| you are darkviolet #9400D3 |
Your dominant hues are blue and magenta. You're the one who goes to all the parties but doesn't quite fit in at every one… you know what you want, but are afraid of what the world might think of it. You're a little different and that's okay with them, and if you're smart it's okay with you too. Your saturation level is very high – you are all about getting things done. The world may think you work too hard but you have a lot to show for it, and it keeps you going. You shouldn't be afraid to lead people, because if you're doing it, it'll be done right. Your outlook on life is brighter than most people's. You like the idea of influencing things for the better and find hope in situations where others might give up. You're not exactly a bouncy sunshine but things in your world generally look up. |
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Pentagon may be spying on anti-war activists – NBC
Wow…. it's depressing to see our country going this way.
Pentagon may be spying on anti-war activists
Pentagon may be spying on anti-war activists – NBC
Reuters
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon has a secret database that indicates the U.S. military may be collecting information on Americans who oppose the Iraq war and may be also monitoring peace demonstrations, NBC reported on Tuesday.
The database, obtained by the network, lists 1,500 “suspicious incidents” across the United States over a 10-month period and includes four dozen anti-war meetings or protests, some aimed at military recruiting, NBC's Nightly News said.
The network said the document was the first inside look at how the Pentagon has stepped up intelligence collection in the United States since the September 11, 2001, attacks.
The report quoted what it said was a secret briefing document as concluding: “We have noted increased communication between protest groups using the Internet,” but not a “significant connection” between incidents.
Americans have been wary of any monitoring of anti-war activities since the Vietnam era when it was learned that the Pentagon spied on anti-war and civil rights groups and individuals. Congress held hearings in the 1970s and recommended strict limits on military spying inside the United States.
A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment on the NBC report about the database. However, he said: “The Department of Defense uses counterintelligence and law enforcement information properly collected by law enforcement agencies.
“The use of this information is subject to strict limitations, particularly the information must be related to missions relating to protection of DoD installations, interests and personnel,” he added.
The Pentagon has already acknowledged the existence of a counterintelligence program known as the “Threat and Local Observation Notice” (TALON) reporting system.
This system, the Pentagon said, is designed to gather “non-validated threat information and security anomalies indicative of possible terrorist pre-attack activity.”
There's alway two sides……
If you read my last post – read this.
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread185069/pg1
There are always two (or more!) sides to everything!
What if?
Keep an open mind and just imagine the possibilities
Choices
Would you have made the same choice?
At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended.
After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question. “When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?”
The audience was stilled by the query. The father continued. “I believe, that when a child like Shay comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes, in the way other people treat that child.”
Then he told the following story:
Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, “Do you think they'll let me play?” Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging. Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked if Shay could play.
The boy looked around for guidance and, getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said, “We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.” In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the outfield.
Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base, and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.
At this juncture, let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible 'cause Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball. However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least be able to make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.
The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game. Instead, the pitcher took the ball and turned and threw the ball on a high arc to right field, far beyond the reach of the first baseman.
Everyone started yelling, “Shay, run to first! Run to first!” Never in his life had Shay ever made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, “Run to second, run to second!” By the time Shay rounded first base, the right fielder had the ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions and intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases toward home. Shay reached second base, the opposing shortstop ran to him, turned him in the direction of third base, and shouted, “Run to third!”
As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams were screaming, “Shay, run home!” Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the “grand slam” and won the game for his team. “That day,” said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, “the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world.”
Friends are quiet angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.
My footnote to this:
I believe we are all here for one purpose – to reflect Love to the world. With each and every choice we make, we either reflect Love, or Darkness. There isn't anything in between. If it isn't Love that you reflect, it is just a shade of Darkness.
My babies are back and all is right with the world!
My babies are back now – they apparently got out by crawling under the fence where I had removed a tree this summer. A woman found them in her front yard and took them in for the night. This AM she was taking them to the vet to see if they had a chip and she saw our flyers!!
Yippee!!! I feel so much better now! I'm also glad my neighbors proved me wrong…. I do feel bad about thinking “stolen” to begin with but we really couldn't see how they could get out last night. It was dark though.
I'll sleep good tonight….
Pug puppies – STOLEN
My two baby Pug puppies were stolen from my backyard this evening.
The two adults are here; just the puppies are missing.
