From October 14, 2010
I did some minor editing at the beginning of this page.
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October 14, 2010 @ 8:05 p.m.
--What some of the harassing celebrities consider harassment and an invasion of privacy when other people do it but not when they do it:
One thing that some of the harassing celebrities have done since they first began to claim that I was the one harassing them instead of it being the other way around is to consider my doing an Internet search on one of their names and reading any of the blogs that they create themselves and publish themselves harassment. If I type in one of their names to an Internet search engine and read one of the blogs that they post about themselves, they call that harassment.
They call that harassment, even though I’ve never written so much as a comment on any of those publicly displayed blog posts or ever tried to contact any of them in any way. They all have analytics systems to track who does searches on their names and who visits their webpages, so even if all I do is one Internet search and don’t even click on any of the search results, they claim that I’m harassing them. That’s been going for on months.
I still haven’t put any kind of analytics system on anything I do online, and so I have no record of who does searches on my name or of who reads what I write. I don’t want to use an analytics system; I feel as if I have plenty to do without trying to keep track of who shows up here and how many times a day.
There’s no doubt that all of the people who claim that my doing so much as one Google search on one of their names is harassment read all of my blogs at least once a day, but if I look at anything they put online, if I try to see what any of them are choosing to publicly display at any time, they say that I’m harassing them.
Copyright L. Kochman October 14, 2010
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October 14, 2010 @ 11:19 p.m.
--What's on page 21 of the current catalogue of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Store
--My political views
--My limitations
The current catalogue for the Metropolitan Museum of Art Store showed up in the mail a couple of days ago. I’ve seen other publications of the catalogue in the past few months and the museum has sometimes seemed to try to present itself as being on everybody’s side, but here’s what’s on page 21:
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October 14, 2010 @ 8:05 p.m.
--What some of the harassing celebrities consider harassment and an invasion of privacy when other people do it but not when they do it:
One thing that some of the harassing celebrities have done since they first began to claim that I was the one harassing them instead of it being the other way around is to consider my doing an Internet search on one of their names and reading any of the blogs that they create themselves and publish themselves harassment. If I type in one of their names to an Internet search engine and read one of the blogs that they post about themselves, they call that harassment.
They call that harassment, even though I’ve never written so much as a comment on any of those publicly displayed blog posts or ever tried to contact any of them in any way. They all have analytics systems to track who does searches on their names and who visits their webpages, so even if all I do is one Internet search and don’t even click on any of the search results, they claim that I’m harassing them. That’s been going for on months.
I still haven’t put any kind of analytics system on anything I do online, and so I have no record of who does searches on my name or of who reads what I write. I don’t want to use an analytics system; I feel as if I have plenty to do without trying to keep track of who shows up here and how many times a day.
There’s no doubt that all of the people who claim that my doing so much as one Google search on one of their names is harassment read all of my blogs at least once a day, but if I look at anything they put online, if I try to see what any of them are choosing to publicly display at any time, they say that I’m harassing them.
Copyright L. Kochman October 14, 2010
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October 14, 2010 @ 11:19 p.m.
--What's on page 21 of the current catalogue of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Store
--My political views
--My limitations
The current catalogue for the Metropolitan Museum of Art Store showed up in the mail a couple of days ago. I’ve seen other publications of the catalogue in the past few months and the museum has sometimes seemed to try to present itself as being on everybody’s side, but here’s what’s on page 21:
I’ve done hardly any research about how much of the current media has its roots in American Nazi organizations from the last century. I’m planning to research it more, but I did think that this was one question that a lot of people might want to try to answer for themselves. I’ve been wanting to try to complete the projects that I’ve already set for myself before I looked more at the Knight Ridder question, and I think that maybe by the time I have a chance to research Knight Ridder and the true origins of The New Yorker, a lot of other people will already know what happened because they’ve researched it and figured it out for themselves.
One thought that's in my mind before I do any real research on The New Yorker is this; Ridder wouldn't have had to own The New Yorker to have been one of its financial backers. Also; it's not as if Ridder was the only American Nazi who ever lived. In addition to all of that, even if The New Yorker and its current owner, Conde Nast, have done as much as they could to bury the truth, it doesn't mean that Ridder never owned that magazine.
Because of page 21 in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s store catalogue, I’m now wondering how many organizations and businesses in the United States other than those that there are in the media have close connections to organizations that were Nazi or Nazi sympathizers before it was obvious that Hitler was going to lose WWII.
--My political views
I've said more than once that I've never voted anything but Democrat in my life, and now I still don't want the Democrats to lose any elections. What I've said since the government first got involved in harassing me was "Stop harassing me, and stop harassing other people, too. It doesn't matter to me who the person is or what he or she has done in regard to me or to anybody else; no more sexual harassment or bullying, no more death threats, and no more pedophilia or other exploitation of young people or of anybody else."
--My limitations
If there is a blog service or anything else on the Internet right now that has no fear of or sympathy for the agenda of the big harassers, who couldn't possibly be vulnerable to pressure from those harassers, and even if I could find those invulnerable, fearless services, as soon as I signed up with one of them, whoever it is would be under pressure to put harassing references on its official website. That is something by which I am limited, and I see that situation as analogous to what everyone who has ever been the intended target of discrimination and harassment has had as a limitation. For example, black people in the United States used to have to spend their entire day negotiating with people who saw them as second class citizens; there was no such thing as being able to leave a racist store in a huff and walk across the street to another store because all of the stores were racist.
Copyright L. Kochman October 15, 2010 @ 12:30 a.m.
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October 15, 2010 @ 8:40 p.m.
I’m not sure what was going on with the Burlington Free Press today. When I went to buy it, which I don't do every day now, I saw that the front page was just the beginning of its awfulness but I also saw that the front page of the Burlington Free Press was completely different from EVERY one of the out-of-state newspapers that were all around it for sale. As far as out-of-state newspapers go, usually only the major ones are for sale every day, so that was a striking contrast between what the Burlington Free Press had decided to put on its front page and what its bigger media colleagues had decided to put on their front pages.
A lone, dissenting voice among a chorus is not always a bad thing, unless the voice really is committed to hurting people. I'm going to again state my impression that James Fogler has predatory tendencies and that he specifically wanted to replace Brad Robertson as the President and Publisher of the Burlington Free Press so that he, Mr. Fogler, could pursue his own, warped agenda and expand the harassment that the Burlington Free Press had started under the direction of Mr. Robertson.
