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Busted for wearing a peace T-shirt; has this country gone completely insane?

By Mike Ferner
Online Journal Contributing Writer


Jul 5, 2006, 01:49



Friday afternoon, drinking a cup of coffee while sitting in the Jesse Brown V.A. Medical Center on Chicago's south side, a Veterans Administration cop walked up to me and said, "Okay, you've had your 15 minutes, it's time to go."

"Huh?" I asked intelligently, not quite sure what he was talking about.

"You can't be in here protesting," Officer Adkins said, pointing to my Veterans For Peace shirt.

"Well, I'm not protesting, I'm having a cup of coffee," I returned, thinking that logic would convince Adkins to go back to his earlier duties of guarding against serious terrorists.

Flipping his badge open, he said, "No, not with that shirt. You're protesting and you have to go."

Beginning to get his drift, I said firmly, "Not before I finish my coffee."

He insisted that I leave, but still not quite believing my ears, I tried one more approach to reason.

"Hey, listen. I'm a veteran. This is a V.A. facility. I'm sitting here not talking to anybody, having a cup of coffee. I'm not protesting and you can't kick me out."

"You'll either go or we'll arrest you," Adkins threatened.

"Well, you'll just have to arrest me," I said, wondering what strange land I was now living in.

You know the rest. Handcuffed, led away to the facility's security office, past people with surprised looks on their faces, read my rights, searched, and written up.

The officer who did the formalities, Eric Ousley, was professional in his duties. When I asked him if he was a vet, it turned out he had been a hospital corpsman in the Navy. We exchanged a couple sea stories. He uncuffed me early. And he allowed as to how he would only charge me with disorderly conduct, letting me go on charges of criminal trespass and weapons possession -- a pocket knife -- which he said would have to be destroyed (something I rather doubt since it was a nifty Swiss Army knife with not only a bottle opener, but a tweezers and a toothpick).

After informing me I could either pay the $275 fine on the citation or appear in court, Ousley escorted me off the premises, warning me if I returned with "that shirt" on, I'd be arrested and booked into jail.

I'm sure I could go back to officers Adkins' and Ousleys' fiefdom with a shirt that said, "Nuke all the hajis," or "Show us your tits," or any number of truly obscene things and no one would care. Just so it's not "that shirt" again.

And just for the record? I'm not paying the fine. I'll see Adkins and Ousley and Dubya's Director of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, if he wants to show up, in United States District Court on the appointed date. And if there's a Chicago area attorney who'd like to take the case, I'd really like to sue them -- from Dubya on down. I have to believe that this whole country has not yet gone insane, just the government. This kind of behavior can't be tolerated. It must be challenged.

I was at the Jesse Brown V.A. Medical Center because I'm participating in the Voices for Creative Nonviolence's 30-day, 320-mile "Walk for Justice," from Springfield to North Chicago, Illinois, to reclaim funding for the common good and away from war.
Mike Ferner served as a Navy corpsman during Vietnam War and is obviously a member of Veterans For Peace. He can be reached at: mike.ferner@sbcglobal.net.

Copyright © 1998-2006 Online Journal

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_956.shtml

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The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true Art and Science. - Albert Einstein

Man turns paper clip into house

A Canadian man who set out to use the internet to trade a paper clip to get a house says he has achieved his aim.



Kyle MacDonald, who is 26, made 16 trades over almost a year - and is now preparing to move into his new home.

A novelty doorknob, a camping stove, a keg of beer and an afternoon with rock star Alice Cooper were some of the stages in his swap marathon.

Mr MacDonald has now ended up with a house in the small town of Kipling, Saskatchewan, which he has yet to see.

Marketing genius

The outcome is a testament to the power of the internet and to the determination of Kyle MacDonald, who started this self-set challenge a year ago with one red paper clip.

He always claimed to be confident that he could eventually trade up to a house of his own - and now step-by-step he has done it.

The paper clip was traded for a pen in the shape of a fish. That was swapped for a novelty door knob, then a camping stove, then a generator.

Next he got a keg of beer with a neon sign which Kyle's marketing genius dubbed an instant party kit.

That was traded for a snowmobile, which was traded in turn for a holiday in British Columbia.

The holiday was converted to a van which went for a recording contract, which was traded for a year of rent-free living in a house in Phoenix, Arizona.

Snow globe specialist

It may have all ended there but Kyle MacDonald was determined.

The rent-free deal was swapped for an afternoon with rock star Alice Cooper and that was bizarrely traded for a snow globe.

TV actor Corbin Bernsen, an avid collector of snow globes, decided he must have it and offered a paid role in his new movie.

The people of Kipling, Saskatchewan - a small town with a population of only 1,140 - decided they'd like one of their community to get the role and offered, yes, a house in their town.

