Emma Beverage

My rant on the current Democrat/Republican Debate

2009-03-05T14:19:00.000-08:00

I wish I was articulate and that my memory was good!

I listen to both the Republicans and the Democrats because that is the only way to really understand what is going on. That is if anyone can really understand; there are so many hands in the pot that it is hard to keep track of everything.

Still, because I do listen to both sides it is obvious to me when I am being fed propaganda, being brainwashed and having scare tactics used on me to try to intimidate me into complying with someone’s idea of how things should be.

I also love to watch “educational” shows on TV so I watch a lot of PBS. Last night I caught a comedian and I did not get his name, but he was talking about the rich being “addicted to money”. Thank goodness, I thought I was the only one who understood this. But this comedian not only understood this but he was much more articulate than I am. His presentation was funny of course, but the serious insight that he shared was that of course there is a big hullabaloo over the policies that Obama is putting into place, have you ever seen someone who is addicted, share their drugs? Not unless they think there is something in it for them, otherwise they hoard their drugs for themselves.

I also watched Charlie Rose on PBS and he had an interview with Felix Rohatyn who is the author of “Bold Endeavors”. Felix Rohatyn pointed out that it is the duty of government to step in and regulate society. He said that the government does need to get involved to save things from time to time. And that the Republican Party is trying to use the term “nationalization” as a derogatory term to try to persuade people about the “evils” of liberalism. In other words the Republicans are throwing around the word “nationalization” trying to brainwash people into thinking that that is a horrible thing to do. Of course he expressed it better than I can; I am just trying to summarize what I can remember of what he said. He then proceeded to list ten projects that were “nationalized” in the past because it brought great benefit to the people to do that.

Louisiana Purchase
Erie Canal
Trans Continental Railroad
Land Grant Colleges, which were the beginning of FREE education
The Homestead Act
The Panama Canal
Rural Electrification
Reconstruction
The GI Bill (free housing)
Interstate Highway System

“Give the people the government they need – but – only the government they need.”

When Charlie Rose asked him why so few people saw this coming he said because it was so profitable!

It is my opinion that when you steal from and exploit the poor, when you force them into slavery as many of our industries do: the trucking industry, taxi services, car washes, farm laborers, domestic services and any industry that commonly exploits illegal immigrants, when you exploit these people who are the backbone of our society you cause the foundation of our society to rot. When the foundation has rotted it will not support the castle built on that foundation and it all comes tumbling down.

.. ..

Charlie Rose also interviewed the founder of linkedin.com. He had some very interesting things to say also. One of the things he said was that “he who dies with the biggest bank balance has not necessarily led the most interesting life”. He said that his goal was not to just make money, that he wanted to do good and make money. He pointed out that it used to be that you got a job and stayed there for twenty or thirty years and then retired. But it has not been that way for quite some time now. He said that we are all entrepreneurs, because of the unstable job market; we are constantly in the business of selling ourselves.

I noticed that myself when I worked for the Oklahoma Employment Commission. I noticed that employees were being forced to use temporary services in order to work at all. Of course I felt that this was a ploy by the “rich” to get around the laws that were brought about by the labor movement to protect the American worker. By using a “temp” service employers do not have to provide the worker with insurance. They can tell the employee to work in dangerous conditions because they are not held responsible since the employee is not their employee; they work for the temp agency. They can even persuade the employee to break the law and if the employee wants to be sent out on another job they know that they must comply or they will not be sent out on another job. You can say they have free choice in the matter but when your lively hood is dependent on submitting to these types of conditions it is the rare person who can find the courage to stand up to the status quo.

I feel that the solution to this is to insist that the “temp” service must provide the insurance and benefits that were provided before this movement towards temp agencies began.

Please people, for all of our good, do not fall for the propaganda because it sounds good. Do your homework, research the facts and do not be fooled because someone is loudmouthed, rude and does not allow people with opposing opinions the opportunity to talk.

I Walked With Jesus

2008-12-02T15:13:00.000-08:00

I walked with Jesus long ago,
ran with wolves hunting buffalo,
soared with eagles upon the wind,
like the phoenix, I rise again.

3/106

(c) Emma Beverage

Who Knows

2008-12-02T15:11:00.001-08:00

© Emma Beverage
Dedicated to Rebecca Chelsea Beverage
March 10, 1991 – Sept. 8, 2008

Who knows?
Who understands?
The masters’ plan,
the master plan.
Who understands why we do,
the things we do.
Why we choose
a certain road.
Why the road that we chose
brought us to this.
Our last farewell,
our final kiss.
Who understands the paths we take
Who understands the loves that we forsake?
Who understands what prayers we pray
or who among us will lose their way.
Who understands how long we have
to share our love, to share our lives.
To create memories to save
to savor again, as we age.
No one will ever take your place.
Although I’m sure that I will see
… your face
someday …
when someone smiles at me
and in that smile I will see…
The one that left us all too soon.
Who left my heart an empty room,
That I must try to fill
with your memories
Too precious, …
… Too few!

Memories are all I have.
Your memories
will have to do.

2008-12-02T14:57:00.000-08:00

Best Virtual Puppy Ever - Cute or Creepy?great free widgetsWidgetbox

King George W. Bush's American Police State

2008-04-28T18:33:00.001-07:00

http://www.disclose.tv/viewvideo/4297/King_George_W__Bush_s_American_Police_State/

King George W. Bush's American Police State

We Will Have Peace

2008-04-02T07:23:00.000-07:00

We will have peace

When each and every one of us,
completely understands…
That there is no justification,
for abusing another human being.

When the President says
that you must kill…
There is no justification,
for abusing another human being.

When your commanding officer
says that you must torture…
There is no justification,
for abusing another human being.

When someone belongs
To another race…
There is no justification,
for abusing another human being.

When someone expresses love
but it does not look the same as mine…
There is no justification,
For abusing another human being.

When your loved one lies and cheats…
There is no justification,
for abusing another human being.

When gossips lie and ruin your reputation…
There is no justification,
for abusing another human being.

When you feel disrespected,
want to start a brawl…
There is no justification,
for abusing another human being.

When someone is poor
not in your “class”
There is no justification,
for abusing another human being.

When we completely understand
this concept and practice it in our lives
We will have peace.
© Emma Beverage 3/26/08

Not All Soldiers Mindlessly Agree

2007-09-12T14:41:00.001-07:00

Nice Affirmation Video!

2007-08-15T17:42:00.001-07:00

Crosswalk America

2007-08-15T17:30:00.000-07:00

Thank God there are many people fighting prejudice and injustice in many creative ways. I say hooray for all the nameless heros who dare to say enough of this insane abuse! No more abuse! You want to follow God! God never abused people; he showed compassion and love. Do not use God to excuse your own bad behavior! That excuse does not work anymore.

Here is one just for laughs!

2007-08-08T17:36:00.000-07:00

Gosh, now that I have discovered that I can post videos here that is all I want to do! But they express my thoughts so much better than I can!

What do we want to focus on?

2007-08-08T14:12:00.000-07:00

This is the direction we want to go!

This isn't the one I was watching but it is interesting!

2007-08-06T14:08:00.000-07:00

I watched the Republican Debates

2007-08-06T13:53:00.000-07:00

I don't know the names of the Republican candidates or often like what they say. However, I did like what a couple of the debaters said. I think one of them was Ron Paul. But the one that spoke just before him said that we are not supposed to be spreading democracy all over the world, that we are supposed to protect our borders and our citizens. Or something to that effect. I rarely agree with many Republicans but that was something that I do agree with. I tried to link that video to show my readers that I do listen to and pay attention to everyone but I was not successful in embeding that video. I will try again later.

But democracy is about more than a ballot box. America must show -- through deeds as well as words -- that we stand with those who seek a better life.

2007-08-02T14:24:00.000-07:00

2007-08-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

What Obama Said Then and Now

2007-08-01T12:52:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhpKmQCCwB8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNbRDtubc44

No End In Sight

2007-07-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

2007-04-18T17:11:00.001-07:00

Politics in America

2007-04-05T12:27:00.000-07:00

Regarding the post by Ken Kernaghan.

I believe that people who are so concerned about accumulating wealth that they conduct their affairs at the expense of ethical, fair, moral treatment of other people, have gone beyond being selfish and have become addicted. If we witnessed this behavior in an alcoholic or drug user it would be easy to understand that their behavior is the result of their addiction. Think about that and look at the way that many wealthy people treat those who do their grunt work, while they reap the profits of that work and see that it is an addiction.

I speak from the perspective of my personal experience. I drove an eighteen wheeler for 35 years. What the profit mongers have done to the trucking industry in the last twenty years is shameful! I drove a truck long enough to get over the idea that I was being paid to be a tourist. I understand clearly that driving is a job and I am one of those rare truck drivers with enough intelligence to understand that my “work” day should have a definite starting time and a definite ending time and that as a FREE Citizen in a FREE country that I am entitled to OWN enough of my LIFE and TIME to take a shower EVERY DAY! I am not saying that my day should start at the same time and end at the same time every day so don’t misinterpret my meaning. I am saying that I should not be forced to work 24 hours a day! When a boss can push you to the point that you cannot stop long enough to take care of your personal hygiene and you must carry your kitchen with you because you not only do not have the time to stop for a hot meal but you are not being paid enough to afford it, there is something very wrong here!

What can you expect from a nation that used the “Bible” to justify killing off the savages that this land actually belonged to so that we could steal their homeland? Again we used the “Bible” to brainwash people into believing that black people did not have souls and it was okay to own them and work them as we would a farm animal. People’s religious views were used in Germany to justify the attempt to exterminate the Jews. People’s religious brainwashing has been used to justify the oppression, abuse and discrimination of homosexuals for hundreds of years.

Don’t ever think that because someone has God on their lips and the Bible in their hands that that gives them the perfect justification to act out in a satanic fashion! Indeed, I worry the most about people who have God on their lips and the Bible in their hands because history has shown over and over again just how horrible people can behave if they have allowed themselves to be brainwashed into believing that their own personal horrendous behavior is “JUSTIFIED!” The crucifixion, the crusades, the witch hunts, and it is not all ancient history as these things are happening today in many areas of the world including Iraq.

I am not saying that all religion is bad. It is very much like people. It is the brightest of the bright and can be and has been the darkest of the dark. We could have peace on earth right now if everyone would just stop rationalizing and justifying their own bad behavior. There is no justification for my bad behavior, there is no justification for your bad behavior, and there is no justification for our bad behavior. What if people quit allowing their governments, religions, friends and families to lead them around like sheep? What if people woke up tomorrow blessed with the moral courage to dare to do no harm to another living soul? We would immediately have peace on earth because no government or religion would be able to influence a person to kill or abuse someone else. And there have been shining examples of people who have found this kind of courage. Gandhi and Martin Luther King are two of the more famous examples.

All that said I don’t believe that just because you are wealthy that you are addicted. There are a few rich folks who have a strong enough spiritual influence in their lives to maintain a healthy, balanced outlook on life. Oprah Winfrey comes to mind. She uses her wealth to do a lot of good in the world. Still, I managed to catch several episodes of her “Road Trip” and being a truck driver I could not help but chuckle at her “poor little rich girls” reaction to driving across the USA! She is a very “well behaved” little rich girl but she obviously has gotten accustomed to all the pampering that money can buy! I’m not saying that is bad, it seems to be human nature.

And in spite of all the lavish good things that she does … those things that bring her great publicity … I can’t help but wonder; how many minimum wage workers she has hired in her organization? How much more good would Oprah be doing by raising her minimum wage employees up to a “living wage.” It would not bring the publicity that her other good deeds have but how much more creditable such an act would be!

Which brings me to the old “trickle down theory” or as Ken referred to it “A rising tide raises all boats.” My analogy for the trickle down theory is that it reminds me of the human digestive system. The head gets the banquet and the tail gets the $#!%! I could say that like a truck driver but I will be nice, you get the picture.

Now that I have had my say about wealth let me talk about the political candidates. First of all what if we could wave a magic wand, have sexism be one of those horrible, abusive behaviors that we have done in the past but have grown beyond. Isn’t it about time to have a woman president? Can Hillary Rodham Clinton handle it? Minus the sexism, of course she could. Not that she is perfect. Too many deep pockets are pulling her strings from behind the scenes. I believe that she owes too many favors because of it. Still her little fiasco with trying to create a good health system for all Americans tells me that in her heart she would like to do good for all Americans, not just the monied few. She got her hands slapped so soundly on that one that she has been very careful to mind her Ps and Qs ever since. Still one would hope that if she made it to the White House that she would feel powerful enough to rise above her monied backers influence and actually do some good for the people.

Barack H. Obama, again isn’t it time to quit JUSTIFYING our own bad behavior? Isn’t it time to get over our bigotry? Will we give a partially black man from the melting pot of the world, the presidency before we give the presidency to a woman? Just like we did with voting rights? I REALLY LIKE WHAT I HAVE HEARD HIM SAYING!

A comedian on David Letterman said that he would like to see Hillary as President and Obama as Vice President because that would guarantee there would be no assassination! The comedian told the truth but said it in a way that would make people laugh! I did not catch the comedians name so I can’t give him credit for his brilliance.

