A Real Magazine. News, Writing, Interviews from LadybugBooks.com.

Modern Technological Policing
an interview with Steve Kates, part 1

LF: We are here today with Steve Gates. He is known to most of us as Doctor Sky®. He talks about science and interesting people. Today I am going to ask him about another interesting person that we don't hear very much about on the Dr. Sky show. That is Steve Kates in another role. I know that you have another career and that's what I want to talk about today, Steve. So why don't you start by telling us what that career is.

Steve: I'm glad to be with you and thanks for exploring my other career, for many years here in Arizona probably 17 or so I have been a volunteer in the Maricopa County Sheriff's office in what they call The Mariposa County Sheriff's Special Forces Posse; it's kind of like a reserve deputies program. It doesn't come along with 24/7 law enforcement or arrest powers. Occasionally what you have to do when you complete the training which I have and we go out in the field with the deputy basically assisting in the arrests and pretty much anything else that a normal deputy does in the course of a duty shift. I find it interesting because on other radio shows that I do here and around the country, I do a show called "A Call to Rights" which is basically about our firearms rights and about our constitutional rights which is basically about our rights, about our firearms rights. No matter what a person does, they can volunteer in a hospital… you know to give time — to me, in my personal opinion, this is a good way for me to give back some community service, you know, to the public.

LF: I assume that in the process of doing this work over a period of time you have seen a lot of changes.

Steve: I sure have, I mean it is quite interesting. I want to be consistent with my themes of supporting law enforcement. I am a person who is obviously in that market place. Even though we are considered volunteers, we're unpaid but, you're right Georgia, for the subject today I think I will go into great detail at least from my side on some of the big changes that I see in law enforcement and some of the things that I myself though, speaking as a private citizen, may be concerned about and one of those is the evolution of what I call techno cop and I will say that again the evolution of techno cop. What that is in my opinion is new recruits that cone into law enforcement agencies; I think in my humble opinion they may not have all of the public relations experience that officer O'Donnell… the officers we used to see when we were kids wearing a full uniform coat in hand and the hat with the Billy club and polished shoes. Things have changed dramatically what I refer to it as techno cop is pretty much the law enforcement tools that are now out there for people. Now days it is pretty much like flying a spaceship. They have an MDT (a Main Data Terminal); they've got computers, they've got all kind of state of the art equipment in there to register, you know radar to measure speed. So, let's hope… just like the Air Force, they have everything thing in there but not everything is just looking at a screen. Some of it is flying by the seat of your pants, and I think when you get down to law enforcement there are some concerns I'd like to explore through our conversation today.

LF: Yes, I really want to talk to you about those things, but let's get to the history of this. For instance, when you talk about the officers having access to data bases in their cars and that type of thing, that's an evolution of technology that has been smooth and everyone in society can identify with, but are their differences in policing that may have shown a distinct differences in a time, say after 911 was there a dramatic change in what police thought they wanted in their grasp as far as technological tools, versus before 911?

Steve: We separate like a time line 911, of course events that happened on nine-eleven, with the Patriot Act to follow and our government getting so far up into the lives of the average citizen and where do our civil liberties begin and end, where do we have limitations on the power of the police.

But to answer your question. I don't think 911 was the main turning point; I think technology was moving along a long time ago. And here's where I see it 151; this is just based on my own opinion — the police that I knew, and many of my friends parents' were police officers, had a different paradigm of training in those days, and not necessarily was it the best. But I think this whole things started in the 80's, I think the evolution of radar as the tool to measure your speed as you are driving along, and then, obviously, moving into things like the photo element with patrol car cameras and all that, but the icing on the cake, I think, was naturally 911 because we saw so many law enforcement budgets across the country just skyrocket to acquire all of these other surveillance tools. You know my concern here is… You know I'm not an attorney and I don't want to put the police down, I think in a somewhat free and democratic society there needs to be someone ringing the bell and ringing the clarion call to at least watch where these civil liberties begin and end. I think in my opinion there is just getting to be too much of the techno-cop situation and there is just too much surveillance out there in my opinion today.

LF: I know there is a lot of debate about the legality of surveillance but even traffic cameras. Do you have any familiarity with those specific technologies; do you use them?

Steve: Well Georgia, I have fortunately not been on the photo or radar side of the technology. I know people who own companies like that and I know people who have been involved in the protest movement, the civilian protest movement against all of these types of infringements as it affects the human rights picture. Now if a camera takes the place, supplants the presence of an officer, a man or woman, stopping you then, I think in my opinion, it can be a problem. If the photos system that is out here in Arizona was just taken away, off the freeways — and I think in some cases it made people drive sometimes even faster, or in some cases when the street lights are set up and the cameras are there, I think it is also a possible technology that can increase accidents. I am not really for that kind of enforcement. I think that is just a money-making proposition, in my opinion. I think we should get back to the basics of being faced by our accusers. Again, I go back to the idea of having the police at least having a human side instead of just pushing buttons. But I can obviously see from the other side, the necessity for law enforcement — I am certainly a pro law enforcement person; I'm just talking to you today about some of the tools that are out there. I listen to smarter people than us who tell us to pay attention to what is out there and to what may happen in the future.

LF: They just had a case in Sacramento where a judge said in effect that if someone ran out on their porch and took a picture of someone speeding, it would not be an automatic $470 fine as it is now in Sacramento. On the other hand, we see every day we see every day individuals taking camera or telephone pictures of events that do go to court. I think the difference is that if the individual is taking that image there is someone to back it up, the person on the other side of the camera who can say 'Yes, this took place' and 'Yes, I saw it'.

