death without due process

The United States has reportedly initiated a targeted killing program under which the CIA and the military have the authority to hunt and kill individuals, including U.S. citizens, far away from the battlefields in Iraq, Afghanistan and even the Pakistani border regions, and potentially anywhere in the world. The program operates without any checks and balances; all of the essential details about the program remain secret. We do not know what criteria are used to put people on the "kill lists" maintained by the CIA and military, how much evidence is required to add a person to the lists, or whether there are any geographical limits on where individuals can be targeted. The President has, in effect, claimed the unchecked authority to put the names of citizens and others on "kill lists" on the basis of a secret determination, based on secret evidence, that a person meets a secret definition of the enemy.

We are all familiar with how the death penalty works. A crime (usually murder) is committed. It's investigated by law enforcement. A suspect is arrested, charged with the crime, and goes to trial. The government shows the judge or jury the evidence against the accused. The accused can defend against the accusations. The jury delivers a verdict. If it's a guilty verdict, the defendant might be sentenced to death.

The process, from arrest to sentencing, is the Fifth Amendment in action, the part that states: "no person…shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law."

The Constitution protects all Americans' right to life, whether they're living at home or abroad. If the government thinks you should be dead, it should at least tell you why. The fact that the standard that puts Americans on the "kill list" is a secret is itself unconstitutional. As our complaint states, "U.S. citizens have a right to know what conduct may subject them to execution at the hands of their own government. Due process requires, at a minimum, that citizens be put on notice of what may cause them to be put to death by the state."

(ACLU: Targeted Killings) (ACLU: blog)

prejudice

lost horizon

Lost Horizon is a 1933 novel by English writer James Hilton. It is best remembered as the origin of Shangri-La, a fictional utopian lamasery high in the mountains of Tibet.

Hugh Conway, a veteran member of the British diplomatic service, finds inner peace, love, and a sense of purpose in Shangri-La, whose inhabitants enjoy unheard-of longevity. Among the book's themes is an allusion to the possibility of another cataclysmic world war brewing. It is said to have been inspired at least in part by accounts of travels in Tibetan borderlands, published in National Geographic by the explorer and botanist Joseph Rock.

The book explicitly notes having made war on the ground man would now fill the skies with death, and all precious things were in danger of being lost, like the lost histories of Rome ("Lost books of Livy"). It was hoped that overlooked by the violent, Shangri-la would preserve them and reveal them later to a receptive world exhausted by war. That was the real purpose of the lamasery; study, inner peace, and long life were a side benefit to living there.

Conway is a veteran of the trench warfare of WWI, with the emotional state frequently cited after that war—a sense of emotional exhaustion or accelerated emotional aging. This harmonizes with the existing residents of the lamasery and he is strongly attracted to life at Shangri-La. (read more) (world peace)

vincent

skull rock

Mary Blair's concept drawing
of Skull Rock from Peter Pan.

wipeout

wipeout full treatment

currency

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.

...Thomas Jefferson...
3rd president of US (1743 - 1826)

Where Tears Come From

Where Tears Come From - from Bill Plympton's "I Married A Strange Person!"

---

In 1998, Bill returned to animation with I MARRIED A STRANGE PERSON. It's a heartwarming story of a newlywed couple on their wedding night. Grant, the husband, starts experiencing strange, supernatural powers and Kerry, his wife, can't cope. Whenever Grant thinks of something, it becomes reality, yet he doesn't know where these magical powers come from. Once again Bill Plympton single-handedly drew and financed an animated feature extravaganza - only this time for adults and the politically incorrect. It was released by Lions Gate Films to good box office numbers and still plays today on cable TV.

I MARRIED A STRANGE PERSON (from Bill Plympton Studio)

It's "Akira" with humor, "Road Runner" with humans, an animated "Pulp Fiction". It's a Heartwarming story of a newlywed couple on their wedding night. Grant, the husband, starts experiencing strange, supernatural powers and Kerry, the wife, can't cope. Whenever Grant thinks of something, it becomes reality, yet he doesn't know where these magical powers come from.

He becomes a hit on the talk-show circuit and Larson Giles, a Ted-Turner-type media mogul, who owns Smile Corp., sends his paramilitary unit, headed by the violent and not-so-bright Colonel Ferguson, to capture Grant so he can control the world-wide media. What follows is one of the most violent and bizarre battles of movie history. The film has scenes of ultra-violence that should offend everyone, and what has been called " the most bizarre and hilarious sex scene ever put to film"

"I Married a Strange Person" was featured in Dramatic Competition at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival and won the Grand Prize for Feature Films at the 1998 Annecy Animation Festival. Lions Gate Films released the movie around the U.S. in 1998 and it is now available through Universal Video. The soundtrack and storyboard can be ordered on-line.

top right corner

video clip

banksters: "we're sorry"

L.K.Hanson

the ufo conspiracy

Beauty of uncertainty

based on a study showing what happens when we discount the surprise value of unexpected events ~> [link]

metropolis

the american dream

the american dream

it's not a recession...it's a robbery!

the money machine

Unbridled capitolism

is a money machine

that will eat you alive!