John Reid Edwards has the charm and good looks of the Kennedy’s. (I included this because of the comments about looks in the blog that I originally wrote this for.) He is confident and expresses himself well. Smooth politician or not he comes across convincingly as being honest and authentic. I also like what I hear him saying.

I think any of these candidates would make great presidents. The only other candidate that I would consider would be Ralph Nader. He has spent his whole life setting boundaries with the addicted wealthy who would indiscriminately run over, exploit, abuse the poor if someone with good moral character and high consciousness did not have enough power and influence to stand up to them and set healthy boundaries that protect the poor.

I voted my conscious and voted for Ralph Nader when “King” Bush pulled the mafia take over of the elections. I and others like me will once again throw our vote to the Democrats because the “elite who Bush calls his base*” will continue their abuse and exploitation of the common people if we don’t get him and his goons out of office.

* Micheal Moores movie, “Fahrenheit 911” showed Bush giving a speech to his elite base and saying just that.

THE END

I tried to post this on the CBC News at the following site but it keeps telling me that I am trying to post over 2000 characters. I broke the article into four sections and did a word count to try to get around that but it still would not let me post. I will try again later.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/reportsfromabroad/champblog/2007/03/a_dark_horse_for_president.html#comments_open

War is a Racket information from the Randi Rhodes Show

2006-09-23T12:57:00.000-07:00

URL to this newsletter:
http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/live/newsletter/09.22.2006.html

I have always suspected that this was the purpose behind most wars. It is great to see someone in a position to know the truth, put it out so plainly to help educate people. This kind of information can not be exposed enough! I recieved this information in a newsletter from "The Randi Rhodes Show" I hope they don't mind my passing it along to my readers. Along with the information on how to check out "The Randi Rhodes Show!"

This is an excerpt from “The Randi Rhodes Show on Air America Radio”
This article and others can be found at:http://www.veteransforpeace.org/war_is_a_racket_033103.htm
The following is an excerpt from a speech Gen. Butler delivered in 1933…one of over 1,200 speeches he delivered in over 700 US cities.

"War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.
I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.
I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.
There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.
It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.
It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.
I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.
I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.
During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."

How do I set my margins for my sidebar and main text?

2006-08-08T14:12:00.000-07:00

Does anyone know how to set the margins for the side bar and the main text? The more I mess with it the worse it seems to get. Please email me with instructions at emmabeverage@yahoo.com

Thanks

What is the truth about the Fair Tax Movement?

2006-08-08T13:25:00.000-07:00

A Republican sent me an email concerning the fair taxes which made me feel that this is just another way for the wealthy to get out of paying inheritance taxes. Is this true? Does anyone know? Since the Republicans have such a piss poor human rights record it has caused me to have second thoughts. I admit that I am very biased when it comes to dealing with the "power over, your going to do it my way because I said so and I have the money attitude of the Republicans". I feel their cry for less government feeds into most Americans desire for Freedom and fools most people into thinking that they are representing Freedom in America when in actuality they want a smaller government so they can force the poor into slavery and discriminate against and destroy minorities. A government is only good if it can protect it's minority citizens. With all that said I can and do listen to what they say since one must know what one's enemies are up to. He did say one thing that I have often thought myself and therefore I agree with him on this point. He said: "IF YOU THINK YOU REALLY OWN YOUR PROPERTY, JUST TRY NOT PAYING TAXES ON IT FOR A COUPLE OF YEARS AND YOU WILL FIND OUT REAL QUICK WHO REALLY OWNS YOUR PROPERTY!"

Look at my beautiful grandchildren! Will add more family later.

2006-08-03T11:32:00.000-07:00

After Downing Street.Org

2006-07-25T13:18:00.000-07:00

Don't I have the Right to Work in this FREE Country?

2006-07-16T17:11:00.000-07:00

Why do you think that you have the right to deny me the right to work because you don’t agree with my politics, my gender, my religion, my sexuality, my race, my hobbies, my volunteer work or any other reason in this country that we call FREE?
I have always been a very conscientious and highly ethical worker. I take a great deal of pride in doing my job to the very best of my ability. I make every effort to be as pleasant and as agreeable as I know how to be. I also take a lot of pleasure in being able to help the students when they need help with the computers. I try to do all assigned work as quickly as I can and to my knowledge I have never failed to perform any of my work duties. It is true that I sometimes have memory lapses. There is a physical reason for this which I have explained. I am trying to learn and create new habits which will help me to avoid having these lapses as they are not intentional or caused by a lack of interest or desire on my part. If I am failing to do my work in any way I would hope that that would be communicated to me so that I can make every effort to correct it. I am sure or at least I am hoping that everyone in this environment is intelligent enough and emotionally healthy enough so that no one has a dysfunctional need to oppress, discriminate or abuse another human being. I also hope that everyone here is wise enough to understand that no one is supposed to be a carbon copy of anyone else. That I have just as much “right” to be exactly who I am as anyone else has, to be who they are. I hope that everyone here is very clear that if America is to remain a FREE country we must defend to the death everyone’s right to be and express them selves FREELY. That it is important to protect my right to be who I am politically, spiritually, emotionally, humanly in every way because that is the only way that we can protect and maintain this country as a FREE country. To protect my rights is the only way to protect your rights. America can not be free if it chooses any group of people and says that everyone can be free in this country except for this “special” group. If we take that attitude we follow in Hitler’s footsteps. That is a very dangerous, dysfunctional and abusive path to take. Hitler is only one example of many in history. With the perspective of time abuse has always shown itself for the awful flaw in human nature that it is. No one needs to agree with me, but my right to exist must be protected if this is a FREE country. I don’t think I need to explain that in order to exist I need a job. I will take care of my job to the very best of my ability and I expect to be treated fairly and in the same manner that all other employees are treated. I can honestly say that I feel that the majority of my co-workers do exactly that. I am only writing this because I am getting the impression that a small, but influential, portion of my co-workers may not be healthy enough to separate the indoctrination they receive from their religion, from the reality of life. It never hurts to remind people that they are not put here to judge nor abuse others. We can never be truly civilized; we can never create peace on earth as long as we give ourselves permission to behave badly to anyone. No matter how good you think your reasons are, no matter how many people encourage you to behave poorly, ultimately you are the one who decides whether your behavior will be healthy or unhealthy, abusive or not abusive. Indeed all wars would end instantly if every soldier made the decision that no matter how justified their country tried to convince them that their position in a war was; that they themselves would not give themselves permission to behave badly. That would mean that every soldier would make the personal decision that they could not kill or mistreat another human being. What a concept!

Ethics Hall of Shame

2006-04-21T08:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a good link. Check this out if you believe that our representatives have the common good of the people in their hearts.

http://www.cleanupwashington.org/hos/

I say impeach President Bush and try him for war crimes!

2006-04-19T09:29:00.000-07:00

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emma Beverage
1225 N. Kate Ave., Apt 138
Oklahoma City, OK 73117-2061
emmabeverage@yahoo.com
www.emmabeverage.blogspot.com

Congressman Istook,

I want to take a minute of your time to let you know that I support the Fair Tax Movement and would like for you to take a serious look at this. The poor in this country are getting real tired of footing the bill for the rich man’s games. The rich were allowed to avoid taxes under Eisenhower’s administration to prevent outsourcing America’s resources. Today they are outsourcing everything and it is time to renegotiate everything accordingly. If that is not done soon I would suggest that it is time for a “tea party!”

I also support ‘Public Citizens” clean up Washington’s movement. If you are not part of the solution then you ARE part of the problem. Even if the problem is that you are only looking the other way and allowing it to happen.

I would also like to express my opinion about our President manipulating the American Public into an unjustified war with a country that had nothing to do with 911. The “crimes” that President Bush is getting by with are much worse, and involves millions of innocent civilians in both countries. What he is doing is MURDER! If someone came up to you on the street and put a gun to your head and demanded your money you would call that robbery. But we are allowing our president to use the military to do that to another country and we call it war? This is much more immoral and unethical than a President lying about sexual contact with someone other than his wife. That should have been a private matter between him and his wife. But we wasted how much of our taxpayers dollars to exercise this charade of morals in front of the public? Where is the outcry for morality while we murder the poor in both of our countries?

I say impeach President Bush and try him for war crimes!

If you do not want “Capitalism” to crumble the same way that “Communism” crumbled you had better start listening to the voice of the people who are being trod upon!

Sincerely,

Emma Beverage
------------------------------------------------------

Illegal Immigrants in America

2006-04-12T07:34:00.000-07:00

I received an e-mail about the problem of illegal immigrants in America. It talked about the economic strain that it was putting on America’s resources. This was my response to that e-mail. I believe that Corporate America is responsible for the influx of illegal immigrants in America. I think that it is important to wake the average US citizen up to that fact. If you agree, feel free to copy this information and help to get this message out by republishing it on your blog, e-mail it to your friends or share it in any manner that you want. You can select this text and copy it, then paste it into Microsoft Word and probably any other word processing program.

Dear XXXX,

I agree about the illegal immigrants in our country. Everyone talks about the burden that it is putting on our system but I believe the real issue is being ignored.

I walked into a building on 23rd street last Saturday, 4/2/06 right here in Oklahoma City, to see wall to wall people filling out paperwork. I read on the wall, in Spanish, that this was the consulate for Guatemala. Since when does an official government office, stay open on a Saturday?

I empathize with people wanting to better their lives. I am not a prejudice person. You know that I love the Spanish language and culture, so this is not about being prejudice towards any group of people. The real issue here is Corporate America shipping these people in by the truck loads which is why we have this problem in the first place. I know this because a driver got scared when I was living in New Mexico and abandoned an eighteen wheeler, leaving the trailer locked and filled with illegal immigrants. Of course, the entire trailer load of people died! Using an eighteen wheeler to get these people into this country indicates to me that big money is behind this. I understand this because I drove a truck for thirty-five years.

These big corporations go do business in countries that expect to pay their people a dollar a day. Then they want to bring that idea back to America and force that it down our throats whether we like it or not. A good way to force the labor prices down is to flood the labor market with cheap laborers. We are getting real close to having a dictatorship by Corporate America right here in this country.

They force slavery on the uneducated laborers knowing that most of them are not educated enough to speak up or fight back. Or they are so afraid of losing their livelihood that they don’t dare speak up. That is if they are even smart enough to figure out that they are being forced into slavery in the first place. I know from personal experience in the trucking industry that they utilize the ploy of being a "real he-man" to keep the drivers from using their brains. You would think that most people would be smart enough to figure out that if they can't control enough of their own time to take the time to stop for a shower everyday that that is more like slavery than a job. Truck drivers are so afraid of not being viewed as “real he-men” that they ridicule anyone who tries to stand up for their right to be treated like a human being. When the practice of not allowing your employees time to take a shower becomes so ingrained that people accept and expect it, they will start on the next level of laborers. No one seems to understand this or if they do they don’t have the courage to stand up to their bosses and speak out about what they are doing.

If someone does find that kind of courage they count on their ability to discredit the person so no one will believe what they say while they merrily continue with their insidious plan to enslave the lower classes in America. I keep trying to tell everyone what they are doing but everyone seems to think that I am Chicken Little running around saying, "the sky is falling, the sky is falling!"

This isn't about being prejudice against anyone. It is about protecting our right to FREEDOM in America.

They tried to eradicate the Jews in Germany and most of the Jews never fought back because they could not believe that things were as bad as they were. When they finally realized how bad it was it was too late to fight back. It looks like people will always take the easy way out and try to hope for the best no matter what country they live in.

As long as everyone who has a nice safe career refuses to look at what is being done to the lower classes, Corporate America will continue to erode our FREEDOM.

Now if you believe me, help me to wake Americans up by sending this out and see how far this message goes!

2006-04-12T06:45:00.000-07:00

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2006-03-27T07:18:00.000-08:00

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They Crucified Jesus

2006-02-22T19:10:00.000-08:00

They crucified sweet Jesus, they spat in his face.
They beat his body, until it looked like bloody lace.
Jesus came here to teach us, that judgment is HIS.
If we believed that - - - the world would not be like it is.

He said, to love your neighbor, but Christians have failed!
Why are there murders, and so many people in jails?

As our brother’s keeper, we don’t do that very well.
If you are not able, to make a profit for the man,
you can sleep outdoors; without a stable to put you in.

He said you must take the log out of your own eyes,
not to be worried about the splinter in mine.
But you would rather act out, like the soldiers
who forced Jesus, to wear his thorny crown.

You act as if this is your favorite story,
you reenact it, with the garbage you have said.
You assume that it’s okay to crucify me,
not for what I’ve done, but for what is in your head.

In my pain, I know that I’m in good company.
If God were here, he would be breaking bread with me.
The last will be first and the first will be the last.
These “Truths” you disobey while you try to punish me.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
What you do to the least of these you do to me too.
You have chosen to ignore what he came here to teach.
You follow an Apostle, his dysfunctional words you preach.