Steve: I agree with you. I think the human factor needs to be incorporated into this. I spent about four years in the video surveillance world, with the beamed dash camera, the recording camera that's involved in most of the police patrol vehicles today. And I can tell you firsthand, I can see the validity of having a lot of that for traffic stops, because for traffic stops, you've heard about some officers — shame on them — who abuse their powers and go ahead and do things that they shouldn't do. And on the other side of the coin, you know, is there is always something good to protect the officer and also the person who is stopped by the freeway. The whole purpose behind the video surveillance is to give that patrol officer the opportunity to explain him or herself in court. What I like about the video system is that there is no way an officer can then go back after the traffic stop and if that officer, if he or she got excited either against the citizen or was outside the guidelines of legality they couldn't go back and erase that part of the tape. There is no way that you can do that. They maintain what's called in the industry the "chain of custody", in other words that information has to be pure and pristine. It has to go from the patrol car, downloaded to a secure computer; the evidence cannot be tampered with. The chain of custody is important. It goes right from the patrol officer to an officer or a lieutenant, stored in a computer locked… and again, there is no ability to erase that or to amend it. Let's say, then that information is given to a chief of police or somebody who's in command to decide what to do with that. That's for a patrol officer to have the camera clearly for the protection of the citizen. For the patrol officer to do something stupid there's the video, you know, whatever the option is… They could not even record it at all and do whatever they wanted.

LF: OK, let's expand this out a little bit, because we are hearing right now an awful lot about drones being used for surveillance for citizens in the United States. Have you seen any, heard of any uses of drones within the United States?

Steve: I've heard that this is something that's coming. I mean I can't cite a specific example, but in my own city here in Arizona I can tell you that I've heard and read about this, that they are looking to have these little UAVs, the unmanned vehicles, flying around to "assist law enforcement" in not only keeping the peace but also to surveil persons of interest. And I don't really get that. I mean, this is not supposed to be a battleground here. I always thought that law enforcement, you know in a patrol capacity, or swat if necessary, that they have enough officers with enough departments that I think they should at least be able to handle these types of situations. But I would be concerned about that, again, too. I mean, I would be one of those who would protest the fact that I don't believe that in any neighborhood we need that kind of surveillance. Now, if we had a location similar to like the Waco situation, I could understand that there is now an identifiable piece of property, identifiable people there that we might want to continue to keep surveillance on that particular situation because that's an active law enforcement situation. It might even be, obviously, a crime situation. But for the average person walking their dog down the street, there are other technologies that can reportedly see through walls and I find that to be very offensive.

LF: I agree with that and I can see your point that there are rare circumstances where it might be useful to have a very limited kind of surveillance that a drone might be useful for. Of course, with these kinds of things we always run into the issue of regulating them.

Steve: Absolutely.

LF: Another element in new technologies is non-lethal technology. Do you want to explain what that is and what's happening?

Steve: For years police departments have been trained in the use of pepper spray, Oleoresin Capsicum, which is, basically, a powerful , on steroids cyan pepper type of spray. It is intrinsically a non-lethal device and I think it's fantastic. I've been an instructor for one of the companies out there, Saber, and I teach classes to young women and young men, college, high school, anyone who's interested who might not want to carry a firearm, thus the topic of less lethal. I still think it's important for people to understand how to deploy that, because it's not a comical situation if you have a wind blowing into your face and you're shooting pepper spray across at someone. It is not good for you or for controlling the criminal because you are probably not getting the dose of pepper spray to that person that you would want to have.

The other tool that's on the duty belt of probably all major police departments in the United States and security departments is the TASER, which is the electronic security device I try firsthand and I have been trained in it. TASER stands for Thomas A. Smith Electric Rifle. A lot of people don't realize what the acronym stands for but, basically, it's a "non-lethal device". It has different cartridges that shoot at different distances, and in law enforcement mode if you can not kill the perpetrator who is not trying to kill you, in other words if you don't have to deploy deadly force, it is always a great option. But I have also heard certain circumstances before where a bad mixture of pepper spray and a TASing incident have caused a perpetrator to catch on fire so now we have certain chemicals in the pepper spray to make them non-flammable.

Again these, the pepper spray device, also the can, and the TASER, are what we consider some of the most non-lethal devices that I think give officers an option in that paradigm of what we call the use of deadly force. A lot of police forces have different steps in their policy, their official policy that go something like this: Basically, the first thing the police officer needs to know is the order in defending themselves when the justification for force is present. Normally when a person sees a police officer's uniform and he tells that person to put their hands up, usually that person is smart enough to stop or obey the commands. There is verbal, "Police, don't move", and that person of course should cooperate, but not everybody does. Then it might be "light hands" or "strong hands" if the officer is forced to repel an attack or push somebody away. And then it gets very interesting, Georgia, because it's not always this simple. It could go from zero to full deadly force, meaning the police officer is being attacked violently with a knife or a gun and they have to respond, or it could be something where the person is, let's just say deaf, and they cannot understand, you know, what you and I are discussing now about what to do when the police tell them to do something. It can go from soft hands or hard hands, it could go to mechanical restraints, say handcuffs.

It could go to baton, which in police jargon is known as the asp, the ASP baton, the all expandable baton. Believe me, if that is deployed with the proper technique on a person it usually stops the fight pretty quick. And then it moves up the line, not necessarily in that order. TASERS could be deployed and then pepper spray and things of that type, the less lethal items. But then it could go, again, strictly to deadly force, which is to shoot that perpetrator to protect the police officer's life, if the person is threatening that officer with deadly force.

