As we get older we have a tendency to reflect on our lives, and what they were about and what we have done with them. Some of us just get set in our ways and stop thinking, we’ve seen it all, done it all, nobody cares, so why give advice? Every now and then, just as I am thinking that I’m the only one that can really see what is happening to our once great country, I see a glimmer of hope. I reflect; can other people really see what is wrong?
As I watch these recent protests and grass-roots movements springing up all over America, it gives me that glimmer of hope. In most cases the protesters don’t really seem to have a clue. It is apparent that most are there for the party, or just want to be part of something that somebody else told them was important. I see the Tea Party objecting to the obvious racist plants that have been placed in their crowds to discredit them, that, and some of their party actually is racist, but... so are some parts of America. The small amount of racism does not discredit the whole party, any more than the rest of America. It is no reason to condemn their whole movement. The fact that they know something is wrong and they want to fix it is good enough for me.
The new “Occupy Movement” is probably even more important than the Tea Party in that it really is grass roots, it really is America in it’s most basic form. Dirt under the fingernails and all. These are the people that we used to tell “Get a Job!” But, that was back when there were jobs… Those were the good old days. As people are ground-down and they give up, they get into all kinds of weirdness. They get drunk, or use drugs. They no longer become employable, and their "loser" lives become a self-fulfilling prophesy. They don’t have jobs, and nobody would hire them if there were jobs. So, what good does it do to scold them about not having a job?
Back in the days before Reagan was the Governor, tuition was just about free for residents of California. Now, if you are a “C” student, and couldn’t get a better grade if your life depended on it, you are not going to get an education unless your parents are very wealthy. Your only choice is to take out student loans. Remember, you are a “C” student. You are not going to get any smarter in college. You will still only get a “C” in college. Chances are when you get out of college you will not get a good job. Only the elite students, that were born with great intelligence, and got scholarships, and good grades in college, will get the good jobs. The "C" students will be stuck with student loans, with no way to pay them back. Their lives will probably be ruined because they were young and stupid, and they took the advice to "get an education".
To see what is going on in America right now is what I have hoped for, preached for, and wondered why more people were not paying attention. It is time for a change of direction in America. Donald trump says, (paraphrase) that free world trade only works when your politicians aren't stupid. We aren't smart enough to compete in a free trade market. There is not one single country in the world that we don't have a trade deficit with. That means that we don't make a profit on any country anywhere. Our politicians are so stupid that they can't even balance a budget. Now, Don might not be the most pleasant person in the world, but it is hard to argue with his reasoning.
What I'm saying is that there has never been a better time to protest the condition of our country. We are at the bottom in every way. We don't have jobs. We can't balance a budget. We can't provide education. We can't provide health care, because the system is broke. It's no wonder people are mad as hell, even when they don't know exactly what is wrong, but they know something is wrong, and they are protesting. No protest in all of history has been popular. If the protesters ideas were popular, there wouldn't be a protest, would there be?
Now that it is understood that no protest is going to be popular, how are we going to deal with the protesters? The rule for protests are very clearly spelled out in the very first amendment of the United States Constitution. It very clearly states that we have "the right to peacefully assemble"
The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.
We have the right to assemble, and we have the right to question our government! Nobody has the right to pepper spray peaceful, albeit obnoxious, protesters... GOT IT?
Back in the '60s and '70s protesters were shot while some Americans cheered. The Viet Nam war protest was nasty and unorganized. Some of the protesters openly advocated for treason, they spit on returning soldiers, called them "Baby Killers. They openly advocated for the enemy. The mood was so contentious against the war that people like Jane Fonda somehow thought that it was okay to sit on a Viet Cong war tank and have her photo taken. Some people, like the parents of soldiers, and mostly World War Two veterans hated the protesters. The mood against the war protesters was that "they should be shot"... that was truly the case. You had to have lived in the time to truly understand the tension between the protesters, who were mostly wrong, and the people who hated them and were also mostly wrong. When the young students at Kent State were shot, some Americans cheered. CHEERED! How is it that we could slip so far? The most Iconic photo of the Kent State shooting was a picture of Mary Ann Vecchio kneeling beside a student killed at the Kent State war protest. The photographer, John Filo, won a Pulitzer Prize for taking the photo. To give you some feeling for the times, His uncle told him that if he was at the war protest he should have been shot!