Kyle MacDonald described the news as mind-blowing and is preparing to move to Kipling, a place he has never even visited before.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5167388.stm

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The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true Art and Science. - Albert Einstein

Cool, reminds me of an old Donald Duck comic where his nephews start off with a pencil and end up with a steamboat trip to India through trading.

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"When you hear music, after it's over, it's gone in the air. You can never capture it again." -- Eric Dolphy

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Ahh! It's just normal genius for a Canadian Eh!
What the fuck do you think we do through that long winter. Of course now he will have lots of time on his hands, as the winters in Kipling are long and horrendously cold...He's gonna wish he took the rent free in Arizona !

I read that very comic yesterday!

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Id sell the house in Kipling for a paper clip. Yes it is very very cold in winter there and windy and did i mention desolute too.

Australians Upset Over Loud Manilow Music

SYDNEY, Australia - It could be magic for some, but the use of loud Barry Manilow music to drive away late-night revelers from a suburban Sydney park is getting on the nerves of nearby residents.

In a move reminiscent of U.S. efforts to drive former Panama strongman Manuel Noriega from the Vatican Embassy where he took refuge in 1989, the local council in Rockdale, in Sydney's southern suburbs, started a six-month trial of high-volume hits by Manilow and Doris Day to chase away car enthusiasts who were gathering on weekend nights at Cook Park Reserve.

"Barry's our secret weapon," Rockdale Deputy Mayor Bill Saravinovski told The Daily Telegraph newspaper, four weeks after the start of the effort. "It seems to be working."

But some people living near the park are less than enthralled. They say the barrage of "Copacabana," "Could It Be Magic" and "Que Sera Sera," blasting from 9 p.m. to midnight every Friday, Saturday and Sunday is driving them crazy.

"I don't know how I will cope," said Moya Dunn, describing how the songs have invaded her house. "I just can't sleep when it's on, and to think there's going to be another six months of this."

Officials have given in a little, agreeing to turn down the volume a bit after residents complained.

"The initial reaction was that they found it irritating," Saravinovski said. "I'm not disputing what the residents are saying. I can't swallow some of the tracks like `Mandy.'

"We have tried to reduce the sound and we are reviewing the songs. I don't mind Barry Manilow, but I'm more of an ABBA and Celine Dion fan."

In 1989, U.S. soldiers blasted hard rock music and news bulletins about Panama at the Vatican Embassy in Panama City in attempt to drive Gen. Noriega from refuge there. The Vatican complained, and U.S. troops stopped the noise. Noriega later surrendered.

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"When you hear music, after it's over, it's gone in the air. You can never capture it again." -- Eric Dolphy

http://www.frappr.com/frankzappaforum - FZ Forum World Map

Just shoot me if they ever blast "I Write the Songs" in my neighborhood. I am not kidding.

Or "Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro. Yeah, shoot me then too..

just shoot me? fuck I'd shoot them!

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The worst part is that Barry didn't even write "I write the songs" himself...

Over here in the Netherlands they had a similar experiment a couple of years ago to chase away bums from shopping malls. At night they cranked up the muzak volume to an almost unbearable level.

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"When you hear music, after it's over, it's gone in the air. You can never capture it again." -- Eric Dolphy

http://www.frappr.com/frankzappaforum - FZ Forum World Map

That was Vivaldi. And it worked a treat!

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And did it work , Stu? Did the homeless people go somewhere else?

Yeah! Really! It worked!

Also:

From Volkskrant, 20 July 2006:

Operation rids python from electric blanket
KETCHUM - It needed a 2-hour operation to free an electric blanket and its transformator, from a python which had swallowed it completely.
The snake, named Houdini, must have taken 6 hours to swallow the blanket, according to researchers from the Univerrsity of California. The owner from the state of Idaho thinks that the blanket, which was supposed to keep the snake warm in his cage, got mixed up with the meal of bunnies.

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http://www.smh.com.au/news/arts/where-do-i-hang-this/2006/07/19/1153166459544.html

Painting with one's penis

At Copenhagen Central Train station they play loud classical music at the back entrances (which are facing rather rough neighborhoods). It works! It really keeps away the drug dealers. Nothing a little Wagner can't handle!

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"Everybody in this room is wearing a uniform, and don't kid yourself" - FZ
http://www.myspace.com/kirnehness

Do you think he could find time to paint the (ahem!) "Members of Bush White House"? A perfectly apt instrument for painting a bunch of pricks! Maybe Condoleeza would be a problem unless he knew a female artist who painted with her, uhhh, "brush" in a similar location.

--Bat

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<------PhotoArtWerk by debutante_daisy http://www.facebook.com/BatchainTheMovie

FUCK!