Just below I'm putting pictures from the Burlington Community Newspaper, The North Avenue News, from October 1, 2010. I'm going to have to go through them again and do some editing. IF SOMETHING LOOKS LIKE A REPEAT, IT PROBABLY IS. I HAVE A LOT OF PICTURES TO GET THROUGH.
It will be immediately obvious from her picture that Sally Fox was just one of many polititicans in Vermont who know exactly what's been going on. She's another example of how destructive the Obama adminstration's behavior has been; Ms. Fox has always seemed to me like such a nice woman.
Reading just some of the text in the articles will give you a sense of what happened.
It's difficult to pick out highlights for corruption, especially in this instance, but some that you might not immediately notice:
--Charlie Smith is married to Amy Mellencamp. Amy Mellencamp is the principal of Burlington High School.
--Burlington Electric Department (BED)--Bone Appetit Wine Tasting--Children's Memorial Service at Fletcher Allen Health Care (no relation to Bud Allen)
--Jeanne Collins, Superintendant of Burlington Schools
--Mark Larson, a Democrat who is trying to get re-elected as State Representative, is trying to say that I've been harassing schools, that I'm trying to make schools dangerous. He also has an ad for a funeral home and cremation services just above his ad. The funeral home ad says "Some of the greatest moments in sports never left the driveway." That's a death threat combined with a reference to the fact that I wrote a number of scripted scenes for the show "Friday Night Lights" from 2007-2009. The scenes themselves were rarely used just as they were, but the themes, some of the language, images and much of the direction that the show took during the 2nd, 3rd and 4th seasons were taken from those scenes. Those scenes are also how I went from being known just to the New Yorker and others associated with them to being more widely known in the entertainment industry; word got out.
--It looks as if the Burlington City Councilors and Bob Kiss, the mayor of Burlington, have been using harassment of me to try to get funding for the Moran Plant. Notice the Leahy/ECHO Center "Power Play" ad at the bottom of the page that has Mayor Kiss and City Councilor Ed Adrian on it. The background for Ed Adrian's picture is the lake. I hope I'm not going to have to say this again: NOBODY HAS TO ABUSE ME IN ORDER TO DO WORTHWHILE THINGS!! PLEASE FIND A HEALTHIER, NON-ABUSIVE WAY TO MEET YOUR GOALS!!
--I also think that the Leahy/ECHO center "Power Play" ad was intended to make me feel trapped and to make me feel that there was nothing I could do about anything else that was in the North Avenue News or about any of the overall situation in Vermont.
One thought that's in my mind before I do any real research on The New Yorker is this; Ridder wouldn't have had to own The New Yorker to have been one of its financial backers. Also; it's not as if Ridder was the only American Nazi who ever lived. In addition to all of that, even if The New Yorker and its current owner, Conde Nast, have done as much as they could to bury the truth, it doesn't mean that Ridder never owned that magazine.
Because of page 21 in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s store catalogue, I’m now wondering how many organizations and businesses in the United States other than those that there are in the media have close connections to organizations that were Nazi or Nazi sympathizers before it was obvious that Hitler was going to lose WWII.
--My political views
I've said more than once that I've never voted anything but Democrat in my life, and now I still don't want the Democrats to lose any elections. What I've said since the government first got involved in harassing me was "Stop harassing me, and stop harassing other people, too. It doesn't matter to me who the person is or what he or she has done in regard to me or to anybody else; no more sexual harassment or bullying, no more death threats, and no more pedophilia or other exploitation of young people or of anybody else."
--My limitations
If there is a blog service or anything else on the Internet right now that has no fear of or sympathy for the agenda of the big harassers, who couldn't possibly be vulnerable to pressure from those harassers, and even if I could find those invulnerable, fearless services, as soon as I signed up with one of them, whoever it is would be under pressure to put harassing references on its official website. That is something by which I am limited, and I see that situation as analogous to what everyone who has ever been the intended target of discrimination and harassment has had as a limitation. For example, black people in the United States used to have to spend their entire day negotiating with people who saw them as second class citizens; there was no such thing as being able to leave a racist store in a huff and walk across the street to another store because all of the stores were racist.
Copyright L. Kochman October 15, 2010 @ 12:30 a.m.
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October 15, 2010 @ 8:40 p.m.
I’m not sure what was going on with the Burlington Free Press today. When I went to buy it, which I don't do every day now, I saw that the front page was just the beginning of its awfulness but I also saw that the front page of the Burlington Free Press was completely different from EVERY one of the out-of-state newspapers that were all around it for sale. As far as out-of-state newspapers go, usually only the major ones are for sale every day, so that was a striking contrast between what the Burlington Free Press had decided to put on its front page and what its bigger media colleagues had decided to put on their front pages.
A lone, dissenting voice among a chorus is not always a bad thing, unless the voice really is committed to hurting people. I'm going to again state my impression that James Fogler has predatory tendencies and that he specifically wanted to replace Brad Robertson as the President and Publisher of the Burlington Free Press so that he, Mr. Fogler, could pursue his own, warped agenda and expand the harassment that the Burlington Free Press had started under the direction of Mr. Robertson.
Just below I'm putting pictures from the Burlington Community Newspaper, The North Avenue News, from October 1, 2010. I'm going to have to go through them again and do some editing. IF SOMETHING LOOKS LIKE A REPEAT, IT PROBABLY IS. I HAVE A LOT OF PICTURES TO GET THROUGH.
It will be immediately obvious from her picture that Sally Fox was just one of many polititicans in Vermont who know exactly what's been going on. She's another example of how destructive the Obama adminstration's behavior has been; Ms. Fox has always seemed to me like such a nice woman.
Reading just some of the text in the articles will give you a sense of what happened.
It's difficult to pick out highlights for corruption, especially in this instance, but some that you might not immediately notice:
--Charlie Smith is married to Amy Mellencamp. Amy Mellencamp is the principal of Burlington High School.
--Burlington Electric Department (BED)--Bone Appetit Wine Tasting--Children's Memorial Service at Fletcher Allen Health Care (no relation to Bud Allen)
--Jeanne Collins, Superintendant of Burlington Schools
--Mark Larson, a Democrat who is trying to get re-elected as State Representative, is trying to say that I've been harassing schools, that I'm trying to make schools dangerous. He also has an ad for a funeral home and cremation services just above his ad. The funeral home ad says "Some of the greatest moments in sports never left the driveway." That's a death threat combined with a reference to the fact that I wrote a number of scripted scenes for the show "Friday Night Lights" from 2007-2009. The scenes themselves were rarely used just as they were, but the themes, some of the language, images and much of the direction that the show took during the 2nd, 3rd and 4th seasons were taken from those scenes. Those scenes are also how I went from being known just to the New Yorker and others associated with them to being more widely known in the entertainment industry; word got out.