LF: We've been talking about perpetrators and police, as in one-to-one, but I don't think we can talk about modern policing… and when you were mentioning the ASP, a very interesting acronym on that one — when you mentioned that I was picturing the U.C. Davis demonstration recently and a photo of the police pushing a group of students back with the batons. There was a very small Asian woman right in the front of the line was pushed and pushed and pushed by this police officer until she fell back into the crowd and, had the crowd not been as controlled as they were, she might have been trampled to death.

Steve: That's a bad place for anybody to be in. It's a bad place for anyone including the police to be in because you know don't know what they will do. You're there to protect the line. They're there to make sure that nobody gets across that line and they will utilize as many non-lethal products as they can. But let's go back to a situation where, let's say, someone in the crowd would be starting to shoot at the police officers, well, then the whole thing would change and naturally the police would do what they can to protect themselves and the lives of other innocent people in that area.

LF: Well, that type of demonstration has not been seen in the United States for a very long time. We do see flash-bang grenades and other assault types of weapons in police departments being used against groups of people. How has this evolved? They didn't use flash-bang grenades at Kent State — not everyone will remember that, but it was in the nineteen sixties, an antiwar protest where the police overreacted and killed four students — but there were no flash grenades involved; there were no what we today would consider assault weapons involved. So, how did police go from basic guns and rifles and batons to the kind of robo-cop kind of padding and helmets and weapons and stuff we see now?

Read the answer to this and the complete second half of this interview next month in LadybugFlights.

Steve Kates in his other role as Dr. Sky® talks to guests about science and celebrity on TeenTalkNetwork.com and LadybugLive.com.

Read this feature from past issues.

The Extra Day

February was a long month full of unexpected home repairs and changes. It was with an initial feeling of dread that I was reminded of the Leap Year extra day.

My New Year's resolutions had gone out the window almost immediately. With the beginning of a holy time in the church, I tried to find renewal without success. The start of the Lenten season began with the garage door falling on my car and the refrigerator leaking through to the basement. I wasn't alone as a nearby neighbor experienced a similar water leak. The small bit of sunshine in the situation came from that neighbor and others who helped me find trustworthy repairmen immediately.

I didn't want another day to continue what turned into a long month. However, as I read the daily news, I found there were many people looking forward to the extra day. Women due near the 29th were choosing to be induced so their child would have the special distinction of being born with the unique birthday. Single women planned to take advantage of asking men to marry them.

As I surveyed the month that lay behind the upcoming 29th, I still wasn't convinced that it was a day worth celebrating. I longed for March to begin as a fresh start. The month progressed independent of my funk. The news changed. I read of car accidents involving children, homes burning to the ground and an overall sadness throughout the world. A few days before the month ended, a senseless shooting at a school finally shocked me to my senses. My everyday disasters were just that: disasters and temporary ones at that. The end of February for so many other families was tragic in a permanent way. My mind turned to the fact that the extra day was one that they would probably like to "leap" over. It finally struck me that I should be celebrating the day.

Still in the midst of Lent, I made a promise to myself that I would use the day for a new start. Odd spring-like weather in February gave me 70 degree temperatures and sunshine. The kids are enjoying time outside in light jackets. Instead of focusing on the destruction in the kitchen, we have enjoyed special meals out. For relaxation, the bathtub has become an oasis away from the dust and debris. I have kissed and hugged and cuddle with the kids more often because they are here with me. Two families in Ohio lost their precious children. All the trivial resolutions and desire for a clean kitchen went out the window as I spent our extra day of February focusing on what was really important.

As children, we learn that March comes in like a lion. I have learned through a difficult February that this upcoming March offers the strength of a lion. The last wind of February's extra day became my beacon to start the year afresh. While March still holds the remnants of January and February 's disasters and changes, I am moving forward with the right focus. February 29th took on its own special meaning this year. It is not often we get a do-over, make-up day. Instead of leaping over Leap Wednesday, I hugged the kids a little tighter. I ordered them a milkshake and read an extra chapter before bed. All the while, I look forward to March and all that it has to offer.

Read this feature from past issues.

Our guest columnist this month is Barbara Berger, author of Fast Food for the Souland other books.

Was it good or bad?

It is truly liberating to realize that there is no connection between an event and your reaction to the event. No connection whatsoever. Most people are so identified with their thoughts that they believe the emotions they experience when something happens means that the emotion is inherent in the event itself. So they think for example that death is sad, illness is terrible, and that divorce is tragic. But death is only death, illness is only illness, and divorce is only divorce. There is no emotion inherent in any of these events. The emotion is something we attach to the event and it arises as a result of our interpretation of the event. This emotion is not inherent in the event but is always the result of our opinion or interpretation of what's happening.

In reality, death could turn out to be the greatest adventure of all, illness could be the most transformational experience in our entire life, and - trust me on this one - divorce may be the greatest liberation (at least that was my experience)!

You can test this for yourself. Take an event and then watch how differently people react to the event. Let's take the volcanic ash from the Island volcano in April 2010 that caused airports to close down all over Europe for many days. Was this a blessing or a curse? Well from the reports I've heard, it all depended on who you are and where you were. In other words, it all depended on your story, on your interpretation of the event and not on the event itself. So for many people it was a hassle because they were stranded for days at airports. But for others, it was a wonderful blessing, an unexpected gift! I personally know of three concrete examples of friends who just loved the volcanic ash. One was the couple from London who was visiting my youngest son and his family in San Francisco. They could not fly back to London after 10 days as planned so they had an extended vacation and the airlines paid! Another was a friend who was on holiday in Egypt - he said he got five extra days at a 5-star hotel and even though his boss wasn't happy, there was nothing anyone could do about it! And the third was a woman I know who lives in Oregon who was visiting her dying sister in Uppsala, Sweden - and since she couldn't fly home she got to be with her beloved sister right up to the end. So was it good or bad?

