Why We Live in Fear--a Gun Story!
This morning I was in the middle of a potential shoot out at the local gas station...I pulled in to the busy Feathersound Choice Market in Clearwater/Feather Sound to get gas this morning at 1135 and there was a Florida Highway Patrolman with his arm outstretched with a gun in his hand and cocked to the side. He was the first thing I saw as I was pulling in. HE WAS AIMING AT A YOUNG BLACK UNARMED MAN PARKED RIGHT NEXT TO THE GAS PUMP!!! The black man was tall, well dressed and had his hands in the air. I froze, my car idling, about 30 feet away from the pump I was pulling into. I was thinking, one wrong move by this cop and we all go up in a fireball!!! When the officer secured his gun and put it at his waist I pulled in to the pump--there was really no other place for me to go, as there was traffic behind me. At that point, about two more cop cars pulled in, and the first officer pulled his cuffs, got the man on the ground, cuffed him and he and the other cops that had come out of the other cars proceeded to taunt and interrogate the man, accusing him of stealing the truck and leading them on a wild car chase across the Bay to Bay Bridge, the whole time as they pulled all of his belongings out of his pockets. I pumped gas, as I observed the whole scene. I did not hear the Miranda being read. The cops made no move to pick the man up and put him in one of the cars to question him, they just left him, face down on the ground and continued to humiliatingly taunt him in "old fashioned, good ole' boy style." Needless to say, I paid for my gas and left in a hurry, thinking I had escaped the possibility of being burned alive and in complete shock and fear that this had happened. The whole incident took about 15 minutes and the man was still on the ground and still being accused of stealing the truck, smoking crack, drug dealing, etc., as I pulled away. As I drove to Tampa to go to work, my mind wandered through a whole bunch of questions. Would a white man have been treated differently? Did the cop know that he was endangering about 20 lives when he aimed his gun at the man near the pump? Should I trust the fact that his aim was true and that the gun would not misfire? Because the cops made a bust, would these possiblities ever be brought up? Is reckless endangerment of innocent bystanders ever a factor when a bust is being made? It is supposed to be!!! I am angry. Now I have to live in fear when I go to get gas at the local gas station, not from anything a criminal can do to me, but from the men my taxes are paying for who are supposed to be protecting me!!!
The following organizations have received approval from the US Department of Veterans Affairs so that their symbols can be applied to the headstones that the VA provides to deceased veterans. There are also the ONLY symbols that are allowed on headstones in veterans cemeteries across the country no matter who pays for the stone.
01 CHRISTIAN CROSS
02 BUDDHIST (Wheel of Righteousness)
03 HEBREW (Star of David)
04 PRESBYTERIAN CROSS
05 RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CROSS
06 LUTHERAN CROSS
07 EPISCOPAL CROSS
08 UNITARIAN CHURCH (Flaming Chalice)
09 UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
10 AARONIC ORDER CHURCH
11 MORMON (Angel Moroni)
12 NATIVE AMERICAN CHURCH OF NORTH AMERICA
13 SERBIAN ORTHODOX
14 GREEK CROSS
15 BAHAI (9 Pointed Star)
16 ATHEIST
17 MUSLIM (Crescent and Star)
18 HINDU
19 KONKO-KYO FAITH
20 COMMUNITY OF CHRIST
21 SUFISM REORIENTED
22 TENRIKYO CHURCH
23 SEICHO-NO-IE
24 CHURCH OF WORLD MESSIANITY (Izunome)
25 UNITED CHURCH OF RELIGIOUS SCIENCE
26 CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH
27 UNITED MORAVIAN CHURCH
28 ECKANKAR
29 CHRISTIAN CHURCH
30 CHRISTIAN & MISSIONARY ALLIANCE
31 UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
32 HUMANIST EMBLEM OF SPIRIT
97 CHRISTIAN SCIENTIST (Cross & Crown) Not shown because of copyrights.
98 MUSLIM (Islamic 5 Pointed Star) Not shown because of
copyrights. No other graphics (logos, symbols, etc.) are permitted on Government provided headstones or markers nor are other graphisc allowed in VA
cemeteries.
Nowhere on the list is there a Pentacle, a Hammer or a Triple Moon and that's why we are here, to apply for those symbols, one at a time, and to put whatever social and political pressure may be necessary on the appropriate elected officials and civil servants.
If you want to learn more, join the Pagan Veterans Headstone Campaign and go to the following lists and sites:
http://www.PaganVeterans.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Pagan-Headstone-Campaign/
http://mysite.freeserve.com/headstonecampaign/index.html
http://mysite.freeserve.com/thewitchgrove/Page3/Pagan_Headstone_Campai
gn.htm
http://www.mgcpagans.msdragonfly.com/headstone1.php
http://mgcpagans.msdragonfly.com/formletter2.html
And be sure to read Don Waterhawk's article on this issue on
http://www.Witchvox.com.