It is my fervent hope that we would all stop our hateful feeling against these Grass-roots protesters. Nothing good can come of it. It is also my fervent hope that the demonstrations should be dealt with respectfully, but firmly. When the protesters are out of line they need to be told so. They can't be allowed to create unsanitary conditions, or do things that might be harmful to other people. Many of these demonstrators have people that they look to for guidance. The police should negotiate with these leaders firmly but respectfully, they should offer alternatives and reasons why they are being told to leave. Peaceful protesters sitting on a curb don't need to be pepper sprayed. These protests are NOT GOING TO GO AWAY. Trust me... I been there, smelled the smells, seen the hate, tasted the violence. We don't need to control things that don't need controling no matter what they teach you in Cop School. Everybody is ultimately responsible for their own actions no matter what the "orders" are. Allowing the protests are one of the better thing that can happen. A few of them, probably less than 20% really do know what's wrong with America. I believe that they should have their chance to have their say. They could not do any worse than the people that are in charge now.
I'm including the video below as to how far we can sink when we start to hate and disrespect each other. Some of the people killed at Kent State Ohio over a Viet Nam war protest on May 4 1970 have relatives that live here. My most sincere respect and condolences go out to them. I wasn't there but, as I read and listened to the video, the times of that protest came flooding back to me, the smells of gunpowder, the hate, the need to "control the situation at all costs", the disrespect for one another.
If you listen to the video, it is very poignent. To those of us that have killed an animal, (I have), or those of us who have killed a human being in war, (I haven't) the sound of the gunshot is unmistakable. You know that the world has stopped for an innocent life. We need to never let our dislike of these protests go as far as it did at Kent State.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
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35 comments:
But, Ernie, another Kent State is EXACTLY what these people want. they're Jonesing for it. They've been trying to gin it up for 2 months now.
Because - like the Pepper-Spray 8 - the ones getting doused aren't the "organizers" - the people you're calling 'grassroots' are just the pawns in a much bigger game.
The PLAN was exposed back in February. It was to start in May. They delayed it because they had been outed, and it came out in fits and starts. The plan clearly stated that this was a Union action and that the Unions "could not be out front" - but that they would show up "in solidarity" after the launch.
The funniest thing about it is the support from college professors, who seem to be missing the fact that, embedded in the meme, at least in the beginning, as a lure for the young, the notion that they would absolve themselves of their student loans. So the protestors, who supposedly were for higher teacher pay and education in Wisconsin, are suddenly for not paying teachers at all. reneging on their obligations to pay the teachers who gave them the college education.
Sigh. The whole thing is a scam.
(and btw, they've had at least 7 shootings, many overdoses, they've had to set up a women only tent at #OWS because of all the rapes - this ISN'T a happy go lucky little thing)
"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!"
who said this and when?
i don't really pay much attention to this occupie in the sky stuff because it's really nothing new. and for me it's sad because it alienates people from each other. most of the abuse i can remember from those days came as a result of a few protesters at another school in another city. it didn't really matter if you weren't political or spent all your free time surfing, all your political relatives give you hell for the rest of your life just because you were a student at that time. you meet kids who are 35 years old now who weren't even born before the end of the viet nam war asking you if you want to know what it was like in nam because their dads who were there imprinted it on them. this polarizing of america is more dangerous to our health than anything i know. everyone thinks they are right. no compromise. my way or the highway. well, i put family ahead of politics and there isn't anyone i don't still see, i just don't talk politics with them. jesus said, "if you cut off the love in your heart because of conceptual differences, i will cut you off from my life, like a pruner would cut a branch that has no merit." sounds pretty harsh, don't it. but it's really a warning to a creation that's evolving and slowly realizing that we are all connected, all one big family and each of us deserves the freedom and respect to speak our own truth. even if it isn't in the language of the one percent who make and enforce the rules.
Well said Rose.