Only a thought in your mind

So we discover that all our experiences are just thoughts in our minds. When we resist what is by telling ourselves that things shouldn't be the way they are, we make ourselves feel bad. That's really all there is to it. Events both inner and outer are just that-they are events. But it is our interpretations of these inner and outer events that make us feel good or bad, happy or sad.

Most of us are unaware that we are doing this when things happen. We don't realize that something happens and then we immediately click into our interpretations of events or our stories, which are often dire predictions based on past conditioning and beliefs about life that we've never questioned. And that's where the fight with reality begins-and all the anguish that goes with it.

Barbara Berger is the internationally known, best-selling author of Fast Food for the Soul (published in 30 languages), Are You Happy Now? and The Awakening Human Being - A Guide to the Power of Mind which was just released in the US and the UK. The book can be ordered on Amazon.com. Find out more about Barbara Berger.

Read this feature from past issues.

Put the kibosh on greed

The current financial and economic downturn in our country forces us to deal with new concerns for our children. We hear that greed was the virus that contributed to the economic calamity—greed and excessive materialism. So how will such an atmosphere affect our children? And how, in this atmosphere, can we preserve our once-cherished values for them?

Back in the old days, when I was growing up, the marketplace had far fewer choices. The shelves in the little grocery store on the corner held but a handful of cereal choices, flakes made from corn, rice that made sounds in the milk, oatmeal, and a few others. Now I go to the supermarket and I’m overwhelmed by the seemingly endless number of choices. Too many for my weary brain. Sure, choices are good, but…

Television advertising has us—and certainly our children—panting for the next new thing, be it video games or automobiles, cereal or medication, electronics or fads in clothing. And, wherever we go, we hear the daily mantra, “I-must-have-it.”

All this leaves us in a state of constant dissatisfaction with what we have, because what we have is no longer good enough, or best, or up-to-date.

Learn From This

What lessons can we find in this focus on materialism that we can teach our children? How can we explain the difference between desire and need? And how can we let them know that the latest trend is only a temporary pleasure? How can we give our children lasting satisfactions so that the latest fad in toys or clothes will pale in comparison?

Here’s a list to consider:

Building a relationship based on mutual respect is physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually satisfying, and lasting, while the joy of another toy or gadget is short-lived. Respected children develop self-respect and self-respect is their best defense against victimization.

Mutual acceptance is one of the building blocks of respect. When you accept your children just as they are, they learn to accept you just as you are. It is such a wonderful comfort! Missing is the anger or disappointment or resentment one feels when the other person is not ideal. Accepting your children unconditionally enables them to accept themselves just as they are.

Having mutual compassion nurtures the soul; it uplifts and warms the spirit. It is the training ground for relationships throughout the child’s lifetime. Nothing is more affirming than mutual appreciation. All of us, parents and children, yearn to be appreciated by others for who we are. And the child learns to appreciate his and her own unique self.

Parents with a generous spirit will stand back and let their children take the stage and let them shine. This is not to say that parents should sacrifice their own gifts and talents. Rather, it means that children need as much room to develop their interests and abilities and talents without being overshadowed. A strong bond with each member of the family is the best defense against the undesirable outside influences on children—such as drugs, cults, reckless sex, and dangerous behaviors. It engenders loyalty to the family and to the values of the family.

No toy, no gadget, no electronic device can compare to the satisfaction that comes when parents and children take joy in each other. Though parenthood is a serious task, we need not take ourselves too seriously. Sharing laughter with children lightens the load of the stressful days and softens the harsh edges of the difficulties we encounter in our lives.

When children and parents share values, they validate one another. We want our children to value what we value, which is not the same as trying to make them carbon copies of ourselves. But we hope that they share our values of integrity and honesty and generosity.

Abiding love is the cement of our relationship with our children. With abiding love, children have no fear of criticism, judgments, or disapproval, which enables them to thrive and become fully who they are meant to be. Abiding love is unconditional; it continually nurtures and supports. It embraces the whole child and causes you to celebrate his and her presence in your life.

Molly Koch is reprinted here with permission from Baltimore's Child Magazine. You can also find Molly at mollybkoch.com and keeptheconnection.org. Contact Molly with questions, comments or suggestions for this topic.

Read this feature from past issues.

Self Worth and Physical Ailments

Having physical ailments such as recurring headaches, anxiety, ulcers, back aches, and so on can be a challenge to one's self esteem. It's like something must be wrong with you or maybe you're falling short in God's eye, otherwise you wouldn't be having these aches and pains. And I'm not just saying an ache or pain that you can slough off. No, I'm talking about headaches or migraines so bad that you want to get rid of your head; stomach pain so bad that you double over; anxiety so bad that you can't breathe; backaches so bad that you can't walk.

One definition of self worth is knowing yourself so intimately that regardless of what happens to you, you are never shaken as to who you are on the inside.

If you have these tremendous physical pains and anguish on the outside, how do you manage to get to that level of self knowing as to who you are on the inside?

First it's important to notice the disappointing emotions accompanying the bouts of pain and anguish. Emotions of frustration, depression, anguish, upset, uncertainty, and so on.

