if you were here you would not hold that against me . . . if only for the fact that you know how completely I will hold it against myself.

Tonight we turn over the calendar and start a fresh page. This year I will pay better attention and resolve to recognize more quickly where niceness is tripping me up at the expense of those who deserve better. There is nothing kind about trying to save someone who is bound and determined to do her/himself in and I’ve been guilty of doing just that for the sake of . . . what? Quite honestly, I don’t know. I have no idea what on earth I was thinking. I was seeking a happy ending all around without anyone having to loose too terribly much. I could use the excuse that there were children involved, but no, that isn’t what motivated me. I took the path I took because it was easier to confront, pure and simple. That was “nice” thinking at its most insipid, and Edgar de Santos did not raise his daughter to be such a push-over.

“So Deb, do you mean to say, ‘No more Ms Nice Lady?’ “

Yup . . . ‘cept I’m not really much of a lady, ya know. ;-) Another thing my dad used to say a lot is that we all like to be right; to be wrong is painful, so humans are inclined to avoid it whenever possible. Of course, we are all wrong at times and Dad would point out that when one is wrong, rather than try to back it up with all kinds of reasons why it was actually right, just admit you were wrong! Immediately . . . you are right! Okay, guys . . . I fucked up. I was wrong! I tried to handle this all nice and neat and clean . . . and I know better. I let everyone down - even the people that are still standing who shouldn't be. Here’s to a really messy 2011 . . . and Dad . . . wherever you are . . . thanks!

TWO SIDES TO A STORY? ONLY IF IT’S A STORY OF JUST ONE PERSON

2010-12-26T11:34:00.000-08:00

“There are two sides to every story and you are telling me just one of them,” the FBI agent said glibly. An investigator for the Attorney General told me the same thing. Beyond the obvious question as to whether or not these people think for themselves or are all just parroting lines from the same script, this leaves me wondering: Have any of them thought this statement through? Two sides to any story? That is true only if it is the story of just one person. There are as many sides to a story as there are people involved in the story . . . plus one, that one being the truth. We might think that what we present to the world is the truth, but we all color any account with our own vision, our own reality. It is not possible for any of us to know the exact truth as we do not know all sides to the stories in which we are involved.

I find myself wondering what the purpose is for any law enforcement agent to tell me such a thing. What I am telling them, if even close to the truth, indicates that some action is warranted, that laws are being violated and a great injustice is being done, but how are they to know if I’m telling the truth? The events and documents I am presenting are not things upon which any decent person would want to act if they were not fact as it would cause much undeserved heartache so caution is warranted; denial based on a refusal to look at the evidence is not.

I grant these agents the benefit of the doubt and point out to them it is not my wish that they act on one side of the story at all as others doing so is what has caused this problem in the first place. What has been done to Audrius Kazenas by two federal law enforcement agents is based on their acceptance of just one side of the story, a side unsubstantiated by reputable documents or proof of any kind. Those agents know this full well as they are actively presenting documents as factual that radically contradict each other. They have no choice but to do this as it is all that they have. I am simply asking that law enforcement cease taking one side of the story as gospel and at least look at the other side. If they had anything to give proof to their claims against Audrius they would not have to openly use fraudulent documents as they have done and they would not have to hide documents they know will support Audrius. If they knew that what they are doing to Audrius was right and just, they would not be so unwilling to allow the rest of the story to be heard. An honest presentation of Audrius’ case without any hidden agendas would be far simpler and would not require any tricky maneuvers. One way or the other, I will get the rest of the story presented, all that is left to question is whether it will be through our courts and legal systems or through public exposure.

Only those who mean to deceive are afraid of having all sides of the story presented for scrutiny before a decision is rendered and such deception has no business being practiced by those charged with the maintenance of our system of justice.

Dangerous

2010-11-22T14:42:00.000-08:00

“Dangerous” and “aggressive” are perceived as negative words. This is not a new phenomenon. In fact, Samuel Johnson’s “Dictionary of the English Language” first published in 1755 defines both terms as being a threat to survival. As societies evolved and grew the words took on a slightly more subtle meaning. The threat to survival qualifier was dropped indicating some awareness of a relativity factor, but to this day that awareness is only slight. Where the word “nice” took up a half page of definitions in 1755, indicating a great deal of complexity and thought on the meaning which has since been dumbed-down to a dozen lines, the words “dangerous” and “aggressive” have remained relatively unchanged. Not a lot of thought has ever gone into those two words, but a whole lot of agreed upon assumptions have, and where there is little thought and much agreed upon assumption misunderstandings occur and people get hurt.

Hitler was a dangerous and aggressive man. So was Gandhi – and therein lies the problem. Danger or aggression in itself is actually neutral. It does not take on a value until the terminal to which it is directed is taken into account. A person who is dangerous to a criminal is a very good person to have around if one is not a criminal. The highly aggressive surgeons who developed our current emergency room trauma care system have saved countless lives.

We tend to have a knee-jerk reaction to all things deemed dangerous or aggressive, but such an instant assessment can easily create more harm than good. When our lives are in peril, when our future or safety hangs in the balance we are thankful for the assistance of anyone who is a danger to what threatens us or who can act aggressively enough to save us, but when the threat is gone we are uncomfortable with that same dangerous or aggressive person and too frequently attempt to hobble that which saved us not that long ago or could save us in the future. I will not belabor the point here . . . the topic is worthy of an in depth examination that is not suited to a blog, I would, however, propose that we all re-examine those words. Before we condemn a person or group for being dangerous or aggressive, perhaps it would first be wise to determine exactly who they are dangerous to, what are they aggressive toward. ‘Nuff said for now . . .

Follow the Money

2010-11-17T19:50:00.000-08:00

For nearly two years ICE has been my constant anchor and I have been searching for a virtual hacksaw to cut them loose. My life, my accomplishment, my dreams have all been hobbled by a sense of injustice and oppression that comes with having a friend or loved one taken and held by that agency. My close friend, by now my brother, Audrius Kazenas, was taken from his children, family and community the day before Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2008. As I write this on November 17, 2010 he is still sitting in a prison cell held under ICE detention despite having twice been granted deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement judge. If he is not released within the next week he will be spending his third Thanksgiving in prison and we will be spending our third Thanksgiving with a place at the table left empty.

Thanks to Audrius' insistence when he witnessed the human rights abuses and atrocities around him in the prison where he was held, I have spent much of the last two years devoted to the cause of civil and human rights for immigrants. If Audrius' case had been handled honestly and fairly in a timely manner he would never have seen the depths to which these abuses have reached and I would be working on my gardens instead of spending days stretched into years recording and investigating civil and human rights violations that have become the essence of immigration enforcement here. But honesty and fairness are not standard when dealing with ICE and so my gardens sit neglected and my dreams are put on hold while I tend to what should be the concern of any and all Americans who have pledged allegiance to a flag that stands for “Liberty and Justice for all.”

So far every thread I have followed of this Gordian knot that is immigration has led to one basic “why” on the problem and I’ve finally decided that the best and most effective way to get to the bottom of what is REALLY going on is to follow the money. There’s a lot of strutting and shouting on both sides of the debate, countless promises are made, later to be broken, and false hopes given, later to be destroyed. In the end the situation continues to worsen while we are left to wonder what would induce our leaders in D.C. as well as the news media on both sides to so thoroughly ignore the numbers, facts and statistics involved? What could cause them to ignore the human rights violations at the hands of a government agency run amok, ignore the Nazis and KKK boldly marching in our streets and even ignore the huge number of innocent lives destroyed? What could possibly do that? MONEY!

I’m now certain this is the true source of our draconian immigration laws - the rest is all smoke and mirrors intended to distract us. Even in the case of Audrius Kazenas, one individual who seems an exception on so many levels, it came down to “follow the money” in the end. His case was so confusing it had me completely baffled as to how it could have happened and how it could be continuing for so long till I followed the money . . . and kept following it till I found something I had never suspected. I could not understand why anyone would be so obsessed with getting Audrius out of this country despite the mounting documents that showed how high the danger of torture and death would be for him if he were deported. I thought I had found the reason many times, but each discovery led nowhere. Then, after two years, completely by accident, I stumbled onto one random piece of information and it all became clear. Remember, Audrius' profession before he came to this country involved, among other things, investigating criminal corruption and he was very good at that job. He has an amazing knack for finding truths that are carefully hidden. At first that threw me off. If something is wrong Audrius will find it. I could not figure out why ICE detain him for so long in a way he could easily discover and bear witness, through me, to what was being done. I began to wonder if perhaps there were some within ICE who secretly wanted to expose the conditions without having to step forward themselves, but that didn’t make sense. A person with that much sense of right and wrong would not keep a man locked up indefinitely. Eventually I learned enough to realize that most of the people who work for ICE are so overwhelmed with cases there was no way for them to know who Audrius is, no way for them to know they were keeping a man who investigates almost compulsively right in the middle of what needed exposure. I began to look elsewhere and discovered a very good reason why someone might not want this man around to do what he does so well - to start watching and asking questions - and yet again it came down to money. I discovered that in this case, ICE was being used. This is certainly not the first time that has happened - the very structure and nature of ICE invites criminal elements to dupe that agency into protecting their activities within this country. Our current immigration laws as they are written are a gift to manipulators and con artists.

Look at the state of immigration affairs in this country and follow the money. You will find a huge underground slave-labor economy that depends on a steady flow of immigrants coming into this country illegally. With our labor laws it is difficult to misuse and abuse legal residents and citizens. To do that one needs leverage, something to hold over people that will make them compliant, render them unwilling to seek help. Most of the millions of undocumented immigrants here are working which makes them vulnerable to such blackmail and they are in demand. From agriculture to child care their lack of legal status means profits or savings for others. Of course there is the prison industrial complex that is making a fortune off of all the detentions in this country as well, but they are small potatoes when compared to that underground economy we are so dependent on. I know I have mentioned this many times as part of what is keeping the immigration problem going, but I have come to the conclusion that it is THE main source of the problem. Have you noticed it is the one aspect of this debate that is seldom mentioned by politicians or the media? It is an economy that is TOO BIG TO FAIL and so our politicians readily compromise on civil liberties and human rights to protect that flow of workers. They offer immigration reform remedies that place more emphasis on border security than on human lives. They intend to keep that economy supplied with undocumented workers now and well into the future.

Money is not the root of all evil - the LOVE of money is. And this is all being done for the love of money. There is nothing evil about money. There is nothing evil about thriving and doing well in this world, but criminals do not seek money, they LOVE money . . . love it far more than they love their fellow man. Then we have the majority of our politicians who love power as well as loving money. Perhaps that is what separates politicians from criminals - a love of power added to the ordinary crook's love of money. Decent people prioritize differently. They know that money is good to have, but health, family, communities, humanity and even the world is more important to them, for that is what ultimately determines the future. These people who are at the helm now . . . they do not care about our future. They love power and money far more than they love mankind and so we have the mess that we are now facing. It is time to actively follow the money . . .

The Winning Hand is Ours to Play

2010-11-13T15:02:00.000-08:00

So how many of you caught Jesse Ventura’s Conspiracy Theory last night? For those of us who have been living under the oppression of ICE, it was mostly what we already knew - immigration is the miner’s canary of freedom and justice - and it’s on its back with it’s feet in the air. If this immigration battle is lost, if we can not bring civil and human rights to this issue, we’re next. It’s not the immigrant’s necks that are on the line in the end - it’s our own. They at least have another country they can live in if all else fails - we don’t . . . well, not one where we wouldn’t be an immigrant. LOL Let’s face it, we have sat by while 19,000 immigrants have been held indefinitely in this country for no crime, my friend Audrius, being one of them, and we have not met that gross human rights violation with the outrage that it deserves. ICE is still doing this and there is still no challenge. If you were to listen to the media it’s a non-issue. As long as that continues the government will continue to make plans to do the same thing to the rest of us if we cause too much trouble. If we want to back that off, we need to start hollering now - loud and long and hard - about the civil and human rights abuses and atrocities being committed by ICE and condoned by our current administration. This is not about politics and any person who would reduce it to politics is no friend of freedom.

How many of of you caught your breath when Jesse Ventura landed at T Don Hutto, that wretched place that was a children’s prison such a short time ago? It’s about time someone asked if we lock children up in this country or if we ever have locked children up in this country. YES, Jesse . . . that would be a big YES! We have locked children up from infant on up and we have a number of people living and walking free in this country who are the kind of people who can make their living taking small children and locking them up. Personally, I’d call such a person a psychopath and would prefer that they not live in my neighborhood, but that’s just me. Those of you who are friends of mine on facebook have seen that picture I post from time to time of the little girl, maybe five or six years old, standing behind prison bars, her arms resting on the crossbar, a world weary look on her angelic face. When I first found out about T Don Hutto back in 2009 and told Audrius about it on a visit to the prison where he was being detained, when I told him about the picture of the little girl, he was shocked. This man has seen much warfare, been in and dealt with some horrific situations, but that idea of locking up little children was too much for him. He was very upset . . . so why aren’t we? Why are we so comfortable with the fact that we have walking amongst us, even governing us, people who are not troubled by locking up children? Terrible things are going on in this country right now . . . things I never dreamed I would see happening here.

My dad’s favorite saying was, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” and despite the horror of what we are witnessing, that applies here as well. Do realize that every win the government manages against Liberty and Justice for all is also a loss for them. The more they strip us of our liberties, the more they oppress and brutalize our rights, the more they must fear us. As they build these prisons and concentration camps they build their own prison for no oppressor is ever free. Even in Audrius’ case where it appears that every day behind bars is another day he has lost . . . it is also another day I have to investigate, to dig up information, to find out what is going on. It is another day that I am highly motivated to find the truth on his case. He’s been held in detention for nearly two years now. Do you have any idea how much that has made possible - how much I have found out? If you think about it, I really should dedicate my book to the deportation officer that has so blatantly helped the people who want Audrius deported to frame him and perhaps to the prosecutor, time will tell on that last. Even the appeal the prosecutor filed with the BIA . . . a huge disappointment, yes, but that brief contained a wealth of information. It pointed to indiscretions our government might possibly be involved in over in Eastern Europe - in areas I would never have thought to look. It let me know that she was in touch with the person who is attempting to get rid of Audrius. I discovered a great deal that I would never have known even existed otherwise, and the more I find, the more the very people who are causing all this have to worry about. For every act they commit against Audrius, there is a lessening of their own ability to sleep soundly at night secure in the knowledge that their actions will not be found out. I discovered enough that I now must keep documents I have with others . . . to be released in case something happens to me. That’s a pretty high price for someone to pay to deny one man his liberty. I wouldn’t want to pay it.

I have an advantage in this. My dad taught me well. There really is no such thing as a free lunch. For everything you gain you do pay some price - always be sure you are willing to pay that price before ordering. I have been doing that, it’s what keeps me from throwing everything I have up on the internet for all to see right now. The satisfaction would be immense, but the price for such satisfaction would be too high at this point. The price changes depending on the circumstances. I have calculated that out - what would be the benefit verses the cost of this action or that if Audrius stays, if he is deported, if he is killed. In this case I have to consider not just the price to me, but to Audrius - unless of course if he were killed - then it’s game-over and the price has been paid in advance for whatever I want to do with the data I have.

The government would like us to forget this. They would like us to think that they have nothing to loose - that we are the only ones who must pay for our lunch. It is a total illusion. If they had an ounce of sense they would understand this - the last thing they would want to do would be to win a game of oppression against the American people, but those who seek to oppress are never wise. If they were, they would not seek to oppress. So take heart. Yup, what Jesse showed us last night was some scary stuff and I believe it is a real threat, but that does not mean we do not hold any cards in this game. We actually hold a winning hand . . . if we don’t loose heart and fold. I was very encouraged by Jesse’s show. It told me our government is afraid of us - that means we are doing something right - and it convinced me to push even harder for a just and humane society that is again of, by and for the people.

WHO IS AUDRIUS KAZENAS AND HOW DID HE WIND UP DOING HARD TIME FOR NO CRIME?

2010-10-31T18:39:00.000-07:00

I have been asked so many times about our greatly loved and missed friend, Audrius Kazenas, who he is, what sort of man he is, how he wound up locked up in immigration detention for what is now nearly two years . . . tell you what; it’s Halloween, 2010; and on Halloween 2008 I found out this man who has become as much a member of my family as anyone born or married into it was in deep trouble and resolved to help him through it no matter where that might lead. Seems like today is the day to tell his story:

Audrius Kazenas is from Eastern Europe where he served as an officer in the military. He has seen a great deal of war and combat, at first with the Soviet military (all men from Eastern Europe were required to serve with the Soviets during the dark years of their occupation by that country) and then for his own country through the violent struggles to throw the Soviets out. He has fought the Taliban in Afghanistan when they were still just warlords. He has stood strong to push the Soviets back and bring about an end to the Cold War. Physically he is a giant of a man with a long, sure stride, booming voice and a warm, mischievous smile. He is my friend, my brother; a man who would put his very life on the line for another without hesitation – and who has done exactly that many times. Those who know him know he has a huge and generous heart and it is because he is such a man that he now sits in a prison cell under ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) detention while that agency that supposedly protects we-the-people does everything within its power to deport him back to Eastern Europe to what would likely be his torture and death – against the wishes of a large number of citizens who value him and want him to remain. His strong sense of duty and that big heart, combined with the actions of some federal agents too willing to be bent to the hidden agendas of people of questionable character may yet do to him what no enemy in combat could.

Audrius is a hero many times over, has actually done what most of us only read or watch movies about. There are a number of men and a few women who walk in our midst that fit such a description and, as we have found with Audrius, you usually never know you are with one unless you become close friends. Even then, you are not likely to be told all that this person has experienced. They will tell war stories, but what they tell is only a small fraction of what they have actually seen and endured. Audrius’ friends here never knew the depths of Audrius Kazenas, but we knew he was exceptional, a good friend who could be counted on in any emergency. He fit in so well to our small, Northern New Hampshire community none of us had any idea what his life had been or the actions and risks he had taken so that everyday people could continue to sleep safe and warm in their beds at night. We’d all been the recipients of his help at one point or another. He has a way of just showing up when needed, a “knight in shining armor” who knows just what to do, but we only knew what he did for us personally. It was only after ICE took Audrius from us, as people began calling me to find out what had happened to him, that I learned the extent of what Audrius had done in our community – found out how very many people he had helped out, how many felt a great debt of gratitude toward him (see: http://untamed-itch.blogspot.com/2010/10/proof-of-pudding-is-in-eatin.html ). He didn’t share that, was not one to brag. I don’t believe that he even knew the things he did were out of the ordinary and worthy of mention. He was just being Audrius.

In the end, “being Audrius” is what proved his undoing. He came to this country because he believed the woman and children he loved – his wife, newborn baby and stepson – were in extreme need. He was working on coming here legally, but that was proving to be far more difficult than he had anticipated. While he was attempting to cut through the bureaucratic red tape to join his family here his wife was telling him how hard life was for her in the United States, how she needed him desperately, how she had picked up the children from the sitter and found the sitter and the children both smelling of booze, and how they were all about to be thrown out of their apartment. It was decided, he would put his safety aside and come here right away to be the husband and father that his family needed. His wife assured him that once he was here they would sort out his legal status, but when he did come that . . . that last part was never done.

Audrius’ friends and neighbors had no idea that he was living in this country illegally. I knew. His wife had confided this to me one day while visiting at my home and later when I was speaking with her and Audrius, she explained why she had felt she had to smuggle him into this country, how she had sent him a plane ticket to Canada, gone across the border to meet him and give him a map and then met him back on the United States side. Couples have their stories, their romantic tales of how they met, how their separate lives became one. This was Audrius and his wife’s story and she seemed relieved to finally be able to tell it. I could see why; it was compelling and very romantic – a man who would risk everything for the love of a woman.

Their marriage ran hot and cold. Some days they were happy, other days when I’d drop by I would find Audrius hustling to finish some task while his wife sat at the kitchen table angry that her husband was so lazy, that he had not done the work she had told him to do while she was gone. I will not labor what became of that relationship; Audrius’ has said enough about that on his own blog for now and he was the one who had to live it. In time I drifted away just as every one of their other local friends had done in the past and for the same reasons – a combination of being embarrassed witnessing Audrius being abused and humiliated by his wife and having my friendship taken advantage of by that same wife on a monetary level. Eventually I sat down and compared notes with their former friends to see if perhaps what I’d experienced in that household was just me, or if this was a pattern. I approached a police officer who, along with his wife, had been friendly with that family before us. Audrius’ wife had said that relationship had dissolved because the officer had “come on to her” and then the officer’s wife had accused her of trying to steal her husband. Audrius had said nothing, had neither supported nor disagreed with his wife’s version of events. Over time I noticed that Audrius was usually silent when his wife would tell us such stories and so I decided to check. Sitting in our local police station, I heard a story that closely matched what my husband and I had encountered and I found myself wondering what she might be now saying about my own family. Speaking with other now scarce visitors to that household I found those stories were equally similar except in one detail – they all wondered why Audrius stayed. I did not wonder. I knew he had no choice. He had come here illegally and if he were to leave that relationship he would likely never see his children again. He loved those children, had been their primary caretaker for most of their life. For them that man would endure anything, but in Audrius’ case there was another threat, a terrible, sinister threat that he and his wife spoke of in my presence only once.

Spouses caught in a marriage to an American citizen have at times been known to take off to their former country with the children in tow when that relationship does not work out for them, leaving the American struggling to regain contact with those children. Audrius is not the sort of man to abuse his children by separating them from a parent they love, but in his case he could not have done so even if he were because by then he had found out that his life would be in terrible danger if he were ever to return to Eastern Europe. He was trapped.

Conditions in Eastern Europe are not the lovely success story of freedom prevailing once the Soviets were kicked out that we would like to imagine. Such things are never so simple. It takes many years for a country so oppressed to come to grips with its past and develop a strong and stable system of government. Some never do succeed. The country from which Audrius came has had a particularly tough time on that front. After the initial battles to remove Soviet rule Audrius was working undercover investigating corruption and gang activity. His father, meanwhile, was a major and effective dissident against any who would choose to rule the country through anything short of a just and free society. Audrius was a bold and brave young man, full of pride and certain of his abilities – a bit too certain. A night of drinking with a gang member being investigated went terribly wrong. Audrius took this man and his companions to a hotel room for more drinking where the man informed him that his help was needed to commit a robbery. Audrius attempted to leave and was attacked by this man. Audrius was hurt and badly bloodied in the ensuing fight. His attacker died.