Oregon
“But, Ernie, another Kent State is EXACTLY what these people want. they're Jonesing for it. They've been trying to gin it up for 2 months now.“
Rose, I’m glad that you came by. We agree far more than you will ever believe, however, if you will read carefully, I think that you will agree that I am advocating reining in the cops, so that doesn’t happen. Killing anyone in this fiasco would be the worlds stupidest decision.
My Cousin “Oregon” and I were raised together. He is as close to being my brother as I have. He grew up to be Roy Rogers, and I grew up to be Will Rogers. Oregon separates the good men from the bad, and I never met a man that I didn’t like. He left Humboldt county during the hippy invasion, I decided that I love this canyon far too much to leave, but I respected and understood his decision to move on. He moved several places, and eventually ended up in “the last frontier”, Alaska. Strange as it might seem, he was driven out of Alaska when the hippies decided to “save” the Tongas National Forest. He eventually joined forces with “The Last free American”, the American Indian. He worked in their sawmills as a sawfiler. As anybody knows, that has ever worked in a sawmill knows, the head filer is the one the determines the production of the mill. Oregon was top notch and in much demand. Typical of good employees, they literally worked him to death. He was once very highly paid back in the 70s. As he moved around, and the industry took it’s hit’s he made up for the loss of income by working harder and longer. He took care of his job far better than he took care of his health. I have never know a more honest, harder working, more intelligent man than Oregon.
That same job would usually provide very well for a family, and provide a good retirement. But alas, he moved around too much and tried to follow, and make up for a failing industry. Much to his credit, he did far better than his peer mill workers, but alas…
Corporate America left him behind along with all the other disposable blue collar Americans. Shafted by their own government that allows our country to be “out-competed” by twelve year old Chinese girls, working 72 hours a week.
I have at least twelve tons more to say, but I still have a job to do. So, I need to get back to it. Be back tonight!
Ah,, it wasn't that bad Ern. LOL
I grew up with a working dad, 14 hours a day, seven days a week. The only difference was he was self employed. he instilled in me a good work ethic. Remember when we worked for my dad and we would laugh. He would scold us for laughing and said if we were laughing, we weren't working hard enough. The good days for sure.
As for working all those hours, I was married two times and my wife didn't work, 3 kids and I needed to feed them and the walker hound dogs. Then when I was finally single, things turned to shit from there, I started buying boats. That is the same as flushing money down the toilet. I could have bought 5 airplanes for what I spent on those dang boats.
If I had done a little investing with some help from a smart woman I would be shittin' in tall cotton now days.
I ain't complaining, I have a good life right now and have no regrets. I have been to the best places,shared good camp fires with wonderful folks.
Speaking of good folks, one time we was camped at a place called Hopkins Camp at the edge of the Yolla Bolly Wilderness and we heard this horse running towards us,I say that cuz the ground resonated like it was hard rock. Don't know how to explain it, volcanic maybe. Any way, we caught the mare up and tied it up with the rest of our horses. about a hour or two later, here comes this guy lookin' for his horse. We invited him to dinner and beer so he accepted right off. Well it was after dark when when were done eatin' and visiting and he had a poke of about a mile to travel in the dark and only had a lit smoke to light the way.
We seen and visited with this guy just two more hunting seasons in the Yolla Bolly before he died. Ernie and I went to school with Charlie Brown. I will always miss him.
Oregon
Ernie, well said.
And Rose, I do think there are probably people who are hoping that bad things happen which will attract media attention, there are even more who think that bad things will happen but that it is worthwhile to risk something bad in the hopes that something good comes out of it.
Kym, go smoke your marijuana and go make some more comments on your blog about pebbles in the roadway last night. You're not qualified to be in on this conversation little missy.
As a veteran who spent a year on the ground in Nam I'd just like to say a few things. Viet Nam was a war for the "national interest". WWII was a war for "national defense." No V.C. or NVA attacked America. It was all that crap about dominos. Within 2 years of my return to the states I was a member of Viet Nam Veterans Against the War. I was in a march at Century City where cops hit
Methodist Mothers for Peace with night sticks. One forgets that by 68 Eugene McCarthy, Robert Kennedy and Walter Cronkite had all opposed the war yet it drug on for years.
