How much does the US Government spend on us?

By "Us" I mean the Rainbow Gathering. People often ask how much the US Government spends on the Rainbow gathering. From time to time when the feds really piss me off, I FOIA information. For those not in the know, FOIA - Freedom of Information Act, allows you to request copies of government information. Most branches of the federal government have a FOIA officer tasked with providing information. For a general overview on how to file your own request, visit this website.

Well this year in Wyoming, the feds pissed me off big time. So I made a couple of FOIA requests. I had meant to do more, but seemed to have run out of time. At any rate, the information I received is available on my website for your information and use in whatever legal battles you may be fighting. Both documents are large PDFs, so make sure you have the bandwidth to download them. Please download and distribute as you see fit.

Wyoming Court Costs - this only includes the special court the feds so thoughtfully set up for us in Farson and is by no means all the costs involved in trying cases arising from the gathering.

USFS Totals Expenses by Year

Enjoy!

Feeding the People

I have some friends who do this very cool thing called Everybody's Kitchen. Basically they travel around the country in a school bus feeding people. From homeless people in Los Angeles, to cross-border activists on the Mexican border, they share food. Right now they are in the Louisiana Bayou feeding people. To find out what they're doing and how people are living, watch the video.

Hey Floppy and crew, in case I haven't said it before, you are my heroes.

Toll Road Killed

From today's Los Angeles Times.

U.S. Commerce Department rejects Foothill South toll road
By Susannah Rosenblatt
10:33 AM PST, December 18, 2008

The controversial Foothill South toll road, proposed to connect south Orange County with north San Diego County, was handed a major blow this morning when the U.S. Commerce Department announced it would uphold the state Coastal Commission's rejection of the plan.

Thank you Southern California. We came together and said no toll roads through our parks and sacred places. Job well done. A huge shout out to Surfrider for all their hard work.

Barack Obama's Lack of Vision

I was as thrilled as the next person that the citizens of the United States of America finally elected a president who wasn't a white male. I was also thrilled we didn't elect the "old guy" and the "prom queen,", but really Mr. Obama, what's up with supporting big agriculture after all your talk about main street? Main street is organic food. Main street is small family farms. Main street is having local sources of food and maintain food security not putting more profits into the hands of big agri-business. It's not continuing the rush to patent the very food we eat. It's not expanding the level of genetically modified food eaten by our children when we don't understand the consequences.
Take a stand today.

Thankfully I am a member of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and we are taking a stand against agri-business as the future of America's farms. Join us in taking in telling Mr. Obama know that big business as usual isn't change. Putting corporate profits over family farms isn't change.

Just say no Vilsack!

This in from the OCA:

Despite a massive public outcry, including over 20,000 emails from the Organic Consumers Association, President-Elect Obama has chosen former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack to be the next Secretary of Agriculture.

While Vilsack has promoted respectable policies with respect to restraining livestock monopolies, his overall record is one of aiding and abetting Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) or factory farms and promoting genetically engineered crops and animal cloning. Equally troubling is Vilsack's support for unsustainable industrial ethanol production, which has already caused global corn and grain prices to skyrocket, literally taking food off the table for a billion people in the developing world.

The Organic Consumers Association is calling on organic consumers and all concerned citizens to join our call to action and block Vilsack's confirmation as the next Secretary of Agriculture. Please help us reach our goal of 100,000 petition signatures against Vilsack' nomination. Sign today! Your email will be sent to your Senators and the President-Elect's office.

Sign the petition!

The Novel - Round Seven

Today, I'm getting organized for the seventh draft of my novel, Falling From The Moon. Yes the one that was supposedly finished in June. Thanks to my friends, I received some wonderful feedback on the novel and this last round will incorporate most of the suggestions I received from friends and a couple of agents who read the first chapter and a synopsis at the La Jolla Writers Conference in November.

The main change is that the first chapters, which all happen in 1990, are now going to be in strict chronological order. I've spent the morning reworking my meta text and renumbering chapters. My goal is to finish this draft by year end meaning I have my work cut out for me. That's a chapter a day for the rest of the month. 75% of the work is incorporating the line edits and a few minor bloops into my electronic version. The remaining 25% is fixing transitions due to the chapter order being tossed upside down.