Audrius’ first duty was to protect the investigation and that was what he did, which resulted in him being charged, tried and convicted for involuntary manslaughter. This charge appears to be “murder” in initial translation because all deaths at the hands of another in his language are called “murder,” even ones involving self-defense. The meaning gets lost in translation unless the statutes under which the person was tried are included. A person uninitiated in the language could easily misunderstand. However, a person familiar with that language who continues to call what Audrius was convicted of “murder” is someone who intends to deliberately mislead. In Audrius’ case the relevant statute indicates that he knew his actions could cause death but that was not the outcome he desired or intended. The documents that were finally obtained from Eastern Europe state every witness agreed that Audrius was attacked and struck back while attempting to extricate himself from the situation. That particular detail appears to be the only fact that was agreed upon in these documents. Beyond that the documents do not add up as to times, dates or even locations. Even a casual reading reveals numerous discrepancies whereby if one statement is true, another can not possibly be true as well as whole pages that are missing. A more thorough examination would indicate that something is very wrong. When Audrius was tried for this incident his lawyer was not allowed in the courtroom and he was sentenced to prison. He served his time while continuing to keep his silence. During that time he was taped naked to a chair and had live electrical wires applied to his arms till he passed out. He was revived and the process was repeated again and again. Much more was done to this man, but it serves no purpose to elaborate on it here. I am sorry if friends reading this find it distressing, he protected us all from this part of his past and I admit it is hard to read if you know him. I found out for the first time myself when I had to type up his statement to the International Criminal Court. The thought of this being done to him made me sick and I found it difficult typing through the tears that would not stop flowing. In that country, at that time, a number of people in positions of authority were doing quite well for themselves financially via the extra “gifts” and opportunities their position afforded them. Others, like Audrius, scraped by on their salary and a determination to do the right thing; the latter was a problem for the former. The problem that was Audrius was intended to be handled in that prison, but despite the odds, Audrius survived. Upon his release he was reinstated as an officer in the military and until he left that country to join his family here he was training coalition troops. He remained an officer and (as much as possible) a gentlemen, true to his country, to his duty and to those who served with him right up to the time he left. One of the men who served beside Audrius, spoke to me of what happened so long ago. He confirmed that Audrius did kill the man who attacked him because, in his words because, “that was the only way to defend friends and himself. Otherwise he would be killed.”

This should not have been an impediment to Audrius being allowed to live with his family here in the United States. We are fully aware in this country that sometimes the battle for freedom results in death, of our own men, our allies and of the enemy. At the prep school I attended in the 60s I was taught French by a man who was here on political asylum for trying to kill the bloody dictator, Papa Doc Duvalier, of Haiti. He did not try to kill him in self defense during an attack upon his person, as Audrius had done. He and his men stormed the building and tried to murder the leader of Haiti in cold blood. This country understood and gave him asylum. He lived out his remaining years in Northern New Hampshire peacefully (and colorfully) teaching teenage girls to speak French until the day he returned to Haiti where he was quickly shot to death.

In Audrius’ case such sanity has not prevailed. Soon after he arrived in the United States a warrant for his arrest was issued by his country with Interpol. It was not clear what he was wanted for, just that he was wanted. His father attempted to find out why this had been done and was told Audrius wasn’t really wanted and that if he knew what was good for him he would not return. Audrius got the message. He knew then if he were to return to his country, what had happened to him in that prison would likely be repeated, if he lived long enough to make it to the prison. There was no longer any way for him to safely leave here. The threat of deportation now held the potential for torture and death as well as never seeing his beloved children again. Unfortunately the worst happened as was written in Audrius’ latest blog post. He was picked up by immigration and his actions as a soldier in the fight for freedom are now seen as a reason to send him back to the very thugs who would see him dead so that they can finish him off. In the meantime they are used as sufficient reason to continue holding him in prison indefinitely for no crime. The fact that he has been detained has at least forced his country of origin to state why they have listed him as wanted with Interpol. It is because he is suspected of passing a fraudulent document. Their claim is that they have been seeking this man for nine years for suspicion of committing a misdemeanor for which the statute of limitations is three years. Considering the condition of the documents that were passed by that country to our own in regards to Audrius, this claim of being suspected of passing a fraudulent document would be laughable, were it not such a clear indication that it is being used to hide a far less lawful agenda.

There are rumors in our town that Audrius’ wife and her lover turned him in to get rid of him. There is no proof of that, but when he was initially picked up by ICE the deportation officer from the local NH DHS/ICE office that has regular dealings with the prison where Audrius’ wife and her boyfriend work (as a nurse and a prison guard respectfully) stated in his report that he had many documents from Eastern Europe regarding Audrius Kazenas. When Audrius’ friends and neighbors collected enough money to pay for a lawyer so that Audrius was able to have his case heard instead of being immediately deported it turned out that none of the documents listed had actually been obtained. How did this deportation officer know which documents to list when he had done none of the investigation that he claimed? When Audrius was picked up initially one of our local officers who knew the conditions Audrius had been living under told an official at immigration that there was need for further investigation as well as who they should look into. He was assured that would be done, but instead our officer received a call from someone claiming to be from DHS regarding the letter he had written to the court in support of Audrius, questioning his right to write it.

I have collected multiple incidents and statements of this type over the last two years. I have recorded a number of incidents of legal papers and proceedings that contradict each other so radically it is impossible for both to be true. The impression, when seen as a whole, is that it was the intention and expectation of a few individuals that Audrius should be quietly shipped off to his country of origin, never to be seen or heard from again. It appears that these people expected Audrius, a man who had lived in this country for eight and a half years unable to work, not allowed to own anything, would be helpless to defend himself, and he might well have been if he had been a different man. What was left out of that equation was the character of Audrius Kazenas and that character has so far been his salvation despite multiple efforts to use our immigration system to get rid of him. We-the-people do not have the power and resources of a federal agency such as ICE and coming up against that agency has caused some of us, myself especially, a great deal of hardship and suffering, but perhaps the system is not completely ethically bankrupt. So far our efforts have been enough to keep Audrius from being removed. The evidence presented has twice convince an immigration judge that Adrius has valid reason to remain here under the Convention Against Torture. It has not been enough to prevent ICE from continuing to hold this man in a prison, doing hard time for the crime of loving his children and loving and trusting his wife. Whether or not Audrius will be returned home to us where he is loved and greatly missed has yet to be seen. How much of what I have uncovered over two years of investigating will have to be made public has also yet to be seen.

If another Thanksgiving comes with him still in a cell we will be into our third year of this torture. It is agreed by him and those closest to him that he can not and should not be made to endure much more. Even I do not know how this story will end at this point as there has been a degree of aggression directed my way causing me to remove much of the evidence I have uncovered from my direct control and/or possession. I expected that the truth would prevail at some point, that those who sought to remove Audrius from the picture would see that their own interests would be put in jeopardy if they were to succeed at that now, but it seems that we are not dealing with a sentient entity so much as an irrational and vengeful monster bent on annihilating a perceived threat despite all indication that there is no threat except within its own actions. What I have written here is just a tiny portion of this story, what others have asked to know over and over. Who knows, perhaps those working within ICE who now hold his future in their hands will decide that those of us who have witnessed the circumstances of his life and feel he should stay might actually know something. Audrius may be granted his freedom, he may be returned to us so that we can enjoy the coming holidays together, leaving him able to live his remaining years out in peace. Or perhaps not; perhaps instead this insanity will continue and his story will wind up being read by others or watched in the movies after all. We shall see . . .

THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING IS IN THE EATIN’

2010-10-31T11:47:00.000-07:00

Anyone can talk a good line. Sometimes it is the liars and con artists who seem the most sincere and convincing, but in the end, their products betray who they are. What they do, whether others thrive around them, what they create, what they leave behind . . . that is the true measure of any human being. That can not be faked. Here are some samples from the letters that Audrius' friends and neighbors wrote to the immigration court that give a small glimpse into what this man's products were. The following is a small sample of what others who know him and how he has lived his life here have to say about Audrius:

"Over the years I have gotten to know him as a kind-hearted, generous person. Audrius has always seemed a gentle and loving father. The generous spirit of Audrius was most apparent when he traveled 2 hours (4 hours round trip) with me to help search for a missing dog. The weather was extremely cold, rainy and windy. Audrius searched for about 3 hours at night in a heavily wooded area with harsh wind as well as cold and driving rain, all without complaint."

"Every afternoon he would go to school and pick up the children, take them to soccer practice, their friends' houses or home to do homework. He is a devoted father to his daughters. When he first started visiting our shop his youngest daughter would come over with him, following him around, almost worshiping him. When I was at the house and both parents were home it was Audrius that knew where the soccer uniforms were, when the children needed to be where. He fed them, did the laundry and his world revolved around their needs, his were secondary."

"What most surprised me about Audrius was his ability to go from firm mentor with my older brother who was having a hard time finding his way, to a caring gentle father when admiring the handmade beaded bracelets that his daughters had made. It seemed that no matter what the task at hand, Audrius has always been around to lend a hand. The stories of man who rescued animals, who helped my parents and brothers so much, and who most importantly was always there for his family, seemed unimaginable until I met him."

"When my father-in-law was dying and insisted on coming home from the hospital to spend his birthday at home I was helping him out of the car and he started to fall. Audrius was there, helping my father-in-law stand. He helped George into the house and made sure that he was safely settled. Audrius lives across the street from my late father-in-law's house. I have no idea how he got to George that fast, but I will be forever grateful for his help. He also offered to come over and check on George when I was not there and the nurses weren't scheduled. When George died, it was Audrius who helped us secure the house, drain the pipes and move things that needed moving. He asked for nothing in return. He is truly a good and honest man."

This from a teenager: "To me Audrius is a mentor and friend of great value. He has given me guidance in many ways. I have gained a great deal of knowledge, motivation and strength from being around him. He has driven me to classes and supported all my interests through advice, motivation or heightening morale. It would be a great devastation to myself and the town if he was deported."

"I watched his children for him while he went to cut down firewood on his property so his children could be warm this winter. He always thinks of others first. He treated my children like they were his own. There was never a time where he didn't ask , "How was your day?" to them."

"I was clearing some trees on the back hill behind my dad's NH home. Dad was a heart patient and thought he'd sit and watch me work. About an hour into the work, dad keeled over, falling between 2 logs, a branch jabbing his carotid artery. There was no way I could move him by myself. I called the FAST Squad. About the time they arrived, Audrius was on the scene. Nobody could figure how to move dad with that branch sticking in him. Audrius saw the predicament and removed that branch without so much as leaving a scratch on dad's neck."

"I write this letter not because I have to, but because a man who was always willing to help me at anytime needs my help now. I met Audrius through a few mutual friends of ours and became good friends with him, much like the rest of the town. He was probably one of the most amiable people in the state of NH. There wasn't at thing he wouldn't try his hardest to help anyone with, whether it was training dogs, construction work, or any number of things he is skilled at. Having him gone for nearly half a year now has only made this more apparent. In the time since he has been incarcerated I have had the opportunity to meet and converse with even more people who he has had an impact on. From his neighbors, to strangers, to the local police officers, nobody has an unkind thing to say and most have anecdotal evidence of his kindness. I miss his friendship very much."

"If he could fit into the uniform I'd call him an Eagle Scout, but he is more than that. He understands engineering, metallurgy, physics, machine shop, etc. I've been a shop instructor/machinist all of my life. I have worked on some pretty big projects, the last being the Hubble Space Telescope. I know my way around the shop. However, when Audrius is around, I’m the student. To put it bluntly, the guy is brilliant, And he has a way of showing up just when you wish he would."

That is just some of what has been said about Audrius by those who have known him. There are less complimentary things being said about him by two who took advantage of him and betrayed him and others who have never met him but have something to gain from his removal from this country. You may have run into those. If you have, how are you to know what to believe? There are at least three sides to every story and so, to know the truth, it is frequently necessary to look at results – not what someone says happened, but what remains behind, that which stands in testament to what is real. That is why documents and eyewitnesses are senior to hearsay. In Audrius’ case, I hold the documents. They, by all rights, should only be revealed in a court of law, but if there is yet another appeal of the judge’s finding granting Audrius deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture, I will have to conclude that what is being done to this man has nothing to do with law or justice and will release those documents. In the meantime these are a few of the statements of eyewitnesses, of people who actually know Audrius, who were actually there and saw how he lived here and how he treated others. If actions speak louder than words, let Audrius’ actions speak for him.

Playing Offense

2010-10-28T17:06:00.000-07:00

A friend, Lea, who has been fighting the feds with her partner for the last 9 years to prevent him from being deported back to Canada, away from her and the country he has lived in nearly his whole life, said that they were both worn out, exhausted from fighting for so long and so hard. Her husband is the poster boy for excessive government turned inward and devouring its own people (http://proburrows.blogspot.com/). He is not a criminal, not a danger to the community. He is a Legal Permanent Resident and neither he, nor his partner, deserves any of what has been done to them.

What struck me was that comment – that they were worn out and exhausted. I’ve heard it before, said it many times myself regarding my own battle to prevent my country from deporting a man I value highly away from all of his family and friends who love him. But this time when I read those words I heard my son-in-law’s voice in my head and suddenly understood a concept I’d been trying to grasp for a long time. The reason those of us who are living under constant attack from our own government are so exhausted is we’re playing too much defense and not enough offense.

My son-in-law has played football for many years as a defensive player. When my daughter married him I knew very little about the sport, but he has done much to change that. After a particularly tough game he explained to me that he was exhausted, worn out because their offensive team was hardly on the field through the whole game, leaving the defensive team barely able to catch their breath as they were playing hard the whole time. Suddenly I saw where I’ve been going wrong while struggling to survive the mental and emotional brutality that is DHS/ICE - I’ve been playing defense most of the time. I’ve gone on the offensive and that always felt better, but when the opposing team is the federal government, it’s easy to slip back into a defensive position. I’ll get to that in a second, but would you look at that last statement: “when the opposing team is the federal government” . . . The federal government is not supposed to be playing against law abiding citizens and legal residents of the United States. Let me repeat that:

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE PLAYING AGAINST LAW ABIDING CITIZENS AND LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES!

But they are and they’ve got some explaining to do! When they oppose decent human beings who are just trying to live their lives in peace they are the ones who should have their defensive team on the field scrambling, not us! When the federal government seeks to defeat its own people, it deserves to be put on the defensive and in fact, it is actually playing from that position. The impression that it, in fact, holds all the power is an illusion. A government that is playing on the same team as the people is a government that has no fear of those people and it has the power that comes with the support of a free and thriving population. The more a government plays against the people the more it must fear its citizens and residents and the more authoritarian and oppressive it becomes. If you want to know how much Freedom, Liberty and Justice actually exists in a country, look at their laws and their methods of enforcing those laws. A government of, by and for the people will have reasonable laws and compassionate enforcement. A government that is playing against its people will have many laws and harsh, unyielding enforcement. So is our government playing for us or against us?

Contrary to what you might believe, the people hold the ultimate power and a government out of control is a government whose very existence is on the defensive. They have reason to fear their people. Since ours is very thoroughly playing defense, I believe we would all be less worn out and exhausted if we would recognize that we are dealing with a government that is against us, shed the illusion that its power is absolute and begin to play the offensive position that is rightfully ours. A government playing against its people must fear its people. The histories of many countries, France and Haiti come immediately to mind, hold testament to the power of the populace and the depth of humanity’s yearning for Liberty and Justice that refuses to die no matter how hard it is held under the boot heel of oppression. Those of us being terrorized by DHS/ICE have been playing defense too long and that is why we are exhausted. DHS/ICE has acted against “we the people” so many times, it has abused its power so completely, it has done so with the blessings and assistance of our leaders for so long – it needs to be the one on the defensive, not us!

This is the 21st century. We have new weapons at our disposal – not the least of which is the internet. We have armor too – our greatest being the rule of law, the Constitution of the United States of America, The Bill of Rights and International human rights law. Those were created by wise men for our use in times of need. I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling that time of need is now. We’ve been playing the same position in this game for so long it’s not going to be easy to switch, but it can’t possibly be as tiring as what we’ve been doing. If life is a game, then we should play it to win. The way to do that is to keep our defense strong and keep our offense in the game!

Tsunami Women

2010-10-22T11:48:00.000-07:00

This is for the men, but you ladies might want to pay attention as you can fall prey to one of these women too – either through your son, brother, father or male friend, or even directly. To the tsunami woman, anyone who serves her purposes for the moment is fair game and they are not just the stuff of overblown soap operas. I’m writing about this because I presently have not one, but two men around me whose lives have been turned upside down by such a woman, and along with them, the lives of everyone they are connected to. One of those men has found some possibility of relief – the tsunami woman he was unfortunate enough to connect with has finally gone too far and is facing possible prison time, but she isn’t in prison yet and he and the women in his family who are her most frequent targets still live their lives drawing the curtains, double checking to be sure the house is kept locked tight at all times and looking over their shoulder – all this while living out in the country where such things are not supposed to be necessary. The other man I know in this situation is still simply trying to survive.

If you choose, for the sake of protecting women, to err on the side of believing the female in matters of a domestic dispute when the evidence is ambiguous or even clearly points to a greater aggression on the part of the female partner, please remember that the man involved is likely not connected to just one woman. His daughters, mothers, sisters, etc – even female friends, neighbors or coworkers are all going to be impacted and may even be put in danger by that one act of tipping the scales of justice, no matter how well intentioned it might be.

If you haven’t heard the term “tsunami woman” before it is because I just coined it to name a kind of woman I have become far too familiar with over my 60 plus years of living. We have all crossed paths with a tsunami woman at some point in our lives. For some, like my doctor in Los Angeles, such an encounter turned deadly. He and his wife were the kind of people who could restore your faith in humanity no matter how bad your day had been before meeting up with them. None of us knew the private hell these people were living until he was shot to death on the sidewalk outside his medical office by an ex wife who had been actively stalking him for two years. During those years of being stalked and threatened he desperately tried to get help, but his ex played a good victim. She was a classic tsunami woman.

This kind of woman is a master of manipulation and uses her female status as a way to avoid the consequences that would normally befall someone who preys on others, usually by portraying herself and/or her child(ren) as a victim. Who doesn’t like being a hero? Knowing you have saved another person from being victimized results in a pleasurable feeling of competence and control. These women know this and they utilize it. It is hard to spot these women. Humans are hard-wired to understand that any woman will, at times, need care and special attention – we do bear children and we are physically not as strong as a man, so the natural instinct is to protect us. But the tsunami woman takes her status as a woman and turns it into a “get out of jail free” card. Men sometimes thank me when I point out the reality of this kind of woman, thinking I am standing up for them. I am not – I am standing up for all of us who are trying to live our lives in peace. In the end, the tsunami woman does as much harm to women and children as she does to men, either through crying wolf so many times the legitimate cases of rape or domestic violence that come after her have difficulty being believed – or, where children are involved, through extreme acts of parental alienation – or through the very real victimization of their target’s relatives and associates, many of whom are women and children.

The fact that a woman is very good at getting other people to help her does not indicate she is a tsunami woman; it simply means she is a nurturer. People connected to such a woman tend to thrive. Tsunami women may have good people skills, but only to the point of getting what they want. Any nurturing or compassion they show is an act, and these women are such accomplished actresses their fake is frequently more believable than the genuine. They aren’t just homemakers – they are diligent and caring homemakers, only their house is a mess. They aren’t just good mothers – everything they do is for the sake of their children, only their children do not thrive. They aren’t just good partners – they are the perfect lover who can stroke a man’s ego till he really does believe he’s superman, only as the tsunami woman gets older her past becomes littered with the mutilated lives of her discarded supermen.

Any person who deals with one of these women can see the truth if they look clearly, but the tsunami woman is a master at gauzing the lens. She does not target a man’s “small head” as is so commonly assumed. This is not a gender-specific predator – men, women and children are all at risk when in the company of such a woman. The vulnerable spot she services with skill and dexterity is ego, which is why both men and women can be brought to believe her and children can be convinced to lie for her despite (or perhaps because of) their fear of her. She is amazingly good at seemingly patching up a bruised ego and will tell anyone who will listen how much she has done for everyone around her.

If the people she has “helped” are now in her past she will also point out how ungrateful the recipients of her largess have been. This woman’s life is littered with an inordinate number of “ungrateful” people who misused and abused her. Anyone can mistakenly stumble into an abusive relationship, but for a normally social person, good experiences with people far outweigh the bad and they are fully aware and ashamed of their own transgressions. The tsunami woman, however, is "always faithful, always truthful and always the victim" – and she will tell you this over and over. It is all those other people who have harmed and betrayed her. It is never her. If you have ever escaped such a woman, you are the bad guy. All the while, her real-time ego stroking of her latest targets is accomplished through portraying herself as a serial victim nobly struggling on who needs your rescue. She will tell her present-time associates they are different, they may be someone within the legal system, her friends or her lover, but they are always her savior. Hindsight examination of her actions toward those closest to her will reveal that all that delightful ego stroking was covertly accompanied by multiple hidden pricks simultaneously deflating that same ego. This leaves her victims confused and more easily manipulated. In the beginning of any relationship with such a woman those pricks are so slight, they are barely noticed and easily explained away, but they have a cumulative effect.

Research in domestic violence has shown that one of the signs of a mate who could turn abusive is an instant, overbearing love of the one they will eventually abuse. Tsunami women abuse their partners mentally, sometimes physically and in the end through the legal system, but they also take advantage of friends, coworkers – anyone who they feel could be handy in their life. These women form hard, fast friendships in an instance and quickly become demanding of their new friend's time and attention. A normally social and caring person will interpreted such behavior as insecurity and will at first try to accommodate this sort of woman; though they find her needy, that neediness she has for them does provide an ego boost, and thus they are caught into an abusive relationship. When the actions of a tsunami woman become clear, just as with female victims of an abusive male partner, those who are looking at the progression of what was done wonder at the gullibility of the target. In fact, any sociable person can be temporarily fooled by this woman. I have been more than once.

This type of woman is especially dangerous and can create far more damage than a violent and abusive man for two reasons. First: Her violence at the beginning is seldom overt or easily detectable and frequently her victim is not believed. Second: In an attempt to compensate for a past lack of protection for legitimately abused and/or assaulted women, our present legal handling of domestic violence and our way of talking about and administering justice for victims of domestic violence heavily favors women. The most unfortunate part of this is female victims of rape or domestic abuse and/or assault by men flounder and have no understanding of the system that they are going to need to gain help and maybe protection, which frequently results in such victims getting help too late or not seeking help at all. Tsunami women have no such problem. They know the system well and they know how to manipulate it. Any man who attempts to bring them to justice is in danger of having abuse or harassment charges leveled against him as well. This is a dangerous character to deal with and taking her on is not for the timid or faint of heart – it is a frustrating and too often unsuccessful undertaking. And so, she often walks among us, free, while those she uses, abuses and casts aside strive to avoid further contact with her at all costs. The men who have been her husbands find that when there are children involved it is impossible to escape her revenge. She will torture the father of her children through those children, handicapping their emotional future by mentally manipulating them against their father. Children held hostage in such fashion begin to fail badly and it is not uncommon for a man to give up and walk away in the hopes that his absence will prevent further abuse. This woman is adept at wreaking vengeance on anyone who has failed to please her.