That is why you try to oppress and silence me.
By God I am “chosen,” is that why you treat me
the same way you treated Jesus, my friend.
If he were here today, you would crucify him.

In 2000 years you haven’t learned a thing.
I will walk in his footsteps, I suffer his pain.
I keep speaking his words, to remind you again,
That the way you are acting --- that is the real sin!

Jesus did not teach us, to oppress, exploit, or abuse.
He would be appalled at how his teaching gets used.
The Bible does not give you the right to oppress anyone.
You alone are responsible for all you have done.

A different sort of meaning for 'The have's and have not's'

2006-02-10T08:35:00.000-08:00

This article was obtained from the Politically Outspoken blog. This is a great site. To explore this site click the link provided in my link's list.
Sunday, January 29. 2006
A different sort of meaning for 'The have's and have not's'.
---It speaks for itself---
Democrats First:
- Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71- David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72- Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72.
- Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam Jan. 1971 as an army journalist in 20th Engineer Brigade.It gets better - keep reading.

Democrats
- Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71
- David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72
- Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72.
- Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam Jan. 1971 as an army journalist in 20th Engineer Brigade.
- Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam.
- Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-47; Medal of Honor, WWII.
- John Kerry: Lt., Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, Purple Hearts.
- Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea.
- Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam.
- Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-53.
- Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74.
- Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91.
- Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII; Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons.
- Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76; Vietnam, DFCs, Bronze Stars, and Soldier's Medal.
- Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple Heart, Silver Star and Legion of Merit.
- Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant, 173rd Airborne, Purple Heart.
- Bill McBride: Candidate for Fla. Governor. Marine in Vietnam; Bronze Star with Combat V.
- Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze Star.
- Pete Stark: Air Force 1955-57- Chuck Robb: Vietnam
- Howell Heflin: Silver Star
- George McGovern: Silver Star & DFC during WWII.
- Bill Clinton: did not serve. Student deferments. Entered draft but received #311.
- Jimmy Carter: Seven years in the Navy. Graduate of Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD.- Walter Mondale: Army 1951-1953
- John Glenn: WWII and Korea; six DFCs and Air Medal with 18 Clusters.
- Tom Lantos: Served in Hungarian underground in WWII.
Now For the Republicans:
- Dennis Hastert: did not serve.- Tom Delay: did not serve.- Roy Blunt: did not serve.- Bill Frist: did not serve.- Mitch McConnell: did not serve.- Rick Santorum: did not serve.- Trent Lott: did not serve.- Dick Cheney: did not serve. Several deferments, the last by marriage.- John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business.- Jeb Bush: did not serve.- Karl Rove: did not serve.- Saxby Chambliss: did not serve. "Bad knee." The man who attacked Cleland's patriotism.- Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.- Vin Weber: did not serve.- Richard Perle: did not serve.- Douglas Feith: did not serve.- Eliot Abrams: did not serve.- Richard Shelby: did not serve.- Jon Kyl: did not serve.- Christopher Cox: did not serve.- Newt Gingrich: did not serve.- Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as flight instructor.- George W. Bush: failed to complete his six-year Air National Guard tour of duty; got assigned to Alabama so he could campaign for family friend running for U.S. Senate; failed to show up for required medical exam, disappeared from duty.- Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a non-combat role making movies.- Bob Dornan: Consciously enlisted after fighting was over in Korea.- John McCain: Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross.-Phil Gramm: did not serve.- Dana Rohrabacher: did not serve.- John M. McHugh: did not serve.- JC Watts: did not serve.- Jack Kemp: did not serve. "Knee problem," although continued in NFL for 8 years.- Dan Quayle: Journalism unit of the Indiana National Guard.- Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.- George Pataki: did not serve.- Spencer Abraham: did not serve.- John Engler: did not serve.- Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer.- Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army base.- Sean Hannity: did not serve.- Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (4-F with a 'pilonidal cyst.')- Bill O'Reilly: did not serve.- Michael Savage: did not serve.- George Will: did not serve.- Chris Matthews: did not serve.- Paul Gigot: did not serve.- Bill Bennett: did not serve.- Pat Buchanan: did not serve.- John Wayne: did not serve.- Bill Kristol: did not serve.- Kenneth Starr: did not serve.- Antonin Scalia: did not serve.- Clarence Thomas: did not serve.- Ralph Reed: did not serve.- Michael Medved: did not serve.- Charlie Daniels: did not serve.- Ted Nugent: did not serve.Please steal this list for your website and/or blogYour local newspaper editor may be interested in it as well.
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Those who have not served are the ones that yell the loudest for war.
#1 Anon on 2006-02-02 09:11 (Reply)
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Finding Others Of Like Mind

2006-01-27T09:19:00.000-08:00

During my web surfing this morning I ended up at Slate and read an article written by Adam L. Penenberg concerning Google and the Department of Justice. I was moved enough by the conclusion to his article that I decided to post a reply. I made a copy of what I wrote to share with my readers.

"In the end, it's up to you to protect yourself. If you signed up for Gmail, you had to provide personal information, meaning your searches could theoretically be tracked back to you by cross-referencing them with Google's cookie and your IP address. If you're paranoid, stop using Gmail and regularly delete your cookies. Even if Google promises not to do anything evil with the data it collects, it can't guarantee that the government—which has been handing out subpoenas like they're Pez candy lately—won't be tempted to do evil deeds with it 10, 20, or 50 years down the line. Yahoo! recently turned in a Chinese journalist. Someday, Google might be forced to turn you in."

I agree, it is so important to look at the BIG picture. We do not live in a vacuum in our own little world anymore. Big money operates in countries that have no concern for human rights. Then they try to bring those ideas back to America and force them down the common working folks throats. Wake up America and see how our own human rights are being eroded on many fronts. If we do not find the courage to stand up to those who talk the language of freedom while acting like dictators we will lose all of our rights. This does not mean that I do not love my country. I say this because I do love my country and agree with every principle that our founding fathers fought to give us. I do not want some morally corrupt bigot who has his soul eaten away with the DISEASE OF GREED to rob me of the things that my forefathers gave their lives to give me. FREEDOM should belong to ALL the people not just the folks who have money. Our silence will not protect us. If we do not speak up, actually practice our right to FREEDOM OF SPEECH we will loose it. WE MUST PROTECT OUR RIGHT TO PRIVACY. Every oppressive dictator or bully in the world can come up with JUSTIFICATIONS for their bad behavior. JUSTIFICATIONS for breaking the law, JUSTIFICATIONS for oppressing someone, some class, some race, JUSTIFICATIONS FOR IGNORING OUR CONSTITUTION. It is up to us to stop ENABLING this kind of bad behavior. JUST SAY NO, you can not break the law in my name. Find the courage to be an ARMY OF ONE. It is the only thing that will change the erosion of our FREEDOM in America. If you believe it you can do it.

Sound Bites

2006-01-24T15:37:00.000-08:00

written by Emma Beverage 1/23/06

The Average CEO makes 431 times
more money, than
their laborers make.

Fifty-two laws were passed last year
across the United States that limited
abortion in some manner.

Medicaid is now being "privatized."
Hundreds of private companies
are taking over the program,

and you cannot change your provider
once you have chosen one.
Privatizing our jails too!

What is Freedom?
Where is Our Freedom?

Privatizing will improve things for
the common people.
Like it improved things

For the common people when
They broke Ma Bell up?
For the common good?

Phones and phone services
Skyrocketed
for the common good!

Mercenaries are fighting
in Iraq for four-hundred
dollars a day.

Hillary Clinton said that
"President Bush is
running this country, like a
plantation; you know what I mean.
I think she is right.

The kitchen slave
thinks that they are better
than the field slave.

The light colored slaves
think they are better
than the darker slaves.

The personal servant slaves
think they are better than
everybody… better than e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e!

They be rubbing elbows with
the master. And in the eyes
of the master, we are all slaves.

A laborer gets his five minutes of fame
on TV. He says, "that they have
been doing this since the Roman times.

The king, the king he always gets everything."
Our President breaks the law
as if there were no constitution.

The CEO makes hundreds
more than the common laborer who
does his grunt work.

How much money would it take
for you to sell your soul?
Make it okay to exploit

your brothers and sisters
for the master. Steal the land
for the common good, after a disaster.

It is all for the common good all right!
It be right commonly good,
for the Big Corporations and their CEO's.

Maggie's Law

2006-01-20T13:18:00.000-08:00

Insurance Journal
Subscriber Services
Current Issue
Free Newsletters

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2003/08/12/31404.htm

I was searching the web and found this Insurance site that had this information on it:

“Maggie's Law, the recently signed New Jersey statute which turns drowsy driving into a criminal offense, could reportedly significantly increase the legal risks employers face from extended hours operations. …

Maggie's Law is intended to address the dangers of drowsy driving. Several scientific studies have reportedly demonstrated that people who have been awake for 24 hours are impaired to the same level as someone with a blood-alcohol level of .10 percent, which is recognized as legally drunk in all states.

The 24 million Americans who work in extended hours jobs outside the hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. will reportedly be particularly affected by Maggie's Law.
Many extended hours employees routinely stay awake for 24 hours on their first nightshift of the work week. Similarly, medical professionals and other emergency services personnel are often required to remain on-duty for 24-hour shifts. In emergency situations, utility linemen and technical support personnel work up to 48 hours without rest. These employees are confronted daily with the challenge of drowsy driving.”

Visit the links I copied to read the entire article.

Emma's comments on this article:
This just proves that trucking is not the only industry that is abusing their workers.

However, they are the only ones pushing their employees to the point that they can’t bathe, that I know of.

Instead of getting mad at me for pointing out how inhumane this is, why aren’t we all standing together and saying enough is enough!

I can’t tell you how many people have tried to tell me, to my face that their job was just as bad as mine. They believe that since they suck up; keep their mouths shut and do as they are told that I should keep my mouth shut too. This, in my opinion, is a cowardly position to take.

Why in the world would you accept someone else stealing your life? Don’t you believe that you are “worthy” of being treated with respect. Do you really believe that life is supposed to be about you making someone else rich? Were you born just so someone else can use you to create their profit?

If someone else can tell you what you must do with your time more than you, yourself are able to decide what to do with your time, how can you think that you are free?

If the workers of a country are not free how can that country tell the world that their country is free?

Sometimes I just want to shake people and scream wake up! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!
---

Network to STOP Corporate GREED

2006-01-19T14:53:00.000-08:00

That did not work! So I shall continue. I’m sure it will strip the formatting out of this text too so I won’t bother to change it. I’m trying to figure out how to change the appearance on my blog so that it is more attractive. Therefore if my blog does not strip the formatting from this text that is okay also. (It stripped it)

Public Citizen sent me an article titled:
Fair Trade Activist Spotlight: Pat Carleton

I don’t want to be prosecuted for plagiarism so I will try to paraphrase their article.

Pat Carleton grew up in a working class town in Western Maine. He saw how corporate trade agreements affected his community as companies left town moving overseas. This contributed to Pat becoming an active union leader and a fair trade activist.

Pat is Executive Vice President of the United Steelworkers Local 4-9 at the SAPPI paper mill in Skowhegan, Maine. He is the coordinator of his union’s rapid response team and the contract action team. The article goes on to detail other organizations that he is involved in that work for fair trade policies.

My readers would be well served to subscribe to this magazine as this organization is working to keep us better informed.

Go to Public Citizen and read all about Pat Carleton.

Public Citizen gave their readers a place to express their appreciation to Pat. I did take advantage of that and thought that I would share what I wrote to him. I am hoping to inspire everyone to start networking and get the facts. Why do you think corporations are so powerful? Networking is the KEY!

January 19, 2006

Dear Pat Carleton,

Thank you for fighting for good jobs and fair trade!

I’m interested in trying to get my Governor to demand protection for our state from the GATS and I’d love tips on getting started.

I believe that all the abuses by the big “money-ed” interests in this world are interconnected. These corporations do not act in a vacuum. When one big company comes up with an idea that increases their profit margin the other big boys fall in line and follow suit. They seem to be doing this all over this planet without a thought as to how it abuses and exploits you and me.

Fifteen years ago they passed some kind of laws that allowed the trucking industry to go from forcing drivers to work eighteen hours a day to expecting drivers to never stop and never take the time to shower. I'm not sure what the laws were but I think it had something to do with deregulation. I'm sure it also had some connection to the fact that Wal-Mart and other big companies like Wal-Mart started demanding "Just-in-time" delivery. I always felt that it was wrong to push the drivers the way they did but when they took away our right to “own enough of our own lives” to be able to stop and take a shower, I started fighting back. I refused to cooperate every time I thought that I could get by with it. It took them fifteen years and Mother Nature had to help them by slowing my reaction time, dimming my eyes, dulling my sense of direction and causing my short term memory to occasionally short out in order for them to get me backed into a corner where they could blackball me. They did eventually take my 35 year career in trucking away from me. My sin was that as I got older and slower I also became braver until I eventually just refused to break the law for the trucking industry. I am working on a book to expose how they force drivers to break the law in order to keep their jobs. I have started a blogspot where I can share some of my thoughts about all of this. I am keeping the best stories for my book but you might want to help me get the word out by directing people to read my blog at www.emmabeverage.blogspot.com. I can say thank you for your bravery because I know, first hand, just how brave you must be to stand up to the status quo. I believe that this country can continue being a free country only as long as individuals can find the courage to stand up for their constitutional rights.