I'm heartbroken; “Lucky” is blind in one eye and “Frodo” has a personality only we could appreciate.
PLEASE if you know of anyone who recently acquired two male Pug puppies – call me ASAP.
The chaos I created
On the home front, I've been without a computer for a while now. I had to have the flooring redone downstairs (it needed it when I bought the house in 1995). Even though I did the entry/kitchen floor last year, I see now that the material I used and the installation reflected my inexperience. Since I had to redo the family room and wanted to use laminate I have two choices; use the same material I used in the kitchen or replace it all. I found a great contractor on craigslist that did all of the laminate and carpet for less than half the cost Home Depot quoted – and it is now done with high quality material and reflects a professional installation. But what it's meant is that I've had to move everything from the family room out so he could put the laminate in and then move everything from the living room/dining room out so the new carpet could be installed. It's going to be wonderful when the house gets put back together – hopefully this weekend. But it's been self-inflicted chaos for the last couple of weeks. I'm using Matt's laptop to update this journal.
On the work front, I managed to get in BIG trouble today – bottom line is I don't play the political game and I sent a memo to my boss and my bosses boss asking for a change in responsibility such that I can manage the pharmacy component of the Medicare programs I am responsible for. Our organization has some real fundamental organizational structure problems that make it such that the pharmacy product managers have a direct impact on my products when they make decisions and/or ignore issues that have a negative impact on my Medicare programs. The whole political environment is frustrating for me. I've never changed my behavior to make gains politically within any organization – including my family of origin – and I can't imagine changing now that I'm 51 years old. My boss is extremely political and fearful of taking risks. The fact that the two of us work together makes it a challenge just given the difference between our professional style. At least he's easy to talk to – even if he is ineffective. Oh well… My motives are pure and in the best interest of our members. As long as I focus on that, I'll be OK. In the meantime, I'm struggling to be effective in an environment that at it's most fundamental level doesn't facilitate effectiveness.
Other news – Mark and Katie called tonight. Apparently their youngest daughter is having some health challenges that seem to be similar to the health issues we've face with Ryan. We had a very long conversation and I'm going to gather all of the medical records I can for them to look at. Given the genetic link we feel it would be helpful for them to have an awareness of what Ryan's gone through so we can be sure their daughter gets the best care possible. I'm lighting a candle for her and will keep them all in my prayers. I'm so deeply grateful that we have a good relationship. Katie is a wonderful mom and I'm blessed that she's my sons step-mother. I'll do whatever I can to help.
That's it for now. I'll try and update more frequently once I get my home life back together.
kids
So I get a call at about midnight and Ryan says “Mom, are you sitting down”? This is NEVER a good thing to hear from your teenage son!
Apparently he and some friends were trying to find an out-of-the-way place to create a bon fire and Ryan took my Jetta off the paved road. The road he was on was filled with pot holes and such and the bottom line is he ended up with oil flowing out the bottom of the Jetta into a big, huge puddle. This is definitely NOT a good thing.
Good thing we have AAA! My mechanic isn't open on the weekends so I won't know until Monday what the damage will be.
kids…..
Pain
While painting the outside of my house – I fell off the ladder, landing with the help of gravity on a shovel laying on the ground. Thought I was going to pass out from pain. Matt wasn't home and Ryan was in his room with the door closed so no one knew I fell.
Fortunately I didn't brake anything or sustain any permanent damage BUT I can't believe how black and blue my backside and left leg are! AND it hurt more on the 2nd day following the fall than it did right after!
I took a day off work but there's so much going on right now that I couldn't take off any more.
Now when I wake up in the morning, my whole body is sore and stiff (even more so than usual!).
I know this too shall pass.
Let's see what the lessons learned in this are:
1. Open my heart to Love so that I can find someone worth settling down with. Then I won't have to try and keep up with everything on my own. Long, long story could be told about this one but that's all I'll say for now.
OR
2. Sell the house – move into a downtown condo where I won't have so much to do to keep things up. This isn't really an option as this house has become our HOME. Our family pets are buried here and we all love our home. Maybe I'll buy a condo and move into it and let the guys rent this house from me? :0
3. Put tools away so if you fall, you won't land on them.
4. It isn't safe to work on a high ladder outside without someone else.
Anyone else have other “lessons learned” they can see in this?