If you extrapolate out all the damage caused by such a woman through compromised partners, people connected to those partners, abused and damaged children, people who are or will be connected to those children throughout their adult life, the clogging of our courts with vindictive demands for restraining orders or false accusations of domestic violence or even molestation and a general loss of faith in our justice system’s ability to protect the innocent from the guilty, you will find the amount of damage that this one person can cause is truly staggering. Recognizing and properly handling a tsunami woman would be the first step to a more peaceful existence for society as a whole.

The above assessment is what I have found through observation, both subjective and objective over a period of years. I have seen these women, I have seen their victims and I have seen the ongoing carnage. It is time for the existence of such a woman to be recognized and dealt with. They have done enough damage. Ordinary people trying to make their way through an already difficult world do not need, nor do they deserve, what this kind of woman will produce in their lives. It is time for those she targets and victimizes who are currently being rendered invisible by a society that insists women are victims and men perpetrators to stand up and declare that we do have rights. The right to a peaceful existence belongs to us. We are the creators of a productive and harmonious society.

Love and Hate

2010-09-24T10:41:00.000-07:00

Wrote this years ago. It's still relevant:

“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” Actually, anyone scorned can be a dangerous element. Why? I’ve been pondering this for a while and I think I’ve found a thread to pull. Love and hate are not opposites. They are two sides, yes, but of the same coin. The opposite of love is indifference – you really don’t care about that person, place or thing.

Love is a constant. Once you have put that energy, that thought in your life it will not die. It can however, shift. Think about someone you have loved dearly and now dislike intensely. Before you knew this person, say when you first met them, you were indifferent toward them. Love at first sight is even preceded by a period of indifference when the object of your affection was just one of the mass of humanity, but once you have loved, the whole game changes.

We are loath to admit this when things go sour. We still have strong feelings, but we do not want to love someone or something that hurts us, so we turn that emotion to hate. Some people have relationships that swing between love and hate with ease - it is part of the dynamic of the relationship. This can be, because love and hate are not opposites. They are harmonics. When any relationship goes sour – that which we loved is not as worthy or compatible as we had thought – it is easy and convenient to turn that love to hate. When someone who loved us changes their opinion, particularly if they show indifference, which really is the denial of love and the complete end of any relationship, we can be driven to fury. We take the love that we have felt, and not having the opportunity to alter that love the way the other party has, our own emotion comes out as hate – hence: “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”.

The sane and unfortunately difficult solution would be to acknowledge our love and live with the feelings that a change in circumstances or awareness bring about. I have loved many people through the years who have proven over time to have aspects to their character that were incompatible with my own. I am not talking here on a sexual level. One can love a friend or an associate as easily as one can love a mate. When those aspects become apparent I am faced with a dilemma, because to some degree I do love this person. In some cases, it is possible to continue to love the person, warts and all. That is what all mature love consists of. We all have our weaknesses and we live and love with each other despite them.

Sometimes things crop up in another or in ourselves where a continued connection is no longer possible. I think that we stay with people not so much because of common interests and values as we do because of compatible faults. When faults become incompatible it is so easy to bury the disappointment and hurt that comes with loving that person by turning that emotion of love to hate, but when we do that we continue the cycle that hurts us. Hate is not far from love and can live on for years, poisoning our system and even our future relationships.

So, what is the solution? I think I have discovered some of it in one of my own children’s former partner. We all learned to love this individual, looked forward to his addition to our family, but there were hidden problems that were destructive. While we all pray that those destructive tendencies are something this person will conquer, we are also aware that the process will be a long one and there will be a lot of ‘bodies’ along this person’s path to healing. I know this acutely because of my own toxic background, born of years of abuse by my mother as a child. I know how many suffered being connected to me till I found some balance of my own. Fortunately these things balance out – only toxic people stick around for toxic results.

So for our family, this one person who we all learned to love so much can not be the addition we had looked forward to. The temptation exists to turn our love to hate. Then, all future disappointments in that area will be avoided. To continue to love and support the individual while protecting ourselves is difficult, but it is more truthful. We do in fact have love for this person. We are disappointed in the loss of a hoped for future. We will not waste and soil the value in that humanity through hate. This would seem the harder course, but in truth it is the easier. Hate is toxic in and of itself, and as we are all members of that great web of humanity, of life and of energy, to hate another is to lessen ourselves. Hate devours all that it touches.

The Price of Ownership

2010-09-11T15:16:00.000-07:00

I dedicate this post to friends who have felt the blade of a love turned sour buried deep in their backs, but most of all, I dedicate it to the tears and fears of the children . . .

My father used to drum it into my head when I was young. Whenever I would refer to anyone as “my boyfriend” or “my . . . .” (fill in the blank) he would fix me with a stern eye and firmly inform me that when it comes to human beings, there is no “my” – we have no right to ownership – of anyone. Of course he understood the lack of personal pronouns in the English language to designate a reference without indication of ownership, but he was determined that a defect in our language should not translate to simplicity in his daughter’s thinking. And so I grew up . . . understanding from an early age that I am permitted to love, but not to own, and thereby was able to realize my right to my own freedom.

How many tragedies are played out from that one misunderstanding - from our quest to own another or others? Absolutely no one has a right to ownership of another human being. It does not matter if you are speaking spiritually or as a secular humanist – there is no right to ownership in the matters of people. We acknowledge this when it comes to slavery, though our casual enforcement of the laws against human trafficking and blatant exploitation of immigrant labor tends to indicate that that understanding is tenuous at best, but we seem to be oblivious to that reality when it comes to partners and children.

Love is not possession. In “The Prophet” Kahlil Gibran, states: “Love possesses not nor would it be possessed; for love is sufficient unto love.” On the matter of children, he says: “Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, and though they are with you yet they belong not to you.”

Today I have two good friends who tried to escape the jaws of a partner who sought to own them and are now suffering the consequences. I have seen it before, have lived it before myself. This is the stuff of which domestic abusers, stalkers and even murderers are made. This is the emotion that drives parents to devour their own innocent children in a quest to cause pain to a partner that has attempted to break free or of whom they have tired. This is the stuff of horror movies and bloody news headlines. It is very real and too often . . . successful.

The stories vary, the gender also varies. Do not think for a minute that the only ones who would own their partner are men. They are the more visible, but to believe they are the only offenders is to risk being duped by a covertly acquisitive female and from what I have seen it is my theory that the female predator is by far the more deadly. That is only a theory, there is no research, only personal experience behind it, so please do not accept it as fact, but I ask you to at least consider the possibility.

I have lived under threat from a violent man who was furious that I helped his partner escape him (the thugs who are attempting to intimidate me into silence now might take note – that has been tried before). I have also lost a much loved doctor who was shot to death by his ex-wife on the sidewalk outside his clinic after enduring two years of her active stalking and threats, His and his wife’s attempts to seek help through the law fell on deaf ears until it was too late. I have come to the aid of other men who live with the threat of a female bent on getting even for a real or imagined offense. “Sleeping With the Enemy” is a reality for some unfortunate women. “Fatal Attraction” is as real for some men, but the men have nowhere to turn and are seldom believed. The recent arrest and conviction of one woman in New Hampshire for framing her ex-husband was not the norm. She was the surface manifestation of a growing cancer within our society. The majority of her kind remain undetected while wreaking havoc in one unsuspecting family after another. I am left to wonder: If this one who was caught had not been recorded while gloating to a friend about the judge having had a heart attack, would her well deserved sentence have been as stiff or would she have been let off more easily because she is, after all, a woman? Are there any other women out there who find the implications of that double standard as disturbing as I do?

I recently joked with a friend as he recounted his own struggles with an ex who keeps returning to plague him, stalking him, breaking into his home, threatening any woman he is friendly with. I asked him if he had any pet bunnies in his back yard – and suggested he might want to remove them if he did. Pointing out to a man that he might be dealing with a “bunny-boiler” makes for a good joke, but we don’t see it as funny when telling a woman that she might be “sleeping with the enemy,” do we? When a friend of mine looked out her window from what she thought was a safe house and saw a painting from the house she’d shared with her abusive husband leaning against a mailbox across the street, I didn’t make a joke of it. Why not? Do we believe that the men who are victimized in this way suffer less? Are men not granted the same ability to feel or to the sanctity of their own life? Or has our history of male dominance created an environment where ownership of a man by a woman is more acceptable than ownership of a woman by a man? Have we extrapolated the sins of our fathers onto the men of today? These are not rhetorical questions. I am really asking . . . trying to understand why it is so easy to treat such circumstances differently simply because of a difference in gender.

It is fine to argue this back and forth. It is not fine when that argument filters our perception of an individual’s right to the remedies of law. If you do not know at least one man who has been railroaded by a vindictive ex into poverty, failure . . . even prison or death . . . if you do not know at least one woman who has witnessed a friend, son, brother, father or uncle destroyed by a woman while being helpless to save him, then you are living your life with blinders on. I’ve known a few. I feel I must stand and speak for them because, though the abuse is real and they are human, they have no established advocates or shelters.

Of course I have known violent and/or possessive men as well, have been the target of three in my life, so I never blindly believe any man who claims to be a victim. A man who once stalked me relentlessly and who still pops up from time to time at first claimed to have been victimized by most of the women in his past. I look into what men say with a skeptical eye, more-often-than-not I do not feel certain of their claim . . . but I do look. Just that act alone is more than most of these men will ever get from our legal system – and so female predators are allowed to continue free in our midst, preying on and hobbling the men in our lives – unchecked and frequently even unseen.

But where there are men and women there are children . . . adults who demand to own their partners will believe they own their children as well, and there is the ultimate tragedy. An adult may make a terrible mistake and pick an abusive partner. Perhaps they were abused as a child, causing them to see obvious red flags as normal, but whatever the reason, they do choose that partner. This is not meant to place blame on the victim of an abuser, but to differentiate them from the victims who are so often forgotten in such a scenario – children.

Children are given no choice. They are complete innocents, unable to protect themselves and usually loving the very person who is their greatest source of pain. This is their parent, after all. Sometimes, in a particularly bitter break up, both parents will place the children in the middle as pawns to be fought over, to be manipulated to love the one more than the other or even kept from the other parent entirely. Such actions are always child abuse as a child alienated from a parent is also alienated from part of himself. No parent would or could do such a thing to a child unless that child was perceived as being owned – as theirs.

To end the abuse, we must end our sense that we can or should own others. “My” is simply a word that must suffice for want of a better non-possessive personal pronoun. Do not be so quick to automatically assume the innocence of a woman or the guilt of a man in these matters. A tendency toward a literal interpretation of “my” when referencing a friend, partner or spouse is not limited to the male gender. This may not be a comfortable or convenient reality, but we ignore it at our peril. Can our refusal to acknowledge the signs of a woman who sees men as something to be owned, used and ultimately worthy of abuse end in anything other than broken lives? Can we afford to condone the implicit violence of one human being’s demand to own another? If we continue on our present course, our children are the ones who will pay the ultimate price. They are our future. Can we afford to have them pick up the tab?

REASONING WITH EVIL

2010-06-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

The Nazis are at the door - literally. They are no longer content to hide in the shadows and have openly and boldly demanded their say in immigration discussions and policy. Do we bar the way and defend our home or decide they aren’t really so bad and invite them in to sit at the table? The Republicans have chosen the latter of those options and the Nazi Party along with other white supremacists are starting to control the dialogue. If you’re nodding your head and tsk, tsking at the Republicans because you’re a Democrat you might want to slow that up a bit because your guys in Washington are doing the same thing. Maybe they didn’t invite them into the house to sit at the table, they haven’t been that oblivious, but they’re setting quite a nice picnic spread for them out on the lawn. What does it help to leave them outside if you feed them? A well fed Nazi is more capable of battering down the door than a starving sickly one and there is no civil way to sit at the table with white supremacists of any kind. When organizations like FAIR are allowed to join in immigration policy discussions and their data is used in creating enforcement tactics, that is exactly what is being done. Whether they are invited in or they are fed till strong enough to break down the door, once access is gained they rape, pillage and kill to their hearts content. Look what has happened to the tea partiers and the Republicans after they opened the door to them. Nazis and all their white supremacist siblings are as close to evil as you can have walking around on this earth. Next to Nazis, Satanists look saintly. This is definitely a group where it is not only okay to starve them out of existence; it is your duty to mankind to do so.

I am a huge proponent of open dialogue. I know that there can be redemption. People can have a change of heart and see the error in their ways and many do, but when that happens to a Nazi, that person will renounce the name of Nazi, not keep it and glorify it. People are not born Nazis, they don’t take it up innocently like joining a social club. Being a Nazi, promoting white supremacy in any way, is a choice of human conduct and there is absolutely nothing wrong in judging them and treating them in accordance with their affiliation. These people embrace pain and human suffering. It is their stated intent to cause harm to whatever populace they choose to demonize. Broken lives, devastated communities and even total annihilation of large segments of humanity are their products. Their actions have been pure evil from their beginning and like the KKK and all their like-minded brethren, they must be shut out.

By choosing the mantle of Nazi one has declared to the world that one has chosen evil. Of course they try to hide the foulness of that reality with pretty words and all manner of accessories. If you listen to KKK propaganda these days you would swear they are just another do-gooder social club that, oh-by-the-way, just happens to believe in the purity of the white race. The Nazis are following suit and covering their stink with the perfume of “national security” and “defending the border”. It is all a lie and should never, ever be reasoned with! No one takes on the mantle of resident evil to do good works and help mankind. You know this. I know this and our guys in Washington should know this.

The Republicans have been fools tagging along with these people and even adopting some of their platforms. They are feeding a tiger steaks in the hope it will turn vegetarian . . . not going to happen. Now their party is a mess and no longer able to provide the balance that is so necessary to a free society. They have basically gone non-operational. They have allowed mental and emotional barbarians to sit at their table so now they can provide nothing but noise to the business of running a civilized society. The Democrats understand that such people are not to be allowed into the house, but they seem to think the reason for this is they might track mud onto the carpet. They aren’t handling them like people who have chosen to pursue and glorify evil. They are trying to reason with them and provide just a little of what these vermin are demanding, just enough to keep them fed.

Remember, the Holocaust did not happen because of Hitler and his SS. The Holocaust happened because good people tried to be reasonable with evil. Do that and death and destruction will surely follow. It is already doing so in our own country. It is time to become very unreasonable – to the Nazis and all white supremacists who would destroy the very heart and soul of this country . . . and to any politician who would give them quarter. There is no reasoning with evil!

No Balls in the Air

2010-06-23T09:43:00.000-07:00

Ever juggled? If you haven’t, you should try it, it’s fun – good exercise too, at least for me – bending over all those times to pick up dropped balls. Those who are good at juggling make it look so effortless, but when you take it up you learn within the first few seconds, the more balls you have in the air, the harder it is to keep them all going.

One of the problems we seem to have with our elected officials these days is they have chosen to solve that problem by not tossing any of their balls up in the air. They sit with balls clutched tight, ear to the ground to judge the tone and mood of the country so they will know which ball to toss which direction. Well, what on earth is the use of balls held tight and safe? Might as well be a ball-less individual if you’re going to do that, and from where I sit it looks like this country is awash in ball-less politicians who don’t have the courage to let anything fly.

Nazis and white supremacists are openly and blatantly taking over the Republican Party and for all that I can see, there’s no one in the party willing to show their balls and stand up to them. There is one thing you can say for Nazis and white supremacists – they’ve tossed all their balls in the air and have them in full play. Okay, each of them only has one raggedy, worn ball, but they are juggling it for all it’s worth. Men like John McCain, who spent a whole lot of time during the campaign showing us how big his balls are, seem to have entirely misplaced theirs. McCain's panting after the Nazis and white supremacists trying to play with theirs. Palin? Well she never had any to begin with so at least she’s consistent.

The Democrats, now there’s a crew that showed us a whole lot of balls during the campaign and promised us a good show. Where are their balls now? The anti-immigration crowd squeaks and they fall right in line tossing them some new balls to play with and pointing out to the rest of us, who are standing there open-mouthed and feeling betrayed, that they at least didn’t give the “no documents is worse than drug-dealing, rape and murder combined” crowd as many balls as they wanted.

When it comes down to our guys in D.C. I don’t see any balls in the air. Do you see any balls in the air? There haven’t been any balls in the air for a good long time! Last time I saw balls was when Clinton was president. I’m not saying I like the balls he was tossing around. His signing of the IIRAIRA, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (which I think the Democrats have successfully kept from being detected as their doing by giving it an impossibly long name) in 1996, is what made the immigration hell we are all now living in possible. I’m not claiming any love for Clinton’s balls, but at least he used them!

Part of being a leader is leading. You have to throw those balls in the air, get them in play, do something beyond tossing a few over to the opposing side and letting them play with them instead. The present scenario is just plain wrong. Innocent lives are being destroyed, immigrant’s and citizen’s, by the hundreds of thousands every year and no one is standing up, taking out their balls and using them! If those we elected persist in throwing balls over to the Nazis and white supremacists to appease them two things are going to happen – guaranteed: 1. They will not be appeased, they will be emboldened instead. 2. They will have more and better balls to play with ‘cause our side gave their balls away! It’s time for our leaders to stop helping the other side and start giving us the show they promised. Just sayin’ . . .

There Are No Winners in the Battle of the Sexes

2010-06-09T18:33:00.000-07:00

I’m a bit of a traitor – or so some would say. I’ve been an advocate for men’s rights for 20 years, what would seem a highly inappropriate stance for a woman who, during the 60s, championed the cause of equal rights for women. I still support equal rights – and that is what led me to advocating for men’s rights. One can not be taken seriously as an adult of equal stature while maintaining exceptional status. It has been my experience that men do not have difficulty with the concept of equal rights so much as they rebel against the maintenance of special exceptions at the same time. Such men frequently see my position in favor of fair and just treatment for men as stemming from a concern for them – that’s not what motivates me. While I do like men, it is not for them that I take the position that I have – it is for me, as a woman. I benefit directly when those around me thrive. My survival is compromised to the degree that those I am close to do not thrive. This is not a gender-specific reality; whether my family, friends and associates are female or male, if they are compromised then I am compromised to some degree. I am a pacifist when it comes to the battle of the sexes simply because it is a battle that can only be lost - it is a foolish battle to fight. No one wins and I am bloody tired of certain ignorant women who feel it is their right to wage war on the opposite sex in any way that happens to strike their fancy and to hell with what it does to the rest of us!

Over the years I have found myself defending the rights of a large number of men that I have never met or spoken with. This happens because it is frequently the man’s wife, mother, sister or fiancée who is the one to tell me what has happened. That’s right - a man in her life has been taken advantage of or hurt and she’s reaching out to try to help him. It’s making her life miserable too! Once in a while a man will sit down and ask my advice or help on an extreme injustice that has happened to him (those who know me know that I am involved in just such a situation now) but usually it is the woman who tags me and says, "Sister, I need some help!" You might suspect the reason for that is men tendend to be more stoic, to bear these slights silently – or maybe you think they don’t feel emotional pain so much. You would be wrong on that. Men feel injustice just as deeply as any woman. They show it differently, are more apt to display anger than tears, but the tears do follow – just not always publicly. What is ignored here is the fact that when a man is attacked unfairly, when he is used and abused without recourse to justice, the women in his life fall victim to that as well and that is why I wind up talking to female relatives and companions – because they are being harmed by what is being done to that man in their life. People are interconnected. Wow - who knew?!

Do you wonder where the harm is in allowing a system to exist where the mere word of a woman against any man is enough to send him to prison, to get him deported, to strip him of everything he has worked for and created? If you would insist that men are the exception to human rights, that they have been the oppressor for so long they deserve everything that happens to them, that is fine; you have a right to hold that opinion, but you still do not have a valid argument in favor of denying them rights and fair treatment. Even if it were true that human rights only apply to certain humans (by definition, human rights belong to all humans), men are connected to women and children who do not fall into that category and violating the man’s human rights harms women and children as well, so that sorry excuse just does not fly! Ask the women around you. You won’t have to go far to find one whose life has been turned into a living hell thanks to a woman who has attacked a man in that woman’s life.

It goes further. I’ve unfortunately witnessed a number for circumstances where a young man was mentally abused by a grandmother, mother or other female authority. I’ve frequently wondered about the women that come after – when that young man is grown will they be paying for the sins of those who abused him. My experience is that they will. Mental manipulation and abuse travels on from woman to man to woman, or man to woman to man – there are no shortage of combinations – until someone says, “Enough!” and refuses to pass it along any further. My own mother was abusive to me and my father, but it didn’t originate with her. It’s been hard to trace the source, but from the wall of silence I encountered when I started asking questions, and from the way she related to men, my guess is she was molested by some man while growing up. So she in turn victimized my dad and me. I was well set up to be hell-on-wheels for any poor guy that hooked up with me – and I started out that way till I stood back, took a look at how totally illogical my actions were and decided that was enough – that the chain of pain wasn’t going to go any further. Ultimately the battle of the sexes is a war against humanity - and laws that favor one gender at the expense of another harm both genders. It has always been that way, it always will be. We can not survive without the opposite sex.

So let’s get down to what got me to step aside from my immigration obsession for a moment: Lately the number one incident I have run into has been false claims of domestic violence. It is an easy way to make life hell for a soon-to-be former spouse. It shouldn’t be. But, you say, if such claims were not so easily believed women would be at the mercy of men even more than they are. Are you sure about that? The most thorough studies indicate that women and men are equal in acts of domestic violence. Do you perhaps think women are killed more? It would appear to be true, but I’m not even sure about that. Some recent disturbing murders on the part of women have all been preceded by violent episodes, some resulting in death, and they were not handled as crimes. How many times does this happen where the woman does not go on to kill again or does not eventually get caught? Each of these murderous women got away with it a few times before they went so far that there was no way to avoid acknowledging the obvious. A woman professor opens fire on a room full of colleagues and it turns out that in her past she shot her brother to death, but it was ruled an accident. As the details emerge, it sounds less and less like an accident, and there have been other violent episodes in her past as well, but she was a teenage girl – she couldn’t really have murdered her brother. That is what the investigators decided. She went on with her life, married, had children, became a college professor and when she was passed over for tenure she took a gun and blew her colleagues away! I’d say she was given the benefit of the doubt a little too often. This sort of attitude creates a false perception of women as the peaceable sex. Ask any woman who loves a man that has been the victim of manipulative and/or vicious female. She will tell you – women can be dangerous – even deadly. Actually, you don’t have to go that far – ask me. I act non-violently because I choose to, not because being female predisposes me to that. I have had cause in the past to get physical in self-defense. It has not worked out well for the person on the receiving end.