This campaign is supported by:
The Pagan Veterans Headstone Campaign
The United Pagan Temples of America
The Order of the White Mare
Firedance Church of Wicca
The New Temple of Astarte
Officers of Avalon
Ozark Avalon
Charles Arnold
Isaac Bonewits
Kerr Cuchulainn
and many, many more.
Recently it has come to my attention that, while there are thirty-two (32) different religious symbols allowed on veterans' headstones, mine will have to remain bare. If members of religious organizations with as few members within the US military as The Aaronic Order, The Native American Church, Baha'i, Konko-Kyo, Sufism, Tenrikyo, Seicho-no-ie, The Church of World Messianity, the Moravian Church and Enkankar are entitled to religious symbols on their headstones, why, may I ask, are not Wiccans or Witches or other Pagan religions entitled to our religious symbol, the Pentagram (or 5-pointed star)? Support the campaign to pressure the Department of Veterans Affairs to authorize a 33rd Headstone Symbol, a Pentacle so that Pagan Veterans can be buried under a Headstone that shows their religion rather than a blank stone.
We need YOUR support!
For more info, this is the site:
http://mysite.freeserve.com/headstonecampaign/index.html
Here are the elists--come join if you want to support this project:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Pagan-Headstone-Campaign/
http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/pagan_veterans
This is the petition, PLEASE SIGN!
And be sure to pass to every Pagan Veteran that you know...
It only takes a few minutes...
http://www.petitionpetition.com/cgi/petition.cgi?id=6465
Posted: 3/30/2004 1:52:41 PM
Author: Zalala
Last week I got a chance to interview Bill Horne, City Manager for Clearwater who is really more of the decision-maker on what goes in in Clearwater, and not the Major as I had assumed. After a brief explanation of what IndyMedia is and what had happened with an arrest of one of the Food Not Bombs people last weekend in Tampa for feeding the homeless in Massey Park, I wanted to get Mr. Horne's take on how Clearwater takes care of the homeless, what they are doing to feed them or allow them to be fed, and what restrictions there are if any for doing that. I found this man easy to talk to and sincerely wanting to help people. I did not think he was telling me what I wanted to hear, but that he would like to do more at some point for the homeless of Clearwater.
Bill Horne became City Planner in 2001 and when he arrived in Clearwater, the city's homeless population was increasing. At that time, one of the organizations in the downtown Clearwater area that still maintains a long term program for the homeless population is the St. Vincent de Paul which currently has a thrift store, a homeless shelter called the Clearwater Homeless Intervention Center (CHIP) and a soup kitchen.
In 2002, after noting the increase of people in the parks and public areas and these people making use of the public facilities in the downtown area, complaints from residents living near or visiting the parks, Mr. Horne knew that policies must be implemented on taking care of the homeless and doing all of that within the laws. After many talks with the other city officials and law reviews with the city attorney, standard operating procedures were implemented but no laws, per se other than apre-existing Ordinance that restricts people from certain practices within a public park, ie., such as pan-handling, sleeping on park benches, distributing food, etc. Of course, statutes were also written in so the Ordinance can be enforced. Bill Horne did mention that NOT allowing certain activities to happen within public parks could have to do with infringment on constitutional laws. The city of Clearwater's procedures were enacted on January 28th, 2002.
One of the first things done was to implement a designated area where the homeless could be fed at the same times every day. This area was would be chosen knowing that there would be a large amount of foot traffic as well as large sized vehicles so clothing and food could be distributed and taking safety into consideration. The area now utilized is right across the street from the Clearwater Police Department and next to the Municipal Parking Garage and the Municipal Facilities. The homeless are fed Monday through Saturday from 4PM to 6PM and on Sunday from 1PM to 3PM. There are 40 to 60 people at any one time getting food and clothing from different local charities that go to this meeting spot regularly.
Some lawmakers in Clearwater would like nothing more than to take the homeless people to city limits, get them out of the city, drop them off and just have them stay away from the parks and the downtown area. Just another group of disenfranchised people. Like subhuman. Mr. Horne mentioned to me that this was not the answer. I told Mr. Horne that this particular way of dealing with this was done back in the 1930's, when hobos were taken to the city limits, jumped on a train and went to the next city for food and jobs during the Great Depression. He laughed and told me more!
Mr. Horne's take is there are two different kinds of people. Some do not want to be homeless. They will do whatever it takes to change their situation. The other group has mental problems, societal problems, substance abuse problems. They want to eat and take whatever free services are available and not fulfill obligations that are required within programs that are already set up. Shelters have specific long term programs for anyone that lives in these locations. Homeless people staying at the shelters must adhere to these programs while staying in the shelters. If all the homeless want is food and they do not want to work or do anything constructive to better their situations, then all programs will not be available to them.