--It looks as if the Burlington City Councilors and Bob Kiss, the mayor of Burlington, have been using harassment of me to try to get funding for the Moran Plant. Notice the Leahy/ECHO Center "Power Play" ad at the bottom of the page that has Mayor Kiss and City Councilor Ed Adrian on it. The background for Ed Adrian's picture is the lake. I hope I'm not going to have to say this again: NOBODY HAS TO ABUSE ME IN ORDER TO DO WORTHWHILE THINGS!! PLEASE FIND A HEALTHIER, NON-ABUSIVE WAY TO MEET YOUR GOALS!!
--I also think that the Leahy/ECHO center "Power Play" ad was intended to make me feel trapped and to make me feel that there was nothing I could do about anything else that was in the North Avenue News or about any of the overall situation in Vermont.
The ad for Republican Charlie Smith, who is running for Vermont State Senate and is pictured with his wife Amy Mellencamp, the principal of Burlington High School, is on page 2 of the 10/01/10 North Avenue News.
Next to that ad is another ad for a real estate agency that says "A Double Play...."
On Page 3, the opposite page, there is the ad for the Leahy/ECHO Center, along with an ad for a dental care center and also the articles by the mayor of Burlington, Bob Kiss, who is with the Progressive Party, and Burlington Ward 1 City Councilor, Ed Adrian, who is a Democrat.
U.S. Senator from Vermont Patrick Leahy, of the Leahy/ECHO Center, is a Democrat. He is also Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, a senior member of the Agriculture and Appropriations Committees, and Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, according to the website for the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
What the North Avenue News was trying to say with its October 1, 2010 issue was that everyone in Vermont politics and in the Vermont school system are eventually going to be part of the harassment and of the exploitation of children, adolescent minors and other young people in Vermont schools.
October 15, 2010 @ 11:45 p.m.
I’m going to stop here for a minute in order to transcribe the first few paragraphs of the article by Bill Keogh, President of the Burlington City Council. I’ve put some of the sentences into bold print. Please also note the picture and caption for "Friends of Lakeview Cemetery" that accompanied Mr. Keogh's article; sexual harassment and death threats all in one.
“The defunct Moran power plant, the latest Wart on the Waterfront, is making significant strides ahead with professional determination.
Mayor Bob Kiss’ design team has skillfully crafted financing plans for the rebuilding of the project in an effort to furnish a new home for the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, headquartered in Vergennes, and the Burlington shore based Sailing Center. Also an economic venture for a for-profit Ice Factor group, which would provide an ice climbing wall and other attractive amenities.
Most recently, the City received a $3.5-million award in economic stimulus funds to help the project along. And, a short while ago, the City Council approved application for $1-mil in tax credits from the National Park Service to designate the structure as an historic site.
The historic site designation raised some questions. Would that designation be an administrative impediment should the building ever be demolished? City Planner David E. White indicated that such a designation would not. He said should that event arise, any demolition would have to meet already existing zoning laws.
There is that informal Society of Skeptics which now doubts the financial success of the project, and may seek demolition of the plant with its replacement as a lake shore sedentary park.
But the Mayor’s team is showing nothing but success in financing the Project so far. The team is led by consultant David G. White, Larry Kupferman of the City Economic Development Office (CEDO), and Kirsten Merriman Shapiro, project manager. They have truly shaken the non-City taxpayer bushes to squeeze out dollars and federally subsidized loans and tax credits to finance some anticipated $16.5-mil to provide a workable shell for potential building tenants.
While nearly $1-mill has been spent in developing the project in the form of staff support and consultant contracts, those funds have come from the City’s general fund and appropriate fund sources. The main caveat in this project is that the tax rate in the City be not affected and, if so, the matter has to be put to the vote of the taxpayers....
end of quote
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October 15, 2010 @ 11:29 p.m.
I looked the Moran plant up; that project has been sitting for years.
1) The City just received a $3.5 million award in economic stimulus funds.
2) The City Council wants to apply for $1 million in tax credits from the National Park Service to get the site declared historic, even though the City Council might then vote to demolish the site; am I incorrect in stating that Mr. Keogh is saying that the City Council is going to take $1 million in tax credits for the site and then he says that it’s fine to do that even if the City Council subsequently decides to rip the whole thing down and build something completely different in its place? Land isn’t historic for the purposes of getting tax credits for buildings that are on it; if you declare a building historic, it’s the building that’s historic. As far as land goes, the whole world is historic in terms of having been here for all of history; either a building is historic or it isn’t, and my feeling on this is that either you take $1 million in tax credits from the National Park Service because the Park Service agrees that your building is historic and then you don’t rip the building down or you rip your non-historic building down and DON’T take the tax credits. I’m happy to be wrong in my assessment on that point; am I wrong, is that not how tax credits work?
3) More harassment of me, “bushes,” no less, and then he says “While nearly $1 mil has been spent in developing the project in the form of staff support and consultant contracts, those funds have come from the City’s general fund and appropriate loan sources. The main caveat in this project is that the tax rate in the City be not affected and, if so, the matter has to be put to a vote of the taxpayers.”
It seems as if the following is true: the City Council didn’t do anything with the project except to give money to its friends, the City Council then used harassment of me to get $3.15-mill in economic stimulus from the federal government and now in addition to wanting to commit fraud with the National Park Service for $1 million in illegitimately obtained tax credits, the City Council wants even more money from the federal government so that the City Council doesn’t have to ask for the taxpayers to vote on a tax increase in order to pay for the project. If the City Council doesn’t get more money from the federal government and does have to ask the taxpayers to vote for a tax increase, the City Council will then have to explain what the Council did with the money it already had, and the Council doesn’t want to make that explanation to the taxpayers, so the people on the Council who are in support of the harassment of me and I guess also Mayor Bob Kiss of Burlington would rather use the harassment of me to get more money from the federal government instead.
I am MORE than happy to be wrong about my assessment of that issue; am I wrong?
I’m going to stop here for a minute in order to transcribe the first few paragraphs of the article by Bill Keogh, President of the Burlington City Council. I’ve put some of the sentences into bold print. Please also note the picture and caption for "Friends of Lakeview Cemetery" that accompanied Mr. Keogh's article; sexual harassment and death threats all in one.