The occupy wall street movement and the tea party have a common origin. The realization that the middle class is disappearing in this country. The feeling that the monied class has uncoupled the train and is leaving the rest of us at the station. In the last 15 years the average C.E.O s salary has increased 400% while the blue collar folks have actually lost ground in terms of real dollars. These same executives have managed to divert some 20% of the money in pension funds into their pockets. Regardless of what you feel personally about occupiers or tea party activists they have hit a nerve.
Spy....the words are from Mario Savio ...I was fortunate to work with his brother Tom for an anti war candidate for congress down in So Cal. Tom is a gentle and thoughtful guy.
I happen to be a Kym supporter who sees her blog as one of the best in Humboldt so you chicken shit snipers ought to suck it up and use your real name otherwise your comments are just so much foul air.
Rose, you watch too much foxnotnews. Rapes, show me the proof of that and don't use that lying fox as your source. Look at all the 50 and 60+ year olds who once had a retirement all worked out who are occupying because they have lost it all. Open your eyes lady. And anonymous get some balls and use your name for Gods sake.
Rose, I've been accused of watching too much Fox news but some folks don't realize I get most of my news from the Drudge Report.
Oregon
Been working on my shed.
I always leave anonymous comments unless they become personal attacks. The attack on Kym is a bit unfair, but I left it with the hopes that she realizes that she is always MORE than welcome here. She is a very intelligent and thoughtful person. On this day of Thanksgiving, I'm grateful that the worse news is "Rocks in the road".
There will be many more rocks in the road until Dave's train is connected back up to jobs for the working class.
Granted there are some very naive protesters out there. I still have a bunch to say about why we are here where we are today. Rose is not all wrong, but Dave is dead on.
Kym is not qualified to be in on this conversation. My comments stand. Am I wrong? I mean, she's qualified to talk about bongs vs. pipes. She's qualified to talk about vaporizers vs. brownies.
Kym is our resident drug expert. If I'm interested in getting loaded, I'll give her a call.
Am I wrong?
Anon, the only thing that you are wrong about is that, Kym IS qualified to be in on this conversation.
But, you are right about everything else.
However, I detect a certain unnecessary meanness that is not fitting on this blog. Forgive me if I’m wrong.
Ernie... Well said...! A remarkable post. Thanks. Rose has the Fox News view... conspiracy...!
"Anon, the only thing that you are wrong about is that, Kym IS qualified to be in on this conversation.
But, you are right about everything else."
Ahhh Ernie, Anon (not Oregon) didn't post anything else, only mean things about Kym. What everything else is he/she right about?
you're right dave. i used to live with 3 guys just back from nam who stayed in the city instead of going home. in another house we had a mash unit working out of letterman. none of them ever talked about nam. quite a few of them became born again christians a few years later. i used to watch the early cowboy movies and when i first saw john wayne i thought he was a city slicker. he never was a real cowboy. but i don't remember him disrespecting a lady. he played a drunk as rooster cogburn and called that young lady who killed the man who killed her father little missy. i wouldn't be messing with kym whose ancestors were real cowboys, not the fake movie city slicker kind who anonymous is trying to pretend he has some kind of connection to. it's sad to see that some people don't have any idea of how a real man, real cowboy or movie star cowboy, knows how to act.
everyone has a right to speak their opinion, that's what american is all about.
John Wayne raise Hereford beef. I remember watching a clip of him at the auction yard. He said "I raise Hereford and we had them hauled here by truck, if we raised Angus we would have had to haul them here in a bus." He said that with a big grin but back in the when PC was not the total policy.
Oregon
7 Things Fox Viewers Are Wildly Misinformed About
What's stunning is how many different areas of the news and public policy Fox viewers are misinformed about.
November 25, 2011 |
The release this week of yet another survey indicating the more you watch Fox News the less they know, has once again shone a spotlight on one of the unique features that defines Rupert Murdoch's cable news outlet - it is very, very good at misinforming people. And it's very bad at reporting the news. In other words: Propaganda? Yes. News? Not so much.