This is a complex subject, more worthy of a book than a short blog, but I’m irritated by it today and I’d like to make a proposal. I’d like to propose that any woman who can be proven to have deliberately falsely accused a man of violence against her for personal gain should be sentenced to the punishment that that man would have been sentenced to if he had been found guilty. It’s not going to create a climate where women will not dare come forward when they have been abused or raped if it is kept to only completely obvious cases - not in cases where the man was simply found not guilty - but in cases such as the woman who accused a young college man of raping her when he wasn’t even at the party and a bank video camera recorded him getting money out of an ATM across town at the time. You talk about women’s lives being ruined . . . do you think the lives of the mother, sisters and girlfriend of that falsely accused young man were not ruined? I assure you they most definitely were!

What such a law would do is make the legitimate claims of women who really have been attacked more credible. These days I have to admit, I am immediately skeptical about claims of domestic violence unless I see the damage or the act. Of course I know it happens, but I also know it’s faked to gain the upper hand in relationship disputes . . . a lot! It is especially common in divorces that involves child custody and I’ve had to deal with the fallout one too many times.

This time around I’m dealing with it very close to home and I would so dearly like to see the woman responsible experience exactly what it is she is trying to create for the man who has been her victim. It, quite honestly, would make my day! In her case I know there are a number of people who are actively praying that she receive a full and speedy return on all her thoughts and deeds, and I join them in that wish, but wouldn’t it be so gratifying to see this kind of bad actor actually reap what she sows in exactly the form that she created it? I would dearly love to see that! Just had to get that off my chest . . . I will now return to my regularly scheduled obsession . . .

When Legal and Illegal Bear the Same Meaning - We All Loose!

2010-05-11T08:16:00.000-07:00

There is a lot of misinformation swirling around the immigration debate these days. Most of it is focused on people who have come here without documents – a civil offense - the legal equivalent of a traffic ticket. Even the media has jumped on the bandwagon. It is a handy misdirection from the fact that our federal immigration enforcement is out of control and is detaining, abusing and then deporting thousands of immigrants who are here legally. It is a handy misdirection from the fact that most of those detained, abused and deported are connected to tens of thousands of citizens as well. It is a handy misdirection from the fact that we are committing human rights atrocities on a massive scale in our detention centers and it is a handy misdirection from the fact that our federal government is condoning and even encouraging the commission of felony crimes against defenseless men, women and children within our own country for the sake of enforcing a civil code.

Today let’s look at how 19,000 of the 33,000 prison beds filled by immigrant detainees can be used for people who are here legally and who are not guilty of any crime: If an immigrant is here legally, they are still subject to being picked up by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) if they have any run in with the law. Examples that have happened here that I am personally familiar with include an African Methodist Minister who was the victim of identity theft. The thief used that identity criminally and the minister was picked up by the police. The police saw quickly that he was the victim, but ICE had already been called. ICE placed him in detention and began deportation proceedings against him.

This man spent many months doing hard time for no crime while going through the long, arduous immigration hearings. It took five more months and the help of a lawyer to get him out of prison after the judge ordered him released. ICE does not give up easily, so much so that even the son of a Vietnam War veteran who was born in this country wound up going through the same ordeal. When his family presented his birth certificate they were told by ICE that a birth certificate is not proof of citizenship. Living in the USA legally, being a citizen, even being born here or being a veteran of foreign war is no protection. It will not deter ICE in their determination to enforce that civil code at any cost. The do not care what laws they break or what rights they violate in the process.

Another case is the young man I did the piece for on Youtube that can be found on my web site: www.OBFThePeople.org. He came here as a refugee with his family at the age of 2 and grew up, went to school, got a job, paid taxes - all legally. He was picked up while celebrating a Celtics victory - the police were looking for a Middle Eastern man. His clothes didn't match the description they had, but he did look Middle Eastern. They detained him up and beat him severely while calling him by the name of one of the terrorists from 9/11 (if you doubt that beating read, “The Fence” by Dick Lehr about the vicious beating of a black undercover cop by Boston cops and the subsequent cover up – Boston is notorious). Then ICE came and took the young man away. The police never prosecuted him for anything, he wasn't the one they were looking for, but a person doesn't have to be prosecuted - all it takes is a charge. A girlfriend or wife making a charge of domestic abuse, even if it is totally unfounded, will get someone deported, but first they will spend months or even years in prison under immigration detention. That is how a citizen spouse can easily get rid of an inconvenient immigrant partner if they find someone new and want the immigrant gone.

Once ICE has someone they are not allowed to defend themselves against any minor criminal charges, so the charges are usually dropped. The person never has their day in court. The fact that they were picked up at all is enough for ICE to begin deportation proceedings. All non-citizens in this country are guilty until proven innocent and they are not allowed an opportunity to prove themselves innocent. So this young man who had lived here since the age of 2, whose whole family was here, who knew no other country and committed no crime, spent 18 months in prison while ICE worked to deport him. His family's finances were destroyed, his citizen fiancée’s life was put on hold, his own life was put on hold, all over the fact that he looked Middle Eastern.

If a judge finds that an immigrant should be released ICE usually appeals to the Board of Immigration Appeals. The BIA frequently does not uphold the judge's finding so it then goes back to the judge. If the judge again rules in favor of the immigrant ICE again will appeal and it can go back and forth like that for years. The whole time the person sits in prison. This young man wound up in exactly that sort of cycle. That is when ICE offered him the option of voluntary departure. He committed no crime, yet he still sat in prison after 18 months with no end in sight. His family was emotionally and financially ruined. It was just before Christmas. If he accepted ICE’s offer he would be released and be able to spend a few days with his family and fiancee before having to leave the country. Voluntary departure would not prevent him for applying for a visa to return and that held a slim possibility of him being able to rejoin those who love him here in a year or five or maybe ten. If he didn't take it he was facing possible years of prison going back and forth between the judge and the BIA. He took it. He is now living in a country he does not know, far from everyone he loves and who loves him.

The last words of the Pledge of Allegiance are: “with Liberty and Justice for ALL.” They do not qualify that. Those words do not exclude non-citizens or citizens who live with and love non-citizens. The word “ALL” excludes all qualifiers. What about that do we not understand?

You Know the Truth

2010-02-14T12:21:00.000-08:00

A friend recently was betrayed by the person he loved and trusted the most - horribly, brutally betrayed. I sat across from him as he faced the fact that he had lost everything, including his freedom, and was left with only a tenuous hold on his life and health. I expected regrets, but he gave none, bore the news with dignity and understanding, which reminded me again why he was so valued as a friend. He pointed out that he knew what this woman was - had always known, but he chose not to see because he was "in love." Through that choice to believe her instead of the signs, he had aided and abetted this woman in the abuse of her first husband. He did not attempt to explain the obvious away.

There's a saying, "Hind sight is twenty-twenty." It is usually said as a way to excuse a mistake that was made due to faulty data, but I have to confess that my respect for my friend went up a notch when he did not attempt to justify his decisions. He could have seen the truth if he had been willing to look. The information was there right along. And so it is with many of these situations. True, we might not know everything, but how many times have we taken a wrong path in life and when it comes to a bad end, looked back and realized that the "Dead End" sign had been clearly visible at the beginning.

I don't like to pull rank by nature of being older than most of you too often, but this is one time I'm going to - have seen plenty of mistakes, made plenty of my own and so today I offer you one handy rule for happier living when it comes to relationships: Do not be a party to breaking up a marriage! You know who you are and you know what I am talking about!

Ladies: The justification that his wife "doesn't understand him," is bull! It isn't even original and he's insulted you by coming up with it. Show him the door and not your heart! If he were to leave his wife and go with you, what have you gained? A man you know cheats, that's what!

The offer to buy you the world along with tons of examples of how rich and successful he is . . . at best a lie, at worst he thinks you can be bought. Translation: he sees women as property. Again - show him the door! Don't fall for that foolishness. Any woman who allows herself to be put up for sale this way has only herself to blame for what follows. Pure logic says that today's millionaire could loose it all tomorrow and today's poverty stricken dreamer could be tomorrow's brilliant and wealthy inventor. Never sell your life to the highest bidder.

Men: It feels good to have one's ego pumped, but when she tells you you are the best she's ever had - and follows it with an offer to compromise your integrity - run - in the other direction! You guys have a HUGE weakness in the area of coming to the rescue of phony damsels in distress. Women are strong and capable - they do not have to be saved on a regular basis. Once in a while, sure, we can all use a little help from time to time. Constantly? She's stroking you!

The female version of "doesn't understand me," is: "I'm afraid of my husband." Both men and women commit domestic abuse, but the ones making false accusations are almost always women. Male victims tend to not admit it, even to themselves. Of course you want to help a woman going through such a situation, but have you actually witnessed the abuse? Are there numerous others who have seen it or are all the people who have seen her and her husband together suddenly MIA? Is she keeping you from talking to the people who would know?

This is a tricky area because you don't want to have a woman in actual danger left defenseless, and unfortunately the manipulators can be more convincing than the true victims, but there's one really good way to be sure you are on the side of angels . . . don't get into an affair with a married woman! If she's being abused, she's vulnerable and you have no business taking advantage of her like that! If she's not, an affair will tempt you to not see the "Dead End" sign before it's too late. Oh - and the "I am pregnant with your baby," followed by her loosing said baby . . . one of the oldest tricks in the book!

I know, I know guys, there are exceptions and your situation is one of those . . . really? Good - then there's no problem with respecting the fact that this is a marriage (especially where kids are involved) and waiting till that marriage is handled before you put your bid in, is there?

And to all of you: If you are just coming off a relationship disaster yourself - puuhlease . . . DO NOT JUMP RIGHT INTO ANOTHER RELATIONSHIP! If this new person is as good as you think or as they are telling you, they will respect you and take the time for you to heal. If it's something that needs to be hurried up and secured right now - aw honey, do I really have to spell that one out?

Two Sides of the Same Coin

2010-01-25T07:07:00.000-08:00

A lot of comments have been coming my way lately about how brave I am . . . how much courage I have to be standing up for people in trouble. Courage is a highly overrated attribute. G.K. Chesterton said, "Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die." Yup.

Let's set that record straight. You know why I do the things I do? Because I'm scared, and not wanting to live in fear, I seek to change that which scares me. I don't want to do it, would be much happier digging in the garden or cleaning the chicken shed. I step into these situations certain I'm going to get hit in one way or another, that it's going to cost me, but I must act. Looking around for the usual checks and balances to kick in, to make things right again, I see that they have gone non-operational . . . or worse, as in the case of ICE, they are the problem. Then I look around for those in authority who get PAID to handle nasty situations and protect the rest of us, but they are busy doing a Sargent Shultz ("I see nothing!")and then I get scared. Deb does an incredible imitation of having one big-ass set of balls because Deb is terrified of what is going to happen if she doesn't.

I was born not long after WWII - grew up with stories of Nazi Germany being drilled into my head. I saw the pictures, watched the documentaries, but the starving people, gruesome conditions, gas chambers and mass graves are not what gave me nightmares. One scene in one documentary terrified me far more. Alfred Hitchcock took part in that particular film and it had the touch of the master of horror. The scene was old footage of ordinary German villagers being made to walk through one of the concentration camps by Allied soldiers who were so horrified themselves they insisted these people confront what had been done right under their noses. The villagers were not ghouls, they were just ordinary decent people. I don't doubt that some of them felt superior to those soldiers because they, unlike the soldiers, had never killed anyone.

The looks on those people's faces was the most horrible thing I have ever seen. They gazed upon the carnage all around and they did not weep, they did not hide their faces in shame, they were not horrified. They were dead to it all. That film clip was of people barely human who no longer cared, no longer felt responsibility. It was terrifying! Here were people who had turned away and not seen, not acted for so long they could no longer feel. What must it be like to be one of those people? What struggles must they endure every day to keep the demons of their own making at bay? I would not wish such a thing on any man - certainly not on myself. That is the fear that drives me. That is the source of that "courage" that people think I have. I'm not brave, I'm just too scared not to do something.

All the love and hugs I give so freely to those who are also stepping up and speaking out are reserved strictly for them. I'm not generally the cuddly type, but my love is very real for other beings who are willing to act, for those who look, confront and speak to what they see. They are rare. I pray the sense that they are becoming rarer is just an illusion. They aren't always the nicest people. Like me, they can sometimes sound quite harsh, become very angry, but those are the people that make this world livable, that keep darkness at bay. They are the ones who will never look back on a period of terror with empty eyes, unable to confront what they know they made possible because they did not have the sense to fear the death of their own soul.

2010 - First Day

2010-01-01T09:00:00.000-08:00

My New Year's resolution: To reclaim my life from ICE

I will get back to my family, my friends, my home, my gardens . . . I will take back my life! I will find a way to turn up the heat to melt the ICE that encases the heart of the USA. WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL people . . . that's what it's all about!

I support Fast for Our Families: www.fastforourfamilies.org and the Trail of Dreams: www.trailofdreams.net

How Did We Not See?

2009-12-31T17:55:00.000-08:00

So ICE is committing human rights abuses on a grand scale . . . so what else is new? Yes, they are putting young children in prison cells, breaking into homes in the wee hours of the morning and sticking guns in children's faces, ripping families apart, throwing refugees seeking safety in prison, denying injured, sick and dying prisoners care, treating innocent immigrants worse than murderers and destroying millions of lives each year - citizen and immigrant alike. We know this . . . but I was just told a story that chilled me to the bone and it did not come from the hyper-sadistic reign of ICE.

A friend of mine spoke of how immigration came and took his grandmother away to be deported. He and his sister were in school. His parents were working in the fields, his grandmother was home with this man's two younger sisters, a one year old and a toddler. This was in the mid 50s, how bad could it have been in the mid 50s? My friend came home from school at 4pm to find his grandmother gone and the two babies alone in an empty house. Fortunately they were alive. Immigration agents had taken their caretaker during the day. It was months before this man's parents were able to locate her in Mexico. She had been quickly herded onto a ship with many other immigrants and taken away, sort of reverse slaver-style. When the agents came for her she had begged them not to leave the babies alone, but they had not listened. They took her away and left two infant girls untended alone in a house all day. Anything could have happened to those children. Fortunately nothing did, but wouldn't a parent doing the same thing be brought up on charges for child endangerment? The picture I have posted on facebook in the past of the four or five year old child in a United States prison cell is bad, very bad. It is child abuse, no question about that, but this is worse and it was not done by ICE. No, this was done decades ago. There had been no terrorist attacks to use as an excuse to create such an inhumane agency. There was only immigration and they followed no rule of law or humanity.

Our human rights abuses toward immigrants have been going on for a very long time. Long before the anti-Vietnam War movement, before the Civil Rights protests, long before any of our protests aimed at bringing about a greater respect for humanity, this has been going on. What is happening now is nothing new, it is simply happening on a larger scale and during a time when news travels quickly. This was going on the whole time those protests were being waged during the 60s and no one protested. Did anyone even notice? While I was in Georgia making my personal statement in support of an end to segragation in the 60s, thousands of Mexican families were living with constant fear of the kicked in door, heartless men with guns and families torn apart. These inhuman conditions have been with us right along. Why have we not seen them? How did they go undetected for so long? Now that I look back I see that the signs were there. If I had looked just a little more closely I would have known . . . why did I not look?

This time I'm not going to finish this blog by answering my own questions. Let's just leave the questions there . . . how was a whole group of people allowed to live and work in this country while enduring slave wages, dangerous working conditions, destruction of their families, abuse and endangerment of their children and untold other forms of persecution for decades without it ever being found out, totally without protest? Have we been selling our collective soul for cheap food and clothing? How is it that we all missed this?

This is my last blog post for the year 2009. Tomorrow I start fasting to show solidarity for Fast for Our Families. I think perhaps I have some serious soul-searching to do as well, some questions I must ask myself, some answers I must find . . . Happy New Year.

Why Do This?

2009-12-27T13:47:00.000-08:00

Recently, while visiting Audrius in that cursed prison, we were discussing the current immigration situation. For obvious reasons that is most of what we talk about since he was taken by ICE. I was saying something . . . don't even remember what, when suddenly he started to laugh and said, "You like this too much." He is glad to have a friend who values him enough to extend such effort to bring him home, but that's not going to keep him from teasing me when given the opportunity. Actually, he understands where my passion for any and every human rights battle that I've ever gotten myself into comes from (and there have been many), but most people who know me don't, so let's set the record straight. The general opinion is that I am doing this for some selfless reason - that I do this for the people for whose rights I fight. WRONG! Nothing could be further for the truth. I do this for me - to protect myself and my future - and it is because I know that I do it for me that I have so much passion to give to it.

In the essay "The Ethics of Emergencies" Ayn Rand states: "The virtue involved in helping those one loves is not 'selflessness' or 'sacrifice,' but integrity. Integriy is loyalty to one's convictions and values; it is the policy of acting in accordance with one's values, of expressing, upholding and translating them into practical reality."

When I defend the human rights of any oppressed group I am operating on that principle. We are all interconnected in this world. To think otherwise would require a deliberate refusal to observe what is happening right in front of us. What happens to some child in Sudan can ultimately impact my own life, usually in ways that I will never know.

If you do not believe that, consider the case of Charles Richard Drew, the black man who was a pioneer in the preservation of blood for blood banks. His research and developments saved thousands of lives during WWII, yet he encountered immense racial injustice in his life. Fortunately a number of people stepped in and assisted him as a young man, stood up for his rights as a human being. They didn't know what he was to become, they just knew he was a person and deserved to be treated decently. If any of those individuals had turned their back, had looked the other way at a critical moment, thinking it was inconvenient to take on the powerful Jim Crow laws of that time or that his problems were not their problems, this man's life might well have taken a different path. Of course, the preservation of blood for blood banks would have been developed eventually, but not in time for those men who were saved by it in WWII and how many of us would that have affected in the end? There is no way to know as the ways in which each life impacts each other life are impossible to measure.

When we oppress some group that we perceive as being different from ourselves and thereby somehow "less" or "weaker" than we are, we oppress ourselves. The people who oppressed blacks in the time of Charles Richard Drew were doing everything within their power to prevent people like him from reaching their full potential. In his case the white supremacists who fought against the rights and equality of blacks were doing everything they could to prevent this young man from saving lives - the lives of our families and our friends. They were actively committing covert murder and they had murder in their heart - I promise you that. Look in the eyes of any full-blown racist in mid rant . . . I have done that many times . . . and I assure you, you will see the heart and soul of a criminal. This is the stuff of which holocausts, genocides and the like are made on an mass scale, but it is also the agent of death and destruction on a much more sinister and less easily seen level. Their intention is to destroy and that intention knows no boundaries. If they succeed, then my own life could be put in jeopardy and so I fight . . . against them . . . and for human rights for all mankind. And if at times it seems I become a little shrill, a little obsessive - it is because I know . . . I am fighting for my life!

Fear

2009-12-05T13:56:00.000-08:00

Fear began, originally, as a survival mechanism - still can be when a large wild animal comes crashing through the woods at you, but more often in our modern world it is an emotion that makes us less, that causes us to fail to do the right thing, the kind thing.

Not acting when one should is as great a sin, violation, overt, crime, offense – whatever your culture or belief system calls it – as acting in a manner that harms another or others. We like to pretend as long as we don’t do anything bad we are good people, but when we see people hurting, in trouble, desperate, and we do nothing to help them because of fear . . . we are not good people. We lessen ourselves through inaction when we should act as thoroughly as we do by acting in ways that we should not. And if we become less, if we slowly fade away into a shell of what we could have been, what benefit has it been to us that we managed to preserve our own necks?

“So what’s your point, Deb,” you ask. I’m getting to it . . . and you just know it’s going to have something to do with immigration, don’t you! I won’t disappoint – that’s exactly where I’m heading with this. This country was founded and built by immigrants. If you are not Native American your family came here as immigrants (those of you who want to degrade my point with speculation on whether or not our indigenous people were actually immigrants too can stuff it – it’s not germane to this topic). Our whole system of government, everything we have as a nation, has been built on the belief in “Liberty and Justice for all.” We have lost our way from time to time – and we have always regretted it. No one brags about having a grandfather who served as a guard in one of the shameful camps we kept our Japanese population in during WWII. It is a point of shame that people keep to themselves and it happened because we were afraid.

Now we are rounding up immigrants and putting them in prison, sometimes for years. We are violating everything our country stands for, virtually spitting on our own Statue of Liberty because we are afraid. We are afraid of people who are different. We are afraid of terrorists. We are afraid we can’t compete with harder working immigrants or better educated immigrants . . . or perhaps we are simply afraid of facing our own demons that we see reflected in the eyes of societies most vulnerable. Whatever the cause – the fear exists.

What is the extent of our fear? What is the cost? We detained and/or deported over 400,000 immigrants from this country last year. Some of those people were violent felons and deserved to be deported, but most were honest, hard working people. A large number had citizen families who now live tortured lives because their loved one has been banished to another land. The majority of those are children traumatized by the loss of a parent – children who will grow up to be our neighbors – our friends. Let’s estimate around 200,000 - half of all imprisoned and/or deported immigrants fall into this category and each has an average of three family members emotionally and financially ruined by such actions. Add to that at least one more whose life has been put on hold in the form of fiancées or a very close friend (these are extremely conservative estimates). We now have a conservative figure of one million people whose lives have been ruined in one year by our immigration policies and 800,000 of those are citizens - and all for no reason beyond the fact that we are afraid.

This figure does not take into account any of the daily interaction that each one of these immigrants has had in this country. It does not figure in business, social and/or community relationships and contributions. If one fourth of those deported last year were in fact of no value to others around them, either because they did not work or they were criminals (and this is a very generous, even unlikely estimate), then at least three fourths had not only family, but friends, coworkers and communities that were negatively impacted by their loss. Again – a conservative estimate would be perhaps 4 extended family members, 3 friends, as well as 3 more coworkers and other community associates who feel the loss of that one person. Do remember, most of these people are American citizens and a majority of those have roots in the USA that are many generations deep. So last year we severely emotionally and financially handicapped close to a million of our own citizens and negatively impacted another 3 million citizens all for the sake of removing around 300,000 non-criminal, hard-working human beings from our midst. Extrapolate that out over a 5 year period, figuring that the numbers does not increase (and our government is building more “detention centers” and increasing the rate of imprisonment and deportation as I write this) and you are looking at approximately 20 million Americans harmed by government actions for the sake of removing one and a half million productive people from this country.

Again, that is a very conservative estimate . . . of the cost of fear. But those figures are figures of action, not inaction. They are easy to see. What I am concerned with here is the other cost, the hidden price paid every day. For every immigrant unfairly detained and cruelly deported from family and friends there are at least 20 more people that knew about it and knew that that action was wrong. Of those, only a handful did anything to protest what was being done to that person and even fewer actually stepped up and took action to try and stop the abuse. Let’s underestimate our figures to a point of being ridiculous. Lets say only half of the human beings imprisoned and eventually deported by ICE were good people with close family ties to this country – hard working and much loved people who are greatly missed. Even then we are looking at over 4 million people walking around this country who know that they witnessed a fellow human being in trouble and did nothing to stop it. That is 4 million people who are now more afraid of this world, who are now less sure of themselves, who are now started on or moved further along that path to apathy and nothingness. And for what?! What are we afraid of? Looking at those figures, perhaps we should fear ourselves.