I'm so sick of these DUPLICATES and TRIPLICATES with no "Delete" option!

--Batchain

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Only in Brazil...

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Thieves steal Radio broadcaster live, listeners call the Police

The broadcaster Tiago Amorim Da Silva, of the Green and Pink radio, Alto Paraná (PR), was saved of an assault during last sunday's night when listeners of the radio called the police. The studio was invaded by two men who simulated to be armed. In accordance with the Civil Police, Gilbert Romualdo Fernandes, 35, and a 17 years teenager had stolen a Parati [WV car] of Boa Esperança's Municipality's Secretariat of Health, where they live. A watchman was taken hostage by the pair until being set free, already in Alto Paraná town. Little time later, the Parati broke near to the radio. According to police, they had lost their wepon and the key of the car when trying to fix the vehicle. Without success, they had decided to invade the studio, about 1h30 in the morning, with the hands under the clothes, simulating weapons. About one hundred listeners of the radio heard the invasion and the shouts of the broadcaster's wife, who also was there, and called the police, while listening the broadcast live. When the police arrived, the two were threatning the couple. The father-in-law of Hisses, that he was in the family's house , listening to the radio. In accordance with policemen of the police station of Alto Paraná, the pair confessed the assault and the robbery of the Parati.

*** Altavista Babel Fish Translator and manual check:

http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/cotidiano/ult95u124304.shtml

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The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true Art and Science. - Albert Einstein

How did these Einsteins lose their WEAPON and their KEY while repairing the car?? What were they doing with them? Man, they must be heading straight to Darwin's waiting room.

... or how did they come up with the brilliant idea of assaulting a radio while being on the air...

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The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true Art and Science. - Albert Einstein

This would be funny, if it wasn't another sad case of illegal wild animal trafficking:

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Mailed snake sparks postal panic

A woman caused panic in a German post office when a 1.5m (5ft) albino python snake she was trying to send through the mail broke free of its packaging.



The 28-year-old woman had sold the snake over the internet and was mailing it to its new owner labelled "glass".

"Staff accepted the package and put it in the back of the office - they had no idea what it was," police said.

"All of a sudden, they noticed that it started moving around and then saw a big snake wriggling out of it."

One of the workers at the western city of Mechernich's post office wrestled the escaping snake and put it in a container.

It is not illegal for people to send snakes via mail, but the woman will be investigated by police over a mistreatment of animals charge.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5215506.stm

_________________
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true Art and Science. - Albert Einstein

Rockall rocked by Cliff Richard cliff miracle apparition
Pope Benny cancels Vatican leave and elevates Sacred Islet to 'Holy'

Thousands of excited female 60-somethings are expected to flock to the remote islet of Rockall in the coming months following the miraculous appearance of a holy sign, which believers say shows a striking resemblance to that of Our Lord and Saviour — and 108-year-old rock legend — Saint Cliff Richard. The miracle, which many believe presages the "second coming", occured at about 6.30 last Tuesday evening and was first spotted by none-other than Rockall's own spiritual leader, Bishop "Shi*t-Strafer" d'Cormorant, who was returning to refuel after a late-afternoon patrol.

The area, which has already become known locally as "Cliff cliff", "The Cliff-Face" or simply "Cliff", is understood to have already been cordoned-off on the instructions of the bishop, to prevent souvenir hunters from removing the very fabric of the Islet, and, as the bishop so succinctly put it, "to ensure suitably reverential safeguards are established whilst we leverage maximum commercial potential not just for myself of course, but for the diocese as a whole".

The holy apparition, whose likeness to the superstar Wimbledon doyen is said to be "startling", will of course result in a major headache for the organisers of this year's Rockall Ho! expedition, whilst further repercussions are already being felt elsewhere around the world. Managers at Apple iTunes are reporting a massive rise in demand for downloads of Our Saviour's most popular melodies, whilst fake "Cliff" artefacts appeared on e-Bay within minutes of the miracle occuring.

On hearing the remarkable news, newly-installed Pope Benny Dick immediately cancelled all Vatican leave in order to ensure that papal phone lines could be manned 24/7. The evil-eyed pope, for whom the apparition threatens to overshadow his recent inauguration, was quick to declare the image an "official miracle", before startling his Sistine Chapel audience by bursting into his own version of the popular Cliff song It's So Funny, How We Don' Fuc*k, Anymore heard so rarely in Latin, and said to have been his personal favourite since 1946.

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"Listen to that noise! It's like Barry White eating wasps."

Is that Billy the Mountain's friend or what?

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The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true Art and Science. - Albert Einstein

Hahhaa, yeah, theyre good pals, or so Im told..

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"Listen to that noise! It's like Barry White eating wasps."