“The defunct Moran power plant, the latest Wart on the Waterfront, is making significant strides ahead with professional determination.
Mayor Bob Kiss’ design team has skillfully crafted financing plans for the rebuilding of the project in an effort to furnish a new home for the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, headquartered in Vergennes, and the Burlington shore based Sailing Center. Also an economic venture for a for-profit Ice Factor group, which would provide an ice climbing wall and other attractive amenities.
Most recently, the City received a $3.5-million award in economic stimulus funds to help the project along. And, a short while ago, the City Council approved application for $1-mil in tax credits from the National Park Service to designate the structure as an historic site.
The historic site designation raised some questions. Would that designation be an administrative impediment should the building ever be demolished? City Planner David E. White indicated that such a designation would not. He said should that event arise, any demolition would have to meet already existing zoning laws.
There is that informal Society of Skeptics which now doubts the financial success of the project, and may seek demolition of the plant with its replacement as a lake shore sedentary park.
But the Mayor’s team is showing nothing but success in financing the Project so far. The team is led by consultant David G. White, Larry Kupferman of the City Economic Development Office (CEDO), and Kirsten Merriman Shapiro, project manager. They have truly shaken the non-City taxpayer bushes to squeeze out dollars and federally subsidized loans and tax credits to finance some anticipated $16.5-mil to provide a workable shell for potential building tenants.
While nearly $1-mill has been spent in developing the project in the form of staff support and consultant contracts, those funds have come from the City’s general fund and appropriate fund sources. The main caveat in this project is that the tax rate in the City be not affected and, if so, the matter has to be put to the vote of the taxpayers....
end of quote
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October 15, 2010 @ 11:29 p.m.
I looked the Moran plant up; that project has been sitting for years.
1) The City just received a $3.5 million award in economic stimulus funds.
2) The City Council wants to apply for $1 million in tax credits from the National Park Service to get the site declared historic, even though the City Council might then vote to demolish the site; am I incorrect in stating that Mr. Keogh is saying that the City Council is going to take $1 million in tax credits for the site and then he says that it’s fine to do that even if the City Council subsequently decides to rip the whole thing down and build something completely different in its place? Land isn’t historic for the purposes of getting tax credits for buildings that are on it; if you declare a building historic, it’s the building that’s historic. As far as land goes, the whole world is historic in terms of having been here for all of history; either a building is historic or it isn’t, and my feeling on this is that either you take $1 million in tax credits from the National Park Service because the Park Service agrees that your building is historic and then you don’t rip the building down or you rip your non-historic building down and DON’T take the tax credits. I’m happy to be wrong in my assessment on that point; am I wrong, is that not how tax credits work?
3) More harassment of me, “bushes,” no less, and then he says “While nearly $1 mil has been spent in developing the project in the form of staff support and consultant contracts, those funds have come from the City’s general fund and appropriate loan sources. The main caveat in this project is that the tax rate in the City be not affected and, if so, the matter has to be put to a vote of the taxpayers.”
It seems as if the following is true: the City Council didn’t do anything with the project except to give money to its friends, the City Council then used harassment of me to get $3.15-mill in economic stimulus from the federal government and now in addition to wanting to commit fraud with the National Park Service for $1 million in illegitimately obtained tax credits, the City Council wants even more money from the federal government so that the City Council doesn’t have to ask for the taxpayers to vote on a tax increase in order to pay for the project. If the City Council doesn’t get more money from the federal government and does have to ask the taxpayers to vote for a tax increase, the City Council will then have to explain what the Council did with the money it already had, and the Council doesn’t want to make that explanation to the taxpayers, so the people on the Council who are in support of the harassment of me and I guess also Mayor Bob Kiss of Burlington would rather use the harassment of me to get more money from the federal government instead.
I am MORE than happy to be wrong about my assessment of that issue; am I wrong?
October 16, 2010 @ 12:47 a.m.
Just above, Philip Baruth, who is a Democrat running for State Senate, says that he has been the Ward 4 Burlington School Commissioner for two terms. I just looked at his official campaign website; it’s full of harassing references.
Next are the Burlington Police Department and Hannafords Supermarket making their appearances in support of the harassment. The Burlington Police Department is offering to take people's unneeded or old prescription medications and get rid of them so that the waterways don't get contaminated, then there's the Prostate Cancer Support Group Meeting, the ad for Hannaford's fundraising for schools projects, and the ad for a dry cleaning service.
Just above, Philip Baruth, who is a Democrat running for State Senate, says that he has been the Ward 4 Burlington School Commissioner for two terms. I just looked at his official campaign website; it’s full of harassing references.
Next are the Burlington Police Department and Hannafords Supermarket making their appearances in support of the harassment. The Burlington Police Department is offering to take people's unneeded or old prescription medications and get rid of them so that the waterways don't get contaminated, then there's the Prostate Cancer Support Group Meeting, the ad for Hannaford's fundraising for schools projects, and the ad for a dry cleaning service.
October 16, 2010 @ 1:00 a.m.
I wonder if the Hannaford’s on North Avenue still has that big picture of sushi next to its front entrance display of all of the schools that are part of Hannaford’s fundraising program. That sushi picture has been there for a couple of months now.
Here's what's on the opposite page to the Burlington Police Department/Hannaford's Page of Harassment; it looks as if even Republicans are trying to become part of the harassment, hoping that it will improve their chances of winning.
October 16, 2010 @ 1:22 a.m.
I wish that all of the celebrities who have been part of the harassment would stop. It is certain that the behavior of those celebrities is negatively affecting quality of life for a lot of people in Vermont, people who have never done anything to those celebrities or to anybody else.
The harassment is extremely destructive on a lot of levels. Nobody has to say I’m great; can’t you just find something else to discuss?
PLEASE drop all of the harassment because you’re hurting innocent people. If I can stand up to the government, the media and everybody else who’s been part of it, can’t you?
What right do you have to sacrifice other people, including me, to your ambitions? You all already have more of the kinds of things that millions of people think they would love to have than most of the world ever will, and it seems to me that you've all demonstrated that what's missing in your lives is a value system that takes into account how your behavior affects anyone outside of what you want for yourselves and what your clique says is important. You'd be nowhere without your fans, and fans are people; the same kinds of people whose lives and futures you're endangering now, have been endangering for months.