It's true that the most recent survey, conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University, only polled adults in New Jersey and doesn't represent national indictment against Fox. Nonetheless, the findings created amedia stir because they reinforce what pollsters and academics previously discovered; that one of the country's all-news channels consistently leaves viewers less informed.
What's stunning is how many different areas of the news and public policy Fox viewers are misinformed about. For instance, the Fairleigh Dickinson survey asked viewers about recent grassroots uprisings in Arab nations [emphasis added]:
For example, people who watch Fox News, the most popular of the 24-hour cable news networks, are 18-points less likely to know that Egyptians overthrew their government than those who watch no news at all..... Fox News watchers are also 6-points less likely to know that Syrians have not yet overthrown their government than those who watch no news.
That just means we can add the Arab Spring to the laundry list of issues Fox fans are less knowledgeable about. Here are some previously documented examples.
--2003, the Iraq War. the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) study found widespread public misperceptions about the Iraq war, but some media consumers were more misinformed than others:
Those who primarily watch Fox News are significantly more likely than average to have misperceptions.
--2009, health care reform. A NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found Fox fans were overwhelmingly misinformed about the proposed health care reform:
In our poll, 72% of self-identified FOX News viewers believe the health-care plan will give coverage to illegal immigrants, 79% of them say it will lead to a government takeover, 69% think that it will use taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions, and 75% believe that it will allow the government to make decisions about when to stop providing care for the elderly.
--2010, global warming. Stanford University, in conjunction with the National Science Foundation, released a report titled "Frequent Viewers of Fox News Are Less Like to Accept Scientists' Views of Global Warming."
It concluded:
More exposure to Fox News was associated with more rejection of many mainstream scientists' claims about global warming, with less trust in scientists, and with more belief that ameliorating global warming would hurt the U.S. economy.
--2010, the proposed New York City mosque. Two Ohio State University researchers released their study, "Fox News Contributes to Spread of Rumors About Proposed NYC Mosque."
The take-away:
In this study, the results are very clear: the more people use Fox News, the more rumors they have heard and the more they believe.
--2010, mid-term elections. A "Misinformation and the 2010 Election" survey conducted by the Program on International Policy Attitudes, and showed that regular Fox News viewers "were significantly more likely" to hold misinformed views.
--2011, health care reform. The Kaiser Foundation released the findings of its health care reform "pop quiz." It asked respondents ten questions about the topic and graded the responses. The Foundation found loyal Fox News viewers knew less about health care reform than did CNN and MSBNC viewers.
Media Matters for America / By Eric Boehlert
http://www.alternet.org/media/153214/7_things_fox_viewers_are_wildly_misinformed_about/?page=1
You defend Kym by bringing up her ancestors? Not such a swell idea.
Anon
Spyrock has both Indian and white blood from California stock back to Kym’s ancestor’s days. And you’re going to tell him who’s a real cowboy????
Most of us have “buried the hatchet” a long time ago. What the heck does that have to do with Kym. I just hope you haven’t insulted her to the point that she doesn’t come back, because she adds greatly to this blog’s conversation.
And to answer an early question: Yes, Kym IS qualified to be in on this conversation. AND she is also and expert on bongs vs. pipes. And, She's qualified to talk about vaporizers vs. brownies.
Wow, I love listening to both sides. I watch Fox news & Democracy Now. I listen to Michael Savage & KMUD. I want to hear from all sides and form my own opinion. I enjoy Rose's commentary & Bunny's we learn by listening.
What I don't enjoy is people who feel the need to try & insult thoughtful intelligent people like Kym. Just because someone writes about a subject doesn't mean they engage in it. Dolt.
SHB
Thank-you SHB,
I couldn’t have said it better myself. I watch and listen to everything, but I sort out the crap. I love Bunny to pieces but it is obvious that her piece on Fox News is “cool-aid for the liberals”. What other purpose would it have? I laugh at the people that worry about what Rush Limbaugh says also. He knows that he is a bag of wind, but people keep buying it, and he keeps selling it. I watched a piece by Chris Matthews the other night about the Republican “clowns” running for President, and how Obama was probably in the white house laughing at them, assured of his re-election if that’s the best that they have to offer. There is pabulum everywhere, but you don’t have to swallow it if you don’t want to. I still value a variety of opinions, it helps me form my own.
