Chase Credit Bureau Update Department
To Whom It May Concern:
Please correct your reports to Trans-Union, Equifax, and any other credit bureaus that I am dead.
I am not dead. You seem to accept my recent payments.
I reported that my wife died August 10, 2001, but banks reviewing my applications for loans tell me you are reporting to them that I am dead.
Per request of your Customer Service Supervisor Mr. Lopez I am herewith faxing you a copy of my Social Security Card and my current driver's license from the state of Ohio in the hope that you will join the thousands of people who know that I am not dead.
On learning of my non-death you may be tempted to send presents. Please. Correcting the damage you have wreaked thus far will be enough.
Sincerely,
James S. Manista
Monday, April 22, 2013
Sunday, April 21, 2013
A Picture is Worth 1K Words
Dear Rachel Maddow:
Since so many Republicans are advocates of forcing women electing to abort to view the life within their bodies--because they feel deep in their heart of hearts--such an image will spur those women to change their minds--and since so many of those Republicans prefer gun freedom and the attendant carnage, shouldn't it be reasonable to force anyone voting on gun laws to see the pictures of the Newtown children's mutilated bodies or the bodies of those killed in Colorado or Tuscon?
At least then they would know just what their votes would help promote or prevent.
You know, kind of like Americans should get to see their war-wounded and dead.
You know, kind of like Americans should get to see their war-wounded and dead.
Love, Peace, and Hope,
James Manista
To the Gun Nut
Dear _____:
You're right of course, we don't permit people to buy artillery, if you mean the classic large scale weapons of war.
So, in a sense, we both believe that America's gun policy should be limited.
The question again is where do we draw the line?
To me it is perfectly reasonable to draw that line so as to include automatic weapons and high capacity magazines, especially in the light of Newtown, Colorado, and Tucson.
And unless you would permit homeowners--good people, like yourself--to have every possible weapon available for their defense (mortars, grenades, bazookas, flamethrowers) I think you would agree with me that the proliferation of these megadeath instruments should be forbidden to the common citizen.
Even with background checks there would still have been one too many assault weapons and five too many extended magazines available for use in the Lanza home.
Limiting their availability (that is, forbidding their availability) is the only certain way to prevent the Adam Lanzas of the world from easily killing on the brutal scale he did.
Are you willing to permit another such tragedy just so you can fondle every weapon possible and risk its falling into the wrong hands as Mrs Lanza tragically did?
Love, Peace, and Hope,
James Manista
You're right of course, we don't permit people to buy artillery, if you mean the classic large scale weapons of war.
So, in a sense, we both believe that America's gun policy should be limited.
The question again is where do we draw the line?
To me it is perfectly reasonable to draw that line so as to include automatic weapons and high capacity magazines, especially in the light of Newtown, Colorado, and Tucson.
And unless you would permit homeowners--good people, like yourself--to have every possible weapon available for their defense (mortars, grenades, bazookas, flamethrowers) I think you would agree with me that the proliferation of these megadeath instruments should be forbidden to the common citizen.
Even with background checks there would still have been one too many assault weapons and five too many extended magazines available for use in the Lanza home.
Limiting their availability (that is, forbidding their availability) is the only certain way to prevent the Adam Lanzas of the world from easily killing on the brutal scale he did.
Are you willing to permit another such tragedy just so you can fondle every weapon possible and risk its falling into the wrong hands as Mrs Lanza tragically did?
Love, Peace, and Hope,
James Manista
Science, Religion, and Society
April 21, 2013
Science
Perhaps for the purposes of this argument I have them in the wrong order. I've just finished watching a Bill Moyers segment, (http://billmoyers.com/video/ The Toxic Assault on Our Children), featuring an admirable biologist, activist, and concerned mother, Sandra Steingraber, and her protest against what she calls Toxic Trespass.
Although fracking in that state is currently under a moratorium, the fracking companies are attempting to deposit byproducts of their operations (propane, butane) under pressure in salt formations near one of the Fingerlakes on which over 100,000 of her neighbor New Yorkers depend for fresh water. The danger of contamination is so likely as to be a certainty.
Along with eleven other activists she blockaded an entrance for a truck loaded with those toxic byproducts and was arrested for breaking the law. Others of the group paid the $375 fine but she chose to extend her protest by going to jail for fifteen days.