These issues aren't going to stop in Vermont; it's going to go all across the country, everything that's happened here. If it isn't all across the country already or close to being there, I'd be surprised.
Celebrity humanitarian causes are one thing; what about just being humane?
I wish that all of the celebrities who have been part of the harassment would stop. It is certain that the behavior of those celebrities is negatively affecting quality of life for a lot of people in Vermont, people who have never done anything to those celebrities or to anybody else.
The harassment is extremely destructive on a lot of levels. Nobody has to say I’m great; can’t you just find something else to discuss?
PLEASE drop all of the harassment because you’re hurting innocent people. If I can stand up to the government, the media and everybody else who’s been part of it, can’t you?
What right do you have to sacrifice other people, including me, to your ambitions? You all already have more of the kinds of things that millions of people think they would love to have than most of the world ever will, and it seems to me that you've all demonstrated that what's missing in your lives is a value system that takes into account how your behavior affects anyone outside of what you want for yourselves and what your clique says is important. You'd be nowhere without your fans, and fans are people; the same kinds of people whose lives and futures you're endangering now, have been endangering for months.
These issues aren't going to stop in Vermont; it's going to go all across the country, everything that's happened here. If it isn't all across the country already or close to being there, I'd be surprised.
Celebrity humanitarian causes are one thing; what about just being humane?
October 16, 2010 @ 1:55 a.m.
Tom Licata says he’s running for State Representative as an Independent. He’s not independent of the harassment, though; he’s got a quote from Erskine Bowles, Co-Chairman of President Obama’s “Fiscal Commission,” that says “This debt is like a cancer. It is truly going to destroy the country from within...”
In my opinion, the effects that the harassment is going to have on the country are going to destroy the country from within. It's already caused strife, fear and pain within entire communities that never had to happen; it's ALL been both harmful and unnecessary.
There are things that have happened because of the harassment that none of the harassers outside of Vermont know about; people completely unrelated to me and who aren't a part of my life in any way have been hurt in ways that are unbelievably sick and brutal. Things have happened to those people that they will never forget; emotional wounds have been inflicted on them that can't ever be taken back. Those are not my stories to tell, but I'll never forget them, either.
Here are more pictures from the page that has the ad for Tom Licata. I don't think I need to remind anyone that I'm Jewish.
Tom Licata says he’s running for State Representative as an Independent. He’s not independent of the harassment, though; he’s got a quote from Erskine Bowles, Co-Chairman of President Obama’s “Fiscal Commission,” that says “This debt is like a cancer. It is truly going to destroy the country from within...”
In my opinion, the effects that the harassment is going to have on the country are going to destroy the country from within. It's already caused strife, fear and pain within entire communities that never had to happen; it's ALL been both harmful and unnecessary.
There are things that have happened because of the harassment that none of the harassers outside of Vermont know about; people completely unrelated to me and who aren't a part of my life in any way have been hurt in ways that are unbelievably sick and brutal. Things have happened to those people that they will never forget; emotional wounds have been inflicted on them that can't ever be taken back. Those are not my stories to tell, but I'll never forget them, either.
Here are more pictures from the page that has the ad for Tom Licata. I don't think I need to remind anyone that I'm Jewish.
October 16, 2010 @ 3:14 a.m.
The next section of the October 1, 2010 Burlington Community Newspaper, The North Avenue News, that I’ve taken a picture of is in the midst of pictures of kids that go across the top of two facing pages; I didn't take pictures of the grade school and high school students that are featured on those two pages.
The next section of the October 1, 2010 Burlington Community Newspaper, The North Avenue News, that I’ve taken a picture of is in the midst of pictures of kids that go across the top of two facing pages; I didn't take pictures of the grade school and high school students that are featured on those two pages.
October 16, 2010 @ 3:46 a.m.
The Papa Frank’s ad in the middle of page 20 of the October 1, 2010 North Avenue News isn’t my father or my father's business; Papa Frank’s is an Italian restaurant. In the middle of the ad, it says “Go BHS! Go Seahorses!” The picture of the Burlington Seahorse mascot game/advertisement that says "You could be the winner of a $30 gift certificate to Papa Frank's or 2 lobster tails & 2 bacon wrapped beef filets (a $29.99 value) from Bessery's Market," is a picture I took of the lower right corner of page 31 of the October 1, 2010 Burlington Community Newspaper, The North Avenue News.
The Papa Frank’s ad in the middle of page 20 of the October 1, 2010 North Avenue News isn’t my father or my father's business; Papa Frank’s is an Italian restaurant. In the middle of the ad, it says “Go BHS! Go Seahorses!” The picture of the Burlington Seahorse mascot game/advertisement that says "You could be the winner of a $30 gift certificate to Papa Frank's or 2 lobster tails & 2 bacon wrapped beef filets (a $29.99 value) from Bessery's Market," is a picture I took of the lower right corner of page 31 of the October 1, 2010 Burlington Community Newspaper, The North Avenue News.
October 16, 2010 @ 4:23 a.m.
I’ve taken a picture of pages 20 and 21 together, and then pictures of page 21. Bill Aswad is a Democrat running for re-election as a representative to the Vermont House of Representatives. Please note the ad for an “Express Wax” at “Seaway Carwash” that’s next to Mr. Aswad’s campaign ad.
I’ve taken a picture of pages 20 and 21 together, and then pictures of page 21. Bill Aswad is a Democrat running for re-election as a representative to the Vermont House of Representatives. Please note the ad for an “Express Wax” at “Seaway Carwash” that’s next to Mr. Aswad’s campaign ad.
October 16, 2010 @ 4:45 a.m.
These pictures will show Sally Fox’s ad, in which she’s got the lake as the background; she used the same lake background for her ad as City Councilor Ed Adrian. Then there’s the ad for “Salting and Sanding” property management services next to her campaign ad.
Vermont State Senator Tim Ashe went out of his way to be harassing in his article. It seems as if he was originally with the party that calls itself Progressive but that he is now also associated with the Democratic Party in Vermont. I also looked up his website; he’s even got a reference to the tritium leak. I’m not sure which of the harassing references has revolted me the most. To be honest, the fact that it all ever happened revolted me in its entirety; it’s still a weird feeling to see educated people behave that way, and the fact that they make decisions that affect the lives of so many people is horrifying.
October 16, 2010 @ 5:32 a.m.