I like Rush Limbaugh but can't say he makes me worry.
Oregon
john wayne might have owned a ranch but did he work it. my people brought the herefords here from england. we had about 10 bulls they showed at the cow palace. we had one named domino that was huge. these bulls had the best pasture that i used to have to move irrigation pipe on right off highway one in stinson beach in the 50's. they had their own scales and people would come to watch us weigh them.
the simmerelys raised beef in marysville in the 1850's which they sold to the miners. in 1870 they moved to round valley where they married into the biggest ranching families including the pattons of alderpoint and blocksburg where black bart, butch cassiday, the sundance kid and others would hang out. in the 1890's they moved to spyrock where they raised cattle until the 60's.
my uncle who was born in spyrock, had his own roping arena in the 50's and before that had been on the pro rodeo circuit for ten years basically breaking horses for them as well as team roping and other events. two of his best frends were slim pickens and ben johnson. both became actors but both were real cowboys first, not viceaversa like johnny wayne. and i'm sure johnny wayne killed way more indians in the movies maybe a thousand than the one ancestor that kim has that was an eel river ranger. the issue is freedom of speech. that everyone including kym has a right to voice her opinion. that's what america is all about. that's all i'm saying.
and it's nothing new, mario savio did it in 1964.
Oh Jesus..
You can't be a Cowboy unless you've got Indian murderer in your blood. By that account, Kym and Ernie are Cowboys alright. Grand Master Cone Hat Wearing Cowboys. Seig Heil Kim and Ernie.
Anon
Ignorance is bliss. If you would research your family tree just a little bit you would find many monsters. Just because Kym and I know who our ancestors were doesn't make us bad, just educated.
If you are white, Atilla the Hun was your grandfather.
Also Anon, any inference that Kym and are in any way racist, KKK, of fascist, is high offensive and false. I think that I can speak for Kym here also. If your intent was to be offensive, you succeeded.
You can rest assured that If I harbored any ill will toward anybody, for any reason, I would say so.
However, I’m comfortable in knowing that most people don’t believe you.
Ernie... I would suggest ignoring trolls... It just skewa the Topic and this was a fie one.
trolls are just part of the fairy tale. i don't have anything against john wayne. just pointing out that he was an actor not the real deal. in truth, the indians won many battles and killed many of the pioneers that made this land safe for trolls to live in. one battle you never hear about is when tecumseh and blue jacket who was white and the ohio shawnee killed 900 americans. the shawnee were allied with the british in the american revolution. my ancestor was adopted into their tribe and had to survive running the guantlet which might have been a 100 yards long in those days. otherwise, he would have been burned at the stake. the shawnee had no time for prisoners. you were with em or agin em. my 5g was a half brother to tecumseh. tecumseh was adopted by the same chief after his father was killed. if our local troll was educated, he would know that hastings of the law school in his name and the state of california including the govenor ordered the enslavement and extermination of the indiginous population that was still here that the padres and conquistadores hadn't killed already. the cowboys didn't have much to do with it. in those days a cowboy was called a buckaroo and he could have been a californio, black, white or any other race including indian or breed like wylackie john who many say was the most evil man in covelo history. in actual truth, ernie, kym, my family and others whose ancestors had first contact are more like the local indians than anyone else you will ever meet. there aren't any pure bloods out there, just trolls who think there are.
the single biggest factor in the demise of the california indian was the discovery of gold at sutter's creek. mining destroyed the rivers and creeks and minors killed the food supply and indigineous inhabitants whose land they were claiming. most of the california indians that were still alive after the mexican inquisition were killed in the 10 years following the discovery of gold in california. by 1860 most of the survivors were living on reservations. the indians only became involved with cowboys because they were staving to death because the miners had destroyed their habitat. so they would kill a cow or horse to eat.