I could restate her positions or relate her justifications but I'm certain I could not capture the fire of her conviction or do any justice to her adamance. Watching her confront the politicians refusing to answer her questions is a witness that has to be witnessed. Would that I were so profoundly principled.
Religion
Earlier today our church held an adult education session on Earth Day and Green Church Mission which featured a presentation by a biologist who specialized in soil study. Beginning with a basic review of the evidence for--oh, let's just go ahead and call it what it is--global warming and its attendant degradation of the environment, the speaker moved into descriptions of "wedge solutions"--basically, those policies and practices we could adopt at least to halt the further accumulation of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
A wedge solution is one that, while alone cannot solve the whole problem--could contribute with other wedges to stop the rush to disaster--one wedge, nuclear power; another, substitution of natural gas for coal; another, burning renewables, etc. If you suspect I was not impressed with the wedges either individually or in sum, you're right. Because while all these wedges are begun and expanded to curb the greenhouse garbage our societies are hurling into the formerly blue sky, our population of deep consumers (Americans and western countries) would continue on their merry trek of expanded consumption inherent in a growth economy, joined by the newly industrialized nations who have come to envy our materialism through the entertainment we so casually, widely, and profitably distributed.
One of those wedges is euphemistically known as conservation. Though I am loathe to undermine the effectiveness of that choice, realistically it will require far more than a change to efficient lightbulbs. Is anyone ready to give up automobile ownership? to move in with relatives, or strangers? How about living close enough to work so as to be able to walk there?
Will industries foreswear flying and only use videoconferencing? How about phasing out schools for courses on the internet verified by individual testing for certification? How about not floating crap in from China to fill Wal-Marts, etc. I'm sure the Chinese need to produce goods for their own people and would welcome concentrating on those needs directly (that is, if they didn't need our debt to keep them above water).
No. The conservation we need to mitigate (we're beyond averting) the coming climate disaster will look a lot like depopulation. And the life simplification we need to change matters will look a lot like poverty. If we're going to change, it'll have to be serious.
Society
If we don't slow the processes already at work in the atmosphere, the foreseeable consequences affecting diminished water supply alone will restrict our ability to produce enough food, as well as many other similarly distressing shortages which will embroil the peoples of the earth in wars over the shrinking remainders--which wars also will speed the climate's worsening.
Far be it from me to conclude that doom is inevitable. After all, we've been here before--remember nuclear winter? Yeah, with all the hope that comes from solving those problems we can concentrate on the new demons. Or we can leave it up to God to save our collective asses as some congressman recently pointed out. His bible assures him that God will not let mankind be destroyed--atomic wars, jihads, errant asteroids, whatever--it's a promise.
If the Senate vote this week against even taking a vote on the gun restrictions proposed since Newtown is any indication of the best our society can do to improve our circumstances, we should probably head for the hills with one of those assault rifles, extended magazines, and our "A" rating from the NRA and get ready for Armageddon.
Of course, it's not. While the Senate vote is nothing to cheer about, we as a society are getting our heads in order about guns--or 90% of the electorate would not have favored the spurned revisions. There's some hope.
Science, Society, and Religion
"What a fine mess you've gotten us into again, Ollie," we could conclude. The Science is against us. Society doesn't appear willing in any way. And if your Religion is not one of surprising hope in God's sustaining love, you might just stop reading here. The hills await.
But our religion is. We don't count on God to clean up our mess. We believe we have the power to overcome in disaster, however foreboding. "Yea, though I walk through the Valley of Death . . . ," must again be our cry.
I have no idea whether Ms. Steingraber is a believer or practitioner of any religion but she surely embodies the hope and confidence I would expect as the hallmark of a Christian in this conflict. In a point, that's why I want you to see her in action. Very inspiring.
Maybe you are not called to be an activist of any sort. Fine. You have other gifts. No one is let off the hook in the Body of Christ. But if you feel called to be an activist--against war, against fracking, whatever, Ms. Steingraber is an excellent model for us all.
J. S. Manista
Science
Perhaps for the purposes of this argument I have them in the wrong order. I've just finished watching a Bill Moyers segment, (http://billmoyers.com/video/ The Toxic Assault on Our Children), featuring an admirable biologist, activist, and concerned mother, Sandra Steingraber, and her protest against what she calls Toxic Trespass.