Next are pictures of the article by Amy Mellencamp, Charlie Smith’s wife. Charlie Smith is running for Vermont State Senate. He’s President of Key Bank and has also worked with the United Way. Amy Mellencamp is Principal of Burlington High School, the same high school that has put its mascot in 5 different places in this issue of the North Avenue News as a game for people who can potentially win “2 lobster tails & 2 bacon wrapped beef filets.” In fact, I’ll add that picture of the Burlington Seahorses mascot with the explanation of the game, from page 31 again here, after the pictures of Principal Mellencamp’s article, in which she discusses her concerns for safety at her school, encourages students to become student leaders at the ECHO Center, and enthuses over the Champlain Longboats Rowing afterschool program.
Next are pictures of the article by Amy Mellencamp, Charlie Smith’s wife. Charlie Smith is running for Vermont State Senate. He’s President of Key Bank and has also worked with the United Way. Amy Mellencamp is Principal of Burlington High School, the same high school that has put its mascot in 5 different places in this issue of the North Avenue News as a game for people who can potentially win “2 lobster tails & 2 bacon wrapped beef filets.” In fact, I’ll add that picture of the Burlington Seahorses mascot with the explanation of the game, from page 31 again here, after the pictures of Principal Mellencamp’s article, in which she discusses her concerns for safety at her school, encourages students to become student leaders at the ECHO Center, and enthuses over the Champlain Longboats Rowing afterschool program.
October 16, 2010 @ 5:59 a.m.
The page opposite to Burlington High School Principal Amy Mellencamp’s article has articles by the principals of two different grade schools, talking about sprinkler systems, laundering, cleanliness, and how “the rain probably kept a few families” from attending an Open House on September 16, 2010.
The page opposite to Burlington High School Principal Amy Mellencamp’s article has articles by the principals of two different grade schools, talking about sprinkler systems, laundering, cleanliness, and how “the rain probably kept a few families” from attending an Open House on September 16, 2010.
October 16, 2010 @ 6:21 a.m.
Here’s what’s on page 27. The picture of the Christ The King 2nd Graders making a pizza at Shelburne Farms was blurred in the original article from the North Avenue News. The ad that says “Want to make a difference in someone’s life?” isn’t blurry, though. There’s also an ad for Burlington Electric Department, which calls itself “BED” on that page, right under the picture of the 2nd graders. To the right of the BED ad, there's an announcement about Burlington public schools being required by law to find the disabled students that need special education, and just below the BED ad, the Burlington School District lists some of its Employment Opportunities, starting with "Special Educator" for its "Ontop Program."
Here’s what’s on page 27. The picture of the Christ The King 2nd Graders making a pizza at Shelburne Farms was blurred in the original article from the North Avenue News. The ad that says “Want to make a difference in someone’s life?” isn’t blurry, though. There’s also an ad for Burlington Electric Department, which calls itself “BED” on that page, right under the picture of the 2nd graders. To the right of the BED ad, there's an announcement about Burlington public schools being required by law to find the disabled students that need special education, and just below the BED ad, the Burlington School District lists some of its Employment Opportunities, starting with "Special Educator" for its "Ontop Program."
Copyright L. Kochman October 16, 2010, thankfully excluding everything I quoted and everything I photographed.
October 16, 2010 @ 8:19 p.m.
--Harassment and anti-Semitism by the Pastor of First United Methodist Church in Burlington, Vt, Mark Demers.
This advertisement for the First United Methodist Church's Harvest Luncheon was on page 6 of the October 1, 2010 North Avenue News, next to the article by the Burlington School Superintendent Jeanne Collins. This isn't the FAITH United Methodist Church in South Burlington that I've previously discussed as being part of the harassment, it's the FIRST United Methodist Church in Burlington.
Here’s what Reverend Demers has written on the website for the First United Methodist Church today, October 16, 2010. If you read it all the way through, you’ll see that it’s not only harassing but anti-Semitic, and he’s trying to call me dangerous. Perhaps Reverend Demers thinks I'm dangerous because he perceives me as a threat to the continuance of things that he likes.
I’ve added some of the bold print, to bring out some of the harassing references and anti-Semitism that you might otherwise miss. I also put the part at the end where he's telling me I need to "repent" in bold letters. The rest of the bold print is what Reverend Demers put in his own article.
This is the 21st century. Women and children aren't the property of men, and never should have been considered so in the first place. I have nothing to repent for in this situation; it seems to me that Reverend Demers has got it backwards.
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Who is Coming For Thanksgiving? October 16, 2010 by markdemers
As I reflect on the Gospel lesson today (which is actually last Sunday’s lectionary reading), two things come to mind. First, I think of the miners in Chile. I heard one person pray as the miners were being lifted to the surface: “May you get all the glory, Lord.” Many have noted the miner who fell to his knees in an apparent gesture of gratitude to God. And at least one publication[1] states it was devotion to God, to Mary and to a number of Saints – including St. Lawrence, patron saint of miners – that the men were able to maintain their sanity during this ordeal.
The second thing that is in my mind is the recent episode of Glee that aired. It was called “Grilled Cheesus”. The theme that carried this particular episode of the popular TV show was about a gay teenager whose father suffered a heart attack that had the potential of leaving him with brain damage. Many of the boy’s church-going friends assured him they were praying for his father. He states rather bluntly that he doesn’t believe God caused his father’s heart attack, and he doesn’t believe God will heal his father, because he doesn’t believe God exists.
In the Gospel Jesus observes, with some consternation and disappointment, that only one of the ten who were healed came back in thanksgiving. There are a number of questions that arise.
1. First, his instructions to the ten lepers were to go show themselves to the priest. Assuming the other nine were also healed, is it not also safe to assume they followed Jesus’ instructions? He didn’t tell them to come back to him.
2. And now, the real question emerges: To whom is thanks to be offered?
The priest would be the conventional conduit for the proper deity to be contacted. If the nine were Jews – and the story implies they were – they did things the right way. I can’t help but think that Jesus expresses an expectation here that no God-fearing Jew could meet. Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? Jesus asks. Wait a minute … Do we have a new “God” on our hands here?
Many there are in our world today who don’t thank God because they aren’t sure if there even is a God anymore. The tendency would be to focus our attention on the need to be more thankful. But is that really the crux of the matter here? Or, is the central issue that Jesus is presenting a whole new revelation of God that, if we’re lucky, maybe one out of ten of us is going to get? His question: Where are the other nine begs a more personal question: Where am I?