I have the best friends in the entire world. I know you all have very busy lives and I am honored you made the time to help me get to round seven. Thanks to Carletta, Cyndi, Jennifer, Karen, Debby, and Debby's neighbor who I've never met. You rock!

Ethnicity and Culture

Today was the annual House of Sweden Christmas party. My mother being Swedish and a long time member, she goes every year and I take her since she can't go alone. It's sad as no one visits much with my mother because she is aphasic and can't find the words to express her thoughts (but that's an aside).

As a child, I was dragged to all sorts of functions, taught to dance traditional Swedish folk dances and sing in Swedish. I even sang on television once as part of group of Swedish Christmas song singers. Imagine twenty girls and three boys, ages six to eighteen, walking single file through a dark room wearing white robes and tinsel in their hair. All carrying lit candles.

Most people would think a group of people involved with the House of Sweden would be primarily Swedish or at least of Swedish ancestry. My heritage is mixed. My mother was born in Sweden; my father in Estonia. But there wasn't a House of Estonia and I grew up more in touch with my mother's culture than my fathers. There were other kids of mixed heritage back in those days. Lots of Swedish Americans of course, but Mexican Americans and even if I remember correctly a young girl who was of Chinese descent. More recently, a Japanese American woman wrote the monthly newsletter and the Lucia pageant, while still mostly blondes, included a very dark skinned young woman of Indian (the continent) or African ethnic descent.

I wonder if Sweden has a House of America and if its members include Swedish Arabs or people of Pacific Islands descent?

Day Without a Gay & Money

I'm at work today feeling guilty because I didn't call in "gay." It's not because I don't believe in it, but I have a bunch of projects going that have to be done this week and I've no other time to do them.

I wimped out. I admit it. Some of the money I make today will go to support the gay marriage movement.

Meanwhile, many people have written about the importance of recognizing the value of the GLBTQ community in our society and the impacts of a consumer boycott. That being said, the best thing I can add to the discussion is my rap on spending money.

Money is very powerful when used wisely. Every day I work hard for my money and every day I try as best I can to spend it in ways that create the world the way I want it to exist. The world I want treats everyone as equals, protects all people in the workplace, treats this planet as if it's our most valuable resource (it is), and stands up for equal rights and social justice.

99% of my grocery money is spent at People's Co-op in Ocean Beach. Fair trade, locally grown, non-GMO labels, cooperative. If they sell it, I have faith that the cows have time to play in the pasture, the earth was respected and the people paid a just wage in their communities if the product is marked as fair trade. They sell three types of bananas: Organic, Organic Fair Trade, and Commercial (what I call chemical bananas). I buy Organic Fair Trade whenever possible and support farming cooperatives in Central America. These farmers deserve what most Americans demand for themselves but fail to consider for other peoples.

I take most of my other dollars to local stores that share my values. It's easy really. I rarely shop at chains, I support my local businesses, I ask where my products came from and how were the workers treated.

Before the November election, I looked up business donors to No on Prop 8 and emailed them a thank you, letting them know I would support their business for their courage in doing the right thing. Money is speech that forces other people to walk the way you want them to. Use it wisely.

John Lennon Blue Plaid Memories

Twenty eight years ago today, John Lennon was murdered. I heard the news in the living room of our flat on Peralta Avenue in Bernal Heights (San Francisco). The living room had a teak laminate daybed-couch-combo piece of furniture and it was upholstered in blue plaid.

I remember sitting on the couch and crying when I heard the news. After some time had passed, I heard the front door open and knew it was my boyfriend, Jeb, coming home from work. I stood up and in slow motion staggered to the head of the stairs. He come up the stairs smiling and in a good mood as usual. When he say my face his entire demeanor changed and somehow I told him something, but I can't remember the words I used. Then we went into the living room and sat on the blue plaid and watched the images on the television.

To this day, every year on the anniversay of John Lennon's death, I think of that laminated couch with blue plaid fabric and all the emotions come rushing back. I haven't had any blue plaid in my life since.