Keep up the good fight,
Emma Beverage

Experimenting with Frames for My Blog

2006-01-19T14:18:00.000-08:00

Public Citizen an internet magazine Protecting Health, Safety & Democracry. They are a National Non-Profit Public Interest Organization. They can be reached at http://www.citizen.org
Global Trade Watch (GTW) promotes democracy by challenging corporate globalization, arguing that the current globalization model is neither a random inevitability nor “free trade.”

I am experimenting with pasting frames into my blog. I want to learn how to break up the text and make it more attractive. I am taking some classes that should help but I thought I would experiment with this today. It looks like it is going to strip the formating out of this posting but I'm going to post it anyway and see what happens.

I Wrote a Letter for Rosa Parks Day

2005-12-22T18:49:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,

I hope the Holiday season finds everyone doing well and I hope everyone has a great Christmas, or whatever and however you do or don't celebrate. I love Christmas but that does not mean I am against any religion and it does not mean that I am for any religion. I think Christmas is a lovely Holiday and people should find more reasons to celebrate and bring love and cheer to each other instead of fighting about what we call our celebrations. We should embrace all forms of celebrating. We have too much to fight about and not enough to bring us joy. So in my opinion, be joyful! And have a great New Year too!

I for one have had too many Christmases that did not even feel like Christmas because I had to work or I was too poor to actually celebrate. I am enjoying this Christmas because my oldest son Bill, came to Oklahoma City and brought me back to Tennessee to spend Christmas with him. What mother wouldn't love that!

Just before I left Oklahoma I recieved a notice that Michael Moore had printed a letter that I sent him. I am sharing that notice with my readers as well as the link so you can read the letter.

Blessings to All,

Emma Beverage
------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Rosa Parks Day @ mm.com"
FPRIVATE "TYPE=PICT;ALT=View Contact Details "View Contact Details HYPERLINK \l ""Add Mobile Alert
To: "Emma Beverage"
Subject: Re: I found the courage to obey the law!
Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2005 19:57:57 -0500

Hi Emma,
i dont' know if you saw, but we posted your message...
http://michaelmoore.com/words/rosaparksday.php?id=10

i wanted to forward to you an email we received regarding your letter...
cheers,
david.

The Many Forms of Abuse

2005-12-21T22:36:00.000-08:00

Four women die every day at the hands of their abusive partners. The state of Oklahoma ranks tenth nationally in the number of females murdered. Twenty-eight percent of all homicides of women are domestic violence related. Intimate partners murder ninety-one percent of the women killed.

Math is not my best subject but I think the last two statements conflict with each other. I did not make these statistics up. They were part of a display in the Rose State College Cafeteria this last week. It was an effort to raise awareness about domestic violence. The National Domestic Violence Hotline number is: 1-800-799-SAFE or (7233). The TDD number is 1-800-787-3224.

More statistics in the display said that domestic violence is the cause of thirty percent of the physical disabilities in women. Every nine seconds a woman is battered. In ninety-five percent of reported domestic assaults, the female is the victim. Only fifty percent of intimate violence incidents are reported to law enforcement. Here again conflicting information was posted because another poster claimed that domestic violence occurs in sixty percent of marriages and that it is the most underreported crime.

Domestic violence is a pattern of behavior used to establish power and control over another person through fear and intimidation, often including the threat or use of violence. Domestic violence may include emotional abuse, economic abuse, sexual abuse, using children, threats, isolation… (Now there is a million dollar word! I wish I could put that in ten foot high letters with flashing lights around it. Maybe someone in the community would be smart enough to make the connection between theory and reality!)

There are many forms of domestic abuse. Domestic violence can include "any form" of coercion to control or hold power over an intimate partner. I would say that it would be any form of coercion to control or hold power over anyone! Often a person who abuses an intimate partner will also abuse any children in the household. We have all heard the horror stories of the parent that murders their own child. There are the stories of extreme forms of punishment like burning the child with cigarettes or locking the child in the closet for hours. Many times this includes sexual abuse. Contrary to popular belief, most gays do not molest children. The statistics indicate that a child is more likely to suffer sexual abuse by a heterosexual family member. That is not to say that all gays are innocent of such behavior but that it is much more likely to be a heterosexual family member who sexually molests a child. I include that from my own research into the matter of abuse in all of it’s forms.

I studied this subject for years until I achieved the personal transformation that I was seeking fifteen years ago. This transformation came about because that is what I wanted and worked to accomplish. It was not because someone else wanted that change for me or because someone "forced" me to change. The change came about because I consciously chose to face my deepest fears to bring about this transformation. I did the counseling, the twelve step programs, and the self-help seminars. Even more important I am an avid reader and an active and eager seeker, a student of life. I am also a very astute observer of human nature. Most important to my own growth process has been my powerful connection to my Higher Power, God, Goddess, Buddha or Great Spirit. As Deepak Chopra says, “it doesn't matter what we call our Higher Power as long as we call."

It was through my spiritual questing that I achieved a complete transformation. A transformation that was so powerful that it felt like an eggshell was cracking open inside my chest. This is another story that I cannot do justice to in a short article so I will save that story for my book. As soon as I felt this sensation of an egg cracking open in my body, I knew instantly that the process of facing my deepest fears had achieved the results that I was seeking. It was a very powerful spiritual experience. When my teacher gave me this assignment, I knew that I wanted to make this personal. Like everyone, I am biased by my personal life experiences. I thought that I would turn this assignment into another chapter on the book that I am writing.

However, as I thought about it, I began to realize that it would take more than one chapter to deal with this subject in my life. I also realize that in order for the entire story to be told in a balanced and honest manner that some very intimate details of my life would need to be revealed. I recognized that it would be a little too intimate for a college class. Therefore, I will wait to deal with this subject fully in my book.

I will say that I have been both the abused and the abuser in my life. Often that role switched back and forth between me and my partner. If most people were honest with themselves, they would probably admit to the same thing. Abuse is not always physical. It is often mental, emotional and even intellectual. After all, if the statistics claim that domestic violence occurs in sixty percent of marriages and that it is the most underreported crime, then I cannot be the only one. I am not saying that to excuse myself. I say that to encourage others to look within and get honest with themselves. That is the only way to change this problem.

I have already written a chapter in my book that told about my experience with moving into a new school district where the children played cooties with my germs. They tormented me until I had an instantaneous transformation that changed me from being the worst player in volleyball to being the best. I was not only the best in volleyball but I also excelled in every sport that I participated in except track. I never was much of a runner. I did however; break the New Mexico shot put record during that time. I mention that story because it was at the root of my reaction to a lover of mine being very physically overly friendly with a "friend" while we were bowling one night. I was mortified that she would act that way and felt very disrespected. I finally told her to stop being so physical. She got in my face and started ridiculing me. I had an automatic, knee jerk reaction. Without thinking, I hit her in the mouth! She had a false tooth that I was not aware of and I hit her hard enough to knock it out! The look in her eyes when I did that, made me realize that I was emulating the very worst of my fathers' behavior. I knew that that was not what I wanted to do in my life. I had a revelation. I had another instantaneous transformation! I would never again hit a lover. That was 1978.

To this day, even when my last lover physically attacked me on three different occasions, I did not fight back. My last relationship was so hard on me that I have not had a relationship since. That was 1991. I knew by the time I got into my last relationship that I was in it to work on myself. She represented my deepest fears. I chose to stay in the relationship and try to understand the dynamics of what was happening and what I was bringing to the table. Not because someone else told me that I had to do it but because I had certain patterns of behaviors that were reoccurring in my life and I wanted to understand why. I had many revelations during this relationship. One of them being the revelation of the truth in the saying that, "the first time it's his fault. The second time it is your fault."

I realized that I am the one that picks women who think that it is their God given right to lie and cheat. I got very, very clear about the fact that I cannot control someone else's behavior nor am I responsible for their behavior. And no-one else is responsible for my behavior. I am not claiming that I was perfect and my lover was not. We both participated in this dysfunctional, abusive, mess. We both did our share of abusing. Anyone on a strong spiritual path knows that water always seeks its' own level. We both were on the same level or we would not have been together. The work we did together was very spiritual. It was the dark side of my spiritual journey but until one has the courage to embrace the dark side, they cannot create truly deep down to the bone transformation in their life. I was not seeking a superficial change. I did not want to simply go through the motions. I was not seeking to please someone else. I was not concerned with being "accepted" by society. I wanted to know the truth in the very core of my being.

This is where I cannot really get into all the details because they are too intimate. Details that someone looking through the window into someone else's relationship cannot possibly grasp. Suffice to say thatI completely transformed how I express my anger because of this experience. In the fifteen years since I achieved this transformation, I have raised my voice one time while angry. Even then, I did not yell the way I did when I was younger. I raised my voice so that I was louder than my sister who was yelling at me. That was after months of her constantly attacking me. Instead of fighting with her, as I would have done when I was younger, I ignored her as much as I possibly could or I would pray aloud in the hopes that it would get her to stop her own dysfunctional behavior. I did not try to point out her behavior to her or argue with her. One of the things that I have learned is that I am not responsible for other people's dysfunctional behavior. If they give themselves permission to act like a jerk, I do not have to follow them there. I can be, just the witness. Most of the "gossips" cannot say the same about their own behavior. I am not claiming that I never get stressed out, frustrated, irritated or angry. What I am claiming is that I handle it in a completely different way than I did when I was younger. And because I no longer suffer under the illusion that I have the right to control someone else's behavior or that their attitudes, opinions and beliefs have anything to do with me, I don't get angry very often.

Other lessons that I learned from that experience was how to set boundaries. I sometimes slip a little with this but if I make a mistake, I correct it quickly. If it had not been for this relationship, I would not have learned that it is my responsibility to say no to abuse. I would have never found the courage to say no to a boss who exploits and abuses their employees. I certainly would not have had the fortitude to handle the abuse they dished out, without ever losing my temper, while they were trying to force me to accept the status quote. I would not have had the knowledge or courage to say no to any oppressive social group.

I had a group that tried to stick their noses into my business shortly after this relationship ended. They wanted to tell me about my life and tell me how I should live it rather than having the courtesy or respect to try to find out what my reality was. If they had had enough respect for me to listen to my reality, the community would have known fifteen years ago that I had already accomplished the transformation they "claim" that they wanted me to make. My belief is that if you are trying to "interfere" with someone else's life and you cannot look that person in the eyes and be completely honest about what you believe, it is probably because you are interfering where you do not belong. Moreover, you know you do not belong there or you would be able to be honest about what your thinking.

For a social group to oppress someone on the very biased perspective of one person is an act of oppression in itself. If you do not think so try going against the grain and get a sample of how people act when they think no one will pay any attention to what you say or think. Peer pressure is one of the most effective ways of forcing someone to "conform." The majority of people will give up trying to express their personal truth and take the "cure" do what they need to do to be accepted by the majority rather than endure the awful behavior exhibited by those who think that they are the "Gods" of this world.

I on the other hand did this work myself and I will be damned if someone else is going to get credit for it. If you think the "group" cannot be wrong, you had better think about the long record the group has of being wrong. Just off the top of my head, I can name a few examples. At one time, the "group" thought the world was flat. Anyone who tried to say otherwise ran the risk of being put to death. The crusades were based on large groups of people thinking that they were the only ones who could be right. They were the only ones who could be the chosen people of God. Most wars are based on large groups of people thinking that they are the only ones' chosen by God. That they are in the right therefore, their "bad" behavior is justified. Large groups of people believed that the Indians were just savages, barely more than animals and therefore we were justified in stealing this land from them. The same mentality allowed people to enslave black people. The Bible was used to justify both of those attitudes. Again, that kind of mentality allowed Hitler to try to exterminate the Jews. That kind of mentality gives people the idea that they have a right to abuse and discriminate against gays.

Please do not try to preach the Bible to me. I have spent my entire life dealing with people who act as if I could not have possibly heard about the Bible and they are going to be the one to personally introduce me to it! I understand enough about the Bible to understand that people who try to claim that the Bible justifies their own dysfunctional, abusive behavior are picking out the dysfunctional attitude of an apostle to follow because his dysfunction makes them feel justified to hold onto their own dysfunctional attitude. They believe that this justifies their refusal to work on overcoming their own fear of and feelings of discomfort for being around someone they think is very different from themselves.

These people are not following what Jesus tried to teach. He did not say to love thy neighbor but hate the gays, or blacks or Indians or Jews or whatever. Jesus said to "Judge not least ye shall be judged and he said, "Judgment is mine thus saith the Lord." He did not say but it is okay to judge and discriminate against this group or that group or the other group, or this person, that person, or the other person. If Jesus were alive today he would probably say, "When good people give themselves permission to behave badly, evil thrives." Another way that he might say it would be, "When good people feel their bad behavior is justified, abuse thrives."