Mario Gomez was the oldest of the miners rescued in Chile. As he emerged from the capsule, he hugged his wife and then dropped to his knees to pray.[2] Was he praying to the Virgin Mary? To St. Lawrence, the patron of miners? To some other saint? To Jesus? To the Trinity? Does it matter? Is it best to leave the question unanswered?
Let’s place ourselves under the umbrella of mercy just now, and let me ask if there are any who are comfortable sharing your opinion in response to this question: Does it matter to whom Mr. Gomez was praying?
The Gospel lesson we have before us today almost reads like a set-up. And, the only one who got it right was the Samaritan – that is, the one whose religious education and practice were held in low regard by the Jews, and, we believe, by Jesus as well. One scholar describes the relationship between Jews and Samaritans by saying they were not exactly enemies, but the Samaritans were considered to be “seceders and nonconformists.”[3] A Samaritan would understand what it meant to show one’s self to the priest in order to be declared “clean”; but perhaps he would not have taken the command with the same intensity of literalness that his Jewish friends did. A troubling insinuation here is the less certain one is about God, the more apt one is to be able to experience God.
Jesus wasn’t looking for gratitude as much as he was presenting a new revelation. And the only on-ramp that gives us access to this revelation is faith. That’s why Jesus does not say to the Samaritan: Rise and go your way; your gratitude has made you well. Not gratitude, but faith. This is one of those Jesus stories that lacks interior consistency. The man returns praising God with a loud voice, falling on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving thanks. But the question Jesus asks is: Are none of the others found to return and give praise to God…?
Karen Armstrong recounts the story of St. Thomas Aquinas who, as the last page of his monumental Summa Theologica was being dictated to a scribe, laid his head sadly on his arms. With some concern, the scribe asks the great scholar: What is the matter? And Thomas replied: Everything I have written is straw compared to what I have seen.[4]
Theologian Martin Buber writes of “two types of faith” – the rational, which has to do with an intellectual intersection with eternal truth; and the experiential, which results from the contact of all our being with the one in whom we trust.[5]
The sin we commit is two-fold. First, like the nine, we get so caught up in our traditions that they become our god. When doing what God has command us to do in the past becomes so important to us that we no longer listen for or expect to hear a new word from God in the present, we fall into rituals that become obsolete at best, dangerous at worse.[6]
And the second sin is to misconstrue the nature of the mission of God. The Samaritan’s falling at Jesus’ feet in praise and gratitude is not the culmination of his spiritual journey; it is just the beginning. In this lifetime Jesus is never the end. Jesus is always the next step in spiritual discovery. It’s not a question of who comes back to offer thanks as much as it is a question of who is living in the wonderful, unscripted, spontaneous, sometime gentle-sometimes gusting winds of the Holy and Creative Spirit of God!
I think the Gospel story is less about giving thanks and more about a new revelation. The impetus that turns this Samaritan around and heading back toward Jesus – in some ways a living example of repentance in the true sense of the word – is under the same influence that turned Peter toward Jesus in his profession of faith. It’s not “Thanks be to God” that gives Christianity its power and hope, but rather, “You are the Christ!” That’s the direction the Samaritan was heading. That’s where we have to go, too.
[1] The CatholicHerald.co.uk – http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2010/10/13/it-was-surely-praying-at-their-%E2%80%98makeshift-shrine%E2%80%99-that-kept-the-chilean-miners-sane/
[2] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39625809/ns/world_news-americas/.
[3] R. J. Coggins, Samaritans and Jews – The Origins of Samaritanism Reconsidered. John Knox Press, Atlanta, Georgia. © 1975. Introduction, Page 1.
[4] Karen Armstrong, A History of God. Published in the US by Alfred A Knopf, Inc. © 1993. Page 205.
[5] Martin Buber, Two Types of Faith. Harper Torchbooks; Harper &Row Publishers, New York, NY. 1961. Pages 7-8.
[6] Think of Abraham and the sacrifice of Iisaac.
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
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October 17, 2010 @ 5:23 p.m.
I had an unpleasant experience last night. I had noticed that for several weeks a place in Burlington had big signs in its windows that said “Kahuna.” The signs were unnecessary to the kind of business that it is. I know the owner; he’s someone that I had a class with almost 10 years ago. He’s only ever been an acquaintance, but we’ve never been on bad terms.
Earlier last week I went in to ask him to take down the signs that said “Kahuna.” He wasn’t there. I asked his staff when he’d be there and last night I showed up at the time when they said he’s usually around. I was told “He’s not here and you shouldn’t expect to see him.”
That’s another part of my community that’s been destroyed for me, for no good reason. An ordinary part of life that doesn’t exist for me anymore; a fun place to go every once in a while, and someone who was always nice to talk to, both erased from my life and replaced with hostility. Same with Leunig’s; I have no idea why Leunig’s Restaurant became as vicious as it did, why it became not only seemingly a cornerstone of the food service in Vermont that became a part of the harassment but a supporter of the pedophilia side of the issue also.
Before this year, I’d been to Leunig’s more times than I could count. I’d been there as a child, as a teenager, and as an adult. I’d been there with friends, family and on dates. Now, even if the owners sold the place and it became a business unrelated even to restaurants, I don’t think I’d ever want to be in the building again if I could avoid it.
Copyright L. Kochman October 17, 2010
I’ve added some of the bold print, to bring out some of the harassing references and anti-Semitism that you might otherwise miss. I also put the part at the end where he's telling me I need to "repent" in bold letters. The rest of the bold print is what Reverend Demers put in his own article.
This is the 21st century. Women and children aren't the property of men, and never should have been considered so in the first place. I have nothing to repent for in this situation; it seems to me that Reverend Demers has got it backwards.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Who is Coming For Thanksgiving? October 16, 2010 by markdemers
As I reflect on the Gospel lesson today (which is actually last Sunday’s lectionary reading), two things come to mind. First, I think of the miners in Chile. I heard one person pray as the miners were being lifted to the surface: “May you get all the glory, Lord.” Many have noted the miner who fell to his knees in an apparent gesture of gratitude to God. And at least one publication[1] states it was devotion to God, to Mary and to a number of Saints – including St. Lawrence, patron saint of miners – that the men were able to maintain their sanity during this ordeal.
The second thing that is in my mind is the recent episode of Glee that aired. It was called “Grilled Cheesus”. The theme that carried this particular episode of the popular TV show was about a gay teenager whose father suffered a heart attack that had the potential of leaving him with brain damage. Many of the boy’s church-going friends assured him they were praying for his father. He states rather bluntly that he doesn’t believe God caused his father’s heart attack, and he doesn’t believe God will heal his father, because he doesn’t believe God exists.