Sounds Familiar

2009-12-04T15:03:00.000-08:00

My Local Net start-up page today had an article about Desiree Rogers, President Obama's White House social secretary and her responsibility or lack thereof for the recent gate crashing incident which allowed two people not on the guest list to attend and get close to the President.

Written by Jocelyn Noveckap, the article discussed Ms Rogers' many accomplishments and then stated, "But the turn of events is bewildering to Rogers' friends and associates, who say she's being misunderstood and unfairly targeted, and her accomplishments ignored. 'It's extraordinary to see someone's life's work mischaracterized in this way,' says John W. Rogers Jr., Desiree's former husband, with whom she remains close. 'I just don't understand it. She's working 12-15 hours a day, just trying to do a great job.' "

I couldn't help noticing that those are much the same words used by family, friends and acquaintances of immigrants when they are picked up and "detained" (put in prison indefinitely) by ICE. People who have worked hard and done a great job are suddenly, because of a problem with their documentation or because, though here legally, they have been picked up for a minor offense, finding themselves in prison doing hard time as ICE tries to strip them of their right to stay in this country.

Over and over you hear immigration detainees referred to as, "misunderstood and being unfairly targeted," as those of us who know them lament how horrible it is "to see someone's life's work mischaracterized in this way." It's pointed out that many of them were "working 12-15 hours a day, just trying to do a great job." Yup, that sure does sound awfully familiar.

Immigrants today are serving in our armed forces 30,000 strong. They fill jobs that American's don't want to or are not educated or experienced enough to do. They wipe our children's noses and engineer our oil drilling rigs. And yet a severely disabled, Vietnamese, Vietnam War Veteran with two grown US citizen children now sits in prison as our government tries to deport him back to Vietnam because he was picked up for driving without insurance in 1989. A frightening number of our most loyal military veterans now live outside this country, forever banished from the land they put their lives on the line for, forever separated from the families they love - for minor, non-violent offenses stemming from PTSD caused by their war service. Many adults who came here legally with their parents as small children and know no other country are sitting in prison or have already been deported for similar reasons and of course there are the ones we all hear about - hard working immigrant families who overstayed their visas or came here without documentation, many with American citizen children, who sit in prison or are deported and now live in Eastern Europe, Africa, Mexico, The Caribbean . . . because, though they worked hard and lived right, they were not here with the proper documentation and that is all that is seen . . . all that matters.

Let us hope that the Obama administration can learn from this experience and find it within their hearts to stand up for these hard working, dedicated people whose small mistake is far outweighed by their huge contributions to this country in the same way they are not standing up for the White House social secretary. It would be the honorable, fair thing to do. It's time to do it . . . past time.

Of Truth and Tears

2009-11-27T11:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day. It was also the one year anniversary of our friend, Audrius, being taken from our community by ICE. He sits in prison still, his fate uncertain, his loss still felt by a number of United States citizens.

We shared Thanksgiving dinner with friends this year, far from home as I did not want any reminders of that horrid day the year before. As we ate each person shared with the others what we were thankful for through the year. Everyone had a story to tell, small or not so small. When it came to me I gave thanks for the events that had placed me on my present path and all the wonderful people that I have been so fortunate to meet since. I thought momentarily, then added that I was also thankful for the tears. It is far better to cry from pain than to have no room in your heart for others - so yes, I am thankful for even the tears. I am thankful that I do not walk this earth with a heart shut hard against all hurt, against life itself, for the act of living invites a degree of pain.

This reminded our hostess of a story which she then shared with us. I now share it with you as the lesson it containes is great and reaches across all faiths - it speaks to a universal truth too often forgotten. The story was from the book "The Hiding Place" a memoir by Corrie ten Boom. Corrie and her sister Betsie were taken in WWII and put in a concentration camp. They were Christians who had been helping Jews. They found themselves in a dark, horribly crowded barracks. The straw upon which they slept was heavily infested with fleas and soon all those held captive were covered in bites. When the sisters were brought in they were not searched thoroughly and so they were able to bring a Bible with them. They immediately began to pray and to read from the Bible - and to give thanks. Betsie gave thanks for the crowded conditions as it would mean they had more people to share their Bible with and Corrie followed her lead. She gave thanks for the foul barracks and again Corrie followed. Finally Betsy gave thanks for the fleas and Corrie could take no more. She just couldn't give thanks for the fleas. She argued with her sister - how could anyone possibly be thankful for all those fleas!

Through their ordeal they continued to read from the Bible and to share it with others in those barracks. It gave the women great comfort and seemed to bring light into the darkness of their circumstances. If the Bible were discovered they would be taken and disciplined, but fortunately the guards never inspected their barracks and the Bible remained. Only later did they learn the reason they had never had an inspection and their Bible had never been found. It was the fleas. The guards did not want to go in the barracks because of all the fleas.

Difficult times are inevitable for us all, but when we look back we find that our greatest periods of growth do not come from what was easy, but from our difficulties, our pain. My original intention in giving thanks even for the tears was half centered in defiance of the circumstances I've found myself in, defiance against having to confront the worst in men's hearts right here in my own country. After our hostess told her story I realized that I have an even greater reason to be thankful for every one of those tears I've shed this year.

There is an old Roman saying: "Pain is weakness leaving the body." I am not the woman I was a year ago and I am thankful for everything that has brought me to where I am now, even the tears. Whatever your faith, some truths are eternal. This is one I had forgotten. I am thankful for the reminder. Now I am even thankful for ICE, DHS and their agents. The worst of them, the ones who torture and abuse immigrants on a level that can only be derived from a pleasure in the pain that they cause or the ones in charge who turn away from the ruptured families and broken lives left in their wake and trade placating lies for a free pass - even they serve to remind us. No matter how degraded and perverted their actions they remind the rest of us of our own common humanity. In a world filled with temptations to live life strictly for number one they stand as stark examples of what lies ahead if we allow ourselves to deny the humanity of our fellow man or if we take one step on the path of hatred and why we must be ever vigilant against such darkness creeping into our hearts. Even the most sadistic of them sets us a fine example. I grant you - it is of what not to do - but they are setting an important example none-the-less. For that I am thankful.

Oh . . . and I am very thankful for you!

Been Down This Road Too Many Times

2009-11-07T10:11:00.000-08:00

Na'im Akbar said it best: "There is no event which does not have simultaneous and systematic impact on other systems of existence. The body does not even experience tension that is not simultaneously registered in the mental and spiritual spheres."

I thought I had moved into a cause that did not involve men's issues. When my friend was picked up by immigration and he brought me many other immigrants in even worse circumstances than he was in - when I realized that the way detained immigrants were being treated in this country violated everything that I had grown up believing my country stood for, I thought I had an immigration issue on my hands.

Then, out of the first few immigrants targeted by ICE that came my way all were men, 2 had lived existences that seriously suggested domestic slavery and one had been deported on the word of a pissed off girlfriend and a domestic assault charge that was never proven.

Then the new director of DHS, Janet Napolitano came up with this gem: "Serious felons deserve to be in the prison model, but there are others. There are women. There are children." So Ms Napolitano - are you saying that all felons are men or that women are like children and are never felons? What exactly are you saying there?! I'm not even sure who was insulted on that one - men or women - but I know it was an insult to whatever teacher had Ms Napolitano in his logic class.

Then a young man told me of his ordeal being deported from this country 10 years ago, being separated from his daughters, being told by the judge when he asked who would raise his children that the government would and BAM! - suddenly I was right back in the same arena I've been fighting in for the last 19 years - men's rights. Good grief, people - could ya switch it up a little? This is getting old!

I have said this so many times, but here it goes again: Any belief that a person is superior or inferior due to an accident of birth, whether that be one of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or any other bloody thing human kind can come up with to discriminate against is holding the door open for prejudice and bigotry. If you want to end prejudice . . . stop inviting it in to sit at the table! As long as it is okay to discriminate against anyone for the way he or she is born the bigots and haters of this world win. You don't have to like people of all groups. There are some I'm not overly fond of, but that doesn't give me the right to persecute them or deny them their rights. Now if you move over into the arena of chosen actions - that is a whole different ball game, but don't tell me that only men are abusers or that Mexican immigrants are more inclined to commit crimes and you have the facts and statistics to prove it . . . don't even go there! I'm old enough to remember when the "scientific evidence" pointed to how incapable women were at certain tasks and how inferior and criminally inclined blacks were. I remember when William Shockley's dissertations on eugenics were actually considered valid. Changing the targeted group does not validate any message of hate.

I am not interested in hearing the reasons why in one particular case it is the exception. I have heard them all already. I'm 60 freakin' years old people and I've heard it so many times by now I could tell it to you! Just give me the group you want to hate - men, Mexicans, gays - any group - go ahead. Give me your reasons. I guarantee that they will be the same bloody reasons that were pushed in the 60s as why blacks are naturally subservient or women are naturally weak. I promise you - the targets change, but the tactics and justification remains the same.

You want to end hatred? You want to end bigotry? You want to bring some compassion and caring to this world? Then stop your bloody hatin'!!! And yes, I am yelling! I am so sick of perfectly intelligent people presenting me with the same sorry-assed bullshit and expecting me to swallow it like it's the finest chocolate. It's BULLSHIT! Dress it up however you want. Give it all the "scientifically obtained statistics" you want to prove your point that in this case there really is proof that this one group is somehow bad or less because they were born male or Hispanic or maybe sexually confused or whatever your issue is, but don't pretend you aren't contributing to the oppression of mankind in doing so. Don't think you can demonize one select group and not harm humanity as a whole. Don't sit there and say you care about people and you are doing this for the benefit of all. And don't expect me to agree with you, because that is just insulting. It suggests that you think I'm stupid enough to buy what you are serving up and honey, I just ain't that gullible!

Do you think I'm doing something noble - sticking up for the underdog? No honey - there's nothing noble here. When injustice and cruelty become the order of the day no one is safe. Think back to the French Revolution - those who started and fed the hatred eventually lost their own heads to the violence. In a world where justice can be bent to suit the latest agenda and human rights are optional no one is safe. I'm fighting for my own welfare, nothing more. Na'im Akbar said it best.

Immigration Alert!

2009-10-25T07:41:00.000-07:00

This is critical - guys, you have got to spread the word on this:
(You might want to leave my rant out that follows the basic information when you pass it along)

NPR had a report this morning about illegal Mexican workers in New York. Apparently work is harder to come by and, contrary to what the government and some rabid xenophobes would have you believe, they aren't looking for a hand out. If they can not work they want to go back to Mexico, but many can't afford the transportation to get there, so they are turning themselves in to ICE and saying they want to be deported. WRONG MOVE!! DON'T DO THIS!!!!!

The problem is, most of these people are poor and there's not a whole hell-of-a-lot of paperwork on them in the way of birth certificates or anything else proving that they are indeed from Mexico and with out that the Mexican government will not accept them back. The Mexican government is not trying to be difficult. It's just that ICE has been known to deport United States citizens to Mexico - like the mentally challenged young man whose brother came back from serving in Iraq to find that he was missing and who finally found, much to his family's relief, wandering around Guatamala because he'd been picked up by ICE and been deported! Hey - he signed a paper saying he'd been born in Mexico, so why not deport him? Of course, he signed every paper they put in front of him and he was obviously not competent to do so, but what's one citizen here or there - right? That's not an isolated incident, so Mexico has good reason to be wary.

Do you know what happens to citizens of other countries whose countries won't accept them back? They sit in our prisons indefinitely. Rapists we let out when they have served their time. Thieves we let out when they have served their time. Drug dealers we let out when they have served their time. Pedophiles we let out when they have served their time (and I'm none to happy about that one). Even murderers - murderers we let out when they have served their time . . . BUT IMMIGRANTS WHO HAVE COMMITTED NO CRIME AND WHOSE COUNTRIES WON'T ACCEPT THEM DO HARD PRISON TIME INDEFINITELY!!!

Right along with the Liberians we tried to deport that were turned back by their country, right along with Christian Iranians who fled with the Shah who can't be sent back, right along with all the other unfortunate immigrants who are rotting away in "detention" (ICE's euphemism for doing hard time for no crime) for what appears to be the rest of their lives these people are headed to prison for good. You might get parole for murder, but as of right now being undocumented is a life sentence if your country of origin won't take you back.

For those of you who think they deserve it and who think that it's just fine to do things to immigrants that you would shoot someone for if they did it to your dog do remember this . . . it's costing the taxpayers $100 dollars a day to house these guys - and that comes out of your wallet too, Bucko. Oh, but wait, Ms "We-Don't-Need-No-Stinkin'-Statue-of-Liberty" Napolitano is working on housing them in hotels and such to save money and keep these people locked up indefinitely more "humanely" . . . that is what "with Liberty and Justice for all" stands for - right? "All" is a synonym for "some" - right?

But not to worry. Some of these immigrants who are being held indefinitely have things like serious cancer and they aren't getting proper medical care, so they'll die before too long - in prison - away from their families, but it's not like they are a dog or some other animal that has rights to proper care. These are immigrants. They have no rights here. Of course, some of them have citizen families and citizen children who will then be minus a loved one, a bread winner, a parent. These policies and actions by ICE are mentally and fiancially torturing many American citizens, permanently traumatizing and destroying them right now as I write this, but hey, it's not like the citizens of this country matter when it comes to these things - right? It's all about what the government wants - right? We are here to serve our government - right? If government policies are destroying our lives then we just need to buck up and be glad to sacrifice ourselves for the good of the nation - right? Isn't that what the US of A is built upon? That's what we stand for - right?

Oh . . . wait a minute . . . I might have that mixed up with another country . . . ooops, my bad . . .

I am one of those citizens who is being mentally and financially tortured by ICE. If you think, because of my last name, that I am Hispanic and an immigrant, think again! My ancestors started coming here in 1632. They are Dunhams, Shermans and Pooles. I am a hard-core Yankee, born and bred. My family founded much of Massachusetts and one signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The only American in this country that has deeper roots than I have is a Native American - and ICE has mindlessly made my life living hell for close to a year now! Do you think you and your loved ones are safe from their excesses? Don't bet on that. If they can reach me, they can reach anyone. You are not safe.

Letter to Those Who Care

2009-10-05T09:14:00.000-07:00

Please email this letter to as many people as you can and ask them to do the same. (FYI, I am helping mostly legal immigrants, some who know no other country, some have committed no crime, one was himself a victim of identity theft, two have cancer and have not had proper care, one has a broken jaw that has not been repaired for years now, two are victims of domestic servitude, many are begging to be deported, and oddly enough . . . not one is Hispanic). Thanks from all those who wanted me to write this letter and are not yet free to thank you themselves . . .

My name is Deborah Sherman de Santos. I’m writing to you as a resident of New Hampshire and a citizen of the United States in regards to a matter of great concern. People in our small New England town were shocked and dismayed when a close friend and valued neighbor was taken from us by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) the day before Thanksgiving, 2008. A good friend was suddenly missing, his two small daughters left without a father, their primary care-taker for the last eight and a half years.

It has been nearly a year and our friend still sits in prison. When he was first taken I promised my help, expecting that since he is a good man and this is a country of fairness and justice the situation would be quickly resolved. Many thousands of dollars of my own money and nearly a year later I am appalled at what I have experienced and horrified that such things as I have witnessed go on in the United States of America. I am now working with approximately a dozen immigrants who are doing hard time in prison while their deportation cases slowly wind their way through a system that I as a citizen find unrecognizable. Each day brings fresh revelations of inhumane conditions and third world-like injustices.

While doing what I can to help my friend I have learned a great deal about ICE. I have spoken with many who are terrified of that department. Some of our townspeople fear I am in danger for what I am doing despite my assurances that my ancestry in this country traces back to the founding families. ICE can not deport me or any of my family. Still my friends and family worry. I have not witnessed this kind of fear from law-abiding citizens since the civil rights battles in the Deep South during the 60s. Neither have I witnessed such a callous disregard for the most basic of human rights since that time. What is being done to my friend and others is torture for them and demoralizing to those of us who are forced to bear witness to it. Our country cannot thrive while consistently committing such acts against humanity.

From what I have seen thus far, these are the questions I would like answered:

Why are 19,000 people who are not guilty of any criminal act being held in detention in this country for extended periods of time, sometimes years?

Why are some people detained by ICE being treated in ways that would result in arrest if those same acts were committed against a dog?

Why are immigration courts closed to public scrutiny?

Why are petitions for political asylum or withholding of removal not investigated thoroughly and in good faith?

Why is ICE attempting to deport immigrants who are here legally and who are guilty of no crime? Why are such immigrants doing hard prison time for months and even years while their case is being heard?

Why are immigrants held in civil detention denied the minimum prison conditions provided to murderers, rapists and drug dealers? Why are their children and families denied the most basic human considerations, such as contact visits?

Why are incidents of assault and battery committed against immigrants while in custody, whether by other inmates or government officials, not investigated and why are appropriate criminal charges not filed against the perpetrators?

Why is medical care not provided to some injured and/or ill immigrants in ICE custody and why are deaths due to withholding of proper medical care not considered worthy of charges against those responsible?

Why, when ICE claims that the reason detained immigrants are not receiving proper care or due process is because they do not have the staff or time to handle those they already have in custody, are they allowed to detain and hold even more?

How did it ever happen that very young children were kept in ICE custody in this country by being locked in actual prison cells and treated as prisoners?

Why are people in ICE custody who have been ordered deported and are eager to be deported still sitting in prisons for months, even years after, at a cost of $100 a day to the US taxpayer?

How is it that a detainee who has been in prison on no criminal charge for nearly a year can have his case listed by ICE as ongoing for only 42 days?

Why do we not investigate and rectify all incidents of deliberate perjury, withholding or destroying of pertinent documents or any other deliberate denial of justice in an immigrant’s case and file criminal charges against those responsible?

Why do we not investigate and rectify all cases of withholding of adequate food, water or other basic necessities to health and life from immigrants in ICE custody and file appropriate charges against those responsible?

Why are some of our under-age citizens in this country being forced to choose between being raised by their immigrant parents and being raised in their country?

Why are victims of human trafficking who have under-age citizen children in this country subject to deportation? How has ICE become the main enforcer for those who would hold immigrants in conditions of slavery or domestic servitude?

Why do we continue to imprison non-dangerous immigrants, many who have committed no crime, when ICE and DHS has proven they are currently unable to provide said immigrants with adequate physical conditions of detention and/or timely justice?

Why are suspected terrorists being granted greater considerations for their safety and well being than innocent immigrants held by ICE?

In the United States of America a kennel owner who cannot adequately care for the number of dogs in his or her care is not allowed to continue to keep that many dogs. A kennel owner who abuses those dogs looses his or her right to keep dogs at all. DHS and ICE have, by their actions and admission shown that they are not able to adequately care for the number of immigrants they presently hold in custody. They have shown through their actions that they can not protect or are unwilling to protect immigrants they currently hold from abuse. Are not these immigrants, these human beings, worthy of at least as much consideration as we would grant a dog?

If you would like more information I am currently writing a book, “A New Hampshire Yankee on ICE” about my experiences within this country’s immigration system. This book is posted online as each chapter is lived and written and can be accessed via my web site.

Thank you for your attention,
Deborah Sherman de Santos
http://www.obfthepeople.org/
Deborah@obfthepeople.org

Petition - Rough Draft - Comments and Suggestions Please

2009-09-14T18:57:00.000-07:00

We the people of the United States of America and of the World must speak up against the deplorable conditions under which the United States Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (AKA, ICE) under the direction of the Department of Homeland Security (AKA, DHS) is keeping thousands of immigrant detainees. In the name of the most basic of human rights we ask that the United States government immediately see to it that these agencies:

1. Cease keeping non-criminal detainees in prisons under indefinite detention.

2. Cease keeping small children in prison when detained with their families. Provide appropriate facilities for the proper care of children when families must be detained.

3. Cease all deportation proceedings against immigrants here legally who have committed no crime.

4.Cease deportation of victims of human trafficking who have citizen children in this country.

5. End closed immigration courtrooms. Open immigration legal proceedings to the public.

6. Investigate petitions for asylum or withholding of removal on humanitarian grounds thoroughly and in good faith.

7. Respect the rights of under-age citizens of this country to be raised in this country by their parents when said parents have committed no crime.

8. Investigate all incidents of assault and battery committed against immigrants while in custody, whether by other inmates or government officials, and file criminal charges against the perpetrators.

9. Investigate all incidents of deaths due to withholding of proper medical care and file criminal charges against the perpetrators.

10. Investigate all incidents of deliberate perjury, withholding or destroying of pertinent documents or any other deliberate denial of justice in an immigrant’s case and file criminal charges against the perpetrators.

11. Investigate all cases of withholding of adequate food, water or other basic necessities to health and life from ICE detainees and file criminal charges against the perpetrators.

12. Cease detaining non-dangerous immigrants in prison until such time as ICE and DHS can provide access for such detainees to adequate physical conditions and timely justice.

We have laws in this country that will provide for the humane and fair treatment of immigration detainees while legislative reform is being considered if those laws are enforced. The laws of our country must apply to those who are charged with enforcing the law if we are to remain a free people. We, the undersigned, are not in agreement with any actions taken on the part of our government that are a violation of the most basic laws protecting human dignity and human rights. Said violation of such laws by government officials is a violation of the public trust and must not be tolerated.

Who Won?

2009-09-11T06:11:00.000-07:00

It's the anniversary of 9/11 in the USA. I've always said one should not let the bad things that happen in life become one's defining moments and I stand by that, but let's face it - 9/11 has become a defining moment for this country. The question is . . . how have we chosen to have it define us? Did we respond to that terrible day by vowing to not let the terrorists win - to stand by the foundations upon which our country was built and upon which it stands - to even, in total defiance to the bastards who killed all those innocent people, become more of what we are as a nation . . . or did we instead react by allowing this country to stray in exactly the same direction as those who did this to us have strayed themselves. Did we allow the terrorists to define us? Is this still a country with Liberty and Justice for all? Does our Statue of Liberty still define the heart and soul that is the USA?