Personally I experienced anguishing pain from a swollen knee as a result of Lyme disease. The misery, pain, and anguish many of us go through with headaches, ulcers, backaches, anxiety, fibromyalgia, arthritis, and others such as Lyme disease is nearly unbearable. Feeling good about yourself is really a challenge when you're in pain and feeling lousy.

What I did was to constantly remind myself that despite the pain and agony (which at that time I had no idea it was connected to Lyme disease) that I was depressed and that I disliked feeling depressed.

In other words I did not make my self wrong for feeling depressed. I acknowledged it and chose to feel the crummy emotion. It's not easy to feel depressed. It's easier to try to avoid it or pretend it's not there which is guaranteed to keep you there in depression. Of course after the pain subsides the depression will lift and then there's the uncertainty as to how long the pain and agony will stay away.

It's like you are not in control of your life and the truth is you're not. In fact that's the first thing you have to let go. When you try to control something, you give power to it over you. The best of the stress strategies is to stop trying to control and instead flow with life.

Building self esteem is to choose to like yourself in the midst of pain and depression and command your brain to somehow learn, profit, overcome, and or let go.

When you do this two things happen:

For me I was fortunate to be led to an answer for inflammation-a glutathione accelerator. The good news is that it works for any disease complicated with inflammation and it turns out that every disease is complicated by inflammation. In fact muscle sprains are also aggravated by inflammation. The boost of glutathione reduced my inflammation and the unbearable pain went away-no more challenge to my self worth from physical pain.

But how about the migraine, excruciating painful muscle headache, ulcers, and so on? They are direct responses to stress invoked by the fight or flight system. Fortunately there are stress strategies to learn to minimize or avoid the pain and agony. The stress strategies are in the form of muscle relaxation exercises, vascular relaxation exercises, breathing exercises, and so on to promote awareness.

Awareness is the key. Headaches, migraines, stomach pain from ulcers, and so on occur because we are unaware of our physical reactions to stress. In some situations biofeedback is useful to make it easier to determine the difference between feeling degrees of tension or relaxation. Other stress strategies are things like self hypnosis and meditation.

In summary, one can rise above pains and agony to improve and build self worth by acknowledging the disappointing emotions, feeling them, instructing your brain to find a solution, and choosing to like you in spite of the pain and agony so that regardless of what happens to you, you are never shaken as to who you are on the inside.

Richard Kuhns. NGH certified has self help mp3 downloads for personal change and personal growth at http://www.DstressDoc.com find a sense of self worth at http://www.SelfEsteemCure.com and SelfEsteemCure.com for weight loss.

Read this feature from past issues.

THIS MONTH:

Poetry Corner

This is a "legacy poem" from our March 2000 issue — and very appropriate when our rights are being abridged by changes to the laws while we have no ERA to protect us.

	
	
Canvassing for Equal Rights in Massachusetts, 1981

1.
Screen door.
What keeps anyone
safe in these houses?

Houseflies come and go
as they please.
The dog sleeps on the welcome mat.
You step carefully over
a pair of sneakers flung on the porch.

In the kitchen, there is an argument
that has been going on at intervals
over years. An occasional raised voice
reaches you. You have no idea
how long it's been since the last 
caller.

The latch is broken, 
Someone has just left, or someone
has just gone in.

2.
June- Peabody
Crossing wide lawns, late
evening, I slip
from house to house
in gates and out
back fences
to the next darkened yard
and the next.
A woman looks out
from her doorway,
exhaling
smoke.

3.
Peabody, continued.

I know Forenza.
Everyone on Forenza
is anti-E.R.A.

or anti sudden visitors
with clipboards
asking for money
and talking fast
in the gritty hours
of hot afternoons.

Meade and Grant were worse:
the no's cracked like fly swats
every door
    Look, we got trouble here
	you want money
	for what?
	
	well, I'm not
	for it.
	
And  on Lake:

	I don't sign
	at the door
	and anyway
	we're having supper
	
and payday's tomorrow
and my husband's out of town
and I'm out of work
and you got something, maybe, I can read?

and oh, this is for the wives
and I guess I'm for equal rights all right
but I really don't think much about it
well, all right I'll sign but I can't give you money
or would a dollar be enough

I expected better
from Lindauer
but nobody was home the whole street
except the kids and some dogs.

Peabody (cont'd)

On Winona, my luck
turned. A woman on a ladder
scraping away old paint
called down

	I own this house
	with Nancy. 
	We gutted the whole
	inside ourselves
	and are repairing
	the roof.
	
    The men in the neighborhood
    say 'watch yourselves up there
    —that's a hard job'
    They're not accustomed
    to us women on ladders
 
    this being a pretty
    traditional town."

She scrambled down to write me
a twenty dollar check.
I had no problems after that,
even though I'd left my street map
in her yard.
I wound my way
down Winona at dusk
past the train tracks
and the lake
collected over a hundred
in that last hour alone

my last night
in Peabody.

4.
Groton

Dropped off
at a roadside
near woods and ponds
full of green
July,

I watch
the car pull away
tires grinding on gravel.

Alone, at the top
of a hill
I begin

where two peacocks
cast blue shadows
on a rust red pickup truck.

A farmhouse there, 
ramshackle, 
no one home

Continue downhill 
on St. Martin Road, tramp
two miles of dust and weeds
the steamy hum of cicadas

till I come to
the first house.
Face cracked
in a smile
old woman
comes  to the door.

"oh
I am too old
to care
'bout  politics
but I hope
we see you
again, dearie."