"The Uprising"

"Capitolism: A Love Story"

fluxxx

irony

can you handle the truth?

full length version

Holla if you G.A.L.A.

Global Awareness Local Action (G.A.L.A.) began in 2006 as a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Wolfeboro, NH with a mission to create a contagious community building model that translates sustainability education into local action that is practical, effective, and fun.

We work to make the necessary tools, services, and information available that empower people to contribute to sustainable community building everyday: socially, environmentally, and economically. We currently serve greater Carroll County and are working on a model that can be replicable throughout New England.

Today, G.A.L.A. is a volunteer-based organization made up of teachers, farmers, business-owners, youth, senior-citizens, parents, students and other folks from many walks of life. G.A.L.A. is the community it seeks to serve. Our interests range from environmental stewardship to human rights, from participatory democracy to holistic healing practices, to living and promoting peace. Together, we strive to live by Gandhi’s words, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

architect of his own demise

end the fed

It is well enough

that people of the nation

do not understand our banking and monetary system,

for if they did,

I believe there would be

a revolution before tomorrow morning.

...Henry Ford...

Suzie Q

swept away

Swept Away (full English title: Swept Away by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August, full Italian title: Travolti da un insolito destino nell'azzurro mare d'agosto) is a 1974 Italian film written and directed by Lina Wertmüller. It is a study in romance and class warfare.

The movie stars Giancarlo Giannini as long-abused crewmember Gennarino Carunchio, toiling on a yacht rented by a wealthy couple, Raffaella Pavone Lanzetti (Mariangela Melato) and Mr. Pavone Lanzetti (Riccardo Salvino). A beautiful, wealthy, spoiled woman, Raffaella takes endless pleasure in verbally abusing Gennarino over nearly everything, but especially about his Communist politics. When an unusual event at sea leaves Gennarino and Raffaella cast away on a deserted Mediterranean island, the tables are finally turned and the Communist sailor suddenly has the upper hand in the relationship.

American film critic Roger Ebert gave the movie four stars, his highest rating.

Many reviewers criticized the film as deeply misogynistic, with its themes of violence against women, subjugation, and rape. Anthony Kaufman, in The Village Voice, called it "possibly the most outrageously misogynist film ever made by a woman." (read more)

anonymous message to wall street

spaceman

Frank Frazetta

the gods of man

Call Me Crazy

"Mental Illness"

crazy mad insane depressed psycho bonkers schizo unbalanced unstable sick loony funny bizarre cooky loosing it not all there confused discombobulated special retarded weird whacko spaz freak mental spacey

There's a stigma.

.......

Is it preventable? Is it curable? How would we know; we never talk about it. Except to disassociate ourselves from it: "My great-uncle was crazy. He killed himself in the 80's. I'm glad I'm not weird like him!"

....

Alright. I'll go first. I am crazy. More than a little crazy, in fact. I was once diagnosed with "Severe Chronic Major Depression." That sounds a tad melodramatic, but I suppose it's a fitting description.

The first time I had thoughts of killing myself was as young as 5 years old. I was a kindergartener contemplating suicide. I am now a well-adjusted young adult realizing that it's okay to be crazy.


......



I am not on medication (although doctors would say I should be). I manage my illness in different ways, such as observing my thoughts and adjusting them toward the positive, practicing yoga and other physical activities, keeping a journal, surrounding myself with loving, positive people, and participating in fulfilling activities I enjoy. If I start to feel really out of control, I use herbal suppliments as a "brain cushion" until I regain my strength.


.......



I still get really down sometimes. It's not environmental.



It's as though a scary monster lives inside my head and I have to keep an eye on him or else he'll try to take over my thoughts. I know he's there and he knows I know, but that doesn't stop him from thirsting for control. The only thing keeping him from gaining it is ME.


.......



For many years I practiced hiding my emotions from people. I was great at it! People often remarked that I was "always happy," even though I was secretly dying inside. Those were benchmarks of my perceived success. If no one else could tell I was sick, then I must be doing a good job of getting better!



What I would like is for more people to own their insanity. If I had known as a child that some of the adults I admired were also dealing with demons in their heads, I might have been more hopeful for my own survival.


........



By sharing my crazy, I am helping other crazies.



People look up to me. I am happy! I smile all the time (and it's real these days). When people find out that I struggle with mental illness, they are shocked.



Then they ask how I deal with it.



Then they tell me about their own insanity, or the insanity of someone they love.



We then share the burden of insanity.



And that makes it a much lighter burden to carry.

the true joy in life