Those of you who have followed my blog know what has consumed me this last year. Over the year, what started as a simple attempt to bring one friend picked up by ICE back home to us has turned into a battle the likes of which I have never seen. I am a veteran of the Anti-Vietnam war movement. I have fought hard for equal rights for women. I went to the South in the 60s to fight for civil rights and looked in the faces of the Sheriff Bull Connors of this world. I've worked in animal rescue and dealt one-on-one with a man who was not only horribly abusing horses, but was also molesting girls and running guns. I did the behind the scenes dirty work that put him in prison for a very long time. I decided long ago that I would do my part, not by turning away, but by looking straight into the darkness that can lie within men's hearts, by confronting that darkness and by dealing with it head on. I have seen the worst of the worst, or so I thought, but this . . . what I am seeing now . . . this is worse than all that I have seen in the past.

19,000 people who have committed no crime held indefinitely in prison - families torn apart - people denied adequate food, water, medical care - people beaten, maimed, even killed - thousands upon thousands of people denied justice - and no response to any of it other than, "We are working on legislation." The perpetrators of these acts are not brought to justice, not even investigated. The abuses within the system that facilitate these abuses are not only continued, they are increased. The stain from tears and blood of the victims of these abuses grows ever larger and obscures the clarity of America's beacon of hope and freedom - from the world - from our own eyes. Innocent, decent people wasting away in our covert concentration camps that we call prisons ask me - their families ask me - "Deb, what is going on? Why is this happening? They are treating us worse than criminals, worse than animals - why? Where are the American people? Why do they not protest this?" I can not give voice to an answer, but as I profess that I do not know the "why" my heart rebels. I do know why - I do not want to admit it, but I know . . . to some degree . . . to the degree that we continue on this path without seeing, without shame, without total outrage . . . to that degree the terrorists won.

A link for those who are not willing to give up - who still believe in the USA enough to do something: www.racewire.org/archives/2009/02/immigration_detention_reform_m.html

This Is Personal

2009-09-04T07:15:00.000-07:00

It's been a rough week - dear Audrius' attempt to present his case fell on deaf ears in the immigration court. It would be one thing if he presented his case and it was not deemed credible, but to have the whole of it casually brushed aside and not even heard as if his life and the lives of his family and friends do not even matter - that is shameful. Now I know why the immigration hearings in this country are closed to the public - they most definitely do have something to hide! To those who are watching who come from other countries, please know - this is not American justice. This is not American at all. It is some perversion, some illness that has somehow caught hold and it must be healed.

Audrius finally told me the whole of what had been done to him back in Eastern Europe in the nineties. He is a big and very powerful man, but hearing how they strapped him down and tortured him with live electrical wires, finding out those scars I've noticed on him were caused by torture - that just tore my heart out. I have seen this man hold his children in his arms and tenderly comfort them. I have known him to hunt for hours in a raging storm to find a strangers lost puppy. I have witnessed many times when an injustice or a hurt to another has instantly commanded his full attention. He never turns away from suffering. He always cares and yet this was done to him and may be done to him again - he could even be killed and it seems few people care or even want to hear about it.

As a brief personal aside I must say: Audrius is a rare kind of friend. He's always been there for me as long as I've known him. He is one of few who knows how to bring me back to action when I feel the world is just too much and want to curl up on the couch and cry and those few are the people I value most in my life. Now I learn I was not there for him when he was being tortured horribly and threatened with death. Granted, I did not know him then, but it still hurts - it hurts deeply. What was I doing while this was being done to him? How was I able to look away and concern myself only with my own simple affairs while so much harm was coming to one who was destined to become such an integral part of my life?

Some of my friends tell me, "Deb, you can't save the world," and that is true, but I sure as hell can do something to save a little part of it! How many other friends that I have yet to meet are now suffering something as bad as what Audrius went through? How many are suffering worse? I find it embarrassing when people praise me for what I am doing now as if I were making some sort of noble personal sacrifice. This is no sacrifice! I'm doing this for me. This is my friend - and my future friends I'm concerned with. There is no such thing as "That's not my problem," when it comes to human rights. When we start to believe that, we are the ones who ultimately loose. No, I can't save the world, but when the affairs of the world affect me, I must act to save myself - and only a fool would think that the affairs of the world will not affect him personnally in some way eventually.

There is a saying in this country: "What goes around, comes around." Trite, but so true! I am a citizen of a country that is presently committing some terrible human rights violations against some decent immigrants who have never done us a disservice. How is that going to come around? It's costing us already.

By the way, not that it matters one bit as to the nationality of whose rights are being violated, but let me point out that of the dozen or so immigrants I'm helping now, not one is Hispanic and only one was here illegally. I have to repeat that from time to time as the media would have you think it's all illegal Mexicans and terrorists that ICE is dealing with. Nope - big lie!

The actions of this country against it's most vulnerable inhabitants directly affects the future of us all. I'll be damned if I'm going to sit idly by while ICE casually plays dirty with my future. Those who are in trouble - those who I am working to help owe me no thanks. The only people who do owe me are those who are sitting on their rears and not speaking up or doing a thing to help in any way. It's their future at stake as well and I'm putting in ten to fourteen hour days in front of this computer on beautiful sunny days when I would much rather be outside because of their inaction. They are the only ones who owe me. They owe me and they owe every single other person who is actively engaged in trying to restore Liberty and Justice to this country. But hey, what goes around comes around, and this in the end will come around too.

In Praise of Aggression

2009-09-02T06:46:00.000-07:00

Sweetness and light has its place. I like it myself. A field of flowers tickled by a playful breeze, children's laughter dancing across a playground - perhaps a Sunday family dinner, warmth and laughter and love. It's great! There's no doubt about that.

However . . . "however" being the grammatically correct way of starting a sentence with "but" and you just knew there was a "but" coming with this one, didn't you . . . there is a time and place for everything and when we live in a world where millions of the people are still wondering how they are going to eat from day to day, where there is massive injustice and corruption being practiced at every turn, including within our own country, where there are people capable of lying, bullying and killing their way to the top of the heap, sweetness and light ain't gonna cut it - not on that stuff.

The first step to handling anything is to be able to confront it. That is why police officers must function so close to the line of thinking like criminals, why soldiers protecting the warmth and safety of home must be killers. It is a sad reality that sometimes those who walk that line between darkness and light sometimes slip over to the darkness. I once had to cut a cop friend loose because he'd done exactly that and it broke my heart. The fact that this happens, though, is not a reason to label all aggression as bad and waltz off into a la-la land of total sweetness and light where everything is just fine and bright and let's just have a great day every day - oh, happy-happy-joy-joy.

Okay, I'll admit it . . . Deb's had a little too much sweetness and light come her way lately and it's starting to leave an unpleasant after-taste. I understand the concept of the charismatic - the biblical idea that one teaches through one's own actions in life - that if one wishes to bring about peace, one must walk and talk peace, must embody peace, etc and I actually have no quarrel with that. I treasure a few friends who are charismatics and they are amazing. It is a noble roll to take on in one's life and thank God there are people out there doing it. They are precious and they should survive to spread their message of compassion, love and forgiveness and they can and will . . . as long as there are others out there to take on the down and dirty task of protecting their right and ability to do that.

That takes one aggressive mothereffer. This universe abhors imbalance. For every beacon of pure sweetness and light that our world is graced with, it seems we are bound to have another whose life exudes the exact opposite. Hence we have Hitler and Gandhi existing at the same time. There are those who would say if you cut out the actions of common aggression the gentle ways, the compassionate ways of people like Gandhi would prevail against the Hitlers of this world. Well, I'm not so sure about that - it could go either way. A battle is a battle no matter what the tactics used, but are we so certain that Gandhi was not himself aggressive?

The fact is that until lately, those people who would take the gentler, compassionate and loving route to freeing this world of tyranny and suffering were in fact very aggressive people. Love and aggression exist in unison. It is only when they are separated that either causes a problem. As long as we exist in a world of illness, natural disaster, injustice and war that will be so. All the sweetness and light in the world is not going to change the fact that we do, in fact, live in such a world and we need to get over this bloody quest for a life without conflict. Yes, you can live that life, but the world will still be what it is. Know that if you choose to avert your eyes and sooth yourself with platitudes like, "Don't worry, it will all work out for the best" some other person must then take on your share of the aggressive work that goes into making it all work out for the best. That's okay too, those of us who do that and do it willingly are actually comforted by a softer, gentler world to come home to, but don't then welcome us by damning the very aggression that protects that sweetness.

Those of you who choose the beautiful paths of this world, don't slip so far into the sweetness and light that aggression becomes a foul concept to you. If you do you are condemning the very thing that makes your lifestyle possible and those of us who have chosen to walk the darker paths for love of you . . . we're getting bloody tired of being kicked for it.

This essay is dedicated to my son, Naji, who had more than his fill of sweetness and light yesterday and was none too happy about it.

"How Not to Win the War on Terror

2009-08-31T23:04:00.000-07:00

Ya know guys, I'm tired tonight, but there is something I have to say. It's late and I just finished posting a letter on the News and Views page of my site: http://www.obfthepeople.org/news.htm. This letter is very disturbing. You should go read it. I titled it "How to Win Friends and Influence People - ICE Style." I've seen worse incidents since I started looking into ICE and their abuses - a young man thrown to the ground while handcuffed, his jaw broken under a guard's boot - not repaired for over three years now; men with cancer denied medicine, a minister who was the victim of identity theft still in prison 5 months after he was ordered released by a judge . . . the list just goes on and on, but what this young man speaks of disturbs me on a whole different level. Aside from the human rights issue there is something else to consider.

Terrorists are a problem for us these days. There are the home-grown ones as well as the radical Islamist ones. I like to think that we are all well enough informed to know this. I'm going to even make an assumption that we know that it is foolish to alienate those Muslims who feel kindly toward us. Which brings me to my question, and please, do remember that Deb is tired, she's been sick and is just getting better and she's cranky right now - so - what I want to know is, "What . . . are we freakin' stupid?!"

There, now that I have that out of my system let's get back to a rational discussion. I know this young man's family. They are wonderful people who love the United States. They are everything we say we would like the immigrants that come to this country to be. Amine, the young man in question is too. He is decent and hard-working. He came here as a refugee when he was a toddler and is here legally. He has committed no crime. He is not suspected of having any intentions of committing a crime. So how is it that he has sat in prison for 14 months? Good question - if you find out, would you please let me know?

Okay, so when someone deliberately provokes a confrontation with friendly Muslims in this country - now remember - we are not talking about Gitmo or anyone suspected of thinking of doing anything against the United States - what exactly is that person's intention in doing that? Are they secretly a terrorist trying to get more recruits for the "cause"? I mean - to deliberately and purposely turn our friends into our enemies - that sounds like the actions of an enemy to me. Fortunately, these yahoos Amine mentions in his letter have not managed to turn any of the people in their care against the United States. Every one of the immigranst I've been in touch with knows that this is not what we are about as a people. Now isn't it too bad that the guard and others that Amine dealt with don't know that. Would it be possible to send their sorry asses (hey, I told you I get cranky when tired) back to elementary school so they can learn how to be good citizens again - because, to employ a well worn cliche - with friends like these, we don't need enemies. These men's actions and subsequent lack of action are a total embarrassment to our country. I'm could go on about this for a lot longer, but I'll spare you. You get the general idea. Deb's going to go get some sleep.

I'd Call This Treason!

2009-08-19T05:59:00.000-07:00

So yesterday two guards at the prison Audrius is in deliberately harrassed and abused a young Muslim man. The details are in my blog post of last night. These guards are guilty of sadistic and stupid behavior - perhaps they were trying to incite a riot, who knows? I think they are also guilty of treason against the United States. Yes, you read that right!

This young man they were abusing is Muslim. He and his family love the United States. They have lived here as refugees since he was a baby. We're having a problem with terrorists these days. We can not prevail in our battle against terrorism without the help of friendly Muslims. We need them - they are our allies. So, wouldn't it follow that a government agent who, while executing his duties as a government agent, attempts to turn a friendly Muslim into a non-friendly Muslim is committing an act of treason against the United States? I'm just sayin' . . .

Audrius' hearing is today - let's all pray that the judge sees his way clear to an act of kindness - maybe a little justice sprinkled on top would be nice. Seems to be a rare commodity - justice - in our immigration courts these days. Our friend needs to be released. He did everything within his power to keep the peace in that prison yesterday, but those "Spanish Christians" he kept mentioning I think were actually Hispanics and Spanish is one language Audrius does not know in any form. He's having trouble getting across to them that they need to keep cool - not let the guards get to them.

I was too tired last night to figure out what a "Spanish Christian" was. Audrius speaks English really well so I forget it is his fifth language. He was angry and frustrated last night when he was speaking with me as he is a peace maker at heart and he'd found it hard to keep the Hispanic inmates calm when the guards started to abuse Amine. Audrius speaks, reads and writes five languages fluently. He can get by in a few more, but he doesn't speak Spanish. He's traveled through many lands and dealt with many people. With all his languages he's always been able to communicate wherever he has found himself. Now suddenly he's in a situation where he doesn't know the language of a large portion of the population. The dude's not used to that and it's frustrating him no end. Of course, if they keep him in there for another month or two, he'll have Spanish added to his list of languages he can "get by" in. He knows enough languages. He can get a Rossetta Stone course if he wants to add Spanish. He needs to be out of that bloody prison!

A Riot Waiting to Happen

2009-08-18T19:21:00.000-07:00

I did not intend to be spending this time posting to my blog. Audrius' hearing is tomorrow and I will confess that I have been stressed just a wee bit. His case may be continued, he may be released or he may be ordered deported, to never see his young children again. There is no way to know. We've been through this routine many times by now. He called tonight as I expected, but we did not get a chance to discuss his upcoming case. He is worried. There are things going on in that prison that look suspiciously like an attempt to get the inmates to do something, to give the guards an excuse, but an excuse for what?

One inmate - oh, forgive me, these men are not in there for crimes so they are not inmates, they are "detainees" - with the way they are being treated I keep forgetting . . . anyway, one inmate, a young refugee who fled Algeria with his family as a baby and who has committed no crime - is here totally legally - had his Koran and his prayer rug thrown from his cell today by prison guards. These guards are technically called COs - "correctional officers," but when they act the way these two yahoos were acting the only "correction" involved needs to be applied to them. Yes, I do have both their names.

These same guards then proceeded to verbally abuse and degrade this same young man, belittling his faith and his ethnic background. This was all done publicly and continued to the point that a number of Spanish Christian detainees became visibly aggitated and upset at the way this man was being violated. Christians coming to the aid of a Muslim - gotta give this deportation machine some credit - it does show men that they can get along despite their differences.

There are a few things here that I can not help but notice. First of all, this young man is one of the worst cases of ICE excessive persecution of immigrants in that prison and we have been quite active and vocal lately in trying to call public attention to his plight. His sister has been alerting the media this last week and I have sent letters out to a number of Senators that mentioned his situation. The YouTube video that we created for him is starting to get noticed as well. Why are the guards suddenly doing everything they can to get him to react - to do something to strike back that would then destroy his credibility as a totally innocent victim of ICE? Is it just a coincidence that he is being targeted this way at this time?

My other concern is that tomorrow is Audrius' hearing. Audrius is a stabilizing force within that prison. When the immigrants were housed with the criminal population, Audrius, with the help of a couple of other inmates, managed to diffuse a racial battle that was brewing between two groups of inmates. Audrius keeps the peace. He keeps people calm . . . but tomorrow he will be gone. I am writing this now as testimony - so that if there is a riot of any kind in that unit tomorrow, it can be shown it was not by chance - it was deliberately planned and instigated.

And of course, what is going to become of my friend? He knew if we started to shed light on the abuses in that prison and within the immigration deportation system he might pay the price. The judge he has is said to be the only immigration judge in Boston that will give a fair hearing, but he's a prosecutor's judge. Only time will tell if Audrius is about to pay for speaking out. Before he called tonight I was worried about how tomorrow would turn out for him. Now I am worried about how it will turn out for all the men in that unit. My only hope is that exposing this now will deflect it. Stay tuned . . . as I know what is happening, you will know.

And Another Thing!

2009-08-18T07:39:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know, I've been kind of one dimensional lately - "Okay Deb, immigration - got it already." Audrius' hearing is tomorrow and who knows what that will bring, but plans are set for every possible outcome - I'm looking up Statue of Liberty costumes - got the chains and shackles all ready, so now I'm working on distracting myself. I'm not gonna even mention immigration again . . . today . . . on this blog.

So while I've been all up in this business the world has been continuing on without me - thank y'all for keeping it going. Poking my head up and looking around I find not much has changed - and no that is not proof that there's no use in trying 'cause ya can't change anything! I'm just sayin' . . . there's plenty else to talk about . . . like the value of mental illness, for example . . .

I'm as serious as a charging rhino on this - taking the definition right from the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) that the psychiatrists use to determine if you are mentally ill. That's one big book! You name the human attribute - it's in there. According to their standards, I'm as looney as they come and in serious need of meds. Of course, so was Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Johnson . . . anyone who ever accomplished anything in their life. Just think, if we could have just treated and medicated all the people in our past who were mentally ill so they would be happier and accept the surrounding circumstances as they found them, why we'd be . . . still livin' in freakin' caves!!! People, "Brave New World" was not written as a good idea!

Some folks I know are seriously worried about me. I'm not acting my age. I am still relatively healthy. I am still active. I still care about things to the point that I am willing to do something about them. This, to them, is a sign that I have a serious mental condition. Ya know how going to Hell doesn't seem so bad when you realize that's where all the interesting people are gonna be? Yeah, well in my book the same goes for life without meds for us crazy types to keep it all stable. I'm doin' it natural - that's where all the interesting people are. Catch y'all later . . .

Sixty Years and It Just Gets More Interesting

2009-08-13T14:44:00.000-07:00

Hey, it's my birthday today - I'm a whole 60 years old - and yes, that is a recent picture of me, thankyouverymuch! I had planned a big celebration - back last year, my buddies Audrius, Terry and I noticed that this year we would all be hitting a decade mark - me 60, Terry 50 and Audrius 40. We figured a big party was in order - and it was supposed to fall on my birthday as mine's the date right in the middle. Oh well - Audrius is still in prison. Looks like they plan to hold my buddy for a while longer. So - I started the day kind of depressed, a little down - not celebrating anything. I was just working up a good head of steam and thinking about what to do if they still don't let him out at his hearing next week. Aaaaand - I have a plan . . . okay, never mind, I'm celebrating after all. Oh, this is too good!

Now, you know if they let him rejoin his family it's a whole different game, but I'd lay odds that they won't. ICE's tactics when they've got an immigrant in jail who has committed no actual crime are to keep them locked up, treat them worse than a criminal and delay, delay, delay till they wear the targeted person and their family down so they sign the deportation papers just to get out.

Since there's a good chance that my buddy Audrius will be tortured and killed if he's deported, and since he has a citizen wife and two citizen children here, and since his wife has a son by another marriage and can't live outside this country, Audrius isn't real motivated to agree to being deported. I'm not too agreeable to it either - best case scenario: he'd never see his kids again and he and I couldn't go back to arguing with each other for hours over multiple cups of tea. Worst case scenario: he'd be dead. Along with that is the itsy-bitsy fact that I promised to stand by him till this was finished, one way or the other. Which means - if he gets deported I've got to take this fight to Eastern Europe. I can't guarantee I can save him - sorry guys, but if he's sent out of here I really can't be sure of that, but I can guarantee that if they do take him down, it won't be able to be done quietly with no one knowing what happened and why. I made him that promise when he was picked up too.

So, happy 60th birthday to me - stay tuned - the game may go into overtime and you'll really want to watch if it does. I'll make you a promise - it won't be boring! Oh, you want a hint of what I'm planning? Okay - here's one:

There are 18,000 people held indefinitely in our prisons on immigration detention, many of them here legally, who have never been found guilty of any criminal act in this country - ever. 18,000 innocent people doing hard time in US prisons - that's your hint. ;-) Now ask yourself - "what can Deb do with the number 18,000?" Yeah, well . . .

Crying For Loss of Country

2009-07-29T09:34:00.000-07:00

First you cry. The tears are expected - someone you care about has been taken, you know not where, you know not what will happen to him or her. Perhaps it is a simple matter of the person being deported. Perhaps it will be a physical separation where the hurt will continue, but fade over time to a dull constant ache. Perhaps the one taken is in grave danger if he or she is deported and you fear for that person's life. In time (a very long time when dealing with ICE) that too shall be resolved. Either the person will be allowed to stay or they will be sent away and perhaps killed. Even the pain of the loss of a loved one through death will eventually be reduced to tolerable levels. Life goes on.

But life must have some sense of hope and justice to go on. It is a terrible thing to loose someone you love, but it is a far worse thing to loose one's faith - not in God, but in the country in which you must continue to live. Once that is lost, you can never feel safe again.

I was raised in the USA in a family whose roots go back four hundred years. I believed this country had something special, that there was a basic decency within our people. That belief has been shaken to its very core and now I cry tears that refuse to abate - not for the abscence of my friend, though that is deeply felt, but for the loss of what I believed in.

I have seen too much. I suddenly find I like shows like Criminal Minds for their portrayal of serial killers - as reassurance that there are still criminals out there who do worse things to people than what I've seen some agents of our government do to the helpless people caught in our immigration system. Men with cancer sit in prison without medication. A young man is brutalized and permanently injured by authorities while handcuffed and he is given little medical care - and then billed for the litte care he is given. Nothing is done to the men who attacked him. Men sit in prison under orders of deportation, but they do hard time instead. They are not deported for months, even years. Prosecutors lie to judges to extend the time someone is held in prison for no reason and when their lies become apparent nothing is done. Immigrants are held on a civil charge for months, even years while citizens who have committed assault, rape or robbery walk free. Immigrants who are legal are picked up on the slightest of charges that are then not even proven and do hard time while waiting for a deportation finding.

Immigrants are not safe in this country - it does not matter if they are legal or illegal - they are not safe. They are seen as less than human here - treated as less than human. This is a nation of laws, but only for citizens. This country has created, through its laws and actions, a sub class of human beings. I believed this could not happen here - perhaps in the Middle East - perhaps in China, but not here - never here. But it has - it does. My friend sits in prison. I still do not know if he will be able to stay or will be sent back to his original country - to his death. I cry, but the tears are not for the potential of his death or for the torturous months of waiting for the deportation machine to do with him what it will. No, my tears are for the death I already face - the death of my own belief in my country. The imminent death of my own pride in being an American, of my faith in the inate goodness of man. I will not let it die without a fight.

Be Careful What You Wish For

2009-07-28T18:37:00.000-07:00

You can't avoid the claims: Illegal immigrants are ____________ (fill in the blank). When pressed for details it always turns out to be Mexicans that are the danger. To listen to the reports the only immigrants that come here illegally are Hispanic and the only ones that we pick up are here illegally and we have to clamp down on this illegal immigration because of 9/11 or the terrorists will take over.