A current law does not exist and the city has decided not to implement one, because if they get the cooperation from the transient population and from the charities then this is better. Less overhead for the city to enforce the law, the homeless get fed, the charities and the people who give are able to and everyone is happy. It also gives the transients, the charities and organizations and the people that want to help to be able to enter into the programs and get a hand up with less red tape surrounding them and their situations. The city can always create a law if they need to at a later time. Mr. Horne did mention that the city of St. Petersburg does things differently that Clearwater does and that Pinellas County as a whole needs to develop a new strategy as the homeless population continues to grow and these trends continue.
The following is an old St. Pete Times article all about Bill Horne.
http://www.sptimes.com/News/071501/NorthPinellas/Bill_Horne_is_ready_t.shtml
Read all about a really good guy!
Clearwater Homeless Intervention Project
http://www.clearwater-fl.com/cpl/ref/frog/FrogDetails.asp?item=117
City Meeting and Docket
http://www.pinellasclerk.org/bc101502.pdf
Posted: 3/21/2004 7:06:25 PM
Author: Zalala
I was watching CNN early in the morning the other day when I saw the strangest thing. The early morning CNN commentator said they were switching to Baghdad and one of Saddam's palaces for a press conference with Colin Powell on the one year anniversary of the start of the war. What I saw on CNN on the morning of March 19th @ about 650AM EST was the following: as Powell and Bremer walked out on stage--there was a voice feed in three languages, French, Arabic and badly Arab-accented English talking about the murder of two German journalists by US Imperialist Forces. Audio cut to the CNN commentator who said they were trying to find out who was doing the speaking. Then the audio stopped and the journalists had a moment of silence for their fallen colleagues. One by one and silently, they filed out of the room. It appeared as if all the foreign journalists left, about 90% of the room cleared out. Colin Powell looked mortified but then spoke for a few minutes and took a few questions, one from a woman with the Miami Herald and another from Peter Jennings, ABC. His speech for the year anniverary of the war was supposed to be so good according to the CNN commentator, he looked flabbergasted and mortified that this had happened, kinda flustered he tried to speak and offered a lot of excuses about civilian deaths in wartime. According to eyewitnesses, these reporters were shot in cold blood while in a caravan with US troops. CNN quickly preempted him and his speech with another news story...we have heard very little about this and it should have been a big story in the media.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=564&u=/nm/20040319/ts_nm/iraq_powell_walkout_dc&printer=1
Author: Zalala
This is a real scam!!! What I emailed to my insurance companies' Board of Directors:
To XX Insurance Board of Directors:
Today I was informed that I had no insurance coverage from 3/8/04 until today through no fault of my own and because one of your agents or your company is either making a serious mistake on my account or scamming me for money. I do not like to pay money for services that I am not receiving and fully intend to inform the media about this practice.
I was in the office at Pinellas Park on March 8th, 2004 to make a payment. I was told that I had to sign an uninsured motorist's form, why I do not know. I signed the form and made my payment to Ann. Apparently, my insurance was cancelled the next day even though I had made my payment to your office. No one called or informed me of this. I have voice mail and caller ID.
I received a call today at approximately 2PM by Allison at the Pinellas Park office and was told that my insurance was being cancelled today and that I need to come in right away and make a payment of $23 to reinstate the insurance policy and have pictures taken of my car. I spoke to Allison and Ann who told me she had called me. She never did and she lied to me. I still had no voice mail or caller ID entries from this office with the exception of the initial one made today when I spoke to Allison and Ann.
I arrived at the office today and signed in at 230PM and waited for half an hour to talk to Allison. I told her about the problem, she told me she was the one who had called me and that she would try to help me. The first thing she insisted on was payment, up front. I told her I had no money until I was paid tomorrow (3/18/04) and that I should not be held accountable for something someone else neglected to do on my account. I am not an insurance agent and do not know the rules and regulations but that does not mean that I am ignorant. But I can smell a scam from the get go.
Allison had me sign a NO LOSS form and gave me a receipt annotated for $23 and told me to come in and pay the $23 tomorrow after I receive my pay since these monies would come out of her paycheck if she was not reimbursed by me. My insurance had been reinstated as of today. Allison has been more than accomodating and worked really hard at keeping me as a customer.
The WHAT IFS are, what if I had gotten in an accident the week I was cancelled without my knowing about it? From March 8th until the 17th, today? If your company is scamming me for money or making serious mistakes regarding my account, what would you happen to do if I was laid up in a hospital after an accident? If you are going to screw me like this, what would you do if I needed insurance paid out? I have doubts as to if you will maintain me as a customer. The only one who tried to help was Allison.
Do not tell me that this has anything to do with the insurance carrier. You promote yourself as the insurance company and the checks I give you, go to you.
I should not have to pay out monies for someone else's mistake, nor should I be lied to or be cancelled without being made aware of it.This is the $hittiest service I have ever received from any company I have done business with. I intend to post this on the Internet in several different places. It might be good for your company to do what is right in this case.
So your company takes payments from customers and then has the insurance carrier cancel the customers the next day. I smell something really rotten here.
AMS
A Very Unsatisfied Customer
PS: I will be sure to follow up on this one!