Being condescending, rude or disrespectful to someone that you feel is not worthy of being in your social circle is abusive behavior. This is a socially accepted abuse. No one thinks about addressing this abuse. Moreover, it is an abuse that is so prevalent that I suspect that everyone breathing air today has practiced it at some point in his or her life.

It is a good thing to educate about abuse. But be very careful that in your zeal to rescue victims that you do not become an abuser yourself. Ultimately it all boils down to one thing. We each must make the decision that: I am not going to act out in an abusive way to anyone, for any reason. After all, isn't that really what Jesus was trying to teach when he said to turn the other cheek? Is that not what he was doing when he healed the soldiers’ ear?

As M. K. Gandhi said,
"Be the change you wish to see in the world."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Sacred Life

2005-10-10T09:53:00.000-07:00

I am tired, stressed with too many things to do and not enough hours a day to take care of everything. I have money worries, housing worries; it is much too easy to be caught up in the everyday stresses of life. It is time to take a break; to remember what is important. I check my calendar and see that there will be a full moon next Saturday. Perfect, I know a small lake out in the country where I can dance, sing and yell to my hearts content without anyone assuming that I have lost my mind. I will leave early enough to include a long hike in my activities.

Saturday arrives and when I look out my window, I see that it is going to be a beautiful, day. I hurry to accomplish what I must before I leave. I am not a cook so I will stop by Kentucky Fried Chicken for a ready-made picnic. Perhaps I shall stop at the liquor store for a bottle of wine too. Prior to leaving, I sit down with a magic marker and a roll of toilet paper. I take one square of toilet paper and carefully write one worry or stress on it. I also write down things that I no longer want in my life. I continue this until I can think of nothing else to write. Then I gather everything into my car to drive out to the lake.

I step out of my car and breath deeply of the fresh country air. The sun is shinning warmly upon this peaceful scene. I decide to hike into the trees and up a small mountain. This takes me away from the lake. I take a moment to ask The Great Mother to speak to me by sending me her signs, omens and synchronicity. I pick up my backpack and set out on my trek. As I climb, I feel the pull on my muscles. Steep enough to be a challenge but not impossible to climb without special climbing gear. I occasionally see a rabbit run away at the sound of my approach. About halfway up the mountain, I stop to catch my breath. I hear the chatter of squirrels and enjoy the brilliant blue colors of a couple of blue jays. The sound of a woodpecker reverberates through the trees. As I sit quietly, a big buck deer walks serenely out of the woods and grazes right in front of me. How strong and beautiful he is with his sleek muscled body and many pronged antlers. I must have shifted my weight and made a noise because he lifts his head, startled. For a moment, he looks directly at me before he gracefully bounds off into the woods. I become consciously aware of the pleasant but heavy fragrance of pine trees. I breathe in deeply. Quietly I thank the Goddess for blessing me with the four-leggeds and move on.

It is late evening when I reach the top. I slowly walk around drinking in the breathtaking view that reminds me of how small I am in the grand scheme of things. There is such a strong feeling of being closer to The Grand Weaver here! “She is the weaver of the web of life, that keeps us all alive!” Standing here alone, on the top of this mountain, gazing out for hundreds of miles in every direction is an out of body experience. I am filled with awe at the beauty and sacredness of this earth. This earth that I walk upon. This earth that I am a sacred part of. A large flat boulder sits near the center of the scantily vegetated top of this mountain. It is just the right size for an alter. I set my backpack down and lay across the sun-warmed rock to let the heat of the sun soak into my skin. The warmth of the boulder cradles my back. I rest from my climb and sleepily watch the clouds drifting past on an unseen current of air far above the earth. Occasionally a gentle breeze blows across my alter kissing my cheeks, my lips, my arms. I see shapes; faces form, disappear and reform in the clouds. A red tailed hawk soars on silent wings high in the sky. Again, I thank the Goddess for her messages. I will wait until the moon rises for my ritual. For now, I slip into a deep, sweet sleep.

I wake to a huge orange harvest moon rising on the horizon. I am hungry but that must wait until I have finished my ritual. I open my pack pulling out the chalice, altheme, incense, candles, food and worries that I wrote earlier. I carefully arrange them on my rock alter. I gather large rocks to mark the corners of my circle. I lay out my circle to include three small trees struggling to survive at this altitude. I find two stout short branches to use as drum sticks and place them on the alter. I call the corners, close the circle and raise the energy by chanting. I raise my arms to embrace the moons shining face. I take my sticks, dancing around the circle chanting and beating the trunks and branches of the trees to create a rhythm to accompany my chanting. Between the trees I beat the sticks together to continue the beat uninterrupted. When I feel the energy swirling thick around me I raise my hands and call out my intentions to the Goddess. I take my worries and carefully hang them on the branches of the trees. The Goddess will blow my troubles away and scatter them with her winds. I call in the energy that I have raised and ground it by going to my knees placing my palms flat on the ground. I let the energy flow through my arms, through the palms of my hands deep into the breast of the Great Mother Earth. I open the circle by going to each corner and thanking the Gods and Goddesses for sharing this sacred space with me.

I am famished! Creating magic is hungry work! I take the chalice and bless the earth by pouring a small libation upon her breast. I give thanks for this sacred food and for the many blessings that I enjoy each day. I bite into the cold chicken. Ambrosia! There are no words to describe the enhanced flavors of food blessed with magical ritual! I settle in to savor each bite of my sacred feast.

____________________________________________________________________

2005-09-21T13:36:00.000-07:00

Dear Emma,
Hope you are doing alright. Thank God, we live in a country that lets you express your FREE SPEECH. If the worst thing in my life was that I missed a shower I would feel pretty good!
I can tell you there are a lot worse things in the Trucking Industry. The worst thing in the Industry that I can think of is lack of money. I raised my children driving 3500 to 5000 miles a week and was never brought above the poverty line.

Then the driver pool is so small that companies have to hire anything that resembles a warm body to operate a hundred thousand dollar rig with a hundred thousand dollars to five hundred thousand dollars worth of merchandise safely down our highways, and just hope what they just hired is at least honest.

A good mechanic should be the ones operating our trucks, but why should he when he can stay home and make a larger amount of money with out the expense or hassle of the highway.
If you noticed I underlined good in the previous paragraph because I did not mean someone that fixes flats or does lube work. I meant someone that knows every integral detail of motors, transmissions, rear ends, and every detail of the air and electrical systems. Someone with that knowledge might make it, but he ain’t working that cheap.

No one ever told me how many miles to run or how many hours I could or couldn’t work. But I knew how much money I needed every week and I was willing to run hard enough to make it. There is an old saying in trucking that someone a little hungry will always work harder. That is why I say the biggest sin in trucking is lack of money.

When I wasn’t trucking I did hard labor work because of my lack of education that was all I was qualified for and I’ll tell you I’d rather have the worst driving job in America than do labor. Talk about not having any constitutional rights or any other rights labor is it! And not one of you educated people ever say a word about that because you know deep inside that if it wasn’t for people who do that kind of work the great American way would be no MORE! I just thank God for giving me an occupation other than the hell of hard labor.

I noticed in your papers that you pulled off the liberal view of the war. But I don’t know who all the stats are supposed to impress unless you have never read about other wars. In WWII there were a hundred million casualties. In our own civil war there were at least one million, so excuse me if I think a hundred thousand is a bit trivial. That is pretty much the attitude west of I-35. You know red necks, red states and proud we live in a Federalism where we don’t have to agree with NYC.

Emma I love you but through my eyes, you have a very narrow view of everything. I wrote a little ditty, I’ll write some of it.

(Poem by CD Beverage)

Bigger is better, bigger is better
that is why I extended my peter
bilt frame so long it looks insane

Bigger is better, bigger is better
that is why I extended my Peter
bilt hood so when I drive I’ll look so good

Bigger is better, bigger is better
that is why I made my peter
bilt sleeper a little more wide and
a lot more deeper yea, bigger is better

Love always,
You’re brother
CD Beverage

Good Prayer
May God Bless America and continue to give Bush the fortitude to lead this great nation in the RIGHT direction.

P.S. I am not trying to piss you off just trying to keep you grounded.

CD

from the desk of
Caroline Emma Beverage
www.emmabeverage.blogspot.com • emmabeverage@yahoo.com

Where is the
FREEDOM?

This is my exercise in FREEDOM of speech / press.

September 18, 2005

Dear CD and Family,
I was happy to hear from you. I trust that you and your family are doing well. I am doing very well now too. Thanks to my government, for finally stepping in and saving my rear, after years of letting my bosses get by with their exploitation, prejudice and discrimination.

I too, Thank Goddess that I live in a country that “claims” to guarantee FREEDOM OF SPEECH! The repercussions that I have endured for actually practicing my right to Free Speech makes me wonder at just how genuine that promise actually is. My exercise in Freedom of Speech is exactly why I am not driving a truck today! Losing my career for trying to exercise my Freedom of Speech does not make it feel like I have Freedom of Speech. I do know that I have the constitutional right to Free Speech and I will not allow bullies to intimidate me into not exercising that right. I know that if I allow myself to be intimidated into not exercising my rights, then I really do not have my rights.

What I fail to understand are the people who are being treated just as badly as I have been treated and they do the work of oppressing me for corporate America. These people behave badly and try to ridicule me for speaking up. Do they really believe that the rich who control this country are going to toss them an extra bone for silencing me?

It reminds me of the Karen Silkwood story. She tried to stand up to The Big Corporation and her co-workers, instead of having sense enough to work with her, they helped the big boys harass her. Perhaps they were afraid of losing their good jobs. Who knows why people do not have the courage to stand up for their rights. At any rate, after Karen Silkwood was killed in a mysterious car accident the Big Corporation shut down the plant in that small town and all those people lost their good jobs anyway. In my opinion, nobody has anything to gain by not having the courage to stand up for what is right!

If our country denies it’s own citizens their constitutional rights, what are we doing invading other countries and claiming that we are bringing Freedom to them. How can we bring Freedom to another country if we do not really have Freedom here?

Your letter baffles me. I find it hard to understand when poor people support the party that backs big business no matter how badly big business exploits poor people. Big business has a long and dirty history when it comes to the working poor. Of course, the Democrats aren’t much better. Both parties have as part of their platform the pledge to create new wealth, not just redistribute wealth. Being poor I don’t know much about creating wealth but one of the things that I have studied is that invading other countries has long been a method countries use to create new wealth! Both parties must raise so much money to win elections that they have just about sold their souls to obtain the almighty dollar. What we really need is election reform. I say that after switching parties at the elections here in Oklahoma City this past week. After studying Politics in America in school this last semester I decided that my tiny voice might have more influence by joining forces with the lesser of two evils.

Your letter did not upset me. In fact, I am going to insert it along with my answer into my blogspot. I see it as an opportunity to attempt to educate not only you but also those who read my blogspot. At least it gives me another opportunity to share my views. I hope, in a way that will help you and others to understand what I have experienced in life and how it has shaped my views. I also hope that I can convince people that it is not worth putting a mortgage on their home so they can afford to go through an excessively expensive driving school! I might not be able to change what they do to drivers but I can expose America’s dirty little secret.

I understand when you say that the worst thing about the trucking industry is the lack of money. Trucking companies advertise everywhere that they pay fifty thousand dollars a year. I have never made fifty thousand dollars in a year in my life. In fact I suspect that I have always made less than you, simply because I was a woman in an industry that wanted to hire only young, white men. You did fit into that category. The older I got, the more experience I had, the less money I was paid. I was forced to accept twenty-seven cents a mile from companies who advertised that they were paying forty-two cents a mile.

In addition, I raised two children on my poverty level wages without the benefit of a life partner by my side to help support me. I occasionally had a partner but it was not a consistent commitment such as you have with Connie. And when the children do not biologically belong to someone it creates a different dynamic than if someone is raising their own children.
Because of my children, I was forced to try to find local work so that I could go home at least a few hours every day. Even if it was only to fall in bed for four hours of exhausted sleep before I had to get up to go back to work! I am sure that my children often felt neglected because of the excessive hours that I was forced to work, even while I was doing local work.

I also preferred to be paid by the hour because it took the whip out of the bosses hands. When a driver is paid by the mile, the boss can arrange it so that you sit for hours without making any money, waiting to be dispatched or waiting to unload your load. It cost the driver the same to live on the road whether they work or not. Trucking companies know this and “starving a driver into submission” is one of the major ways that trucking companies force drivers to conform to their expectations. Trucking companies do this on purpose. This is exactly how they “manipulate” drivers into breaking the law. Most drivers, think that it is their idea to break the law. If we were being paid properly there would not be any need for us to break the law! Trucking companies count on the drivers to not be smart enough to figure this out!
I figured this out before they started pushing us so hard that we could not take the time to shower! My education never helped me to make a better living. It has given me the ability to see through the games and manipulations that this industry uses to “train” the drivers to perform in the manner that they want them to perform. I also believe that I am more “sensitive” than the average driver. I am not trying to say I am “smarter” just more observant. Also, when you have the courage to speak out, the bullies of the world try to break you. Therefore, you get a lot of up close and personal insight into their dirty games.