So now we're securing our borders to protect ourselves from terrorism. Ummm,bu I don't want to seem dumb, but exactly how many Hispanic terrorists have we been attacked by lately? Why is it that of the nine immigrants I am dealing with right now who are either doing hard time in US prisons on a civil detention or have been deported by ICE not a single one is Hispanic? I'm open to hearing about Hispanics dealing with the deportation system (I refuse to call it a justice system anymore as there's little justice within it) but so far I don't have any on my plate. I don't have any potential terrorists either, and only one that came to this country illegally. Where's all the illegal Hispanic terrorists? Will somebody please tell me?

Has anyone thought about what would happen if we got what we say we want? If all the illegal immigrants were to go home, if all the Mexicans that seem to be so unpopular were to go home . . . what would happen in this country? Honestly, do you think what illegal immigration is costing you is actually more than what you would be paying at the grocery store if they weren't here? Do you think the jobs would stay here if our farmers couldn't get help to harvest the crops? Do you think that if the strawberries and broccoli, apples and lettuce were grown elsewhere that the jobs immigrants do would be the only jobs lost to the US?

I've heard a few people tell me that the Mexicans are coming over here because they intend to take back California through sheer numbers. Let me tell you something: if the Mexicans wanted to take down the whole US all they would have to do is leave our ungrateful country and go back to Mexico for a couple of years. If they all said "To hell with you - we're outta here!" - if they all left the way some folks wish they would and we didn't have any of them around anymore - legal or illegal - the US economy would be brought to its knees.

For that matter, if the other immigrant workers in this country left - if they all picked up and left - the guys working with our computer companies, in medicine, in manufacturing, in oil refinery, contsruction and auto building - if they all went away we would be sunk. We would no longer be a powerful country. Our businesses would fail, our infrastructure collapse, even our government would falter and stumble. Do you have any idea how many immigrants actually work for the government?

Ah, but you say that it's just the illegals we are worried about. If that's so, why are so many of the people in the prison unit that my friend is held in here legally? Why are we taking people from their families and communities and holding them in captivity for months and even years who have been convicted of no crime or have committed a minor offense that we or our own children might have committed at some point, who have harmed no one - and who are here legally?

Do you think some of our immigrant workers - the legal ones who are specialists in areas that we desperately need their expertise - are not noticing what is going on? One spoke to me recently about how frightening it is to come into this country - to go through the line and watch people being arrested and taken away in front of you for the most trivial thing. You may be surprised, but it doesn't make people love this country. It doesn't make them thrilled to be working here. It makes them start to look for jobs elsewhere where they will be treated like human beings with rights and where the skilled workers go - there the jobs will have to follow.

So keep it up - keep making life miserable for immigrants. Keep wishing them gone. You never know, you could get your wish. You may turn this country into a has-been nation yet. I hope not, but just think . . . if it were to happen your grandchildren will have you to thank as they fill out their applications for a visa to move to Europe for a chance at a job. Justice is especially sweet when it's poetic - donchya think? Unfortunately it would impact the rest of us as well, so y'all are going to have to quit this anti-immigration foolishness. I have grandkids myself and I want them to have a good future right here.

Mr President, When You Said "Change" I Thought You Meant Toward Compassion - Not Away From It

2009-07-26T14:37:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to understand it . . . the deportations have increased - more families are being torn apart each day and yet Obama talks of change like he means it to be a good thing. This change is cruel and inhumane to all who are affected by it. These are real people being hurt, Mr Presidant. They are not just statistics.

A mother whose son has been here since he was a child now mourns his loss. He was deported as we helped her file to get her immigration papers sent to her - papers that would prove that her son should have been a citizen by now - would have been if INS had done their job. We were ready to file an appeal when ICE deported the young man to Trinidad with no notice. He does not know that country - only the US. His mother is a US citizen. He should have been a US citizen, but INS played games with his paperwork for years till he was no longer a minor. We can prove that, but it is too late - he's gone. The rumor circulating in the prisons is that the gangs in Trinidad know who is recently deported from the US. They know those people are vulnerable. The recently deported immigrant is offered a choice - join the gang or die. I hope and pray this boy's mother does not know the rumors. I hope and pray those rumors are exaggerated.

Today's New York Times states that, "The Obama administration is vastly expanding a federal effort begun under President George W. Bush to identify and deport illegal immigrants held in local jails." Now see - when Obama was talking about change I thought he meant away from the policies of President Bush. That is why I voted for him. That is why I've been writing to him about this situation - and to Janet Napolitano. I thought they were the good guys.

Of course, the only answer I've gotten back was one form letter from DHS stating they were forwarding my letter to ICE and that they were committed to improvement. They specifically mentioned they were going to see to it the prisoners got medical care - one of the few things I had not complained about. They did not state they would start feeding them enough food to live or address any of the complaints and concerns I did have. I don't think anyone read my letter. Since then I've run into three immigrant detainees, two with cancer and one with a broken jaw who are not getting medical care, so even the one thing they did claim they were going to improve got worse.

My friend has sat in prison for eight months now. He has harmed no one, hasn't even worked here illegally. We are being financially raped by a prison system that would put a Mafia shake-down artist to shame trying to keep him fed and get him justice. He can not prove his claim that he would be tortured and likely killed if sent back to his country of origin till he's allowed out to gain access to certain documents. He can't prove that the claims that ICE is making against him are not true without the documents that ICE claimed to have, but that now ICE has mysteriously lost and can not get copies of. He can not help himself while locked up and ICE shows no intentions of letting him out while his case continues on. If he were a citizen and a rapist, a burgler, or a drug dealer he could get bail, but he's done nothing like that, so he sits in prison indefinitely.

He has two young little girls and deep ties to our community and has the support of his family, friends and neighbors and yet ICE will not let him out while his case drags on. Now it turns out that, under Obama, cases like his will be speeded up to expedite deportation. If somebody gets sent off to a country where they are in danger, if they are killed, if they are separated from their family forever - well, those are the breaks. Well no, President Obama, those are not the breaks, should not be the breaks and we did not vote for you because we wanted more of Bush's draconian policies. What ICE is doing is wrong. Those sorts of actions toward living human beings are wrong. They always have been and they always will be.

The War Is Not Yet Won

2009-07-24T10:16:00.000-07:00

Palin resigns as governor of Alaska and continues her political ambitions by appealing to fear and distrust of all things foreign or culturally different from white, rural, middle America.

Lou Dobbs, on CNN, advances the theory that Barack Obama may not be a legal citizen and therefore can not legally be president.

Fans of both are blogging and chatting about getting guns and taking back America.

Violent crime against African Americans, Hispanic Americans and immigrants are increasing at a rapid pace.

ICE's deportation machine grinds relentlessly on leaving thousands of tortured families and broken lives in its wake.

And you think we've won the fight for racial equality and ethnic tolerance in this country? We've won a few squirmishes, a few battles even. This last election we won a huge battle, but the war is far from over. In fact, this moment in time is critical. It's your future, your children's and grandchildren's futures that is on the line.

Have you gone AWOL?

Some of us have been fighting for the soul of this country for as long as we can remember - for me it's been since the 60s - that's over four decades. You're tired. I'm tired, but we are so close now. We are in danger of loosing so much if we relax our efforts now. Those that would have this country give up on its ideals, those who do not agree with the words, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." are renewing their effort. They have not given up. If we are not to loose ground we must each do our part, either be stepping up and speaking out loud and clear, over and over again - or by supporting those who are. Give of yourself or give of your resources, but do give. Now is the time to act. Now is the time to establish your legacy as someone who made a difference.

Oh hell yes I'm asking for your help and your money. We need information, connections and funding - in that order. Do you have some info that should be made known, but you don't want to be a target? Do you know someone with influence I should speak to, perhaps some group? Contact me at: deborah@untamed-itch.com. Would you rather contribute financially? Buy and wear one of our "USA FOUNDED AND BUILT BY IMMIGRANTS" or CHARITY WITHOUT JUSTICE IS LIKE SEX WITHOUT LOVE" t-shirts or make a financial contribution at: http://www.obfthepeople.org/. It's all needed. It all helps. It all makes a difference. Choose the action that suits you best, but act now and act often!

Are you in apathy on this whole subject? Okay, I feel ya - consider this: "In The Art of Fiction, Ayn Rand states, 'No one can be consistently evil. Since evil is destruction, anyone who attempted consistently in his life to follow a bad premise would eliminate himself; he would be dead, or at best insane. A man can hold bad premises only so long as his good ones make them possible, support them – and are destroyed in the process of supporting them. Bad premises, if not eliminated, will grow and destroy the good ones.' " This entire essay, entitled "Hope" can be found at: www.obfthepeople.org/human_rights.htm. There is hope and you can have an effect on the outcome.

Legal Torture

2009-07-21T20:58:00.000-07:00

I’ve recently had a report of torture by ICE of a Portuguese man and an Iranian man who are being held in a Massachusetts prison. The Portuguese detainee was supposed to be deported to Portugal, but instead of taking him to the airport, he was taken to another prison. This man has colon cancer and his medication was cut off by ICE, just as if he had been deported. But he hadn’t been deported, he was still being held in prison and could do nothing to obtain medical care for himself. When his complaints and demands for his medicine became too insistent, he was placed in solitary confinement, called “the hole” by inmates. Last report he was still there.

The other man came to this country as a child, fleeing Iran during a time of great turmoil. He knows no country but America. He has a wife and teenage children. He owns his own construction business. He also has cancer and has only one kidney left. He is now going through deportation proceedings – to Iran. Since being put in prison his condition has worsened - he is in pain - he is loosing weight - he is not given enough food or enough of the right kind of fluids to keep him healthy. Worse, he has not been given any medication or treatment so far for his cancer or the pain.

Now, I’m notoriously anti-drug, legal or illegal. A cup of coffee is heavy drug use to me, but when someone has cancer, to not give them medication and drugs for the pain . . . it is appalling that this could happen in this country. The people who picked these men up, the prosecutors and judges, the people of ICE who are denying them their medication – they have choices to make. The second these people are taken from their families and homes and held captive they are the total responsibility of the people who are holding them. What happens to them while in custody is the responsibility of those who keep them in prison. What the law might or might now allow has no bearing here. Whether the judge and prosecutor in these cases choose the law over compassion has yet to be seen, but ICE has made their choice – they have chosen torture.

To deny a person who is in your care, a person totally dependent upon you, and these immigration detainees are totally dependent upon their captors, the necessities of life is torture – and that is giving the benefit of the doubt. Another less generous interpretation of denying a man with cancer proper medical care would be attempted murder. Now the only questions left are: Will there be an investigation to determine who is responsible for this and will that person or those people be brought up on charges? Are we a beacon of liberty and justice or are we aspiring to descend to the humanitarian levels of a third-world country?

There's a Question?

2009-07-21T20:53:00.000-07:00

News item: A San Francisco immigration court is deciding on a Mexican woman’s plea for asylum. While in Mexico she was held captive, beaten, repeatedly raped and impregnated by a man who stole from her and tried to burn her alive by setting her bed on fire. She does not feel that she would be adequately protected by her country if she were sent back. So let me get this straight – we aren’t sure we’re going to grant her asylum or not?

Our government has been trying to decide for the last 15 years if immigrant women who are victims of severe physical or sexual abuse should be granted asylum in this country. Right now we only grant asylum to people who might be tortured or killed due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion or “membership in a particular social group” and even then, they’d better be able to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. We don’t give out asylum to people easily. This is nothing new. We turned a boat load of Jews away at the beginning of WWII – sent them back to Nazi concentration camps where many died. We are still stubbornly maintaining the rightness of our actions by continuing those actions despite the misery and death it brings to innocent people who turn to us for refuge. We like our Statue of Liberty on the Fourth of July – the rest of the time she’s an irritation – out of step with American policy and law – and policy and law trumps compassion and human rights . . . right?
Actually, I believe that it was decided in Nuremberg soon after WWII that violating a person’s human rights because you were following the law was no excuse – and violating a person’s human rights is a crime. I believe it was decided then that “I was just following orders” was an invalid justification. Isn’t choosing the law over compassion and human rights a form of “just following orders?” We know what the right thing, the humane thing to do is. If we choose not to do it because the law says it’s illegal to do the right thing . . . what does that make us?

The New Jim Crow

2009-06-28T11:25:00.000-07:00

Our friend, Audrius' next immigration hearing is July 1st - please, everyone pray for him and his family. Unfortunately, he may remain in prison while this process wears us all down or be ordered deported without any real opportunity to prove his claim that he will likely be killed if he sent back. Then again, he could be returned to us so that he can pursue his case - miracles can happen. His children are supposed to visit him the day before his hearing - hopefully the last time they see their father alive will not be in that cold prison visiting room through that horrid glass!

DHS (Department of Homeland Security) has changed some of its regulations to recognize the humanity of the people they are dealing with - and to even grant them a few legal protections, but those changes have had an opposite effect in New England. More beds have been made available in the prisons and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is working overtime to fill them. The present actions that I am seeing in New England right now are frighteningly similar to what I saw before and during the 60s civil rights struggle. The laws are stacked against the immigrant and he/she along with anyone attempting to help is stripped of dignity and treated like a second-class human being. Personally, I think there are some serious white supremacists working and enforcing policy within ICE. What else would explain what is being done? There is not the slightest resemblence to human rights in the present climate. There is only fear, intimidation, loss and destruction for thousands of innocent people. I am not speaking here of just Hispanic undocumented workers, either. I am presently dealing with eight immigrants in danger, as well as their families and friends. I have been told of many more. I have yet to hear about, speak or meet with a single one who is Hispanic!

Fact: Immigration detainees have fewer rights than criminals. They are not innocent till proven guilty. They can be picked up on unproven charges and detained indefinitely at great cost to their family, friends and the American tax payer.

Fact: The present enforcement tactics of ICE are forcing many immigrants to remain in abusive marriages under the constant threat of deportation and never seeing their children and/or loved ones again if they do not do as they are told. Immigrants are being held in virtual slavery in this country, aided and abetted by our government. I know personally of at least three such cases.

Fact: Unlike drug dealers, rapists, thieves and such, immigration civil detainees who have committed no crime are not allowed contact visits with their families - not even a chance to hug their kids. In the prison Audrius is housed in, the criminals who clean their units are allowed contact visits. The immigrants who clean their units are not.

Fact: The immigration department consistently does not process paperwork for minor children of naturalized citizens the way it is supposed to. They drag their feet for years, making promises and doing nothing till the immigrant is an adult - and then pick that person up and throw him/her in prison - for as many months or years as it takes to wear them and their families down till they sign the deportation papers just to get out. Many, many people sitting in immigration detention are there due to government mistakes in their paperwork.

Fact: Many immigrants facing deportation have been here since they were babies or young children. They know no other language but English, no other country but America. When they are deported their families often leave as well to protect them in the country they have been deported to - a country their deported, now-adult children do not know. Children who have been born here will sometimes leave also to be with their parents. These tactics is clearly intended to remove as many people of other cultures from our country as possible - legal or not. By the way, people who are born here are citizens because it is written in The Constitution of the United States of America. For those of you who want to know whose bright idea that was . . . it was our founding father's bright idea.

Fact: There are people sitting in civil detention, their families being destroyed through this process, who have relatives serving tours of duty in Iraq. Apparently "Support Our Troops" applies only to non-immigrant troops.

Fact: There are immigrants sitting in civil detention in this country who have been preyed upon by criminals, gone to the police for help and been detained and thrown in jail while the person they sought protection from was let go. The tactics of ICE make immigrants easy targets for thieves and rapists.

Fact: Immigrants are being picked up and deported because of minor crimes committed years ago and for which they served their time. They could be model citizens now, have families, have been here for decades - doesn't matter - they are deported. Immigrants are being deported for being on parole for possession of small amounts of pot. What your child would get a slap on the wrist for, what even many of our politicians have admitted to, is grounds for deportation for an immigrant - even one who has been here since he/she was a baby and whose parents are citizens.

Fact: People who have recently attacked and/or killed immigrants are treated less severely, in and out of prison, than immigrants who have hurt no one, but whose papers are not in order. Frequently they do less time in prison for committing a violent crime against an immigrant than an immigrant does who has committed no crime.

Okay, listen . . . how can anyone be responsible for this, how can anyone do this and sleep at night if they aren't a white supremacist or a sadist? I think it is time to take a good hard look at these tactics and who is commiting and authorizing them. They are bordering on lawlessness, have not the slightest conciousness of the concept of human rights about them and are actively destroying lives. Many of the lives they destroy are the lives of American citizens who have the nerve to care about an immigrant. I know what they have done to my and my family's life since they took Audrius . . . and our ancestors came here centuries ago. I can only imagine what this is doing to our immigrant's children, to their families . . . so many innocent people, so much suffering . . . it is overwhelming!

The time to act is now. Don't wait till ICE comes for your neighbor, your best friend, your daughter-in-law . . . and they will come. Our lives are touched by immigrants every day. Our lives will be, are being, affected by what is happening to these people. Your voice is needed.

How long will we as a people allow this to go on within our own country. We did not allow it to continue during the days of Jim Crow. We told the likes of Sheriff Bull Connor what he could do with his sick hatred. How long will it take us to do the same to those people who are abusing our defenseless immigrant population? How many lives must be destroyed before we act, before we stand up beside our fellow man and say "ENOUGH!"?

Speechless - I'm Effin Speechless!

2009-06-19T08:24:00.000-07:00

Teenagers in PA beat a man to death. The man was Hispanic and a father of two small children. He was brutally kicked in the head, punched with fists containing a piece of metal to give the blows more force - beaten to a bloody pulp.

In court the teens were discribed as good kids by their teachers, coaches, friends and relatives.

They were convicted of simple assault - not murder - simple assault. They have now been sentenced to a minimum of six months in prison. Take one Hispanic man's life - do six months in prison for assault!

I am presently dealing with six cases of immigrants who have been deported or are fighting deportation. Only one of those was here without documentation and he tried to come here legally - came illegally only because he believed his wife and child would be homeless if he did not hurry. The other five came here legally and were attempting to comply with all immigration rules.

Five of those immigrants have done more time in prison than six months - on a civil detention - charged with no crime. They can be and are being held indefinitely.

Three of the six have been victims of domestic abuse by citizen partners who used the immigration laws to render their victims helpless - two of those six were victims of domestic servitude enforced via risk of deportation if they did not do as they were told.

All of the six are still sitting in prison or have been deported.

All of the six are considered to be good people by family, friends coworkers and relatives. Two of the six have had members of their community - mostly non-immigrant American citizens - activily and vocally vouch for their character and request that they please be returned to their American family, friends and neighbors who miss them and want them back.

Oh, by the way, not that it matters, but not one of the six is Hispanic.

I am speechless. Go to http://www.untamed-itch.com/ and you will see that I normally have plenty to say and I'm not shy about saying it, but today I can think of nothing that comes close to what I'm feeling. Confronted with such facts . . . what can anyone say?

Our Character Is Our Destiny

2009-06-03T07:54:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite books is, Character is Destiny – The value of Personal Ethics in Everyday Life, by Russell W. Gough . . . and no, that does not mean I’m an up-tight, fussy old Puritan – far, far from it!

My favorite quote from that book is, “Character is what you are in the dark,” by Dwight Moody. What we do when we think no one is looking is what our true character is.

Let me propose that we expand that concept – our character as a people is our destiny as a people. The character of The United States of America has been stellar on many levels. Look through history and you will see that our greatest difficulties have been connected to times when we have allowed ourselves to slip away from those attributes that define our character as a great people. Our greatest triumphs have been when we held fast to the principles upon which this country was built.

Our country is in trouble right now and our problems are persisting. Perhaps we need to take a closer look at what we are doing in the dark. Consider this condition that diverges from what our country is supposed to stand for:

We currently have a large number of people held indefinitely in our prisons – at a considerable cost to the taxpayer, I might add. They are not criminals. They are not suspected of terrorist activity or aiding terrorist activity. They are undocumented immigrants, held on civil detention. Technically that means they can be held for as long as our government chooses to hold them. Technically they have fewer rights than a drug dealer who happens to be a citizen. Our family knows and loves one of those people.

In this country you are innocent until proven guilty . . . unless you are not a citizen. Then, technically, the burden of proof can be placed on you. That is being done to our friend too.

I’m not talking about Russia here – I’m not talking about Iran or Afghanistan. This is happening right here in this country right now! This is what we are doing in the dark. This is our character. This is our destiny if we do not change it.

If we continue to do what we have been doing we are going to get the same results we have been getting. America’s character is America’s destiny.

In The Name of Justice

2009-06-01T11:08:00.000-07:00

These are hard times for this country. We are faced with terrorism from abroad and possibly from within. We are under extreme economic duress. These are the times that our system of government is our salvation. We are a just nation. We are a compassionate people. That will pull us through if we can hold that line against those who insist that now is the time to compromise our integrity as a people.

One area that has been severely compromised over the last few years is our system of justice regarding illegal immigrants. They are not criminals unless they broke a law while here, but that is part of their problem. Because they have not broken the criminal code - they are here without proper documentation, which is a civil, not a criminal matter - they do not fall under the rules of our system of justice. "But surely," you say, "the intent of The Constitution would be honored by those who work within the justice system and they would not be treated as a criminal or denied due process."

Well, you tell me . . . We are presently holding in federal prisons a large number of ICE (immigration and customs enforcement) detainees. They are held, commingled with and treated as hardened criminals. Some of these people have been held in prison for over a year, some even longer with no charges whatsoever other than improper documentation. They and those connected to them would be better off it they had harmed someone, perhaps stabbed someone or sold drugs. Then the standard rules of justice would apply, but they have hurt no one, are without proper documents, that is all. Because of this, when they have hearings the burden of proof against anything the prosecution claims is on them . . . you read that right - thought it couldn't happen here, didn't you. It does and is. The prosecution can claim whatever it likes with no need to prove any of it. The immigrant must prove it is not true, which can be a difficult feat to accomplish while locked in jail. This is not Russia or Iraq where this is happening - I'm talking about right here, right now! This should never happen in an American court of law - ever!

This country must stand on those things which make it great if we are to flourish as a people. We can not and will not flourish if we insist on denying our heritage, in degrading the foundation upon which this country was created. We are a great people, an immigrant people. Our nation was founded, built and codified by immigrants. They are our life blood. Yes, they should come here legally, but when it takes 5 years for an airman to finally be able to legally bring his wife to this country to live with him (and it did take a friend of mine that long) you can not be surprised when some feel forced to come here illegally. A man whose wife and children, US citizens all, are floundering here without him will have to choose to risk all to be with them and help them rather then let them continue to suffer while he spends years trying to make his way through proper channels. What other choice do we leave him? My husband would have done the same - any honorable man would. Wouldn't you?

What is happening right now in our system as I type this is a disgrace. To those who are pushing as many undocumented immigrants into and through the present system as possible, denying their humanity and their dignity and raping their friend's and family's finances and lives: Do not delude yourself into thinking you are doing this in the name of the American people. This is not justice and where there is no justice there can be no freedom.