to a cowboy in those days, it didn't matter if you were indian or white. being a cattle rustler might get you killed. i don't they think they gave a white person a break just because they were white. they didn't give jack littlefield a break. they hung him. learn a little bit about california history before you come on here and talk smack. you can watch the new reality show gold rush to see that greedy attitude still alive in this day and age.
george washington duncan owned a hotel in covelo with his wife elizabeth jacobs both of boone county missouri. they had several children, florence married europe azbill, brother of frank and pierce. florence's brother james married charlotte or lottie simmerely. they had six children before james died after 9 years of marriage.
so i had a great aunt who was a sister in law of europe asbill. so i am related to the azbills via the duncans.
according to a great grandaughter of pierce asbill, great uncle frank would say when talking about covelo, "it was simply a wild little cow town, where some of the roughest outlaws and buckaroos on the face of the earth came to escape the cotton wood limb that awaited them back in the gold mining camps of the sierra's." according to another, maude fielder who frank killed which caused him to go to san quenton where he wrote last of the west was called "wild mountain hattie" by frank. she was beautiful and really, really wild. when she was a teenager, she would pick up cowboys wait till they were drunk and rob them of all their money.
sound like anyone we know.
Writing from NYC: You don’t need to be Christian, or even religious, to understand -and embrace- the idea that "Whatsoever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." But many of the 1%, in blind greed and endless schemes, have forgotten this. They have closed their eyes to what the word "society" should really mean, and what it can mean. But due to Occupy Wall Street, we are finally talking less about CUTS and more about BLEEDING. Instead of demanding m-o-r-e budget cuts -to be borne by the middle class and poor- we are FINALLY focusing on the shameful bleeding that the poor and middle class has endured, for all too long. Instead of talking about even m-o-r-e cuts in the taxes of millionaires....we are now talking about fairness and justice - about an economy and a political system that is increasingly run for the rich, and by the rich. Instead of talking about LESS government, we are talking about a government that WORKS FOR ALL OF US, not just a favored few. Thank you OWS, for reminding us that people -ordinary working people- really DO matter, and for helping open our eyes to what’s going on in this country, and why. The attempt by OWS to occupy Duarte Square (the empty lot owned by Trinity Church) is much more than a plea for sanctuary. For like Zuccotti Park, it’s an attempt to carve out a protected space, a living conscience for the city, amid the repression. A refuge...in a city where control-freaks would sweep us under the rug, and out of the way. In a city where they would pen us in, and try to permit us to death. In a city that tells us to “move on, move on”..... you don’t belong, you don’t count, you don’t have a right to be here...don’t assemble, don’t block the street, don’t trespass, don’t EXIST! They would deny us, deny our lives, deny our very futures. IF WE LET THEM. But OWS responds, both in word and in DEED: it says we’ve had ENOUGH - we BELONG, we STAND our ground, and we DO matter! This IS our land, and we want it BACK! The word OCCUPY...says it all! That’s why OWS has captured our imagination. That’s why a living breathing OCCUPIED public space is important for OWS. Like Lady Liberty’s never extinguished torch that burns in our harbor, OWS needs to have a concrete, persistent, in-your-face presence.. ..to continually remind us of what we’ve lost, of what we are, and what we can be; a protected place to affirm, illuminate, defy...and inspire. Trinity Church, with its oft-proclaimed ideals (and its huge land holdings), should look deep into its collective soul, do the right thing, and help OWS secure a sanctuary. Not merely a space of refuge, but an enclave of hope, of non-violent change, and compassion. And dare I say: a space of love - love of country, love of your fellow man and woman, love for the poor and oppressed. Can thoughtful Christians argue with these simple Christian / these simple HUMAN values? For if Christ were physically with us today, as He was 2000 years ago, He would be among the FIRST to climb those fences, and occupy Trinity’s Duarte Square. Of this I am certain. Let us hope and pray and plea...that Trinity Church -and others- hear the call, and respond. For the old ways are not working. Find a quiet place somewhere, and consider this: Each of us has only one brief life....one chance....one roll of the dice....and many choices. The time has come to choose....to risk...and to act. If not now...then when? If not you, then....who? You DO have the power my friend....and the choice IS yours. Don’t let your hopes and dreams die: LIVE YOUR IDEALS!
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