I have often told drivers that I talked to on the road that if they worked the same kind of hours at McDonalds, that they work for trucking, their paycheck would look the same. To make it simple I have done the math for anyone reading this.

This is gross pay.
$5.15 times 40 hours equals $206.00.
$7.72 would be time and a half for any time over 40 hours.
I have had jobs that expected me to run 120 hours a week but I tried real hard to find jobs that would not do that, so I’ll average it to 100 hours a week. That would be 60 hours at $7.72 would equal $463.00. Add $463.00 plus $206.00 equals $669.00. Which is about as good as I ever made even when I worked 120 hours a week. Even if I figured it at the legal 70 hours a week it would be $231.60 plus $206.00 equals $437.60 which is more like the pay of my average job.

I can count the jobs I have had that ran me legal on the fingers of one hand! Some of those jobs only ran me legal because I got old enough and tired enough of what was going on that I absolutely refused to allow them to force me to run illegal. No matter how badly they harassed me! Believe you me; I have stories about that, which are almost unbelievable!

As you know, I am writing a book about my experiences. It has been an on again, off again effort because I have had so many things that come up that must take priority. At this time, my education has priority, but one day I will get back to writing my book. I have often thought that my personal journey is so unbelievable that I probably should fictionalize my story. Then last semester I read The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin. It is a story about how the happiness of the many is achieved because of the abuse of another. I thought I could have written that story about trucking! It made me realize that if I fictionalize my story everyone who reads it will be able to assign their own interpretation to it. Of course, a certain amount of that happens anyway. At least I will have the satisfaction of telling my truth! The thought that comforts me is that every time the human species evolves, the grip of the wealthy loosens and more people get a little more money and a little more freedom.

I understand when you say that the laborers of our country do not have any constitutional rights. I could not agree with you more when you say; “And not one of you educated people ever say a word about that because you know deep inside that if it wasn’t for people who do that kind of work the great American way would be no MORE!”
Please do not include me in the category of “you educated people.” I am a laborer giving voice for the laborers in this country. This is not just about me. It is about US! It is about how this great Democracy works on the backs of US! It is about how we are treated because they think that we have no voice and no one will ever know or do anything about their exploitation or the things that they do to keep us in our place forcing us to conform.

I know there are many areas that need to change in order for America to be the country that our forefathers promised us. The reason why I address the trucking industry is because that is my field of expertise. We all must work on the areas that we know the best.

I also agree with you that driving a truck is a lot better than doing hard labor. That is why I kept going back to driving. I don’t believe the boss has the right to exploit the fact that I enjoy driving. I think when I spend 100 or 120 hours a week doing something, I had better enjoy it!

I don’t agree that the driver also needs to be a mechanic. That is like trying to combine two different careers. That might be a good idea if you own your own truck. I drove long enough so that I can tell a mechanic exactly what is wrong with a truck, and that is good enough. I know that when they used to make us unload our trucks the drivers did not like that idea! They pitched such a stink about that that it forced them to stop having the drivers unload the trucks. This just proves that the power to create change is actually in the driver’s hands. I guess enough drivers don’t hate missing their showers as much as they hated doing the physical labor of unloading.

As far as the drivers being so scarce, there are several reason why I don’t really believe that. First of all the schools turn out new drivers all the time with only six weeks of practice. A lot of trucking companies train their own drivers and don't spend much more time with their training than the schools do. If they really needed drivers that bad, they would hire experienced drivers that do not have “recent” experience. They don’t do that because anyone who has reached the point of being burned out because of the inhumane conditions is not as gullible as some greenhorn that knows nothing about the industry. More telling than that is the fact that if they really needed drivers that bad they would pay decent wages. Anytime there is a high demand in any field the wages go up. They try to convince the drivers that there is a shortage of drivers as justification for pushing drivers so hard. It all boils down to big profits for someone but it isn’t the driver who benefits.

Well brother, I have enjoyed this little debate. I hope you can accept that there are areas where we do not agree. I must conclude this letter by talking about your poem, Bigger is Better. This is not a comment on the quality of your poem. I want to address the fact that it talks about one of the reasons why so many men will not speak up for their rights. It is because they think that big shiny rig makes them a big stud! If they would stop thinking with the little head and start using the One on their shoulders they would realize that they deserve to be treated like human beings. When I got tired of dealing with that “manly” attitude on the road I had a very crude answer that I used to give the drivers. I can’t say what I said here because I am going to turn this in for a grade and I am going to publish it on my blogspot. I will say that I made reference to the fact that my rig was as big as their rig and in all the years that I drove I had not noticed any private part of my body get any bigger! I was not referring to my weight.
Love you,

Emma Beverage

FREEDOM

2005-09-12T15:01:00.000-07:00

The Libertarian party has a good video that explains what FREEDOM is. Strange how we all agree with what we want but differ on how to get there! The video was good so I put a link to it on my sidebar. For some reason that link is not working so I thought I would attempt to post it again.

http://www.isil.org/resources/introduction.swf

Check out this site

2005-09-10T16:45:00.000-07:00

I am running out of time so I will post this here. I have been trying to get it into the sidebar but it isn't showing it for some reason. This is a good site.

markcrispinmiller.blogspot.com

An open letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush

2005-09-06T14:45:00.000-07:00

Vacation is Over... an open letter from Michael Moore to George W. BushFriday, September 2nd, 2005

Dear readers:

Michael Moore wrote an open letter to the president concerning the New Orleans NightMare!
I cannot improve on what he has said. I wanted to make him aware that we can expect more bad news for working class Americans from this area.

Dear Michael Moore,

I love your sarcasm! I thought I was the only one that antagonized people with my sarcasm. I just wanted to add one thing that you overlooked.

I bet we can expect big business, which is backed by big government to swarm into that area like vultures, to take advantage of the new law that the Supreme Court recently passed, enabling them to legally "steal" peoples land.

I fully expect that many of the people who lost their homes will also have their land taken away from them because big business will go into that area to rebuild New Orleans, bigger, better and safer! All for the public interest of course!

The fact that our government ignored the warnings that have been out on the Internet for years, that they reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row, and their unbelievably slow reaction to this disaster are all probably just coincidence!

I don't know any of this to be a fact. It is just my "gut" reaction from my personal experience with the government's treatment of the working class. I thought I would give you a "heads up" to keep your eyes open for this to happen in this area.

Keep up the great work!

Emma Beverage

P.S.
I caught a news clip of a very articulate young man who is organizing a group to take the homes of the Supreme Court Justices that passed the law that big business can take private property. I can't remember his name but I thought it was very clever, courageous and the kind of action that Americans must take in order to protect our freedom from the monied interest of the world! Hooray!

One last thought: My sister Mary who is a psychic, has been warning me for months that the earth is going to experience great natural disasters. She keeps telling me to store food and water because things are going to get very bad. After the Tsunami and New Orleans I've decided to put it in writing for all the world to see, because she has already been proven right about her predictions. But that is not all, she says that Florida will be hit by the end of September.

I would add to give or take this prediction a week or two in either direction because it is hard to pin down an exact time with psychic predictions. But that is me saying that, not my sister.

The Truth - Can You Handle the Truth?

2005-08-16T15:25:00.000-07:00

The Truth Is Out There If You Really Want The Truth!
―My Comments―
I have witnessed some very dismal changes in trucking during the thirty-five years that I drove. I started driving a truck in 1968 while married to a truck driver. I began to support myself driving a truck in 1973. I have documentation and journals that span about twenty years of my career. My intention has been to write an expose about what is really going on in this industry. However, it is hard to write a book while working 100 to 120 hours a week while you’re working. It is also hard to stay focused when free falling between jobs if you have the courage to do “civil disobedience;” and try to stand up to the trucking industry bullies who are stealing the constitutional rights of every truck driver in America! Now age seems to be catching up with me and I seem to have lost my drive, energy and motivation. It is also hard to stand up for your constitutional rights when the “men” are busy giving their constitutional rights away because they are afraid that their peers will think “they just ain’t man enough to handle trucking”, if they try to think with the Head on their shoulders instead of the one between their legs! This is a male trait that I have witnessed for years. I never saw anything written about it until recently when I had a reading assignment in my English Composition II class. I had to read:
“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien. This story was published in “LITERATURE and the WRITING PROCESS” Seventh Edition by Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day and Robert Funk. Published by: Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458 www.prenhall.com/mcmahan
This story is about the Vietnam War. It talks about the different things that the men carry with them in battle.
“They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing ─ these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight. They carried shameful memories. They carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run or freeze or hide, and in many respects this was the heaviest burden of all, for it could never be put down, it required perfect balance and perfect posture. They carried their reputations. They carried the soldier’s greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor. They died so as not to die of embarrassment… It was not courage, exactly; the object was not valor. Rather, they were too frightened to be cowards.
―My Comments―
When I read that paragraph I recognized immediately what I have witnessed time and time again in the trucking industry. Some guy would come in after working 16 or 18 hours and he would be ready to go home. The dispatcher would want him to do one more quick run. At first the guy would say he was tired and ready to go home but the dispatcher would ridicule him and insinuate that he wasn’t much of a man if he was too wimpy to take this little run. That is all the dispatcher needed to do, just make a reference to the guy’s manhood, immediately the guy would stop arguing, standing up for his rights and agree to take the run! No matter how many times the guys give in and take one more run, to prove their manhood, it never proves anything. It creates a never-ending cycle. After awhile the guys break and then they are ready to kill the dispatcher. Some how it gets twisted in their brain and they think if they kill the guy that is ridiculing their “manhood” that that will prove their manhood. At least that is what it looks like to me. I have heard several stories about drivers breaking and killing their dispatcher. I even heard about one driver driving his truck through the dispatcher’s office. Guess that is why it is not uncommon to see dispatchers behind protective glass today. Because I have always used the head on my shoulders and tried to stand up to, the bullies of the Trucking Industry, they tried to destroy my reputation. They didn’t want me to give anyone else the idea that they not only have the right to stand up for their rights, but they have a duty as American Citizens to stand up for the Rights that our Constitution promises us. Therefore, I realized that I needed a way to prove that this is not my imagination, I do not have a chip on my shoulder, I am not a troublemaker and I am not lazy. (At least I was not lazy when I was younger. Now that I have retired I seem to be making up for all the years of sleep that I lost while working as a truck driver.) I began to collect articles that actually reveal what is going on. One article by itself can be overlooked if you don’t know what you are looking at, but when you have a collection it begins to make the picture clear. I have decided to share a few of these articles here.
The Edmond Sun · Sunday, July 18, 2004 · Page 8 · Section A News article from the Associated Press titled: Once special, Sunday becoming like the rest of the week Last week, the Virginia legislature fixed a loophole it accidentally created when, attempting to abolish old “blue laws,” it gave workers the right to take Sundays off as a day of rest. In the few days that the loophole was on the books, employees around Virginia started telling their supervisors that they wouldn’t be coming to work on Sundays.
―My Comments―
This is a sample of what the people want and what they would do if corporations did not control our legislatures!
Truckers News · June 2004 · Page 12 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicates that truck-involved fatalities may drop below 5,000 for the second year in a row.
―My Comments―
How many soldiers have died in the war? The last I heard it was around 1800 more or less. Why is it that nobody notices the body count when it involves trucking?
I stopped at a truck stop recently and picked up some trucking magazines. I noticed some new products being advertised today that were not in trucking magazines while I was driving. ― There was an advertisement for a product to bathe without water! Why would these products be necessary if truck drivers were getting to shower on a regular basis? There was also an ad for a collapsible, portable shower so the driver can bathe inside the truck cab. At least with this product someone has realized that even though the boss wants the truck to run 24 hours a day, the drivers might actually want a shower! With this product one driver could drive while the other driver showers.
Truckers News · June 2004 · Page 16 Public Citizen, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, and Parents Against Tired Truckers brought suit against the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration over the agency’s hours-of-service rule, which became effective Jan. 4, 2004. Public Citizen argued that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration should issue a new rule because the current rule does not accomplish the agency’s goal of improving safety. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the American Trucking Associations, which had filed a brief supporting the agency, argued in support of the current rule.
―My Comments―
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the American Trucking Associations are on one side of this suit while Public Citizen, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, and Parents Against Tired Truckers are on the other side of this suit. I wonder why the laws regulating trucking are not enforced? It could not possibly be that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is in bed with the American Trucking Associations. Surely, that is just a delusional thought!
RoadSTAR · October 2003 · Page 74 · Letters (A driver wrote in requesting information on the hours of service.) “My normal work week is 77 hours and that is a light week. Mostly it is between 85 and 96 hours. Am I in compliance? Peterbuiltmitch”
―My Comments―
There are 168 hours in a week. I estimated that my NORMAL workweek, before my spiritual journey gave me the courage to refuse to work this way, ranged between 100 and 120 hours. And, that was before the companies started trying to force me to not take my showers!
RoadSTAR · October 2003 · Page 77 · Letters
A driver wrote in saying that he had been driving 11 years and was grossed out by the decline in driving skills and the personal hygiene of the drivers.
―My Comments―
I’m surprised this one made it into print! However, he did make it sound as if he believes that the individual drivers are at fault. He did not mention that this is caused by the Trucking Industry that is pushing the drivers too hard. And, how can you expect to turn out a Professional Driver with just six weeks of school training? When they started the Trucking Schools, we thought they were a joke. It was a joke. It was a bad joke on truck drivers! We used to be worth a dime a dozen, now; we are worth a “Penny for Twenty!”
The Trucker · June 23 - July 6, 2004 · Page 42 · Opinions
Lazy pigs dragging professional truckers down with them, again · Eye on Trucking by Jami Jones - Editor “Truckers are taking it on the chin in the national media over urine bottles again. This time the Utah Department of Transportation is taking truckers to task over the disposal, or lack thereof, of urine bottles and zipper-style bags of feces. The Associated Press has picked up a story out of Utah where the UDOT higher-ups are squarely laying blame for the human waste containers lying alongside the interstate at the feet of truck drivers. “Along with the usual highway litter, bottles of urine are routinely discarded at the trucker’s brake test area at Parleys summit on Interstate 80,” the AP article reported.” She goes on to quote a driver who says that he has seen the same thing in other states. That it is common for drivers to relieve themselves in plastic bottles in the cab, then throw the containers out the window. She goes on to mention the stereotype of truckers being filthy individuals. And, says that it is hard to counter this when all a person has to do is walk around a truck stop parking lot.
―My Comments―
For anyone who has not had the experience of walking around a truck stop parking lot, let me tell you that it reeks like a urinal! Unfortunately, there have always been drivers who acted like dogs and watered the wheels of their trucks rather than walk to the bathroom at a truck stop. But this did not make the entire parking lot reek until after 1985 when the trucking companies began to push the drivers to keep the truck moving 24 hours a day! In my early years of driving, it was still possible to step out of the truck at a truck stop on a crisp, cold morning and get the smell of diesel fuel. A smell that still holds a lot of nostalgia for me! After 1985, even I was forced to compromise and start carrying a big-mouthed gallon jar with me to cut down on the times that I needed to stop for the call of nature. I was conscientious and emptied my jar at the rest areas when I was forced by nature to use something better than a gallon jar! This phenomenon of using jars to replace a bathroom stop did not start until trucking companies began to schedule their runs so tight that we did not have time to stop to shower, or eat hot meals in a truck stop, if we could afford a meal, or obviously, take time to stop for the bathroom! Today most drivers carry ice chests or small refrigerators and try to make homemade meals in the cab of their truck because they are not paid enough to cover the high prices of eating out and they cannot take the time to stop for a hot meal break. They must figure out something that they can eat while driving down the highway or while waiting to load or unload their cargo. That part of the story I understand too well. The part that is inexcusable is the fact that the drivers are throwing their waste out on the highway so that other people are forced to clean up after them. Even that may have something positive to it. Perhaps it will draw attention to how drivers are being treated.
The Trucker · June 23 - July 6, 2004 · Business USF shuts doors at Red Star terminal · by Jerry Breeden
This is an article about 15 office workers who demanded to be represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, at the Red Star regional terminal at Philadelphia. Red Star had 2,000 employees at this terminal when the 15 walked off the job May 21.
Red Star’s response was to close down the entire Red Star operation. “DiStasio released a statement saying “this is a terrible development for our more than 2,000 employees and for the customers who depended on them. The Teamsters’ actions … were devastating to Red Star’s business. In this economic environment, where just-in-time delivery is the norm, not the exception, any irregularity in transportation services puts all Red Star customers at risk.” The Teamsters responded by calling Red Star’s shutdown as a “callous action on the part of a $2.3 billion corporation.” They went on to say that “It is irrational and reckless for a company to close its entire Eastern operations because 15 office workers tried to organize a union.”
―My Comments―
I highlighted the phrase “just-in-time delivery is the norm, not the exception.” because just-in-time delivery is just a “code” for “SLAVERY!” IN MY OPINION. SLAVERY must be mighty profitable for a $2.3 billion dollar corporation to shut down their Eastern operations rather than give up their iron fisted control over their employees! Again, that is my opinion. My opinion is based on my personal experiences with the trucking industry.
I have more articles but this ought to be enough to give anyone who has enough interest in this situation to do any research, the knowledge that they too can figure out the truth about what is going on.