What
do you
want

I'm old
I'm blind
I can't
come to the door


I like my life
it's been
a good one

those mannish women
don't want the men
to open doors

and give up their seats
on the bus 
for me


my wife
she don't want
to come to
the door

says
she's not
innerested
in equal
rights

and that's
her
free
choice

honey


Equal rights?
damned if I pay
him  alimony

that's what
you people want

oh yes it is


Equal rights?

I enjoy being a lady
don't want to give it up
and why should I?


Maybe my daughter's
for equal rights

she goes in
for that
type of thing

but she don't
live here


Equal rights?

let me 

get

my wife


equal rights—
wait she's in
the kitchen

hey you
wanna talk
to this gal
at the door

'bout 
womens' 
rights

no
she's 
busy


the women
are taking
the mens
jobs away

equal pay's all right
I guess
if
they can do the job

but they don't want 
to go up on ladders

then they get pregnant
and quit on you


I'm for some
of the E.R.A.

but I think those women
have gone too far.


I sleep, and dream
of a doorstep
again

the rattle of my voice
in the wind

of doors opening and
shutting
again

I am not here
to dream

there is something
I came for.

Rivkah Lapidus
"I live in Somerville, Maine and am the mother of two girls.I am at work on a doctoral dissertation in clinical psychology, and am also a visual artist. These poems commemorate a particular phase of my life. (And the ERA never did pass)."

Read this feature from past issues.

Why God When Life Falls Apart?

Inevitably when hell breaks loose as with a broken relationship, we turn to God. There are dozens of questions. Why did God let this happen to us? Why me God? Did we forsake God and this is his payback? Is he testing our faith? Doesn't he care about me? Did the devil take over my spouse? Is it because I sinned? Did I not attend church enough? Why am I forsaken? What does God want me to learn about all this?

We look to God as if he were an entity-a deity who is watching over us and maybe has some vested interest in what happens to us. Somehow he keeps score and makes things happen for a reason.

This view point can literally drive one crazy. Yet, it's the predominate belief of most religions. Christians are told of the gates guarded by Saint Peter who is the keeper of the keys to the pearly gates leading to the kingdom of God. Sometime after you die, there's judgment day and those not fit to enter the pearly gates of heaven are denied entrance and are sent to hell.

Religion is totally based on interpretation respective scriptures written in languages no longer spoken. The interpretation of these scriptures results in the respective bibles which is in large about how to live the golden rule-do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The good books tell you how to live life in preparation for this one judgment day to determine your after life.

Everyone agrees that God created every universe and all that is. Even though nothing is mentioned about the science that went into the creating of all universes, it would be apparent that God knows everything there is to know about, for instance, mathematics. God would also know everything about chemistry, physics, biology, and probability.

In fact rather than God being some "all knowing being" as maybe you've seen in a early Star Trek episode, God is the laws of physics, mathematics, probability, biology and chemistry. In fact what we define as five laws is just one law of the universe--the Law of Nature.

Remember when the scriptures were written, man knew very little about any of these sciences. And the scriptures were written by man who at the time was consumed with the events of history which at that time were severely void of any fair democratic governments. In fact the world was littered with mostly conquerors and monarchs who abused their subjects.

The laws of mathematics, probability, biology, physics, and chemistry (the Laws of Nature) is God and every living and non living thing is the manifestation of these laws. Everything is God. You and I are the manifestation of God. You and I are God. The earth worm, mosquito, red bird, snake, tree, amoeba, grass, bacterium, rock, dirt, monkey, lion, dinosaur, Morgellons skin parasites, and so on are also God. What we are and everything we may become is God. The Laws of Nature enable biological entities to evolve.

When we understand the Laws of Nature, we'll understand the reality of angels, spirit world, after life, faith healing, mental telepathy, and so on.

Every living and non living thing has an energy or energies as there is a relationship between mass and energy which only in the last one hundred years have we begun to understand.

As our world evolved the law of probability first determined that dinosaurs evolved. And later probability determined that an asteroid would collide with the earth which would dramatically change the climate-the climate necessary to sustain dinosaurs. Probability again came into play to evolve humans from lower life forms.

Does God care what happens to each of us? Absolutely, you care (you are God), many who love you care (they are God) and often times those who we don't even know care (they are God too). But through your understanding the Laws of Nature, you create your own destiny and learn how to build self worth to deal with personal crisis or to build a personal change and personal improvement plan.

Why does an innocent child drown in the back yard swimming pool? Why is the innocent child born with cancer? Why was the fetus lost before it was born? How do those who feel that everything happens for a reason explain this? So the parents may come closer together? Because God called the child to heaven? The bottom line is that the jaw is left hanging searching for an explanation until you look at God as the Laws of Nature.

If you or I, or a child (each God) defies the laws of physics (gravity) the probability is that disaster may result as in a drowning. If you or I, or a child (each God) defies the laws of biology and chemistry, the probability is that cancer of the fetus might be the result or there's a probability that the fetus may never be born, or any number of issues.

The more we know about the Laws of Nature (God) (which governs everything) the longer we'll live and the healthier we'll be. Nevertheless there's the law of probability which is always looming and about which sometimes we can do little as we just might be for no particular reason at the wrong place at the wrong time.

What about the killer earth quakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and the tsunamis? They too are the manifestations of the Laws of Nature and likewise part of God. They exist for no purpose. They just are as our planet evolves. Likewise there's a probability that there is an asteroid that may hit our planet and destroy our environment (assuming our green house habits don't destroy it first). It has no purpose.