In the Gospel Jesus observes, with some consternation and disappointment, that only one of the ten who were healed came back in thanksgiving. There are a number of questions that arise.
1. First, his instructions to the ten lepers were to go show themselves to the priest. Assuming the other nine were also healed, is it not also safe to assume they followed Jesus’ instructions? He didn’t tell them to come back to him.
2. And now, the real question emerges: To whom is thanks to be offered?
The priest would be the conventional conduit for the proper deity to be contacted. If the nine were Jews – and the story implies they were – they did things the right way. I can’t help but think that Jesus expresses an expectation here that no God-fearing Jew could meet. Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? Jesus asks. Wait a minute … Do we have a new “God” on our hands here?
Many there are in our world today who don’t thank God because they aren’t sure if there even is a God anymore. The tendency would be to focus our attention on the need to be more thankful. But is that really the crux of the matter here? Or, is the central issue that Jesus is presenting a whole new revelation of God that, if we’re lucky, maybe one out of ten of us is going to get? His question: Where are the other nine begs a more personal question: Where am I?
Mario Gomez was the oldest of the miners rescued in Chile. As he emerged from the capsule, he hugged his wife and then dropped to his knees to pray.[2] Was he praying to the Virgin Mary? To St. Lawrence, the patron of miners? To some other saint? To Jesus? To the Trinity? Does it matter? Is it best to leave the question unanswered?
Let’s place ourselves under the umbrella of mercy just now, and let me ask if there are any who are comfortable sharing your opinion in response to this question: Does it matter to whom Mr. Gomez was praying?
The Gospel lesson we have before us today almost reads like a set-up. And, the only one who got it right was the Samaritan – that is, the one whose religious education and practice were held in low regard by the Jews, and, we believe, by Jesus as well. One scholar describes the relationship between Jews and Samaritans by saying they were not exactly enemies, but the Samaritans were considered to be “seceders and nonconformists.”[3] A Samaritan would understand what it meant to show one’s self to the priest in order to be declared “clean”; but perhaps he would not have taken the command with the same intensity of literalness that his Jewish friends did. A troubling insinuation here is the less certain one is about God, the more apt one is to be able to experience God.
Jesus wasn’t looking for gratitude as much as he was presenting a new revelation. And the only on-ramp that gives us access to this revelation is faith. That’s why Jesus does not say to the Samaritan: Rise and go your way; your gratitude has made you well. Not gratitude, but faith. This is one of those Jesus stories that lacks interior consistency. The man returns praising God with a loud voice, falling on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving thanks. But the question Jesus asks is: Are none of the others found to return and give praise to God…?
Karen Armstrong recounts the story of St. Thomas Aquinas who, as the last page of his monumental Summa Theologica was being dictated to a scribe, laid his head sadly on his arms. With some concern, the scribe asks the great scholar: What is the matter? And Thomas replied: Everything I have written is straw compared to what I have seen.[4]
Theologian Martin Buber writes of “two types of faith” – the rational, which has to do with an intellectual intersection with eternal truth; and the experiential, which results from the contact of all our being with the one in whom we trust.[5]
The sin we commit is two-fold. First, like the nine, we get so caught up in our traditions that they become our god. When doing what God has command us to do in the past becomes so important to us that we no longer listen for or expect to hear a new word from God in the present, we fall into rituals that become obsolete at best, dangerous at worse.[6]
And the second sin is to misconstrue the nature of the mission of God. The Samaritan’s falling at Jesus’ feet in praise and gratitude is not the culmination of his spiritual journey; it is just the beginning. In this lifetime Jesus is never the end. Jesus is always the next step in spiritual discovery. It’s not a question of who comes back to offer thanks as much as it is a question of who is living in the wonderful, unscripted, spontaneous, sometime gentle-sometimes gusting winds of the Holy and Creative Spirit of God!
I think the Gospel story is less about giving thanks and more about a new revelation. The impetus that turns this Samaritan around and heading back toward Jesus – in some ways a living example of repentance in the true sense of the word – is under the same influence that turned Peter toward Jesus in his profession of faith. It’s not “Thanks be to God” that gives Christianity its power and hope, but rather, “You are the Christ!” That’s the direction the Samaritan was heading. That’s where we have to go, too.
[1] The CatholicHerald.co.uk – http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2010/10/13/it-was-surely-praying-at-their-%E2%80%98makeshift-shrine%E2%80%99-that-kept-the-chilean-miners-sane/
[2] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39625809/ns/world_news-americas/.
[3] R. J. Coggins, Samaritans and Jews – The Origins of Samaritanism Reconsidered. John Knox Press, Atlanta, Georgia. © 1975. Introduction, Page 1.
[4] Karen Armstrong, A History of God. Published in the US by Alfred A Knopf, Inc. © 1993. Page 205.
[5] Martin Buber, Two Types of Faith. Harper Torchbooks; Harper &Row Publishers, New York, NY. 1961. Pages 7-8.
[6] Think of Abraham and the sacrifice of Iisaac.
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
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October 17, 2010 @ 5:23 p.m.
I had an unpleasant experience last night. I had noticed that for several weeks a place in Burlington had big signs in its windows that said “Kahuna.” The signs were unnecessary to the kind of business that it is. I know the owner; he’s someone that I had a class with almost 10 years ago. He’s only ever been an acquaintance, but we’ve never been on bad terms.
Earlier last week I went in to ask him to take down the signs that said “Kahuna.” He wasn’t there. I asked his staff when he’d be there and last night I showed up at the time when they said he’s usually around. I was told “He’s not here and you shouldn’t expect to see him.”
That’s another part of my community that’s been destroyed for me, for no good reason. An ordinary part of life that doesn’t exist for me anymore; a fun place to go every once in a while, and someone who was always nice to talk to, both erased from my life and replaced with hostility. Same with Leunig’s; I have no idea why Leunig’s Restaurant became as vicious as it did, why it became not only seemingly a cornerstone of the food service in Vermont that became a part of the harassment but a supporter of the pedophilia side of the issue also.
Before this year, I’d been to Leunig’s more times than I could count. I’d been there as a child, as a teenager, and as an adult. I’d been there with friends, family and on dates. Now, even if the owners sold the place and it became a business unrelated even to restaurants, I don’t think I’d ever want to be in the building again if I could avoid it.
Copyright L. Kochman October 17, 2010