People Against Oppression and War

2005-07-27T13:33:00.000-07:00

More sites worth visiting:
People Against Oppression and War

http://www.paow.org/paow_info_.htm

We think that given the fact that the government has freely chosen to be at the mercy of corporations, and therefore it cannot act in the public interest because of its purposeful conflict, policy decisions that we have to live or die by should be made by us. In these days of naked, un-bridled capitalist imperatives that governments try to ram down our throats, it can't be any clearer that people are suffering, some choking on this sham of a democracy.

In our name, the Bush government justifies the invasion and occupation of Iraq on false pretenses, raining down destruction, horror, and misery, bringing death to more than 100,000 Iraqis. It sends our youth to destroy entire cities for the sake of so-called democratic elections, while intimidating and disenfranchising thousands of African American and other voters at home.

In our name, the Bush government holds in contempt international law and world opinion. It carries out torture and detentions without trial around the world and proposes new assaults on our rights of privacy, speech and assembly at home. It strips the rights of Arabs, Muslims and South Asians in the U.S., denies them legal counsel, stigmatizes and holds them without cause. Thousands have been deported.

Could we have imagined a few years ago that core principles such as the separation of church and state, due process, presumption of innocence, freedom of speech, and habeas corpus would be discarded so easily? Now, anyone can be declared an "enemy combatant" without meaningful redress or independent review by a President who is concentrating power in the executive branch. His choice for Attorney General is the legal architect of the torture that has been carried out in Guantánamo, Afghanistan, and Abu Ghraib.

We are human beings, not economic units.

Advocate for public power, not corporate control.

The Bush government seeks to impose a narrow, intolerant, and political form of Christian fundamentalism as government policy. No longer on the margins of power, this extremist movement aims to strip women of their reproductive rights, to stoke hatred of gays and lesbians, and to drive a wedge between spiritual experience and scientific truth. We will not surrender to extremists our right to think. AIDS is not a punishment from God. Global warming is a real danger. Evolution happened. All people must be free to find meaning and sustenance in whatever form of religious or spiritual belief they choose. But religion can never be compulsory. These extremists may claim to make their own reality, but we will not allow them to make ours.

http://www.paow.org/paow_info_.htm

(This was posted by and this note added by Caroline Emma Beverage)

I liked what was written at this site so much that I had to copy a few excerpts from it to share with my readers. If it appeals to you go visit this site for more no punches pulled reading.

I have to add here that the trucking industry is one area where our government is allowing rampant oppression to exist. I say that because I worked in the trucking industry for 35 years and was blackballed out of the industry because I insisted on stopping and taking a shower every day. Insisting on a shower every day is a very RADICAL act that the majority of drivers do not have the courage to do. That is because they are afraid that they will lose their careers. A very real fear based on what the trucking industry actually does.)

People Against Oppression and War

2005-07-27T13:24:00.000-07:00

More sites worth visiting:
People Against Oppression and War

http://www.paow.org/paow_info_.htm

We think that given the fact that the government has freely chosen to be at the mercy of corporations, and therefore it cannot act in the public interest because of its purposeful conflict, policy decisions that we have to live or die by should be made by us. In these days of naked, un-bridled capitalist imperatives that governments try to ram down our throats, it can't be any clearer that people are suffering, some choking on this sham of a democracy.

In our name, the Bush government justifies the invasion and occupation of Iraq on false pretenses, raining down destruction, horror, and misery, bringing death to more than 100,000 Iraqis. It sends our youth to destroy entire cities for the sake of so-called democratic elections, while intimidating and disenfranchising thousands of African American and other voters at home.

In our name, the Bush government holds in contempt international law and world opinion. It carries out torture and detentions without trial around the world and proposes new assaults on our rights of privacy, speech and assembly at home. It strips the rights of Arabs, Muslims and South Asians in the U.S., denies them legal counsel, stigmatizes and holds them without cause. Thousands have been deported.

Could we have imagined a few years ago that core principles such as the separation of church and state, due process, presumption of innocence, freedom of speech, and habeas corpus would be discarded so easily? Now, anyone can be declared an "enemy combatant" without meaningful redress or independent review by a President who is concentrating power in the executive branch. His choice for Attorney General is the legal architect of the torture that has been carried out in Guantánamo, Afghanistan, and Abu Ghraib.

We are human beings, not economic units.

Advocate for public power, not corporate control.

The Bush government seeks to impose a narrow, intolerant, and political form of Christian fundamentalism as government policy. No longer on the margins of power, this extremist movement aims to strip women of their reproductive rights, to stoke hatred of gays and lesbians, and to drive a wedge between spiritual experience and scientific truth. We will not surrender to extremists our right to think. AIDS is not a punishment from God. Global warming is a real danger. Evolution happened. All people must be free to find meaning and sustenance in whatever form of religious or spiritual belief they choose. But religion can never be compulsory. These extremists may claim to make their own reality, but we will not allow them to make ours.

http://www.paow.org/paow_info_.htm

(This was posted by and this note added by Caroline Emma Beverage)

I liked what was written at this site so much that I had to copy a few excerpts from it to share with my readers. If it appeals to you go visit this site for more no punches pulled reading.

I have to add here that the trucking industry is one area where our government is allowing rampant oppression to exist. I say that because I worked in the trucking industry for 35 years and was blackballed out of the industry because I insisted on stopping and taking a shower every day. Insisting on a shower every day is a very RADICAL act that the majority of drivers do not have the courage to do. That is because they are afraid that they will lose their careers. A very real fear based on what the trucking industry actually does.)

More Great Sites to Explore

2005-07-25T13:24:00.000-07:00

Radical, pull no punches, tired of the BS excellent Gay site:
http://thespincycle.blogspot.com

Here is the last one. This is an excellent, very professionally presented site that is so full of information on the climate changes that it will require several visits to fully explore.
http://climatechangeaction.blogspot.com/

Good writing, needs more than one visit to do it justice
http://earthcitizen.blogspot.com/

I need to start taking notes as I cruise through these sites. So I can give better discriptions. I liked the writing or I would not have jotted down the site.
http://reasonablyascertainablereality.com

Does anyone know how I can list my contacts on the sidebar so that they are always available? If you do, please e-mail me the instructions at:
emmabeverage@yahoo.com

Thanks

Emma

Again I agreed with the writing and the writing is well done. Did touch on the topic of abortion.
http://slacktivist.typepad.com

Double decker bus in England

2005-07-24T15:45:00.000-07:00

Found an interesting blog with photos of England:

http://clwphotos.blogspot.com/

Every Life is Sacred

2005-07-20T11:24:00.000-07:00

By Caroline Emma Beverage

I wrote this poem because someone wrote to our website and asked for our opinion on abortion. I asked to be the one to answer this question because I have a very “flip” answer that I usually give to that question.
I tried to respond to the individual only to find that the e-mail address was not valid. That made me realize that I should make an effort, to put this question in perspective to all the other issues that plague our world. I am a firm believer that it is important to look at the whole picture, at least as much as that is possible. When an issue is isolated, it is easy to convince people that things may be one way when in fact if the entire picture were considered it would be harder to fool people.
Since this boils down to religion and the oppression of women I would like to share an interesting observation that I have made in my life. My grandfather was a trucker who owned a fleet of trucks at one time. He was also one of those rare truck drivers who did not mind teaching his wife and daughters to drive. Therefore, I grew up with some knowledge about trucking. I married a trucker in 1968. I managed to learn just enough about driving while I was married to land a driving job after my divorce. I have been in, or had connections to, the trucking industry my entire life. When I first started driving there were almost no women in this field. After I started using a CB in my truck I would, on a very rare occasion, hear another woman out there; but I never saw them. I might hear a woman a couple of times a year. During that time I never saw a cross on a truck or a mobile chapel in a truck stop.
It took many years but suddenly women began to appear in trucking everywhere! It must have been like starting a train. It started gradually and then spread like wildfire! The interesting thing about it was that this private male club that had many members living one lifestyle on the road while enjoying the benefits of a real he-man persona at home suddenly changed. Suddenly the men found morals! The next thing you know the trucks are carrying crosses and the truck stops are sporting mobile chapels! Maybe I’m missing something here or reading something into this that isn’t there but…
The crosses and chapels didn’t appear until the women appeared. The private boys club behavior changed drastically or became more hidden. If you had been in the business as long as I had been it wasn’t hard to tell that the majority of fights between truck drivers was really a “come on.” A technique that the drivers used to locate another driver to take care of their sexual needs by emphasizing the sexual curse words in their fighting. After the women arrived in this career the straight men or the men who wanted to appear straight started harassing the men’s men; because they knew that what was happening was not going to be that hard for the women to figure out. Not that I am condemning the men. Far from it, I understand to what lengths people are forced to go to hide who they are because our society allows free reign to oppress people that they are “brain washed” to not approve of.
The point I’m making is the co-relation to religion taking over the trucking industry shortly after women made a big breakthrough in the industry. The Bible was written fifty years after Jesus died. Those people who love power and money more than spirit were already corrupting Jesus’ teachings. It is an old, old story that is still happening today. The oppression of women was written into the Bible simply because it was written at a time that women were so oppressed that people did not even consider the idea of women’s oppression. That is not to say that I do not believe that many spiritual truths are contained in the Bible. But that, that book has been used to justify every conceivable bad behavior that mankind can dream up including war, genocide, the oppression of women, and men and women of every race and culture, who are unfortunate enough to fall in love with someone of their own gender.