In summary, why God when life falls apart? That's like asking, Why you? Yes, in the midst of crisis, who do you turn to? Answer: You turn to you (God) to connect with infinite wisdom and knowledge to find a greater good from disaster.

Read this feature from past issues.

Missing from the Future

"One of the most egregious gaps is the number of missing women," said Jeni Klugman, director of gender and development at the World Bank, the Washington-based international organization that works with 187 member countries to reduce poverty and provide loans and assistance to stimulate development. "About 3.9 million women are lost each year because of the excess deaths of girls and women relative to men in low and middle income countries."

About two-fifths of girls are never born because of preferences for sons in China and India. One-sixth die in early childhood and over one-third die in their reproductive years.

"Unfortunately, the number of girls who die in early childhood is growing in sub-Sahara Africa," Klugman said. The same was true of child-bearing-age women in countries hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

from womensEnews.com

If you know of a woman who will no longer grace our future because of domestic violence, please send us her story, or your own.

Get information on Domestic violence and violence against women at LadybugBooks.com

We invite any of you to contribute on this subject. We feel it is important to continue the discussion of domestic violence.

Read this feature from past issues.

We are looking for your stories remembering women's history. Send in your story and we will publish it.

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Women Exceptional Women are Our History and Our Future:

Women

2012 National Women’s History Month Theme:
Women’s Education – Women’s Empowerment

Visit NWHP.org

Although women now outnumber men in American colleges nationwide, the reversal of the gender gap is a very recent phenomenon. The fight to learn was a valiant struggle waged by many tenacious women—across years and across cultures—in our country. After the American Revolution, the notion of education as a safeguard for democracy created opportunities for girls to gain a basic education—based largely on the premise that, as mothers, they would nurture not only the bodies but also the minds of (male) citizens and leaders. The concept that educating women meant educating mothers endured in America for many years, at all levels of education.

Pioneers of secondary education for young women faced arguments from physicians and other “experts” who claimed either that females were incapable of intellectual development equal to men, or that they would be harmed by striving for it. Women’s supposed intellectual and moral weakness was also used to argue against coeducation, which would surely be an assault on purity and femininity. Emma Willard, in her 1819 Plan for Improving Female Education, noted with derision the focus of women’s “education” on fostering the display of youth and beauty, and asserted that women are “the companions, not the satellites of men”—“primary existences” whose education must prepare them to be full partners in life’s journey.

While Harvard, the first college chartered in America, was founded in 1636, it would be almost two centuries before the founding of the first college to admit women—Oberlin, which was chartered in 1833. And even as “coeducation” grew, women’s courses of study were often different from men’s, and women’s role models were few, as most faculty members were male. Harvard itself opened its “Annex” (Radcliffe) for women in 1879 rather than admit women to the men’s college—and single-sex education remained the elite norm in the U.S. until the early 1970s. As coeducation took hold in the Ivy League, the number of women’s colleges decreased steadily; those that remain still answer the need of young women to find their voices, and today’s women’s colleges enroll a far more diverse cross-section of the country than did the original Seven Sisters.

The equal opportunity to learn, taken for granted by most young women today, owes much to Title IX of the Education Codes of the Higher Education Act Amendments. This legislation, passed in 1972 and enacted in 1977, prohibited gender discrimination by federally funded institutions. It has become the primary tool for women's fuller participation in all aspects of education from scholarships, to facilities, to classes formerly closed to women. Indeed, it transformed the educational landscape of the United States within the span of a generation.

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News to Follow

Women

Opposition to female circumcision is growing in Africa
An estimated 8,000 communities across Africa have banned or publicly declared opposition to female circumcision, according to the United Nations, whose agencies spent more than $6.1 million in 2011 to combat the practice, which involves cutting away all or part of female genitalia. A map shows the frequency of the procedure across Africa. Los Angeles Times/World Now blog

Indian student helps others resist child marriage
Anjali Burman, a 21-year-old resident of the remote Indian village of Malda, has taken up the fight against child marriage, forming a small community group that works to prevent the forced marriages of girls under the age of 18. The youngster faced the prospect of marriage at the age of 15 and now helps others through raising awareness and bringing efforts to stop cases to officials. The Indian Express (New Delhi)

Tutu speaks out against child marriage
Child marriage and other forms of discrimination against women are holding back development in India, where nearly half of women between the ages of 20 and 24 were married before the legal age of 18, said Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and chairman of The Elders, a group dedicated to addressing humanitarian issues. "It's been shown that where child marriage is in vogue, 6 of the 8 Millennium Development Goals, you can forget about," Tutu said. Reuters

USAID shifts procurement policy
For the first time, the United States Agency for International Development may contract with companies in the developing world to supply most goods and services, reversing the long-standing practice of sourcing supplies from U.S. companies. "We want to work with a broader range of partners and increase competition," said Lisa Gomer, who is leading reform to procurement policies at the world's largest aid donor. The Guardian (London)

Sister Fa raps against female circumcision
Sister Fa, a Senegalese hip-hop artist, spoke out Monday against female circumcision to mark the UN International Day of Zero Tolerance of Female Genital Mutilation. "I am just trying to speak for the many women who don't have an opportunity to raise their own voices. I am giving them a voice through my music," said the rapper, who was subjected to the widespread practice as a girl. The Guardian (London)/Sarah Boseley's Global Health blog

Contraception, not prohibition, stops abortions
Global evidence shows that the best way to reduce the abortion rate is to provide better access to contraceptives, not to make abortions illegal, writes Charles Kenny, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. "Four-fifths of unintended pregnancies in the developing world occur among mothers who lack access to modern contraception," he writes. ForeignPolicy.com