Although fracking in that state is currently under a moratorium, the fracking companies are attempting to deposit byproducts of their operations (propane, butane) under pressure in salt formations near one of the Fingerlakes on which over 100,000 of her neighbor New Yorkers depend for fresh water. The danger of contamination is so likely as to be a certainty.
Along with eleven other activists she blockaded an entrance for a truck loaded with those toxic byproducts and was arrested for breaking the law. Others of the group paid the $375 fine but she chose to extend her protest by going to jail for fifteen days.
I could restate her positions or relate her justifications but I'm certain I could not capture the fire of her conviction or do any justice to her adamance. Watching her confront the politicians refusing to answer her questions is a witness that has to be witnessed. Would that I were so profoundly principled.
Religion
Earlier today our church held an adult education session on Earth Day and Green Church Mission which featured a presentation by a biologist who specialized in soil study. Beginning with a basic review of the evidence for--oh, let's just go ahead and call it what it is--global warming and its attendant degradation of the environment, the speaker moved into descriptions of "wedge solutions"--basically, those policies and practices we could adopt at least to halt the further accumulation of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
A wedge solution is one that, while alone cannot solve the whole problem--could contribute with other wedges to stop the rush to disaster--one wedge, nuclear power; another, substitution of natural gas for coal; another, burning renewables, etc. If you suspect I was not impressed with the wedges either individually or in sum, you're right. Because while all these wedges are begun and expanded to curb the greenhouse garbage our societies are hurling into the formerly blue sky, our population of deep consumers (Americans and western countries) would continue on their merry trek of expanded consumption inherent in a growth economy, joined by the newly industrialized nations who have come to envy our materialism through the entertainment we so casually, widely, and profitably distributed.
One of those wedges is euphemistically known as conservation. Though I am loathe to undermine the effectiveness of that choice, realistically it will require far more than a change to efficient lightbulbs. Is anyone ready to give up automobile ownership? to move in with relatives, or strangers? How about living close enough to work so as to be able to walk there?
Will industries foreswear flying and only use videoconferencing? How about phasing out schools for courses on the internet verified by individual testing for certification? How about not floating crap in from China to fill Wal-Marts, etc. I'm sure the Chinese need to produce goods for their own people and would welcome concentrating on those needs directly (that is, if they didn't need our debt to keep them above water).
No. The conservation we need to mitigate (we're beyond averting) the coming climate disaster will look a lot like depopulation. And the life simplification we need to change matters will look a lot like poverty. If we're going to change, it'll have to be serious.
Society
If we don't slow the processes already at work in the atmosphere, the foreseeable consequences affecting diminished water supply alone will restrict our ability to produce enough food, as well as many other similarly distressing shortages which will embroil the peoples of the earth in wars over the shrinking remainders--which wars also will speed the climate's worsening.
Far be it from me to conclude that doom is inevitable. After all, we've been here before--remember nuclear winter? Yeah, with all the hope that comes from solving those problems we can concentrate on the new demons. Or we can leave it up to God to save our collective asses as some congressman recently pointed out. His bible assures him that God will not let mankind be destroyed--atomic wars, jihads, errant asteroids, whatever--it's a promise.
If the Senate vote this week against even taking a vote on the gun restrictions proposed since Newtown is any indication of the best our society can do to improve our circumstances, we should probably head for the hills with one of those assault rifles, extended magazines, and our "A" rating from the NRA and get ready for Armageddon.
Of course, it's not. While the Senate vote is nothing to cheer about, we as a society are getting our heads in order about guns--or 90% of the electorate would not have favored the spurned revisions. There's some hope.
Science, Society, and Religion
"What a fine mess you've gotten us into again, Ollie," we could conclude. The Science is against us. Society doesn't appear willing in any way. And if your Religion is not one of surprising hope in God's sustaining love, you might just stop reading here. The hills await.
But our religion is. We don't count on God to clean up our mess. We believe we have the power to overcome in disaster, however foreboding. "Yea, though I walk through the Valley of Death . . . ," must again be our cry.
I have no idea whether Ms. Steingraber is a believer or practitioner of any religion but she surely embodies the hope and confidence I would expect as the hallmark of a Christian in this conflict. In a point, that's why I want you to see her in action. Very inspiring.