We fight to save an unborn babe
while people starve, but that’s okay.
Quality of life, here on earth
not as sacred, as giving birth!
--but every life is sacred.

Orphanages in all nations,
children languish, lost and wasted
yet, we insist that every girl
bring every child into this world.
--cause every life is sacred.

The rich exploit the worthless poor
they want more profit, create more,
slaves to do all the hard labor,
while the rich relax and savor
all that life has to offer.

Uneducated poor are here
to serve and do as they are told,
don’t think, don’t speak, just do your job,
until your old, then you can’t work.
--but every life is sacred.

Sex education in our schools,
would only teach our kids to sin.
God’s rules forbid this knowledge then.
That’s church and state separation!
--and every life is sacred.

We punish those who dare question
others must be shown this lesson.
Send our youth to fight rich men’s wars.
Death approved by authority.
--but every life is sacred.

There are those who cannot fit in
fill our mental institutions.
or lock them away in our jails.
Some lives are spent in living hell.
--but every life is sacred.

Government owned by the wealthy.
Obey our God, obey our laws
be free, in this land of freedom.
Where is freedom without money?
--and every life is sacred.

Forget it all, with alcohol.
The hopeless lose their dreams and pain
with drugs, or sex, or other things
and this might be a jail, as well.
--but every life is sacred.

Prejudice does not exist here.
All belong to the human race.
Religions preach love, but practice
hate - if your gay, but that’s Okay.
--and every life is sacred.

There’s still a place to fit you in.
Life is fair and this is heaven.
Women are not being oppressed,
At least no more than all the rest.
--and every life is sacred.

A young man wins his manhood here,
girls are shamed with a child to rear.
Since punishment and oppression
not the message, not the lesson.
--and every life is sacred.

Equal rights, we do believe in
if punishment must be given
punish both the girl and the boy
take away their hope and their joy.
--cause every life is sacred.

Castrate the man responsible,
that will stop unwanted babies!
They both will have a memento
for a lifetime to remind them,
they failed God and committed sin.
--and every life is sacred.

Must Read!

2005-07-19T10:19:00.000-07:00

I have decided to start listing sites that are worthy of being shared by a greater audiance. If other bloggers like this idea maybe we can create a chain. Get a train of good ideas moving here. Here are my first sites that I suggest that other readers read.

http://www.fruitful.blogspot.com/

http://www.brightlightoftruth.blogspot.com/

Mother is Delighted

2005-07-19T10:04:00.000-07:00

3/13/01
By: Caroline Emma Beverage

Happiness is in the air
I see her dancing everywhere.
Across the tall golden grasses
Creating waves as she passes.
The grass folds down and up again
As the wind whorls, the grasses bend.
Her kisses gentle and warmly done
Come from her brightly shining sun.
Then she wipes them from my skin
With her embraces of gusty wind.
I quietly watch the clouds blow by
Then I see a twinkling eye.
I see a face and yet another
This fleeting art by The Great Mother.
With a start, I begin to see
Each heavenly face is laughing with glee.
Mother is delighted that I found her key
That she so cleverly hid within me!
So she sends her laughing faces
In the clouds, of all the places!
To let me know that I’ve done her proud
I see it in each passing cloud.

My homework assignment

2005-07-17T09:35:00.000-07:00

My e-mail is not accessable at this moment and I need to save my homework somewhere. I am being creative and saving it here so I don't lose my work!

A& P by John Updike, page 333
Three young girls go against the “norm” by wearing bathing suits into a grocery store. They receive the usual “pressure” to conform.

Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy, page 544
Talks about the pressure that is applied to young women to conform to societies expectations for women. How unhappy or uncomfortable a woman can feel if she does not feel that she fits into the stereotype that is expected of her. It can cause someone to be unhappy enough to commit suicide.

Daddy by Sylvia Plath, page 538
This poem speaks to Sylvia’s fear of her father, her husband and probably all men. It hints at her intentions of ending everything. Since Sylvia did eventually commit suicide we can assume that she felt unloved and unaccepted by her father. Ultimately, we can also assume that this person felt that they did not fit into society. Another tragedy of our hypocritical lives which makes people miserable if they cannot or will not play the game of hiding their souls in an effort to fit in.

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, page 565
This poem addresses the choices that we make in life. How we cannot change those choices even when we think we will go back and go another way at a later date. We seldom go back. And even if we do try to go back the road has changed so it is never the same.

Eleanor Rigby by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, page 546
A poem about the roles that we play in life. We attend church, get married, live and die. All the while, we are dying inside from loneliness, feeling as if we do not fit in.

We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar, page 499
The mask is our protection from everyone knowing our lives. We don’t say anything's wrong when there is. "Let them only see us while we wear the mask." Don’t let them in. Conform to mindless society. We are "tortured souls" but heaven forbid anyone else know that we have problems.

Salvation by Langston Hughes, page 467
A story about the pressure that people apply trying to get people to conform. A young man lies about what is real for him so that he can fit in or at least take the pressure off himself. But he is not happy with himself for giving into the peer pressure.

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, page 83
A towns’ residents conforms by ritually murdering one of their own residents every year. They don’t remember how the ritual started or why they do it, they just do it. Any talk about not doing the ritual is put down as dangerous talk. Asking for trouble.

Conclusion:

I would have to say that these stories and poems all address the fact that society applies a lot of pressure on people to conform and “fit in.” A large segment of society does not feel like they “belong” but they will do and say the things that are required to make it appear that they do fit in. If most people were honest, they would probably admit that there are only a few people in their lives that really know them. That there are only a small number of people they know well enough so that they can really relax and be themselves around.
When a person decides to quit giving into the pressures applied by their peers they are labeled as radical. I would say that it usually takes a lot of courage to refuse to go along with the status quote. Although, the very act of rebellion can create a subgroup that again applies peer pressure to get its members to conform.
When people are pressured to conform they either grow very strong or they break. If they break they either surrender and return for the larger groups approval, as the boys did in the church where the people were trying to save them for jesus; or the pressure is too much for them to bear and they commit suicide like Sylvia Plath.
In conclusion I would like to suggest that the human species advances due to the people who have the courage to do things differently.

Great Spirit or "Lords Prayer'

2005-07-16T17:52:00.000-07:00

Modified by Emma Beverage

Great Spirit
who exists in all things,
Holy art thou,
our Sacred Source.
Your kingdom is here,
When thy will is done.
My thoughts and actions manifest on earth,
your heaven.
Give me this day my daily bread
And forgive me my trespasses.
As I forgive those
who trespass against me.
Lead me not into temptation
but deliver me from all evil.
For this is your creation, your power and glory, forever.

Words Dance

2005-07-15T14:41:00.000-07:00

by Emma Beverage

Words dance
images
across page
throughout mind
in ear.
Short burst
of
life spans
star bright
short hand
understand.
World spins
eternity
in split second
paths
traced
across page.

This Is What That Road Meant

2005-07-14T14:28:00.000-07:00

Robert Frost 1874-1963 The Road Not Taken

I was supposed to write a summary for THE ROAD NOT TAKEN a poem written by Robert Frost. As I started writing I realized that it was sounding like a poem, so I let it create itself and this was the results.

Emma Beverage 14 Jul 2005

This Is What That Road Meant

Life is filled with many choices.
We cannot know where they will lead,
but trust that we will take the one
that will bring us into the sun.

Each time we choose a way to go,
we leave behind all other roads.
For every yes, there is a no.
And who can say where yes will go.

Though we sometimes
wish we could change,
go back again to choose once more.
In vain we wish to rearrange
The results of the choice we made.

In truth, once we have made our choice
There is no turning back, my friend.
We can never return - again.
To that moment, we made our choice.
So take your medicine, and grin
It is, as it is and that is,
all that it is!

Topsy Turvey Again

2005-07-12T14:51:00.000-07:00

Emma Beverage
11/6/82

Topsy turvey again
no peace - no rest
will it ever end?
I’m a slave - a prisoner.
Abraham Lincoln,
savior and gallant leader
made war to set me free.
I feel no freedom.
Like little ants
always the endless task.
Scurry - hurry
I own my soul
I state in defiance.
Yet - I’m not free
to walk away
to conquer majestic mountains
or sail stormy seas.
I am bound and chained
and I want to break my lease.

(My father died 11/8/82)

Poem to my Dad

2005-07-12T14:46:00.000-07:00

Emma Beverage

11/22/82

They left him there
Like an empty shell
An empty shell - silent - still

They left him there
So we could stare
So we could stare
At this hollow shell

It looked like my dad
Had gone to sleep
Sleep, sleep, eternal sleep
Sleep that made my family weep

And as I stared, this thought grew
Thoughts would never - again pass through
My daddy’s head
My daddy was dead

Someone had come to steal his soul
I heard his footsteps shuffling - slow
I heard his footsteps - When they took his soul.

Do Not Forsake Me

2005-07-08T14:19:00.000-07:00

9/25/04

Why have you forsaken me?
In this my hour of greatest need?
I thought that I could depend
upon your strength to bring me in
to your shores of peace,
abundance and sisterhood at last.
But all I’ve seen is my youth, slip into the past.

Here I stand, all alone
I’ve fought for you, in the face of wrong.
I’ve spoken up. I stood for right.
Learned to hold my own and still not fight.
been betrayed by friends, strangers and family too.
Still, I trusted in only you.

Here I stand broken and alone.
I’ve lost it all. I have no home.
I’m wounded and can hardly stand.
Where is your guiding hand?

I’ve been lied about, ripped apart
hyenas have eaten my heart.
My tortured body is about to be thrown
Into the streets, over the cliff, into the abyss.
Oh, where is my home of bliss?

If miracles you do perform
where are your arms to keep me warm?
Now is the time, It is do or die.
I’ve taken this as far as I can take it.
I have no more strength, don’t think that I can make it.
Great Spirit, do not forsake me now.
I cry out for you to save me, somehow!

I have trusted you to the bitter end.
Where are my wings? Why can’t I fly?
Where is my safety net? Shall I die?
Help me turn my world around.
Give me the strength to hold on,
for the splendor of a new dawn.
Please do not forsake me.

Do the Wealthy Pray?

2005-07-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

A moment, freeze dried,
In the eye of my soul.
Heaven branded
into my memory.
Erase my mind
Like a blackboard now

My life in shambles.
Leaving dust, litter, chaos
Wind blowing sand
Filling my mouth, nose, ears.
gritty, blinded
I can’t find my way.

I struggle in vain.
Wind blows sand, without rain.
No strength to fight,
surrender to bitter
wind, wind, wind, wind.
wait for tempest end.

Prayers from my lips.
guide and protect me too.
Don’t leave me down.
With weary eyes I see
my companions.
are beaten and worn.

Life’s not been easy.
each has a cross to bear.
heed our prayers.
All is lost but our faith.
I listen to
each poor soul praying

Hearing words of faith
Bless everyone we meet.
Where is this God?
Can He hear these people?
And answer not?
Do the wealthy pray?

Guest Book

2005-07-08T12:42:00.000-07:00

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2005-07-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

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I Want to be a Christian

2005-07-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

I want to be a Christian

by Caroline Emma Beverage

I want to be a Christian
a lying little meanie,
act like I’m a weenie,
cause that's what Christians do.

I want to be a Christian
lie about the heathens
kick around some pagans
because that's what Christians do.

I want to be Christian
beat anyone who crosses me
I've got that book to back up me
and that's what Christians do.

I'll give you hell and act like Satan
tell you how bad you are
while ignoring all that Christ has said
because that's what Christians do.

I'll make you wish that you were dead
that's easier than working on my own head
and I won’t listen to a thing you’ve said
because that's what Christians do.

And if you frighten me at all
I’ll trip and beat and make you fall.
Make you wish you didn’t exist at all
Because that’s what Christians do.
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Emma Beverage's Writing

2005-07-06T13:45:00.000-07:00

The Law of Karma

The energy you send out,
returns to you multiplied by three.
But if you are aware, conscious, awake,
then you will manifest your fate
not merely by three times three
but seven fold returns to thee!
Seven fold will bring about
exactly what you have sent out.
And so tis wise to refrain
from slapping down those
who seek to win or gain
by lies, deceit and dishonesty.
Their fate has already been
sealed by their choices
and so has yours,
Rejoice, rejoice!

Remember well, this rule of thumb
ignore your enemies and what they've done
they will bring about their own defeat.
The law of Karma can't be deceived.