Survey charts rise in child malnutrition
Skyrocketing food prices have made milk, vegetables and meat out of reach for families in India, Bangladesh, Peru, Pakistan and Nigeria, putting 500 million children at risk of malnutrition that will stunt their physical and mental growth over the next 15 years, according to a survey by the international charity Save the Children. The report states that malnutrition is a contributing factor in the deaths of 2.6 million children every year. BBC

Million Moms mix-up sheds light on maternal care
Some public confusion over the One Million Moms campaign, which criticized J.C. Penney for appointing Ellen Degeneres as its spokeswoman, and the Million Moms Challenge, a global health initiative founded by the United Nations Foundation, ABC News and other groups, has led to a surge in new interest and support for the group. The Million Moms Challenge promotes maternal and child health. The Huffington Post

At WomensEnews Practical advice on hiring women to the high-paying jobs in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) is offered in a 50-page study by the Anita Borg Institute.

World News

New sanctions bite into everyday life in Iran
The steady tightening of sanctions against Iran has truly begun to bite among Iran's middle class as the West ratchets up pressures on the country to end its nuclear program. The U.S. on Monday introduced a new slate of sanctions aimed at freezing all property owned in the U.S. by Iran and its Central Bank. The New York Times (tiered subscription model)

UNCTAD: Global "new deal" could remedy financial crises
A report published Tuesday by the UN Conference on Trade and Development advocates reform of the global financial system as the main theme of the upcoming UNCTAD XIII conference in Doha, Qatar. A so-called "global new deal" based on the U.S. response to its Great Depression in the 1930s -- which favored public investments in energy, agriculture and social infrastructure, and strong regulation of financial and labor markets -- could correct practices that lead to the global financial crisis. The Guardian (London)

Media and the Internet

Enough, Already: The SOPA Debate Ignores How Much Copyright Protection We Already Have
When it comes to copyright enforcement, American content companies are already armed to the teeth, yet they persist in using secretly negotiated trade agreements to further their agenda. Margot Kaminski, The Atlantic

FCC Revises Lifeline Subsidy Program, Savings to Fund Low-Income Broadband Pilot Test
Under Chairman Julius Genachowski, the FCC has been driving hard for the expansion of broadband into rural America. And it just announced cost-saving changes to its Lifeline subsidy program that will help fund a new test program to bring broadband to low-income households. Bryan Bishop, The Verge

The SOPA/PIPA Money Trail
A Media Matters report showed that in the run-up to Jan. 18, when Wikipedia, Google, Reddit and other big sites joined millions of Internet users in one of the biggest online protests to date, only CNN mentioned SOPA and/or PIPA in its nightly news coverage. Now another Media Matters report shows how much these corporations spent on lobbying in the fourth quarter of 2011 -- just as the SOPA/PIPA fight was heating up. Josh Levy, SavetheInternet.com

Television Broadcasters May Be Big Winners This Election Year
In 2008, during a presidential election year, campaigns spent $1.5 billion on political advertising on television. Two years later, they spent $2 billion -- and more than 80 percent of that amount went to local TV stations. Projections on how politicians and political groups will spend on TV advertising in 2012 vary, but it could go as high as $2.6 billion. Peter Downs, Commercial Appeal

Mignon Clyburn: When a Daughter Votes Her Mind
Mignon Clyburn -- the daughter of a prominent South Carolina Democrat -- is arguably the most important member of the FCC now that she holds the sway vote on the panel of three as the Senate holds up two nominations indefinitely. But she doesn't always toe the party -- or family -- line. Kim Hart, Politico

Environment

Studies give the best look yet at frozen regions
A new study has charted the worldwide glacier and ice cap melt over the past eight years, which has averaged about 150 billion tons of ice annually -- or enough to cause sea levels to rise at an average of four-tenths of a millimeter each year. Scientists were stunned by the results of another study that showed virtually no meltwater from the Himalayas over the past decade. The Guardian (London)

UN reports on soil depletion, aging reactors
A report released Monday by the UN Environmental Programme spotlights the effects of unsustainable land-use, and the problems associated with safely decommissioning aging nuclear reactors, as among the most critical environmental issues facing the world today. Agricultural methods that contribute to soil erosion contribute significantly to global warming, according to the Year Book 2012. AlertNet/Reuters

U.S.-led push to cut soot and exhaust lifts climate hopes
A group of five countries spearheaded by the U.S. aims to cut short-lived pollutants -- such as methane, soot and hydrofluorocarbons -- in an effort to slow global warming, and reduce lung and heart disease. Reducing levels of so-called black carbon, which are accountable for up to 40% of global warming, would also reduce global temperatures by 0.5 degrees Celsius by 2050, scientists say. The Washington Post

New global partnership to protect world's oceans
The World Bank today christened the Global Partnership for Oceans, a new coalition aimed at raising $1.5 billion to double protected areas in the world's oceans, and rebuild fish stocks, to help counteract overfishing, habitat loss and environmental degradation. "Send out the S-O-S: We need to Save Our Seas," said World Bank President Robert Zoellick. The Guardian (London)

Read this feature from past issues.

Filing Tax Returns After Bankruptcy, Debt Restructuring, Or Foreclosure

Side note: An update on the HARP program

Foreclosure

Cancellation of Debt

Can a lender attempt to collect after issuing 1099C

Credit Card Debt

Consequences of settling to pay less than owed

IRS Form 982

What if you do not receive a form 1099-C?

The HAARP program

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Fees

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