Criminals and Law

2009-04-27T07:47:00.000-07:00

The statistic still stands – the USA has five percent of the world population and twenty five percent of the world’s prison population – we jail a higher percentage of our people than China, but hey, it’s not like we’re cutting off their hands or shooting them or anything like that, so where is the harm? If we can not explain the disparity between those two statistics by saying we, as a people, are an especially degraded and criminal population, inferior in our ethical capabilities, then we have to face the fact that that statistic points to major human rights violations within our own country. You do not have to cut off a man’s hands to do him harm. The fact that someone else has done something worse does not give one a pass on one’s own human rights violations. The reason does not necessarily have anything to do with the person who is being wronged, either.

Justice is a funny thing. There are rules involved, rules that when violated, even for a seemingly good reason, will turn the whole process on its heads. Those rules are set in place to protect us. What do we need protection from? Well, a raging serial killer isn’t anything I want living down the street from me. I’m not keen on finding a burglar in my living room at night – sure as hell don’t want some fool absconding with all my hard-earned money that I’ve invested with her. There are people out there that need to be handled. The thing is these same people, to be successful, know how to play the game of not getting caught really, really well. The rest of us don’t. If you or I went out and tried to do what a criminal does we’d be caught almost instantly. We don’t know the game and we don’t know the system – and that – right there – is the biggest reason that we must respect the human rights of all and grant justice to even the most foul of criminals, because when we don’t we turn the system that we need to protect us upside-down and place it into the hands of those criminals.

I’ve seen one man who was bent on evil activity hold his position within an organization where many, many people knew what he was up to and desperately wanted him out. Because he was so bad those people, good people all, would try to circumvent the process for the purpose of getting him handled. He depended on them doing so. It was how he managed to stay and keep doing what he was doing for as long as he did. He knew the rules and knew how to play the system. As soon as those rules of justice were breached for the purpose of expediency he was safe. He knew exactly how to protect himself using the inappropriate actions of his accusers in trying to take him down against them. Each time someone tried to handle that man by short-cutting the system that man walked away unscathed. However, not everyone did. A lot of little people who had made a minor mistake here and there got caught up in the newly streamlined system and paid a terrible price.

Who among us is entirely innocent? Who among us has never, ever broken any law at any time – never forgot to feed the parking meter, never went over the speed limit, never chose to not turn a pot-smoking friend into the police – I mean, we all do break laws here and there, either by oversight, a brief lapse of common sense or compassion. I’ve been in a rush and totally forgotten to put money in a meter – have broken the speed limit more than I’d care to admit to, and chose to not report a pot-smoking teacher . . . couldn’t face the guy loosing his career and his family going through hell just because he was doing something dumb. That does not make me a criminal. Criminals think differently than we do, they function differently than we do – that is part of why they are criminals. And so we have laws and justice and the respect for human rights, because we need that to protect ourselves. It is what keeps the criminals from gaining positions of power, from running the show. The second we circumvent that system, the second we decide that for the sake of expediency we will look the other way on just this one itsy-bitsy human rights violation we open ourselves up to becoming the victims – not just of criminals, but of the system that is designed to protect us from them. No longer are the criminals locked up, our friends and family are. The criminals have used that breach in justice to their advantage – to weasel their way out. Keep that going and eventually it’s the criminals running the show as they have nothing to fear from the rule of law. Our willingness to make an exception "just this once" gives those who would pervert our system to their own ends the upper hand.

We have five percent of the world’s populations and 25% of the world’s prison population. Take a good look at that statistic. Just who do you think is running the show now?

America Lost?

2009-04-12T08:52:00.000-07:00

It's been an eye-opening weekend for me. Visited my son's fiancee and discovered that she has two cousins who have been deported from this country by INS. One was messing up and showed no intentions of learning from his mistakes or changing his ways - so we can't feel too badly for him. The other came to this country when he was just five years old. A series of circumstances directly tied to a justice system out of control put him in the clutches of INS. After he had spent a year in prison suffering through extended court dates that showed no sign of resolution, and facing more years of the same while still sitting in prison, he decided it was better to agree to be deported from the only country he had ever really known, leaving his mother to remain here alone without her only child. His only other choice was to spend year upon year locked in a cell being treated like a criminal while the vast resources of the government slowly wore him down and destroyed his family.

This is justice? No, I'm learning this is business as usual for our immigration system. I'm left to wonder - is The Statue of Liberty completely abandoned in this country? Does the poem that is on a plaque at her feet no longer apply? When INS hires agents, do they first test them to make sure they do not know this poem and/or the ideals it so perfectly conveys? Do they make sure that they detest that statue's beacon of freedom that has stood for the heart and soul of what is the American people before they can take the job? Do they take these new recruits out to the statue and have them spit on her as part of their initiation ritual? They must! What else would explain what is going on in our immigration system today? Here is the poem that graces that wonderful symbol of freedom:

"The New Colossus,"
by Emma Lazarus

"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame
With conquering limbs astride from land to land
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her eyes command
The air--bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
'Keep ancient lands, you storied pomp!' cries she
With silent lips. 'Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breath free.
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!' "

So we deny Lady Liberty now - is that it? After visiting with my one-day-to-be-daughter-in-law I went and visited my friend, Audrius, who still sits in prison waiting for this country to decide if he will be allowed bail so that he can make his case for why he should be granted the right to stay here. Will he be allowed to stay, to support his children and be with us, his many friends, or if he will be sent away from all of the citizens of this country who do not want to loose him as well as two citizens who desperately need him as their father?

I'm asked constantly by those who miss him how Audrius is doing. He is bored. An intelligent, hard working man left in a cell to sit and wait for months on end will be bored. He spent much of our allowed half hour visiting time talking about how sad it is that the men imprisoned with him feel there is nothing they can do to help themselves - how they have given up. He spent his time with me talking, not about himself and his problems, but about the attributes that should be the very foundation of each American citizen and how he was saddened to find them so beaten out of the people he has met in that prison. This man from another land knows what it is to be an American better than many of our own people. Does that worry you? It should.

I asked Audrius what he expected. That the prisoners won't fight for what is right might be part of what makes them willing to take what appears to be an easier path into crime, but as the words left my mouth I knew I was not seeing the bigger picture. Our small town where Audrius' loss is so deeply felt has the same view point growing within it and our townsfolk are not criminals. I have heard over and over since our friend was picked up that there is nothing that anyone can do because no one person can win against the might of the US government. Excuse me?!!!! And we wonder why this country is in trouble. Do we really not know?

We are the US government, aren't we? This is supposed to be a country of, by and for the people. Isn't that what Lincoln said? Isn't that what we were taught in school? We are the beacon of freedom for all the world to see. Our people are valiant and brave and will not allow the ideals of liberty and justice for all to be alloyed in any way. That is what is necessary to maintain a free country. My friend, Audrius, knows this. Through hard personal experience in other lands he has learned what the alternative is. He knows what is at stake here. Those who come from countries less free, those with pasts like Audrius' know these truths because they know the opposite, have lived the alternative. They are the living embodiment of what we as a people are supposed to stand for. Their inclusion in our society stimulates the heart and soul of America - keeps it beating strong. Are we as citizens now supposed to abandon them to their fates in a prison system grown fat on the shattered lives and dreams of innocent people - turn our backs on what this country stands for? I don't think so. Not as long as this itch draws breath - unhuh - it ain't happening like that!

Correctional Billing - Keeping the Dickens Story of Heartless Greed Alive

2009-04-08T18:46:00.000-07:00

So if by now you don't know I'm dealing with a close friend in prison - under INS detention - fighting for his right to stay in this country - to continue to be a father to his children and a friend to us . . . well, I am. I belong to INS and the federal prison system these days. I trace my own ancestors to the Revolution and Plymouth Colony - who'da thunk it.

The prison system - it's not what they show on TV . . . silly me, I thought it was the prisoners that paid for their transgressions, but then, I used to think that most of the people in prison were actually dangerous criminals. I now have to remind myself to maintain security when visiting my friend in prison as some of the people in there are actually bad people. There are a few real criminals in the prison I've been visiting. With what I've seen it's easy to forget that.

The fact is, the prisoners do not pay - their families do. The prison system is a perfected and streamlined shake-down machine with the targets the parents, spouses, children and friends of those they hold within their human warehouse walls. It takes money to have a loved one in prison – a lot of money – and you have no choice but to pay it. My friend, Audrius', family can not afford all the costs, so I have shouldered many of them. What choice do I have when he has been like family to us for so long – has done so much for us without question? I can not abandon him - we can not abandon him.

Our friend is not being treated like a human being, but I know he is one. He is not a criminal - not even close. He is one of the most honorable men I have ever had the good fortune to know. His well being depends on contact with the non-criminal world that does still exist outside those thick cold walls. I want to reassure him, to be reassured by him that he is okay, but it is not allowed till money has been paid to the private prison phone company - Correctional Billing.

This is how it works: I can not call him, he can only call me – the charges paid by me . . . in advance. To be in touch will cost – a mortgage, a child’s college fund – perhaps a second job might cover it. The intent appears to be to cut all contact with the civilized world – to train my friend, degrade him into a lowered existence – to train and degrade us as well while they strip us of the necessary resource to obtain at least an illusion of justice - money. Audrius - and as long as we care what happens to him, we - are controlled and owned by the state till they decide what his fate shall be and with that decision, what his children’s and family’s and all our fates shall be. Contact with the outside, non-criminal world is discouraged by sheer expense. This system is so deliberately constructed their intent can not be mistaken. My faith in humanity sinks further - my anger grows. If I can not afford to feed myself because I am paying a fortune to Correctional Billing - so be it - I will feed off anger . . . needed to loose weight anyway.

It is not just for Audrius that I do this. Yes, he needs the contact with us - needs to know that he still matters in this world, but he is needed by us as well. This is the kind of man Audrius is:

We recently had a chimney fire. My husband and I have a yearly fight about getting the chimney cleaned. I want to call in the professionals - he wants to do it himself. We heat entirely with wood, so a clean chimney is important. Every year I win - until this year. This year I was too exhausted to fight and was spending too much money to help Audrius to win the chimney cleaning argument, so I let my husband clean the chimney . . . and we had a fire - a very frightening thing, fire is.

At the time the fire started I would normally have been out of the house, but as luck would have it, this time I was home. If I had not been, we would have lost everything. By the time my husband arrived home with the fire department I was frantic and furious - would have made a most regretable scene right then and there, but the phone rang. It was Audrius. He never called at that time of night, but said that he felt the urge to talk to me. I was a wreck, so he kept me on the phone the whole time the fire fighters were there - kept my husband from getting a public scolding from his wife. He let me fuss and yell at him.

"Look at the bright side," he said.

"Audrius, what bright side - what the hell bright side could there be?" I yelled back at him - totally frustrated.

"Well - you won't have that fight again," he said, his gentle Lithuanian accent melting my anger.

I laughed - how could I not? And with that laughter my husband was spared. I can be so angry and upset, but Audrius always knows how to get me to laugh and then start finding solutions instead of striking out uselessly. That is the sort of man he is. That is why we value him. That call, though - that cost me a small fortune - it was needed, but it was expensive. An hour of phone time averages out to around a dollar a minute with Correctional Billing. All the time spent discussing Audrius' case, getting everything straight on his lawyer, filling him in on friends and the local activities so he doesn't feel so disconnected - all the time giving back to him what he has given all of us - it is very expensive.

When I visit Audrius I look at all the families - all the children - most of them very poor. They are living with the same expenses as I am. How do they do it? I know some of it comes from those kids - they don't get new shoes, a toy, maybe even food at times, so the fat-cats that own Correctional Billing can make their profits. Is this the American way? I ask this seriously - is this what we have become as a people that we would allow this to be?

Lady Justice Has Left the House.

2009-04-06T10:36:00.000-07:00

I started my day today writing a letter to an outlaw biker fighting charges that can result in him doing 25 years to life for being a look-out on a drug deal - pretty strange for me. Two cups of coffee in one day is my idea of heavy drug use and I've been known to be just a tad bit unfriendly toward those who promote or enable drug use as a solution to life's problems. This man admitted he is no angel - no surprise there. He also has no prior record. The ones selling the drugs were DEA agents. The ones buying the drugs were DEA agents. The whole deal was theatre courtesy of our federal government. If you think that is acceptable, that the war on drugs can be won by waging war on ourselves - the Bill of Rights be damned - then you might want to check out this group: http://www.leap.cc/ - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.

This biker wrote to me and told me what was happening. His biggest concern in all this - his kids - growing up without a dad. It wasn't what would happen to him that was breaking his heart - it was his kids. Yeah, well anyone reading my site - www.untamed-itch.com - would know that is a soft spot with me, right? Trouble is - this guys locked up. He has never read the site and didn't know that.

Now I'm not exactly the wildest partier around. I'm very allergic to most drugs and my body isn't overly fond of alcohol either. It kept me out of trouble in the 60s and having seen others struggle with substance abuse, I'm glad. I don't like dealing with drunks and find hanging out with people who are stoned to be a very lonely activity. My friends all know I don't give ground on that subject, but this war on drugs is insane! It's unfortunately only the tip of a massive justice system that is spinning out of control - one that has many of our poorer citizens live in fear of their own government. The families of those who are unlucky enough to get caught wind up under the thumb of one of the worst legal shake-down systems functioning on this planet today. A light must be focused on what this system is doing, which is basically creating more and more crime and making our streets less and less safe to feed a growing prison industry that’s only concern is its own protection . . . so call me Elbereth. A proper justice system’s first and foremost goal should be to create a society in which it's services are seldom needed. The system we have is doing the opposite – it is creating its own job security and making those who have invested in it very rich at our expense. That alone is a crime against humanity far greater than many of the crimes that they are locking people up for.

What this biker described to me sounded like blatant entrapment. I ran it past a few other people and they all immediately saw it the same way. This is one of those things that makes people feel unsafe – the perception that the government is blatantly stepping outside the law, targeting people and getting away with it. There must be full protection of the law given to the Devil himself if any of us are to be assured of those protections.

We have watched too many movies and TV shows where the “good guys” break all sorts of rules to get the “bad guys” and it all turns out okay. In the real world there are very good reasons why that should never be done. Not only can people be put away for much more than they deserve, but the truly dangerous who have the money and legal power from their active criminal activity can get off on a technicality because some bozo decided to bend the law to get a bust – and once these criminals get off they can’t be tried for that crime again – both outcomes are unacceptable - the completely innocent or small-time criminal doing hard time and the truly dangerous getting off for the cost of a good lawyer. When every member of our justice system seeks truth and justice instead of just a good conviction rate that doesn't happen. Do the job right in the first place the conviction rate will improve on its own.

Law enforcement that is doing its job right puts together righteous cases that are air-tight that will stand up under any legal challenge. That is how law enforcement is supposed to protect society. This chump-change, sorry excuse for law enforcement that depends on sloppy, half-assed work and plea bargains that border on extortion is a disgrace. Arresting people that way is a waste of time and resources and puts the general populace at greater risk. Such actions are incompetent at best and criminal at worst and we need to get the criminal element out of our legal system.

This system preys on our weakest and most vulnerable – those people on the lower rungs of the economic ladder – and it hits innocent children the hardest via fat cats who are profiting from a privatized prison system (not to mention a phone system that would put a Mafia shake-down artist to shame) that takes it’s profits quite literally out of the mouths of poverty stricken children - I'll have more on that later. If you think that some bad boy biker deserves whatever he gets because after all, he's no angel, please consider this quote from Gandhi:

“Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.”

The fact that someone has done some things that were wrong should not damn that person for life with no consideration for the magnitude of their crimes. The ability to make mistakes and learn from them – the ability to move forward from there – that is part of what freedom is about. My friends claim that I am too much the crusader. With a situation like the one we have within our justice system today I question if I am enough of a crusader - can I make a difference. I must at least try.

Declaration of Intent

2009-04-05T11:41:00.000-07:00

This country has 5% of the world's population. We also happen to have 25% of the world's prison population. We are the beacon of freedom and the progenitors of oppression all at the same time. I can not believe that that is what our founding fathers intended.

Definition:

Slave n. 1. One bound in servitude to a person or household as an instrument of labor. 2. One who is submissive or subject to a specified person or influence. 3. One whose condition is likened to that of slavery.

Slavery n. 1.bondage to a master or household. 2. A mode of production in which slaves constitute the principal work force. 3. The condition of being subject or addicted to a specific influence. 4. A condition of subjection likened to that of a slave.

A proportion of prisoners that is so completely out of proportion to the population begs explanation. There is only one honorable reason this could be: Americans are a more decadent and criminal populace in need of greater controls than other people of the world. Do you want to go with that explanation? If you don't then a few facts must be faced. A prisoner is a type of slave, as per the definition, so the land of the free holds one quarter of the world's population of prison slaves. Add to this the people who are connected to each one of those prisoners, the parents, spouses, siblings and most importantly, the children, whose lives are subject to the demands and whims of our prison system itself - especially in those states with privatized systems where fat cats take their profits from the very mouths of our nations poorest and most down-trodden, and you have a country that does not know the value of freedom and does not respect it's own heritage. What you do not have is a country that is "of the people, by the people and for the peoplle." A look into our prison system as it exists today is a look into the face of pure evil. Let me introduce you to that evil.

Quote: "He who does not punish evil commands it to be done." Leonardo DaVinci

This is the greatest country in the world and it is great because it respects freedom more than any other country in the world. We are not a nation of evil or degraded people. If you believe we are you need to quit reading those Al Queda generated press releases. Anything that would lessen what we are is evil and I am here to proclaim that statistics such as the ones this country has in its prison population is, pure and simple, evil. We have no right to keep so many people in human bondage within our own country. Our prisons are a growth industry. They should not be and the fact that they are should cause every good American to shudder with horror and shame. I agree with Leonardo DaVinci - and I am going on record to declare that I will not continue to be a party to such evil acts. It is my intention, from this moment forward, to do everything I can to expose and extinguish that beacon of injustice that has become our country's justice system. From this point forward, this blog is dedicated to exposing and righting that injustice.

Watch Your Mouth

2009-03-31T20:15:00.000-07:00

Words are the evidence of our thoughts. They expose us for who we are and shape the concepts we develop of our world. In cultures where there is no word for a particular feeling or idea that feeling or idea is unknown except for a few difficult individuals who keep reaching beyond the boundaries of space and time to find something more – something they can’t quite put into words, but they know is out there – you know, those mentally ill folks like me. Pity the poor soul that should happen to find himself in a culture that doesn’t have words for things he just knows exist – and isn’t advanced enough to have those lovely Dr Feelgoods to hand him some meds so he can forget about the whole thing. There’s a few folks who’d like to see me on some meds. They can kiss my ass.

In this country we have the words, but we tend to be pretty sloppy with our use of them. The ones that bug me the most these days are the words “sensitive” and “aggressive. I’m old enough to remember when “sensitive” was preceded by the word “too” and “aggressive” was a compliment. Lately it’s a good thing to be sensitive, we even force people to take classes in it, and there seems to be no limit to how sensitive one can be before the adjective “too” comes into play. Young men today are properly sensitive or they are not accepted. They leave me wanting to kick them in the balls so they find out they have some, but I’m out-voted. It’s not polite to whack some 20-something young man up-side his small head and holler, “Boy, go on an adventure, cause trouble, challenge the establishment, make a whole lot of noise, get arrested, join the military – jeesh, at least move away from home! Do something that a young man at the peak of testosterone would naturally do! It’s a sad, sorry state of affairs when a woman in her 50s is more inclined to question the established society than a 20-something male. My gawd what are we doing to ourselves?

This just is not right. These boys (the term “man” really shouldn’t be used for a hyper-sensitive male) didn’t cause this. Our culture caused it with our choice of and twisted definitions of words. The boy is just doing what he’s been raised to do. “Men are rapists.” “Men are the source of domestic violence.” “Men are the reason for our wars.” “Men dominate the arts and sciences and it’s all their fault.” It seems folks believe men just contribute way too much to our world on both ends of the spectrum and they need to stop doing that – to step back and let women have a chance. Women can’t step up and just do it because women are victims of men and can’t speak up or protect themselves from even one man, let alone a whole society of them, so it’s all men’s fault – all of it. Whatever it is, if it sucks there’s a man behind it. If it’s powerful, there’s a man behind it, If it dominates there’s a man behind it. If it’s good and pure it’s because of a woman’s touch. If it’s struggling, well it’s because women don’t have equality. If it is victim – it is female. This, by the way, is not to imply that women shouldn’t be police officers, soldiers, fire-fighters, etc – got that? Yeah? You want to explain how that works to me?

So men need to let women have a chance at these things – after all, women can’t step up and take their chance, men control that, men are all powerful aren’t they? Men are the ultimate cause of all this. Women are the helpless ones. If it’s violent or harmful or oppressive a woman couldn’t possibly have done it. That is the sole province of men. Men are superior. Well . . .? They damn well are if you are spouting that ideology! Look what you are saying! You are saying that men are responsible for the condition of women, which would make us women exactly what? Sub-human? I resent that and if modern day feminists and the “justice” system insist on shoving that sexist load of crap down all our throats I say it’s time they are held accountable. The worst of the sins they need to explain themselves for is the horrid effect their propaganda has had on our young men – men at that stage of life where their ancestors were writing The Declaration of Independence, trying to fly and discovering new worlds.

If men in their natural, aggressive state are the cause of all that is wrong with the world, why would any healthy boy want to become a man? If he loves and respects his mother and she’s promoting “sensitive” as a synonym of goodness and “aggressive” as a synonym for a wife-beating rapist he definitely won’t want to – mustn’t victimize Mommy-dearest – she of the “I am victim, hear me whine” school of feminine strength. He must be a sensitive boy, a good boy, a boy that is never, ever aggressive. He must deny his urges, deny his strengths, deny he has a dick and balls at all. Then, and only then will he be acceptable to our modern women and they shall not set upon him like a flock of hungry harpies.

To those people who make a bloody religion out of being sensitive – y’all need to get over yourselves. There is such a thing as someone being too sensitive, and if you even pay attention to how sensitive you are – that would be you. And aggression? Got news for you – you do not want to stamp that attribute out. When the sky turns black and angry and lightning rips through the clouds all around – when the wind tears at your door and your lights blink off leaving you without heat, refrigeration or a way to cook – let me tell you – at that moment a whole lot of very aggressive people, most of them men, are out there climbing poles, dodging falling branches and praying they don’t get electrocuted so you can stay warm and safe at home. Aggression is a very good thing far more often than it is not. As a woman I know I can be as capable, as strong, as smart and as aggressive as a man if I choose to be – I know my condition in life is ultimately my responsibility and I defy anyone to try to take that from me. As a strong, proud woman I find this perversion of the words “sensitive” and aggressive” to be irritating beyond belief. You don’t agree? You need to step up and recognize!