Maybe you are not called to be an activist of any sort. Fine. You have other gifts. No one is let off the hook in the Body of Christ. But if you feel called to be an activist--against war, against fracking, whatever, Ms. Steingraber is an excellent model for us all.
J. S. Manista
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Drone Precision?--Yeah
Dear Family, Friends, and Colleagues: 09/24/12
War Criminals? Us? Consider the following brief video:
The text adds a few more facts, but the video is the main thing.
James Manista
Blaming the Victim
Dear Family, Friends, and Colleagues, 11/24/12
One of the more fascinating collisions of information found in the article linked below is the comment by Mitt that his reformulating of Staples generated lots of "good middle-class jobs," and when questioned about that designation, ol' Mitt stated middle-class earners fall in the $200K and above wages. Yet the stats out of Staples show that most of the workers earn poverty-level wages, a few earn between $80K-$100K, and nobody gets $200k or above.
Sure, we all know by now that ol' Mitt's a thing of the past, an ol' shoe rejected even by his own party, but a lot of the misconceptions he fostered are still around. After all, he did get that ignominious 47% of the popular vote.
Remember, poverty--like the war--got barely a mention during the campaigns. One in every seven Americans is POOR. So why does nobody want to talk about it--even the poor?
http://truth-out.org/news/
Love, Peace, and Hope,
James Manista
James Manista
Don't Curse the Darkness
Dear Family, Friends, and Colleagues: 12/06/12
Love, Peace, and Hope,
James Manista
The Industrial Revolution is getting a bad name--especially since it really took off with the burning of fossil fuels. It made us so many inexpensive products. Heavy labor got lighter as energy gave our shovels a boost and electricity spun our lathes. We got fresh food from halfway around the world, kept it cold in the fridge along with the ice cream and life was just grand--not just for us but for generations to come--we thought.
Now we see the price for heated water, for toast and light, and all those little knickety-knacks we thought we just must have and could buy for cheap. All that powerful burning went up into the air and collected--and collected--and collected--and now come the days of reckoning. Even if we stop burning fossil fuels tomorrow, the atmosphere will stay loaded for centuries as the effects grow more and more severe.
You'd think we would have listened years before "An Inconvenient Truth" finally made it clear for most of us that we were walking on a track and could see the locomotive of disaster bearing down on us ever faster.
Because we are running out of the "easy energy" that puffs and gushes from the earth and since we are still in thrall to oil (hey, I'm no better--I've got gas in my car and I'm not planning to walk to work any day soon), we are now looking for more of that poison that is harder to get. The recent promise of "We have a century of energy beneath our feet," has enormous problems that none of its promoters is telling you about. Witness, the oil-friendly state of Louisiana:
The motto of this ominous age should be: "Don't curse the darkness, but don't go lighting any candles either."
James Manista
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Cassandra's Howl
Dear Family, Friends, and Colleagues:
Love, Peace, and Hope,
James Manista
Linked below are two "End of the Iraq War" commentaries I offer for your reading.
I should clarify I met Kathy Kelly at her River's Edge presentation a couple of years ago when she talked about her then recent visit to Afghanistan and recounted for us her meeting with Afghan families who had endured night raids and drone attacks. She spoke with a directness and simplicity that went straight to the heart, conveyed the suffering of those families with passion and power.
The closest I ever got to Mr. Kucinich was when I brushed past him at a Trader Joe's on the east side. He was there with his wife doing the family shopping and though I felt compelled to extend a word of support I thought it best not to breach their privacy.
Physically, Ms. Kelly is not impressive. As she approached the podium she explained she would have to slip on her high heels so as to be seen above the lectern. Next to her the diminutive Mr. Kucinich would appear of normal stature. When she related being hurled to the ground by an MP when she was protesting at a drone site in NY I couldn't imagine the army having one small enough for the job.
Although I sympathize with the Kucinich piece, it's a document written by a politician--lengthy, weighty with analogies--however much sincerely intended. The Kelly document by comparison invites your empathy. It's brief but comprehensive, affecting but not phrased to be a speech, and drawn from her direct experience with those who suffered.
Not that we don't benefit from Kucinich's efforts--he also speaks the truth--but Ms. Kelly uses far fewer words to urge us in the right direction:
Has it been so long in America that we have forgotten the war in Iraq?
Love, Peace, and Hope,
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